To hell with ALL OF THE PIRATES!!! This was supposed to be the one game that would help save PC Gaming and they want to screw it up!

FLYBOY611

I thought about downloading it since I plan on picking it up the day it comes out anyways, but I decided that for once it would be worth the wait.

Woden501

@dropoff:

Yarrrrr.

IceCold

I miss my days of sailin' high seas and plundering booty.

dropoff

@DavidFU: Every game I've ever anticipated, every single one, has had strong negative buzz on forums before release.

It's a law. When a game is coming out, you will hear nothing but bad things about it on forums and such. I've learned to play the games for myself and not to put any stock in the forum critiques.

QualityJeverage

dont see how this is news. pc games are frequently cracked and torrented all the time.

maraxusofk

@mva5580:

Shit doesn't taste good. Playing before I waste money? So sweet.

IceCold

People complaining about Will Wright and Maxis not getting money, he's not getting as much money as he should be. EA gets most of the money because of the fact that they're doing everything for it. Publishing, ad campaigns, etc. Honestly I want to just mail Maxis my $50 for Spore and not have to buy it in the store and give money to EA. Yes EA is getting better, but Maxis still deserves the money more.

Squishy3

Downloaded it, played it, didn't like it, deleted it.

Fun demo.

sadbad

Why is this news? I want to meet the folks that think this wasn't going to happen.

Why do I want to meet them?

So I can slap the shit out of them for being stupid and nieve.

X-Cannon

People really exaggerate the effect of pirated games. One download doesn't equal one lost sale. Didn't Kotaku post a story a while ago that had research to show it was more like 1000 downloads = 1 lost sale.

Most people just download because there isn't a demo and want to try it out, see how it runs on their systems and that's it. That's why Crysis is so popular - it is the defacto PC benchmark right now.

With consoles you can rent a game to see if you want to buy it, but you can't do that with PC so many people download. Most also buy the game if they really like it and spend lots of time with it (assuming they aren't starving college students or teenagers with no income).

arcum

@rupinderpaul:

I come to Kotaku for the news that no one else will post. If they stopped, I'd leave.

elevenoverzero

CardJoker:

The RELOADED version isn't from the Aussie source. It has the North American Manual ;)

IceCold

Anyone who pirates a game deserves to eat shit and die. You people make me sick.

And way to post this and essentially encourage people to pirate it, Kotaku. Classy.

mva5580

How is this news? Are you honestly surprised that this happened? It'd be like CNN having an expose on "OMG LEAVES TURN BROWN ACROSS TEH COUNTRY!!!11! THE END IS NIGH"

nonbreakingspace

From what I read in other forums that the DRM was put in to kill off the second hand market, and the three activations was put in place to force us to pay for more when we run out of them. I wonder what the real truth is though?

Anto103

/yawns

only way i'd play spore was if i got from a torrent..

never bought into the hype of it over the last how many years of the media/will wright self-promoting it as the 'best game eva'

i'll be awaiting LBP release instead and continuing to rock out w/my cock out rockband styled. :P

seamonkey420

Although I myself have DL'd quite a few games in my time, I'm really disappointed that this was cracked. And this done before release makes it all the more harder to resist downloading it.

I really wish companies would go after the "source" of these people who first try cracking and spreading games. Because really, you can't blame the average consumer these days for not being able to resist the temptation, when heavy prices and long waits surround us all.

I've already heard reviews going around, saying that it actually sucks. Some say it's like playing in a giant empty sandbox... all alone.

DavidFU

...

This is why PCs can't have anything nice. *shakes his fist at the sun*

Still, I could have predicted this was gunna happen, just like I can predict that EA's gunna come down on top of whoever broke street on Spore like a ton of bricks.

Salen

@IceCold: Uh, what? What does that have to do with anything I said?

Regardless of whether the protection was cracked or not, the point is that the game now exists for pirates to download, which renders the DRM useless.

QualityJeverage

@IceCold:

It's been sold in Australia for a couple days now.

@Strangelove:

Excuse me for trying a game before I buy it.

And yes, because the gaming media is always right you should totally believe them. Seriously, are you mental?

I buy several of the games that I pirate, the games that absolutely deserve it.

CardJoker

And the main reason this game will do better is because EA was smart enough to actually release a demo. Most companies don't bother with a demo and wonder why no one buys their software.

IceCold

the securom is total bullshit, only 3 installs then its off to buy a new game? EA completely deserves to have this pirated. I will no longer be buying spore and neither will any of my other friends. EA is retarded for thinking this will stop piracy, it only encourages it.

MINIBOSS

@DaveKap:

I'm gonna say 2.5 Million before year is out. Should top out at 3 Million sold.

IceCold

Who didnt see this coming? Its like this for every PC game, especially the high profile games

Scott3D

Awesome. Off to Bittorrent. Thanks Stuart!!

beem

@ReadNLearn: Unfortunately history has shown that it's most likely to be the official release that has the problems thanks to the DRM.

@trogam: If this is why DRM is put in place then surely that DRM should be preventing the piracy. The obvious reality of the situation is that DRM is doing absolutely nothing to stop piracy whatsoever.

