Rockstar Sold Max Payne 2 Using Pirated Code

[Zannah]

Yet, if it just a copy of the book, uploaded with your name on it, it not thief. I guess you can't see the other side of the medal here. Let me use your analogy for a min: Here we have a case of a nobody, rewriting all of the book he got onto a fanfics page. THe only change is that he replace the name of the author with his own. Hiding under a pseudonym to save him troubles with the laws. Years later, the original author see this and use this for the online market. An your telling me that the original author stole the work of the Fanfic writer? Isn't there a copyright law that protect that author or does he just need to take it like a man? Stealing a thief seems like a bigger crime than maiming children until they dies

The crack is an individual piece of code, in no whatsoever (legal) relationship, to that, which might have or might not have been stolen. Wether the Hackers have written a program to do their laundry, or killed the mothers of every single rockstar employee, does not matter. at. all.
They wrote a piece of code. It's theirs. Rockstar has no right to take that, and sell it.
(And since a lot of want-to-be-lawsuits fail to grasp this - An eye for an eye is NO acceptable legal practice. If you steal someones car, he's not allowed to steal your hat in return. Laws don't work that way.

Main Entry: free·ware
Pronunciation: \ˈfrē-ˌwer\
Function: noun
Date: 1983

: software that is available for use at no cost or for a nominal usually voluntary fee.
(Thank You Merriam Webster [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/freeware])

Where exactly does this support your point, that corporate monkeys may drop by at any time, take the freeware, label it theirs, and sell it for money? (Again, copyright law doesn't work that way)

Answer me this than, please.
In a police case, if a armed bank robber get busted. Won't the gun be taken by the authority? Can a criminal reclaim the gun he use in a criminal act? Can he sue the police for ownership? The hack is a tool, just like a pistol is for a bank robbery.

That analogy is, excuse me, plain bullshit.
In your example, the gun is an evidence, needed for court. Rockstar however has neither the authority of a police, nor are they within their rights to hold courts (or confiscate other peoples property. If you take other peoples property, without being allowed too, that is STEALING). And besides, how many policemen do you see, legally selling confiscated guns at the local 'used weapons bazar'?

 

[DamienHell]

Rockstar just profited off Myths code without paying them, Myth could sue rockstar right now.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Hahahaha! Painfull, Rockstar
Anyway, now no one can say nothing good ever came out of pirating
It saved the developer some time and money not having to remove their own DRM, rofl!

 

[Akalistos]

Yet, if it just a copy of the book, uploaded with your name on it, it not thief. I guess you can't see the other side of the medal here. Let me use your analogy for a min: Here we have a case of a nobody, rewriting all of the book he got onto a fanfics page. THe only change is that he replace the name of the author with his own. Hiding under a pseudonym to save him troubles with the laws. Years later, the original author see this and use this for the online market. An your telling me that the original author stole the work of the Fanfic writer? Isn't there a copyright law that protect that author or does he just need to take it like a man? Stealing a thief seems like a bigger crime than maiming children until they dies

The crack is an individual piece of code, in no whatsoever (legal) relationship, to that, which might have or might not have been stolen. Wether the Hackers have written a program to do their laundry, or killed the mothers of every single rockstar employee, does not matter. at. all.
They wrote a piece of code. It's theirs. Rockstar has no right to take that, and sell it.
(And since a lot of want-to-be-lawsuits fail to grasp this - An eye for an eye is NO acceptable legal practice. If you steal someones car, he's not allowed to steal your hat in return. Laws don't work that way.

Main Entry: free·ware
Pronunciation: \ˈfrē-ˌwer\
Function: noun
Date: 1983

: software that is available for use at no cost or for a nominal usually voluntary fee.
(Thank You Merriam Webster [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/freeware])

Where exactly does this support your point, that corporate monkeys may drop by at any time, take the freeware, label it theirs, and sell it for money? (Again, copyright law doesn't work that way)

Answer me this than, please.
In a police case, if a armed bank robber get busted. Won't the gun be taken by the authority? Can a criminal reclaim the gun he use in a criminal act? Can he sue the police for ownership? The hack is a tool, just like a pistol is for a bank robbery.

