The First Pirate Bust Of 2009

[Scorched_Cascade]

Prior to the official raid, investigators set up a sting operation where they visited him to have their Xbox chipped and purchase pirated games. The console and games were then forensically examined to provide the evidence needed to obtain a search warrant.

Entrapment.

This was my first thought too and its probably what the guy is going to scream in court.

 

[nova18]

Like everyone says, making money from piracy is wrong.
A lot of game dev's are being put out of business cause of lack of revenue.
This doesnt help keep quality games companies stay in business.

Admittedly, I can chip a PS1, PS2 and an XBOX myself, because I learnt how to on the net, but I don't do it out of principle, same as I wouldn't copy games for people.
For the sole reason that I respect the work that goes into games development and I dont want to deprive the developers of their wages.

 

[brighteye]

He had 700 xbox games, in my mind that makes him a pirate with intent to sell and if you intend to sell, you are in it for the money.
If you download games because you cant afford the insanely high prices, i might have some symphaty for you, but in this case....BAD DOG, BAAAD DOG.
*slaps him with a rolled newspaper*

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I'm not gonna lie, I came in here expecting either pirate women or those Somali pirates who stole that ship.

Well, this proves Ninjas are better than Pirates. When did you last hear of a Ninja being arrested?

And we already know what the Somalia Pirates are upto, allegedly. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/87799-Shipment-of-Stonking-Great-Tits-Goes-Missing]

 

[Specter_]

I'm usually a bit wishy-washy when it comes to Piracy issues, but this guys was making money off it. I have no sympathy for him.

This.

 

[capnjack]

As I said earlier in this thread, I think he's referring to the fact that a guy doing unauthorised electronic work on consoles with no proper quality control (as you have on a factory production line) definitely holds the potential to be a risk to health.

Regardless, the terminology is off. That would be a risk to safety, not a risk to health. And the risk is incredibly minimal - I've never heard of a modded console-related injury. It's a moot point, don't waste your time arguing it.

So its ok to cause companies (and thus the people within them) to be given less money than they deserve for the media they put time, effort and their own money into, so long as you aren't pocketing the difference yourself?

Prove to me that piracy negatively affects the industry. Video game sales continue to go up, and a game downloaded is not a game lost. Piracy puts games in the hands of people in other countries who'd otherwise be unable to play them, it puts power back in consumers hands, it gives free product recognition (there's definitely evidence out there that fans will support media, and if you enjoy a game you downloaded, you could become a fan). If anything, peer-to-peer file-sharing should be seen as a possibility to gain profits, not to a threat. Once companies are willing to adapt to technology, and not squeeze every bit of undeserved profit from every concept, idea or product related to them, things will be better for everyone.

 

[Obliterato]

So its ok to cause companies (and thus the people within them) to be given less money than they deserve for the media they put time, effort and their own money into, so long as you aren't pocketing the difference yourself?

Are you under the illusion that those that do all the creating of the games get paid a bonus if thier game does well? They most likely get paid a fixed wage and the bonus etc go to the stock holders and board members of the distribution companies who do nothing in the development of the game but will concentrate on deadlines and not care if the product going to the market isn't the best it could be as long as it sells well.

 

[Aid n]

yeah he's a scumbag thief not like the corperate sleeze bags who have nothing to do with game production but own the parent company so they can buy expensive islands in dubai, those guys are the real saints. long live piracy. ya never gonna get ahead by giving head to the man.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Trying to profit off piracy through monetary inflation of your economics is an unmistakable sign that YOU'VE MISSED WHAT PIRACY IS ALL ABOUT!

I like to call this "black piracy", because it violates the virtue of "white piracy" - Making good things free and keeping not-for-sale products in circulation.

 

[Unusual_Bulge]

Regardless, the terminology is off. That would be a risk to safety, not a risk to health. And the risk is incredibly minimal - I've never heard of a modded console-related injury. It's a moot point, don't waste your time arguing it.

Well I think it comes under the umbrella term of 'Health and Safety' (at least here in the UK), so I'd say we're both right there. I agree the chance is tiny, but there's still a potential risk, and if the policeman wants to tell the public about how he gallantly rode in and saved the day in this regard then fair enough. Arguing over how much of a risk and how much people actually needed saving is a different matter, I was only pointing out he was talking about the hardware being a risk (which it is, though a small one), not the software.

