New Piracy Law Hits Net Traffic Hard

[Sixties Spidey]

Edit:

When we asked about this, we were told that the prices were fixed. Absolute bullshit. EVERY single one of those games has it's own fucking dealer, meaning they come to the stores at a fixed price AT FIRST, and then they go down gradually depending on sales or demand. Saint's Row 2 is still being sold at it's original price (259 dirhams) at other places. If they were fixed, Saint's Row wouldn't be selling at ten dollars.

And they ask why does piracy happen. Because of shit like this.

Piracy happens because Saint's Row 2 is cheap? Yes, I know, I exaggerated, but I still don't get your point (even after reading it three times). :S Sorry for being dumb, it's late over here, could you please explain this? I mean, if the game didn't sell well, why shouldn't they lower the price? I don't see the problem, let alone what this has to do with piracy.

Allow me to explain. Most games when they come to the UAE come at a fixed price set by the distributors. It's set anywhere between 239 dirhams to 319 dirhams. (65$-90$ American). After a certain amount of time, the value will start to drop, depending on sales/demand, or supplier demand. For example, The Orange Box was 250 dirhams for a while, but since the demand had dropped so much for the console versions, the price was dropped to 139 dirhams (so 37 dollars.)All of a sudden, sales rocketed.

Now here's what happens. When a product ages, the max value for it drops, so a game like Gears 1 would drop to something like 169 dirhams. Now keep in mind that there is no such thing as a used games market here, so finding older products become harder. Sometimes, there are dead products, when products don't even get shipped here regardless of how many times the store orders them. Case in Point: Halo 3.

Gears of War 1's original pricing was 239 dirhams when it was released. In the store, it was 279, and considering that there are no more copies of Gears of War being retailed at Virgin, Geekay (EB games for Dubai), or Sharaf DG (which is basically Best Buy), it's odd that they would rack up the prices so high. Now here's what's stupid.

Saint's Row 2 is still being sold at it's original price, and there has been no discount from either store, including Carrefour. Now, the fact it's being sold at 99 dirhams (forget what i said about 10 dollars, it was 3AM when typing that. It's actually 25 something bucks.) when there has been no discount is rather stupid, and the fact is, a lot of kids go there to get games from there, including original Xbox 1 games.

My point is that the inconsistency in the games market in the UAE is what's attributing to piracy. Not that cheap games are affecting piracy.

 

[Shycte]

For the record. Sweden sucks at making laws. I live there so I know.

Like once there was this guy who killed a whole family for their bike.

He got like 10 years. A WHOLE FUCKING FAMILY!

So I apoligise to everybody out in the world on Swedens behalf. That instead of hunting killers and rapist our police focus on petty crimes like this.

OT: I hate this law. I don't download illegaly, but still. It is just stupid.

 

[Gladion]

Allow me to explain. Most games when they come to the UAE come at a fixed price set by the distributors. It's set anywhere between 239 dirhams to 319 dirhams. (65$-90$ American). After a certain amount of time, the value will start to drop, depending on sales/demand, or supplier demand. For example, The Orange Box was 250 dirhams for a while, but since the demand had dropped so much for the console versions, the price was dropped to 139 dirhams (so 37 dollars.)All of a sudden, sales rocketed.

Now here's what happens. When a product ages, the max value for it drops, so a game like Gears 1 would drop to something like 169 dirhams. Now keep in mind that there is no such thing as a used games market here, so finding older products become harder. Sometimes, there are dead products, when products don't even get shipped here regardless of how many times the store orders them. Case in Point: Halo 3.

Gears of War 1's original pricing was 239 dirhams when it was released. In the store, it was 279, and considering that there are no more copies of Gears of War being retailed at Virgin, Geekay (EB games for Dubai), or Sharaf DG (which is basically Best Buy), it's odd that they would rack up the prices so high. Now here's what's stupid.

