I was stuck on what to write for ages. I knew Rich was going to review some pirate games, so no luck for me there. Git. What to do? I do video games, how on earth could I make today’s post pirate themed?
Then it hit me. I could talk about video game piracy!
Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’m still going to do it. Imagine the whole post in a gruff pirate’s voice if you’re that concerned.
*Cough*
Anyway. Video game piracy. What’s that all about then?
Like all gamers, I’ve had my brushes with the dark side of gaming. My dad once came home with this disc that somehow let us bypass the security on our Dreamcast, letting us play copied games. I have a feeling he bought it from someone dodgy around his factory at the time. Either way, the only pirated games we had were Dead or Alive 2 and Sonic Adventure, so I think we were punished enough for his transgressions .Also, I may or may not have owned an R4 card in my time. Let us pass over that, for now...
Piracy is prolific nowadays, what with this little thing called the internets (tm). If you want a game, all you have to do is tap the name into a torrent search engine and you’ll get thousands upon thousands of results. However, video game piracy’s been around since the ‘80s, when games came on cassette tapes.
Fear ye not, Pong, you were always safe from harm.
All you needed was a dual cassette player and some blank tapes to create as many copies as your heart (or your mates) desired. The practice hit the industry hard, forcing companies into mergers or shutting them down entirely. In the end, workarounds had to be found, such as including access codes that only came in the manuals. However, the practice still remained rampant until cartridge games hit the shelves.
These games, put out by Nintendo and Sega, were initially safe because there was no way to play a copied game, since the consoles wouldn’t allow it. The pirate’s solution? Dodgy console clones, of course!
When I talk about clones, I don’t mean those terrible Wii knock offs you see in cheapy shops, like this one:
I mean that new consoles were made with cloned hardware, usually with ROMS already in the internal memory. Of course, because there was no security you could play all the copied games you wanted. Have at you, Nintendo!
Then, we moved into the digital era. Games now came on shiny CD ROMS, and were even easier to copy than ever. Pirated games cropped up everywhere, being sold by shady types trying to make a quick buck. (This must be where my Dad got that Dreamcast disc). Because they were so easily ripped off, there wasn’t a whole lot the industry could do, until:
Ta da! The current generation of consoles was born!
Now, there was a whole community dedicated to the modification of the previous generation of consoles, but now that they all had internet capability as standard, the mighty gaming overlords could see you’d been fiddling with their innards. And if you had? No internet privileges or bonus content for you!
‘Son, you are grounded until you un haxxor your X Box’.
Of course, people are still finding their ways round console security (look at the whole Geohotz fandango), and the companies will always fight back. It’s very easy to proclaim, ‘Ah sod it, I’ll just download the game. They make tons of money anyway right?’, but it’s just not true. Game developers are being shut down and let go right left and centre, and it’s up to us to save our favourite games. After all, if we all pirated, then no one would create games because there would be no money in it. Just think about that next time you go to download Gun Slap Battle Shooty Times 58. Just saying.
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