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Trials developer put its own game on torrent sites for marketing

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 7th 2009 at 4:00PM }

We all know the timeless adage: "If you can't beat them, then think of cleverer ways to entice them, then break down their spirits, showing them the error of their ways, which will ultimately lead to you beating them." Developer RedLynx employed this strategy when trying to make a foothold in the piracy-riddled PC gaming market when it released its motorbike platformer, Trials, last year. However, the method of this "release" were unconventional, to say the least: The studio actually beat PC pirates to the punch, and uploaded its own game to a number of popular torrent sites.

The version the developer distributed was missing one key feature, however: Leaderboard support. According to RedLynx CEO Tero Virtala, who spoke on the bizarre distribution model at the Develop Liverpool conference, "leaderboards are the soul of the game." He hoped that pirates would fall in love with the leaderboard-less version of the game, then purchase the full version so they could compete with their law-abiding friends.

Virtala admitted that he has no way of knowing how successful that strategy was, but we applaud the studio's unbridled chutzpah nonetheless.

Activision catches both pirates and thieves in Modern Warfare 2 investigation

by JC Fletcher { Nov 6th 2009 at 9:00PM }

While it might be tempting to go straight to Craigslist with those Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundles you stole, it turns out that Activision notices exciting, high-profile offers just like your potential customers might. VentureBeat reports that when Activision noticed a listing for one of the bundles last Thursday, the company hired a private investigation firm, IPCyberCrime.com, to track down the seller.

When IPCyberCrime found the person behind the sale, the investigator discovered that he was an employee at a retailer, who, with friends, had stolen the bundles to sell on Craigslist. The sellers were turned over to the store's loss prevention department.

That bust led to one of the prospective buyers, named Christian Del Amo, who was raising money on a forum to buy the bundle (allegedly) for the purpose of copying the game and selling the copies, along with other pirated games, on hard drives. IPCyberCrime turned that case over to the Miami-Dade Police Department, who arrested Del Amo.

Obviously, this demonstrates one reason (aside from the whole morality thing) why you shouldn't try to make a business of selling pirated games. Activision has enough money to hire a private investigator, and is not afraid to use it.

Happy Halloween! You're banned from Xbox Live.

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 31st 2009 at 6:00PM }

We hope your recent forays into piracy merely involve you donning a hook and eyepatch for a debaucherous costume party, or else you likely received a message from Microsoft like the headline of this post. The company recently dispatched a wave of bans to owners of modded Xbox 360s who've been playing pirated copies of games. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to IGN that "we have taken action against a small percentage of consoles that have been modified to play pirated game discs."

The spokesperson went on to explain that this batch of console bans wasn't conducted on any particular time frame, and that the company was merely following up on its standing policy against piracy. In other words, Microsoft isn't trying to ruin your Halloween weekend -- it just, you know, worked out that way.

[Image]

Another developer reports insane iPhone piracy rates

by Richard Mitchell { Oct 27th 2009 at 10:01PM }

Only a day after iPhone developer Smells Like Donkey complained of an 80 percent piracy rate of its game Tap Fu, another developer has made an even more alarming claim. According to Fishlabs, its latest release, Rally Master Pro 3D, achieved an astonishing 95 percent piracy rate in its first day of release. Fishlabs' Michael Schade told Mobile Entertainment News that the 95 percent piracy rate corresponds to "many thousands." When discussing whether the recently implemented in-app purchasing feature would help curb piracy, Schade was skeptical, saying, "I doubt that." He added, "We will see in the future how well in-app purchases fight piracy."

Developer claims 80 percent piracy rate for latest iPhone release

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 26th 2009 at 12:30PM }

Apple's iPhone/iPod Touch is a lot like Sony's PSP in many ways: they both play games, movies and music -- and now both can struggle with the effects of piracy. According to iPhone developer Smells Like Donkey, about 80 percent of all downloads of Tap-Fu were illegally downloaded.

The developer notes that learning how to pirate games off the iPhone is surprisingly easy, thanks to "a kernel patch that bypasses Apple's DRM system" that "would take an average person 5 minutes in Google to find." Additionally, the developer discovered that an average of zero percent of pirates end up purchasing a legitimate copy of Tap-Fu -- it seems marking the game down to $1.99 didn't discourage anyone from taking a free ride.

