RipTen Videogame Blog » piracy

Zynga Involved in App Store Idea Theft?

Brandon Fenty — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:00:51 +0000

Zynga, the Facebook gaming giant, is known for their near carbon-copies of smaller indie developers games. They’ve been the target of several lawsuits for the practice before, and it looks like they’re at it again.

The title in question, Dream Heights, is a casual game in which the player builds a tower floor by floor, strategically managing resources, restocking businesses, and keeping residents happy. The premise is a good one; already proven, in fact, by indie developer Nimblebit. Nimblebit’s Tiny Tower was released back in June 2011 and is already a hit in the App Store.

The controversy started yesterday when the indie developer’s Ian Marsh took to twitter with the following screenshots:

The similarities between the two are definitely striking. This is hardly the only example of idea theft out there, however, especially on the App Store where it seems to be fair game. No one can look at Gameloft’s Starfront, for instance, and not think immediately of Starcraft. Apple makes a point of not getting involved in these kinds of claims, so often it is allowed to happen with little to no recourse. Even Zynga themselves have been victims of such idea stealing in the past.

Of course, Dream Heights has yet to be released, and so at this point all of this is speculation. When the game is released, we will have a better idea of Zynga’s “borrowing” of ideas. But it does raise a broader point: when is a similar game competition, and when is it all-out theft? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

‘GeoHot’ and Sony Finally Settle PS3 Hacking Case

Matthew Sims — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:32:52 +0000

Well, the saga is over, at least for now. Notorious hacker George Hotz better know by his handle “GeoHot” has reached a settlement with Sony Computer Entertainment America. The settlement was in relation to a January lawsuit in which he “allegedly” (which we know he definitely did) breached Sony’s security measures on the PS3 and then proceeded to publish it online for all the world to see.

The full details of the settlement aren’t known, but Mr. Hotz is under injunction that prevents him from disclosing sensitive information about Sony or their PS3 ever again. He agreed, no doubt facing the possibility of a massive fine from Sony. Sony also absolved Hotz of any involvement with the notorious hacker collective, Anonymous.

“It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier,” said Hotz, I’m happy to have the litigation behind me.”

“Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us,” said Riley Russell, General Counsel for SCEA. “Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal.”

Before the settlement, Hotz went in swinging, posting bold demands on his personal website.

“Let’s just say, I want the settlement terms to include OtherOS on all PS3s and an apology on the PlayStation blog for ever removing it…It’d be good PR for Sony too, lord knows they could use it,”

Now, he’s singing a very different tune. Hotz has agreed to cease distribution of jailbreak codes and will no longer be modifying Sony products. In return, Sony is allowing Hotz to keep his PS3 along with the computers he used to distribute the code. Sony had originally sought to seize his hardware, but was unable to do so due to the terms of the settlement. Whatever those may be. If Hotz violates these terms, he may be fined $10,000 per each individual count against him. For every new jailbroken PS3 found in his possession, that’s a whopping ten grand.

GeoHotz might be out of the frying pan, but into the fryer now that Anon is without his allegiance. Will the hackers continue to carry out their assault on Sony for their IP address farming (which they were given legal permission to do by a court judge)? Or will they turn their rage towards Hotz himself?

Microsoft Launching New Xbox 360 Discs To Combat Piracy

Bryce Wilson — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:10:52 +0000

For those of you who frequent the informative blog of Xbox LIVE’s Larry ‘Major Nelson’ Hyrb, you will have no doubt heard that Microsoft is launching a new Xbox 360 disc beta for residents of the United States.

What you may not know however is exactly what the discs are for or what they’re going to be doing.

Whilst nothing was ‘officially’ exposed during the post by Hyrb, Xbox 360 scene hacker ‘commodore4eva’ aka ‘c4eva’ has access to the Xbox 360 SDK and has revealed exactly what the new discs will do, saying;

[2011-03-29 11:11PM UTC] #fw MS will introduce xgd3 – this will add more ap checks, cvi (content integerity) checks, increase the disc size and adds a new layer for protection issues – all in the 20500 sdk! bring it on

Now when he says the disc size is being increased don’t think: “OH MAH GAWD BIGGER GAMES!” as it’s only increasing by a measly 1GB.

With c4eva and the Jungle Flasher team already in the final testing stages of their Xbox 360 Slim custom firmware, I can assure both you and Microsoft that this update will be futile and it wont be long before this is hacked, too.

