People claiming it's a clever publicity stunt are just looking to justify their piracy. Here's a hard truth: They're wrong and they're in denial to make themselves look like not so bad people.
No people claiming its a publicity stunt are just being typical, modern, media jaundiced, conspiracy promoters. I think you over emphasize some kind of moral decision, that only you see. No one has to justify anything .... though i'd be interested to hear you make some kind of defence of your implicit piracy of Japanese media content without sounding like a monstrous hypocrite. Hows ripping of Japanese media ok, but ripping off German media (from an industry several times the size of the Anime industry) is a crime against humanity.
Maybe you don't keep yourself informed but quite a few blogs and even a couple of game sites have commented on how the leak could be a publicity stunt, not an idea i subscribe to personally.
But idea is way more widespread than just those who have downloaded the game ...... i would have though someone with your sharp perceptions and industry contacts you must have would have known this.
Notice you only tackle the part of my argument that can be refuted by nothing more than opinionated hyperbole, and self righteous moral indignation.
No comment on how this will not kick the hype-train into global overdrive, resulting in more sales.
Or that Crytek have time to alter the Auth master key ......... still if built a house of straw i'd be careful what i sneezed on.
The last month of "development" is hardly that. Gold Master is when the game gets shipped off to factories so it gets boxed. No real room for improvement there. They were likely near the end of beta testing, though who knows how recent the leaked beta actually was.
Plus, having been a tester myself, I can assure you a game can look very unfinished until a few days before it's shipped, when they finally dump you a build with everything patched up. At that point though, features are already all implemented. Nothing new gets added in that phase ever. Stuff does get cut out though.
Considering you haven't seen the leaked beta ( but i have ), you seem to be making a lot of assumption and statements based on a gaping hole where some actual knowledge ought to be.
Here are some genuine facts for you:
1: The beta (am still not sure it should even be called a beta but whatever ) is from an early January build.
2: The beta is missing all manor of things, textures, sounds, objects, script elements. Large parts of the options menus don't work at all. Level transport is not fully implemented, etc ........
What i've seen is nothing like even close to a fully featured demo let alone a gold master. its main feature for downloaders seems to be the fact that it actually runs and there isn't an official demo yet.
Tester .... what an employed internal tester or one of the kiddy goons the publishers insist you roll into the studio to make gee wow noises on a saturday.
I ask as i have been employed by 2 games companies and done freelance work for 3 others as modeller/Animator.
But i see no relevance in your remark as what a studio can do in a few days to finalise a game is irrelevant to the fact that the beta is not going to get any further studio dev now its public. The beta is what it is and will stay what it is a very unpolished and flawed early beta copy missing lots of finalised features and content.
It's all about profitability. If the PC version sells poorly, guess who's the scapegoat? The game's quality? The substandard graphics? Of course not, it'll be the pirates. And the industry is very good with such limited views.
Also there's a core difference with a game being leaked BEFORE release, and a game being cracked after having been on the market for a while.
And about the PS3, trust has been lost over that issue. More to the point: The DS lost the GBA slot in favor of a camera. Is it because people genuinely wanted a poor resolution camera on their portable console more then a slot that allows even more games to be played? Or is it because that GBA slot enabled a lot of DS piracy? This isn't even hard to see. There was nerd rage over that lost slot, pirates shunned the DSi and no one really said anything good about the camera.
So of course such cases of piracy matter. Especially with the PC, generally seen as the most pirated platform. Note that this leak does not help the PC in any way.
Once again you fly of on another 'outraged from cyberspace' rant, whilst ignoring the 10,000Ibs Gorilla in the room.
The simple fact that the chance of Crysis NOT selling well is pretty much non existent. Am willing to take any bet you want on the sales of Crysis making at least top 5 sales more likely top 3 very possibly #1 ...... even if its just a 0 sum bet for forum face. Seriously your not trying to tell me Crysis will sell badly due to the leak of a seriously compromised old beta ....... lol.
I guarantee exactly the opposite will happen. Am happy to take the bet, I'll even take the bet on 1st week sales figures
...... if your happy to acknowledge your assertion and stand behind it.
Explain to me how an illegal release of a highly unfinished beta which is not even at true demo stage, is worst than the inevitable cracking of the final commercial product. GCS freely released beta and alpha versions of S.T.A.L.K.E.R whilst it was in dev and it didn't harm their sales or stop STALKER achieving cult game status.
