Phatose on 15/12/2008 at 02:56
No sir. It's being seriously argued that units shipped and units sold are not equivalent in the day of digital distribution, and that as such, the VGchartz numbers - which, I'm fairly certain are taken from NPD and other reputable sources - are not in disagreement with the statement made by 2k.
Moreover, it's being argued that an deliberately vague and unsupported off hand comment in an interview, by a third party - a third party who is one of the primary vendors of the graphics business that lives and dies by PC gaming, and thus has good reason to exaggerate - should not be taken as gospel.
Muzman on 15/12/2008 at 03:19
Well Australia would be at least good for 100k copies by itself I'd say (a couple of times more wouldn't surprise me) and the digital downloads quite close to zero. So I dunno.
That is just more speculation I guess
Zygoptera on 15/12/2008 at 05:25
Not really much point continuing, is there, since the only way it's really going to get resolved conclusively is 2k releasing their figures? Can we at least agree that the 5:1 ratio cited for Bioshock sales in the article is very likely wrong, even if the real ratio is still up for debate?
FTR, the vgchartz figures for Bioshock are really unusual. If you check pretty much any equivalent(ish) title (AssCreed, Halo3, COD4, Orange Box, GoW) and correct for time, Bioshock has a relative increase in sales after its first ten weeks of twice those titles, ie while they all added around 40-45% extra sales, Bioshock added around 90%
belboz on 15/12/2008 at 06:56
Starforce rewrites the code that windows uses to access your cdrom, and if that code is not compatible with your cdrom then it can seriously damage your systems cdrom drive. Some cdroms cannot access certain areas of a cdrom disc if starforce needs to access those areas that your cdrom cant get to, then your cdrom will fail.
eg like using ati drivers to run a nvidia graphics card.
june gloom on 15/12/2008 at 07:21
Thanks for that. And wow that's fucked up.
Phatose on 15/12/2008 at 17:53
Yes, we can agree on the ratio given in the article being speculation at best, and more likely wild speculation.
On an entirely different note, I do have a complaint of my own against the article. It fails to mention enforcement of actual existing laws at all. Whatever else you can say about piracy, its absolutely a criminal act. Really, DRM shouldn't be an issue because the companies shouldn't be the ones responsible for stemming piracy. It should be the police.
Really, can you think of any other industry where widespread illegal activities hurt the industry and the police do nothing?
june gloom on 15/12/2008 at 18:22
Being in congress?
Phatose on 15/12/2008 at 19:49
Ok, got me on that one.
Koki on 17/12/2008 at 09:16
Quote Posted by Phatose
Really, DRM shouldn't be an issue because the companies shouldn't be the ones responsible for stemming piracy. It should be the police.
Then you'll be happy to know that ACTA, despite breaking at least two freedom laws so far, is still coming.
On the article, I got linked to page 8 by RPS. Sorry, but this just doesn't cut it. Comparing house locks to piracy was laughable, and by the time he said SecuROM isn't malware "because other programs do it too" I simply stopped reading.
Neb on 17/12/2008 at 10:48
Quote Posted by Koki
Then you'll be happy to know that ACTA, despite breaking at least two freedom laws so far, is still coming.
I had a look into ACTA and it seems to only involve police when it comes to crossing a border. Like they're going to have time to sift through and determine whether your music or software is legitimate.
