this is taken from my video games blog at destructoid.com

http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/pheonix-blood

Okay, so I guess it is about time I finally posted a blog, and my inspiration came to me a few days ago.
Okay, so in my local supermarket, sandwiched between Maxim and national geographic are a whole host of video game magazines, now if you listen to the Pod-toid, as I’m sure most of you do, you probably heard, that one thing the UK does boast is a whole horde of gaming magazines. So as always I picked up a copy of Edge, probably one of the best magazines out their, focusing on videogame culture and not just on one console (though at £4.50 it still cost me a fortune, that’s about $8).
So while at the beach with my flatmates I decided to start reading it and it was the first article I read that was on Videogame piracy and that got me thinking.

Now, I’m no angel as far as this topic goes, okay, so I use limewire, I’ve copied a few of my friends CD’s in my time, I own a few low quality pirate DVD’s, yet I can hand on heart say, I have never owned a pirated game.
So wanting to get a second opinion I spoke to my newly adopted d-toid big brother Banj, who quite strongly put it:

“Fuck the bourgeoisie videogame industry, piracy for the win. Vive le revolution”.

Sounds great! And I really wanted to agree. I mean, this industry is worth billions, surely their earning enough that nobody will notice a few chipped PS2 their and a chipped DS here? Yet, we gotta remember, this is illegal. Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software stated:

“If you’re unwilling to shoplift in a store, you shouldn’t be downloading illegally pirated versions of games.”

Okay, so we’ve all had a pop at Sony for the outrageous price of the PS3. Blu-ray boasts to being ‘ultra secure’ and ‘safeguarded against piracy’. Yet it costs more, and it’s these extra costs that Sony has to reflect back on us, the gamers (or does Blu-ray simply pose another mountain to conquer for hackers everywhere?) and why should game developers take risks to make monumental games, knowing that the profit wont be going into their own pockets?
A poll at (don’t shoot me for saying it) Joystiq found that a staggering 23% played pirated games. In fact, figures show that 90% of China’s software market is made up of pirated goods! Actually world wide videogame piracy last year cost the U.S gaming industry in lost sales, $3.2billion, while the legitimate industry only earned $5.1billion.
Yet here I am, university student, living off £50 a week, now any new 360 game will easily set me back £40, even with store discount. The sight of emulators and pirated games, seem more and more attractive, over the possibility of starving myself for a week. It all seems so appealing! So what is stopping me?
Firstly, the thought of some idiot tearing open my beautiful Nintendo Wii, to dangerously attempt to solder a modded chip into it is a frightening thought, even more so if it means when I get it back, it may not even turn on, let alone play modded games. I may not play Xbox live (apparently my university accommodation believes that we shouldn’t actually have the internet in our dorm rooms) yet, I can only imagine what it would feel like to have my account taken away from me for playing modded games, which appears to be Microsoft’s latest anti-piracy crackdown while my final point was mentioned in a previous Pod-toid, that it wouldn’t feel like I owned a game if I just downloaded it. I may not earn a lot cos of university, but its nice to know when I get a game that its mine, I own it, I paid for it, its mine, mine, mine. I like to see it their, lined up with all my other games. A part of me likes to know, that I am benefiting the industry which I’m so passionate about.

Piracy is a growing problem, one, which we all seem to be footing the bill for. Yet with the growing price of games and consoles, how can the majority of people be expected to carry on footing this bill without turning to piracy to allow them to enjoy their favourite consoles? And will companies like Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo ever be able to stop their consoles becoming targets for hackers? Or, is trying to stop them, just encouraging it?

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