[ e ]

Well written and cogent arugments all around.

posted by mikeJuly 23, 2003 at 12:24

[ e ]

I think that Sarah Crisman's entry was revelent.

I understand and do not find shocking to have a few ROMS, especially in the case where you can't find the game (rare games not made available in your country, etc.) or if it's a quick try ("try xxx for Atari 2600!").

But it is a matter of respect, more than anything else. Having several thousands of ROMS on an hard drive is generally a bad thing: games loses most their enjoyement values - you usually just can't enjoy so many games - and likely most people who collect ROMS won't be going to buy any original cartridge/CD.

So I'd say: ROMS for old system are tolerable (but still illegal), just do not abuse of them. Keep respect in videogames and developers, and keep away from piracy as much as possible.

Who never pirated a software ? Can someone shout on ROMS downloaders if he has pirated copys of MS Office or 3DS Max ? This is a wide topic...

posted by OmarJuly 24, 2003 at 4:35

[ e ]

So long as someone owns the copyright for a game, whether that game makes a profit or not is irrelevant -- because a copyright holder can, in the futurem decides to sell that product again under any guise (port, compilation, extra). This is why that argument is stupid. Just because they are not making a profit now does not mean that they can not in the future, and piracy can (and does) erode their future profitability.

I mean, a year ago I could have defended a ROM of Rock & Roll Racing because Blizzard was not profitting off of it. They recently ported it to the GBA. Is it wrong all of a sudden? No. It was wrong the whole time!

Nintendo is a prime example of this with their growing trend for NES era revivals. I mean, you have full NES games as incentives in Metroid Prime and Animal Crossing; they are selling full NES games for the e-reader; they are porting classic games to the GBA. Piracy of these games DOES hurt their bottom line, regardless of how old it is.

posted by anon_nowakJuly 25, 2003 at 3:58

[ e ]

Heh, I posted without reading the [more] part of the story -- so I'm being a bit redundant there. But yeah, I agree with you.

posted by anon_nowakJuly 25, 2003 at 4:00

[ e ]

One argument people should not forget is the cultural value of computer games. In my opinion emulators are a great way to preserve our culture for future generations. We really should find a way to archive games and consoles so they can be used the next centuries. There are already huge problems in storing movies (incompatible projectors, chemical problems with films). Many movies are already lost due to copyright problems and the missing conscienseness about their cultural value. We should not make the same mistake again.

I really look forward to launch a Dreamcast emulator when I am 60 and show off Sonic Adventure to my offsprings.

Our government really should find a way to shorten copyright for these cases. An example could be: if the game is not used commercially for 10 years it goes into public domain...

Remember: 10 years are a long time, especially in our digital age.

posted by anon_zeep_anonymousJuly 25, 2003 at 6:59

Another important reason why Nintendo needs to fight ROMs [ e ]

They have to establish legal precedents for defending their intellectual property.

Basically, if people are trading Mario games for free and Nintendo does nothing, that's the first step towards Nintendo's characters entering the public domain. So Nintendo needs to continually defend its IP rights, because their famous characters are some of the company's most valuable assets.

posted by anon_ChrisKohlerJuly 27, 2003 at 3:03

bend over and let the corporations have their way [ e ]

Keep downloading the Roms, music and movies. Those complaining are corporations who: a.) charge too much, b.) play you like fools and give you little in return, and c.) rather go after downloaders than make their overpriced shit available to the general public.

Tell me, Gregg - do game designers get residuals once a company no longer issues the game (i. e. it becomes out of print?).??? If not, then keep on the pirating. Shit, pirate regardless.

Side with big business and claim people lose their jobs or whatever, but the reality is that everything is overpriced, overhyped, over played and that as long as they go after those "bootleggers" rather than make their games/music/movies easily obtainable (and uncensored - I know hundreds of folks who download movies and tv shows because they are unavailable - commercially or publically - in their territories) then they should shut the fuck up and stop being so greedy and work on realizing where the ability to make a profit lies.

Besides, it pisses off Gregg (who whines way too much about this shit) so keep on the pirating.

Pirates outnumber the system ass-kissers. Keep the lawsuits comin'. The underground grows, regardless.

Finally - the digital revolution is one I can support and see advantages from.

BTW - Game companies work for US - the people. If they fuck with us then we have every right to fuck with them, not vice-cersa. So, as long as they forget they owe US - and not vice versa (since our hard-earned bucks support their empires) - I fully support kicking them in the economic nuts.

Game lamer programmers cry all you want but fuck you. You live better than us and get played by the people you defend, so you deserve it. The teets you suckle are conglomerates that do NOTHIGN for the benefit of the world. NOTHING.

Call downloaders thieves and we can call the bitch-ass chump big business asskissers whores. Nothing gets accomplished, but we are right and the sell-outs are wrong.

Home recording/downloading is destroying the "industry" - good!

Django

posted by DjangoAugust 1, 2003 at 22:24

dear clueless [ e ]

It takes lots of work to make games and movies.  LOTS OF WORK. In your small mind you seem the think that because there are a few big corporations that appear to make lots of money you have the right to steal from them?  In what reality does that logic come from?

Tell me where you live and what you do for a living. In fact why don't you start working for me.  It's clear you won't have a problem if I don't pay you for the work since you don't have a problem not paying others for theirs.

Your choice is to buy or not to buy.  Your choice is not to steal.  I'm sure there are restaurants in your town where they charge $200 a person.  Are you entitled to think those restaurants are lame, stupid and overpriced?  Yes.  Are you therefore entitled to go steal their food?  No!  You (like me also) just choose not to go there and instead of to some cheaper and possibly better tasting place.

