Blizzard stops Console development

[FirstMateJack]

haha, right, so do I.

I am just saying why you can not use a console for an RTS.

My brother kept trying to nuke me, didn't work.

for obvious reasons.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

oooooh. HAHAHAHA. yeah, that makes sense.

[Oseleon]

Screenhacking is just BAD  eticut at LAN parties and we usualy frown on it.  
Durring the CPTournies and the other CS tournies I have moderated I always would DQ players who "screenhacked"
But if you set up your space correct, Screenhacking is pretty hard to do.  
On a split screen TC  as used by a Console, these measures are impossible

As to Blizard.. Good for them. The PC market is going through tough times with all the Downloading and illegal copying that is going on.  
Games like WoW and other MMOs have the advantage of mandatory online play, with a 1 use account key that keeps players honest.  

Valve may have had the other counter with their STEAM system that verifies the validity of your copy even if playing singleplayer.  

Then there is also BF2 that integrated a feature that required you to register your account key like a MMO in order to play online.  This is seen as a feature by the players as it vallows you to develope your player as you progress in BF2's multiplayer.  I think the original UT started that with the stat-tracking.  BF2 actualy has a MMO style unloick system as you progress.  

Companies that try to keep making PC games the old way, with no such anti-piracy measures are suffering heaviluy and those who do not addapt to the new environment will go extinct

[Entsuropi]

Uhm...

Explain Galactic Civilizations 2, a game with NO anti-piracy measures that sold about as well as any game in it's genre does. Introversion software doesn't put any copy protection on it's stuff either. Know why? Because none of it works. It's a matter of a week or so before no-cd cracks are available and there are other methods (powerISO and mini-images and such) that bypass the need to no-CD crack. And yet... companies continue to make money! HOW COULD THIS BE?

Perhaps because the majority of people buy their games? Yes, perhaps that is it. It's only a small minority that bother pirating games and even they often buy the games afterwards. Piracy is not killing the video games industry. It isn't doing anything of any particular note to it, is my feeling.

[Oseleon]

The measures I list have nothing to do with dry CD Keys.  
Unverifiued CD Keys w/o any communication back to home are useledd.  I can grab anyone of them in a matter of 45 seconds.  If we were on IM I'd have you time me.  

CD Checks have always been more of annoyance than a protection. NO-CD Cracks are something I can grab faster.  

But
If HL2 is gonna check your registration key against Valve's central DB everytime you play single or Multiplayer.  It gets alot harder to crack.  Especialy when it kills that install if it detects duplicate keys.  

There have been recent rumbelings that piracy is why you are seeing the PC Game section in EB shrink each day so that its now a single shelf in the middle when it used to be 50% of the shelves in the store...

[Linternet]

Entsuropi is right.  Many compaines have realized that copy protection measures do more to annoy legitimate customers than they do to stop pirates.

Also, piracy has nothing to do with the recent decline in PC gaming.  Consoles are responsible for that.

[Spriggan]

Also, piracy has nothing to do with the recent decline in PC gaming.  Consoles are responsible for that.

Actually it depends on who you ask, there's no 100% correct answer for why pc games are in decline because in truth no one really knows it's to hard of a thing to judge accurately.

What is known is companies loose lots of money to piracy, not just because of loss of sales but also due to the time their Customer Service and Support and to spend dealing with people that call.  One game maker said about half of all their support calls were made by people with pirated copies of their games.

[Linternet]

It's an opinion.  I've seen PC games decline pretty much every time the new consoles are about to start popping up.  In my opinion, they'll rebound  soon.  

Of course game companies lose money due to piracy.  It is, however, something they've been dealing with since the beginning and I have a hard time believing that it's hurting the industry significantly more now than it has in the past.

[Oseleon]

It is alot easier to grab a pirated copy of a game now a days.  And if there is no MP component, what incentive is there to pay when you can get it free?

[Linternet]

First of all, just because you can track down CD-Keys and cracks on google, download your favorite games via BitTorrent and/or disassemble and edit the executable doesn't mean everyone can.

Secondly, yes, broadband internet, peer-to-peer technology, and mass storage has made it easier to obtain pirated software, but the market is much bigger and less savvy too.  In the old days PC gaming was the pervue of nerds, further, relatively wealthy nerds as obtaining a PC for under $2000 was nearly impossible.  I don't have the exact stats to back it up but I'll wager that the ratio of pirates to customers has remained close to the same over the years.

Finally, many of us who do know how to pirate don't do so on moral grounds.  

I don't deny the impact of piracy on the industry but I do not believe it's suddenly responsible for a decline in the industry.