MattB

Hmph. The nerve of those piraters.

Real Serious Assassin

@QualityJeverage:

Where did RELOADED get their copy huh? The fucking company, it hasn't made it to DVD Press yet. Nub.

IceCold

I got to play quite a bit at PAX and have to admit that even the pirates will most likely purchase the game considering seeing other people's creations is a large factor to the fun. I'm sure Spore will be at the top of the PC chart for a good couple months and sell at least 2 million before the year is up.

DaveKap

Oh and before I get flamed to bits: I dont intend to play this pirate copy I have anymore until I get a retail version. I don't mind playing the first 2 stages over again, at least now I've gotten the hang of it.

Whoever doesn't buy the game but keeps on playing a pirated version, um, .

Iceman B.

@CardJoker:

So, I'm supposed to believe the word of someone dumbass pirate who may or may not have actually played the game over the gaming media, which is overwhelmingly favorable save for a few niggling issues. Uh-huh.

@Roflcopter_Down: Wants you to follow HIM!:

I have a bridge I want to sell you.

Strangelove

This should just be proof to EA that no matter how draconian the copy protection, your game will be cracked before it's even released.

Copy protection is futile, so stop treating the legit customers like criminals. When the pirates get a LESS restricted game than the people who paid their hard-earned money for it, there's something horribly wrong.

QualityJeverage

Can't people who upload games on torrent sites ever lay off? Don't they ever have any respect at all for the people that made this game?

Kankel

and your surprised why?

mr30gZune

@CardJoker: and I called it, Spore would be boring as hell after a short time.

Roflcopter_Down: Wants you to follow HIM!

@ihateeverything:

Most MAC versions don't make it to the boards. Since most people don't play PC Games on Macs.

IceCold

Mate of mine got his hands on said copy.
I leeched it off him.
Installed, played, and lost around 4 hours of my life playing through the first 2 stages.

I was following this game from the first keynote speech I saw and I knew I had to get my hands on this game.
Needless to say, Will Wright delivered.

I am SO buying this game.
People: don't be a cheapskate, buy the damn game, its really good.

Iceman B.

Is there a Mac version of this leak??? :)

ihateeverything

@trogam: I agree. Somewhat. DRM is worthless, and this proves it. It just punishes the legit users.

GiantEnemyCrab

@pressstart: Securom is indeed the devil.

Roflcopter_Down: Wants you to follow HIM!

@CardJoker:

Completely agree. It's not quite an epic title.

IceCold

See EA SecurRom does jackshit.

Anto103

The game is so incredibly bland, I torrented it yesterday and have been playing it on and off since then.

I was having fun until the Creature stage, seriously they took out eating and protecting eggs for DNA points and now it seems it's all about singing or something.

Face it folks, the only good thing about the game was the creature creator, everything else has zero depth and is mind numbingly boring.

CardJoker

I'd rather have a legit version of this game, which I have anticipated for the past 3 years. I only pirate games I never plan on buying anyway, and if I really like them I buy them anyway.

Dr. Nooooooooo

Why is this big news? It's not like every game released isn't cracked and packed within days of hitting retail if not earlier, it's been that way for as long as I can remember.

I'm worried this is just going to be a trend where blogs look to play up piracy on big name titles like "it's so much worse now" or a "destroyer of the industry". Like all the GTA IV piracy stories reflected poor sales figures for that game. *sigh*

Jelster

@ReadNLearn:

Not all of 'em.

IceCold

Down with Securom! Why does everyone conveniently forget about Stardock games and their lack of DRM? They actually make a profit with their games too.

pressstart

Please do not call people who torrent,"cheapskates", for most games people use it as a try before you buy kind of deal.
I already torrented and its a great game, I'm going to buy it the day it comes out.

RichardNixon

@IceCold: They're upright and noble, are they?

ReadNLearn

I'm doing it right now. I'll buy the game when it comes out, but it's available now, so I'm doing it.

RageKage

PS: It's not the pirates who are fucking the companies over. It's those little dev's who like to leak shit early. Figured the naysayer's would know where the leaked copies come from...LOL.

IceCold

there goes the "its not our fault its a crappy game, it deserves to be pirated" scapegoat by all cheapskates out there.

I hate people always saying "oh im gonna pirate it cuz of DRM" theyll even DRM it more that more of you are pirating it. I bet well get to DRM version 1 million in no time

Fauxe

@NeoAkira: Indeed.. that's the main reason for me to buy the game.. but a lot of people just want to play it and don't care about it..

CockroachMan

Man it's good they put that extra invasive DRM in the game that will undoubtably cause problems for legitimate buyers so that it wouldn't get pirated.

Seriously why do publishers bother putting DRM on their games? They're always, always going to be cracked. All they do is give people who would otherwise buy the game a reason not to.

Stevedroid

@ReadNLearn:

There's not. RELOADED is a solid group who has been doing this for many a year.

IceCold

Time to make a toast.

To the death of pc gaming, unless its MMO. Who am i kididng, unless its WoW. (not that i play)

*takes a sip of my drink*

oneshot_

Wanting to play it early a cheapskate does not make.