That analogy is, excuse me, plain bullshit.
In your example, the gun is an evidence, needed for court. Rockstar however has neither the authority of a police, nor are they within their rights to hold courts (or confiscate other peoples property. If you take other peoples property, without being allowed too, that is STEALING). And besides, how many policemen do you see, legally selling confiscated guns at the local 'used weapons bazar'?

You know what bullshit? People that defend Myth on the fact that Rockstar take their code. But nobody said anything against Myth. Wake up call everybody, MYTH's group are the bad guys. The one you fight in video-game. The guy that stole your girlfriend in Kung-Fu. Quote me out of context or just the bit you want to make you look smart all you want, it doesn't change the fact. YES, that code is a freeware. So, if they so choose, they don't have to give a dime to Myth like i suspect most of you didn't when you stole the game. It a great way to get back the money those bastard stole from them. It hard to understand because none of you are a game programmer or participate in a release of a game that bigger that what you found on newgrounds. Also, you can't justify the action of Myth base on what happen here. How could they know they would become victim themselves. No matter how you look, it a company vs a bunch of thief. They hacked countless other game, and doing so with that code you are so eager to protect. Where are the right of Rockstar when that happen?

You don't care... I know. You think because being a big company, they can stand thief like a mosquito's bite. No matter who you stole (except thief), it not OK to steal. Why i draw the line here? Because Max Payne 2 wasn't a freeware. They code were. They didn't have the right to insert their own code inside and distribute it free. Therefore, i wish those guy get sued by Rockstar and end up in the street. And i don't care about the code really, if you bought the game with the hack didn't it work anyways? This isn't a underdog story, it a group that had the ball to take what was stolen from them in a inventive way and Rockstar.... I SALUTE YOU!

 

[KingPiccolOwned]

And no Rockstar aren't the pirates here, because slapping a clown hat on Michelangelo's David isn't making a new artwork, its just defacing an existing one.

Yes they are. As stated above, just because you write fanfiction, doesn't give the author of the original book the right to take YOUR writing, that is technically (from the law's prospective that is) unrelated, and sell it, without even mentioning you.
Even if the crack was freeware (which it isn't), Rockstar would still be in the wrong for selling it. Sell the game, and link to where to get the no cd crack, that's fine, but selling another mans intelectual property isn't no matter how you look at it.

Firstly I didn't read that and secondly THIS IS NOT FAN FICTION. Nor is it really a mod, Garrys Mod is a mod, giving the characters genitals is a mod, replacing all the weapons with, I don't know, popsicles is a mod. This is giving people the capacity to play the game without paying the people who actually made it, which is an endorsement of piracy, which I don't look kindly upon.

 

[KingPiccolOwned]

You know what bullshit? People that defend Myth on the fact that Rockstar take their code. But nobody said anything against Myth. Wake up call everybody, MYth's group are the bad guys. The one you fight in videogame. The guy that stole your girlfriend in Kung-Fu. Quote me out of context or just the bit you want to make you look smart all you want, it doesn't change the fact. YES, that code is a freeware. So, if they so choose, they don't have to give a dime to Myth like i suspect most of you didn't when you stole the game. It a great way to get back the money those bastard stole from them. It hard to understand because none of you are a game programmer or participate in a release of a game that bigger that what you found on newgrounds. Also, you can't justify the action of Myth base on what happen here. How could they know they would become victim themselves. No matter how you look, it a company vs a bunch of thief. They hacked countless other game, and doing so with that code you are so eager to protect. Where are the right or Rockstar when that happen?

You don't care... I know. You think because being a big company, they can stand thief like a mosquito's bite. No matter who you stole (exept thief), it not ok to steal. Why i draw the line here? Because Max Payne 2 wasn't a freeware. They code were. They didn't have the right to insert their own code inside and distribute it free. THerefore, i wish those guy get sued by Rockstar and end up in the street. And i don't care about the code really, if you bought the game with the hack didn't it work anyways? This isn't a underdog story, it a group that had the ball to take what was stolen from them in a inventive way and Rockstar.... I SALUTE YOU!