Man Pirates $700k Worth of Games, Gets 2 1/2 Years

Danielle Cantrell — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 12:15:52 +0000

…He now has no games.

Today, Qiang “Michael” Bi was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison after his software pirating operation was discovered by his employer. An email Bi sent to his email account with his employer, Nationwide Insurance, contained a spreadsheet regarding the pirated games he had been selling. It also included his various eBay and PayPal accounts, credit card numbers, and false identities he had created. Nationwide then let the FBI and US Postal Inspectors know. They found that he had sold over 35,000 games, with a retail value of $700,000.

Bi is charged with copyright infringement, mail fraud, and identity theft. He had been selling counterfeit games from 2005 through December 2009, so the four years of charging $10 per game earned him an additional sentence of $367,669 and an undetermined restitution amount. He also has to forfeit his house, car, computer, and the electronic equipment he used for that time, plus two years of probation One year of his probation will leave him confined at home, then he gets to work 416 hours of community service.

What a lucky guy!

If it’s any consolation, though, he promises to “be a better person.” He will also most likely not use his work email for breaking the law next time.

Source: The Columbus Dispatch via Kotaku

Piracy Investigator Contacts Black Ops Pirate’s Mother As Punishment

Bryce Wilson — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 06:36:35 +0000

With Call of Duty: Black Ops having already being leaked, Activision is now fighting a battle to keep the pirates and hackers at bay supposedly until the game launches with a few weeks. Contrary to Activision’s approach during the piracy battle of Modern Warfare 2, they’re now playing “good cop” and literally asking people to stop selling them and just asking them where they got their wares. VentureBeat posted one such story detailing how IP Cybercrime tracked down a pirate who was posting gameplay videos on YouTube.

“Most of the pirates were scared, surrendered their game copies and cooperated.” they said. However not all keyboard warriors are as weak willed as others. “One young pirate was being a ‘wise ass’ and adamantly refused to cooperate,” the article reads “So the investigators called his mother”. Just goes to show the real age and nature of most pirates these days.

[We didn't make the awesome image. They did!]

3DS Hopes To Automatically Block Pirates

Dave Ernst — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:43:01 +0000

Nintendo President Saturo Iwata has stated that the 3Ds will automatically download firmware updates. Not only will this be convenient for owners of the portable device, Nintendo hopes this feature will combat their piracy problems.

The 3DS will automatically connect to wi-fi spots and download content such as firmware updates or game specific updates without user interaction.

While the device in in sleep mode, the 3DS will actively seek out wi-fi. By automatically downloading new firmware, the device can lock out any non-licensed programs with the ability to pirate games.

While this will be annoying to the pirates out there, most of the time they can find a work around. It’s only matter of time until some crafty person is able to disable automatic updates.

Source

Blizzard’s Battle.net “Reduces Incentives” for Pirates, Apparently

Gavin Bard — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:22:08 +0000

Today sure is piracy themed here at Ripten. Guess we all watched Sea Hawk earlier or something. Anyway, according to an interview with MCV, Blizzard’s Battle.net system has helped to solve the problem of piracy for Starcraft II.

VP and executive managing director for international operations of Blizzard, Michael Ryder;

But what also goes hand-in-hand with the Battle.net solution is that we work really hard to offer a tailored, regional business model, so it reduces the incentives to go to a pirated solution

He also says that, since they worked well around the piracy issue for World of Warcraft, they expect to do the same for Starcraft II. Battle.net is clearly a solution to them to combat piracy and, at least internally, they seem to believe it has worked. It is true that things like Battle.net or other services and extra content can help limit the reasons to bother pirating a game, so it is believable that it can help cut off some of the illegal downloads. Pirating World of Warcraft and pirating Starcraft II, without the Battle.net variable, is like comparing apples and oranges though. Or I guess limes and oranges if we are keeping to this piratical theme. Of course World of Warcraft isn’t heavily pirated in comparison to the legitimate version- it is a massively online game. Pirating it wouldn’t really be worth it since the experience would be so limited. Under normal circumstances, Starcraft II would seem an easier title to pirate. With a robust campaign and a single-player mode, but with the inclusion of so many core parts of the game needing Battle.net, it is obvious that there is very little real reason for the game to be pirated. As far as I know from some cursory research, only the campaign mode is playable in the pirated version of the title. While that may be enough for some, it most likely isn’t for even the most stalwart pirate.

