Assassin's Creed Pirate Gets a Slap on the Wrist

[Starke]

"three months in a half-way house"

For pirating? lol. That's like jail time for having a broken tail light.

If you're talking secondary infringement maybe, but this is a primary infringement. That's like jail time for going around bashing people's tail lights in.

Posting a torrent? I don't see that as a crime at all

Well, unfortunately for you, whether you see it as one or not, the US Government sees it as a federal felony, if what you posted didn't belong to you.

Seriously, what part of the whole, "you pirate something, you're stealing it" argument didn't you understand?

The whole thing, as the argument is flawed.

I'm sorry. Taking something that someone else made, and not paying them for it. That's not theft? Really? Yeah... you might want to rethink that.

Here's why: you are not stealing anything, as nobody is losing property, you are simply copying a file. Further, piracy rarely makes a mark in sales as most pirates do not pay for media anyway. Yeah I agree pirating sucks, but it sure as hell ain't no crime. I also do not believe in intellectual property laws. Further: most copyright is ridiculous. What makes me want to punch lawmakers repeatedly in the face over is that you can patent genes.

Okay genus, let's step back and take this one step at a time. First, Patent law is not Copyright law. They're related, but not the same thing, at all.

Second, if you hate copyright law, what the fuck are you doing on this site? You come on this site, and you read things that are written by employees of The Escapist, and copyrighted by the Escapist. Now, if you don't agree with those laws, tough shit. But those laws are the only way you can read any of the content on this site. Without them, we'd be left to only picking through blogs of what people wrote in between their day jobs.

Now, piracy doesn't make a mark in sales? That is patent bullshit. I don't know where you crammed that little bit of intellectual shit from, but it is patent bullshit. Today, the music industry is half the size it was in 1998. HALF. HALF of the goddamn industry is gone because of piracy. The PC game market is tiny compared to where it was twelve years ago. It used to be you'd walk into a game store, and half the store would be PC titles. Now it's usually one rack, or if you're lucky, two sides of one free standing rack. This isn't because people stopped playing games on the PC, it's because people stopped paying for them.

Here you are saying you don't think it's a crime, but, I'm sorry, the law disagrees with you, and if you want to fight the law, then all you have to do is traipse into a courtroom confess your sins, and argue that it's all okay because it doesn't affect anyone. Except it does.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest you're not old enough to really remember when the entertainment industry wasn't at the fickle whim of these little fucking shits, who feel entitled to everything released and aren't willing to pay for any of it, and who genuinely believe that the copyright laws only exist to protect industry fatcats.

People have abused copyright laws in the past, there's the music industry's control over artists, the studio system that petered out in the early 70s for films, and fucking Ubisoft, who just put in a special DRM just for you, and your inability to grasp that this is the law.

Without copyright laws, you have no music, no TV, no radio, no games, and nothing to fucking read. The idea of protecting an author's work goes back fucking centuries, but, I'm sorry that your own feelings of entitlement are so goddamn strong you can't see that. These laws are there for a reason, and it really is for your benefit, whether you can understand that or not.

Now, stop being a free rider, grow up, and get with the program.

 

[Void(null)]

Now, piracy doesn't make a mark in sales? That is patent bullshit. I don't know where you crammed that little bit of intellectual shit from, but it is patent bullshit. Today, the music industry is half the size it was in 1998. HALF. HALF of the goddamn industry is gone because of piracy. The PC game market is tiny compared to where it was twelve years ago. It used to be you'd walk into a game store, and half the store would be PC titles. Now it's usually one rack, or if you're lucky, two sides of one free standing rack. This isn't because people stopped playing games on the PC, it's because people stopped paying for them.

First. EB/Gamestop have stopped selling PC games because that eats into their used games sales. EB/Gamestop exists purely to sell you new console games then continue to turn profit on those same titles via sale and repurchasing of used titles.

PC Games make for piss poor sales because they can only be sold once. So they get a tiny little rack with a handful of always popular titles.

Compare that to your local Best Buy where PC Titles get the same space assigned to them as all the major consoles.