Saint's Row 2 is still being sold at it's original price, and there has been no discount from either store, including Carrefour. Now, the fact it's being sold at 99 dirhams (forget what i said about 10 dollars, it was 3AM when typing that. It's actually 25 something bucks.) when there has been no discount is rather stupid, and the fact is, a lot of kids go there to get games from there, including original Xbox 1 games.

My point is that the inconsistency in the games market in the UAE is what's attributing to piracy. Not that cheap games are affecting piracy.

I'm sorry I still don't see the connection. Sure, it's a little odd, but why would stuff like this affect people's downloading behaviours? I doubt people would pirate less if all the games were the same price. Also, I don't understand why this made you angry. It has nothing to do with inconsistency, it's just the regular supply/demand business.

 

[Azaradel]

I'll admit to being quite a frequent downloader myself, but come on... There's no way I could get a hold of the obscure movies I watch in Sweden, to a reasonable price, seeing as most of them are worthy of a place in the trash can. I mean... it's not like Sweden has a market promoting second rate splatter movies (not that they shouldn't... *shakes fist*)

Is it just me or "Swedish Pirate Party" sounds simply awesome for all the wrong reasons?

I keep imagining a ship. Filled with swedish pirates of some kind.

Oh come on! Swedish Pirate Party! What? Too easy? Pfft...still think that's one of the stupidest names for an anti piracy group ever. (Still pretty funny too though xD) For goodness sake, they've even got a ship's flag for a logo! Slap a skull and crossbones on it, maybe hand out some parrots and eyepatches...

Well, no-one ever accused the majority of us Swedes for being too intelligent... Myself not included.

 

[Skrapt]

Because it's already been done. Look at the RIAA, they've been bankrupting families and forcing gifted students out of school. $27,500 for ONE SONG. And you have to prove you didn't download it to not pay the fine.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought burden of proof lies with the plaintiff?

Not in most piracy cases, as most that have gone to court in the USA, the RIAA have just had to show that someone was making available some copyrighted material, not that they had actually shared it with anyone. Luckily a sane judge went back and said " no you should actually have to prove someone violated your copyright before i hand them a $250,000 fine for 12 songs they may/may not have shared 5 years ago when they were 12".

 

[asinann]

Because it's already been done. Look at the RIAA, they've been bankrupting families and forcing gifted students out of school. $27,500 for ONE SONG. And you have to prove you didn't download it to not pay the fine.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought burden of proof lies with the plaintiff?

Normally it would be, but the way it was written into law allows the RIAA to just hand you a bill. With a bill you have to prove it isn't yours.

 

[Kajt]

Sweden is slowly turning into City 17.

 

[4Dsheep]

Probably the biggest reason people pirate is because it's easy. When given the choice between having to tackle a lethal obstacle course or paying money, of course people would just pay for it. But when pirating is free, easy, user-friendly, free, not bogged down with spyware, and doesn't brick your computer, who's going to ask publishers to, please, plunder my savings account and take my firstborn child, just let me have a million-to-one chance at playing your crappy peggle knock-off?

 

[Novania]

I cant see any way that they will seriously take this up against the people who download like this. In the end it won't stop people from torrenting, well maybe a few but there will still be people torrenting as long as there is stuff to download. I think it isn't worth their time to carry this out. They will be doing this forever...

 

[Odjin]

...if you buy something, rip the packaging off, play it, and/or dissatisfied with the product/it doesn't work, they won't give you a refund. Retail stores are half the problem these days, along with the current economic situation.

Then I guess your country needs to refine it's consumer law then, eh?

Nope, it's the default. In video games the consumer has no right for a refund if the product does not work. This is one of the major reasons people do hesitate to buy as they can be burned and then they are the arsed ones. It's like this everywhere unfortunately.

And I wonder, "is this what's contributing to piracy?" The likelihood of something not working with a particular console/machine? It seems to me like that's what is contributing to piracy. Lack of reliability.

