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Halo 2 Available on the Net
syberanarchy writes "Gamespot reports that Halo 2 has already been leaked to the internet via French newsgroups and P2P networks, almost a month before release! Any chance this bombshell move could force MS/Bungie to push up the release date?" See also gamesindustry.biz and The Register.
Yep, I've seen a bittorrent for the PAL version of Halo 2 already. I don't think that'll ever work for people of the USA, but it might be a cause to move Europe's release dates up.
As for me, I'm buying it anyway- I want the limited edition copy with the metal case and behind the scenes DVD.
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Exactly why would this delay it? It's not the source, it's the compiled game... that's all. It happens with nearly every high-profile game (journalists are always so trustworthy...)...
...could be a way of increasing the pre-release hype?
Bureaucracy loves company.
no, the'll take valves approach and delay it indefinatley
Pirates will be pirates, law abiding citizens will be law abiding citizens. There is probably alot more to this release date, there is most likely alot of TV ads and magazine ads that are set to launch at the same time.
Okay, okay. First they invent a language where you DON'T SAY MOST OF THE LETTERS IN A WORD. Then they sell nuclear reactors to Iraq. Then they infiltrate Burger King with criossandwiches. But THIS is going too damned far.
"Wow. Now THAT'S a lot of angry Indians." - Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer
It's not like ALL games end up on FTPs, torrents, DC, whatnot. :P
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This has been like this for years. For as long as the "scene" exists. Nothing to see here, move along. But frankly, the more intermediate poeple getting their hands on the Gold master before it's heading out to press, the easier it is to leak.
They've hyped November 9th too much. I just can't see Bungie changing their release date, no matter how many reasons there may be.
I don't even have an Xbox, but what is the hardware you would need to burn the Xbox ISO once you downloaded it off P2P? I'm merely curious.
CD burner? DVD burner? Xbox equipped with modchip or no?
- Yolego
I like how on the front page directly under this story is the article U.S. Declares War on Intellectual Property Theft.
It's a Bagel.
I saw the torrent available. Not that I really care much about it since I have no xbox, and I prefer Halo on PC over the xbox. I just like the controls on PC since I was so used to those.
I suppose people would be downloading this as a backup to the product they already legally own, right? Oh wait, the game hasn't been released yet...
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I don't think anyone [sane] is suggesting that Bungie/MS leaked it themselves on purpose, but they might want to take the lemon and make lemonade out of it, by molding it into a huge PR gimmick.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Ahoy!
Aye, talk like a piiiiiiiiiiiraaaate day haz been extended me mateees.
Shiver me timbers, bring me some halo 2 smartly now ye blige rats.
Arr arr
Here.
More like... nerdular nerdence!
"Gamespot reports that Halo 2 has already been leaked to the internet via French newsgroups
Sssssshhhhhhhhhhhhuddup... That's the one thing they haven't tried to shut down yet. Let's just agree to lump usenet under the broad umbrella of "p2p filesharing software".
...but it's insanely amusing that it happened right before the "US Declared War on Intellectual Property Theft".
IP Theft pre-emptively attacked!
If I remember correctly, Halo 2 has already gone gold. It'll be difficult to increase the speed of a release at this point. There are a lot of logistical factors that they'll have to overcome to increase production for an immediate release.
If they DO release sooner, and there aren't enough copies, that will also cause a case where people will go to the 'net for the game.
~D
This sig has been enciphered with a one-time pad. It could say almost anything.
"It should be noted that players who download the game illegally could face a maximum penalty of $100,000 per infringement for copyright violations."
:P
In the Netherlands at least it's legal to download, but illegal to upload stuff like this.
I'd like to see them try to extradite an infringer.
This is the sig that says NI (again)
When I actually have something insightful to say about this topic. I forget my password, and hotmail isn't working.
Anyways: Back in the day, my friends used to work for a CD duplication plant. After a couple of the CDs have been duplicated, they give me some of the CDs (with no labels on them btw) and thats how I got most of my prerelease stuff 8)
Any chance this bombshell move could force MS/Bungie to push up the release date?
Not to be a throll, but I think it will only push up the release date for more draconian laws
Come on! Why do they want to release things so early?! There is a difference between pissing people off, and really really pissing people off!
Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!
I could see this happening to a game that does not have such a high demand/ratings for
- i.e. Company A spends 2 years on a new game - It's full of bugs and is not getting any good reviews - a flop. they leek it. Then turn around and claim that the leeked version killed their profits and write it off come tax season.
They have not once pushed the date back. Every rumor about release dates, aside from the official one at E3 2004, were just that, rumors. Mostly ones generated by gaming sites and whatnot.
As for trailers, you're nuts. Of course they want to tease us. It's called marketting.
Whether you like Microsoft or not, this is bad. Many people have poured their hearts and souls into making that game not just because they like making cool stuff, but because they like to bring happyness to people. The person who leaked this clearly has no respect for the creators of the game.
As a game developer, I urge you to show some respect for the creators of the game by not downloading or distributing it. My first game came out a couple of weeks ago on PS2 and XBox and it's both frustrating and disappointing to see it readily available on P2P networks. How would you like to see something you've worked on for 50+ hours a week for months on end being freely copied around?
If you're intent on doing it, at least wait until the game has been released and if you like it, please buy it to support the developers. $50 isn't much to pay considering the number of hours of entertainment you get from the tens of thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars that would have gone into producing it - infinitely better value than a movie.
