bit-tech.net | Pirated Batman PC contains deliberate glitch

Rkiver 11th September 2009, 11:52

I saw that glitch mentioned on a few forums. And oh look there is a fix already for it.

A good idea putting in a glitch to make pirated versions unplayable, however people always find a way around it. As long as it doesn't affect legitimate players like so many other forms of "copy protection" I'd say it's a move in the right direction.

Shame it doesn't do a damn thing and can be fixed within minutes....

DragunovHUN 11th September 2009, 11:53

I wonder how long it'll take to get that ironed out. Nice try though, Eidos deserves credit.

Sleepstreamer 11th September 2009, 11:58

Much better than the draconian online-DRM EA is running, Good job Eidos!

Bauul 11th September 2009, 12:00

The problem with doing things like that is they'll be reports flying all over the place about the game's unplayable and doesn't work, and it'll get a reputation for being glitchy, even though it's deliberate.

Hopefully that won't happen though.

will. 11th September 2009, 12:09

I swear adobe does the same thing with photoshop... When I was a poor student and couldn't afford to pay, it used to spawn hundreds of help windows at random :p

Gunsmith 11th September 2009, 12:11

not a bad idea, glitches however can be fixed, personally id release the game missing some key levels as well as the ending. cant fix missing content ;)

whisperwolf 11th September 2009, 12:14

You’ve either got to be really dumb or have huge balls to query why a product is not working on the official boards for a game that hasn't been released yet and that you have pirated. It just strikes me as someone calling the Dixon’s help line and saying "Hello this TV I stole from you yesterday seems to have fuzzy reception will you come and fix it or exchange it for me." It's crossing one moral line, which I hate, in pirating the game and another entirely to demand customer support for it as well.

Sutters 11th September 2009, 12:16

Awesome idea! Bet the OP on the Eidos forums is a little red faced now! :-)

DraigUK 11th September 2009, 12:19

A big for Eidos.

Would LOVE to see the day they put something in a game that wiped the hard drive or something of those using a pirated copy.

Yeah I know it will never happen. However it is Friday, so I can muse a bit :D

Evildead666 11th September 2009, 12:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bauul
The problem with doing things like that is they'll be reports flying all over the place about the game's unplayable and doesn't work, and it'll get a reputation for being glitchy, even though it's deliberate.

Hopefully that won't happen though.

If that happens, then all those people will be very ashamed at having a cracked version of the game.
how can someone be so stupid as to contact the Devs of a game you have copied/cracked ?

Its like complaining to Microsoft that you can't get updates from their site with a stolen copy of Windows....

Anyway, this is the best method of DRM. Just shaft them somewhere in the game, but not just one place, many.

Baz 11th September 2009, 12:24

Pro tip bat-fans - From what I understand this isn't the only anti-piracy measure in Arkham Asylum, there are others scattered throughout the game, like invisible walls and unremovable barriers to the next game areas. Sure these too will eventually be patched, but it all means hassle for the Pirates, and if it's more hassle to pirate than buy a game, guess what more people are liable to do!?

OnyxLilninja 11th September 2009, 12:31

I once had an Amiga game (can't remember name now) that if you tried to copy the manufacturer disks, it would format them. That really sucked because I had borrowed the game off my school mate who was bigger than me :) I cunningly superglued the metal slider on the floppy in the hope he wouldn't notice. Unfortunately for me, he did.

Ryu_ookami 11th September 2009, 12:33

one thing I've never understood, if the pirates are this good at cracking the game code and compliling fixes etc for the glitches why don't the game developers actually hire the best of them as beta testers/glitch fixer-uppers

though going back to the guy that posted for advice about a game thats not even out yet only one thing to say he is an idiot.