Although I hope they don’t break open the champagne before someone shows them this. That is a whole lot of people trying to access Starcraft II’s delicious creamy center. I guess I could have made a Zerg rush joke or something. I’m feeling lazy today.

[Source: MCVUK]

StarCraft 2 The Most Pirated Game of 2010 So Far

Sam Naylor — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:04:11 +0000

According to statistics collected and analyzed by the popular torrent blog TorrentFreak, StarCraft 2 is the most pirated game of 2010 so far, with over 260,000 copies downloaded illegally.

The data shows that close to 100,000 copies were downloaded via BitTorrent on the first day alone, which is an astonishing number of pirates all in one place. The data also points out that “50,000 people [are] actively sharing the game” at the time of writing. 2009′s piracy champion was Modern Warfare 2, with a staggering 4.1 million illegal downloads.

Although BitTorrent appears to be a bit of a thorn in Blizzard’s side, they aren’t afraid of using it to their advantage, either. Blizzard have used a ‘BitTorrent-based distribution client’ to distribute StarCraft 2 to legitimate users, bringing them fast speeds as well as reduced server load on their part. It just goes to show that the system of torrenting is not an inherently bad one- it’s just made a bad name for itself.

Nintendo Warns Retailers Still Stocking R4

Bryce Wilson — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 10:20:26 +0000

As Ripten previously reported, numerous retailers were still stocking the now illegal and banned R4 card for the Nintendo DS. Well Nintendo has issued a stern warning to those who were either purposefully or accidentaly defying the UK Courts wishes by saying;

“The message is the same to companies big and small, these activities are illegal, we will continue to work alongside ELSPA, Trading Standards and the police to enforce the recent UK High Court judgment and pursue companies who persist in unlawfully selling these devices.”

This should hopefully deter the retailers, as I could imagine there being quite hefty fines to accompany the sale of the piracy tool known as the R4.

[Source: MCV]

Numerous Retailers Ignoring R4 Ban in UK Stores

Bryce Wilson — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:35:45 +0000

Despite the UK Court system announcing that any devices that allowed the playing of homebrew or pirate software on the Nintendo DS were now illegal and banned, many retailers are still stocking and actively selling the product. A recent emailing session conducted by MCV revealed that two stockists were definitely selling them, with one even advocating quick sales, whilst numerous others were still in the process of emailing them back. One conversation read:

MCV: Hello. I’ve just been looking at something on your website called the R4. The blurb is a little vague so I wanted to make sure it’s the thing I’m after before I order it. My friend tells me he’s able to use his to play any game he likes on his DS?
THEM: Erm, it’s used for a number of different purposes. You can use it for watching movies, viewing pictures or playing homebrew games and that sort of stuff.
MCV: What does homebrew mean exactly?
THEM: It’s an unlicensed game that’s been created by a developer without a licence.
MCV: My friend says he plays whatever game he wants on there. Is that how it works?
THEM: Yeah, I mean there is that side of it but we don’t really get involved with that side of things to be honest.
MCV: I’ve also read that these things are illegal. Is that right?
THEM: Yeah, there’s a decision that we’re investigating at the moment that came down through the courts a couple of days ago. It’s possible that once the stock that we’ve got now has sold through that we won’t be stocking this item.
MCV: But I’m OK to order it now?
THEM: I’d suggest that if you want one you order it ASAP. We’ve got limited stock in and it’s selling very fast.
MCV: Sells well, does it?
THEM: Yeah, it’s always been good but I think a lot of vendors have heard about the decision and a lot of them are ceasing to sell them so, yeah, stocks are limited. I’d get one now.

What do you think about the banning? I personally support it, although it’s definitely not supportive for the legitimate homebrew community around the world. What happened to the days of upcoming game developers being found through their independent work? Ah well, the days of old are dead and gone.

InstantAction CEO: “I assure you that piracy is coming to consoles”

Sam Naylor — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:51:00 +0000

The CEO of web-based gaming site InstantAction, Louis Castle, has told attendees of the 2010 Develop Conference that the problem of game piracy is not restricted to PCs, and that consoles are definitely going to have to deal with the problem as well.

”Piracy is not exclusive to PCs, I assure you it is coming onto consoles,” said InstantAction CEO Louis Castle. ”I used to be a hacker in my very early days, so I know anything that can be made can be hacked.”

