Support NeoGAF

[AdmiralViscen]

Sarcasm?

With the userbase and rabid game buying owners they would have released COD4 on the 360 if the system only did monochrome. The system probably accounts for 60-70% of all sales

CoD5 will be larger than CoD4, and since 2008 is the year of the PlayStation the 360 version will surely be canceled.

I don't know what an attach ratio is.

 

[Mugen]

I bought the game on Steam. More than like 2 months after release, there are still plenty of issues even getting the Steam version of the game to DL and install properly. That, combined with it being 9 gigs, makes me wonder whether double dipping and going for the PC version was even worth the dough.

PC version is tons betters. Better graphics and framerate. You always hear about console gamer complaining about "host quitting" and connection problems. You don't get that on the PC version due to dedicated servers.

 

[Draft]

call of duty 4 is a meaty installation on the PC as it is. more than 7 gb, for sure.

 

[davepoobond]

;P

 

[Night_Trekker]

I don't think there is, that week it took people to crack the game definately raked in more sales from people dying to play the game.

In it's current form, stealing a game is a simple as entering it's name in a BitTorrent engine and people who are not sure just need to read the readme.txt.

If you're right, maybe copy protection and DRM are only worthwhile to secure that small, indefinite window of strong sales before the crack is released. Because any game is going to get cracked eventually.

 

[ArtG]

I can't understand how people can be so fucking cheap as to not pay somebody for their good work.

 

[lexi]

"Talk to your publisher or fuck off, random IW developer."


Was that a glitch or? I never saw it that expensive on steam.

No, it's really that expensive to buy it off Steam in Australia.

My most previous purchase on Steam at that point was Orange Box for $45 USD. Kind of puts things in perspective.

 

[Borys]

It's sad. Dumb ass thieving little PC pirating pricks are killing the PC industry.

And right there the thread should have ended.

PC thieves are killing the market from which they steal.

How sad is that?

 

[YYZ]

it's incredibly sad. After I got my new PC just before Christmas, I bought like 10 games for real.

When big budget games stop being a priority on the PC, the pirates will be the first to cry foul. Already saw that shit on Oblivion, it's incredibly weak without mods (the parts of the game that clearly would have been different had it been PC-only).

I don't get why developers think some terrible copy protection thing is going to work, it's NOT. Find another solution because it just frustrates consumers who pay for the game. 100% of the time it will be cracked so it's really fucking over the people making the effort to buy the games because the vast majority of all PC gamers know how to get games for free and many still support the developers.

And it's funny that this is someone behind COD4 who is saying this since they didn't even spend money on their own servers, what a joke.

I fear for the future with incredibly dumbed down single player only games since they will be developed specifically for consoles first or just games of microrape. The only good shooters will be online only from Valve, which isn't bad by a long shot but limits the creativity.

I am sad because I've seen the light with Oblivion and that was already gimped for the 360...

 

[Monsterland]

And right there the thread should have ended.

PC thieves are killing the market from which they steal.

How sad is that?

I'm not defending piracy, but publishers (activison among others) treating consumers like shit certainly doesn't help matters. As lockii pointed out, why are Australians and Europeans getting raped over steam. The same game coming from the same server costs nearly double the price of US. People know what's going on and I'm sure in this case a lot of people pirate out of spite. Could you imagine paying $88.50 USD for COD 4? it's laughable.

 

[Borys]

I'm not defending piracy, but publishers (activison among others) treating consumers like shit certainly doesn't help matters. As lockii pointed out, why are Australians and Europeans getting raped over steam. The same game coming from the same server costs nearly double the price of US. People know what's going on and I'm sure in this case a lot of people pirate out of spite. Could you imagine paying $88.50 USD for COD 4? it's laughable.

Then don't buy it. Get some other game for $50 or go to cinema.

BUT DON'T STEAL IT CAUSE YOU DIDN'T BUY IT

 

[Zzoram]

i know Steam lets you back up the games you buy, but on a 9GB game, will it split it up for you so it'll fit on 2 DVDs?

Call of Duty 4 is not 9GB. It would fit on a dual-layer DVD9, not sure if Steam lets you split the files to back up onto 2 DVD5s though.