If you don't want to pay the price they are asking for the movie, book or music DON'T WATCH, READ OR PLAY IT!  It's that simple.  There are plenty of cheaper games, cheaper movies, cheaper books.  Go watch, read and play those.

Seriously, you need to follow your own logic.  By your own logic people should start stealing from YOU.  YOU should not be paid a cent for whatever you do.

In finally, get off the evil corporate bullshit line.  Name some big evil corporate game companies?  Microsoft? They are losing money on games.  Sony? Profits down 98%.  Sega tanking.  The only exception is maybe Nintendo.  After that there are almost no big corporate game companies.  All the rest are small developers.  5 to 100 people.

posted by greggmanAugust 3, 2003 at 4:33

dear delusional and clueless [ e ]

Do you suck George bush's ass? Bill Gates? Nintendo? You're such a big-business shill - and you're not even profiting from it - that you might as well put on the brown shirt, black boots, swastika and goose step your way around the world tellign downloaders how "bad" and "evil" and "corrupt" they are and how they are hurting the "little guy" - wha wha wha.

Hollywood is feeling the heat because people would rather take their shitty movies for free than pa ythe increasingly-jacked up prices. 50% of a film's budget goes to the major stars. Not the "actors," bu the Major stars. TERMINATOR 3's Arny got 20 mill. That's a huge chunk of the 180 million spent on that disaster. Why should we pay for the egos?

Games - get a life. You'd make more dough charging less and cutting out the middle man if you gamer lamers created a network of self-distribution akin to that which used to exist in the music and movie world. But no - greed.

hard work? Bust your ass doing manual labor for peanuts and then you have EARNED the right to complain about "hard work."

Another reason whty the technocrats have destroyed film, games, music and whatnot. You fail to see the art but only the commerce and the diodes.

So, the CORPORATE BULLSHIT is REAl. Stop with your lying, illfounded ANTI- "anti corproate bullshit" bullshit.

Bend over pal, you've become the prison bitch of the rich few. The hard-working majority will either take what is owed to them or eat you alive one day. The revolution may not be televised but it's happening.

Letigious, lawsuit-happy whores of the corporations have a new lap dog: Greggman.

Keep downloading the roms.

oh - and for the record I don't download roms. I'm not a gamer. I think most video games suck ass. All fo the fun had been replaced by cold., mechanical, by-the-numbers technocratic gearheads devoid of creativity. Still, the Rom situation is akin to film and music. Unless and until things are brought to reasonable fair-use laws and pricing  and without gimmicks in the US and abroad - then I think it's time to make the big money earners like you, Puff Daddy, or Arny the nazi to actually learn what it means to have to WORK for a living and EARN your survival. You've coasted for too long, lost touch with reality, and need a wake up call.

Downloading is it - especially for out-of-cirulation goods AND alternate copies of what you already OWN thanks to your HARD WORK (real: work, not "gamer" shit sitting on your ass drinking coffee in front of a monitor)  and htat you legally bought ownership rights to.

Fuck this letigous fascism.

DOWNLOAD!

posted by DjangoAugust 3, 2003 at 12:46

dickhead [ e ]

django, someday when you have a brain that can think better than an 8yr old you will realize how idiotic you really are and what the consequences of your illogical spoutings are.

posted by anon_realityAugust 3, 2003 at 22:57

pederast loser [ e ]

You must know the mind of an 8 year old well, based on your judgement. Stop mollesting kids (which is about as much as you know regarding childlike behavior - usually when you're abusing them) and wake up to reality. Gamer geeks and programmer freaks really are out of touch with the working class masses. That is why we will always (rightfully) ridicule you - because the only "reality" you know is that incestuous pool of brain dead space jockies you hang with perpetuates based on observation of hard working foks' collected accounts of REAL experiences and bursts of creativity. You cannibalize their work and then have the gall to go after the folks who, in turn  cannibalize your "work" via downloads.

You don't have a clue, sicko. It must burn you and the Greggman up to know that your shit isn't worth half as much as you think when you opt to charge $40 for a game worth $10.

People like you are the al-quiada of a truly free market place and a threat to artistc endevors and free speec hthroughout the world.

Piss off.

posted by DjangoAugust 4, 2003 at 13:23

devil's advocate [ e ]

It's a thin line for me. On the one hand, I am a paid worker who can afford to buy games and shouldn't be entitled to something I cannot afford to buy. On the other hand, there are games I have bought which I cannot play any more, also for legitimate reasons - hardware failing and being irreplaceable because it is no longer in production is the main one. There are plenty of games out there which have no "expiration date" but neither do they have a legitimate means to play them. Until recently, games were not supposed to be resold in Japan. I guess you could hardly say it was illegal since most places did it, but it was hardly condoned by game publishers.

Nowadays I'm the kind of person that can be tempted into buying something if I am able to experience it beforehand. That goes for games just as much as it goes for music - still mourning the loss of Napster. Even with this disposable income, I am not so ignorant to believe that everyone should be forced to pay the same rip-off prices for their entertainment. There are millions of people out there who have harder lives than me. I don't think they should miss out on entertainment, just because I am too lazy to join some organisation that promotes global equality. Piracy could well be a by-product of a capitalist society - I can't imagine communists having this problem. Maybe I'm just defending myself because half of my life I've been in a position where piracy was the only option. I'm paying my dues now, but there are still many people who can't. Maybe one day the game industry will see something like the Gnu public license...

posted by anon_jrAugust 5, 2003 at 2:59

[ e ]

django, your beret is showing you latte sipping pinko lunatic.

posted by anon_DoomsdayAugust 5, 2003 at 15:18

Doomsay for doomsday [ e ]

I don't drink Latte, coffee, fuckachino, brown shit in an overpriced cupachino, etc.

