The Evolution of PC Gaming: Piracy and Copy Protection

Yi-Long - 661 days 1 hour ago

... I have a high-end pc, a very fast internet connection without limitations, a great monitor, a joypad etc...
I could download any game I want.

Yet I dont. Why!? Not sure, but there arent really many games for the PC that interest me. There arent really any must-have titles coming out that I'm personally interested in, and the games for the consoles seem to be a lot more varied. PC mostly has RTS or FPS, and TBH there havent been really outstanding must-have games in either genre that I'm excited about. Maybe Call of Duty 4.

Another reason that I dont really play PC games, is because of all
the extra crap you have to deal with, like updating drivers and patches etc. I think me, and many other people, just dont feel the current games are worth the bother. Plus with games like Crysis, many just dont even bother, cause their system wont be able to run it with everything turned on and up.

Thirdly, Console gaming has really taken off, and many gamers have at least 1 console on their bedroom, connected to their (HD) TV, and would rather play a game from their bed, without all the hassle of patches etc, instead of sitting behind a desk and playing the pc version of that same game.

I dont think piracy is the reason at all.
The reason PC gaming is ina dip (it wont die), is a severe lack of must-have titles, a severe lack of variety, the BS you have to go through with regards to updates and patches and hardware upgrades, etc etc.

Why arent there more family-oriented games coming out for the pc!? More and more a PC is used by the whole family. And with family-oriented games I dont mean poorly made, easy kid-games, but good quality fun to play accessible games for all ages, like what we had in the days of Amiga or C64.
Why arent studios bringing back 2d platformers like Superfrog and Blues Brothers, or adventures like Monkey Island and Kings Quest.
Cheap to produce, but could be gorgeous in HD and original.

Anyway, I think the dip is temporary. especially now that more and more people are conencting their pc to their livingroom HD screen and the pC becomes more and more a mediacenter, I think developers will take note and will start producing games that are NOT stretching the hardware to it's limitations, but will (or at least should) start producing a wider variety of games which are fun for a bigger crowd.

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Thegamingblogger - 661 days ago

Guys, girls the only way to combat piracy on games is to

-lower the cost of games as not everyone can afford £40 per game that you can finish in about 8hrs

-not to look at it as stealing as most people that do this only use it to sample games and if they like it enough they will buy it

-get rid of demos as this is usually early builds of the game and does not reflect the true quality of what is on offer,

-replace demos with a final build of the game and make it a sample where a few levels can be played and not a 10min demo

Again the main problem is the price of games , lower the price and you will have a result

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scoltar - 661 days ago

When you buy a game on a console system, you know it is going to work. Many times with pc games, even if you have a good deal more than the required specs, there can be something in your system that just doesn't jive right with the game's code.

One of the reasons I've always enjoyed console gaming more was because of not having to deal with installing and patches and all that stuff, but it seems that in this generation, console gaming is evolving toward more of a PC experience. Now there are console games that require installation, and you are now seeing games rushed to market with several bugs that you have to download patches for. I'm not happy to see this PC trend migrate over to the console market, but I like my games, so I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

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The_Kills - 661 days ago

does it really astonish you that people pirate so much after the next game that comes out requires people to update their PC hardware by like $500 for a passable expeirience? The last thing you expect for a person with average income (which aren't many of gamers anyway) to go put out another $200 for the games they been waiting to play on there PC but couldn't because of their prior hardware limitation?

Get real.

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Uh_Oh - 660 days 22 hours ago

The specs for titles are getting out of control. If you look at most multi platform games between console and pc they're virtally identical even bioshock has an option on 360 to run at 60 frames per second. People will go with the easy alternative. I myself am a hardcore pc gamer since the mid 90's but I bought cod 4 on 360 because most of my friends have it on there, and actually its still a fun game even with out pc controls. I have a high end system and I'll continue to buy pc titles, like starcraft 2, and spore, far cry 2, but other titles im thinkin of just getting on console such as fallout 3.

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memots - 660 days 20 hours ago

Like everyone noted here there is many reason.
The biggest reason is the hardware. Why would someone dish out 2000$ for a good computer to play a games that wont even run as good as on the console (Assassins creed?? anyone).

But one of the biggest reason pc title are not selling as much is not just the fact that its pirated,
it is also because you cannot rent a pc games anywhere.
Think of it .
You got how many 100s of thousand of video store all over the place that carry multiple copy of certain game on console.
That my friend = a lot of copy sold.

for example . My video store alone has 5 copy of (hmm its just an example here no flaming please) Uncharted.
let say you got 100k store in north america alone and you put in a average of maybe 2 copy per store . thats 200k copy !? (i know i know these number are way off but still you get my point.

Ps. Scoltar i love your Avatar . But we all know Goldorak is the best out there.

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