 

[Arthas]

All this talk of pc gaming dying, pc gaming market getting killed, pc gaming not profitable enough, pc gaming this, pc gaming that...YET....

As many big name games are released for pc/year as there are for all the consoles put together. :lol

Relax guys.

 

[Danj]

Could you imagine paying $88.50 USD for COD 4? it's laughable.

Well, the retail disc version is way cheaper, and that's the route I went rather than buying it over Steam. I'd have liked to have gotten it over Steam, because then I wouldn't have to worry about losing the disc or the CD Key or whatever, but the European price is just too silly.

 

[Zzoram]

All this talk of pc gaming dying, pc gaming market getting killed, pc gaming not profitable enough, pc gaming this, pc gaming that...YET....

As many big name games are released for pc/year as there are for all the consoles put together. :lol

Relax guys.

Of IGN's 5 GOTY nominations, 3 of them were playable on PC, and one of them is probably coming to PC in 2008. The PC versions are also the superior versions. The quality of games available on PC is still very high. Many of the best games for this generation's consoles are being developed by traditionally PC developers, and you know they prefer the PC platform and only work on consoles because they need to make a living.

 

[cedric69]

As many big name games are released for pc/year as there are for all the consoles put together. :lol

Huh? No?

Without going into lists, I don't think there are enough big name games coming to PC exclusively to make up for the big name games exclusives on 360, PS3 and Wii.

Unless you consider big name in a totally different way than the majority of human beings, that is. I mean... Starcraft 2 and... ? Farcry 2?

(I looked at the awesome list of PC games coming, and I love PC gaming, just to put things in perspective)

 

[itxaka]

From http://w3.bsa.org/eupolicy/press/ne...e-in-Use-in-the-European-Union-Is-Pirated.cfm

 

[Bodom78]

It's a shame people don't care how about how much work and effort goes into making some of the top tier games.

Well I can't afford a Sports Car so I'm off to steal one, reckon I'll just get a slap on the wrist if I get caught?

 

[Woakes]

From http://w3.bsa.org/eupolicy/press/ne...e-in-Use-in-the-European-Union-Is-Pirated.cfm


Scary Stats

That's a lot of money, but unfortunately I don't think it means a lot without other much harder (probably imposable) to get statistics. Such as, what percentage of that value represents software that would have been bought if piracy hadn't been available (my "pulled out of my ass figure" would be quite a low one), how many people went on to buy that or another piece of software after they'd pirated it (people that couldn't wait but then bought it, or people who decided they couldn't live without multi player), people that pirated it after they'd bought it because of over-zealous copy protection, and so it goes on.

I'm not downplaying the seriousness of piracy but I am genuinely curious about this, that and sensationalist statistics piss me off

 

[Metal Gear?!]

It's a shame people don't care how about how much work and effort goes into making some of the top tier games.

Well I can't afford a Sports Car so I'm off to steal one, reckon I'll just get a slap on the wrist if I get caught?

If you have a replicator that can make perfect copies of sports cars for the cost of the materials, go right ahead. You won't even get a slap on the wrist for it.

 

[C- Warrior]

it would be interesting to see how many game developers download music and movies over bittorrent.

Music and movies have other sources of revenue. Concerts, many dumbass musicians get into advertised products (clothing, perfume etc.) movies are released internationally on theaters, geared towards casuals etc.

Games have one avenue of sale - which is already ass fucked by rentals and used game sales. Furthermore, video gaming is more naturally inclined to those who are more tech savvy.

Also, on a personal (yet hypocritical level) -- fuck music, fuck movies, I do love games though.

 

[DrM]

From http://w3.bsa.org/eupolicy/press/ne...e-in-Use-in-the-European-Union-Is-Pirated.cfm

Only 52% ? It must be atleast around 70% here....
EDIT: oh, that's for 2003...

 

[TTP]

Only 52% ? It must be atleast around 70% around here....
EDIT: oh, that's for 2003...

that's a pretty old stat tho. 2003

edit: dam u edited a sec before I hit the quote link

 

[Yagharek]

BUT DON'T STEAL IT CAUSE YOU DIDN'T BUY IT

Correct. Games aren't an entitlement or an essential. Buy what you will play or learn to get your money's worth when theyre cheap if you dont want to pay $50+

 

[Terrell]

it would be interesting to see how many game developers download music and movies over bittorrent.