I don't look good in a beret so I don't wear 'em, but what kind of classist bastard are you to dictate an individual's fashion sense (you John Deere wearin',  Coors swilling, seig-heiling, mouth breathing stepinfetchit)?

Commie - well, it's a great PHILOSOPHY but, like democracy: it doesn't work: a mere charade.

Just as the great Hunter S. Thompson put it, "The crazy never die."

What games have you made? I'd download 'em just to piss you off.

posted by DjangoAugust 6, 2003 at 0:33

[ e ]

I like the way you put "fuck" in the middle of that coffee name. Does Jay Leno know about your routine? You could get a high-paying job writing copy for him! Would you have to overthrow yourself then? Viva la R騅olucion, Comrade!

Hey, instead of pointing you at the games I've worked on, why don't I tell you about a little site called www.freewaregamer.com? All made by the regular people like you and me! No videogames made by Big Business Stormsoldier Super-Robots and Black Helicoptors here!

"but what kind of classist bastard are you to dictate an individual's fashion sense"

Well, I'm not "dictating" anybody's fashion sense. You see, you were a beret-wearing pinko before I came along, so I could hardly "dictate" (def: To control or command) that you cram a beret over your noggin before you head out of your basement apartment in the late afternoon to sit in an Internet cafe and lambast Greggman and drink Lattes and read Proust, now can I? Unless..... I'm watching you right now through CIA spy satellites! Watch out now!

PS: Hey, are translation dictionaries tools of Corporate America too? Because most people (like Germans, for example) spell it "Sieg heil" not "Seig heil". Or don't they cover that in first year PolySci?

posted by anon_DoomsdayAugust 6, 2003 at 13:43

[ e ]

As a matter of fact, django, I've worked on several games.  Big games that you've actually heard of, and for each of the big 3 current consoles.  You probably haven't liked them, as they featured lots of big words, and we had the audacity to think that maybe after spending a few million dollars in development that maybe we could ask people for forty bucks to play them.  You know, so we could have things like computers and food and apartments (and, of course, a matching fleet of colour-coded limousines for every day of the week). 

I'd list them off, but you probably wouldn't believe me, and I also have no need to prove myself to as ignorant a loudmouth as yourself.  You have a horrific and narrow-minded view of an entire industry, and you represent the very worst type of gamer:  one who doesn't see the value in what we as an industry create, and who likes to trumpet that ignorance to help yourself feel better about stealing the product we make. 

You can hide behind whatever misunderstood pseudo-communist manifesto you happened to have read on your Dead Kennedys fan site this week, but the reality of this is that a bunch of really talented people work really hard for a really long time to create something of value. 

The value we give it can be found on the price tag.  You have no right to decide what the value of our game is.  (We most CERTAINLY don't work for you.)  You have no right to steal it just because you don't feel like paying for it.  And it's a shame that you have the right to play them at all, and that the justice system can't yet clamp down on little punks like you who think stealing is okay because you're probably never going to get caught.

One day I hope you develop the decency to be ashamed of yourself.

posted by anon_black_helicopterAugust 6, 2003 at 14:49

Poor people NEED free music, movies, games, beer, cars, tvs... [ e ]

>There are millions of people out there who

>have harder lives than me. I don't think they should miss out on

>entertainment,

Oh, I get it now...people are ENTITLED to play "Super Mario Bros."  They are ENTITLED to see "Rocky IXII".  They are ENTITLED to listen to Smashing Mouth Pumpkin's latest CD.  They shouldn't have to pay.  They shouldn't have to choose between food and watching the widescreen edition of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".  What a horrible, unfair world we live in if the poor people of the world can't listen to Britany Aguilera Spears' greatest hits.  So much pain and suffering.  It's so unfair.

Do you know how silly that sounds.  "I can't afford it, but I really REALLY want it.  I think I'll take it."  Five year olds think that way, do you have the mind of a five year old?

>just because I am too lazy to join some

>organisation that promotes global equality

Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.  Remember the old Soviet Union?  Everybody was equal (even if some were more equal than others).  Equally grey buildings.  Equally shoddy products.  Equally low incentive to do anything more than required.  Hey, but everybody had a job, right?  No matter what sort of a slacker you were, you had an equal job.  Equally dismal, because why try to excel, when you had to carry so many slackers on your back.  So no one excelled.  Equally.

posted by anon_global_dominationAugust 6, 2003 at 18:11

Django [ e ]

Poor Django...he/she must be really bored...

Me: "Hey Django, have you started looking for a life yet?"

Django: "Fuck you you goat sucking invertebrate!  Corporate America and the Bush crime family own your soul!  You are a shill for the megacorporationist isolationist globalization federal tax attorney republican neo nazi facist zionist shill owners.  So more profanity to you, you zygote corporate shill pansey NAFTA anti-poor people shill purple people eater nazi nazi nazi shill for corporate America racist shills!"

Me: "Uuuhhh, OK.  Well, I'll see you later."

posted by anon_global_dominationAugust 6, 2003 at 18:21

[ e ]

>Maybe I'm just defending myself because half

>of my life I've been in a position where piracy

>was the only option

I can't believe I almost missed this gem.  "The only option"?  Were you dying or something?  Was piracy the magic cure, but the cruel capitalistic society decreed that only rich people could get this magical cure (music CDs, games, movie DVDs).  I can't believe that the rich people were so "classist" (whoa, I LOVE that term) to deny you that which would save your life.  It must have been HORRIBLE to HAVE to pirate stuff.  But, hey, it saved your life, right?

posted by anon_global_dominationAugust 6, 2003 at 18:30

More proof gamers are krypto-fascist crybabies with closeted self-loathing peering through classist vaneer [ e ]

Doomsday - why not live up to your name and take a long walk off a short pier? NO Beret buddy. No coffee. Not a pinko since I'm straight but I have no problems with "Pinkos," unlike - say, an asshole like yourself.

