17. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GOTY Edition (Take-Two) -

I'm fairly certain this is bethesda :D

Well, basic rules about computers and technology is that the further and more advanced it is, the faster it evolves...

So wanting a cycle of hardware to last as long as possible, only means they're trying to slow down the natural progress/evolution of the technology.

By doing that, you either kill the martket (people eventually get bored as nothing new is being pushed forward), or someone steps in with something new, and kill the ones that refuse to move forward :).

I think the only way you'll be able to fight piracy is a full worldwide police state -

By definition, any kind of protection is imperfect and can be cracked, broken or bypassed.
Personally, i've used cracks and illegal games before, mainly to test them, since they either did not have demos, or the demo was just a "video", which does not show the game as such (like controls and so on).

People also blamed torrents and equivalent for piracy... i was using cracked games when I was 15, in the 1990's, when the cracks were much harder to find... and just about everyone I knew back then, was doing the samething. I don't think piracy "increased" as such... but now, we're more able to track down how many time a file was downloaded.

The other way you could see a pirate increase would be from 3rd world countries in the 80's/90's, now able to have most people with a computer and internet access, hence increasing the amount of people able to get a cracked game, rather than buying it...

I think of pirates as two categories:

1- the ones that will crack a game to try it for free (especially on pc, since now it's nearly impossible to return a game you've bought).
2- the ones that wouldn't pay for it anyway.

I think it is very wrong from companies to assume everyone downloading a crack game would have bought it...

I think the REAL issue is that most people aren't willing to pay for crappy games anymore.

Most people are simply unwilling to spend up to £50 for a game, that they can't return (on pc's anyway).

consoles, you can trade your games, but pc's... you can't (at least not in the uk).

2nd- kids do need to be educated properly. they think it's allright to get stuff for free.

3rd- a lot of people have been affected in the past couple of years, loosing their job and so on. it's clear they can't really think of paying for their games, but they do need some entertainment.

4th- when will america decide to wise up, and stop trying to dictate what to do to other countries? maybe it's time they start realizing other countries are not perfect, that does not give them ANY rights whatsoever to impose their views on others.

Bless EA - always providing people with some sort of entertainment from hell - one way or another! :)