Piracy and me

Don't talk to me about piracy. I am for whatever developers want to do to protect their products.  I don't care what it is they want to do to prevent piracy I support it even if I don't like it. If I dont like it then I don't buy it. If there is DRM I do not like then the box stays on the shelf or in the respective console's store and that is one less unit shipped. That sends a bigger message than piracy ever will.  Because all you accomplish with piracy is telling developers to spend more time on DRM for the sequel or future projects. If the game gets pirated a ton the developers know it's good and in demand they just need to focus on preventing piracy.

But that isn't what gets me. What gets me is that when people I know personally or purely online tell me they pirate a game or games in general. Stop it. I dont care if you do it but don't tell me. Would you walk up and tell a police officer you have weed on you?

Then why tell a guy who day after day slowly (at a snail pace) embeds himself further and further into the industry and not just simply gaming? Piracy makes what I do (or try to do) moot.  I inform the gaming community from a gamer's standpoint. Not a developer or journalist so imagine how pointless piracy makes their profession.

Slowly... very slowly gamers are gravitating towards user generated voices not unlike my own as well as the pros at say... I dunno... Gamepro who may or may not care about what I tweet. As insignificant as being followed on twitter is it is a start for me to build on.

Honestly, I don't care if you pirate all day everyday. I have no interest in confirming you do.

I don't think people are entitled to something because they convert beef and leaves into energy and then excrete them later and go shopping (sorry. I was playing Portal 2) so save whatever justifaction you have for piracy righteous or not.

Just let me add some perspective before I quit whining.

There is a dude that goes by the handle, Ballsrog. I suggest all of you (especially console gamers and specifically 360 owners) go to his site (www.ballsrog.com), follow his twitter (@ballsrog), because him and his crew are all up in the asshole of gaming. I love this guy (no homo) because he puts himself out there time and time again telling you what is hot and what he wouldn't let lick his taint.  Anyways, as an inscentive to donate to his cause he offers an autographed copy of one of his games (in addition to other things). I've had an idea similar for when The Jaded Gamer's show picks up steam (think contest give-a-way rather than donation rewards).  Either way we're promoting the idea of owning a physical copy of a game and it raises the question of would we still give away our own games that we paid for to a community that doesn't appreciate buying games in general. I can't speak for Ballsrog but I'd rather my game went to somebody who either wants to buy it but cant afford it or wants it but missed the window to buy it.

All I'm saying is that with the effort and money that myself, Ballsrog and hundreds of  other gaming personalities pour into informing gamers of what we think they should or shouldn't buy It's a tad insulting to know you pirated something we recommend especially us little guys because we don't get review copies. We had to buy that shit.

IamFN2K aka The Jaded Gamer

PC Gamers

A gamer is a gamer.  Period.

Yet the fanboyism between console and PC gamers constantly rages on.  Though I am the Sith lord bringing balance to the force console side between 360 and Ps3 fanboys, I rarely find harmony between console and PC.  Despite cross-platform games like Portal 2 being released that allow pc and ps3 users the ability to game together there is still the air of PC superiority. . . and uber sensitivity.

I wont argue that PC games are pretty but so is Heavy Rain and L.A Noire. Two games which are extremely tough sells on PC but run and sell well on console.  I wont take the PC stance and say a platform sucks because it doesn't have game "x" because it seems every time pc gamer says "we have _________ and you dont ipso facto vis a vis you haz fail"  a month or two game "x" gets ported to console.  Crow must taste delicious. Most recently Minecraft has been that game "x" .. And if minecraft comes as a boxed copy of a game I wonder if PC users would be mad because I'm fairly certain console users figure that to be a psn or xbla caliber title unless the scope of it increased dramatically.

Halo was supposed to be a pc game at one point apparently because I've been serving wine and cheese over that for a decade now. Despite halo and halo 2 coming out for pc its still not the juggernaut it is on console nor is it the premier place to play.

The argument can even be made that the 360 versions of many multi-platform games are the focus whether or not they appear on pc.  So in that regard I dont see how pc gaming is a compelling argument over a 360.

And at this point unless you want to play an RTS or WOW I cant see the difference in a pc or console unless having slightly more dust particles on screen means that much more to you.

Im not picking on the users of pc, I'm more or less just asking in my own Jaded Gamer way "What the fuck is your problem?"

Look, the mod community is great on PC and consoles probably wont see that type of versatility in the near future but that is one of the few only real undisputed 100% clear cut advantage pc has .. The rest is preference. Im positive there are others but mods thrive on pc... As they should.

I don't have to or even want to list what I consider the advantages over pc because I'm not trying to convert anyone. In fact I'd prefer if the pc snobs and console fanboys stay separate because no gaming would happen... just epic amounts of whining and fighting on both sides because let's face it, we are all jerks in the heat of battle.

Just in case my point is missed... A gamer is a gamer period regardless of platform. Pc or console you bleed red and are no better than eachother. I love you guys  so don't think I'm a hater. Just shut the fuck up and celebrate games and not where to play them.

With certain exceptions aside, a lot of PC gamers look like idiots when they tell me what pc games I'll "never experience" on console.  Then it shows up a year or two later and it's always fun to watch the pc crowd do the mad scramble for excuses while they dine on crow and sour grapes. (I know the same happens the other way around with console and pc but I spend 360 days reminding my console cohorts they are mindbogglingly immature and stupid sometimes so today for a minute I'm shaking my head in another direction.)

Basically if you guys really were the more refined gameur (not a typo) you wouldn't be acting like arrogant jerks just like the rest of us. Get over yourselves and lets play some games dammit!

JG