I used to work for Fran Drescher and I've met Jay Leno but never wrote for him. I did some writing on a horrible tv show that is (thankfully) no longer around, and I did some writing for a short-lived sitcom that was axed because network executives wanted a Lucy Liu Asian-American female lead rather than a human-shaped, slightly overweight Asian-American female - and one not too keen on playing the stepinfetchit games mouthbreathing video game lamers like yourselves are akin to do... Now, who/whom I write for pays has less glamor attatched to them. I like it like that. Status is for cocksuckers and losers. You know, the kind who spend "millions in development" of a game two monkies could have conceived if under duress.

When losers like yourself recorded the episodes on your VCRs none of us whined about it. None of us whined about you loaning that tape to all your pals (granted, you probably don't have many with such sparkling attitudes youv'e displayed here). There is NO difference to what is being done with "roms". Grow some fucking balls and move on. When you are on poverty row and have to actually WORK for a living by doing menial labor - then maybe your cries about pirating will fall on interested ears.

T'aint going to happen. Most of you idiots would probably become hackers.

Life is worth living and fighting for. Life is also a "rat race" and hopefully someone will set the cheese and peanut butter on a few snap-traps because greed mongering butt buddies for the system (like yourselves) are no different than Al-fucking-Qiada.

Life is worth living. Do it. Your games are but a pebble in the sea of life and none of you are walking the unemployment lines because of pirates. To the contrary, those hidden, downloaded roms in your collections prove it.

A trip to the corner 7-11 isn't living life either. Put down your fucking keyboards and interact with real people; understand the psychology of the people whom YOU OWE a LIVING to. They paid for your over priced shit but you owe them much, much more. Their dough is EARNED over blood, sweat, tears and nightmares. Yoru s is earned by technocratic gobbledy gook and pilfering of ideas from other mediums. You sit in a chair and do nothing.

The big thing about your posts is the fact they reek of someone with no sense of having lived a life.

Are you the Simpsons fat computer/comic guy? You folks sure behave like it.

Oh - You can seig/sieg heil any way you want. You got my point and it stung you on your pimply, geeky, computer chair- pock marked ass. Sit and spin.

I wish you guys would mention your game names. I'd download 'em and hand them out on the street just so I could piss off you mouth breathers more than I already have.

The hot coals of international citizens tired of your greed mongering burn under your feet but maybe your inactivity (being stuck behind a computer all day at "work" and at home (get some wives, guys. "IM" girlfriends don't count) because you don't live outside the box. You could even get a lamer gamer job overseas like Greg. At least he talks about other things besides crying about video games. Instead, you tink your shit matters. You think you "work." Well, fuckers, get a job where you know physical strain for a while. Come back to me when you understand the meaning of "WORK."

I doubt you'll feel those "coals" though. All of those beef jerkeys and sodas and lack of exercize probably give all of you a case of GOUT; the likes of which NORMAL, hard-working folks have NEVER experienced.

Each download is a dart tossed at your collective asses. I love this shit and the more you little doggies bark the more you deify pirates into gods. Your "bite" is litigous and no different than snitch-bitch schoolyard brats who couldn't ignore some 8th grader puffing on a fag in the loo.

United yo ugeeks may stand, but you'll fall. Sit and spin kids. Sit and spin. NOBODY cares about your "kempf."

posted by DjangoAugust 7, 2003 at 3:22

Django *cough* logic [ e ]

First of all, the disclaimer:  arguing on the internet is like running in the special olympics.  You may win, but you're still retarded.  Cruel, yes.  But also very accurate.  Django, it seems, is well versed in the "LALALALAICAN'THEARYOU" school of debate, and is immune to things like "logic", "reason", and "not being a whiny bitch".

So rather than try to convince him that stealing is in fact stealing, and not, as he claims, "not stealing" (or better yet, "stealing from the rich and giving to the poor"), let's try and understand his points.

1 - He used to work for Fran Drescher, so he understands the videogame industry. 

I notice he didn't specify "writing" for Fran Drescher.  (Professional writers probably have to contend with things like spelling that, like the seignury system and soap, are tools of "the man" to oppress the proletariat.)  But hey, let's assume that's what he meant.  But Fran has done approximately WHAT since her cameo in Spinal Tap?  Oh.  Right.  The Nanny.  Good show.

2.  Video games are made by big corporations.  Big corporations are evil.

This is what happens when you use a Rage Against the Machine fan to soak up a coffee stain.  Sure they're wee and soak up coffee almost as well as half-baked and misunderstood political ideals, but we have no one but ourselves to blame for this one.  Oh, and the cool kids at his high school who, god DAMN it, just didn't understand his poetry.

3.  Video games could be made by two people.  Or possibly monkeys. 

It's okay to steal from companies that artifically hire "teams" of "experienced" and "talented" "artists" and "programmers" and "designers" and other staff the Fat Cats on Wall Street (tm) don't want you to know about, because they're using it to artificially pad videogame prices.

4.  Everybody has the right to play videogames. 

That's because game developers work for the people, and not, in fact, the companies that pay their salaries.  If they charge more than we feel like paying (not "can afford" - that's different, and doesn't involve trouncing all over your god given civil rights that jesus died for when he fought the ninjas at waterloo), then it's okay to steal the games to let developers know they're charging too much.