Not to mention the sale of PC games via Amazon and Digital Download Services such as Steam and Impulse.

You can't claim that PC gaming is dieing due to Piracy, simply because Gamestop are a bunch of greedy twats.

 

[Starke]

"three months in a half-way house"

For pirating? lol. That's like jail time for having a broken tail light.

If you're talking secondary infringement maybe, but this is a primary infringement. That's like jail time for going around bashing people's tail lights in.

Posting a torrent? I don't see that as a crime at all

Well, unfortunately for you, whether you see it as one or not, the US Government sees it as a federal felony, if what you posted didn't belong to you.

Seriously, what part of the whole, "you pirate something, you're stealing it" argument didn't you understand?

The whole thing, as the argument is flawed.

I'm sorry. Taking something that someone else made, and not paying them for it. That's not theft? Really? Yeah... you might want to rethink that.

Here's why: you are not stealing anything, as nobody is losing property, you are simply copying a file. Further, piracy rarely makes a mark in sales as most pirates do not pay for media anyway. Yeah I agree pirating sucks, but it sure as hell ain't no crime. I also do not believe in intellectual property laws. Further: most copyright is ridiculous. What makes me want to punch lawmakers repeatedly in the face over is that you can patent genes.

Okay genus, let's step back and take this one step at a time. First, Patent law is not Copyright law. They're related, but not the same thing, at all.

Second, if you hate copyright law, what the fuck are you doing on this site? You come on this site, and you read things that are written by employees of The Escapist, and copyrighted by the Escapist. Now, if you don't agree with those laws, tough shit. But those laws are the only way you can read any of the content on this site. Without them, we'd be left to only picking through blogs of what people wrote in between their day jobs.

Now, piracy doesn't make a mark in sales? That is patent bullshit. I don't know where you crammed that little bit of intellectual shit from, but it is patent bullshit. Today, the music industry is half the size it was in 1998. HALF. HALF of the goddamn industry is gone because of piracy. The PC game market is tiny compared to where it was twelve years ago. It used to be you'd walk into a game store, and half the store would be PC titles. Now it's usually one rack, or if you're lucky, two sides of one free standing rack. This isn't because people stopped playing games on the PC, it's because people stopped paying for them.

Here you are saying you don't think it's a crime, but, I'm sorry, the law disagrees with you, and if you want to fight the law, then all you have to do is traipse into a courtroom confess your sins, and argue that it's all okay because it doesn't affect anyone. Except it does.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest you're not old enough to really remember when the entertainment industry wasn't at the fickle whim of these little fucking shits, who feel entitled to everything released and aren't willing to pay for any of it, and who genuinely believe that the copyright laws only exist to protect industry fatcats.

People have abused copyright laws in the past, there's the music industry's control over artists, the studio system that petered out in the early 70s for films, and fucking Ubisoft, who just put in a special DRM just for you, and your inability to grasp that this is the law.

Without copyright laws, you have no music, no TV, no radio, no games, and nothing to fucking read. The idea of protecting an author's work goes back fucking centuries, but, I'm sorry that your own feelings of entitlement are so goddamn strong you can't see that. These laws are there for a reason, and it really is for your benefit, whether you can understand that or not.

Now, stop being a free rider, grow up, and get with the program.

Before I discuss anything further, I would like to ask for an apology for the many insults in that post. I know I am not much better sometimes, but there is no excuse for me or any one else on this website for insulting one another; that is against the spirit of our community in my opinion.

Yeah... I'm not seeing a direct insult to you. Insults to other people in a larger criminal community that you choose to associate yourself with? Yeah, but in that case, I'd advise you to remove yourself from that community first.

First: I never said I hated all copyright law, and yes I do realize its place in the market. That is, whether I like it or not I know it is a necessary evil sometimes. You may or may not be surprised by this, but I am a socialist.

I also do not believe in intellectual property laws. Further: most copyright is ridiculous. What makes me want to punch lawmakers repeatedly in the face over is that you can patent genes.

