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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.
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.