Laughtrey

@dresam:

It's not a good idea. Because pirates spend money on games too. Whether whiners believe it or not. I personally don't give a sweet shit about anyone whining about it, I have the game and you don't. I'll have the Hard Copy when my pre-order gets here.

IceCold

It had 1800+ Seeders, and 24000+ leachers as of this afternoon.
People, this is why DRM is put into place! Will Wright worked for many years on this game and this is how they repay him? DRM is not the right way to go about it, but come on people.

trogam

I truly, honestly, sincerely hope deep down in the depths of my heart that there are virii and trojans embedded in the illegal version online. Massively destructive that current scanners can't detect. Then you pirating losers will at least have to format and reinstall your machines. Probably with pirated Windows I'll bet. Choke and die.

ReadNLearn

Might be worth it just to avoid the hideous DRM on this thing. Even if you actually ordered it.

sarusa

@MafiaAce: Same here. I still fully intend to purchase it, I've paid off the pre-order, but the ability to have it now.. the temptation is too great.

GiantEnemyCrab

Only ninjas can stop these pirates.

XeroKool

I may (or may not) have the torrent downloading, but it's really only to see what it's like before I go and pick up me preordered copy on release day. I usually do this with new games that I know as fact I'm getting, good way to get a flavor of it and have an idea when you start fresh on the release.

Jayl3w

Aren't video game companies pursuing P2P downloaders?

Not that I care either way, but I thought the were starting to take a RIAA/MPAA-like stance.... also known as whining doggy-style?

Is this the case or no? But then again, I remember Peter Moore saying that he didn't think that was a good idea..

dresam

sigh... the reason pc gaming is the way it is.

MunkyMan33

Don't care, just got a mail saying that my copy has been sent to me, arriving tomorrow :D
<3 Sept 4th release here in Europe

Extortioner

/sings.

Killing themselves softly with their greed, killing themselves softly, with their cheapness, trying to justify their refusal to support devs, killing themselves softly with their greed....

You stay classy pirates. I await the typical piracy defenders with your copypasta. It's stale and tastes like a whale's taint, but it always makes me laugh when you put it on my plate. I won't be eating it tho.

Foxstar Sixtail

I purchased the game. However, I'm still downloading it from the torrent because i waited 3+ years of build up to play it !!

weeeeeee<3

gessyca

While I have no interest in pirating Spore I'm glad to see this happen. It just goes to prove what a waste of time and money DRM is. The sooner publishers stop punishing their customers the better.

MattB

@CockroachMan: I guess, but that was one of the features I was looking the most forward to. Being able to have my creatures interact with my friends' creatures and seeing whose ended up on top seemed like a pretty cool feature.

NeoAkira

I got to Space late last night. Since my pre-order isn't here yet, I'll tinker with it til it gets here. And it was grabbed 103,000 times from my particular network =)

IceCold

Pirates depress me. There goes my energy...

UltimatePancakeSensation

Cracked today?
It was on torrent sites yesterday.

I'm not getting it(The torrent), but the people I know who have DLEd said they plan to buy the game, they just want it early too.

Ad-hominem

Wow way to generalize about whos torrenting. Its not like its out already. Yes there are those that are not planning to buy it torrenting it, however there are those who still have an intention to buy the game just wanting to get an early look at it.

Sekotsu

@MafiaAce: Same here.

Evil Tortie's Mom

Stuart,

I wonder do some of your sponsors or any of the companies get annoyed by Kotaku posting information about leaks or anything like that?

rupinderpaul

@NeoAkira: Actually, the only online feature the game has is letting you share your creatures and constructions with other players..

Not really that big of a deal :P

CockroachMan

Though I'll probably still buy the game, the prospect of getting it early now is just too enticing.

MafiaAce

BASTARD!!s

How many days is it till release? I might've just won a bet.

ggodo

And the game had a big security protection.. lol

OWNED!

CockroachMan

But people still can't use the online features of the game right? Seems kind of pointless to have such a gimped version of this game.

NeoAkira

Hundreds? More like thousands. You underestimate how many "cheapskates" there are.

Herabec

Sounds like some people don't want to sporet the industry!

Firman

Seen it last night, not that I was searching for it.

BrotherNick

to be expected.

But please, if you want to play the game, buy it.

Support games!

balls187 upside yo head

@kingme:

10 million current paying subscribers aren't using private servers.

not to mention the 30 million copies of the game they've sold... who knows how many expansion packs have shipped.

sixonedoesitall

Only a pirate discussion can make the "well-behaved" people of Kotaku turn on themselves, curse like they were on XBL, and call eachother names...

Pirates don't make me sick, the people who make a huge deal out of it and try to belittle others do.

scotty

@Anto103: I think the inital reason for DRM was to combat pirates. But then some executives saw that they could get mroe money by getting people to pay for the game again.
However, my roomate simply puts the installs into a seperate harddrive, and when he re-formats he simply points the installer to the harddrive.

trogam

Man it is so tempting to have the game in a matter of hours, although I am definitely going to buy it, no matter what. This is one of the greatest games on the PC this year and in a while. And I love what Will Wright does with games.

Smash88

@CardJoker:

so you're justifying spore not being on it?

Or Bionic Commando: Rearmed?