Gunsmith 11th September 2009, 12:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryu_ookami
one thing I've never understood, if the pirates are this good at cracking the game code and compliling fixes etc for the glitches why don't the game developers actually hire the best of them as beta testers/glitch fixer-uppers

though going back to the guy that posted for advice about a game thats not even out yet only one thing to say he is an idiot.

hacking groups like to compete amongst themselves as to who can release the biggest titles first, remember reputation means everything to these groups. hiring them would only give them access to the gold master quicker.

NiHiLiST 11th September 2009, 12:43

Surely as soon as the game's released, there will be a fully-working cracked version for all and sundry to download?

UncertainGod 11th September 2009, 12:46

Hardly a new idea, lots of codemasters games have been employing this technique for years, just take a look at operation flashpoint for a good example, and a few EA games tried it in the last 18 months ago but since none of those guys actually know what they are doing there deliberate bugs were patched out in the crack.

Tynecider 11th September 2009, 12:48

The only things i buy are things i can try.
IMO If a game doesnt provide a playbale demo on or before release day, they deserve to get pirated.
Who in thier right mind is gonna pay up front for something they cant see working.
It pisses me off when a software house prematurely releases something that hasn't been tested properly. (no name dropping here..chernarus)
For all we know Batman DA's so called anti-pirate tactics could be a crafty cover up for shoddy beta testing and faults in the game. These days you just never know.

If there is a decent demo (showing off the highlights of gameplay), i'll play it and if the game is good I'll buy it.

Slizza 11th September 2009, 12:50

T

Quote:

Originally Posted by CardJoe
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2009/09/11/pirated-batman-pc-contains-deliberate-glitc/1

If you're playing Batman: Arkham Asylum from a pirated version then we've got bad news for you...

;)

he glitches were fixed the same day it was pirated.

Baz 11th September 2009, 12:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tynecider
The only things i buy are things i can try.
IMO If a game doesnt provide a playbale demo on or before release day, they deserve to get pirated.
Who in thier right mind is gonna pay up front for something they cant see working.
It pisses me off when a software house prematurely releases something that hasn't been tested properly. (no name dropping here..chernarus)
For all we know Batman DA's so called anti-pirate tactics could be a crafty cover up for shoddy beta testing and faults in the game. These days you just never know.

If there is a decent demo (showing off the highlights of gameplay), i'll play it and if the game is good I'll buy it.

Except there's a Demo for Batman: Arkham Asylum, and while not very long, gives you a full taste of the game, including working batglide! Get the demo on steam.

Grasshopper 11th September 2009, 12:53

Some one remember Iron Lore? They do the same with Titan Quest and the game was branded as buggy all over the net.

D3s3rt_F0x 11th September 2009, 13:08

Well done Eidos, I got it for the Xbox and not being funny but its far too good to pirate, they definately deserve the money for this.

A thoroughly excellent game.

Dreaming 11th September 2009, 13:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baz
these too will eventually be patched, but it all means hassle for the Pirates, and if it's more hassle to pirate than buy a game, guess what more people are liable to do!?

pirate a different game i bet! :p

Personally (and this is just on a pragmatic perspective) I'd be happier if developers spent more time developing the game than thinking of new ways of copy protection which are invariably bypassed by those who want to bypass them anyway.

Too much effort goes into supporting ways to make more money whether it's microsoft's store and DLC you have to pay for, or expansion packs, or DRM, or 'online social clubs' you must be signed into in order to play - rather than just simply making spectacular games.

pimonserry 11th September 2009, 13:14

Personally I think Eidos got it right with this one, because a determined pirate will pirate nonetheless, it's just that posting about these bugs gives them a hit to their moral compass, and hopefully they'll realise they've been caught.

Also, kudos to them for the demo of Batman, it made me decide not to buy it nor pirate it, so it was genuinely useful ;)

Tynecider 11th September 2009, 13:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baz
Except there's a Demo for Batman: Arkham Asylum, and while not very long, gives you a full taste of the game, including working batglide! Get the demo on steam.

