quote:Originally posted by papillon: In reality, certain game companies have semi-openly encouraged the use of no-CD 'cracks' because it saved them money. Needing the CD to play the game led to more needs for repair/replacement when the CDs cracked (known manufacturing flaw in the batch).
Eh, that doesn't sound right to me. If game companies wanted you to be able to play without a CD, they'd ship it that way. That's how old games used to be; you didn't need a Cd in the drive to play the game once you've installed it (assuming you did a full install). Requiring a CD in the drive during actual play was one of the first anti-piracy measures.
[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 11-24-2004).]
Well, with retail games there are often multiple companies involved, and the publishing end insists on the copy protection while the development end thinks it sucks… I’m not kidding about having been given official advice to use the no-CD crack, though. (Of course, if their CDs weren’t known to BREAK they might not have given such advice)
I don’t think these merry little ba****ds called pirates are going to be worried by those things…
EDIT: i snatched a message, and the job is currently ** % done !!! As i feared, this only slowed - and not stopped - them.
PS Percentual edited.
EDIT 2: Good news!!! It seems this will still need a V-Mate registered account to work offline, so it can’t be called a crack, but more likely an unofficial fan-made patch.
[This message has been edited by Italicus (edited 11-25-2004).]
Depending on how the reviews for Hitomi turn out, a patch would much improve my chances of buying as well. And if it requires a legitimate copy of the game to work, all the better. Have they said if this patch will work with any V-mate title?
I myself expect never to see a patch so won’t purchase their products. If you know anything about past cracks some of these incredibly difficult protections was not cracked until AFTER a patch was released. The hackers were than able to determine what the patch did and was able to crack that protection rendering it virtually useless. So do you expect Virtual-mate to ALLOW a patch to be released that might actually threaten their protection scheme?
Now for the second part is I wouldn’t be able to play it within a years time. Upgrading our systems require us to connect to M$ which has NO LIMIT on how many activations to reactivate windows to be back in operation but with V-Mate everytime we do an upgrade or complete reinstall from the FAQ it’s going to invalidate our copy. I upgrade or reinstall on an average of 3 times a year and sell my old hardware Advantage of being a computer tech sell my older hardware with install at a decent price practically paying for my newer hardware. SO with this system I wouldn’t be able to play it within a year’s time and I like to come back to my games a year later and replay them… After all at the price these games cost us I can’t pick them all up so I have to make the ones I do buy count and replaying them a year down the road helps while waiting for the next great one that I plan to purchase like Gun Shield Warrior and LMM.
[This message has been edited by molitar (edited 11-29-2004).]
Actually, there is an upgrade limit with WinXP. You have to wait approximately 6 months between upgrades, I believe. The idea is to restrict the installation to one computer, and Microsoft believes that no one upgrades their computer more than once every six months. I heard this from my uncle who has a friend that works for Microsoft, so I could be wrong, I suppose.
quote:Originally posted by Dark_Shiki: Actually, there is an upgrade limit with WinXP. You have to wait approximately 6 months between upgrades, I believe. The idea is to restrict the installation to one computer, and Microsoft believes that no one upgrades their computer more than once every six months. I heard this from my uncle who has a friend that works for Microsoft, so I could be wrong, I suppose.
This is not quite correct. There are limits to the number of changes you can make to the system in certain time period before needing reactivation, but you can then simply reactivate. It is only if you reactivate too many times that you are locked, but even then MS should give you a new code if you phone them as there are no limits to how many times you can reactivate (they just might get a bit suspicious and give you hassle if you are reactivating a lot). Changing one or two pieces of hardware should not necessitate reactivation, so it shouldn't be an issue unless all the hardware is replaced every three months or so. AFAIK the records of activation are blanked if you haven't reactivated in more than 120 days.
[This message has been edited by dco_chris (edited 11-30-2004).]
[This message has been edited by dco_chris (edited 11-30-2004).]
I tried installing WinXP on two different computers within a few weeks of each other, and the second wouldn’t activate. A major upgrade is basically a “different” computer, so how would that be explained then?
Yeah, I have a license for winxp, and I changed computers with it. Couldnt activate it. F’n bs. THats why i will not payf or anything thatr equires online registration. I’m lucky enough to get 3 free licenses for server 03 and xp form a networking class. I’m falling back to server 2000 though.
Online activation is complete crap. Anyone woh doesnt mind it are the same people who approve homeland security :P.
quote:Originally posted by Dark_Shiki: I tried installing WinXP on two different computers within a few weeks of each other, and the second wouldn't activate. A major upgrade is basically a "different" computer, so how would that be explained then?
Did you try activating by phone? Ditto Smog.
[This message has been edited by dco_chris (edited 12-01-2004).]
Microsoft’s stated purpose was to limit each installation of WinXP to one computer. They wouldn’t knowingly let you activate XP on two computers simultaneously, though they might for an upgrade. My point is that you can’t activate XP on more than one computer within a short time frame, as far as I know. Phone activation allows for some exceptions, but these are exceptions rather than the general rule.