Okay, I have some bad news for you, Copyright Law is a part of intellectual property laws. You're right, you said you don't believe in it, not that you hate it. But that's a very, very fine distinction. Especially given your apparent hatred for the lawmakers in question. Unless you don't understand that assault is, you know, also a crime. In which case, I may have more bad news for you.

As a socialist, who actually understands what the term means from an economic standpoint, I can tell you, that being one has absolutely nothing to do with this debate.

Second: the music industry is half of what it was in '98 because they failed to adapt to the booming Internet. Piracy is a symptom of their failure, not the cause. They are getting a little better now I think with some of their digital distribution. Same thing with PC gaming, digital distribution is the ultimate saviour and Steam is a shining beacon of success.

Yeah... See this is a nasty chicken and egg problem. The Music industry collapsed because it couldn't adapt to the internet. It couldn't adapt to the internet because it was getting pirated to hell and back and couldn't figure out how to deal with it when most of its customer base decided that they didn't want to pay them money anymore, and turned to criminal means to get it. Oh... right, that's not chicken and the egg, it's just an intervening step. Nice try though.

The music industry is half the size it was in 1998 because back then it would take several hours to pull down an mp3, today you can literally strip an mp3 file out of a Youtube post in less than a minute.

Steam is great, so's Impulse, and to a lesser extent Direct2Drive. Unfortunately none of this helps your argument in the least. Those are content delivery systems. If people were using them instead of pirating, then that'd be great. But, like every other distribution system, they're in competition with rampant theft.

Third: yes, I am saying it is not a crime. However, there is no reason for a "my way or the highway" attitude as this is a democracy and laws can change if the public wills it. Debate over every law is healthy.

Yeah... see... that's not going to happen. And you know why? Because theft is a crime. I would think we can all get behind theft, but, apparently not. Now, if they were prosecuting secondary liability infringement cases as capital cases? Then sure, some debate would be in order. This, not so much. It is in line with similar criminal charges.

 

[Starke]

Now, piracy doesn't make a mark in sales? That is patent bullshit. I don't know where you crammed that little bit of intellectual shit from, but it is patent bullshit. Today, the music industry is half the size it was in 1998. HALF. HALF of the goddamn industry is gone because of piracy. The PC game market is tiny compared to where it was twelve years ago. It used to be you'd walk into a game store, and half the store would be PC titles. Now it's usually one rack, or if you're lucky, two sides of one free standing rack. This isn't because people stopped playing games on the PC, it's because people stopped paying for them.

First. EB/Gamestop have stopped selling PC games because that eats into their used games sales. EB/Gamestop exists purely to sell you new console games then continue to turn profit on those same titles via sale and repurchasing of used titles.

PC Games make for piss poor sales because they can only be sold once. So they get a tiny little rack with a handful of always popular titles.

Compare that to your local Best Buy where PC Titles get the same space assigned to them as all the major consoles.

Not to mention the sale of PC games via Amazon and Digital Download Services such as Steam and Impulse.

You can't claim that PC gaming is dieing due to Piracy, simply because Gamestop are a bunch of greedy twats.

I honestly keep forgetting that EB was killed and eaten by Gamestop. As for the used PC market being dead, we can lay that solidly on the DRM schemes of the past four years or so. Is that really because of piracy or some Orwellian conspiracy by the publishers to end the used game market? Little of col. A, little of col. B, probably.

Still, if you look back four years ago, the amount of space allocated to PC titles in the Best Buys I was in was four or five times what it is today. You could say that's because less titles are being developed for the platform, which is, probably true. I'd suggest that that's because the margins aren't there on the development side, which can be attributed to piracy. Remember, Gaming PCs still have a substantially larger install base than the current generation consoles combined, and yet account for about 10% of the sales.

I also don't have hard numbers for steam sales but my understanding is that the digital distribution numbers, while mitigating piracy, don't really change the fundamental impact of it, and do contribute to that 10% figure.

 

[Starke]

Spoiler

"three months in a half-way house"

For pirating? lol. That's like jail time for having a broken tail light.