Nice one, ill give it a go over the weekend if i can find time away from the (Fallout 3) G.E.C.K ;)

EDIT:

Quote:

Personally (and this is just on a pragmatic perspective) I'd be happier if developers spent more time developing the game than thinking of new ways of copy protection which are invariably bypassed by those who want to bypass them anyway.

They probably hire the same think tanks that run the country.

Blademrk 11th September 2009, 13:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by D3s3rt_F0x
Well done Eidos, I got it for the Xbox and not being funny but its far too good to pirate, they definately deserve the money for this.

A thoroughly excellent game.

+1.

I was very impressed with this game.

tron 11th September 2009, 13:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gunsmith
hacking groups like to compete amongst themselves as to who can release the biggest titles first, remember reputation means everything to these groups. hiring them would only give them access to the gold master quicker.

Game publishers should give them an incentive to pass on their (bug testing and patching) talents. If you can't beat them, join them.

Pirates are helping to destroy the PC gaming industry by scaring the publishers via the piracy statistics for game titles versus the legitimate sales or expected sales. We know that each pirate copy does not equal a lost sale. However, the more PC gamers who become aware of the piracy option when deciding to get a new game, the more you have those who WOULD have bought the game but won't buy it now because they don't see the point in paying for something they can get for free and they don't care about the future of PC gaming, only what they can steal now. I know a particular rich guy who ONLY plays pirate downloads and thinks that all people who 'buy' their games are stupid. If too many people become like him, there will be no high budget PC games industry left.

The developers should riddle the cracked game with so many bugs that it would be too time consuming for the pirates to seek and remove them. Or they should put self-destructive code in there, so the game checks for its bugs and then creates 10 more bugs for each original bug that is patched. This would give the pirates more headache when trying to patch. Or just let the game turn into some virus malicious code.

1ad7 11th September 2009, 14:18

I want to know how many minutes a developer had to spend to add these "glitches" maybe this time could of been spent adding features... although this is better than full out dlc when will developers follow suit with the movie industry and realizes the solution is extra value added to retail copy's.

Mentai 11th September 2009, 14:23

I was actually considering pirating this game. After playing the demo and getting excited enough about it to preorder, I had to sit through the internet raving about the console version (it's even won a Guinness record ffs), and then be insulted by a discrepancy of over 3 weeks between the pirated release and the one to arrive on my doorstep.
I feel it's been a long time since there has been a hype machine this big around a game, certainly one that I've been caught up in, which makes it all the more frustrating. Even if I had pirated this I would have not cancelled my preorder, any developer that makes a decent Batman game is well deserving of my money. However, I can't help but imagine how many people were/are as excited about this as I was, and they were presented with 'pay money, wait a month' or 'see what everyone is talking about, download for free'.
This is not just a case of an early leak, this is a case of publishers not realising that their marketing pushes reach everyone, not just console users. These staggered releases only worsen piracy for any game with any hype around it, and I don't see how making it buggy will do anything but damage sales in the long run.

@tron "Or just let the game turn into some virus malicious code."

You know as hilarious as that would be, there's no way the average consumer isn't going to return the game after suddenly having 100's of false positives in their anti virus as soon as they install it.

skunkmunkey 11th September 2009, 14:56

I cant help but think that piracy serves the developers right. Maybe if they launched on all platforms simultaneously and stopped trying to extort money out of the consumer by offering platform specific content then more people would just go out and buy the game. Ive been very tempted to download Batman as I want to play it on my pc (and my shiny new Asus 285 gtx) however I ended up (grudgingly) buying it for Xbox instead. I also think that once you buy a game you should have access to it for all platforms that you own, either for free or largely discounted.

Nedsbeds 11th September 2009, 15:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by pimonserry
it's just that posting about these bugs gives them a hit to their moral compass, and hopefully they'll realise they've been caught.

I do think that rather than trying to deny access to pirated software/music/films etc the real goal should be to change the way people feel about media. Up until now, the attraction of pirating (apart from the price) is of getting one over the big corporations.