"It is kind of depressing," the developer admits. However, other iPhone developers are encouraged to take a proactive approach in lieu of Apple's slow response to the piracy situation. "Detecting a pirated app is quite simple to do," the developer notes. "Probably the first thing we'll try is popping up a message reminding people that they really should buy the game if they like it and conveniently provide links to do so." An alternate plan to generate revenue? DLC. "This forces the pirates to change their strategy significantly and it might be a while before it becomes feasible to attack this system."

[Via Develop]

Piracy discourages future PixelJunk PSP port plans

by James Ransom-Wiley { Oct 19th 2009 at 9:00PM }

Q-Games president Dylan Cuthbert has suggested that rampant piracy of his studio's optimized PSP port, PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe (PJMD), has deterred its plans for further PSP development. "I don't think we'll port anything else to the PSP, we have to see how PJMD does as there's a *lot* of piracy," Cuthbert tweeted over the weekend. Perhaps constrained by character limitations or simply caught up in another Uncharted 2 sesh, Cuthbert did not cite piracy estimates -- nor sales figures, for that matter. He did, however, confirm a demo is in the works; "but I don't think it makes any difference to piracy," Cuthbert lamented.

Cuthbert added in a follow-up tweet, "because Monsters is such a good fit it is being pirated I think," and then he responded to a suggestion to incorporate anti-piracy measures into the game code with: "unfortunately the pirates could just hack those kinds of things out." While the PSP Go has yet to be fully unlocked by would-be pirates and download-only PSN titles seem to be well protected from piracy, PJMD is available on UMD (in Japan and the greater Asia region), which has no doubt lead to the distribution of pirated versions of the game.

While it's somewhat naive of Q-Games to not have anticipated a piracy issue, it's no less disheartening. The PSP has long suffered from a lack of consistent third-party support because of a history of sales losses due to piracy. Q-Games is just the latest developer hesitant to commit further resources to supporting the PSP platform, and without the release of an impossibility firm firmware, it won't be the last.

Update: Cuthbert reemphasizes that PJMD sales will be the key determining factor that drives Q-Games' future in PSP development. Cuthbert's studio has not definitely dropped PSP development, but ostensibly low sales over the first three weeks of PJMD availability have Q-Games in some doubt about pursuing further PSP projects. Of course, a sales spike could certainly change that attitude.

[Via Examiner; thanks, Marcus N.]

Nintendo, Capcom, friends file suit over DS piracy-enabling R4 sales

by Christopher Grant { Oct 15th 2009 at 11:15AM }

Faced with The Truth that – regardless of what sorts of anti-piracy technology it folds into its DS platform – pirates will invariably hack the dual-screened handheld, Nintendo has buddied up with Capcom and 53 other video game publishers in Japan to file suit against four resellers of the popular R4 flash cartridge.

Earlier this year, a Tokyo court banned the sale of the devices; however, Capcom now says that "legal action has had no meaningful effect in the intervening period" and that sellers would "ignore" its warnings. Enter: a new lawsuit, which Capcom hopes leads to a ruling that acknowledges "our company and other software manufactures have sustained [extreme] damages from proliferation of illegal instruments." Seems pretty cut and dry to us, but we'll let the courts decide.

Nintendo tackling pirates again (with the aid of consumer snitches)

by David Hinkle { Oct 5th 2009 at 5:00PM }

Police officers often employ the aid of criminal informants, a kind of double agent that works behind enemy lines to get all of the dirt on the lowlifes breaking the rules. That's the new strategy for Nintendo and the 54 other companies that have again jointly filed suit in a Tokyo District Court to thwart the sale of devices used by pirates, such as the R4.

Despite winning the initial filing, Japanese retailers still sell the R4 and other flash carts, so Nintendo and (presumably) the same 54 companies have again filed suit. This latest filing aims for damages from those reselling the devices. See, Nintendo and the participating companies sent a letter to these resellers back in February requesting that they cease selling the device, but these resellers failed to comply.

Back to the snitching: Nintendo has opened a consumer website to report offenders and retailers hocking the devices. There, folks can fill out a web form with the appropriate information and submit it direct to Nintendo for follow-up. In exchange from Big N, you ask? You don't really expect freebies for doing the right thing, do you? Also, there's nothing.

[Via Andriasang]

Eidos intentionally glitches Batman: Arkham Asylum pirates

by Justin McElroy { Sep 10th 2009 at 11:30AM }

Well, this is just hysterical. Posting on the Batman: Arkham Asylum PC forums, user "Cheshirec_the_cat" complained that Batman's glide wasn't working in a certain section of the game, leading to his death by poisonous gas. Before long, Eidos moderator Keir informed him that he had actually stumbled on an intentional glitch in the game that only affects those who pirated their copy. "It's not a bug in the game's code, it's a bug in your moral code," quipped Keir.