If you're talking secondary infringement maybe, but this is a primary infringement. That's like jail time for going around bashing people's tail lights in.

Posting a torrent? I don't see that as a crime at all

Well, unfortunately for you, whether you see it as one or not, the US Government sees it as a federal felony, if what you posted didn't belong to you.

Seriously, what part of the whole, "you pirate something, you're stealing it" argument didn't you understand?

The whole thing, as the argument is flawed.

I'm sorry. Taking something that someone else made, and not paying them for it. That's not theft? Really? Yeah... you might want to rethink that.

Here's why: you are not stealing anything, as nobody is losing property, you are simply copying a file. Further, piracy rarely makes a mark in sales as most pirates do not pay for media anyway. Yeah I agree pirating sucks, but it sure as hell ain't no crime. I also do not believe in intellectual property laws. Further: most copyright is ridiculous. What makes me want to punch lawmakers repeatedly in the face over is that you can patent genes.

Okay genus, let's step back and take this one step at a time. First, Patent law is not Copyright law. They're related, but not the same thing, at all.

Second, if you hate copyright law, what the fuck are you doing on this site? You come on this site, and you read things that are written by employees of The Escapist, and copyrighted by the Escapist. Now, if you don't agree with those laws, tough shit. But those laws are the only way you can read any of the content on this site. Without them, we'd be left to only picking through blogs of what people wrote in between their day jobs.

Now, piracy doesn't make a mark in sales? That is patent bullshit. I don't know where you crammed that little bit of intellectual shit from, but it is patent bullshit. Today, the music industry is half the size it was in 1998. HALF. HALF of the goddamn industry is gone because of piracy. The PC game market is tiny compared to where it was twelve years ago. It used to be you'd walk into a game store, and half the store would be PC titles. Now it's usually one rack, or if you're lucky, two sides of one free standing rack. This isn't because people stopped playing games on the PC, it's because people stopped paying for them.

Here you are saying you don't think it's a crime, but, I'm sorry, the law disagrees with you, and if you want to fight the law, then all you have to do is traipse into a courtroom confess your sins, and argue that it's all okay because it doesn't affect anyone. Except it does.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest you're not old enough to really remember when the entertainment industry wasn't at the fickle whim of these little fucking shits, who feel entitled to everything released and aren't willing to pay for any of it, and who genuinely believe that the copyright laws only exist to protect industry fatcats.

People have abused copyright laws in the past, there's the music industry's control over artists, the studio system that petered out in the early 70s for films, and fucking Ubisoft, who just put in a special DRM just for you, and your inability to grasp that this is the law.

Without copyright laws, you have no music, no TV, no radio, no games, and nothing to fucking read. The idea of protecting an author's work goes back fucking centuries, but, I'm sorry that your own feelings of entitlement are so goddamn strong you can't see that. These laws are there for a reason, and it really is for your benefit, whether you can understand that or not.

Now, stop being a free rider, grow up, and get with the program.

Before I discuss anything further, I would like to ask for an apology for the many insults in that post. I know I am not much better sometimes, but there is no excuse for me or any one else on this website for insulting one another; that is against the spirit of our community in my opinion.

Yeah... I'm not seeing a direct insult to you. Insults to other people in a larger criminal community that you choose to associate yourself with? Yeah, but in that case, I'd advise you to remove yourself from that community first.

First: I never said I hated all copyright law, and yes I do realize its place in the market. That is, whether I like it or not I know it is a necessary evil sometimes. You may or may not be surprised by this, but I am a socialist.

I also do not believe in intellectual property laws. Further: most copyright is ridiculous. What makes me want to punch lawmakers repeatedly in the face over is that you can patent genes.

Okay, I have some bad news for you, Copyright Law is a part of intellectual property laws. You're right, you said you don't believe in it, not that you hate it. But that's a very, very fine distinction. Especially given your apparent hatred for the lawmakers in question. Unless you don't understand that assault is, you know, also a crime. In which case, I may have more bad news for you.

