Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The piracy scene here is so bad, you get laughed and scorned at, like you're some kind of disease, should you even hint at supporting originals. PSP modders, Xbox 360 drive flashers, NDS R4 users gets hailed as heroes here. The PS3 have been spared the piracy treatment, thanks to its Blu-ray size, but i fear even THAT will gets shortlived sooner or later.
These piracy supporters even band up and alienates those who dont follow their way. How it's done is no thanks part of the weak broadband treatment we get here. The internet lines here are so pathetic, any attempt to play anyone outside of the localised area (Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia), will result in severely laggy games online. So, the online community around here are sorta stuck with each other, and with the piracy supporters banding together to their cause, you get what bleak picture im trying to paint here.
Dont get me wrong, i dabbled in piracy myself during my younger days, but for those games i love, i get it legit. You have no idea how easy it is to get pirated copies of the latest games here, and what varied ways you can go about circumventing the protection current consoles have on them, and failed miserably.
Local community forums here plays the neutral card, claiming that they are not responsible if their denizens decides to talk up piracy, although they do draw the line when it comes to posting torrents/rapidshare links to these game ISOs. But to me, to allow even the discussion about these things to take place and pretend neutrality is the same as being an accomplice. These folks are inadvertantly provided a place to discuss, congregate, and pool their resources on where and what to do in regard to piracy, easily via private messages, or off-site like IM and such.
Only of recent the government here had been trying to cleanse this , with the once-in-a-year raid in malls to show that they are doing their job eradicating this epidemic. Yes, it is an epidemic here, and yes, these pirated products are brazenly sold in broad daylight in public, not under the counter, behind secluded back rooms. And yes, our malls are as good, or better than malls like what you have in America. That is how daring these pirates are, and how the piracy culture had seeped into the Malaysian mindset, that to these folks, it is considered okay, hell, even encouraged to do so, and original supporters gets laughed and finger-pointed in derision at.
It's not uncommon at one time to see foreigners frequenting out malls to get these pirated copies or bringing their consoles to be modded to be brought back to their home country.
Thankfully, there are a few of us who kept the torch burning when it comes to lighting this hour of darkness. Xbox Live, although not officially available here , are among our means of enjoying each other's company while playing online, as well as the PSN too. Sadly though, thanks to our crappy broadband connection, the only folks we could play with are those tainted by piracy, and it can be pretty annoying listening to these assholes bragging their ways.
Im proud and honored to be one of the Xbox Ambassador during their call for one for the E3, i had a great time playing and easing new players into the ways of Live and generally having fun playing online with each other. Cant say i had much experience playing with players across the Pacific, i sure like to try, but the local online connection here is making sure we're stuck with our pirate brethren.
First post in NeoGAF here, mostly i had been lurking, and reading posts here. NeoGAF had been my source of information when it comes to games, and things happening Stateside. It has been my source of envy as well, im afraid, that the gaming scene here is a good, clean and generally of a nurturing kind. Sigh.....i wish things were more like here back in Malaysia.
P/s: Sorry for the lengthy post guys, in short it sucks to be an original supporter here, but the few of us here are not giving up!
