With Final Fantasy XIII exactly one week from release in the US & Europe, a pirated version of the game has found its way onto the internet. The pirated version is only available on the Xbox 360 due to the PlayStation 3 having superior piracy protection on the Blu-ray disc and console itself.
Many people will remember Modern Warfare 2 being leaked on the Xbox 360 earlier last year, which incidentally was the most pirated game of 2009 with over 4,000,000 illegal downloads confirmed. This huge number of downloads in turn, lead to a mass banning of Xbox Live accounts just a day before the game's release.
Whether this will effect Final Fantasy XIII's sales on the Xbox 360, or how Square-Enix and Microsoft decide to tackle the problem, still remains to be seen. All that is known is that with only seven days left before the game's release, things aren't off to a good start.
Posted on March 7th, 2010, 10:10 pm (EST) by Eskimo Keith
tech0812:
Again, don't get me wrong, I believe hard work should be paid for, just not by me.
I fixed your quote for you ;)
Posted on March 7th, 2010, 9:23 pm (EST) by tech0812
Zero: A practice that hurts many in the end. It hurts the company that went through all the effort to make the game, it hurts the gamers by making the company not want to make more games to release in this region, it hurts the video game dealers which also in turn hurts gamers who have no choice but to go into these stores. It is people like you who are helping put retailers out of business...
On some level, you're absolutely right but the fact remains, if I knew what I was getting there are many games I never would have bought in the first place... what about the game companies who hurt gamers by putting out a substandard product?
And trust me, Gamestop is going to be ok, they make most of their money with used games. They give me $15 for a relatively new game they turn around and sell for $55, that's one heck of a profit margin... So now I just sell the g...ame myself on EBay for $50.
Again, don't get me wrong, I believe hard work should be paid for but by the same token, putting out a piece of crap should be punished.
Man, I remember the days when it was either you rented or bought a game. You had to gamble whether or not the game was worth it, sometimes you won and sometimes you lost. I still have SNES games that when I look through I say "Wow, this game is awesome." and then not 2 seconds later, "This was the worst decision of my life. UH THIS GAME WAS SOOOO BAAAADDDD."
Having bad games in a library adds character; getting smashed and playing those horrible horrible games, have lead to some of ...THE funniest nights. Who knew
PS: I still think FF XIII was a great game. While I won't have the english version till fall, I can't really say much about voice overs, but the game is really good once you get past the first 15-20 hours. LOTS OF CUTSCENES, but they are beautiful.
So then rather then risking the $60 to play a game, or waiting for other legal alternatives, such as the game dropping price to a more reasonable $50 price tag, or getting it via gamefly, you go and download it off the net. A practice that hurts many in the end. It hurts the company that went through all the effort to make the game, it hurts the gamers by making the company not want to make more games to release in this region, it hurts the video game dealers which also in turn hurts gamers who ...have no choice but to go into these stores. It is people like you who are helping put retailers out of business...
Posted on March 6th, 2010, 1:34 am (EST) by tech0812
While I've definitely personally been hit hard by the economy, honestly my comment about money is less about that and more about the feeling of being ripped off. I can't tell you how many times I've gone down to my local GameStop, reserved a copy of a new game, patiently waited until the release date and then driven back to the GameStop, paid my hard earned money and anxiously drove back home, ripped open the packaging and fired up my new treasure only to be bitterly disappointed by the less tha...n stellar game design, lackluster voice acting or any number of other factors. FFXII would have been no exception either, after playing through about the first hour, I'm bored to death watching the game play itself. According to some of the early reviews, it picks up around 20-25 hours into the game however, I for one am glad I didn't go through the above ritual only to realize, "Hey, have a life too and many other ways to waste 20 hours of my time that don't require 2 trips to game stop and the flushing of $60 down a virtual toilet" Don't get me wrong, I pay for things that are worth the money but FFXII is certainly not a game that falls into that category. PS3 owners, save your money and buy Heavy Rain, you can then even sell it on EBay when you're done with it for 60-70% of what you paid for it. Final Fantasy XIII is Final Fantasy in name only, it's certainly not anything close to what I've come to expect from such a beloved series, I'm sad to call myself a fan of the franchise.
Posted on March 4th, 2010, 11:13 pm (EST) by squirrelking101
tech0812: For another I think it keeps the media industry honest so to speak. I mean, they constantly have to make things 1) more secure and 2) more innovative.
This makes no sense. People putting out their work are honest, especially this game. The counter-measures are to help maintain an honest audience and continue making their games. They have to make their stuff harder to crack so that people buy it and they see some dollar return for their hard work.
Also your argument is selfish, about you saving $60+. I know the economy is crap but the companies are feeling it hard too. I just hope the bad karma of pirating catches up... to you in some way.
Hopefully S-E gets some compensation from Microsoft, wouldn't have been pirated if it was exclusive. I'm glad everyone is playing it, but I'd rather they play legally.