As a socialist, who actually understands what the term means from an economic standpoint, I can tell you, that being one has absolutely nothing to do with this debate.

Second: the music industry is half of what it was in '98 because they failed to adapt to the booming Internet. Piracy is a symptom of their failure, not the cause. They are getting a little better now I think with some of their digital distribution. Same thing with PC gaming, digital distribution is the ultimate saviour and Steam is a shining beacon of success.

Yeah... See this is a nasty chicken and egg problem. The Music industry collapsed because it couldn't adapt to the internet. It couldn't adapt to the internet because it was getting pirated to hell and back and couldn't figure out how to deal with it when most of its customer base decided that they didn't want to pay them money anymore, and turned to criminal means to get it. Oh... right, that's not chicken and the egg, it's just an intervening step. Nice try though.

The music industry is half the size it was in 1998 because back then it would take several hours to pull down an mp3, today you can literally strip an mp3 file out of a Youtube post in less than a minute.

Steam is great, so's Impulse, and to a lesser extent Direct2Drive. Unfortunately none of this helps your argument in the least. Those are content delivery systems. If people were using them instead of pirating, then that'd be great. But, like every other distribution system, they're in competition with rampant theft.

Third: yes, I am saying it is not a crime. However, there is no reason for a "my way or the highway" attitude as this is a democracy and laws can change if the public wills it. Debate over every law is healthy.

Yeah... see... that's not going to happen. And you know why? Because theft is a crime. I would think we can all get behind theft, but, apparently not. Now, if they were prosecuting secondary liability infringement cases as capital cases? Then sure, some debate would be in order. This, not so much. It is in line with similar criminal charges.

Well, one direct insult was you calling me a free loader.

I have no will to continue communicating with you as your tone is very unpleasant, and I am ending this discussion. However, I am not conceding to you in any way.

Free loader is a technical term: Someone who takes advantage of a service without contributing to it. If you took that as an insult, that was unintended. But the term was applied accurately, based on your comments about piracy.

EDIT: Shit, the term is "free rider", I misspoke and for that single item, I do apologize.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Slap on the wrist? I'd say it's a fairly harsh punishment, but it fits the crime. three months in a half-way house, five years of probation, and a 25,000 dollar fine is enough to make him never do it again, and he definitely will be fired and have a hard time finding a new job, but he can at least find a solution and eventually move on. This kind of punishment is definitely enough to make a point. Nintendo fining a guy 10 million dollars on the other hand, will flat out destroy his life. There's no way he'll ever come up with that kind of money. Until the day he dies he will be in debt. I would say a few hundred copies of mario bros wii aren't worth that.

 

[Starke]

Slap on the wrist? I'd say it's a fairly harsh punishment, but it fits the crime. three months in a half-way house, five years of probation, and a 25,000 dollar fine is enough to make him never do it again, and he definitely will be fired and have a hard time finding a new job, but he can at least find a solution and eventually move on. This kind of punishment is definitely enough to make a point. Nintendo fining a guy 10 million dollars on the other hand, will flat out destroy his life. There's no way he'll ever come up with that kind of money. Until the day he dies he will be in debt. I would say a few hundred copies of mario bros wii aren't worth that.

Or he'll file for bankruptcy. I'll admit, I don't know bankruptcy laws in Australia, but, faced with 10 million (I thought it was less than that) in debt is a perfectly valid reason to file... It'll make getting loans in the future a mess, but hey.

 

[lapan]

Now, piracy doesn't make a mark in sales? That is patent bullshit. I don't know where you crammed that little bit of intellectual shit from, but it is patent bullshit. Today, the music industry is half the size it was in 1998. HALF. HALF of the goddamn industry is gone because of piracy. The PC game market is tiny compared to where it was twelve years ago. It used to be you'd walk into a game store, and half the store would be PC titles. Now it's usually one rack, or if you're lucky, two sides of one free standing rack. This isn't because people stopped playing games on the PC, it's because people stopped paying for them.

