THQ Impressed by 3DS Anti-Piracy Tech

[Nouw]

Doh!
I give it 3 month maximun.Video games cost the double in my country , so piracy is justified.

Nothing justifies theft. If you can't pay for it, you don't get it, plain and simple. If you can't afford a couch that doesn't mean you get to steal it.

Perfect Analogy *Hi-Five!

Ahem, anything is hackable so it should stop a fairly large amount of people for a while but somewhere a determined geek is trying to beat it.

 

[Kiriona]

...Ok, I'll play devil's advocate. This might sound like a strange way to look at it, but bear with me...

I've noticed something about people. Whenever they see something for free, they lose their damn minds and go to whatever length they can to justify why they need it. Look at it like this, and let's leave the 'stealing' factor out for a moment: you have the option to pay for a game, or just take it for free. They're both exactly the same, brand new copies. What would you do? I'd be snatching up the free copy before they change their minds!

Now let's put the 'stealing' factor back in. Most people that pirate don't get caught, so the fact that it's wrong doesn't mean much anymore. Murder is wrong, but some people do it anyway, thinking they won't get caught. Stealing is wrong, but people still do it if they don't think they'll get caught. So, I guess the point is that some morals just go right out the window when there's no danger of getting in trouble for it.

And just to clarify, I'm not trying to justify piracy, because that's on the list of impossible things to do with people. I'm just trying to look at if from a slightly different angle to understand it better.

More on topic, though, I think game companies should stop worrying so much about piracy and focus on making some good games. Piracy isn't going to stop, and trying to force it to stop is only going to encourage the hackers and make them more rebellious. Why don't they just offer something cool that's exclusive to legit copies? All they really need to do is shift the balance so that real copies are better and the pirated versions are lacking and second rate. That'll at least help the problem...

 

[13lackfriday]

HAHAHAHAHAAAA, SUCK IT, R4 BITCHES!!!

 

[Jeronus]

snip

Better question, if someone pirates something they can't afford, who does it hurt? If they can't afford it, they could have never bought it, so it isn't a lost sale. It's not a physical product, so copying it doesn't make it so the developers can't sell that copy. So the only problem someone can have with someone pirating something they can't afford is that they haven't "earned" it. I think that's pretty selfish, especially if you consider higher prices and/or lower pay in certain areas making someone who's worked the same job just as hard in a different area having significantly less than you.

While you are right that in said case no one is losing anything it doesn't make it anymore justified.

I don't think anyone needs to justify actions that cause no harm. It's simply a neutral action. Neither right nor wrong.

now, a person could afford to buy a game if you really want to, they could even *GASP* save up money. but the thought that pirating the game would not only be free but be OK would keep those people from saving money.

So, it's immoral for someone who would never buy a game to pirate it because they would buy it?

its immoral because its not impossible for them to buy it, and pirating it creates a unhealthy view of the topic. however, if something like the game is physically unavailable to you, short of going on a 2 day roadtrip in search of it to find it, then pirating the game isn't that bad

What if the person can't make any money at all? Theoretically speaking, say they were a typical fourteen year old kid, being raised by a single mother, whose father has no job, the mother has two maxed out credit cards and two jobs and barely makes enough to keep the house and the kid got his flashcart from an uncle who lives in a place where piracy laws are super lax, and his DS is a cheap used one he got from a friend. Is it so wrong for this kid to pirate some games?
Let's be honest, a lot of DS games were shit, for whatever reason many of them sucked and weren't worth spending ten minutes with, but the case and the back and all the media said they were ok to pretty good, and some of them (SMTevil Survivor) were supposed to be amazing and were just straight up horrible. The only reason the 3DS will live is if the games are any good at all and worth playing, right now their starting line up looks fucking epic and assuming you really can store games on some kind of internal hard drive so you don't carry around so many damn cases, and assuming they do the smart thing and make GBA games available to download like those shitty DSi games then the 3DS will see a significant rise in sales due to being a good product, not because of good anti-piracy.

A sob story for a life doesn't justify stealing games. If the kid was stealing food or something essential to survival, it would be justified. Games are not necessary to live. He doesn't need those games he is stealing. He wants them and is using his poor status in life as a cover for his actions. I used to be like that kid but I didn't steal games I just played last gen games until I had enough money to get new ones.