The 'it will harm sales' argument is incredibly crass and specious as the beta is soooo unfinished that no one who intended to buy the game would be happy with the beta, its not even demo version polished
If you'd seen it maybe you would realized that.
Console games get leaked early all the time and still sell millions of units on official release.
Exactly what point are you trying to make with the DS potted history (this is not a wiki page you know m8) I don't see how the comment in any way supports any point you may want yo make, as no one is going to invade your house and alter the hardware on your PC. If your point was in some cases piracy matters ........... all i can say is 'No shit Sherlock'.
But it matters most where companies overcharge and exploit gamers, and its pretty much defined by a companies response to piracy. The mature response 'its a fact of content development, but in reality it has little affect on sales, minimise it and move on' or the greedy corporate attitude 'any use of our content should and will be paid for, and we'll take any steps to make that happen'.
I'll agree it doesn't do the PC any favours ........ but it doesn't do it anywhere near as much real harm as you seem to imagine either.
Have you ever SEEN the inner workings of a game studio? The strict confidentiality? Here's a sample:
-No portable memory device allowed, including anything that can be refurbished into a memory device(That means even a regular DS is not allowed in).
-No camera or other recording device allowed inside at any time.
-For a studio of 1000 (Ubisoft Montreal in this case), there is ONE internet-capable computer and it is HEAVILY monitored.
Under such circumstances, how do you explain "whoops I leaked the game?" And your conspiracy theory does not serve any cause, it's self-righteous justification for piracy. Especially if you still believe that it will not harm sales, because it will.
"I could have the whole thing for 70$ and a trip to the game store or a good playable chunk of it for free and a few mouse clicks"
It's just how things are, and it's the same problem with the american anime industry.
Yeah i HAVE SEEN the internal workings of the games industry ( See above ) Also still have several friends working in big games devs........ and am obviously much more aware than you are of some of the hairy arsed, going commando type shit that actually goes on. Demo versions left unattended in magazine or review sites offices whilst everyone goes to the pub, dev versions taken home to work with or just screw around with, demo versions that disappear at trade fairs, etc, etc.
All contrary to correct studio policies, but it happens the list is actually fuckin' endless.
In most cases the primary concern is avoiding the publisher finding out, that can be REALLY bad juju
Oh yeah just to correct yet another unsupported assertion of yours ...... I DON'T HAVE a conspiracy theory. I was the one to 1st call it a 'conspiracy theory' and at no point have i stated or suggested that i subscribe to the theory. When your open minded it is possible to comment on something you don't believe yourself. The only one i hear who's self righteous is you, and no one needs to justify anything ...... but a lot of people who have no interest in downloading the beta still subscribe to the theory ..... personally thinking a little laterally about it i feel its got more to do with how jaundiced and suspicious people are of modern media manipulation than anything else.
once again making the mistake of basing your assertions on MASSIVE lack of actual knowledge. I actually said it a few times in my previous post ........ THE GAME IS MASSIVELY UNFINISHED. No one who intended to buy it would be put off buying it in favour of holding onto the beta, it is far less finished than a bad demo. Only people it would put off a purchase would be people who just didn't like it = same result as a proper demo.
your assumptions of holographic tech are just that. With as poorly received as 3d tech is dont be surprised if in the next 10 years you start to see holographic tech on the consumer market. I wouldnt be shocked to see holographic things in functional format for people to use in like 15 years where its either part of the video cards or like the physx cards were when they first came out a couple hundred bucks extra for a holo card
No actually my opinions are based on a professional and personal interest in 3D technology that spans about the past 20 years, backed by fairly detailed knowledge of whats happening research-wise with respect to actual holographic projection.
No offence but maybe you don't understand how full motion holograms are generated, it will take more than just a new generation of graphics adapter to enable genuine consumer level holographics, a completely new form of consumer level display technology is needed as you cannot protect holograms from a screen. Holograms are projected and would require calibrated projectors which are expensive, difficult to setup, unreliable in various light conditions and from other than very restrictive angles, etc. or some kind of Holo-tank technology ..... which is suggested by researchers but far from being developed.Ok so what you meant to say in your 1st post was that in 10-15 years hologram tech is likely to be available. And you think PCs and consoles will even still exist then?!?!?