Except, y'know, game developers don't get millions of dollars doing what they do. If they don't make money, they can lose their jobs they spent money going to school to make. Don't see too many developers in Armani suits unless publishers want to make it look like they're paying them equitably at trade shows.

 

[spwolf]

From http://w3.bsa.org/eupolicy/press/ne...e-in-Use-in-the-European-Union-Is-Pirated.cfm

i would imagine rate for games alone is much, much higher..

 

[theBishop]

Except, y'know, game developers don't get millions of dollars doing what they do. If they don't make money, they can lose their jobs they spent money going to school to make. Don't see too many developers in Armani suits unless publishers want to make it look like they're paying them equitably at trade shows.

you think every musician is a millionaire? You need to listen to better music.

 

[itxaka]

i would imagine rate for games alone is much, much higher..

I don´t know, but that takes all software into consideration and I am the only one (and my girlfriend) to have an XP license (because it came with the laptop), all of my friends have their pirate windows, pirated photoshop, pirated office, even a pirated bittorrent client

I think that normal software drive those % much higher and games alone shouldn´t be that higher. windows on the other hand...

 

[theBishop]

Music and movies have other sources of revenue. Concerts, many dumbass musicians get into advertised products (clothing, perfume etc.) movies are released internationally on theaters, geared towards casuals etc.

Games have one avenue of sale - which is already ass fucked by rentals and used game sales. Furthermore, video gaming is more naturally inclined to those who are more tech savvy.

Also, on a personal (yet hypocritical level) -- fuck music, fuck movies, I do love games though.

who's fault is that?

besides, its not exactly true anymore. there's potentially an initial fully price release, $20 ($30?) Greatest Hits release, Steam release, Xbox Originals, PSN, compilations, GameTap, hotel set-top boxes, Virgin Airlines, even some PSP games are on the network now. Orange Box did quite well this year, and a lot of that was reissued content.

EDIT: I forgot about this:
http://store.valvesoftware.com/

 

[Zzoram]

i would imagine rate for games alone is much, much higher..

But the value of piracy is always inflated, because people who pirate tend to hoard everything and wouldn't buy anywhere near that much if they couldn't pirate. Take music for example, people have 500GB of MP3s, I highly doubt they would've bought the equivalent in CDs if they couldn't download those MP3s illegally.

 

[cedric69]

But the value of piracy is always inflated, because people who pirate tend to hoard everything and wouldn't buy anywhere near that much if they couldn't pirate. Take music for example, people have 500GB of MP3s, I highly doubt they would've bought the equivalent in CDs if they couldn't download those MP3s illegally.

Most of the time they wouldn't have the disposable income to do it, really.

 

[SRG01]

who's fault is that?

besides, its not exactly true anymore. there's potentially an initial fully price release, $20 ($30?) Greatest Hits release, Steam release, Xbox Originals, PSN, compilations, GameTap, hotel set-top boxes, Virgin Airlines, even some PSP games are on the network now. Orange Box did quite well this year, and a lot of that was reissued content.

EDIT: I forgot about this:
http://store.valvesoftware.com/

Your avatar is broken.

But, the guy does have a point. The way the music industry pays its "employees" is entirely different from how the games industry pays theirs. Musicians, for the most part, don't earn most of their money through album sales; most of the costs for that actually go back to the label itself. Many of the costs are, sadly enough, fronted by the musicians through loans and other means. Then they make most of their money through merchandising and concerts. It's a sad situation.

On the other hand, the gaming industry does directly pass down its profits through physical disc sales.

 

[bloodydrake]

I don't know This piracy argument goes round and round.

Serious question how bad is piracy on the 360? Seriously we all knows its possible with little work or expense if you just stay offline your golden.

How many people do this tho? I don't personally know a single person that pirates 360 software even tho its been easy to do.

Why is that? I think its because of 3 things.
1. obviously live is a major deterant.ya want to be online you don't want to be using a custom firmware.
2. Rentals.. wanna play a game but don't want to spend 60bucks on it. Ya rent it for 10bucks.
3. Resell Even if you just take it to EB if its within a couple month of new its still worth 20%.

