Biggest threat to the SOW series

[bomath]

Originally Posted by Bobb4

[...]
Piracy is here to stay unfortunately and it has helped increase the prices of games as a whole.
Maybe the solution is to make games cheaper. lets face it who would bother buying a pirated game if it was only a few dollars to buy the real thing.
[...]

That's hopeful thinking; even if a game would be one dollar, the people would find it hard to go to a shop and buy the box; instead they can download the torrent for free. For the online shop, the same problem: either people are reluctant to pay online to a relatively unknown gamehouse/shop (especially if it's an eastern european one; Russia recently took over China at the top of the malware/scams). Or the pure laziness to reach and grab that card, just to enter your dates; that's especially lousy, considering the fact that you work more for installing a crack. I also have the perfect example, right in our area of interest: an add-on for a submarine simulator, Silent Hunter 4: U-boat missions. It's only 10$, can be bought online and downloaded right away, but I know right from the makers the sales are pretty scarce and this is while many forums (e.g. subsims.com) are afire talking about it.

Up until now, only online games succeeded somewhat in controlling the piracy, and basically only the massive multiplayer online games. World of Warcraft can be found pirated, but the servers are many updates behind and I think only this game (WoW) could make more sales by means of piracy; anybody who would use a pirated game on a botched server would sooner or later rush to buy the original, so he/she can play the real thing.

And gents, do not forget that only you can determine if there will be a future for SoW, add-ons and any game that might come from the same source; for Microsoft FlightSimulator there is a HUGE industry for add-ons, and it can only survive because there are thousands and tens of thousands of customers, paying good money for every add-on. There are many sites like ThePirateBay.com which offer the torrents for these add-ons, but the sales are as strong as ever.
So, gents, remember: if you didn't buy the game, don't complain that the bugs are not corrected by patches, or that the next development won't be great or if it might never exist.

I'm curious, how many have the guts to recognize that they use a pirated copy of IL-2 Sturmovik?
I've created an anonymous poll, it's here: http://www.polldaddy.com/p/382475/
Go there and vote, if you're afraid that in forum somebody could trace the votes to a specific person.

[Bobb4]

Originally Posted by bomath

I'm curious, how many have the guts to recognize that they use a pirated copy of IL-2 Sturmovik?
I've created an anonymous poll, it's here: http://www.polldaddy.com/p/382475/
Go there and vote, if you're afraid that in forum somebody could trace the votes to a specific person.

Lol... Way too many honest people

[Oktoberfest]

Well I buyed the original IL2 CD but I use it with a no CD crack because the anti-piracy technology make it that my DVD driver can't identify the CD ten out of eleven times. It was really a pain just to INSTALL the game because I had to relaunch ten times the CD player to get it working. I have that since the AEP.

I'm sure games were better protected when you had real stuff inside of the box than just 1 copy of the game and nothing else. I remember Silent Hunter or Panzer Commander where you had tons of documentation about the ships or vehicles you were using or fighting plus short stories over events, etc. Today, well.... you know.

[Feuerfalke]

Originally Posted by Oktoberfest

Well I buyed the original IL2 CD but I use it with a no CD crack because the anti-piracy technology make it that my DVD driver can't identify the CD ten out of eleven times. It was really a pain just to INSTALL the game because I had to relaunch ten times the CD player to get it working. I have that since the AEP.

I'm sure games were better protected when you had real stuff inside of the box than just 1 copy of the game and nothing else. I remember Silent Hunter or Panzer Commander where you had tons of documentation about the ships or vehicles you were using or fighting plus short stories over events, etc. Today, well.... you know.

Same here. I really understand why they have to apply copy-protections to the games, but sometimes it really does more damage than it helps.

[MOH_Hirth]

In Brasil i was the first to buy the genuine imported DVD:

http://yhst-12000246778232.stores.yahoo.net/ilst19.html

I send this link to all my friends, today we have about 700 onliners in Brasil

After months IL-2 1946 arrived, but isnt possible find DVD to buy:

http://www.americanas.com.br/AcomProd/1858/2469791

[Mogster]

Oktoberfest: apologies for the 'Off Topic', but I must ask if you can play Panzer Commander on XP? Ever since I upgraded to my Sony Vaio some four years ago, I have been unable to run this tank simulator, even when telling Windows to emulate Windows 95. The game loads, but stalls and locks up about 10 seconds into a scenario. As a marginally computor literate, I would appreciate any advice.

[4./JG53_Task]

Smart game developers like Ironclad do not use copy protection. You can install one copy of SoaSE on multiple computers and it does not require a cd to run, so you can have multiple friends playing with each other. I think more developers will follow suit with anti-DRM policies. There are many people who support anti-DRM and purposely buy products to support developers who do not use it.

Interview with Ironclad.

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

The absolute best anti-piracy measue out there is one of the oldest. A good, old-fashioned CD-Key. I "download" a lot of games to try them out before I spend money (and yes, I DO buy the ones I like and unistall the rest) and the ones that I run out and buy the fastest are the good games that require a valid cd-key to play online. A good Example, GTR2, all the guys in my squad were getting into this game and everytime I got on TS to fly with them they were racing. So I downloaded a copy to try it out, I could run the single player stuff no problem but when I wanted to run with my squad I couldn't without a cd key. I noticed right away it was a great game and because of the cd key issue I bought this game the very next day. I would have bought it to support the developer eventually but it may have been a few weeks, bue to the cd key being required for online play I bought it the next day. I know others who are not as scrupulous as me and ONLY buy a game when the cd key is required for online play.

[Bobby109]

I don't think they have to worry about piracy when it comes to IL2 and BOB. If you spend 200-500 dollars or euros to buy a hotas, track ir etc... I think it's safe to say you'll spend the 10-40 €/$ for the game too.

i have:

Track ir 4 pro 160€
Saitek X52 120€
IL2: Complete Ed. 30€
IL2: 1946 10€

Game = 40€
Equipment to play the game = 280€

[Oktoberfest]

Originally Posted by Mogster

Oktoberfest: apologies for the 'Off Topic', but I must ask if you can play Panzer Commander on XP? Ever since I upgraded to my Sony Vaio some four years ago, I have been unable to run this tank simulator, even when telling Windows to emulate Windows 95. The game loads, but stalls and locks up about 10 seconds into a scenario. As a marginally computor literate, I would appreciate any advice.

No.... I tried to let it run but I had a lot of graphic bugs in it. And yes, the game froze everytime I wanted to play it. So did red alert too, that I really liked for the briefings etc.... But today it says : Red Alert doesn't run under windows NT.....