In the world of the pirates copied games are called “backups”. The technique to allow your Xbox 360 to play backups is called “flash” and there is a very good tutorial of how to do it here. And obviously it gets discussed on the forums. There are even videos. Once you have flashed your 360 you no longer have to pay $60 per game which is a massive saving. It is really cool that Microsoft have made piracy so easy.
Piracy is also really easy on the Sony PSP which is one reason why hardly any games are sold despite a massive user base. You can download everything you want for free using Bit Torrents. The Nintendo DS is also very, very easy to use with pirated games. Using flash memory to hold a whole pile of games on the DS has rocketed in popularity in recent months. This is saving end users a fortune. There are companies out there who specialise in helping you make backups on any console.
Of course the grand daddy platform for piracy is the PC, where most games can be downloaded for free long before they are even available in the shops. Nobody in their right mind actually pays for a PC game. Which may explain why developers have largely stopped making boxed PC games.
The thing is that piracy, ultimately, leads to the death of the activity that the pirates crave after. The production of new games. They destroy what they love. Also they are ignorant enough not see themselves as the thieves that they really are.
10 comments ↓
Really what this shows is that we are seeing symptoms, but what is the cause. How can we treat the cause?
Mabey its by adding value to the purchase by using things like steam, where i can purchase my games and then redownload them to any machine I own and play them while “I’m” logged in.
Piracy is and has been a fact of life, now is the time to find ways to make it less appealing than buying the products.
A couple more good Xbox 360 piracy articles that I just found on Digg:
http://venomousfire.blogspot.com/2008/02/how-to-flash-benq-xbox-360.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2194972_copy-xbox-games.html
I don’t see how steam adds value, having an original cd/dvd will install much quicker, Although value can not possibly be placed on a $0.10 cd/dvd. The only solution is to lower prices to make piracy not worth the effort.
I agree with Bperry entirely. Digital game delivery to applications such as Steam (which must be harder to pirate, if possible at all?) seems to be the best avenue for PC. Lowering the prices wont make a difference in my opinion. Quite simply why pay when you can get it for free? Why even bother travelling to the shops to buy it when you can download it etc etc.
This is scary. As a game developer, I’d like to continue being a game developer for the rest of my life, providing people great new titles… but how can I do that without any revenue?
It’s simply impossible to run a company without revenue. I just released my first game, Lex Venture, and it is already pirated. Not expensive, 20 dollars, but pirates don’t care if I have to pay employees and infrastructure.
I think we will have to think over our business model. Which is pretty difficult considering the sea of low-quality freeware/flash games on the Internet.
Personally I love steam. I would purchase all my games on steam if I could. I’ve been buying video games since high school and have a lot of game cds and dvds laying around. I’m hesitant to throw it away because I might actually want to go back and play some of the classics. Steam allows me never have to worry about that, if I want to replay an old game all I have to do is re-download it. The recent announcement from Gabe Newell that he hopes to have all games ever made available on steam is extremely exciting. Steam is the future of PC gaming and it actually makes me sad when I have to purchase a game in a store.
I don’t think “added value” is the benefit of Steam- at least, not for me. (I only have one games computer. I doubt I’m unusual in that respect.)
Standing in a busy high street shop with three £20 notes in my hand in a neon-lit shop with bad music playing and a bunch of Nintendo dogs isn’t a good way to get me to spend my hard earned money. Sat at home, in front of my computer, maybe having just watched a trailer or played a demo for a really cool looking game, maybe after a couple of beers/glasses of wine, while I’m relaxed and comfortable- that’s the perfect time to get me to type in my credit card details.
And if I’ve already done the hard work (entering all those 16 digits, billing address etc.) in something like Steam, and it’s just a case of clicking a button to buy it, then you’ve got a winner on your hands.
Actually, I can’t remember the last time I bought a game that wasn’t through Steam or Amazon… Oh yes I can- it was Lego Star Wars (Original Trilogy) on the Nintendo DS, the day it came out (I was on holiday at the time.) I thought it looked great, but it turned out to be an absolute dog. Which, if I’d been online, I would have looked up some reviews and found that out before I bought it…
Game piracy has always been with us. Back in the 80’s, I remember hearing some friends talk about copying an Apple IIe game between themselves.
Today’s problem is that the internet has magnified piracy to the point that it threatens the very life of the industry itself. The people who are pirates are immature and selfish people who only care for themselves.
How do we stop it? I’m not sure, but better laws and software protection is a good start. Outlawing torrent software is another good step.
80% of all internet traffic is torrents. And nearly 100% of that is IP being stolen. Frightening.
Piracy is what happens when the poor get screwed long enough. Piracy is a reaction to greed.
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