While i agree that piracy is an issue in that, it's much more a indirect cause. Many publisher moved to consoles to avoid the piracy issue altogether, which in some cases didn't prove that effective (Xbox 360,Wii and some of the handhelds are already cracked). There is also the issue that nowadays the big studios swallow many small companies and just release big, costly titles. So you can't fault that only on piracy alone.

 

[Starke]

Now, piracy doesn't make a mark in sales? That is patent bullshit. I don't know where you crammed that little bit of intellectual shit from, but it is patent bullshit. Today, the music industry is half the size it was in 1998. HALF. HALF of the goddamn industry is gone because of piracy. The PC game market is tiny compared to where it was twelve years ago. It used to be you'd walk into a game store, and half the store would be PC titles. Now it's usually one rack, or if you're lucky, two sides of one free standing rack. This isn't because people stopped playing games on the PC, it's because people stopped paying for them.

While i agree that piracy is an issue in that, it's much more a indirect cause. Many publisher moved to consoles to avoid the piracy issue altogether, which in some cases didn't prove that effective (Xbox 360,Wii and some of the handhelds are already cracked). There is also the issue that nowadays the big studios swallow many small companies and just release big, costly titles. So you can't fault that only on piracy alone.

The difference is that some hardware modification is necessary for the consoles. Which does cut down on the piracy by a fair amount. Avoiding the PC to avoid piracy is still a piracy concern.

That said, I was arguing against someone who was saying that any copyright law was bad. I wasn't about to half ass any of my arguments.

 

[Void(null)]

I also don't have hard numbers for steam sales but my understanding is that the digital distribution numbers, while mitigating piracy, don't really change the fundamental impact of it, and do contribute to that 10% figure.

25 Million Subscribers [http://store.steampowered.com/news/3390/] disagree with your statement for which you have no hard figures.

 

[Void(null)]

The difference is that some hardware modification is necessary for the consoles. Which does cut down on the piracy by a fair amount. Avoiding the PC to avoid piracy is still a piracy concern.

Again. Not true.

I don't even own a next gen console yet I know that if you want to play Pirated Games from Disc, then yes you need to use a Hardware Modification. However playing games off the Consoles Hard drive only requires a firmware modification, which is entirely software based.

PSP, PS3 & 360 can all run pirated games from modified software.

Only the DS & Wii require Hardware Mods however due to the low hardware requirements, Emulators Exist for both the DS & Wii.

But then why let facts get in the way of the Truth? when you can just spout opinion or make stuff up and pick fights with people instead of actually discussing the topic at hand.

I am done here. Good day Gentlemen.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

The punishment was to harsh. If anything, this gave future buyers the ability to see how shit the game is and not buy it. Thanks piracy!

...Except it ironically became the fastest selling IP for a while. Your logic imploded.

Which has also caused me to bang my head against a wall for a few minutes. Who the fuck enjoys grinding? Seriously?

 

[x2c4me]

The reason behind the judges decison to send me to a halfway house was to show me first hand what I would have experienced had I been sentenced to jail (as the original sentencing guidelines recommeneded). I will be forced to live with former inmates who are acclimating back into society and are facing the difficulties of trying to find a job with a felony on their record. I can assure you the the point was well taken.

As far as costs, the $25,000 mentioned is just the fine from the charges I faced (defrauding the US). The article fails to mention the judge has extended the restitution period so that the aggrieved parties (Ubisoft and OEM) can work with the prosecutor to try and determine actual damages/losses. I fear this amount will easily reach the hundreds of thousands. This in addition to the $30,000+ I have accrued in lawyers fees.

Needless to say, if anyone would like to make any donations I will be more than happy to oblige them.

 

[Starke]

I also don't have hard numbers for steam sales but my understanding is that the digital distribution numbers, while mitigating piracy, don't really change the fundamental impact of it, and do contribute to that 10% figure.