Sure, more unscrupulous members of the gaming community will discover a workaround eventually, but let's just savor the moment, shall we?

[Via MaxConsole]

Does 'Don't Copy That Floppy 2' have Rage screens in it?

by Justin McElroy { Sep 9th 2009 at 1:14PM }

So, we were going to post the new "Don't Copy That Floppy" video solely because it's hysterical. (Seriously guys, fear mongering and dancing Klingons? Is it our birthday already?). But we think, and we're not sure about this, but we think there's a little bit of footage of Rage in it, right at 3:53. No, seriously!

Come to watch a cheesy video that makes fun of an even cheesier video, and stay for the two seconds of footage from a game that's Rage or something we don't recognize. Either way, you win.

Continued →

Sony and Nintendo increasing effort in fight against piracy

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 31st 2009 at 7:59PM }

Though Nintendo already has a pretty solid system in place for combating piracy -- the persistent threat that Reggie Fils-Aime will crush any software buccaneers between his mighty jaws -- the company recently increased its piracy-preventing ranks. Neil Boyd was recently appointed European anti-piracy counsel for the company. Boyd, along with a pair of Nintendo's legal advisors, will "take action against criminals who are making money out of the infringement of games developers' copyright," according to Nintendo anti-piracy director Jodi Daugherty.

Sony's also increasing its piracy prevention efforts, albeit through more technological means. The PSP Go will contain a non-removable internal battery, which keeps would-be hackers from implementing the popular, homebrew-enabled Pandora battery. Also, we hear the PSP Go's boot-up screen displays a pouty, doe-eyed Jack Tretton that's said to strike crippling pangs of guilt into anyone who tries to conduct dubious dealings on the handheld. Consider PSPiracy beaten, friends.

Looks like DSi firmware 1.4 is defeated already

by JC Fletcher { Aug 6th 2009 at 6:14PM }

The site for the R4i DSi flash cart posted a video (see it after the break) demonstrating what appears to be the R4i running on a DSi system with the 1.4 firmware. You know, the firmware that was released not even a week ago, and removed flash cart compatibility? Yeah, that one. The video demonstrates a retail game ROM, which is not particularly awesome, but does serve as evidence of flash cart compatibility. The site currently doesn't mention whether this is accomplished through an R4i firmware update or through new hardware. We'll find out more as more flash carts pick up on whatever technique is in use.

If 1.4 has truly been defeated, homebrew users will be able to upload photos to Facebook and play Magnetic Shaving Derby! Magical.

[YouTube video via GBATemp]

Continued →

Games for Windows Live goes 3.0

by David Hinkle { Aug 6th 2009 at 2:14PM }

If you were running about the Capital Wasteland in Fallout 3 or tossing hadoukens in Street Fighter IV on your PC recently, you may have noticed a Games For Windows Live update. Microsoft reports the new update is now available, which adds the Marketplace, anti-piracy measures and a host of other new features to the PC suite. Congrats, Microsoft! You've finally turned our PCs into Xbox 360s!

[Thanks, Kent!]

Gallery: Games for Windows Live

Student learns hard lesson on modding

by David Hinkle { Aug 5th 2009 at 2:00AM }

SoCal college student Matthew Crippen is learning a lesson the hard way right now, as he was recently caught modding Xbox, PlayStation and Wii game consoles. Supposedly, the ESA learned of the California State University student's activities and tipped off Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who secured a warrant to go through Crippen's home back in May.

Crippen has been indicted on two counts by a federal grand jury, faces up to 10 years in prison should he be convicted, and has also disappointed his mother.

[image credit]

DS piracy leads to 2.5-year prison sentence

by JC Fletcher { Aug 3rd 2009 at 2:10PM }

DS pirates in Japan aren't just at risk of having to forgo Facebook -- there could also be jail time involved. Yoshiaki Asagiri has been found guilty of copyright violations by a Kyoto district court, and sentenced to two and a half years of jail, plus over nine million yen (almost $100,000) in fines.

Judge Junichi Tochigi said that "This crime is an insult to the efforts of the rights holders who spent great amounts in the production of the games. It's clear that the rights holders suffered great losses."

Asagiri was more than just a casual downloader of DS ROMS. Along with friends, he created a website to distributed copied DS game files. He also participated in other forms of piracy, including selling designer knockoff goods. But even with those extra circumstances, that jail time is enough to send a chill down the spine (and peg leg) of even the most casual downloader.