The studios need ideas like this to shift that viewpoint to one of "I am morally superior to the pirates"
Really, they shouldn't have too much of a battle.... geeks love to be all high and mighty!

TurtlePerson2 11th September 2009, 15:04

I like ideas like this as long as it doesn't affect legitimate owners. I had a game that had a big bug in it and when I looked up the problem it was because I was using a "pirated version" according to support. I had bought the game at Best Buy that same day. After reinstalling, it worked fine.

Adnoctum 11th September 2009, 15:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eidos Admin
The problem you have encountered is a hook in the copy protection, to catch out people who try and download cracked versions of the game for free.

I call BS on the whole story. Sounds to me it is more likely a game stopping bug that someone has decided to spin a piracy story on.
How much of an idiot do you have to be to ask for dev. support on an unreleased and pirated game?

perplekks45 11th September 2009, 15:26

Owned.

DOA Draven 11th September 2009, 15:29

"Bait Cars" work fine.

Maybe some "Bait Downloads" might make some folks think twice.

Imorral pehaps, unsporting, but so is theft.

Anyhow just a thought.

[USRF]Obiwan 11th September 2009, 15:38

So Eidos made a 'pirate' version, released that to the 'scene' and now they wait till their forum gets filled with complains from users who downloaded the so called crippled pirated version. Guess what the 'scene' already nuked the "non scene release from eidos"

So far for fighting pirates..

l3v1ck 11th September 2009, 15:43

A clever move from Eidos there. The pirates can have no complaints.

Paradigm Shifter 11th September 2009, 15:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bauul
The problem with doing things like that is they'll be reports flying all over the place about the game's unplayable and doesn't work, and it'll get a reputation for being glitchy, even though it's deliberate.

Hopefully that won't happen though.

I've ordered the Collectors Edition because, well, frankly, it looks worth it. :) I'm all for these sorts of bugs to cause pirates problems, provided that I, as a legal purchaser of the game never experience it. If I experience it, I'll be extremely angry.

Sir Digby 11th September 2009, 16:04

Similar to the Half Life 2 system of turning off the AI if the game thinks it's a pirated version, which is a system I agree with however my copy of Half Life 2 that came in the orange box turns its AI off for reasons undefined...

Slizza 11th September 2009, 16:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by l3v1ck
A clever move from Eidos there. The pirates can have no complaints.

Yeh because they fixed the bugs last week and the pirated game is working 100%

There has been alot of games used methods like this.
Crysis warhead had people using a bad crack shooting chickens out there guns that did no damage.

DraigUK 11th September 2009, 16:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mentai
I was actually considering pirating this game. After playing the demo and getting excited enough about it to preorder, I had to sit through the internet raving about the console version (it's even won a Guinness record ffs), and then be insulted by a discrepancy of over 3 weeks between the pirated release and the one to arrive on my doorstep.

This is something I just don't understand.

"I only pirate because I want to evalute the game and there is no demo. " (while I sort of understand I don't agree with it)

This one has a demo, which is used, enjoyed and orderd. Fine.

Becuase you have to wait 3 weeks or so you were annoyed and felt you shoulld get the real version the same time as a pirated version that doesn't work properly?
To avoid waiting 3 weeks? Insulted? Discrepancy?

<sigh>......

DraigUK 11th September 2009, 16:34

Bottom line that all those into piracy will never understand is that they are killing the PC gaming industry, and yet they are among the first to complain about all the console ports.

Slizza 11th September 2009, 16:52

I don't think they lose money when making a game even with piracy.
Just makes the payoff a few million bucks less on the sweet side.
They like to blame everything on piracy so they can steal from us by charging upto £50 for a game on a DVD...

Slizza 11th September 2009, 16:52

Lagged and double posted.. oops.

kenco_uk 11th September 2009, 16:55

(c-c-combobreaker :) )

owned, tbh.

cheeriokilla 11th September 2009, 17:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenco_uk
(c-c-combobreaker :) )

owned, tbh.

hahahaha totally! this is awesome! lol!... getting pwned in the official forums for using a non legit version of the game... priceless...

