This post won’t make me popular, and some people will absolutely hate me for this, but it’s the truth and needs to be said.
Let me preface this with a TRUE STORY that happened in the same location Doug works (you weren’t there that day Doug, so maybe one of your comrades told you). Here I am in line about to buy a new video game (I honestly don’t know which one, I probably buy a new one every other week), when a customer in front of me of clearly Russian descent (no racism, I promise, there is a reason for me notating that) asks one of the clerks for an R4 game card. The clerk seemed immediately flustered, I was embarrassed for him, and everyone within earshot gave a noticeable look and smile at the Russian guy. So the clerk, very politely, informed the man that they do not sell such an item. The Russian man was confused and asked why not. At this point I visibly rolled my eyes and the clerk explained to the man, “Well, sir, it’s because technically they are illegal.” The Russian man seemed even more confused; he stated he had seen plenty of children that he knew using this device and that all it did was it would give him free video games. The clerk now gave a noticeably fake laugh and replied that of course a device that gives away something for free has to be illegal. The Russian gentlemen then decided against the idea and also decided against what was going to be his purchase of 2 used DS systems because he couldn’t get an R4 card.
Now, the first question that should be answered that may not have been picked up is “What is an R4 card?” Well, most websites that sell it advertise it as a media player and file storage unit. Right…and Bit Torrent is mostly used for legal file sharing…. The real reason people buy these cards is to slam them is so you can load illegally ported games onto your DS. Yes, that’s right, it’s nothing more than a method for illegally stealing games. As per why I noted the man was Russian, I thought I should note this because he did have a very heavy accent and maybe the country where he is from this isn’t really a big deal to buy items like this from a retailer. I know from personal experience that in Iraq and Kuwait it’s the Wild West for merchandise. Illegal games, movies, whatever, you got money, they have product.
History lesson about myself: I used to be younger and I thought stealing media was the way to go. I did it all of the time. Then, one day, almost out of nowhere, I thought about it for a second. I really sat in my room and thought about it….How much effort was put into the song I just got for free? How about this movie? Especially when the movie/song was in piss poor quality. I decided to just, stop, because none of it felt right. Yeah, the record label and the artist are missing their 99 cents, but then why didn’t I just pay 99 cents and get a good quality song? Why didn’t I just rent or eBay the movie and get a good copy? There was no excuse. So, I grew up and stops making excuses. I stop being a thief/pirate/whatever and decided, if it was worth having it was worth paying for.
So, is it ok to steal video games? How about music? Movies? Hmmm..what do you think? Let’s break down the economics of making a song; In the case of say Ke$ha and Justin Beiber, very little work is done and the songs are pumped out about as swift as the last one. Don’t believe me? Go to iTunes, and listen to the sample of Justin Beiber’s song “Baby”. It’s the same 4 words, again, and again, and afu**ing again and AGAIN!!!! This was on the top 40 for some damn reason! BUT, everyone has their tastes, so if you really like the song, you can purchase it from iTunes or Amazon music for 99 cents.
How about movies? Isn’t ok to steal those? Ask yourself this; do you realize how much work goes into making ONE movie? Let’s try an animated feature, like Toy Story 3, those only involve voice actors and cheap CG animation, so they don’t costs that much to make, right? Well, do you know how to use Maya efficiently sir/madam? No. Do you even know what Maya is?
How about this: Toy Story 3 took over THREE AND A HALF YEARS to make! Technically, it took longer than that, but that’s a different story altogether. You know the junkyard scene near the end of the movie? That entire set piece had a dedicated team working on it and it took 1.5 years just to make what amounts to 15 minutes of footage! For the love of crap, it was the first movie that had it’s sound engineering in true Dolby 7.1! Over 200 million dollars was spent on this 1 hour and 48 minute movie, about toys. AND SOME F**KERS WANT TO RIP COPIES OF IT!!!!!!!!??????
SO NO It’s not OK to steal movies!
How about video games? Who cares if we steal those? There are cheap and over priced anyways, so who cares?
You motherfu**er……. I have verbally berated any human being that has ever told me it was ok to steal video games and tried my damnedest to make them feel like a pile of crap.
Once again, let me illustrate the work that goes into making a video game, like say, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010 edition). This game was in development for two years. It took several game designers, audio technicians, and lots of programmers, level designers, artists, producers, and testers. That was just to make the game, let’s not even get into the distribution channel, that’s a headache in and of itself. At $60 a pop, the game would need to sell at least 4 million copies JUST to break even (side note: as of 2010, they sold 5 million copies). So yeah, stealing games is out, too.
You know, this isn’t a rant to say “everyone” steals media, because that’s obviously not true. The record company does well for itself, the game industry is the only industry that actually stayed the course during the recession, and the movie industry has to find a way to stop bitching about Netflix, but otherwise they are fine.
Really, I am ranting because, WHY steal media? At this day and age the very act of stealing media is more trouble than just buying the damn thing. You want the latest song? Just create an iTunes or Amazon account, to which I promise will only takes 5 minutes, do a simple search for the song, buy it and download it. SIMPLE! How about that movie you have wanted to see? Ah, movies are more complicated because the movie industry has artificial time-release windows in place to keep the consumers grubby paws off of their material…. Yeah I know that makes no sense, but that’s honestly what they do. WELL, here is your solution: get a Netflix account (once again, less than 5 minutes to set-up) and spend $10 a month and watch as much as want. Don’t worry; if you have any game console or Blu-Ray player, you can stream it to your TV just fine. OR visit your local RedBox, pay a dollar, and watch your movie. That’s right, a DOLLAR.
What about games? OH, games are too expensive, $40-$60 is too much for a new game? Listen here ass-hat…people like GOOD games, with great graphics, astounding musical scores, and they want the game to memorable, fun, and a joy to play, and the experience comes with a fu**ing price! Gaming is not a necessity it’s a commodity. That’s right, for as much as Doug, peaceman86, or I talk about games, they are merely LUXURY items, something you do not need in your everyday life. You NEED video games about as much as you NEED mustard on a hamburger, sometimes it’s nice to have but you can definitely get by without it. If you really want a video game on the cheap BUY USED. Except for brand new releases, I almost exclusively buy used, because after I am done with the game I visit my local GameStop and trade it in. With this cycle in mind, I hardly EVER pay full price for a video game. How about this, go to that same RedBox and spend $2 a night to rent a game. It’s really no different than if you went to a video rental store, just more convenient.
This being mostly a game blog, everyone needs to understand games take A LOT of money to make. OK, lemme back up, console games CAN take a lot of money to make. DS games can actually be made relatively cheaply, but that depends on what you call cheap also. An Xbox 360 game with a PS3 port can cost millions upon millions of dollars and will, not can, WILL take at least two years to create. Your average DS game, like Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, take around a year and a half and it'snot uncommon for them to break the millin dollar development budget.
OK, I admit this is becoming long winded, but I hope I have made the point. Stealing media is a problem. It’s not as rampant as the media portrays it to be, but it’s still a big enough problem that DRM is being put into games to try and stop pirates. The cold hard truth is, if you’re a pirate, you’re an ass-clown, a douchebag, an idiot. There is no, and I mean no, viable, excusable reason to steal media while living in the United States. It has become too fu**ing easy to just get the media you want without breaking the bank, or the law to do it. If you want to bitch by saying “I don’t have the money to buy all that stuff”, THEN DON’T BUY IT!
If you steal media, then I hope it gets traced back to your IP address that you are the one doing it and you get sued out the ass. You can contemplate if it was worth that Bit-Torrent download as you stand in front of a judge, wondering if you just should have paid that 10 bucks or 99 cents.
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