You sir or madam have said it all here is a cookie.

 

[Akalistos]

You know what bullshit? People that defend Myth on the fact that Rockstar take their code. But nobody said anything against Myth. Wake up call everybody, MYth's group are the bad guys. The one you fight in videogame. The guy that stole your girlfriend in Kung-Fu. Quote me out of context or just the bit you want to make you look smart all you want, it doesn't change the fact. YES, that code is a freeware. So, if they so choose, they don't have to give a dime to Myth like i suspect most of you didn't when you stole the game. It a great way to get back the money those bastard stole from them. It hard to understand because none of you are a game programmer or participate in a release of a game that bigger that what you found on newgrounds. Also, you can't justify the action of Myth base on what happen here. How could they know they would become victim themselves. No matter how you look, it a company vs a bunch of thief. They hacked countless other game, and doing so with that code you are so eager to protect. Where are the right or Rockstar when that happen?

You don't care... I know. You think because being a big company, they can stand thief like a mosquito's bite. No matter who you stole (exept thief), it not ok to steal. Why i draw the line here? Because Max Payne 2 wasn't a freeware. They code were. They didn't have the right to insert their own code inside and distribute it free. THerefore, i wish those guy get sued by Rockstar and end up in the street. And i don't care about the code really, if you bought the game with the hack didn't it work anyways? This isn't a underdog story, it a group that had the ball to take what was stolen from them in a inventive way and Rockstar.... I SALUTE YOU!

You sir or madam have said it all here is a cookie.

Thank, i appreciate the support. Here some for you:

 

[Arenari]

Congratulations Rockstar for (headdesk) being (headdesk) so (headdesk) freaking (headdesk) STUPID!!!!!!

 

[Zannah]

Firstly I didn't read that and secondly THIS IS NOT FAN FICTION. Nor is it really a mod, Garrys Mod is a mod, giving the characters genitals is a mod, replacing all the weapons with, I don't know, popsicles is a mod. This is giving people the capacity to play the game without paying the people who actually made it, which is an endorsement of piracy, which I don't look kindly upon.

And once again. The Copyright law doesn't care, if the piece of code rockstar stole is the future skynet and will kill us all, or a new css-soundfile. It. doesn't. matter. It is an individual piece of code, which no matter it's purpose, can't be taken without breaking the law.

You know what bullshit? People that defend Myth on the fact that Rockstar take their code. But nobody said anything against Myth. Wake up call everybody, MYTH's group are the bad guys. The one you fight in video-game. The guy that stole your girlfriend in Kung-Fu. Quote me out of context or just the bit you want to make you look smart all you want, it doesn't change the fact. YES, that code is a freeware. So, if they so choose, they don't have to give a dime to Myth like i suspect most of you didn't when you stole the game. It a great way to get back the money those bastard stole from them. It hard to understand because none of you are a game programmer or participate in a release of a game that bigger that what you found on newgrounds. Also, you can't justify the action of Myth base on what happen here. How could they know they would become victim themselves. No matter how you look, it a company vs a bunch of thief. They hacked countless other game, and doing so with that code you are so eager to protect. Where are the right of Rockstar when that happen?

Yes, you don't like pirates. We figured that out, so did my plush animals and the man in the moon. It doesn't make your argument any more relevant. I never said pirating max payne wasn't a breach of copyright law. What I am saying, is that Rockstar, by doing the exact same myth did, only WORSE, Rockstar are no better, then the people you hate so passionate.
And one again, 'you stole from me, now I make nick all your stuff' isn't covered by the law. Might be some romantic fantasy of zorroesque revenge you have there, but that doesn't make rockstars actions any less illegal.
(Oh and just to shoot the 'you're no programmer, you'd be angry too' argument in the leg once and for all - my boyfriend is an author and we both fund our studies with working on small movie productions (A business you might realize, that falls victim to pirates even more than the games industry). If there was any reason to get angry at pirates, I would have plenty of it, no?)