Castle is an industry veteran, and is on the GDC advisory board- so it’s worth noting his words. It’s interesting to note that current-gen consoles have actually done well to prevent piracy, especially the PS3. I agree with him, however, that everything can be broken into by hackers. They just re-route the mainframe to the fizmobob, creating a fi-os tunnel to the encryption zone. It seems so simple when put like that, but if you’ve watched any hacking movie you’ll know how hard it can be to manage it in time.

Nintendo Using Sophisticated Tech To Block Piracy On 3DS

Bryce Wilson — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:28:15 +0000

One day I was walking to my College course and I walked past a stall in the middle of the local shopping plaza. In a tiny little box was something called an “R4 Card”, and whilst at the time it was unknown to mme what this device was, I later found out it was essentially a re-writable flash drive for Nintendo DS games. Pirary on the DS is rampant, take a look at this search for The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks on a popular P2P Torrent Website;

Now replicate this across essentially every title to grace Nintendo’s dual screen handheld and you have a very precarious investment problem for publishers and developers alike. Nintendo realises this and plans to combat it with the release of the 3DS. Ian Curran, THQ’s Executive VP of Global Publishing said during a recent interview with CVG;

“What excites me even more [than 3DS games] is that there’s technology built in that device to really combat piracy. The problem with the DS market in the last few years, particularly with the DS Lite, is that it’s just been attacked by piracy. It’s made it almost impossible to shift any significant volume. The DSi combated it a little bit, but the 3DS has taken that a step further. I actually asked Nintendo to explain the technology and they said it’s very difficult to do so because it’s so sophisticated. They combated the piracy on Dsi, which they don’t believe is cracked yet – but they know they’ve been hurt across the world and they believe the 3DS has got technology that can stop that. Therefore the opportunity for people to invest more in product development [on the system] and bring more 3DS products to market comes out of that. It’s going to probably cost us more to do it all in 3D – so we want to make sure we get a return on our investment when we do it.”

If Ubisofts DRM debacle is anything to go by, new and improved anti-piracy software simply spurs the “hackers” to try even harder to press forth their malicious ways. How do you feel about piracy on the Nintendo DS? Let us know below.

[Source: GoNintendo]

$41.5 Billion Lost to Handheld Game Piracy. Probably. Definitely Maybe. Sort of.

Gavin Bard — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:43:19 +0000

Here we go again.

According to a study by Tokyo University’s Baba Lab (and please tell me that it is named after Giant Baba) for the Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association, who you may recognize as the group that runs the Tokyo Game Show, video game piracy for handheld systems alone cost the entire gaming industry $41.5 billion dollars. $10.4 billion of that total was attributed directly to Japan. Now, you are probably asking yourself what highly scientific and accurate method that the CESA and Baba Lab conspired together on to produce such a wholly realistic and not at all inflated number?

Using 114 piracy sites, the researchers at Baba Lab checked the download counts for the top 20 handheld games over a five year period, from between 2004-2009. Then they did some math. This math involved them multiplying that amount by 4 (wait, what?) since the Japanese market makes up 25 percent of the gaming world to get the world wide figure. You have got to be kidding me, the numbers in this study are more blurred than the genitals in a Japanese porn. I feel dirty actually reporting on this and giving it more attention since this is exactly what the CESA wanted, just like the MPAA and RIAA routinely do when they float their enormously inflated internal figures about piracy into the public.

I’m not going to get up on a high horse or anything, but obviously gaming piracy is wrong. It is wrong for a number of reasons, but none of them are represented in this methodologically ridiculous study. The problem is and always has been that the companies who fund these studies are inherently the ones who want everybody to know that they can’t buy their kids shoes because of people downloading Wario Ware, so it isn’t like we can exactly trust them. Then when you take into account probably the least scientific method of researching this matter I have ever seen, it is real easy to doubt the numbers. I mean, really, how long did it take Baba Lab to figure them out? 15 minutes during a Yoshinobu Kanemaru match? We’ve conducted more scientific studies than this at the office trying to figure out where we should order lunch from.