Posted on March 4th, 2010, 10:44 pm (EST) by tech0812
Well I for one am glad this has been pirated already. While pirating is illegal, I personally see nothing "wrong" with it. For one thing I haven't shelled out $60 for a video game in a long time, I'm pretty happy about this. For another I think it keeps the media industry honest so to speak. I mean, they constantly have to make things 1) more secure and 2) more innovative. I mean DVDs experience rampant piracy but if you have an HDTV, and I bluray player, it's worth it for some titles to fork ou...t for the bluray version. Same thing with games, there are some which have been pirated for 360 which I purchased on the PS3 because I saw extra value there. Let me just say this...
Viva la pirates!!!
Posted on March 3rd, 2010, 6:17 pm (EST) by gilburtgtr
Remus: FU Ban that guy!
Hope you burn in hell fucking illegal bastard.
I know that IWishICared's opinions are contrary to most of ours, but I certainly feel that this flaming is inappropriate, Remus. Please do not do mindlessly insult other members again.
IWishICared, it is against the LINK to discuss illegal activity that you personally partake in, so though your opinion is valued, please express it in a way that does not incriminate you or anyone else on the forum.
I know that guy hasn't broke any rules but I still join Remus in his calls to ban this guy.
Also FF XIII is only 18GB on the 360 to the best of my knowledge. What's that other 6GB?
Attached Images
Posted on March 3rd, 2010, 4:50 pm (EST) by Fauxbulous
Most people who are downloading and playing this pirated version are probably already banned from xbox live and had their HDD locked. So they probably have nothing to lose. Also, you can bypass the HDD lock, but what is the point?
Waiting the 7 days is simply better than jacking up your system.
FU Ban that guy!
Hope you burn in hell fucking illegal bastard.
Posted on March 3rd, 2010, 3:28 pm (EST) by IWishICared
Yep, I can't tell you how excited I was when I found Final Fantasy XIII at the top of my pirate RSS feed this morning. Weighing in at 24GB total for all three discs, it should all be sitting on my hard drive this afternoon. After ten minutes to uncompress the first disc and an hour more to burn it, I'll be playing! Early and free...I love it!
Posted on March 3rd, 2010, 12:47 pm (EST) by gilburtgtr
Sillcher: noooooooooeeeeeeeeezzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That would mean that I wouldn't be able to download it for free!!!! I thought you were my friend...
I hope you're being sarcastic? :/
Sillcher: I'm sure you guys pirate all of the time... Have you ever downloaded music? Watched tv-shows or movies from websites not owned by the creator? I bet you have.
I will only ever occasionally download songs (and only if I wouldn't buy them anyway, not instead of buying them - that way artists/companies don't lose money), but I have never watched illegal films or TV shows, or played a pirated game/console.
Posted on March 3rd, 2010, 10:08 am (EST) by Sanrin
sudo_FOO: Impatience is such a horrible disease. Seven days is not a long time, find a book and read it. The days will go by faster.
That'd be like, three books! Unless you're reading one really really long book, or a book series.
Remus: PS3 is alrdy cracked too, past months ago. . .no console stays "legal" forvever. there are always some guys that havent anything else to do, then to crack game consoles.
It has been cracked but nothing has really been done with it so far. The PS3 isn't "cracked" per se but it is finally opened, now nobody knows what to do with it. It is much like the situation with the "Jailbreak" on iPhone, now that people finally have it open, we actually have to reverse the software and figure out what stuff does. Sony is even taking patent countermeasures and have been talking about updating firmware and taking out OtherOS, as the hack requires using linux and ...doing poke dumps. All the cracking did was give read/write access to the HD and HV level processor access.
Posted on March 3rd, 2010, 8:52 am (EST) by sudo_FOO
Impatience is such a horrible disease. Seven days is not a long time, find a book and read it. The days will go by faster.
PS3 is alrdy cracked too, past months ago. . .no console stays "legal" forvever. there are always some guys that havent anything else to do, then to crack game consoles.
juxtor: I'm not suprised at all. Im sure SE will take whoever it was to court just like the guy who uploaded SMB Wii. Nintendo sued him for 1.5 million plus court fees.
Let them suffer!
noooooooooeeeeeeeeezzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That would mean that I wouldn't be able to download it for free!!!! I thought you were my friend...
Posted on March 2nd, 2010, 9:46 pm (EST) by juxtor
I'm not suprised at all. Im sure SE will take whoever it was to court just like the guy who uploaded SMB Wii. Nintendo sued him for 1.5 million plus court fees.
Let them suffer!
Posted on March 2nd, 2010, 8:43 pm (EST) by Kaos24
Wow..... your waiting 4 year, cant you wait 7 more days.. and pay for it? Super lame.
Posted on March 2nd, 2010, 8:12 pm (EST) by Damian
Sillcher: I'm sure you guys pirate all of the time... Have you ever downloaded music? Watched tv-shows or movies from websites now owned by the creator? I bet you have.
I'm sure you guys pirate all of the time... Have you ever downloaded music? Watched tv-shows or movies from websites not owned by the creator? I bet you have.
It happens. Nothing that can be done to stop it. Microsoft threw out a massive Ban hammer last year. Not only banning you from Xbox Live but corrupting your console/hardrive and Gamer tag Something to do with a code they sent via Xbox Live. Fun sticks !
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