After all, "not buying it" and allowing "natural market forces" to establish that a game wouldn't sell at a certain price point and thus naturally driving down the price of titles in a free market would be... um, hey, wait a minute.  I though Django was AGAINST the oppression of a free market?  Oh - wait, I get it.  He meant a FREE market as in "you can have this game for free".

5.  Videogame developers are all cave-dwelling nerds who have never left their chairs, let alone seen the sunlight or a boobie.

Remember kids - Django says "Stereotyping is fun!!!"

6.  Video game developers are a privileged class.  It is our civic duty, handed down since Santa met his terrible end at Little Big Horn, to remind them they're not as important as garbagemen or farmers or invisible space monkeys who do the real work of this country.

I think I saw a guy at E3 once who was wearing a "Kneel before Zod!" button.  But that's about as close to megalomania as these guys tend to come.  Nobody in the industry or outside of it has a concept that developers have some kind of elite status.  Well, except Django.  Is it backbreaking physical work?  Of course not.  Is it hard work?  Hell yes.  Among the reasons, including the years of training, and the incredibly long hours, are that these poor guys (whose driving passion is not "CRUSH THE POOR" but instead "I really hope some guys have fun playing this game") have to put up with little know-it-nots posting their conspiracy theory and talking about how Developer X and Game Y are the worst thing to happen since Satan himself.

And here's the really, really, really big important one...

7.  Manual labour is more important than videogames.  Therefore it's okay to devalue video games and take them as I see fit, rather than through a fair market system.

What you're really saying there is that "I get to say that working class A is more important than working class B, and so I am therefore free to oppress and steal from working class B."  Congratulations.  You're an extreme right Republican.

And a final note, django - don't assume that because people are writing back in anger that it's because they're affected by the power of your arguments.  Haven't you ever been in a room where some loudmouth was shooting his mouth off with such obvious ignorance (I don't know what it would be with you - I guess maybe that Kirk was better than Picard or something) that you couldn't stand it anymore and just wanted to shut them up with a few facts?

I will give you one concession - game developers should pay attention to the needs of the game buying public.  It's how they make better games to make the consumers happy.  If consumers are happy, they buy more games.  If they buy more games, developers are rewarded thanks to the wonderful thing called a free market.  You make a good product, people buy it, you profit, and you get to make your rent payment, and if you're really lucky, another game.

But as you've made abundantly clear - you are NOT a member of the game buying public.  Developers owe you nothing.  So fuck off and die.

posted by anon_django_for_presidentAugust 7, 2003 at 9:44

[ e ]

When losers like yourself recorded the episodes on your VCRs none of us whined about it. There is NO difference to what is being done with "roms".

Um, except that those shows were not and had never been in commercial release?  Still, I'll grant you that piracy is piracy and copyright infringement is copyright infringement (except that it was in fact legal to copy a tv show "for later viewing", as long as you didn't keep the recording, which you obviously know because you're the greatest copyright law expert since Leonard "J" Crabs).

But, dude, seriously - The Nanny and the Margaret Cho show?  Shite - we haven't felt the need to tell you what games we've worked on.  You'd have been wise to use similar tactics.

posted by anon_black_helicopterAugust 7, 2003 at 10:25

[ e ]

Ouch.  Owned.

Isn't it Al-Quaeda, not Al-Quaida?

And "I've met Jay Leno but never wrote for him"?  Loving the relevance.  Loving it.

posted by anon_just_trollinAugust 7, 2003 at 10:31

Django likes to use the word "Stepinfetchit". It makes him feel smart [ e ]

Um, except that those shows were not and had never been in commercial release?
You forgot to mention that no one would want to tape a show Django's worked on.

Person A: "I'm going to tape The Nanny so I can not laugh at it later!"

Person B: "I never tape it. The Nanny's really gone downhill since the episode where they used the word 'Stepinfetchit' fifty times. Whoever the writer was on that episode should really get over themself."

posted by anon_DoomsdayAugust 7, 2003 at 10:39

[ e ]

Ooh!  Ooh!  Ooh!

Would another good point be that TV shows make their money from advertising revenue, while games make their money from sales?

*singing* And the faaaaaaaacts kept a-rollin'

posted by anon_black_helicopterAugust 7, 2003 at 10:50

Django - you can do better [ e ]

Damn, this got boring fast.  Django can you please sparkle us with more of your classist elliteist Fran Drescherarian Margo Choistic dime store vocab words?

>When you are on poverty row and have to actually

>WORK for a living by doing menial labor - then maybe

>your cries about pirating will fall on interested ears.

You mean you haven't?  Member the guy bussing tables?  That was me.  Remember that "Mexican" guy working on your landscaping?  That was one of my friends.  How about the cashier at the fast food place?  Another one of my friends.  But, hey, now we are working for "The Man" now...

Been there done that.

>The big thing about your posts is the fact they

>reek of someone with no sense of having lived a life.