Is Valve paying you a salary?

sixonedoesitall

I wonder what the ratio is of people who torrent and say they're going to buy the game when it comes out compared to the people who torrent and ACTUALLY go out and buy the game. false justification always makes me laugh.

4sparta

@Iceman B.:

right, but that's my point. Stop making singleplayer gaming experiences if you can't sell them.

Good multiplayer games are making massive money on the pc right now. Wow is the most profitable videogame in the history of the medium...

It really is sad that Spore has no multiplayer component. Imagine battling with thousands of other tribes online... That'd have been ambitious.

sixonedoesitall

@sixonedoesitall:

Yes because, Half life 1, 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter Strike, Hell's Highway, Far Cry 2, etc aren't big game, right bud?

CardJoker

I know a few people who downloaded it just to play it early, but already pre-reserved it. No big deal to me. Sales will be big on this game.

syp

Well that was fast...

@sixonedoesitall: Actually people have been pirating WoW already....

Download it through a torrent and look for a Private Server...

kingme

wow... you guys do realize, reloaded does this with just about every pc release. they've been doing it for years!! pc gaming is still here.

cihx

I just checked Steam...

Why isn't there a preorder option to buy Spore?

Is Spore really not coming to Steam?

Valve... how do you expect Steam to function if big games never land on it?

sixonedoesitall

So once again, DRM does nothing but piss off legit users? I'm stunned. Really.

Wolfers

ZOMG TORRENT PLZ

I mean

Lol pirates. It don't think it would've happened that fast if it was a Steam game, lol.

16bit

I see 2,000 people already have the game downloaded, and there's 30,000 downloading it right now.

Seriously, 30k is just insane.

bakalhau

What disappoints me is that such a great game has such draconian DRM that punishes legit users, while pirates enjoy the game a few days early. Games should only come with weak DRM that prevents Joe-six pack from copying the game for a friend using Roxio or whatever crappy burning software that comes bundled with a PC. Anything more invasive/complicated just ends up screwing over the legit user base, while pirates will still have a crack on day 1 no matter how complicated the copy protection.

jrcbandit

@sixonedoesitall: Because Spore isn't a multiplayer game? Well not in the traditional way.

I suppose they should've gone with online activation instead of DRM.
DRM is just dumb, this should prove it, AGAIN.
Since Spore downloads assets from other players in the background, it makes sense to use an online activation.

I suppose in the past I would've whined because "OHNOES WHAT IF I DONT HAVES INTERWEBZ" but really now, how should that be a problem these days?
Take a look at Steam....

Iceman B.

1 - pointing out a PC game has been pirated is news?

2 - isn't pointing out how easy it is to obtain just going to lead to more pirating?

3 - you have to go online to be part of the p2p network that distributes the 'universe' content created by everyone playing...is there a point in just playing by yourself?

Utoom

@sixonedoesitall:

Oh man World of Warcraft is easily pirated, there are plenty of private servers out there.

Team Fortress 2 too, there are hacked servers that allow pirated copies to play.

CardJoker

@QualityJeverage:

Every single game i've ever enjoyed, other people who played it loved it too.

It's pretty stupid to like a game that sucks just to be edgy.

sixonedoesitall

@FLYBOY611: It'll still probably sell over 2 million copies which would be hard to call anything but a success. As far as I'm aware there hasn't been any scientific research into the correlations between piracy and sales.

@Ecks: I disagree. It seems clearly game news to me. If you want to pretend news like this doesn't exist then don't let me stop you.

MattB

Today is a good day to be a ninja.

Momentarylogic

LOL got to love the people who act like pirating a game is the equivalent of some heinous crime against humanity. What a bunch of fucking sheep. You know, if DRM won't defeat piracy, turning gullible gamers into ardent anti-piracy advocates obviously will ensure enough sales.

I also do hope these people calling for death and viruses don't sell and buy second hand games because ultimately you're also denying developers any profit from that resale, for them you might as well pirate the game for all it gets them. So why not go outside Gamestop and kick them in the nuts?

Jelster

The solution to piracy?

Multiplayer games.

Nobody is pirating Team Fortress 2, or World of Warcraft...

So why not make GOOD multiplayer games and sell those?

sixonedoesitall

YEAH!!!

zios33

@Karlott:
EA and Gametraders in Australia broke the street date a couple of days ago.

elevenoverzero

well my version wont load if it makes you feel better, looks like I'm not gonna be buying it. (I never buy a game I haven't played/demoed and creature creator doesn't count)

Qalbert

FYI, Many US stores broke the release date and started selling it yesterday. I know because that how I got my copy.

TaggarT6

We've had a shipper of this game in the backroom since Friday afternoon. We aren't allowed to sell it until Saturday midnight. So it's not unlikely that even the original copy which was pirated was itself stolen. The cash registers won't allow the game to be sold at all until release.

That said, stop with DRM. You see what it brings. Nothing. I might go torrent this game, just so I can start playing now, even though I'm definately picking the game up Saturday night.

Karlott

im sure lots of ppl around here have alredy downloaded it (lol)

Nor

@CardJoker:

Thank you. The only thing that has cause a miniscule dent in the gaming industry is shoddy developer's and half-assed ports (Thanks to Ubisoft)

IceCold

Too bad there's nothing wrong with PC gaming.

