OK, maybe not, but I know a lot of people visit FileRush (and, formerly, GameTab) to get Torrents of the latest game demos, instead of having to subscribe or wait in line at FilePlanet, so I was highly interested to read this:
The UK site Eurogamer are coming out with a Windows download wrapper for BitTorrent (a bit like the Blizzard one for World Of Warcraft?) that they’re going to package new game-related demos/files in, and then show you info from the Eurogamer site and ads while you download the file in question.
Of course, exclusive-to-FilePlanet demos, as there increasingly are, can’t be hosted that way. And this’ll only work well with the newest, most popular files, because BitTorrent isn’t that efficient when there aren’t many seeders - although if Eurogamer run a permanent high-speed seed for all files, then it might work better than other unofficial BitTorrent services who can’t afford to keep seeds running themselves.
I guess GameSpot DLX is the other ‘big contender’ in game-related file downloads nowadays - what do you guys use to leech stuff?
I use BT from whatever site. I dont think I’d want ads or a goofy custom client, I’d just grab the torrent and run.
I also occasionally use the gamespot thing, but I really cant stand the whole layout/nagivation of the gamespot sites. They also seem to hate non-ie browsers. I really should get them to cancel my account.
This is what i wanted to do in a sense with zirr.com (But without the ads) the idea being, popular files are made for BTs. So the more popular the file, the better the stream. So I wanted to clean up a version of abc so mom and dad could feel comfortable, support it, and then host only 0-7 day old files.
Still think it would work. If anyone wants to help let me know. I have some other projects close to your hearts that is taking me longer than i expected so i haven’t really gotten around to zirr, past a false start with a developer. I am no longer thinking i need to have our own client (to avoid people doing things like limewire which eventually came to be about delivering spyware). But if anyone is familiar with trackers etc, let me know.
Keep in mind before going on any sort of public works BT project:
Don’t do it.
You want to see how successful they are? Suprnova is the biggest of them all. They get a HUGE amount of traffic, it’s just unbelievable. If I managed it, it’d be making thousands a day.
As it is, they are making nearly nothing and they can’t pay their 10mbps server bill (that’s just to serve the torrent files, they don’t actually host trackers, which would add a fair bit more bw and server horsepower required.) They require people with “free” bandwidth to be their mirrors.
Sad, really sad. I hate to see such a potential fountain of wealth wasted in such a manner.
Umm… i am aware of the bandwidth requirements and the resources needed and how to monetize sites without being annoying with the ads. But thanks for the suggestion.
I should add: I did say “public works”, meaning ya know like Suprnova, where the clueless warezhounds just are trying to make enough to keep the site up. From your other posts it sounds like you have a clue wrt commercial sites.
Actually, I’m running a ‘public works’ BitTorrent site, albeit largely unrelated to games, using (with permission) the code from Reed’s GameTab torrents site which he’s now taken down:
…and it’s running perfectly well with hardly any bandwidth costs, though it’s not very heavy traffic.
I think some of your technical terms got mixed up, Backov (you meant seed instead of tracker at one point), but the actual act of being the BitTorrent distribution point doesn’t really kill your bandwidth, unless you’re something crazy like Scarywater or Suprnova.
However, if you want to provide a guaranteed seed of each of the files (like GameTab did when it was around), to prevent disappointment when everybody else stopped serving them, then that can certainly get heavier in terms of bandwidth. And I would recommend that if you want to be user-friendly in the slightest, even if you cap your seeds.
Suprnova has warez, music, and movies available for download. This obviously restricts the advertisements they can get.
I can certainly see a market for a legitimate service based on bittorrent. You could charge the content creators a relatively nominal service fee and outsource the seeding and torrent distribution. Drop in some non-obtrusive ads to add to your revenue stream and you could end up the source for large demos and patches.
Ya that’s the problem… Start getting 750k uniques a day like Suprnova and you’ll see it. ;>
Nope, no mixup… I meant the tracker. The seed would add a VERY large amount of bandwidth. I am in the design and development stages of a commercial distribution system right now using BT…
Speaking of which, to the listening audience: If you’re a very talented PHP programmer, I’ve got a job for you.
However, if you want to provide a guaranteed seed of each of the files (like GameTab did when it was around), to prevent disappointment when everybody else stopped serving them, then that can certainly get heavier in terms of bandwidth. And I would recommend that if you want to be user-friendly in the slightest, even if you cap your seeds.
ya, that would be a LARGE bandwidth committment, but necessary in a lot of cases (ours for instance.)
Actually, the restrictions are mostly on their (Suprnova’s) end. With his kind of traffic he could be making a lot of money. Of course, making money isn’t kewl with the other kids on IRC, so don’t expect it to happen.
That’s true, you can do pretty well with pay for click porn and casino ads with enough pageviews. He does have a bunch of annoying ads on the page so I wonder what the deal is?
Ya, they have some personal objections to porn, but apparently gambling is fine.
You’ll notice that they (or one of their smart surfers) often spikes the listings with poker-site executables, which get a ton of downloads.
That’s one of the ways to make money. I can think of a few other killer ideas.
Hell I even offered to buy it from him, but he won’t entertain offers. Apparently they’ve got “big plans”… I’m sure those big plans start right after they start making enough money to afford hosting.
I don’t think any site offering legal downloads of game files is going to get hit nearly as often as Suprnova, nor are they going to get hit with the number of denial of service attacks that seem to surround those kinds of sites either. I honestly believe most of Suprnova’s problems come straight from the same reason for their success, and that’s being a site primarily for illegal downloads.
Filerush and 3DGamers seem to be successfully dealing with game file torrents, though more sites offering such would be ideal.
Bittorrent is great during an initial release period when it’d be impossible to get a popular file any other way, provided the torrent and tracker are all properly configured. It’s great being able to download a gigabyte of Linux .isos on the first day of release at over 100KB/s when all the ftp servers are choking otherwise.
I’d love to help Chet with his project, unfortunately my experience in web development is pretty much restricted to simple PHP on a home site and the digital artwork that goes with it. ;)
You’re out of your freakin mind dude. Paying for a pirate site? That’s insane. Making money off piracy tends to to federal pound you in the ass prison. It’s also scummy. I don’t want a job I can’t tell my mom about.
Hell, paying for an unprofitable internet property solely due to market share is insane too. Will noone learn from the mistakes of the 90s?