You don't care... I know. You think because being a big company, they can stand thief like a mosquito's bite. No matter who you stole (except thief), it not OK to steal. Why i draw the line here? Because Max Payne 2 wasn't a freeware. They code were. They didn't have the right to insert their own code inside and distribute it free. Therefore, i wish those guy get sued by Rockstar and end up in the street. And i don't care about the code really, if you bought the game with the hack didn't it work anyways? This isn't a underdog story, it a group that had the ball to take what was stolen from them in a inventive way and Rockstar.... I SALUTE YOU!

Neither your saluting to the exact same kind of thiefs you want to get 'sued out of their homes', nor your fantasies about how federal law works, are of any relevance to the fact, that taking a piece of code, and selling it without even asking the owner is not covered by those laws.

 

[WitherVoice]

Akalistos, I'm talking legality, not ethics, here. Most of your comments are absolutely pointless in that argument, so as ridiculous as I find them, I'll leave them be. Here and there are some good points too, by the way, but they are as a rule not relevant to the argument I am in on this, anyway. I respond to a few of the points that ARE relevant.

In a police case, if a armed bank robber get busted. Won't the gun be taken by the authority? Can a criminal reclaim the gun he use in a criminal act? Can he sue the police for ownership? The hack is a tool, just like a pistol is for a bank robbery.

Severely flawed analogy. If the bank robber designed and crafted the weapon himself, then that design is his property no matter what nefarious deeds he may have committed with it. If Samuel Colt designed and crafted his revolutionary revolving flintlock design, then robbed a bank with that gun, the revolving flintlock pistol and design would be his. The physical pistol would likely be evidence and he'd not be likely to see it again, naturally, but neither would it become property of the bank he robbed.

Now, I find myself again on the opposing team. I know right: "It in the fine print of the submission form." But here, it work that a fan did. I expect that he got his name in the credit and get a prize. Can't he brag being on the team that made (EXAMPLE) Diablo 3. That thing stink of: "Thank for doing our work now buzz off". Maybe it's just the way you say it. How about this: You would be included as a programmer of blizzard in the Upcoming game and win a sweet price instead of submission become the property of Blizzard S*ckers!!! LOLOLOLOL

Ethical it may not be, but Blizzard (or any other company in their place) could not do it any other way. You participate in those competitions knowing, or at least you SHOULD know, that acknowledgement and a prize is what you get, and no more. If Blizzard were to NOT take possession of the work, they could not publish it, because then later they could be sued for part of their profits. It's flawed and it sucks, but it's not really up for change

So by your logic, if i change all the name in the credit of a upcoming game for my own, that work (aka the game) will be mine and i have the right to sell it? Cool! Be on the lookout for STARCRAFT 2 by AKALISTOS ENTERTAINMENT!!!!!

This "misunderstanding" is so glaring that I suspect it's deliberate. The original game executable is the property of its creator. The program that modifies it is property of ITS creator. Just because my program opens and mucks about with a file made by someone else, that does not mean that my program is suddenly THEIR program.

Yet, if it wall on freeware, they are ok.

No. "Freeware" is not an unambiguous legal term. If the license for the code says "take our code and do with it what you will, including selling it for profit", then Rockstar are fine. If the license says "use the product and modify it, but do not sell it" (a common type of license), then they are not. If there is no license, you'd have to litigate, which would cost far more than creating the code yourself (if you're Rockstar)... because leaving out a license means that it's the property of its creator.

 

[RobCoxxy]

maybe the guy Rockstar put in charge for making the game Steam compatible used to be part of Myth & figured he'd save time by using one he made earlier?

Ah, the old Art Attack technique?

"And here's one I made earlier."

 

[hyperdrachen]

That's like stealing a pothead's brownie, adding nuts to it, and selling it. It just doesn't make any sense on any level.

