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Piracy is one of the scourges of the entertainment industry.
Piracy is one of the scourges of the entertainment industry. It has touched the music, film and television sectors and is only getting worse, especially in the video games industry. Video games have been up on the “I-Want” list for decades, and some have resorted to desperate measures to get their hands on the newest games, and apart from a massive subpoena, the end of video game piracy is seemingly only as possible as having a pet dinosaur. However, game developers are fighting back, but not always in the best way. So, we’ve listed 10 innovative ways to prevent video game piracy.
Rocksteady Studios releasedin August (360/PS3) and September (PC) of 2009, and the game was lauded as the best comic book adaptation released ever . Obviously, the game was a huge target for video game pirates, but Rocksteady was ready for them: in the Windows version of the game, a bug of sorts was implemented into the programming to subtly alter the pirates’ gameplay experience, by removing the ability to use the gliding feature, a necessary gameplay element as players can only progress by using said ability.
Rocksteady isn’t the first developer to utilize this sort of clever tactic. Electronic Arts used an interesting method with Westwood’s Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 where as time went on, a player with a pirated copy of the game would see their troops in battle progressively lose attack power and accuracy.
These are just some examples of innovate in-game piracy prevention that does not harm the legitimate player’s gaming experience like some of that pesky, invasive DRM. Presented to you now is Game Rant’s Ten Piracy Preventatives We’d Love to See Implemented . But please note, we’re not condoning you or anyone to pirate games just to test anything, nor are we condoning piracy of any kind. It’s illegal, you’re hurting a business and the employees of said business.
Now for the fun stuff!
10.) Duke Nukem Forever : Biting the Hand That… Triggers?
So here’s the deal: You’ve got that nice rifle in your hand. You’ve got it centered on that little guy’s head. You’re ready to fire, and POOF – your big, big gun is flipped in your hand, and your head is across the screen. Imagine not being able to use any weapon, without it turning on you. Sure, it’d be amusing at first, but the novelty would wear off, and that pirated game wouldn’t be as much fun when you’re actually wanting to progress further.
9.) The Sims (or any God-like game): Spare Change?
You’ve just downloaded. You’re ready for the God experience. You’ve installed the game and you boot it up. Running gorgeously on your machine, the game is everything you were expecting, and you’re ready to make your first family. As you finish up creating them, you go to build them a house in the neighborhood, and when you go to build something, you find your “Build” tab isn’t there. You look around, looking to see if EA moved it, or if it looks different. No, it’s gone. While some play The Sims for fun, others use is as a virtual getaway from real life. Now, anyone who has played The Sims knows that in order to have a toilet, you need a wall. Right there is a prime example of bothering a pirate: no toilets.