Even beyond that, the common tactic of assuming that every download is a lost sale has already been more than debunked by everyone from internet commentators to people who actually know what they are talking about. It just isn’t an accurate statistic, but even more inaccurate is arbitrarily multiplying a total by four in order to make the number look more dramatic. This has about as much bearing on reality as a Rasmussen poll does and should be treated accordingly. The alternative is that we accept this poor methodology as fact without a second question or calls for more accurate analysis and end up living in a society where anti-consumer/pro-corporation crap like the 2010 Digital Economy Act becomes the Orwellian flag we live under.

I think I prefer the pirates.

[Source: Game Politics]

Modern Warfare 2: Most Pirated Game of 2009

Brian Albert — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:32:30 +0000

Remember last year when a few million copies of Spore were pirated and everyone had a fit? Well, stand aside for 2009′s ‘winner’. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for the PC has been torrented approximately 4.1 million times. Add that to the 970,000 illegal downloads for the Xbox 360 version and Infinity Ward is looking at over 5 million copies of their game in the hands of people who didn’t give them a cent.

The runner-ups for the PC include The Sims 3, Prototype, Need for Speed: Shift, and Street Fighter IV. The Xbox 360 pirating scene is slightly different – with Dirt 2 and UFC 2009 making appearances. As for the Wii, New Super Mario Bros. ‘dominates’ the rest of the competition with over 1 million downloads. Surprised? Nope, me neither.

[Source: Torrentfreak]

RedLynx Pirated Their Own Game To Ramp Interest

Demi Adejuyigbe — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:15:37 +0000

If you haven’t played Trials HD yet, you should really check it out. It’s a fun, compelling puzzle game with a time trial twist, but it doesn’t feel like work. Though it’s been doing rather well, the game’s developer, RedLynx, didn’t think it would sell as well, so they decided to pirate the game the day it released.

Tero Virtala, the CEO of RedLynx, says that the RedLynx team seeded a limited copy of the game on multiple torrent websites, but that the version of the game didn’t have leaderboard support, which Virtala refers to as the game’s “soul.”

It might sound like a crazy idea to leak your own game on torrent websites for the world to use, but the statistics say it’s definitely worked in RedLynx’s favor. The game has sold 150K copies since launch, and their leaderboards haven’t been cracked yet.

(via Kotaku)

Been Caught Stealing: Facebook Helps Put Modern Warfare 2 Cyber-Thieves Behind Bars

Chad Lakkis — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:09:51 +0000

Activision’s highly anticipated Modern Warfare 2 can already be found on a multitude of internet torrent sites (so I’ve been told), but the quick work of Dallas based IPCybercrime (hired by Activision) helped move one cyber-thief out of his spacious gadget filled hacker pad into something a little more “cozy”.

According to Dean Takahashi of VentureBeat, a Craigslist post offering a Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundle perked the interest of Activision and prompted them to hire Dallas based IPCybercrime, a private investigation firm specializing in internet crime.

A little Facebook investigating revealed that two men stole a pallet of Modern Warfare bundled 360 units from a video game retailer. After apprehending the store thieves, the focus of the investigation shifted to locating a modder known online as “cdelamo815″ who planned to duplicate the Modern Warfare 2 game.

Again, the search started with Facebook, which ultimately pointed investigators to a console modding site. A little wheeling and dealing landed them 18-year-old Christian Del Amo’s cell phone number. They used that to pin point his residence and turn him over to authorities.

IPCybercrime owner, Rob Holmes, commented on the case:

“It all happened very fast … If these guys get their stuff out, then they can do some major damage to sales and spoil it for everybody. We plug leaks every day, but this was one of the biggest ones of the year.”

In the end this won’t do much to stop the leak of Modern Warfare 2 on torrent sites, as it’s already spreading across the web, but it does serve as an example of just how far an entity will to go to protect their intellectual property. Hell hath no furry like a publisher scorned.

Datel’s Xbox 360 Memory Card Supports 16GB microSD/SDHC Cards

Demi Adejuyigbe — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:01:15 +0000

Xbox 360 piracy is already a problem. (From the view of the developers, anyway) So when Datel announces a memory card for the Xbox 360 with an SDHC/microSD card slot that you can use to backup game saves and “anything else on the Xbox” (up to 16GB worth), you know that they’re not really going to help.

While I definitely think this memory card is a great idea, I feel like it could’ve been done in a much better way. It’s incredibly useful for people that are unlucky enough to suffer multiple RRoDs, s they can back up any game saves and transfer them without Microsoft’s confusing HDD transfer cable. However, I’m gonna go ahead and say that Microsoft is going to try and put a halt to it’s production as soon as possible.