Unless you consider the fact that "cracking" a game is very freaking hard to do. It's just laziness (or, as the Rockstar supporter would say, "opportunism") on their part.

No this is like making brownies, having them stolen by a pothead, said pothead sprinkling weed on them. Then later getting your modded brownies back, deciding you were gonna have to lace them with pot eventually and you may as well get some sort of repairations for the sales you lost to the pothead incident, and selling them as is. This story is ffin wierd.

Honestly I'd have done the same thing, for the lulz. They probably thought it was funny. I doubt very much there was alot of code in the cd check(i mean if you have the original source code), and could have probably commented it out of the compile in a matter of hours. Honestly what kind of trouble can they get in. Oh you wanna sue us for infringing on your work to reverse engineer our software?

 

[The Great Zegrool]

So they pirated a pirate's pirate of a game?

Makes sense.

 

[CrystalShadow]

I doubt very much there was alot of code in the cd check(i mean if you have the original source code), and could have probably commented it out of the compile in a matter of hours. Honestly what kind of trouble can they get in. Oh you wanna sue us for infringing on your work to reverse engineer our software?

You'd be surprised...

No, it's not likely to be a lot of code, but games are huge. If the code base hasn't been compiled in years, (eg. It's quite an old game), there's a very high chance that it won't compile.

Game projects often have so much, and such convoluted code, that actually compiling a game's source code can be a bit of a dark art.

Unless you can match the development environment that the game was originally compiled with, there's a fair chance you'll run into huge numbers of unidentifiable errors.

Hell, I have it with a 'game' I created in 2001. It's not even complicated code, and I have the libraries, and even access to the same compiler I used.
And yet, the 9 year old pre-compiled exe files worked perfectly, while a newly compiled version I tried to make (without even changing any code), last year, did not work at all.

So no. Not as easy as it sounds.

 

[FloodOne]

Awesome. Making money off of the backs of people who won't spend their own.

Fantastic on every level.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

Poor Rockstar. Actually they probably put one guy in charge of readying it for distribution, and he used some initiative.



Well it seems Rockstar has finally... *Puts on Glasses*

Cracked

<youtube=mR3jnW2kcUs>

Well that's today's meme quota filled

Oh 13, how I love thee.

OT: This had me smile. It's nice to see a lazy programmer pirating a pirate.

Someone really dropped the ball here lol.

 

[Evil the White]

TIME PARADOX

In all seriousness though, how could you be done for using a cracked version of your own software, if you are the original owner?

 

[Bloodstain]

I don't think Myth is gonna come running with a lawsuit any time soon.

I think they will be proud

Personally, I don't think it's a bad thing. Why crack the game yourself when someone else already did it?

 

[NoNameMcgee]

Why can't I buy either Max Payne games or any GTA games (except GTAIV and Episodes) from Steam in Australia, but people in the US can buy them (and other Rockstar games)

I have all the GTA games and MP 1 & 2 pirated, and I think they're great games so I wanna own them. Can't find them anywhere though except Ebay and I'll be damned if I'm buying a second hand copy. May as well just stick with my pirated versions if that's the case. :/

 

[KingPiccolOwned]

Firstly I didn't read that and secondly THIS IS NOT FAN FICTION. Nor is it really a mod, Garrys Mod is a mod, giving the characters genitals is a mod, replacing all the weapons with, I don't know, popsicles is a mod. This is giving people the capacity to play the game without paying the people who actually made it, which is an endorsement of piracy, which I don't look kindly upon.

And once again. The Copyright law doesn't care, if the piece of code rockstar stole is the future skynet and will kill us all, or a new css-soundfile. It. doesn't. matter. It is an individual piece of code, which no matter it's purpose, can't be taken without breaking the law.

May I remind you that copyright laws do vary from country to country, as does the implications of said laws from judge to judge. Based on this, it would all depend on A: who sues who, B: Where they are sued, and C: If the judge is sympathetic towards whatever Myth is (I call them pirates, you can call them whatever) or businesses like Rockstar. So basically the legality of the situation is debatable.