quote:
Originally posted by AG3:
The only thing is... now I fail to see why V-Mate is supposed to reduce piracy. Maybe they think pirates will grow impatient and buy the games instead? Not likely. If it's as easy as releasing a patch, then cracking it can't be all that difficult either.Of course, reducing piracy may not have been the only (or even main) reason for implementing this system to begin with. But if it wasn't that, then I have no idea what the reason was...
Nah, all of these security measures point to pirate-fighting as the main reason for this move. Why else would they risk alienating a Western audience that is known to react quite violently to perceived breaches of privacy?
Now that I think of it, releasing a patch that disables V-mate does kind of defeat the purpose of reducing piracy. I mean, all the pirates have to do is reverse-engineer the patch so it applies to any V-mate game, and wala! V-mate is obsolete (if it wasn't already). As for your other point, I suppose this is G-collection's reasoning:
Many people pirate B-games instead of buying them because the free alternative is readily available. Deprive them of the immediate gratification of downloading whatever they want when they want, and they'll buy the game instead.
In fact, this philosophy might not be totally off-base. As is the case with many of us, I used to pirate these games via P2P. I liked some, I disliked some...I even started reading some reviews. At some point I had a compatibility problem with one of the games, so I came here to search the boards for a solution. As I did, I began to notice some of the (interesting) discussions going on, and even after I managed to fix my problem I checked back occasionally just to read the boards for fun.
I came across some game recommendation topics, and my curiosity was piqued when I heard people talking about two games in particular: Kana and Private Nurse. Being the unscrupulous opportunist that I was, I combed s*p*n**a every once in a while, and sure enough, a torrent of Private Nurse appeared. I downloaded it, only to find that the .rar archive was locked with a password. Annoyed, I gave up and returned to pirating other H-games for the time being.
That particular summer, I housesitted for my grandparents while they were away. For two weeks, I was completely alone (and without broadband for downloading), so I passed the time reading the message board here at Peach Princess. In particular, I read the "discussion" members here had with Virgofenix, and I got to thinking. Maybe I shouldn't pirate these games after all? It wasn't a solid conviction at that point, but I was bored, and I wanted something new to play. What the hell? I purchased Kana and Day of Love, thinking that would be a good mix: one game I really wanted, and one I could play when my grandparents got back without fear of discovery (plus it was cheap). I played Kana and I was wowed. Even Crescendo couldn't compare with this masterpiece. Finally, a title that I felt was worth the $45 they charged for these games.
Since then I've been a convert. I don't buy many b-games, admittedly, but I don't pirate them anymore either. I'm finally getting Private Nurse, which as I said I've been interested in for a while, despite being a little put-off by the CG. I've also ordered Hourglass of Summer, which people here seem to rate highly for its story. I'm looking forward to Little My Maid and Gun Shield Warrior Sakigake, and Let's Meow Meow! or Hitomi, My Stepsister sometime in the forseeable future.
And...that's my story. I hope in time that B-games will become popular enough that the variety and quality of translated games will rise, and I can buy them as often as I buy regular RPG's.
So...maybe G-collections theory has some basis. But I do know that I was probably part of a small minority of pirates that appreciated these games enough to dish out the $45. Even then, I did it only because Kana was highly recommended by players whose interests seem to line-up with my own. And I knew where my interests lied by having pirated a large variety of these games before-hand. I can tell you all with certainty that I wouldn't be here if I had never gotten into pirating. Even if I had heard of the genre somehow, I never would have taken the plunge without a friend to lend me a (good) game for free, at the very least.
That's why this whole V-mate ordeal kind of bothers me, even if G-collections bends over backwards to accomodate us. V-mate makes it difficult to lend out our games, at the very least. And what if it does succeed in curbing piracy? Will it increase sales? Or will it actually decrease them? I'm not talking about customers put off by V-mate, either. In a way, piracy really is a form of advertising for this genre, whether we like to admit it or not.