CardJoker

So this "news" is to alert all kotaku readers that the game is available on warez sites everywhere now? I fail to see how this is "game news" in any way other than notifying people they can now get the game illegally!

Ecks

@FLYBOY611:

Hahah who told you that? EA marketing division?

elevenoverzero

@FLYBOY611:

Your joking right? Maybe Nancy Drew's Mystery House will save PC Gaming instead.

IceCold

@IceCold: Sounds like you're the nub.

I was holding a physical copy of the game in my hands earlier today. What kind of game still wouldn't be pressed three days before release?

goreonthefloor

@CardJoker:

we miss tons of great exclusive games.

I'd love to play little big planet, or halo 3, or dead rising, or Force Unleashed, or etc etc etc that will never see the light of day on the pc, or arrive a year later in a sloppy port like Gears.

sixonedoesitall

*sigh* Pricks.

Hion

Thanks for letting us know! :D

Averus

@CardJoker: "Keep spouting your self righteous bullshit though"

No, just a huge concern for my favorite gaming platform. Just keep telling yourself all of the people downloading these torrents are try before you buy. Sleep well that way? I have known many people over the years who have and do pirate, and let me tell you something; they (the vast majority) don't go spend $50 for something they already have on their HDD.

homernoy

@Stevedroid:

I hate EA's service, and I agree with everything you are saying.

Valve is going to get smashed between GFWL marketplace, piracy, Activision (if they ever come up with a pc online solution) and EA because valve is a small company without many publishing rights.

Valve needs to cut deals with these big publishers to get their products released via steam instead of direct 2 drive or their own proprietary services.

There's really no excuse for Bionic Commando.

Console gamers paid 10$ for it, PC gamers had to pay 15$ over direct 2 drive.

The current system is assfucking pc consumers.

sixonedoesitall

Thanks for letting me know

Murderdolls

@majortom1029: EA's pre-load version is missing several very important files that are required for the game to run.

Short of creating those files by hand, which is obviously next to impossible, there's nothing a pirate can really do with that version.

QualityJeverage

@4sparta: That's a bit of a spurious relationship you're suggesting. Still sounds like speculation to me.

MattB

Fuck it. I just want to find out if my rig will actually run it, because if so, I'm-a-buyin'.

HT Tenrai

50,000 downloads completed or in progress... wow Im not gonna download because I dont really do that (and specs are an issue yay consoles) and the reviews have been kind of blah.

I doubt if there would be as many torrents if they released a demo. thats the easiest way to address the issue.

Honestly torrents arent nearly as bad as actually SELLING pirated games. Go yell about china.

SaanZ

@homernoy:

tons of pc games don't get demos.

In fact, the Xbox 360 gets demos of multiplat games that we don't, like rainbow six vegas 1 & 2.

PC gamers today get less demos than console gamers do... it's a fact.

sixonedoesitall

The above was meant for RichardNixon as well, with this gem:

"Please do not call people who torrent,"cheapskates", for most games people use it as a try before you buy kind of deal"

If you don't like 'cheapskates', then you really wouldn't like what I would call you and the rest of the pirates.

homernoy

it's most definitely made it to DVD manufacturing stage.

games are usually submitted 2-3 months prior to release.

omses

@sixonedoesitall:

PC doesn't get very many good games these days? Man you aren't just ignorant, you're downright dumb.

CardJoker

I don't know why some of you guys think that Steam can prevent piracy. Last time I looked into it, there were programs to unlock every single Steam game. This was around 2006 when DoDS and CSS were the newest games out, but it's not like any of the games out on Steam are exclusively on Steam. Not to mention that there are numerous cracked servers, so the multiplayer option won't change anything.

jookie

@sixonedoesitall:
Plenty of big games, even ones not made by Valve, were/are released on Steam.

Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, Space Siege, the new Tomb Raiders just to name a few.

The problem is not Valve it's EA. See EA has their own game download service for their games. It's an absolute piece of crap designed to screw customers out of as much money as possible (you actually have to pay extra if you want to redownload a game after 6 months) while providing the least amount of benefits. So because of that, they're certainly not going to sell their games through a "competitor" like Steam. God forbid another company (with a vastly superior service) take a percentage of their game sales!

Stevedroid

Whats wrong with testing the game before it gets shipped to my house? nothing i tell you.

halopower67

I'll do the same thing I did for The Sims and all of its incarnations since. I'll buy the base game, and then I'll pirate the expansions. No way in hell I'm paying $50 for a little extra content every 5 months, and Maxis/EA absolutely love to do that.

Hahaue

@CardJoker:

When did i say big games never land on steam?

Let's make a list of the big games that haven't come to steam.

Crysis

Spore

Mass Effect

Gears of War

oblivion

World in Conflict

The Witcher

Viva Pinata

Devil May Cry 4

Bionic Commando: Rearmed (little game, but incredible)

I could go on, but then, the pc doesn't get many goxd gamxs thesx daxs

sixonedoesitall

@MattB:

Bwa ha! Who steals a candy bar because he is hungry and returns to pay for it a week later? When he gets away with it, what compels him to right the wrong? Likewise, if you're noble enough to pay for a stolen candy bar days later you're probably noble enough not to steal it in the first place.