And we are all classist and elliteist and racists and hate poor people, and rake in gobs of cash while doing no work what-so-ever, and live easy, slovenly lives, and all like sugar covered chocolate pickle pie a l a mode.  How did you find out so much about us?

posted by anon_global_dominationAugust 7, 2003 at 12:30

A little trip to the dictionary [ e ]

Not a pinko since I'm straight but I have no problems with "Pinkos,"

pinkｷo    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (pngk)
n. Slang pl. pinkｷos A person who holds moderately leftist political views; a pink.
Source: The American Heritageｮ Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright ｩ 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

pinko

n : emotionally charged terms used to refer to extreme radicals [syn: Bolshevik, Marxist, red]

Get your slang straight, genius.

posted by anon_black_helicopterAugust 7, 2003 at 14:46

A little trip to HTML For Dummies [ e ]

Let me try that again

Pinko:

1. A person who holds moderately leftist political views; a pink.

2. emotionally charged term used to refer to extreme radicals [syn: Bolshevik, Marxist, Red]

posted by anon_black_helicopterAugust 7, 2003 at 14:49

Pinko [ e ]

As opposed to a full-blown "red" (a "comunist")...only "kind of red".

A "Red" - Someone with communist leanings

A "Pinko" - Someone with socailist leanings

A "White" - an Albino.

A "Green" - Someone with environmental leanings, or someone who is a leafy vegetable

A "Purple" - Someone who watches too much "Barney and Friends".  See also Django.

posted by anon_global_dominationAugust 7, 2003 at 15:13

the flood of proof that gamers are lamers keeps flodding in [ e ]

Spell check is used when I write. Yes, I wrote for that  um, Nanny show. Paid the bills. You'd be surprised what actually is written and what makes it on air. I was let go after a a few years because I kept on proposing we slowly kill off all of the characters and introduce more interesting, funnier ones. I still receive xmas cards from Fran and her (then) hubby. Ironic.

Ms. Cho is a wonderful person to work WITh. She had little control over her show. Hda I not been engaged I'd have loved to have won her heart. She's a bit full of herself now - but I've NEVER met a sweeter woman in my life.

Video game programmers should be taken out, beaten to within an inch of their life, pissed on and then publically laughed at. None of you even havethe balls to talk about what you've worked on and you only make the world worse. How does it feel to be wastes of lives?

None of you are human, too and Al Quiada isn't "spelled" ANY way in the roman alphabet since it's derived from ARABIC.  Computer geeks are always semantic shits and argue about such petty things even though tey are full fo similar faults.  Better yet, clear and LOGICAL complaints are labled illogical. Sorry - I never spell it out to you ala STAR TREK but if you have no imagination (most of you don't, since you pilfer your ideas from films and tv shows), but maybe had you EXPEWREINCED LIVING a REAL life you'd be able to connect things.

Read books and live life. Your'e the densest and dumbest collection of cunts (Greg withstanding) I've had the pleasure of infuriating in such a long time. All of you MUST be card-carying members of the SCA, NRA and GOP.

My observations must sting, but like those fatty Jack in the box burgers you scarf after mom brought 'em home (basement-living mouthbreathing fucks that you are), you can pop a couple hundred antacids and find solace in your STAR CRAFT.

Gamer lamers. You make nice kindling. Let's build a fire and burn all of you down.

The pirates outnumber you and I relish the fact and sleep well at night knowing that that every minute there are some folks, somewhere in the world, pirating your shit and you get nada. When my current employers fianced my "research" trip to Asia I took great pride in seeing yoru shit sold for 1/10000th of what your corporations charge - in alleys and night markets; and thisvery moment I am happy Kazallit users are ripping off the teets you crybaby cunts suckle - by downloading your SHIT. Yes, shit. The NANNY was Einstein compared to the "contributions" you've shit out to the world.

As it goes, you're so dumb you blame the pirates when the corporations are the ones who pay you. You get nothing on the back end and still cmplain .Greedy? Yess. Crybabies? Definitely. You are the brunt of all existence and your status as the geeks that you are will forever be cemented the moment you punters talk or write.

Your goose steppin' is loud but you doggies can't bite. Do I hear a slurpy machine? Ahaaa - I hear a stack of CDRs falling because you lardasses race from your terminal to record an episode of Xena. i also hear a lot of cryin' but your mommies coddled you rather than slaped you on the knuckles or arse - such petulant shits deserve it (x's 10).

Cheers,

Django

posted by DjangoAugust 8, 2003 at 2:15

Aww [ e ]

Just petty insults and inflammatory rhetoric with not a genuine point to be made?  Aww, Django, it's no fun if you aren't gonna play anymore.

Neat point about the Arabic thing, though.

I was let go after a a few years because I kept on proposing we slowly kill off all of the characters and introduce more interesting, funnier ones.

Ooh - rebellious AND practical.  Bet you were a treat around the water cooler.  Are you sure you weren't let go because of things like how you spell "experienced" with a w?

Bored now.

posted by anon_black_helicopterAugust 8, 2003 at 8:35

And finally... [ e ]

The guys at Penny Arcade have been nice enough to do a comic about our very own Django. If you'd be so kind as to send your browsers over to... http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=20
02-04-29&res=l ...then we can all be amazed at this little scenario, as if ripped from today's very headlines. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, you've been a wonderful crowd. Tip your servers.

posted by anon_black_helicopterAugust 8, 2003 at 9:05

Oh for Christ's sake [ e ]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=20
02-04-29&res=l

posted by anon_black_helicopterAugust 8, 2003 at 9:07

Times infinity plus one!!! [ e ]

(x's 10)

Well I guess you've got us there.

posted by anon_black_helicopterAugust 8, 2003 at 14:15

Django [ e ]

>I've had the pleasure of infuriating in such a long time

yawn.

posted by anon_global_dominationAugust 8, 2003 at 16:30

Slight difference [ e ]

Penny Arcade - yawn. Sorry - I'm not bald but I do smoke a cigar once in a while, so you got that right. Nice how you drew yourself as a bespectacled Geek. Oh, I am sorry you meant to imply I'm the guy in black?  Yawn.