 

[Phoenixlight]

And again, why is it that we all have the right to play any game we want despite not being able to afford em?

We don't have the right, it's just that when things are overpriced and available for free from somewhere else people will usually seek out the alternative. It seems that a lot of people i've spoken to about it in real life feel the same way and wouldn't download if thingshad lower prices.

 

[Jeronus]

I hope this puts an end to piracy. Piracy is being heralded as a "Robin Hood" act when it is nothing more than theft that hurts the whole industry. Nintendo has dealt with enough piracy to know the ins and outs of how hackers work and have probably thought long and hard about how to effectively shut them down.

 

[Vorpals]

To me, it sounds like they're just encouraging the hackers with a new challenge.

 

[Aisaku]

I what I really think would put a damper on piracy:

Offer a way to buy games directly, via download, at a reasonable price. Basically, the Steam model. Those who want the boxes and manuals can buy them off stores as they always did, but this way customers outside the major markets won't get shanked with unreasonable prices.

 

[infinity_turtles]

its immoral because its not impossible for them to buy it, and pirating it creates a unhealthy view of the topic. however, if something like the game is physically unavailable to you, short of going on a 2 day roadtrip in search of it to find it, then pirating the game isn't that bad

Unhealthy view of the topic? Can you elaborate on just what exactly that means, because I have a hard time coming up with a possible interpretation other than "Not what I think". That said, this again comes back to a sense of entitlement. Just because it isn't impossible for someone to buy something, and for some people it is, doesn't mean they'd buy it in the first place. If they wouldn't buy it otherwise, then no potential sale was lost and no harm was done. The only thing that's happened is someone has gotten something you don't think they deserve.

you have the option to pay for a game, or just take it for free. They're both exactly the same, brand new copies. What would you do?

Do I like the game? If so, I support the creators. Granted, if I was having a tough time with money, I might take the free copy and buy one later, but I've never had money problems so that's adding a hypothetical onto a hypothetical. If I don't like the game, I don't take either. If I don't know, I take the free copy, play it, and if I like it, buy it to support the creators. I like companies making games I like.

So, I guess the point is that some morals just go right out the window when there's no danger of getting in trouble for it.

Or some people just have a different moral sense and don't equate pirating with theft because no one is inherently deprived something from pirating.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

So Nintendo didn't give up details on their anti-piracy measures and now THQ is impressed at their anti piracy measures? Thats like kids in the schoolyard saying "I have the greatest new toy ever available, but I'm not allowed to show you."

I suppose we are supposed to take it on faith then?

 

[Mysnomer]

Though, that doesn't change one thing about it being wrong to take something with a pricetag on without paying. There is no justification for it, only excuses.

Irregardless of my views on piracy, I think this is an interesting compromise if we could get people on both sides to agree: Piracy is not justified*, but there are circumstances under which could excuse it.

For instance, who cares if you emulate some old NES games? (Not the popular kind that get turned into downloads with every new generation) If you already bought the game, and maybe an accident happened, preventing you from playing it, I wouldn't disparage you for grabbing a copy of of the internet. Etc. Etc.


*Minor rant: Justice...holy crap. Justice is one of the trickiest concepts in existence. Is justice the law? Tell that to black people pre-1960's. Is justice internal morality, like the conscience? Tell that to scientists and sociopaths. As such, I don't think we should bother with justifications for anything, but rather find some alternative, meaningful, common ground.

 

[infinity_turtles]

Though, that doesn't change one thing about it being wrong to take something with a pricetag on without paying. There is no justification for it, only excuses.

Irregardless of my views on piracy, I think this is an interesting compromise if we could get people on both sides to agree: Piracy is not justified*, but there are circumstances under which could excuse it.

For instance, who cares if you emulate some old NES games? (Not the popular kind that get turned into downloads with every new generation) If you already bought the game, and maybe an accident happened, preventing you from playing it, I wouldn't disparage you for grabbing a copy of of the internet. Etc. Etc.


*Minor rant: Justice...holy crap. Justice is one of the trickiest concepts in existence. Is justice the law? Tell that to black people pre-1960's. Is justice internal morality, like the conscience? Tell that to scientists and sociopaths. As such, I don't think we should bother with justifications for anything, but rather find some alternative, meaningful, common ground.