So no, not speculation, but general observations into the human psyche reveal more than enough to understand piraters.

4sparta

sorry i have to laugh at all this, the ppl downloading seem to be saying its becuase of the DMR they dont like it. BUT the company is putting in the DMR because of the pirate downloading. So whats going to happen next game is some different tech that will try and stop pirates thats even more invasive then DMR. Way make it worse for the rest of us...

the cycle will continue ...

skwca

@homernoy:

Juvenile bullshit, try making an argument without swearing.

Demo's feature less content, gimped features, and sometimes totally different gameplay in terms of linearity and other stuff. Why can't a torrent a game and try the full version? I can do that with Console versions at my local Blockbuster.

It's not like they hand me the demo and make me pay 7 bux.

Keep spouting your self righteous bullshit though, brah.

CardJoker

@IceCold: Hasn't made it to DVD press yet? Wow, you really don't know much.

hotcoffeeburns

I'm really not nearly as hyped for this game as I was oh... two or so years ago when they introduced it, and told me everything about the title from day 1.

Since then I've seen them zap planets 100s of times, and watched the character creation go wild. But they sold the character creator, the best part of the game, as a standalone. And that's pretty much it for me. All the opinions and reviews of the final copy of Spore seem to address that really, the best part of the game IS the character creator, with the simple RTS world inbetween not nearly as compelling. I think it was IGN that said, "Remember the Tamagotchi? Spore is like Tamagotchi times a thousand."

Baikenator

@sixonedoesitall: both games have been pirated.I don't know if people still play them on those pirated servers but yeah, there were plenty of them around.

Reloaded(guess they're still around based on this article), Myth(defunct), Deviance(dunno) - plenty of those groups around who'd do it because they like doing it - I guess. Not sure if their stance is basically they want to pirate more than bring on the hardest DRM and we'll crack and break that. It's pretty much like how some people like to break SSL passwords and such or pirate comics. For them it's a hobby.
As for this game being pirated, well it's obvious it would be - which game by maxis isn't. The only way to curb it a bit is to provide a Raison d'être that the game truly should be bought and has real good content for players.
Not that I pirate, also don't really care for spore (will probably get it a few months later when the enthusiasm dies down just like I did with GTA4), but they could probably employ these hobbyists to crack games of other companies for them and then break down the code. When all these hobbyists with skills are hired for this, there wouldn't be a lot of people left to pirate, provided each time someone skilled came up they kept being hired to do what they like but for a company.

Comments 'rnt Us (usually)

@CardJoker: You sir, are a liar. There are demos for almost every PC game out there, so this try before you shit is pure rationalization on your part.

For everyone else here that is torrenting this or any other game is wrong in doing so in my opinion, but giving people shit for waiting for a legitimate copy is pure juvenile bullshit.

homernoy

Is it wrong for me to pirate a copy of it when I already payed for it on direct2drive?

Kocrachon

They prob cracked the download version from ea which was PRELAODED on august 28th.

majortom1029

@sixonedoesitall: That's not what I'm saying.

I'm saying that no matter how great a game is, there is ALWAYS negative buzz around it. Obviously sometimes, that negativity turns out to be right, but a lot of times it doesn't.

I'm not talking about games that turned out to actually suck, I'm talking about games that were praised by most as great games. In the weeks before Bioshock came out, forums were full of criticisms and "This game sucks!" topics, and then of course it turned out to be a GotY in many publications.

All I'm trying to say is that negative pre-release buzz is very often exaggerated, and if you start believing it you might miss out on an otherwise great game.

QualityJeverage

@4sparta: Sounds like you've already made up your mind on speculation alone, but I'd love to know what that ratio really was in actuality.

MattB

@CockroachMan: Well its bigger then that. You share the creatures and whole civilizations for spore's greater game play and universe play.

So yeah, the pirated version like most games is gutted and not worth the bandwidth.

FrigidAir44

@Anto103: I don't think there's every really been a PC secondary market. EB/Gamestop stopped taking PC game trade-ins years ago and I can't imagine that EBay sales really account for that much.

My understanding was that the internet activation was to prevent 0-day piracy; aka when a game is pirated before release. The theory being that crackers wouldn't figure out exactly what needed to be stripped out of the game code until after it was unlocked. The publisher controls when the activation servers go online, hence they could theorhetically prevent the game from being unlocked and therefore cracked before it officially went on sale.

0-day piracy is especially damaging because you have people who would otherwise buy the game downloading it early just because they don't want to wait. Once a person has already downloaded and played the game, it's pretty easy for them to convince themself they don't need to buy it then.

Obviously the theory that this DRM would prevent 0-day piracy didn't hold up - or at least it doesn't anymore. I think both Bioshock and Mass Effect were only cracked after they were released. However, now that the crackers are familiar with this particular type of SecuRom it's probably easy for them to identify and remove it. Basically it's a DRM that's only effective (and I use the term loosly) once or twice.

