PC gamers admit to piracy

[gaming ultima]

Copy protection experts Macrovision have recently conducted a software piracy survey across a number of popular gaming Web sites. Of the 2,219 PC gamers who responded, 52 percent admitted to having obtained cracked software, and 33 percent of those had acquired "ISO" files--essentially full CD images with the copy protection hacked out. A worrying 15 percent of the respondents owned up to having acquired 15 or more pirated games within the last two years.

The Electronic Software Association (ESA) currently estimates the impact of packaged software piracy on the games industry to be around $3 billion worldwide. Taking into account the rise in high-speed Internet file sharing, though, Macrovision believes that figure is actually much higher.

Based on its survey results, Macrovision estimates that for every four weeks a highly desired game's copy protection remains effective, significant revenue could be generated at retail as users get fed up of waiting for a "free" version of the game and buy a legitimate copy. Approximately two-thirds of the PC gamers who admitted to using pirated software conceded that they wouldn't have the patience to wait six weeks after a game's release before buying a legitimate version.

"The results of this survey highlight the economic impact of slowing hackers down by even a day," said Martin Brooker, director of sales at Macrovision Europe. "As the world's leading copy protection experts, we want to draw attention to the benefits of integrating security measures into game code--something which is both easy and efficient using our SafeDisc technology. And when you can generate significant additional revenues by investing a small amount of developer time to protect code properly, we think it's important that publishers choose the most robust and flexible security available."

gamespot
with sites like s...nova.org you can see why, but $3 billion, that a hell of a lot

[Blake]

Woa, that is much more than I ever expected. I've never downloaded full PC games but I've tried. If it werent for the crappy servers I would of been able to do it, but now that I see how much this is causing the industry I'd rather buy my games now.

[gaming ultima]

Woa, that is much more than I ever expected. I've never downloaded full PC games but I've tried. If it werent for the crappy servers I would of been able to do it, but now that I see how much this is causing the industry I'd rather buy my games now.

yea my stance on piracy is - download music, but dont download games, have more respect for the industry

[Seb]

Yea same. Although I don't condone either.

[gaming ultima]

Yea same. Although I don't condone either.

why don’t you condone downloading music, i would buy music if it wasn’t so overpriced in my opinion or is it a as you’re a staff member here and the person who runs ps3.…. You cant condone it because of what the music industry might do?

[Dragonlance]

i download music. NOT GAMES (it takes 2 long i would if i could lol). Music cd is a ripoff and personally, i dont care if som1 like britney spears, bosson or melanie c have 2 be living like reg humans instead of millionares. I say so what if they dont make that music nemore? som1 else will come and take their spot.
As for downloading games thats stupid and only a moron would do so. ok, mebe if it cost the industry only about 1 mill every year (not a lot, trust me) then it would be ok. But imagine blizzard or Westwood going out of buisness cuz ppl would be 2 scared 2 throw away 20$ of there salary on a frikken game.
Does any1 rmmbr heroes of might asndmagic? it was made by 3do. A truly awsome game wich actually inspired me into gaming. 3do is currently bankrupt. Go 2 any store, u wont find homam3 or 4 there.
But i ask why?
Cuz pll downloaded em. Any1 i met had a pirated copy. There are other reasons that i wont go in2 cuz this posts so frikken long (sorry bout that, i know you dont like long posts lol).

Anyway, just try to buy the real thing. I would hate for another truly awsome company 2 go *makes splat noise*.

[Seb]

What? Long posts are better than short posts imho! This post I'm writing now is too short and many would consider what you've just written an average size post. Less than one sentence is usually considerd spamming.

[Dragonlance]

really? cuz iv been posting posts a lot that long. Has any1 played any 3do games b4?

[gaming ultima]

i belive westwood went out of business, they were taken over by EA and i think they have been shut down now

[Dragonlance]

damn, there goes another good game makin company. Whats left? MS, Blizzard e. and MAXIS?

[ps3 Wanna be]

Koei has revealed the titles it will showcase at this year's E3. The company plans to show off games for a variety of platforms, including two web-based titles.

Here's the full list:

• Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War (PS3)

• Dynasty Warriors BB (working title) (web-based)

• Dynasty Warriors DS (DS)

• Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2 (PSP)

• Fatal Inertia (PS3)

• Gitaroo Man Lives! (PSP)

• Samurai Warriors 2 (PS2, X360)

• Uncharted Waters Online (web-based)

E3 begins in just over one week's time. The Conference Program kicks off from Tuesday 9 May, whilst the main Expo begins on Wednesday 10 May. Both take place for two days. Sony, however, is holding a pre-E3 conference on the Monday at 4pm (Los Angeles time). The conference is likely to feature a number of new game demonstrations, and specific details about the PlayStation 3 and its launch.

We'll keep you up to date on any developments.

By Bhavin Shah

Ready for Submission

[Rebon]

Great work! News piece is live!

[ps3 Wanna be]

Sorry, I made a mistake in this article.

"Both take place for three days" - not two.

Cheers.

[Rebon]

Sorry, I made a mistake in this article.

"Both take place for three days" - not two.

Cheers.

Fixed!