Wish this happened more often. That's what Crysis had to do... Imagine the people complaining like "I can't kill enemies, I fire like 2000 shots and he doesn't die", and then add some cartoon shaders so ppl would go "I don't know what people are saying, all I see is cartoonish graphics"... LOL

hardski 11th September 2009, 18:16

why dont people realise its even easier to pirate for xbox 360! batman was out earlier too so made it tempting to get that version although im still gonna play it on PC, better graphic, performance etc.
You need to know how to crack a PC pirate, 360 is so easy, everybody forgets the scale of console piracy!!

leslie 11th September 2009, 20:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evildead666

Its like complaining to Microsoft that you can't get updates from their site with a stolen copy of Windows....

Except that many people get this error/message with legit versions of software.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DraigUK
Bottom line that all those into piracy will never understand is that they are killing the PC gaming industry, and yet they are among the first to complain about all the console ports.

I call BS on this, just as I have for years. Sure piracy is part of the problem, but it hasn't been that hard to do on many consoles and no one is saying they are dying. What is killing PC gaming is 2 things...

Hardware requirements, people just don't understand it or want to and cheap pc's and the Hardware itself.
Which is harder to understand...
For Playstation 3
For Xbox 360.

Or this...
System requirements (Actual minimum requirements for Crysis):
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz for Vista), Intel Core 2.0 GHz (2.2
GHz for Vista), AMD Athlon 2800+ (3200+ for Vista) or better
RAM: 1GB (1.5GB on Windows Vista)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or better
VRAM: 256MB of Graphics Memory
Storage: 12GB
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
ODD: DVD-ROM
OS: Microsoft Windows XP or Vista
DirectX: DX9.0c or DX10

"What do you mean I need a $200 video card to play my game on my brand new $500 computer!" A year and a half later "what do you mean I need another video card and ram upgrade?!"

Consoles are simple and cheap, Pc's are not.

ryall 11th September 2009, 22:34

Good step towards inconveiniencing pirates rather than legit purchasers. Conveinience is King. All this staggered release/region code/social club BS is really just punishing honest people, it doesn't affect pirates in the slightest.

ZERO <ibis> 11th September 2009, 23:33

All glitches like that do is make the player think the game actually does not work and then say oh it was a good thing I did not actually buy this becuase it crashes, ect...

Krayzie_B.o.n.e. 11th September 2009, 23:35

AARRR Matey!! best believe your peg leg I would Pro-rate a game!! Let's see, how many times have I the consumer gotten burned for my $49.99 buying a game that totally sucked or I couldn't play for like four months waiting on the devs to patch the darn thing. Too many times to name but I do remember shelling out $79.99 for the first 8 meg game on the Sega Genesis, Strider. I bought it and went home and beat it in less than 2 hours. Boy was I upset (glitchy piece of Ship). Anyway I don't buy games unless I play a DEMO of some sorts first (I don't buy anything without a test drive, walk through, taste test, preview, 30 day trial or hands on test) therefore Video Games should be no different. If I like the game I buy it if not then the demo is sent to the garbage. The best way to beat piracy is to make quality games that people would just love to spend their hard earned money on. Besides 2nd hand video game stores sell used games that cuts into the profits of game publishers but no one complains about that.

tron 12th September 2009, 00:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZERO <ibis>
All glitches like that do is make the player think the game actually does not work and then say oh it was a good thing I did not actually buy this becuase it crashes, ect...