25 Million Subscribers [http://store.steampowered.com/news/3390/] disagree with your statement for which you have no hard figures.

http://kotaku.com/5435876/report-the-most-pirated-games-of-2009

http://kotaku.com/5426474/report-modern-warfare-2-pc-us-retail-sales-about-170000-in-november

You're right. Even if we double the November number for MW2, (which isn't reasonable) to 340k, and shave 20% off of the reported piracy numbers, which drops it to 3.28 Million... well, no, we're still at ~10% (10.37%).

But don't let hard figures get in the way of your quest to bitchslap me with The Truth?.

(I selected MW2 as an example, basically arbitrarily, but also because, as I expected, data was easily available for both.)

EDIT: By the way, the total number of steam accounts is utterly meaningless, for a number of reasons. First because the accounts themselves are free, and some people maintain multiple accounts. Based on the Kotaku article 4.1 million of those only exist for pirated copies of Modern Warfare 2. Which would suggest that at the very least 20% of their entire community are pirates who don't contribute to the services.

Yeah, if Steam actually published sales figures, then that'd have some meaning, but until then, it shows us nothing, except that someone, somewhere is playing Team Fortress 2 on their third account because they were caught using a wall hack by VAC again.

The difference is that some hardware modification is necessary for the consoles. Which does cut down on the piracy by a fair amount. Avoiding the PC to avoid piracy is still a piracy concern.

Again. Not true.

I don't even own a next gen console yet I know that if you want to play Pirated Games from Disc, then yes you need to use a Hardware Modification. However playing games off the Consoles Hard drive only requires a firmware modification, which is entirely software based.

PSP, PS3 & 360 can all run pirated games from modified software.

Only the DS & Wii require Hardware Mods however due to the low hardware requirements, Emulators Exist for both the DS & Wii.

But then why let facts get in the way of the Truth? when you can just spout opinion or make stuff up and pick fights with people instead of actually discussing the topic at hand.

I am done here. Good day Gentlemen.

I was honestly not aware of the firmware modification option. Though, in the range of danger to the system, an untested third party firmware modification is every bit as dangerous as cracking open the case and going at the system with a soldering iron. (A quick internet search suggests hardware modification is necessary for loading to the Wii off a hard drive, but nice try.)

Emulators for the DS or the Wii, and given that the last time I checked there weren't stable emulators for the PS2 or the N64 I find that a little surprising. It used to be emulators lagged about a decade behind the consoles. Well, okay, there was a commercially released PSX emulator by the same guys who did orange PC back in the 90s, but anyway.

I wasn't picking a fight with you, unless you're of the opinion that we need to abolish copyright laws as well, which is where this train wreck started.

 

[Chechosaurus]

I can understand Ubisoft being pissed but suing a working man for $25,000 when you're a multi-million dollar company just seems a bit wrong. I know he's got to be punished but still....

 

[VincentX3]

Wow. I can't believe they tracked him for a bit over 2yrs.

But only $25.000 fine, I'm surprised they didn't fine HIM to $10 million <_<

If you're an individual, you pay 25k, if you're a business, you pay 250k, if you're a corporation, you pay 2.5 million (often just in legal fees.) Justice is based on the size of your wallet.

Seems a fair sentence really, he didn't just breach copyright law, he stole from his employer and damaged his employer's reputation by doing so. I don't see 25k as a "slap on the wrist" but sure compared to some god-awful rulings such as those mentioned it makes alot more sense.

Out of curiosity, not saying that you're wrong.
Why was there already more than one person paying (Or having to pay) over 1million (2.5? Not sure) for pirating a game to the public?

 

[mooncalf]

Wow. I can't believe they tracked him for a bit over 2yrs.

But only $25.000 fine, I'm surprised they didn't fine HIM to $10 million <_<

If you're an individual, you pay 25k, if you're a business, you pay 250k, if you're a corporation, you pay 2.5 million (often just in legal fees.) Justice is based on the size of your wallet..

Out of curiosity, not saying that you're wrong.
Why was there already more than one person paying (Or having to pay) over 1million (2.5? Not sure) for pirating a game to the public?

I wasn't citing specific examples so much as speaking in generalities. You could probably prove me wrong by showing there was never a business which (in the case of videogames) ever paid more than a couple million in legal fees or damages over copyright infringement (maybe Estate of Romero vs Dead Rising publisher?), but you wouldn't get a badge for it...

