corn619 wrote:Good for Nintendo! People who dump games on the internet are ruining the gaming industry.
Are you referring to that multi-billion dollar industry that keeps growing every year? Yep, sounds like it is being ruined to me.
Seriously, an individual (not a party) now owes Nintendo 1.5 million dollars. That my friend is the industry doing the ruining.
The size of the industry has nothing to do with it. What's the biggest company in the world? Exxon-Mobil? Why don't we see mass amounts of people pulling up to gas stations and driving off without paying gas since they make billions and billions of dollars? Sure it happens from time to time, but it's not like there is an underground community of drive-offs plotting their next hit or how to get past the latest security measure that the gas companies implement.
Please, leave the 'Robin Hood' cavalier attitude out of this. So long as we live in a capitalistic society, learn to accept the rules that go along with it. Companies are protected under the IP laws within each country. These are in place to encourage innovation and only helps the consumer. Don't like it, move to North Korea or some other fascist state. If you get caught you won't be fined, but you'll have a hard time doing it again with no hands!
NES | SNES | Genesis | PSOne | Saturn | N64 | Dreamcast | Gamecube | XBox | PS2 Phat w/HDLoader | PS3 Slim| Wii
GBA SP | PSP-1000 | WiFi-iPad 16GB(Is this a game system?) | Modded PS1 | PS Vita 3G
Flak Beard wrote:Probably not. Nintendo fans always seem to be the ones suffering from Stockholm syndrome.
Are you on glue? This has NOTHING to do with Stockholm syndrome. So far here, you are the ONLY one claiming that people here would treat this case differently if it involved Sony or Micro$oft. This has nothing to do with being for or against big businesses and everything to do with outright theft. Get over yourself.
I'm surprised anyone defends him or makes light of what he did.
The PC market is shrinking, and has been shrinking. It peaked in 2001. Piracy plays a big role in this, it's quite delusional to think otherwise. Almost everyone I know has pirated a PC game, and I can't seem to convince them not to do it.
If you can't afford the entertainment, work harder and get a better job, or read books or play older games. There's nothing in life that entitles people to use whatever service they want, when they want. I can get some great PS2 games on eBay for $5. There's also plenty of free-to-play games out there. I don't buy the low income excuse. Not everyone is meant to have the latest and greatest as soon as it's released. Games are produced through hard work of dozens, sometimes hundreds of individuals. Games have multi-million dollar budgets that are often risky. If there isn't a lot of profit to be made, the risk isn't even worth taking. That's how business works. Why risk 30 million if there isn't a good chance at a large payoff? People wouldn't.
Now I don't mind people downloading any games that no one is making money off anymore. It's not like I can go buy Mega Man X retail. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is still clearly in the market and very recent. And guess what, five years from now, it'll still be here, and be cheaper to obtain.
What people don't understand about business is that it can change at any time. Nintendo wasn't so profitable just five years ago. So they should curb their profitability because they're making a lot right now? That's complete nonsense and shows a misunderstanding of market forces. That's not how business works, my friends, and if you want to run a big business that can be brought to its knees (Sega, Circuit City, and countless others) you always are trying to do what's best for you. If Wii hadn't caught on, if DS hadn't caught on, Nintendo would be in dire circumstances. The fact there are failures means there have to be great successes that bring in the profit. There is virtually never enough profit because it can dry up soon. EA is losing money as we speak. EA, Microsoft, Sega, all have had periods of losing money because of games - these are major players in the gaming market.
The game industry shrunk in 2009. Down a whopping 8% at that. Despite population growth. That shrunk at a faster rate than our GDP did. Whoever thinks its growth will be unlimited needs to come back to reality. Not to mention 'growth' in revenue doesn't always mean growth in profitability. More games, more studios, more cost, more revenue. More cars sell now than 50 years ago, but the greater costs offset it.
I honestly wish small fines ($100-200) would be doled out to people that pirate games regularly. There's honestly no justification, any way you slice it. I have never heard a single good one. Profitability, low income, the fact it's not theft of physical property, none of these stand up against the criticisms. Thousands of people count game development as their profession, and the worse the industry does, the less jobs exist for them. Hell, games, movies and music play a large role in the retail environment too, which provides literally millions of jobs. This isn't just a bunch of rich CEOs laughing to the bank. Stop being selfish and either pay up, or don't buy it at all.
enderfall wrote:So long as we live in a capitalistic society, learn to accept the rules that go along with it. Companies are protected under the IP laws within each country. These are in place to encourage innovation and only helps the consumer. Don't like it, move to North Korea or some other fascist state. If you get caught you won't be fined, but you'll have a hard time doing it again with no hands!
