I know ROMs and emulators are illegal, but I don't really care. Free better than pay, especially when you can't take a game back if it sucks or doesn't run in your PC. At least I don't feel so bad if I DL'd it and doesn't work. I'd rather delete a downloaded file than lose $30-$60 of my cash.
In a lot of cases there are demos for PC games you can either download for free off the internet, or get bundled with a magazine. Even the latest gen consoles have downloadable demos, including the DS (although very limited). And of course rentals are another option, although you do have to pay a little bit more up-front. But at least if you don't like the game, you're not out $30 - $60 like you said.
There have been occasionally the odd game that is broken straight out of the box, e.g. SNK vs Capcom Card Fighters on DS, or Guitar Hero for Wii. But a few minor exceptions hardly justfies piracy... which leads to -->
I'm not trying to justify my actions, but like I said, I don't really care what people think. Waste your money if you want, I refuse to to do that. I spent enough years of my life wasting money on suck games. No more! I feel much less burned by slurping up a suck game for free than wasting my money on them.
Actually, justifying your actions is
exactly what you're trying to do, at least by what you've written here.
Just saying, let's call a spade a spade -- if you pirate, then at least be honest about it and don't try to hide behind what you consider justification for it.
The way I see it, they don't want me DL'ing copyrighted stuff off the net? Take those sites down that let me get what I want with a mouse click. Shut down the file hosting sites then. Don't come to me whining and threatening and prosecuting me for copyrights.
I think the studios/publishers really are trying to help in this area -- the major American networks allow you to watch previously-aired episodes of popular TV shows on their websites for free (although only if you live in the US), and for games there are great services like GameTap or Steam on the PC, XBOX Live Marketplace, etc. And I'm pretty sure there are movie download services now as well? Haven't looked into it...
QUOTE(Rayder @ Jan 14 2008, 05:01 PM)
It's THEIR (the "man's") fault for giving the general public the ability to do such things (PC's). Now that it's biting them in the ass, they want to whine about it and call our actions criminal. WAHHHH! I think it's criminal to charge so much for games they KNOW are derivative or just plain suck.
It's up to them to stop me from being able to slurp them up for free, not hassle me when I see a link on a website and take advantage of it.