Comments on: I Killed Gordon Freeman

By: James E.

James E. — Tue, 25 May 2010 22:14:05 +0000

I agree. Easy access to just about any game we want makes it easier to collect but hard to actually invest the time we should with each title.

In years past I would get two or maybe 3 games a year and learn them in and out, now I might play that many every month and simply move on to the next thing.

By: Ormwor

Ormwor — Tue, 25 May 2010 20:36:21 +0000

You’re damn right!

By: phanboy4

phanboy4 — Tue, 25 May 2010 20:20:48 +0000

Have to agree, great article. When I was a kid buying used Sega Genesis games, it would take me months to save up the $10 or so needed to buy a new cart, as my parents had a “you want it, you buy it” policy.

The result was that I shopped very VERY carefully and bought that ONE game I had wanted for weeks, and then played it to death. I came out of adolescence with around 15-20 Genesis games, all played extensively, all loved.

Today, even *without* pirating games, I have over 50 Steam games thanks to sales and over 60 GOG games, most of which I have not played, some of which I will probably never get to.

Being able to afford games, or illegally acquire them for free, is practically a gamer’s curse, not a blessing.

By: fitzdeb

fitzdeb — Sun, 23 May 2010 17:17:06 +0000

Great article!

By: shaani

shaani — Sun, 23 May 2010 08:05:32 +0000

thanks for understanding by the way im not an arab im originally from Pakistan another country with lack of gaming and its still developing……it was nice sharing this with u guys..

By: Thomas Trotter

Thomas Trotter — Sun, 23 May 2010 01:11:34 +0000

It should be stressed that I’m a ‘reformed’ pirate. I pay for every game I play. I won’t even buy used games unless their older and not available new. It’s just that all the games I currently own are for consoles.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 23 May 2010 01:07:27 +0000

Yes, that is interesting. If you can’t buy physical copies of a game (or even import them), or use a service like Steam, then you have a strong argument FOR piracy. As Chris said, it’s a gray area.

By: Chris Comiskey

Chris Comiskey — Sat, 22 May 2010 19:17:27 +0000

That’s… a REALLY interesting point. I guess I never considered that. Hmm. Well, I guess for guys like you, we kinda have to see the gray area. Also: what the hell is the point of invading and occupying Iraq if we can’t get the Middle East PC games? They’re a crucial staple to any healthy fledgling democracy! George Washington knew this, we should too! (He was a huge Civ II fan.)

By: Chris Comiskey

Chris Comiskey — Sat, 22 May 2010 19:11:30 +0000

Cheerfully approved! Now we just need a catchy pun-driven name to cement his everlasting fame.

By: Ormwor

Ormwor — Sat, 22 May 2010 17:46:51 +0000

Well, I live in Russia. It’s a huge country and some of us have money. But here we sometimes have absolutely no way to buy a game we want to. Quake? Planescape: Torment? Homeworld? Grim Fandango? Thief? NO WAY! Yes, we can buy Max Payne or Dragon Age or Baldur’s Gate, but we can’t buy original titles, we can buy awfully localized version only. So, there’s only one way to obtain them – Pirate Bay or IsoHunt. I’m very thankful to Blizzard. Those guys published in Russia original versions of WarCraft II, StarCraft and Diablo II not many times ago. Activision published original Max Payne 2. I was lucky, I bought those.

Well, there are also Steam, Amazon and eBay. If you are rich and you can pay for expensive international credit card, it’s yours option, but here in Russia we are not reach.

And I wonder if you american or european guys use Pirate Bay? Why, you don’t have money?

By: Thomas Trotter

Thomas Trotter — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:48:54 +0000

I’m glad everyone likes it. Thanks for reading.

By: KrazIIvan

KrazIIvan — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:22:31 +0000

They are shitheads. Damn kids and their Internets stealings. I didn’t have the opportunity to pirate when I was a Broke kid. I had to save all my shiny nickles up from grandma and buy my games at CompUsa. I did how ever steal the shit out of some Windows 98.

By: Bash

Bash — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:38:10 +0000

Piracy is a blight upon the industry, but I also ask if piracy was curtailed and more people bought games, would the game makers reduce the game prices to encourage more people to buy? I doubt it.

By: Tunchy

Tunchy — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:16:05 +0000

1º) Good article. But you should know your rig, dude! (CPU-Z, and no problem)

2º) I always buy oriiginal games. For less than 19 or 9 €. That is why I ended Morrowind & Oblivion: I payed for the game, I like them and enjoy.

3º)Digital distribution is cheap. (not always, but PC Gamers has offers in different digital distribution services.

4º) Your cd/dvd coleccion look a little ugly if you compare it with a shelve full of original games.

5º) IF I am interested in a game and I am saving for upgrading the rig or I think the price is high, I patienly wait. Sooner or later and with the help of mods, I can perfectly wait.

Can´t you?

By: shaani

shaani — Fri, 21 May 2010 10:53:48 +0000

hey ur article is really gud but for me downlading PC games is not stealing because in a country which i live there are no markets or shops which sell PC games so i have no choice but to download them even if i want to buy a game legaly i have no option hope u understand what im saying because some people don’t become pirate because they want to people have their own problems.by the way i am in saudia arabia

By: Prentice Gede

Prentice Gede — Fri, 21 May 2010 00:51:31 +0000

Great article, dude.

I am formally submitting a request to make that bunny the official mascot for GC.

By: Mut-Hoe

Mut-Hoe — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:59:48 +0000

On the money side of things, I used to be a pretty blatant pirate, but now that I have a job, I can actually afford all those games I want. I have pretty much given up all pirating I used to do, though now I have a backlog of 100 games because I’m a cheap ass gamer who hunts for those deals.

By: Shaun Rykiss

Shaun Rykiss — Thu, 20 May 2010 22:24:31 +0000

I really just don’t understand the mentality behind pirating software. A person really must have a complete lack respect for the media form and the developers who create the product you are stealing (except in a very small number of cases) to do it. I especially don’t understand how, just because you CAN get the product for free (ie. steal it) you DO get it for free. It seems to me the solution is simply to man up, use a little will power and appreciate games more by hyping them up for yourself until you can go and purchase it.

Just because the cookie jar is on the counter doesn’t mean you have to eat every damn cookie…

By: Kevin G.

Kevin G. — Thu, 20 May 2010 19:10:57 +0000

I almost cried. Not really, but fantastic article. This pirating stuff is getting way out of hand. I mean sure, some games are ridiculously hard to find to buy or some developers/publishers won’t provide you a demo. The point being is people are engraving the “Why should I pay for it when I can get it for free?” message into their heads. Another problem is buying second hand too. Developers/Publishers do not get a cent of that money from buying second hand. Which is why games are now putting installation limits and registrations to limit the second hand stuff (I assume).

Glad you brought this up. Some of my opinions may be wrong, but I still enjoyed the article