No one has answered:
1) Why the hell would this force Bungie to push forward the release date? I'm sorry, but I didn't spend the time or money to mod my x-box, and I don't want to play the goddamn game in French, since I don't speak French and I'd kind of like to know what the hell is going on when I play the game.
2) Does this mean pre-orders in France are going to be canceled all of the sudden? I doubt it. Even with filesharing, artists can still sell millions of albums.
3) Who is responsible for this, exactly? Pirates? Like the ones from Penzance, or the less musical Barbary Pirates? Someone said French journalists. Uh, RTFM. There's a big difference between "news groups" and journalists.
Hm... risk a $100,000 fine for illegally downloading it, or risk a $1,000 fine for stealing a physical copy when it's released...
it wont affect Bungies release date, but it will be a good excuse to delay HL2 some more
As sad as it is, is anyone suprised that it happened? I mean, it's only the most anticipated game of the year (HL2 was the most anticipated game of last year, it's just coming out this year). I've got my preorder in, and I know a lot of other people who won't bother with it either. However, there are people who will always look to cheat the system, and as much as we hate it there's no use crying or screaming or starting flamewars that this will hurt 'the programmers'. But that's not the worst of it.
.00001% of their yearly profits. What's next, that each copy will be biometrically tied to us, so we need to activate out consoles with a thumbprint identification before we can turn it on?
My main concern is the response and backlash from the Corps. It's not that I condone the behavior of these thieves, but I'm desperately afraid of the cure will be worse than the disease. Already we have games that can't work in everyone's PC, or disable programs you legitemately install. We have operating systems that require you to phone home every time you change your hardware, just so that the company can make sure you're not stealing
And what's going to be the target of the corporation's wrath, you ask? In this case, it's going to be USENET, BITTORRENT, and IRC. Three out-of-the-mainstream networks that corporations will try to convince law makers are nothing but havens for pirates and thieves. You'll hear the words "Terrorists" and "Child Pr0n" before this is over, too.
It's a tough world we live in. No matter which side you stand for, this much is certain: you're going to get screwed.
This "leak" is just a pretext for the USA to declare war on France.
We've all been waiting for an October Surprise, and it looks like this is going to be it. You heard it here first.
Now if you'll excuse me, there are some men wearing sunglasses who would like to have a word with --
On the contrary, I believe this occurence should force the release date forward - i.e. get it legally earlier; this would lighten the blow of piracy by making legal release concurrent to the leaked one, causing less copies to be stolen (people have a greater chance of buying games as opposed to copying when the game is actually available in the stores.)
Anyone disagree?
This doesn't mean the game is completly finished. For instance localization, translating to different languages. Age verification. Box cover printed. Manual translated and printed. And of course the game image created and cd's pressed.
Then all the parts got to come together and be shipped all over the place.
This all takes time and the real potential of delay. Say you discover that the final image your ready to press has a flaw. Have to do it all over again. Then telling the audience that, sorry it gonna be delayed 2 days is impossible. All those ads "on sale on XXXX-XX-XX" will be wrong.
Just because a game is ready for sale does not mean it is immidiatly in a shop.
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Come on, is this news ???
My guess is that a lot of people downloading it just want a shot to pratice early so they can kick butt online the day of release, or to check it out and see if it's worthwhile to buy at all.
.001% impact on sales in the end.
Programmers should be more concerned with making sure paying customers are happy than worrying over the ogeyman of "lost sales" due to piracy.
Do you really think Halo sales will suffer as a result of this? My guess is that it will go on to record breaking sales, and this has like a
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But if I were an Evil Game Studio and I had a high profile game about to ship, I might consider making a slightly tweaked version of the game available on the net just prior to the release. Said version would work OK for a while, then on the release date or after some number of times being started, it'd cause your console to boot up to a message with an 800 number and a code. For a 1 time fee of $75, you'd be able to unlock your console, at which time the pirated version of the game would delete itself.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
umm...because it ruins the marketing plan that they had designed for this launch. Bungie devises a plan around the launch date (print, television, video, etc) and they focus on the timing of the date and how all of the aspects of the campaign tie in together.
This is the same reason that U2 was going to release their album early if the stolen version made it onto the internet. It ruins that way the company can market the record and can effectively promote the singles in the correct order at radio. In effect, it takes all marketing control out of the hands of the company.
I've played the French version, the Covenent invade earth and as Master Chief you have just 24 hours to surrender.
I think that if you play it on Elite you also have to try to stop other Master Chiefs from attacking the Covenent to secure lucrative oil export rights.
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The french version is great!!!!! The only draw back i've seen so far is that you don't have any guns.... just a white flag.
Hrm, I havent seen the download, but i'm wondering The xbox warez community has been working for a long time on cracking the xbox ISO, so that burned games will work on any xbox. I'm wondering right now if the release of this would in any way aid them. Also note, that I have two copies of halo preordered, so I will be waiting, and I will be found at my local EB at 9 PM EST on november 8th. There has been talk of the ISO crack project for a long time, I'm just sort of worried that if this occours, the release dates of many many future xbox games will be delayed while MS and developers scramble to secure thier hardware/software.
I'm no expert on things like this, but if i ran this company, my policy would resemble something with alittle more common sense:
All copies that are distributed prior to the release date would always have a unique identification number imbedded within the image itself. Each id specifically represents the possessor of each unique copy. Furthermore, that fact will be made -very clear- to those who are approved possessors. If your number ends up on the pirated copy, we send goons to your house who will offer you a choice of three items: an eyepatch, a hook, or a pegleg.