[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 12-01-2004).]
Interesting points. I do have some problems with it, though.
quote:But vmate doesn’t seem to work that way. It just uses the online servers to authenticate the game. The user has on his PC the full working code and content. Any decent hacker will have a dozen avenues of attack just as with steam.
People keep saying that, but anyone still has to come out with a crack. Your so-called “decent hackers” don’t seem to care.
quote:Make the games easier to buy. I live in the netherlands but can’t buy them from any store that sells games yet these places do sell adult dvd’s and even western adult games. (like “singles spice up your life” and pure porn games)
If it would be possible, believe me, they would get the games in your stores. Sadly, the stores have decided for us that we don’t want these games. Not many people know it to demand either. The only shop I’ve seen carrying them is the manga shop I go to, and they didn’t sell there. I’m their only customer of these games. I know, adult DVDs, porn games, but not bishoujo games. It’s strange.
quote:Make the games cheaper. Making “casual romance club” the same price as the limited edition of Half-Life 2 is taking the piss. One is a huge leap ahead in gaming. The other is a kinda funny but primitive “ooh I got visual studio” spreadsheet with pictures. You guess wich one is wich.
It’s not so simple. The companies are struggling to make sales. They can’t lower their price just like that. However, you can shop around and find them cheaper at some places because they got a special deal or something.
Also keep in mind that these games cost $80 in Japan. You already got your price lowering.
Casual Romance Club is an imported game from Libido, that made an English translation of the game by itself. No English bishoujo game seller was involved in this. And as you know, importing isn’t cheap. In fact, we can be grateful for the current $64 price tag, since it used to be $80.
By the way, even crappy PC and console games cost $50.
Your statement about these games being nothing more than a ‘visual studio’ is a typical arguement we get from pirates. Guess they should make the games themselves since they think it’s oh so easy and that they would do it so much better.
Please.
These games have other qualities than your typical FPS, survival horror, platformer, or whatever game genre you play. No pirate seems to see them, though, but they still play. Now that’s odd. I guess a good game for you has to have flashes all over it and realistic 3D, huh?
Also keep in mind that this is a niche market. The Japanese companies that make these games are very small, and they don’t have budgets worth millions like the usual software developers. Competition is fierce, too.
quote:Add more rewards for buyers. Goodies in the box. Extra content. Wallpapers.
Now that I agree with.
quote:Stop worrying about piracy. Concentrate on making paying customers happy. Don’t let your head be turned by lost potential sales spun by anti-piracy sellers. They are selling fake economics.
That would be fine if there were enough paying customers. However many people choose to pirate these games instead of buying them, while they are interested. Seems logical to try to stop them so it’s possible to win them over.
By the way, since you’re in The Netherlands, Archonia is a good store for these games. I live in Belgium.
[This message has been edited by Benoit (edited 12-13-2004).]
quote:Originally posted by Benoit: Also keep in mind that this is a niche market. The Japanese companies that make these games are very small, and they don't have budgets worth millions like the usual software developers. Competition is fierce, too.
I don't really feel like debating this whole topic all over again...so I'll limit myself to a nitpick. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img] B-games are a niche market in the West, yes. Not so in Japan. I believe I read on this board that 25% of all PC games sold are H-games (not just b-games). Hardly a niche market. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img] Some of the main Japanese developers do have huge budgets I would suspect, like Key for example. Most, however, are small-time, as you say. But then, I'm probably just regurgitating things I and everyone else has already seen on this board. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]
Oh, but offering inexpensive yet ordinarily impossible-to-find goodies would definitely be a good way to bring over some of the pirates "on the brink." Of course, there's always the incorrigible ones that will continue to pirate the games as long they're able...guys like Virgofenix. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]
[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 12-13-2004).]
quote:Originally posted by Benoit: People keep saying that, but anyone still has to come out with a crack. Your so-called "decent hackers" don't seem to care.
Let me elaborate on this a bit. I was one of the people saying that. I was flat out wrong. First I said it'd be cracked within a week; when that didn't happen I said "eh, it'll take at most 2 more weeks". Here we are more than a month later.
If you're not actively working on a crack (and if you are, we don't discuss such things here) then you shouldn't be idly speculating on VMate. Everyone who has has been wrong before.
I’ll reply to this thread from a retailer’s point of view.
About 2 years ago I decided to take a course on Japanese. I visited the Anime Club on campus. Walk in see students watching Anime. Find out a little while later they had an entire library of Anime Videos they had downloaded off the internet. I spoke with the club’s President, and you’ve never seen anyone flinch so hard as when I told him I’m a retailer.
Piracy goes on. If a sytem is put in place that stops this and basically forces people to pay for something they want to play it is better for the industry. I suspect that the majority of board users want companies such as GC, to do well. If this system suceeds at that, I don’t see the inconvenience overshadowing the benefit.