If someone is 'smart' enough to download a pirate copy of a game, weeks before the official release, then they must be incredibly 'stupid' to not expect the good possibility that their pirate version isn't exactly the same and may not perform the same as a legit copy. Not to mention that some pirate versions may also come complete with complimentary spyware.

thehippoz 12th September 2009, 00:58

I've seen this on xbox and it looks fantastic.. course I didn't get to play cause they were playing it like crack addicts lol the cape looked really cool- far as the glitch, XD think they would have been better off not saying anything.. or have the glitch right at the end of the game

most pirates who crack don't actually play all the way through.. but instead of the actual ending they get a hot coffee version that kicks in with crotch to the screen zoom action of batman's jock

Matticus 12th September 2009, 01:09

As a few others have said while I browsed the replies.

I reckon the version was just buggy and they said it was anti piracy so people wouldn't think the released game would be buggy. And so they would look like they were making a step in the right direction for anti piracy.

thehippoz 12th September 2009, 01:12

it'd be simple to put in code that says.. if played before xxx date go saddle pop

SMIFFYDUDE 12th September 2009, 01:39

Dumb little f*cker downloads an illegal copy then complains on the official forum. Knock! Knock! Knock! this is the police.

perplekks45 12th September 2009, 11:01

As if they cared about that one 14 year old kid enough to go and grab him.

Coldon 12th September 2009, 12:54

they should have been like, oh noez, who else is having this problem? get a list and then be like boom...

@matticus: the demo has that feature and its fully functional, i doubt they had a working version and then broke it...

kylew 12th September 2009, 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evildead666
If that happens, then all those people will be very ashamed at having a cracked version of the game.
how can someone be so stupid as to contact the Devs of a game you have copied/cracked ?

Its like complaining to Microsoft that you can't get updates from their site with a stolen copy of Windows....

Anyway, this is the best method of DRM. Just shaft them somewhere in the game, but not just one place, many.

Get off your high horse of justice, piracy isn't theft, not matter just how much you want it to be 'theft' it's not. :(

What ever you come back with will be rubbish, for there to be theft there has to be a permanent removal of property.

People who download games aren't 'stealing' as some one has put them up for anyone to download.

It's like having a shop, with no security, staff or means of payment and always open doors with shelves that never go down.

I'm not defending it by correcting you, but it's not theft, theft has a legal definition, if downloading copyrighted media is theft, then why hasn't anyone 'caught' for it been tried as thief? Because it's not theft.

BLC 12th September 2009, 17:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sir Digby
Similar to the Half Life 2 system of turning off the AI if the game thinks it's a pirated version, which is a system I agree with however my copy of Half Life 2 that came in the orange box turns its AI off for reasons undefined...

This happened to me - turns out that my copies of HL2, HL2EP1 & HL2EP2 (bought from Steam) don't like 64-bit operating systems after a patch was released. I set the launch options for each game to "-32bit" and now they work perfectly.

andrew8200m 12th September 2009, 18:42

Games are normally £10-15 cheaper than console copies so your saving money buying a pc title anyway.. why get a pirated version?? Its always the small minority who ruin it for others.. Im not impressed I must say! Well done Eidos for coming up with this as its only makes things annoying for pirating and not the licensed user who has to suffer with the likes of DRM.

Andy

Skiddywinks 12th September 2009, 21:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrew8200m
Games are normally £10-15 cheaper than console copies so your saving money buying a pc title anyway.. why get a pirated version?? Its always the small minority who ruin it for others.. Im not impressed I must say! Well done Eidos for coming up with this as its only makes things annoying for pirating and not the licensed user who has to suffer with the likes of DRM.

Andy

While I agree that different steps have to be taken to combat piracy (instead of restrictive DRM that is only found in consumer bought versions anyway), I don't think this was such a good way. The fix was out the same day. I can't imagine any significant number of people caving and buying the game and not checking for a fix that is usually right next to it on a search.

Developers need to think outside the box to combat piracy. Glitches and DRM clearly do not work.

daveloft 13th September 2009, 10:20

Due to posts like this talking about another anti piracy measure that just doesn't work. People will be reminded its available for free right now and as a result it will do nothing but increase piracy. Bravo.