Sadly, it is like this everywhere, and it all ties into what I said earlier. People are afraid to spend money on something that they probably won't like, or might not work, and to save the money/hassle, they turn to piracy. it seems plausible in my opinion.

Plausible, yes, but still bullshit. I'm not sure how a console game wouldn't work on YOUR OWN console, unless it's broken - for PC, there are always specs to check, many times you get demos, too. I don't think this point makes too much sense. Also, if you're not sure whether you'll like it or not, that's your problem and you can deal with it legally. Either rent it, read tons of reviews or maybe check some friends in case they have got it. It's not like piracy is your only single option. Even then, if you find out you like it - would you buy it afterwards? I highly doubt most would do that.
To clarify this: I'm no anti-piracy-guy. If people want to do it, then do. It just pisses me off when they try to justify it or are even proud of it... Personally, I'd rather support the companies of whom I want the products. I'm not rich myself (still a student), so I just tighten the circle of things I get. Most books/games/films are nothing special anyways, so I simply focus on the real good stuff

Edit: Yes, after reading the post above mine, I recall: you definetly ARE allowed to return a product if it doesn't work. It's just that you can't return it simply because you don't like it.

>>> for PC, there are always specs to check
How often does your machine have the matching or better specs yet the game fails to run? Specs alone help nothing since they are usually ( unless your card is from stone age ) not the problem, it's the variety of hardware that is.

>>> many times you get demos, too
Nope, this is one of the big beefs I and others send into play. Less and less demos are made since this way people could actually _see_ what shit is produced and not buy. They don't do demos so people have to buy the cat in the sack. No miracle people get fed up and shoot back by testing the game using other means. Not that those are legal, that's not what I try to say here. I simply want to point out where the games industries fails and puts the blame on the customer although he's just defending himself.

>>> read tons of reviews
Already said it once: reviews are bull. Most are over-hyped to get people reading your mag while others think ranting about shit that nobody cares ( tell us about gameplay, controls, length and _bugs_ not about why the pants of your space dude suck balls ). I did my reviews this way but seeing as how the bullshit crap grew larger and larger I'd been fed up with it. Reviews in general are bull and tell you not if a game is worth buying or not.

>>> check some friends
Funny but you know that _this_ already _is_ considered pirating? You play the game without buying it. So if _this_ is legal in your eyes how is downloading and test-playing then not?

>>> EDIT (...)
Doesn't work means: the disc is broken or unreadable. If the game crashes because your graphic card XYZ then not. This is the crux in all this. Unless the data carrier is defunct you have no right to return because it doesn't work with your machine.

 

[Odjin]

...if you buy something, rip the packaging off, play it, and/or dissatisfied with the product/it doesn't work, they won't give you a refund. Retail stores are half the problem these days, along with the current economic situation.

Then I guess your country needs to refine it's consumer law then, eh?

Nope, it's the default. In video games the consumer has no right for a refund if the product does not work. This is one of the major reasons people do hesitate to buy as they can be burned and then they are the arsed ones. It's like this everywhere unfortunately.

And I wonder, "is this what's contributing to piracy?" The likelihood of something not working with a particular console/machine? It seems to me like that's what is contributing to piracy. Lack of reliability.

Sadly, it is like this everywhere, and it all ties into what I said earlier. People are afraid to spend money on something that they probably won't like, or might not work, and to save the money/hassle, they turn to piracy. it seems plausible in my opinion.

You live under a rock then. I see tons of people having troubles playing title XYZ. Just look on support forums to see one part of those people in trouble. Many don't even show up on those boards at all since the get already bum-fucked on the hotline ( I tested this myself so I'm not fetching this out of thin air ) and are pissed later on. Hardware variety is huge and even small version numbers or "letters" behind product names can make or break an engine.

 

[pmega]

Oh well we had a good run ive saved thousands in media acquisition. sad to see the torrent go the way of the dodo or the cowboy/cowgirl.