Stevedroid

@sixonedoesitall:

No, I'm justifying the fact that you're ignorant in thinking big games never land on Steam.

CardJoker

@homernoy:
Piracy is not going to kill the PC despite developers using it as the scapegoat. The fact that the platform has no representation to tell gullible gamers it's "THE" platform to own is hurting it more than piracy ever did or will do.

Companies like Crytek pissing on about how piracy is turning them away from PC development. What a load of bollocks! Crysis was a system hog and a lackluster game, as someone else here mentioned it's pirated more for a benchmarking tool than actual entertainment.

What is clear is that consoles represent a much larger market of gamers who are only too eager to swallow up even mediocre gaming efforts. They're hypocritically supportive of shorter play times and then pay for the DLC to extended it back to what was once the norm for a retail game.

The PS2, Wii, 360, DS and PSP are all capable of playing pirate games. I don't believe any of them even need someone with soldering experience to bypass the protections. Yet despite all this the PC is the only platform that is going to fail due to piracy? Please, wake up and read between the lines.

Jelster

Mh... I think some people that didn't know about it just found out here, in Kotaku. I don't know if it's smart to post this. I'm buying the game, I'm not being funny, or coy, I don't download cracked games. Some people HERE, some readers, maybe a few, will go download Spore after reading it here.

Hope any editor reads this.

artofwar420

Can an editor please explain to me why people will be banned for the most spurious of reasons on Mondays or any day the staff feel down, while in numerous posts regarding piracy, piracy SUPPORTERS - surely the antithesis of a good poster on a gaming industry news site - swarm all over and go unbanned regardless of how obnoxious they are?

Are you going to say 'they're entitled to air their views'? Software thieves? Individuals defending an act they would be arrested or sued for were they to become known to the people they steal from? Give me a break. They should be banned the instant they voice support.

And while we're at it, why don't you just go ahead and slap a link to the torrent up on the article. Notifying of its availability was the point, wasn't it? What's the viewership of Kotaku now, 3, 400 thousand daily? That should send Piratebay a few more visitors.

Cultivar

I can't be bothered to read all the comments, they'll all be one of two any way.

I'm on the side that thinks pirating is fine for the most part. It means people can play games and watch movies they can't afford to buy, or don't want to wait for the release.

I download more than anyone I know. I also spend WAY more than anyone I know on games and movies. I'm sure not all pirates are like me, but I'm pretty sure there not sitting at home on piles of money laughing at the people who they 'stole' from.

Downloaded does not equal stolen, without the loss of a physical object there is no proof of loss of business.

manocheese

@SpiralJacobs: That's you (or so you say). Most people torrent the game, play the game, finish the game. In that order. Then they uninstall said game and torrent another. Around and around we go.

homernoy

thanks for urging me to get out and finally get my preorder. Was meaning to buy this game, and after seeing this story I started downloading from usenet and went out to place my preorder. full-price, paid-off.

SilverStar95

@maraxusofk: And new video games are released, updates are compiled, patches made, conventions happen, Uwe Boll destroys another IP, etc. Maybe those aren't news either.

Legion329

I wanted to buy spore I still want to buy spore but as long as EA have DRM on the game I will not part with a penny for the game as I refuse to fund EA's anti-"piracy" measures.

A thought does occur EA must know that no copy protection scheme has ever worked so what is it there for? The only reason I keep coming up with is EA is trying to stop people lending their games to other people. Wha do you lot think?

dsmx

@MattB: Blind men cannot see. Take my word for it then.

4sparta

Non-pirates: BAAAWWWWW

Pirates: But I'm gonna get the game when it's released. For real!

SensAzn

@tbuck521:

exactly.

multiplayer games are the solution to piracy.

sixonedoesitall

@sixonedoesitall: thats becasue it doesnt matter if you pirate WoW because you have to pay for a monthly account otherwise you can have fun looking at the login screen

tbuck521

@homernoy: If there is no demo, I torrent and decide if I want to buy it. There have been a number of games that I decided to torrent, played once (Not Beaten, not gotten very deep, etc.) and then deleted. I read reviews to gauge whether or not I should buy it, but if I'm on the fence and no demo...well...
Yes, I could just not torrent the game and save the cash, but I'd much rather find a product I like, then purchase it to encourage the developers to make another one. I have not once kept a game longer than a few days that I got from a torrent. But thats not because I beat it, not because i feel like I've seen it all, but because the game just isn't enjoyable for me.
Demos on the PC need to have a resurgence, and soon.

trogam

It's in stock at futureshop's here in Calgary, but I doubt they'd sell it. Otherwise, I'd buy it right now. And no, I haven't torrented it.

SpiralJacobs

@Bootes:

It will become Steam's problem if big publisher boycott steam.

Then it will become our problem, because steam is a far superior service than anything EA or Microsoft is going to give us.

If Steam fails, pc gaming will suffer.

100% of all pc games should be releasing on steam. Think of how much better the pc community would be if every pc gamer was attached to the steam friendslist database?

sixonedoesitall

I'd probably never torrent games if it weren't for Kotaku informing me that they are available.