BLC 13th September 2009, 11:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveloft
Due to posts like this talking about another anti piracy measure that just doesn't work. People will be reminded its available for free right now and as a result it will do nothing but increase piracy. Bravo.

Do you honestly think that this one story and it's forum comments will really attract more people to piracy? If people are inclined to get this game, or any other game, for free then all they have to do is find Google. Or even Bing. Or pretty much any search engine you care to name.

I can remember the days of tape to tape dubbing for C64 & Amstrad games (if you were rich enough to have a stereo with tape to tape dubbing!) and even Blitz Copy Turbo on the Atari STe. It's been well over 20 years since the C64, Amstrad CPC, Spectrum ZX, etc, and we still have game pirating: it's fair to say that it isn't going to go anywhere for a while.

Not defending anyone here, but I think a little perspective on things from time to time doesn't go amiss.

NickW 13th September 2009, 13:36

Good for Eidos I say. If they can ensure that it's easier to actually buy the game than to get a cracked version then they're on the right track methinks.

Otto69 13th September 2009, 20:41

"Consoles are simple and cheap" Yes. The Simple Red Ring of Death, and the SImple Expensive PS3 that lasted juuuuuust over the warranty period before it stopped seeing optical disks. A well made PC runs for years. I'm still able to play most games of interest on my single core P4 I build in 2003 or so, though admittedly with the best and final upgrade to a top quality AGP graphics card. FEAR. WoW. CoD 4.

keir 13th September 2009, 21:13

haha nice, what a tool.

Rebourne 14th September 2009, 08:16

LOL...

I always wondered why companies didn't flood the pirate sites with broken copies of their product.

I do see a legal problem to this though, they are breaking their own copyright, so if they try to prosecute anyone for downloading it they can't. At least for the versions they put out, so if someone creates a fix for it. It would be perfectly legal to download the version they put up and apply the fix.

leslie 14th September 2009, 08:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Otto69
"Consoles are simple and cheap" Yes. The Simple Red Ring of Death, and the SImple Expensive PS3 that lasted juuuuuust over the warranty period before it stopped seeing optical disks. A well made PC runs for years. I'm still able to play most games of interest on my single core P4 I build in 2003 or so, though admittedly with the best and final upgrade to a top quality AGP graphics card. FEAR. WoW. CoD 4.

A study came out recently saying people really haven't been phased by the ring of death and other problems, they still will buy.

Besides, with a pc you face how many possible component failures and virus issues? Which is how a lot of people see it. They have Wii's in retirement homes, they love them. Put a pc in there and they will run away.

I'm a pc person, and a pc gamer, but it's not difficult to see the appeal of them. Put disk in, play game. It's an appliance.

tron 14th September 2009, 15:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by leslie
A study came out recently saying people really haven't been phased by the ring of death and other problems, they still will buy.

Besides, with a pc you face how many possible component failures and virus issues? Which is how a lot of people see it. They have Wii's in retirement homes, they love them. Put a pc in there and they will run away.

I'm a pc person, and a pc gamer, but it's not difficult to see the appeal of them. Put disk in, play game. It's an appliance.

"Put disk in, play game". Sounds similar to what I do each day on my PC.

I don't think it's true that PCs break down more frequently than consoles. If anything, consoles fail more often due to cheap inadequate cooling and trying to cram components into a small box.

In all my years of PC gaming I haven't had a single virus issue. However, most of the PCs I have serviced for other people usually had absolutely no running up-to-date 'anti-virus software installed.

Viruses and spyware were downloaded 'manually' by their kids downloading hundreds of free stuff off the net, such as FREE GAMES.

Andy Mc 15th September 2009, 13:24

Hook on the Amiga had a similar thing for foiling the pirates. In one bar scene you needed to collet 2 or 3 mugs, but if you had the dodgy copy you could not get the last one. Unfortunately there was a glitch to work around it if I remember.

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Pirated Batman PC contains deliberate glitch

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