There’s also going to be a collector’s edition DVD set that comes with bookends, I believe.
Actually, every single release of the DVD (there are three) has different stuff on it. :roll: If you’re a completist, you actually need to get all three of them.
-Raph
If you think DVDs are bad, what about Half-Life?
Half-Life
Half-Life: Game of the Year Edition
Half-Life: Adrenaline Pack
Half-Life: Platinum Collection
Half-Life: Generation
:roll:
- Alan
Here’s a hypothetical question. I’ve already pre-ordered Warcraft III. The Special Edition, I might add. That’s like $10 more.
Now, if I were to download the warez copy and play that, and I still kept my order and went through with the purchase, would that be wrong?
I’m just wondering whether I should scour usenet or just sit on my hands and learn some patience.
Now, if I were to download the warez copy and play that, and I still kept my order and went through with the purchase, would that be wrong?
Yes. You are guilty by association.
However, it makes me think about online piracy in general and how to stop it. If the maker, in this case Blizzard, actively searched for warez versions of its games, it could begin downloading them at a frantic pace. Why? To drive up the hacker’s bandwidth costs and shut him down. It wouldn’t eliminate hard copies (CD’s, DVD’s, etc.), but it could cripple online distribution.
Or am I an idiot?
If the maker, in this case Blizzard, actively searched for warez versions of its games, it could begin downloading them at a frantic pace. Why? To drive up the hacker’s bandwidth costs and shut him down.
Hmmm…in theory, yes. If there’s only one main distribution point and Blizzard can find it, yes. Of course, there’s always multiple hacker groups and there’s always Kazaa (or whatever’s hip nowadays). Hey, once it’s out, it’s out.
…not that I know anything about these sorts of illegal activities or anything…
On another front, NWN apparently hit the warez front (only?) yesterday. And I’m sure this has already been yakked about, but what’s up with the $60 MSRP? Does it come in a special silver tin box?
[quote="Reeko]Yes. You are guilty by association.[quote]
See, here’s the question. Note that I don’t actually plan on doing this. It’s just an intellectual excercise at best.
The pirated version is already out there. Once it’s on the internet, you can’t get it off. It’s like trying to remove piss from a pool. It’ll be listed on usenet whether I download it or not. I wouldn’t be adding to the problem at all by downloading it.
Of course, you get into the moral argument of not paying the developer, but I would under this situation go through with my preorder and purchase the software as well. That, in my mind, eliminates the moral quandry - essentially, the software is already paid for right now.
Now, if I don’t go to extraordinary lengths to download it - and I continue with my purchase - then the only possible angle with which what I am doing is wrong is if you interpret the very fact that I am using the warezed software as a tacit agreement and support for the process of warezing software itself.
I can understand where such a view may come from, but I think it’s just a bit intellectually dishonest. In my mind, it’s a bit like arguing against the ability to make backup copies of software or to use TiVos.
But by definition, most warez copies are ripped with the specific purpose of playing the game and usually are missing movies and the other bits that often add to the experience. You’re not really playing what you’re getting in the box, just a hacked up look-alike.
By downloading the copy that’s posted, you’re also saying “Hey, I want you to do this again and again. Every game should be posted this way in case I might be buying it.” Now how many people do you think really are going to follow your altruistic view and do the same thing?
Not damn many…
But you’re helping support and are voting with your download that you want that software out there “just in case”.
–Dave
If you download it or not it will be out there nothing will change that.
According to their own goofy rules you are buying the right to play the game and not the media it comes on so you are completely justified in downloading it if you are indeed going to buy it.
I just exchanged email with someone at Blizzard. They don’t even have copies of it yet. The warez crowd has it before the game company itself has a boxed version. Amazing.
They get it from the duplication houses, we have the same problem.
Some kid either works in a dup house, or has a friend that does, etc. He burns an extra copy and gives to his warez friends. They crack it and voila…
Copy protection is pretty pointless these days…
I think the same thing is going on with WC3 also.
Game companies are starting to wake up to the reality that they can indeed raise the price of the hit games, because folks will still buy them. Same with the reduced box sizes. I would expect to see the same from other companies, on games with a ton of hype, in the near future if these launches are succesful.
Retail can squeeze your margins so tight that you have to find some way to make up the marketing, development, and retail space costs.
Considering that the leaks often come from someone that works at the CD duplication plants, it’s not surprising. Blizzard sends them the Gold CD and one of the first guys it hits there is moving it onto the crackers. Publishers and developers should band together and fight these duplicators. They’re most likely the source of most before zero-day warez.
–Dave
Game companies are starting to wake up to the reality that they can indeed raise the price of the hit games, because folks will still buy them.
I think it’s a bad idea for PC game makers to gouge. Sony is going to $40 across the board for their own PS2 releases. It only makes PC games even more of a niche item than they already are. People might blow big wads on high profile releases now, but they won’t do it multiple times in a year. It just makes console gaming all the more appealing.
–Dave
It’s not gouging if you’re only charging what people are willing to pay.
You make the price $59 for the first three months, grab all the people who absolutely MUST own the game the second it comes out, then drop the price to $49. Nice little rush of sales for another nine months, then drop the price again to $39 when the expansion comes out. Six months after that you make the original’s price $24.95 and release a Gold version with the expansion for $49.
It’s all about maintainging shelf presence and keeping the price as high as possible for as long as possible.
Of course this is just a model for PC games. Console game pricing is way different.
Except that there are only a handful of console titles I’m interested in. Sony could drop the price to $20 on their new games and I’d still want PC titles.
Oh I agree with you, however large publishers are not about to reduce any of the other costs surrounding game development, marketing, or retail space rent. Instead their going to try gimicky solutions like raising game prices and reducing the size of the boxes and eliminating or reducing manual sizes.
I understand the pressures from all sides, retail PC gaming is a small margin business. I just think that the solutions should rely on smarter business practices and reducing costs in ways that don’t impact the customer.
But that’s just my 2 cents worth ;)
Publishers aren’t responsible for smaller boxes, though–retailers wanted that. Publishers hate it, because they view the box as a marketing tool (and smaller is, well, smaller). And personally, I prefer them. I’ve heard people complain that manuals are going to get smaller, but hey–most manuals are jewel case-sized these days anyway. You can stick a big manual in the small boxes, however. Witness the nice, 218-page spiral-bound manual that Neverwinter Nights comes with. That’s as long as any manual from “the good old days,” and longer than most.
But games are cheaper now.
I remember paying $50-60 for games back in 1990. That’s the equivalent of $80+ nowadays.
SNES carts sold for the same price that Gamcube games do now.
Heck, wasn’t the Atari 2600 at least $200 when it came out? That’s roughly $560 today.
No your right, the retailers are driving this, I understand the problems that the publishers face when dealing with retail.
That is the problem ;) (ie the retailers)
The increased price issue, coupled with this, can create another problem though. For the true believer buyers it doesn’t matter. For many others though it can add to the already pervasive mood in the PC market that many publishers rush their games to market to meet retail deadlines, with little concern for the buying public.
I think that, more than anything, is what is driving the pirating crowd. There will always be pirates, but having a satisfied customer base can help reduce that. Your customers become the pirating police in many cases, criticizing friends of theirs who have pirated copies of the game from their favorite developer. They know how much that screws over the developer, and reduces the chance that the game will continue to be supported or will make it to a second game.
I think building a rabidly loyal fanbase will do more for a company in pirating control than safedisk can…
But then again if we’re talking Blizzard and NWN, then they treat their fan base fairly good to begin with.