Prove to me that piracy negatively affects the industry. Video game sales continue to go up, and a game downloaded is not a game lost. Piracy puts games in the hands of people in other countries who'd otherwise be unable to play them, it puts power back in consumers hands, it gives free product recognition (there's definitely evidence out there that fans will support media, and if you enjoy a game you downloaded, you could become a fan). If anything, peer-to-peer file-sharing should be seen as a possibility to gain profits, not to a threat. Once companies are willing to adapt to technology, and not squeeze every bit of undeserved profit from every concept, idea or product related to them, things will be better for everyone.

Your second quote there is mine I think, not Beetlejooce's (for the benefit of anyone else reading). It depends on what you mean by 'the industry' I think. If we're talking video games on the whole, then piracy isn't too big an issue. Consoles make up the bulk of the market and console piracy has to go through these console modder types at some point, and they can (as in this story) be shut down.

However, if we look at the PC end of the industry, then piracy is a huge issue. I'd argue that the industry is damaged by the number of game companies pulling out PC-centric titles (Crytek and the next Unreal Engine spring to mind), citing piracy as a leading cause for their departure from the PC sphere. People also argue DRM damages the industry and DRM is a reaction to piracy. Although the industry on the whole is growing, it could be growing a lot faster if the PC end was pulling its (considerable) weight.

A good article on the topic of PC piracy is http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_4.html

I don't have a lot of time, but I think this article pretty much sums up my feelings. Regarding one of your last points; 'companies need to adapt', I think this article mentions that they are adapting. They're changing to subscription based online methods (MMOs) because that way to play the game you have to pay. Most people hate this change, but I think if piracy continues like this, more and more companies will feel the lure of a WoW-esque printing press.

 

[Unusual_Bulge]

Are you under the illusion that those that do all the creating of the games get paid a bonus if thier game does well? They most likely get paid a fixed wage and the bonus etc go to the stock holders and board members of the distribution companies who do nothing in the development of the game but will concentrate on deadlines and not care if the product going to the market isn't the best it could be as long as it sells well.

Perhaps it did come across as if I was saying that. What I meant was that all these people who do receive the money, like you said, shareholders, distribution companies, board members etc aren't going to hang around if the money stops coming in. If they don't hang around, games don't get made (at least not on the scale that any of us want). In a sense I meant that if someone feels a game is worth playing, the people who were willing to put their money behind the game to make it happen should be paid. This way, they'll be willing to do it in the future.

However, I also think that although perhaps no cash bonus would be forthcoming for the actual development teams (though it wouldn't surprise me if some studios had setups like this), if the product sells well, more money will flow in to the studio in the future. They show they can make good games, more investors will be interested. They show they have the talent to make good games, pay may have to rise to retain the talented staff. There are lots of different ways it could potentially happen, but I'm sure strong sales of games filters down in some way to the development team (not least of all in continued employment).

 

[Obliterato]

Are you under the illusion that those that do all the creating of the games get paid a bonus if thier game does well? They most likely get paid a fixed wage and the bonus etc go to the stock holders and board members of the distribution companies who do nothing in the development of the game but will concentrate on deadlines and not care if the product going to the market isn't the best it could be as long as it sells well.

Perhaps it did come across as if I was saying that. What I meant was that all these people who do receive the money, like you said, shareholders, distribution companies, board members etc aren't going to hang around if the money stops coming in. If they don't hang around, games don't get made (at least not on the scale that any of us want). In a sense I meant that if someone feels a game is worth playing, the people who were willing to put their money behind the game to make it happen should be paid. This way, they'll be willing to do it in the future.

However, I also think that although perhaps no cash bonus would be forthcoming for the actual development teams (though it wouldn't surprise me if some studios had setups like this), if the product sells well, more money will flow in to the studio in the future. They show they can make good games, more investors will be interested. They show they have the talent to make good games, pay may have to rise to retain the talented staff. There are lots of different ways it could potentially happen, but I'm sure strong sales of games filters down in some way to the development team (not least of all in continued employment).

Well I don't doubt the top jobs in game development earn big bucks and to be honest if I had their skills I wouldn't stick at a place that was paying me a pittance for my work, but most pay rises are based on inflation (except for now when things are in reverse and job loses are happening on a huge scale). However strong game sales do mean that a games company may have the money to fund multiple games at once and increase their staff. Thing is unlike the Movie industry i have never really seen a game advertising its budgets so its hard to know the kind of profit margins that games companies are running.