I haven't heard "If you don't like it, move to russia you commie!" since Reagan was in office. You don't really think that approaches anything like a real argument, do you?
Here's a hint, in a free democratic society it's entirely acceptable (even encouraged) to complain about laws you feel are unjust or unjustly applied. If enough people complain, the law can be (and should be) changed. Wow, I can't believe I actually had to explain that to someone.
We are prepared to live in the plain and die in the plain!
Breetai wrote:Are you on glue? This has NOTHING to do with Stockholm syndrome. So far here, you are the ONLY one claiming that people here would treat this case differently if it involved Sony or Micro$oft. This has nothing to do with being for or against big businesses and everything to do with outright theft. Get over yourself.
I'm just saying Nintendo didn't really need to make an example of one guy, just because they could. They are reaping the rewards of the industry left and right. And yes, people most likely would of reacted differently if it were MS or Sony. They would of been pegged as bullies, while Nintendo gets a pat on the back for flexing it's over confident muscles. I never said this wasn't theft, but sometimes businesses can go too far with this sort of thing.
Get over myself? What are you talking about? So says the guy who spells Microsoft with a dollar sign?
Flak Beard wrote:They are reaping the rewards of the industry left and right.
Sure, but they took major risks in order to reap those rewards. If the Wii and DS did as well as the Gamecube, Nintendo would be more likely be out of the games business and strictly into the Pokemon and selling off MLB teams business.
And yes, people most likely would of reacted differently if it were MS or Sony.
Doesn't matter. It's completely besides the point.
Get over myself? What are you talking about? So says the guy who spells Microsoft with a dollar sign?
I probably deserve that. I'll freely admit that I'm not the biggest Microsoft fan (as I surf the internet using Windows...).
Breetai wrote:Doesn't matter. It's completely besides the point.
You're right, it is. It just bugs me that so many would run to Nintendo's defense about this. Can anyone really say with a straight face that Nintendo isn't being a bunch of whiny jerks about the whole thing?
Let's put it into perspective, THEY SUED ONE GUY FOR 1.5 MILLION DOLLARS. That pisses me off, and I even bought NSMB Wii for $50.
I don't want to get into the semantics of what perpetuates the industry or the laws of copyright. It's just too exhausting. There just has to be a better way to deal with piracy than ruining one man's life.
He can likely declare bankruptcy to avoid paying it. His life isn't ruined. I can say with some certainty he will never actually pay 1.5 million. These large deterrents are used because they go after so few people. Personally I wish they would have small fines against many people, but given the inherent selfishness of consumers, that could alienate a lot of the market. It's hard to win when people are only thinking about themselves (wanting free games).
Kebo wrote:Thousands of people count game development as their profession, and the worse the industry does, the less jobs exist for them. Hell, games, movies and music play a large role in the retail environment too, which provides literally millions of jobs. This isn't just a bunch of rich CEOs laughing to the bank. Stop being selfish and either pay up, or don't buy it at all.
By this logic we should never buy a used game if a new copy is available, because the developers make no profit. Hell, even if a new copy is available developers might not make a profit. I recently bought Dementium: The Ward (DS game) for 10 dollars new. They didn't make a cent off that sale.
The whole notion that a person pirating something is equal to a lost sale is complete bullshit. There is no data to back up that claim. No one can determine whether someone would have bought the product if a free option was not available. In fact, in the Music industry, studies conducted in the UK have shown that music pirates, on average, spend more on music purchases in a year then non pirates.
And please for the love of all that is right people, please stop calling piracy theft. They are not the same thing. Theft involves removing a physical object, in which case the owner of said object no longer has or can use it. Piracy is making an exact copy of something digital, in which case the owner still has the original and can do whatever they please with it.
MrHealthy wrote:
And please for the love of all that is right people, please stop calling piracy theft. They are not the same thing. Theft involves removing a physical object, in which case the owner of said object no longer has or can use it. Piracy is making an exact copy of something digital, in which case the owner still has the original and can do whatever they please with it.
You are correct that they are not the same thing. Piracy is a subset of theft. All piracy is theft, but not all theft is piracy.