 

[VincentX3]

Wow. I can't believe they tracked him for a bit over 2yrs.

But only $25.000 fine, I'm surprised they didn't fine HIM to $10 million <_<

If you're an individual, you pay 25k, if you're a business, you pay 250k, if you're a corporation, you pay 2.5 million (often just in legal fees.) Justice is based on the size of your wallet..

Out of curiosity, not saying that you're wrong.
Why was there already more than one person paying (Or having to pay) over 1million (2.5? Not sure) for pirating a game to the public?

I wasn't citing specific examples so much as speaking in generalities. You could probably prove me wrong by showing there was never a business which (in the case of videogames) ever paid more than a couple million in legal fees or damages over copyright infringement (maybe Estate of Romero vs Dead Rising publisher?), but you wouldn't get a badge for it...

Well...
There's this one
http://www.qj.net/qjnet/wii/new-super-mario-bros-wii-pirate-tracked-fined-for-us-13-million.html

Arggg... No badge D: xD

 

[Starke]

Wow. I can't believe they tracked him for a bit over 2yrs.

But only $25.000 fine, I'm surprised they didn't fine HIM to $10 million <_<

If you're an individual, you pay 25k, if you're a business, you pay 250k, if you're a corporation, you pay 2.5 million (often just in legal fees.) Justice is based on the size of your wallet..

Out of curiosity, not saying that you're wrong.
Why was there already more than one person paying (Or having to pay) over 1million (2.5? Not sure) for pirating a game to the public?

I wasn't citing specific examples so much as speaking in generalities. You could probably prove me wrong by showing there was never a business which (in the case of videogames) ever paid more than a couple million in legal fees or damages over copyright infringement (maybe Estate of Romero vs Dead Rising publisher?), but you wouldn't get a badge for it...

Well...
There's this one
http://www.qj.net/qjnet/wii/new-super-mario-bros-wii-pirate-tracked-fined-for-us-13-million.html

Arggg... No badge D: xD

To be fair to both of you, that is kind of an outlier, like the woman who was fined 1.9million in a secondary liability suit here in the states. Generally speaking though, mooncalf's estimates look solid. It's just there are, and always will be exceptions.

 

[Arec Balrin]

Ahem, Assassin's Creed gets leaked: becomes becomes fastest selling IP before Modern Warfare 2 comes along. Sells quite well on the PC despite the long delay and complaints about repetitive gameplay.

Assassin's Creed 2 gets DRM, not because of pirates but because Ubisoft are idiots. Relatively piss-poor sales on PC despite a shorter delay before release and reports that the gameplay has improved a lot.

Perspective much Woodsey?

[Needs Citation]

In the first month of release of Assassin's Creed I for the PC, it sold 40,000 copies, while being pirated 70,000 times http://www.gamespot.com/news/6195570.html , http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19736

I've yet to find any sales figures for AC II, but I highly doubt that it sold less for the PC than AC I did in the first month.

So, I think the perspective is: piracy hurts the gaming industry as a whole, and gamers in particular, and we should string the people who crack or distribute this stuff up by their thumbs.

I agree. Piracy is worse than murder, we should execute such people.

Mmm... Strawman

Both your sources give June as the month for 40,000 sales and that's for the US only(remember the rest of the world? We exist). According to Wikipedia the release date for AC1 on PC in the US, Europe and Australia was 8-10th of April 2008. Sale for June do not represent April and May.

As far as I'm aware no one has managed to find accurate PC sales for Assassin's Creed 2 and it's unlikely to emerge for a while. Just as Blizzard doesn't report periodic drops in active WoW players, Ubisoft aren't going to report bad news until they have to lest the shareholders scream. AC2's performance is widely being judged on its chart performance: AC1(PC) was at number 1 and then stayed in the top ten for at least two months, but AC2 hasn't appeared at number 1 anywhere and has swiftly been overtaken by indie games in some markets.