It sure was fun pissing you puppets off: nameless, spineless cunts that you are - afraid to reveal those game names. Damn. I can't use the 100 CD-Rs I just bought and hand out free pirates of your lame games.

In all fairness, Fran's company wanted me back. By that time I moved on to writing for an animated series some of you punters probably swap online. I'll tell you this - its network dicked the show around so much that they are still running episodes of it even though we had to close shop almost two years ago.

Ewperience, wxperience and experience keeps me working, and enables me to piss you folks off, so I must be doing something right.

Toodles, poodles.

posted by DjangoAugust 8, 2003 at 18:59

[ e ]

Hey Django, you dumbshit. Just to make your weekend fun, I'm going to tell you I worked on the PC version of Everquest. Run with it, tiger!

posted by anon_DoomsdayAugust 8, 2003 at 22:15

[ e ]

nameless, spineless cunts that you are - afraid to reveal those game names

Ms. Cho and I aren't free to discuss terms of the title until Quake 4:  The Margening is out of closed Beta.  Wait!  Damn!

I can't use the 100 CD-Rs I just bought and hand out free pirates of your lame games

Sigh.  Well, at least your math is right up there with your writing skills.  See, consoles today use DVDs, which hold several times the amount of information that a CD-R... oh, never mind.

But a free pirate sure sounds nifty.  Can I have one if I promise to be your friend?

Arr matey!!!

posted by anon_black_helicopterAugust 8, 2003 at 22:25

Everquest? [ e ]

Better get a few more CD-Rs to copy that bad boy, Django.

You're gonna have to copy the whole interweb!

Better print yourself a hard copy, too, for your poor unfortunate friends who can't even afford a computer to pirate games on.

I bet Doomsday would just HATE that.

And you could write stuff like "Doomsday is a [insert clever and preferably rhyming slur here]."  Use some of that famous Nanny wit.  And maybe draw a picture of him.  And give him an evil moustache.

posted by anon_black_helicopterAugust 8, 2003 at 22:29

World s full of Fvckin extremists.....such as ya guys (and girlies too) [ e ]

Ok, last post was on 2003 but when i read the texts posted here, i REALLY fear for the future of humanity. I rarely saw such short-minded human beings with nearly fascist ideas. Plz excuse my english but am a lil polak, so be tolerant ok? Ahhh..? No you won t be? he he he am not so surprised with people same as you.

To explain myself in a better way, know gentlemen that in eastern Europe, people don t have a lot of money but with you rich guys that waste your time in buying and throwing items to bin we can get PC cheap BUT games on consoles like sega or nintendo are VERY rare and gameboys or gamegear EXTREMELY expensive compared to PC wich can run emulators even with a 133 MHz. So if i live in a region of Earth that is not favorised, am a terrorist bastard if i download roms...Seriously guys, all is not Black or White and complexity might hide in simplicity and vice-versa. I don t hope to make you tolerant but i just hope that you understand that your ideas are not a religion and it is possible that you are wrong. In the same way, i might be wrong too, but i have the feeling that here, i am the only knowing that.

I wish you all a good life though, go on on your buying society and go on on your carelessness of TRUE problems.

CHUS!

posted by THEASTARTESSTRIKESJuly 17, 2005 at 7:32

Intellectual Property? [ e ]

I'm sorry but if think you can own a thought then you need to really think about what you said, you are saying that its ok to have a monopoly over a certain character (i.e. Mario)

Do I want 1000 Mario rip offs? No but if you want to oppress someone's right to think then you of all people need to stop thinking because most of what people think was brought to their attention by other people. You think that Mario is Nintendo's right? Wrong, they did not make the game for themselves they made it for us to play and pay them for their thoughts. It is kind of like if you tell someone a secret. What's keeping them from telling someone else? Oh but there is something that holds us back in games though, dreaded copyrights. Let me show you what that basically means. If i go to a site and it says I have to download spyware to visit thier site should I continue with the spyware or miss out on something? But, when developers give you a back door into their intellectual property then why should we not use it? Oh because they own a thought. You know what that reminds me of is when Paris Hilton tried to copyright her own thought of "that's hot", why the hell would you want to pay for a thought. Communists wouldn't let you think but now you who believe in this democracy also want us to stop thinking. So why would I want to pay for a picture of a little italian man running around? So now all I have to do is change is what they copyrighted, but still have a wonderful game with the same concept a bunch of pixels jumpin on another bunch of pixels.

Try selling products big corporations if you're worried about money. I have to buy those. I don't have to buy thoughts.

posted by anon_natomanDecember 28, 2005 at 13:50

Cry more n00bs [ e ]

I dl all my games and i have uber fun without paying. explain to me the sense in paying for a game that i can steal and play for free. you guys are teh n00bsauce liek yoo guys would probably pay money to play pac-man or something ghey liek taht. its a matter of intelligence not thievery n00bs.

go buy a copy of doom 1.

posted by leethaksauceMay 22, 2006 at 19:40

unbelievable stupidity [ e ]

I was tempted to not even respond at all to a bunch of leeist pricks like you, but I have come to the conclusion tha if I make this simple for you guys maybe, just maybe, you will come to realize your folly and repent (to Samus Aran)

1. Video game companies makes lots of money as it is. They are not bankrupt, nor on the verge. Not happening. They have imbeciles like you to buy their games.

2. Some people have no other way to attain these games. If a poor child managed to get their hands on a computer, and the only way they could ever play a game on it was through downloading, you're saying that it is wrong to persue this happiness without paying? If so you are gay. Yes that's right, gay.

3. Yea about how some moron up there said game developers already include special goodies in their games like full versions of NES games. Here's the reality dumbass: *GOOD* games are not included.

