Epic Considers Banning Those Who Spoiled Gears 3

[SemiHumanTarget]

The way he states it, it's as if they are saying they are going to screw the amateurs that forgot to/didn't know how to cover their tracks, while readily acknowledging that the hardened hackers that routinely leak beta videos and cause other havoc will get off scott free.

I don't really think this is something the gaming community should condone. Setting out to get revenge makes you look like you've got something to hide and provides a convenient excuse not to reform the system you use to decide who gets a beta - which is really the underlying problem.

 

[happy_turtle]

Completely unworkable, and they know it is. This is just a publicity stunt.

 

[zidine100]

so.... do they really think those who downloaded the leek wouldn't think twice before downloading the game?

 

[Frost27]

Now this is just awesome. I'm hoping there will be at least one clueless twit like there was for the Batman Arkham Asylum leak. I hope there's a lot of hate and "I pre-ordered but I can't play WTF," I hope they try to take Epic to court and I hope Epic mops the floor with them.

Epic would lose.

Regardless of past acts against the plaintiffs, Epic can not legally sell a product with the full and premeditative knowledge the product would not work. This would fall under consumer fraud laws, a criminal action that can be punished by jail time, and not just a civil one like piracy. So yeah, fight a misdemeanor by committing a criminal act seems like a very smart move by Epic.

You are indeed correct. Though they could likely get around it if they made a reasonable effort to contact the offenders with a "haha guess what?" about a week before release.

IMO they sound like a bunch of butt hurt "taking my ball and going home" whiners.

 

[w9496]

i find the entire gears of war franchise frustrating and unimaginative. corridor, cutscene, corridor, cutscene. epic should do the world a favor and ban everyone.

Yep, they should do you a favor and ban everyone who enjoys the game. Yep, thats logical.

OT: I hope they have a system in place to protect people who didn't cheat from getting banned, otherwise I'm all for this. If this is effective, it could send a message that releasing content through this manner will have consequences and repucussions.

 

[SilentHunter7]

If you sell a product and the person goes home and finds out that it isn't the product that was promised that person is entitled to their money back and or suing you for fraud.

So then what's stopping them from giving them their money back?

My personal experience with games has been one of if a game is opened most retailers won't take the item back. From my experience most retailers will simply offer you a new copy of the game, if you claim something is wrong with the game. This would not solve the problem Epic is presenting. And in some rare cases/you get a nice person you might get store credit back. But you're never going to see a full cash refund from retailers.

Well the buck stops with the retailers, then.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

Way to go, Epic. I completely agree with you doing this, and also think those that are guilty of this deserve what they get.

 

[CronoT]

Huh.

Bit of a slippery slope you're looking at there, gents.

A bit of a slippery slope? This is like jumping down a cliff. This is the Ubisoft DRM approach.

Yeah, good luck actually doing a decent job identifying the culprits and not getting false positives. I suppose I'll be adding Epic to the "automatically skip" list. First developer to get there.

Ea has been on that list for me for years. Sadly, that now also includes the Bioware games, but a principle is not worth anything if it isn't stood up for. As for the Gears of War games, I've never cared one way or another for them. To me, they're even more mindlessly violent than the Halo games. Now, I'm definitely not going to support them.

As has already been stated a few times, there's no way this would stand in court. The retailer would refuse to give a refund, then would either lose money through lawsuits or bad PR, and then turn around and sue Epic. At least with Ubisoft's DRM, you know you're getting into bed with the devil when you bought it.

 

[senobit]

meh sounds like 4 year having a little temper tantrum, still not that bothered Epic's been on my skip list ever since the steamiing pile of shite that was Gears of war PC

 

[FoolKiller]

Hell if you're ok with Epic breaking the law, then by that logic you should be ok with people breaking the law and having those early copies. You can't pick and choose which laws to follow.

Actually, while I agree with you on the actual terms of the law and the fact that Epic will have trouble upholding this I disagree with your final statement.

You are talking about legal logic. The other people are talking about moral logic. While Epic may have issues with winning in court, I do applaud their attitude of fighting back. Personally, I hope they win.

 

[Asehujiko]

stupidity

So their master plan to fight mildly annoy select groups of pirates is to... punish the ones that decide to buy the game to support them when it comes out officially?