@supertom221 Actually, it has little to do with these corporation's true color. I don't know if you are aware of it, but software is protected by the Copyright Law. It is a law by government, not by corporations. Corporations include Copyright Law in TOU because it is generally required when they get their software licensed, not because they are anal and know you don't read it. Here's the legal line drawn: If you tamper with "hardware" (like getting a skin makeover), it is usually legal, because hardly any hardware registered its copyright. If you tamper with "software", which is what playing pirated games requires, you are breaking the Copyright Law, the difference is whether you get caught for it or not. The penalty for tampering with software is small to none, because there are too many people doing it. But many people doing it doesn't mean it's any more legal. I hope this doesn't stir any rage, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I believe it's not that tampering with software itself is bad, it's the aftermath that the action may cause. Corporations like MS needs to ban people who mod their software because modding may open opportunities for illegal trades and sales. They don't know if you are the one doing illegal trades, so they get you all. I do think that big corporations are evil, they love ripping small business off and get away with it, but for this particular matter, I think they are just doing what they have to.

@Reuwsaat Wow... you know, what you said peaked my interest, so I did a little research and found this (ok, I admit I'm a little bored at the moment :P) http://www.wharton.universia.net/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=814&language=english A very interesting read. The article stated that the loss from piracy in Brazil reached \$519 million annually (this was written in 2004). Aside from that, high taxes mean high production costs, so developers would have to make do with less employees. The combination of both situations may have kept the foreign developers away, meaning a price drop in video gaming isn't very likely. And the Brazilians who are willing to pay for video gaming have to continue putting up with ridiculously high prices. That is really bad cycle indeed. According to the article, Brazil has the potential of becoming one of the largest game market, but the two main factors are making it quite difficult. The only way around it is games that charge monthly fees.

I apologize if it seems like I'm raping this board, lol. But I'd like to be back on the topic and give those who are interested in the field a little heads up (it's not a complaint). This job is NOT about gaming, it is mostly about labors and marketing and mostly repetitive communication. You love playing games? Great, it doesn't mean you will survive in the business. You have a passion for art? Good, it will be worn out eventually. On the other hand, you can do well in the business even if you have not played a game in your life, because whether you have gaming experience or not, you will likely be a puppet, not one who decides what makes a game good. A lot of my friends in the business stopped playing games long ago because "gaming" feels like their job. The bright side is, you may be rich one day if you are good at what you do and stick with it for a long time. The downside is, you are highly likely to have absolutely no life, no wife and won't know what to spend your money on, especially if you start the job at young age (This is not a joke, I have seen enough cases to tell you it isn't a myth.) If you think this is absolutely fine since there are worse lives, you will love the field, or you might end up like my bitter lead designer friend who's in his mid 30s, and whines about his empty life all. the. time. Oh, and budget is a pain in the a**, publishers can be ridiculously difficult to deal with :)

@Reuwsaat I absolutely agree, and sorry to hear that. I think it's a bad cycle; like you said, games cost way too much in the first place, therefore people may resort to piracy, and then developers may feel that the profit isn't enough, so they either don't release it at all, or raise the price to increase profit (I think they are depending on the people who will buy it anyway), and then people resort MORE to piracy. Why on earth is gaming so pricy there, anyway?? Do you know? Is it just because they are all imported? While I'm in the developing business (I'm just an artist, though), I have to agree that so many games are too pricy for their lazy efforts. I can even tell that they are lazy from the demo they offer (hello, Duke Nukem). I mean, if you want to fool your customers, at least make the demo good and slack on the rest, gees.

@supertom221 Well, these friends aren't the brightest gem, to be honest, they are just fun to be with :) I don't remember what happened specifically, but I believe they only played pirated SP games and bought MP games legitimately. They thought they wouldn't get caught this way, but MS got them all eventually, not sure how they did it. I know what you said about western games not being as popular in China and Taiwan (I grew up in Taiwan), so yes, it is a factor. But now the interest is growing larger and I guess it's a bit too late. It's not that difficult to translate English to Chinese, though :) We have plenty of translated novels in Taiwan, and those are definitely harder to do than games. Edited to add: Just asked my friends because I can't remember how they did it. Well, turns out that they did go on Live even when they pirated games. I guess it didn't take MS too much effort catching them.

@Masta_Rix Just to be clear, I wasn't judging you or anything. I understand that piracy plays a crucial part in the world and there's not a good enough reason to force a stop on it. I simply asked for a mutual balance where each side can place themselves in others' shoes.

@supertom221 I know my words won't affect a thing. But this is a comment section, so I will say whatever I have to say. Even though I was urging people not to encourage piracy on an open board, I am not going to tell those who do to shut the hell up. If you didn't read my previous comments, I don't need to explain to you where piracy kicked in, fair? :) Some of you can hold your horses, but a lot of others can't. I have some friends who modded their 360s, but ALL of them ended up finishing none of the games due to easy access and distraction. Even when they did love a game, they were already getting their hands on the next one before they could pull out their wallet. Ironically, as opposed to your knowledge, supertom221, my friends ARE the rich ones from rich families, they were just being cheap. (It often seems that way with my race) My friends were all later banned by Microsoft. They decided it was too much of a trouble, so they started buying games legitimately, and that's when they started cherishing and finishing the games. So when you think we are all high and mighty, try to see that there ARE different sides of the story when it comes to piracy. And you know the extreme case of it? Look at China and Taiwan, incredibly high flow of piracy, leading to where most developers aren't willing to distribute their games there, leading to where many great games aren't translated unless modders do it them themselves. Tell me again that piracy hurts absolutely no one.

@Masta_Rix What in the world...? It's not like I had issues with your doing, what's with the sarcasm saying I'm "holier" than hackers. I work IN the freaking industry like I said in my first post and I NEVER complained about my job condition. So no, I don't sit well with piracy. Activision, Blizzards, EA and whatnot aren't the only gaming companies in the world. Small studios suffer a lot harder than the big guys from piracy, so pardon me if I have more sympathy for developers when it comes to the topic, ok? I specifically said that I don't think there's a problem using piracy as demos, if you want see if you'd like the games enough to buy them, go right ahead. In an ideal world, people would treat pirated games like you do, but in the real world, if people can get something for free, a lot of them won't spend a dime.

@Gabr131 Sorry to hear that, but like I said in my first post, I don't care if you do it in private and on your own, it's none of my business. I only have issues with people who come on internet to justify piracy. Internet talks do affect people, the more you justify piracy, the more others would think it isn't a big deal. So if you want to break the laws, go ahead, but don't tell the whole world it is a reasonable thing to do. If you aren't sympathetic about developers' situation, neither should you play the poor card for sympathy, it's only fair, right? :)

@masta_Rix I don't disagree with your mindset. If you want to use pirated games as "demos" to avoid impulsive buys, by all means, go for it, it's not a bad idea at all. However, if someone was to enjoy something on someone else's expanse and would use "I'm poor" as an excuse, sorry, that doesn't cut it for me. I'm not rich, either, that's why I don't buy iPhones and name brands and own every single one of the consoles and an awesome PC, nor would I buy fake ones to just pretend I'm living a luxurious life. It is right that fun should not be exclusively dedicated to silvered spoon fed kids, but that doesn't mean us hard workers should neglect laws to justify our actions. Like I said, no one is asked to buy games on the first day they are released. I just wait until games drop to an affordable range.