Really.

Memphis Security Guard Caught Stealing Gears 2 and Fable 2 from Technicolor Plant

Justin Arnold — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:47:05 +0000

Mere days after Gears of War 2 began popping up on various torrent sites there has been an arrest made in the case.

Rodney Gray, 43, is a security guard employed by Technicolor, the Memphis Tennessee company that packages and distributes games and DVD’s in the U.S.

According to a Memphis Police Department affidavit, Gray stole hundreds of copies of Gears of War 2, as well as Fable II, and was selling them on the black market. He and another unidentified person of interest are currently under investigation for stealing and selling the games from the plant, but neither have been formally charged as of yet.

Detectives followed Gray from a Memphis apartment and pulled him over for driving related offenses. After doing so, they performed a cursory search of the vehicle and discovered 31 games in a red bag.

Memphis P.D. estimates the net worth of the theft to be more than $60,000.

Source: commercialappeal.com

The Fallout from Fallout 3’s Piracy

Justin Arnold — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:14:35 +0000

Vault 101 just got plundered.

The eagerly anticipated Fallout 3 is nearly upon us, yet a full three weeks before its release rapacious pig-fuckers cracked the game and offered it via various torrent sites.

This is the third AAA title that has been hacked and cracked in as many months, leaving publishers frothing at the mouth as they consider even more draconian digital rights management.

To the casual observer this may seem like an overzealous response to retain the vast sea of greenbacks the industry seems to float upon. And that certainly is a concern, after all Electronic Arts is not motivated from a position of altruism. This is about control of their product, control of their intellectual property, and control of the consumer.

Flinchingly I have read DRM proponents scathing insinuation that, and I’m paraphrasing, that “nothing is safe! Nothing is sacred! We must protect ourselves at any cost!” Yet the price of that protectionism is at the expense of the consumer. Pirates care little for the mores of the videogame industry and will, and are, molesting their games as we speak. However it’s not the pirates that are feeling the brunt of the industry’s wrath, it’s us.

Citing piracy concerns, EA slapped DRM restrictions on Spore that prohibited more than one installation per copy, turning it into a $60 rental. Yet that did not keep Spore from being cracked and on the day before its release.

Activision recently pounced and monetarily mauled some assclown for distributing their wares on torrent, and rightfully so. Yet has their Torquemada approach to prosecuting infidels resulted in scaring away such a nebulous enemy? Perhaps, but not enough. Swinging a big stick in a fight is only good if you can find someone to hit with it and so far, it’s been hit and miss.

Fallout 3’s rape and pillage is unfortunate. I’ve interviewed Pete Hines and have gotten the distinct impression that this was a fellow who, along with a talented and motivated crew, created something worth spending my hard-earned money on. And I don’t mind spending that $60 because A) I feel I am buying a superior product and B) spending that kind of jack will only encourage another Fallout title, but hopefully encourage the same stringent adherence to quality and making a game worthy of its namesake.

The piracy of Fallout 3 is an unfortunate byproduct of the age we live in, a casualty of commerce. Yet it’s not the rallying cry that DRM proponents are looking for. If anything it’s a rude awakening that DRM isn’t working as intended.

Restrictive DRM that affects the end user will only drive off wary consumers and if nothing else, encourage reporters such as myself to call companies who employ it on their collective shit.

Games shouldn’t punish gamers. Selah.

Gears 2 Goes Gold, Forum User Boasts Broken Release Date Hours Later

Chad Lakkis — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:20:38 +0000

Today in WTF! news, Gears of War 2 is announced as having gone gold (which means the game has been finalized), and just a few hours after that, the game surfaces in the hand of a mysterious figure on the popular Neogaf gaming forum.

Coincidence? Bullshit? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that every time something like this happens the collective butt-cheeks of software executives clench in unison.

Eventually, games will come with remote detonators that sense a premature case ejection. Removing a game from its container before the specified release date will cause it to explode violently, and affected individual will have a hard time convincing anyone that they didn’t deserve every piece of gaming shrapnel they end up having to dislodge from their face.

Hey, I love reporting news and rumors as much as the next guy, but if continuously pushed, it’s not far fetched to think that developers will find better ways to protect themselves and the media they create at the expense of time and resources that could have been spent developing better content. Everything comes with a price.