And yes, I will buy the game when it comes out, although I'm filled with glee when I hear that EA's insane anti-piracy software has been cracked a whole week before the game was released.

mattigus

@IceCold:
True but Spore is coming out on both Mac and PC so it wouldn't be me playing a PC title on Bootcamp on my Mac or anything, it would be a legit port.

ihateeverything

I'm a cheapskate so I usually download the games that I like but this is one of those that you simply must buy. Not only do I want to be able to access the huge database but I'd also just like to _own_ the game.

Spiderbait

And the sad thing is in terms of not-treating-your-customers-like-criminals, this is the best version. =/

Overlord44

@homernoy:

what if they aren't releasing a demo simply because they don't want you to know how ridiculously poorly it runs on your machine?

sixonedoesitall

@sixonedoesitall: EA doesn't release any of their games on Steam. It's really EA's problem, more so than Steams. Steam is the largest online game retailer and I know plenty of people including myself that would never order a game from any of the other digital distribution stores online.

One main reason is that Steam allows me to redownload the game whenever I want. Others want me to pay more just to extend the amount of time the download is available for, and it still isn't forever.

Bootes

@sixonedoesitall: If it comes down to game I am interested in but has no demo, I just read reviews and watch gameplay videos to get an idea whether I want to buy the game or not.

homernoy

Well I haven't gotten a call from Gamestop yet about my preorder, I already purchased the creature creator, and I'm a bit curious as to what I already payed for... so... Yarrr?

Fireflynik

STUART. Thanks. thanks a lot.

ManjiKengo

@Squishy3: EA = Maxis, EA owns Maxis.

I downloaded it and have been playing it. I already bought it and am just waiting for it to ship to me. I've paid for it, I don't care whether I've been playing the official copy or not. If they complain about what I'm doing, I'll cancel my order and they can get no money from me.

Bootes

@Fryfat2: "look at the success governments around the world have had stopping internet child pornography"

I take it you've not been to 4chan?

Kral2

@Fryfat2: You're comparing individuals downloading a game that's not out yet to child pornography. Piss off.

Spew

@DavidFU:

I'll agree with you on one of your points. The companies really should go after the source.

Hell, there's an entire list of Warez groups known to illegally distribute software on the Wiki. In this case, we also know it was this group "RELOADED". Can it be that hard to track at least one of these guys down?

Mact

I didn't know it had leaked, so I was about to Mininova it.. then, realised it's 3.39GB and I have a 1Mb connection - sod that. £27 though..hmm, although it works on a Mac! Oohh, the positives are just about edging through. If it was, you know, a tenner? I'd be buying it NOW.

Spew

Three words: Draconian copy protection.

Rctdaemon

@homernoy: Oh i know. I don't know why I posted, as I didn't have anything interesting to add to the discourse. I was mainly just wanting a public forum to whine about a store not selling a game they have in stock.

Anyway, I do think it's super ridiculous that pirates will say that they will pirate an EA game because it has copy protection to fight pirates. Errr..what? That's your reason? Uh huh. You show 'em.

SpiralJacobs

Man, look at all the pirates trying to rationalize what they do is somehow good.

Can't you guys just admit you did something wrong? Do you rationalize that you're doing the world a favor when you jay walk?

The most common ones I see,

1) "But they deserve to have their games stolen, most games aren't good! TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!!!!"

You didn't make the game, so it's not your decision to try it before you buy it.

2) "Piracy isn't theft!"

That doesn't mean it's good. And regardless, it leads to devaluation of the product, which has the same effect on the creator's wallet.

3) "It's their fault! They should make only multiplayer games"

Forcing developers to make only one type of game in order to avoid piracy limits the industry in severe creative ways. Also, some of us enjoy single player games once in awhile.

4) "There's no way to stop piracy, it will exist forever!"

Active enforcement of copyright laws can effectively limit piracy, and drive it to the dark, secret corners of the internet. That's good enough. And it's more than possible - look at the success governments around the world have had stopping internet child pornography.

Copyright laws were made to protect creative citizens, and to allow entire industries based on creativity to flourish. They may be slightly too strict when it comes to artistic uses, but pirates are attacking their sole existence - which is an attack against every creative industry and individual in the country.

Fryfat2

@CardJoker:

I suppose you also sneak into movies then refuse to pay unless you liked it?

Mact

If I had a good rig I would probably download this. But I don't. And I don't care too much either.

lenandude

@IceCold:

I agree with this line of thought. No one wants to buy a game that doesn't work on their cpus or that they eventually end up hating. So if they like it and eventually buy the game, that's cool. If you could return PC games or sell them as used, then I'm sure people would be more willing to buy them, but that doesn't necessarily help the pirating problem.

.em.

@Kral2: If I had coffee I would have spit it all over my desktop.

"I'm forced to download the pirated version if I don't want to have paid for the privilege of playing it last."

Your ship is sinking from all the holes.

4sparta

There's no reason why we shouldn't of been able to digitally download it legally YESTERDAY.

Slayer

@4sparta: Yeah, it's kind of like stealing state secrets. No! It's not stealing, we have copies of that top secret document in the database. The Russians have done nothing wrong, and can't possibly hurt us with what they have stolen from us! Riiiiigggghhhhht.

homernoy