Mac Version Of Halo Exemplifies Piracy Problem?

An anonymous reader writes "MacSoft takes popular games and ports them to the Macintosh for all the Mac users to enjoy, but according to a TwinCities.com article, apparently there are far more users pirating Mac Halo than actually buying it A MacSoft spokesman 'didn't release sales figures [for Halo] but said illegal downloads number at least in the hundreds of thousands.'" The article uses this specific game to discuss how PC and Mac publishers are "...making gamers enter special codes, authenticate themselves online and jump through more hoops." It ends by describing the pain of the developer in seeing their title pirated: "It was a dagger in the hearts of guys who worked 12 to 14 hours a day [on Halo]... We're on an emotional high, and it all comes crashing down."

Comments

It is part of Mac business model

[Anonymous Coward]

It is part of the Mac business model to make it seem like there are actually Mac users.

They have thousands of employees downloading Mac software on p2p to make it look like there is interest.

Apple secretly buys most of those iMacs to inflate sales figures, and they secretly grind them up and use them as freeway asphault in Oakland.

Re:Hundreds of thousands??

[ealar dlanvuli]

Have you tried fps gaming on x86 laptops?

The situation really isn't all that much better over there.

Re:Bah...

[metamatic]

Damn right. Screw Microsoft, even if I wanted to play Halo (which I don't without cooperative mode), I wouldn't buy it.

What was promised vs. what was delivered...

[SvnLyrBrto]

If Halo was still being prodeced by an independent Bungie, and actually included all of the features we were promised at MacWorld, way back when; *I* would happily plonk down the $50 for it.

Instead, we get a Halo that is produced by microsoft, to whom bungiee whored themselves out. We get a halo that is a crappy port of a console game. We get a Halo that has been gutted of almost all of the features that would have made it uber-cool must-have. We get a Halo that has been turned into just another mediocre FPS.

No way in HELL I'd pay even a penny for the damn thing. Of course, I don't even consider it worth the waste of bandwidth to download either. But if I DID want to play a half-assed imitation of Halo, I would have no moral qualms about DLing the thing.

NOTE TO GAME DEVELOPERS:
Keep faith with your customers, keep the promises you make; and people will happily buy your products. Betray us, break your promises; and you piss people off and lose customers. Maybe it's not taught in business 101, but it's sure taught in human nature 101. See also: the other poster's remarks about what was promised vs. what was delivered WRT/ the Mac (and linux) version of Neverwinter Nights.

cya,
john

Comes as no surprise

[node159]

Probably cause they want to see if it really is as shit as the PC guys say it its.

They download it, find the fact to be true and don't waste their money on it.

Hype = amount of piracy.
Quality = amount of purchases.

I don't see what they are shocked at, unless they are under the illusion that they have a product that anybody would in their right mind play on anything but at 320x240 res (TV).