I'd just like to point one thing out.
Alot of people here seem to be under the misconception that by DLing a game distrobuted by a release group, you instantly are putting cash in their pockets.
You don't, release groups make money doing what they do, but not through any conventional way you might think. The majority of warez is distro'd through 3rd or 4th party distro ftp's, warez didn't really go mainstream until BT and IRC.
You are not giving money to a release group by DLing anything, unless you subscribe to a payed FTP group or something like that. You are only stealing (I say only not to belittle, but to say you're JUST stealing, not paying the guys who originally stole it as well).
Generally speaking, authorities really don't care a bit about users. They want distro's and release groups. I happen to know through mmorpgs the former head of one of the biggest release groups. He ran this group in the early 90's and back then they DID make a killing. However, they were infiltrated and taken down to the tune of a lawsuit totalling in the hundreds of millions of dollars, obviously those busted didnt have that cash so they ended up filing bankruptcy etc. This group has only just resurfaced as a major player.
Like MP3 file sharing, it really comes down to the industry itself to pursue the individual user. Using an analogy, where is law enforcements money better spent, busting the dealers of narcotics, or busting the average joe on the street? Cutting off the head is the best way to do it, so that is where the majority of time and effort is spent.
Piracy is a funny thing, because often times, the targets of the pirates are the huge companies that make a killing, provide very little support and over price the product. But in their all encompassing pursuit of fr33 gamez, they hurt the little guy terribly, like Paradox, that gives unparalleled support to their products and generally put out games unlike anything else mass produced marketed and packaged for mass consumption. That is the real tragedy here. The big companies, the targets don't feel the pinch in the purse, the little ones that get caught in the crossfire do.
Now, everyone of you that reads this better buy the game, or Invader Canuck will come to your house with a sawed off shutgun stalking from room to room pumping shot after shot into your twitching lifeless bodies!
Alot of people here seem to be under the misconception that by DLing a game distrobuted by a release group, you instantly are putting cash in their pockets.
You don't, release groups make money doing what they do, but not through any conventional way you might think. The majority of warez is distro'd through 3rd or 4th party distro ftp's, warez didn't really go mainstream until BT and IRC.
You are not giving money to a release group by DLing anything, unless you subscribe to a payed FTP group or something like that. You are only stealing (I say only not to belittle, but to say you're JUST stealing, not paying the guys who originally stole it as well).
Generally speaking, authorities really don't care a bit about users. They want distro's and release groups. I happen to know through mmorpgs the former head of one of the biggest release groups. He ran this group in the early 90's and back then they DID make a killing. However, they were infiltrated and taken down to the tune of a lawsuit totalling in the hundreds of millions of dollars, obviously those busted didnt have that cash so they ended up filing bankruptcy etc. This group has only just resurfaced as a major player.
Like MP3 file sharing, it really comes down to the industry itself to pursue the individual user. Using an analogy, where is law enforcements money better spent, busting the dealers of narcotics, or busting the average joe on the street? Cutting off the head is the best way to do it, so that is where the majority of time and effort is spent.
Piracy is a funny thing, because often times, the targets of the pirates are the huge companies that make a killing, provide very little support and over price the product. But in their all encompassing pursuit of fr33 gamez, they hurt the little guy terribly, like Paradox, that gives unparalleled support to their products and generally put out games unlike anything else mass produced marketed and packaged for mass consumption. That is the real tragedy here. The big companies, the targets don't feel the pinch in the purse, the little ones that get caught in the crossfire do.
Now, everyone of you that reads this better buy the game, or Invader Canuck will come to your house with a sawed off shutgun stalking from room to room pumping shot after shot into your twitching lifeless bodies!