I suppose I could agree to that, but that's mainly because I find the concept of justification rather absurd, so saying I agree feels like I'm agreeing to something because of a disagreement in terminology. Also, I love your minor rant. Feel free to make it a major rant if you like.

 

[Kiriona]

you have the option to pay for a game, or just take it for free. They're both exactly the same, brand new copies. What would you do?

Do I like the game? If so, I support the creators. Granted, if I was having a tough time with money, I might take the free copy and buy one later, but I've never had money problems so that's adding a hypothetical onto a hypothetical. If I don't like the game, I don't take either. If I don't know, I take the free copy, play it, and if I like it, buy it to support the creators. I like companies making games I like.

So, I guess the point is that some morals just go right out the window when there's no danger of getting in trouble for it.

Or some people just have a different moral sense and don't equate pirating with theft because no one is inherently deprived something from pirating.

Siiigh... did you have to pick an argument? Since you insist on getting hypothetical...

So you basically said twice you'd take the free copy. At least this proves your sane. But then you'd buy it? Then you have two copies. What do you do with the other one? Sell it? Then you're basically at back where you started and may as well have spent the money on candy. What if you only got to get the game once? What if there's a bomb inside the second copy you get? What if federal law demanded the death penalty for owning an extra copy of a game? What if the game costs a million dollars? Would you pay for it then or take the free one?

...What if the creators are mass murderers? Or members of the KKK? What if, instead of money, the creators wanted your mother as a human sacrifice? Would you still pay for it to support them?

And I just thought of something else... why pirate a game when you can get it for two bucks at game stop?

Moving on to the second point... What if someone was raised in a box their whole life and does know what stealing is? What if you're just repeating exactly what I just said? What if it's a chicken with super intelligence instead of a person? What if an alien came down and pirated? What if someone lost their brain? Or they're schizophrenic and can't deduce what's wrong? What about all the other gray area that I can't even begin to write out?

 

[Katana314]

I'll just say I'm in full support of any DRM that doesn't affect paying customers. At least consoles are better for that regard.

 

[FoolKiller]

I remember when they said DRM was un hackable. Any bit of data is hackable.

I have always said this about anything. If you can make one, so can someone else. If it's just data, someone can copy and use it.

 

[Eri]

Doh!
I give it 3 month maximun.Video games cost the double in my country , so piracy is justified.

You're dumb. No. Piracy is not justified because of the cost. I can't afford to buy every blu-ray movie I want, so I guess it's okay for me to just steal them right?

 

[Xanthious]

It's almost cute they think this thing will be hard to crack. Seriously, this thing will likely be cracked before it hits store shelves. . . . . . .I mean at least I hope it is cause otherwise I'd have no reason to buy one. Yeah I said it. So what.

 

[Siberian Relic]

Combat piracy? Just get a tech-savvy Predator after the pirates. Then watch the lovely news reports roll in.

 

[Bocaj2000]

You see, by no means i am defending high prices. But you said it yourself, the reason people pirate is not because the stuff is too expensive. It's sinmply because they can.
If piracy wouldn't be technically so easy and the only way to get a copy of game XY would be to steal it from the Gamespot shelf no reasonable person would even think about doing so. We would suck it up and safe our money for the game we want to play or simply wouldn't play it.
You can argue prices as much as you want, but the sole reason for pirates is: "Because i can"

I love how you judge a group of many different people with many different backgrounds, motivations, and situations. If you honestly that the only reason that people pirate games is "because [they] can" then I pity you.

From personal experience, people pirate for numerous reasons. From not being able to afford it to wanting to see if the game is any good before buying it. Only nerdy ass holes pirate "just because they can."

You misunderstand. "Because i can" is the sole reason any of the hundreds of reasons pirates use even come into play. If they couldn't pirate that easily there would be no "demo-play" argument, no "i can't afford it" argument and not any other kind of excuse.
So yes, it still comes down to "because i can"

So you're saying that if people didn't have the ability to pirate then they wouldn't pirate? This is a fallacious argument; congratulations, you are winner.

 

[Turtlecatpurrz]

In the future, all gaming money will be made via advertising (free-to-play), and we'll never have to buy anything again!

That's certainly worked out in the movies... Oh wait, now we get commercials before the show, not just movie trailers, but real commercials, and product placement during the show. Nice dream though.