4. If you are stupid enough to pay retail price for a version of super mario bros. you are clearly mental.

5. You can download games for free. That in itself is a valid arguement.

pwnt

posted by ipwnjoo11May 22, 2006 at 19:53

[ e ]

First of all let me start by saying I own almost every system nintendo came out with and many of their games,If i can find it at a yard sell or pawn shop then yes I'll buy it,but it is still almost impossible to find some of these games,so I'm not gonna lie yes I do have a hand-full of games I dont actually own,most not available in US. However I support these companies and I'll even give and Example I have a Rockman&Forte(Megaman & Bass in English) it was originally realeased on Super Fanicom only in Japan,but when the game came out on GBA in the US, I went and bought it beleive it or not. I enjoy the games these companies produce so I do not want to see them collapse because some people got greedy.

As for the arguements these are just old games,Nintendo already stated that they are going to make most of their old titles available through the Wii(Revolution) and are even going to try to get the Third-Party game makers involved,Obviously if everyone has all these games on Rom noone will care about this feature.

 Emulators and Roms have their place,antique systems like Atari i see no problem with emulating because they have long since become a Third-Party company and don't make systems anymore anyways,as well as games not available in your country like the example I gave. I do strongly advise that people keep it to a minimum, if you can download all these games,then the buisiness will inevitibly collapse. And as was stated before,These companies need to protect their famous characters suchs as Mario,Link,Samus ect in the case of Nintendo.

Im not telling you what to do,I'm just putting my opinion out there.

posted by TheAnonymousZeroMay 29, 2006 at 19:54

Interesting discussion... [ e ]

Look, this is a fairly stupid topic to argue about. I helped with the Programming Of Conker's Bad Fur Day, but the doesn't keep me from using ROMs. For exaple, before the Mega Man X colection was released, MMX3 was horridly expensive. I really didn't feel like paying $250 for something off e-bay, especially when the system itself is only worth $10...And if all us programmers are as shitty as you say we are, what about the people smart enough to crack the software for the emulators themselves? They have done the exact same thing. Taken someone elses work and bastardized it.

posted by ITAugust 5, 2006 at 13:51

Oh..really? [ e ]

Basically, there's nothing to stop copying roms off games.
I mean, if the rom was off market there would be a sudden coinscidence of pirating especiallly if people think : "oh, i love this game and they are gettin rid of it? so I better save a copy before its gone. I can sell this"
People may not sell that game.
1/10 people will pirate but people normally would want to "try it out" then buy the actual thing because they rather let the company suffer than lose "their own money" . I don't see the problem with "trying it out" but i'd rather not risk anything in that subject.
Continuing, I don't see the problem with "try it out" because if people don't like it and see not to waste any money on it, bid deal...there's millions, billions of homes out there with computers and if they wanted to they wou.ld raid them, but they just sit there and say: please...don't ...its against the law...stop it... OH CMON! do somthing about it or your busisness is gonna go down the same hole you poop down. :P

posted by CassieAugust 10, 2006 at 10:56

These games are still being sold as commercial emulations but... [ e ]

While I buy every commercial emulation I can get my hands on for whatever system I own, I see why people choose to emulate some games. Some games are either A. not yet available in emulator sets such as the various Namco and Taito collections or B. require difficult maneuvering to "unlock" them on their given sets. Fortunately, even some of the rarest games have been coming out commercially in some form or another. An example would be Zaxxon, which has been extremely rare, has been included on the Sega Genesis collection, but it needs to be unlocked by meeting certain goals in other games. These goals are fun to meet, so it is wothwhile to do. On the other hand, emulations of Atari 2600 games, while technically available on PSP, are incredibly hard to unlock on an Atari collection recently released, so many people would rather download them than try to meet the nary impossible goals.

As for emulators, there is one way they can be used perfectly legally. Some game packages, such as the Taito Collection, use emulated files that are perfectly compatible with emulators, and some people may choose to use those emulators to run the games. Since they already bought the packages from stores, thus their copy of Space Invaders comes from a legitimately purchased product, they do own the games.

What is the solution to this problem? Ask companies like Konami, (Konami set for DS) Taito, (Two VERY high quality sets of games released for the PS2) Namco, (Consistently improving their commercial emulator packages with the excellent PSP set being the best yet) and Sega (The Genesis Collections have been excellent, and actually make it fun to unlock arcade classics like Super Zaxxon and Space Fury) among others who have been making legal emulations that have been very worth the money spent and allow us to LEGALLY enjoy the games we grew up with for a good price. Simly make commercial packages available, and we will keep supporting them. Who wouldn't be willing to pay a couple bucks for a professionally made emulation of a large number of games?

Now who is contributing to the problem? Companies who either A. put out absolutely horrible collections that tarnish the memories of the games, B. have unreasonable pricing policies (Here in the 21st century, no one is willing to spend upwards of $20 for a single 20-30 year old game) C. have silly "pay to play" schemes in which the games are emulated even down to having users put in a credit card number so even the coin slot is emulated (eg. where users are charged a digital "quarter" through their credit cards each time they want to play a game) or any company who has chosen to exploit game buyers rather than give them a good value. In short, if those companies abuse the game buying public, more people will "get back" by downloading illicit copies of games. Although I don't want to attack anyone for doing it, I have chosen to purchase good packages and simply do without games that are pay-to-play. Most of the goods ones are out in legitimate packages if you know where to look for them. Also, by supporting the companies that put out legitimate emulation packages, it will send them a message that we support them, and they will keep them coming.

posted by CaptainZapMcRaygunnFebruary 22, 2009 at 14:40