meh if the game allows it and deserves it why not play every little bit of it the first time -_O... then again lame buggy overhybed games i beat in 5-7 hours heh... hello F.E.A.R on hard lol

1. Thief 3: Deadly Shadows ... cradle level is an outright masterpiece in itself.

2. System Shock

3. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

thats 3 most disturbing games in my list....

garbage games like fear/doom3 were at most laughable because the storyline felt like it was written by a drunk mongoose.

well before I hit submit i do agree memory parts of max payne 1 were great lol and yah indigo prophecy did have some messed up parts :P

Nope, I disagree G013M.

Casual gamers, would just wait for the game to be cracked, since they are casual gamers they don't need the very latest and very best, right away. They are unlikely to spend their hard earned money for a casual hobby.

An enthusiast gamer however have more of a "I need this right now" mentality, but they also have more technical knowledge and therefore have a higher probability to pirate the games. These are the same people who would read gaming articles and be offended by the drastic DRM measures.

Stardock got it right, their "you make games for people who buy them, not to prevent it from being downloaded" method is is key. I thought they made it clear when they released that huge article back when Sins was released. They wrote, why do developers keep making games for pirates? Because if you have DRM, you are making games for pirates. Making games for the customer, means no DRM. You don't see companies doing that any industry other than the failing music industry, so why would you do that for games?

ElectricNZ

^^^^^

well said.

not all hope is lost

Games that implemented really offensive protections during the first week or two of release aka. Bioshock really pissed legit users and pirates off alike, but that was the period in which they made their greatest sales, but after that period they released code that relaxed those restrictions, and then lo and behold Bioshock appeared on torrent sites- but they already made their sales killing!

I honestly believe this is the best copy-protection model any game can use.

CreamBeav

That is such a great assumption.... I just love people who think that way... Do you also think wearing a tinfoil hat makes you safe from aliens and government?

1. You don't lose revenues to pirates. Why? Because they had no intention of buying game, no matter how much protection you put in it will be cracked you are waisting your time.

2. Piss off your fan base and you do loose revenues. If a developer got an established fan base 1 screwup can cost you dearly ranging from horrible sales to you making no profit and just sitting in debt on said title.

There are plenty developers out there.... mostly best ones who use anywhere from some cosmetic protection which is there just to be there to none and guess what they make profit.... LOTS of it as matter of fact. Some actualy let you pirate it and completly ignore it they let you see the game and what you could get if you subscribed and they are cashing in well enough to brag about it.

All the assumptions of ahh pirates ahh Nooo OHH wahh are so ignorat and pathetic... What hurts a developer is a horrible marketing strategy not pirates or what not. Ea will sink bioware. But in that case it was Biowares screw up but what ever.

Once you assume your customer is a thief a scumbag and pirate and all the other things bad in life you ether force the customer to look elsewhere for product or do the same thing you acused him of doing hence going off and saying "You know what... screw you all, I'll download the darn thing and save myself a headache."

There are times when I say you know.... this game is not worth the trouble... I'll return it and take something else instead. And I do it frequently when you create DRM that is scaring a customer off you are killing your profit and digging yourself a grave. Its not pirates... its not goverment and its not aliens or hippies or old people who can't tell the difference between M rating and T rating and then whine about nudity in M rated game they bought for their 10 year old grandson.

I cash in for games alot..... as matter of fact I feed blizzard every friking month. Why? Because they provide a product that is well worth it.