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A Portrait of the UK Game Pirate
Next Generation has a report up on a British study that indicates something like 84 percent of 15 to 18 year olds pirate video games in Britain. 72 percent of those folks pirate games because they can't wait for the UK releases. From the article: "This study shows very clearly the drivers behind videogame piracy...Most respondents who have and will continue to illegally download games are young males, between 15 and 19 years old. They feel videogames are too expensive and resent the long wait for many games released in the US or in Asia before the UK. With a high level of computer literacy, it's easy for them to find a game online and download it. Their friends all do it and why shouldn't they?"
Stores like Best Buy and Target have games in their sales circulars every week.
Coupons (like Best Buy's Gamer Gift Card or the $5 off any PS2 title that they're offering now) and discount cards help to save a little bit of money. Coupons are free, and the cards are cheap - I got my EB Edge card for $5.
When games hit the clearance racks, they drop in price amazingly quickly. Toys R Us had a very nice selection of games in a clearance sale that, over the course of a few months, increased from 30% off to a whopping 90% off. Walking into the store, spending $15, and waslking out with five or six new games is a very nice feeling.
Buy used. You'll save a lot of money, the games are usually in good shape, and you should be able to return or exchange if the disc is damaged.
Rent. Some games aren't worth the $50, or even $20.
Wait. Sony releases a new batch of Greatest Hits titles every few months or so, and Microsoft and Nintendo have their own lines (albiet ones that aren't updated as often). Every game will drop in price eventually; what was once rare and expensive for the N64 can now be had for $15-$20. PC games hit the jewel case racks within a year or so of release. If you're patient, you'll be able to play it.
Say you buy two $50 games a year. I've spent less than that this year, and I've got a giant pile of quality unplayed games waiting for me. Hell, I've got more than I can play right now because I keep jumping on sales.
You, my friend, don't have a clue in hell as to what you're talking about.
Goo goo g'joob.
The majority of games are simply forced into 50Hz mode resulting in borders and a ~20% slowdown. A lot of newer PS2 games and nearly all Xbox, Gamecube and Dreamcast games have a 50/60Hz selector.
There are free tools available on the internet that allow you to automatically apply either of those changes to any game for that particular console, so I really cannot see how the PAL/NTSC difference has any real impact on the release schedules.
The only time when it would take a while is if a 50Hz-optimised game was planned, with no borders or slowdown. But then there are only a handful of those for each console so that's no excuse for most.
By the way, the Xbox, Gamecube, Dreamcast and most DVD players output a PAL60 signal, which means that even with an RF connection you can still get a proper 60Hz picture on a PAL television. I believe Nintendo have already released a couple of Gamecube games in Europe that are 60Hz-only, such as the special edition Zelda disc which contains all the old NES/N64 games. I think the newest Metroid might be another.
Last time I checked, I can't copy a physical product outright and sell it either.
Check again. Unless there's government coercion (e.g. patents), yes, you can copy a physical product and sell it.
The Original Post is still perfectly wrong about games being a monopoly.
The *whole point* of copyright is that it creates an artificial monopoly. If it didn't do that, it wouldn't work.
Digital media like video games have no cost to reproduce. The supply is essentially infinite. When the government grants copyright, it interferes with the law of supply and demand that is present in a free market by artificially reducing the supply to whatever the copyright holder deems appropriate.
A free market is a market without coercion. Copyright is a coercive monopoly, and therefore incompatible with a free market.
Why was this modded informative? It's not true. Plain and simple.
I live in the UK. We have no such laws. We have plenty of games where it's possible to kill "child" NPCs. The only attempt that was made to actually censor a video-game on the basis of content was the Carmaggeddon case. In this instance, the publishers were compelled to put out, for a while, a "green blood" version of the game. The censorship was deemed illegal on appeal. This was a serious dent to the credibility of our ratings body (the BBFC) and they're still recovering from the damage it did to them now. Since then, the BBFC has taken a very, very hands off approach to video-games. A good number receive 18 certificates, which is broadly equivalent to the US "AO" rating for games, but it doesn't have the same stigma here. I don't know a single high-street games/movies shop that refuses to stock 18 certificate products.
So please, don't spout ignorant, uniformed rubbish about UK laws.