Way i see it all 3 are a major contributor to why piracy on 360 isn't a "MAJOR" problem.
If publishers and devs that want to see 2 and 3 made illegal got their way I BET you It would jump drastically.

 

[Anasui Kishibe]

 

[Mugen]

But the value of piracy is always inflated, because people who pirate tend to hoard everything and wouldn't buy anywhere near that much if they couldn't pirate. Take music for example, people have 500GB of MP3s, I highly doubt they would've bought the equivalent in CDs if they couldn't download those MP3s illegally.

Piracy figures are already adjusted for that factor.

 

[Cheerilee]

Piracy figures are already adjusted for that factor.

How can you measure that?

I imagine "adjusted numbers" are just someone saying "Sales are down 15% sir." met with "Must be those damn pirates again." as opposed to the typical routine of "Sir, the research department says our game was downloaded X-million times." followed by "X-million times our MSRP? We should be freakin millionaires! Damn pirates stole our money."

 

[test_account]

From http://w3.bsa.org/eupolicy/press/ne...e-in-Use-in-the-European-Union-Is-Pirated.cfm


http://www.rulax.es/freefiles/upload/software.PNG

How is it possible to find out these numbers anyway? Its impossible to find out how many percent piracy there is.

 

[Rayme]

But the value of piracy is always inflated, because people who pirate tend to hoard everything and wouldn't buy anywhere near that much if they couldn't pirate. Take music for example, people have 500GB of MP3s, I highly doubt they would've bought the equivalent in CDs if they couldn't download those MP3s illegally.

This isn't an issue of people downloading CoD4 and keeping a copy tucked away that they play for, I dunno, 30 seconds ever. They play X many hours in SP, and then go on to play MP every night (or etc).

IW is seeing data that indicates many people are playing illegal copies regularly. It's not a happy situation.

 

[CTLance]

Kinda-sorta offtopic...

I stumbled over this recently, it came from the Bioshock DRM thread originally:

I'm wondering... has the DRM been patched out yet? If so, is there a DRM-free Installer available by now, or do you have to install the full game (which includes securom), only to install a patch that allows you to uninstall securom?

The latter case would be kind of counter productive, I don't want that shit on my system. At all.

 

[NeonBlade]

Just take a stroll to Mininova and see the disturbing statistics and numbers. Developers need to make Ps3 exclusives, freeze the X360 and that is that. Not much else to be said.

 

[Crayon]

Thats cold :lol

But yeah, Piracy is a lot bigger then some devout PC defenders here would like to think. It's simply to easy not to do for most people. If stealing in real life were this easy and the punishing far and few between, then we'd have the same epidemic on our hands.

This fucking guy is correct.

 

[SapientWolf]

They need to find a way to rent PC games. Maybe like a 30 day timer or something. So instead of $0 the devs can get $5-$10. I wouldn't be a console gamer either if I had to pony up $50 for games I wouldn't play for longer than a month. Hastings use to rent PC games but publishers pulled out because of piracy fears.

 

[The Faceless Master]

Just take a stroll to Mininova and see the disturbing statistics and numbers. Developers need to make Ps3 exclusives, freeze the X360 and that is that. Not much else to be said.

sounds like a plan!

no piracy = more money.

 

[Mooreberg]

What bugs me is that PC games are so cheap anyway! Theses people pay top dollar for their gaming rigs but are too cheap to actually buy any games. Scum bags!

I think this is exactly why it is done. They just spend the money on constant hardware upgrades instead of the software they're using.

 

[ZealousD]

i would imagine rate for games alone is much, much higher..

I bet the piracy rate for stuff like Flash and Photoshop is monolithic, probably higher than games.

 

[Pachael]

It's harder using digital distribution (Steam, PSN, XBL etc), so pubs and devs should go down this route.

 

[Death_Born]

Just take a stroll to Mininova and see the disturbing statistics and numbers. Developers need to make Ps3 exclusives, freeze the X360 and ignore a large portion of gamers because of piracy, with no basis in past events. Not much else to be said.

Fixed.