we have people who come in regularly just to tell us they have usa games on their flashed 360 and play online without getting banned,
and most customers come in asking for r4 cards and think this is actually a legal process of downloading games onto the r4,
i think with the recession is morally accepted

so if this is a fact, why cant these people be prosecuted and have a life time ban from the internet, they need blacklisting, problem is one parent tells another about r4 and then they start helping each other with downloads and sharing illegal games, customers we have actually run it as a business, charing to flash 360s and then charge £5 for a 360 game, they always have games months before uk release,
im not sure publishers really know how bad this problem is

This is just terrible, I assume most of the perpetrators are whites. It's time now for the government to step in and punish these evildoers, they are vile monsters and should be encouraged to emigrate.

£120Billion?? - Even if all the download files really did translate into physical sales, this would still be a dodgy guess. What all these companies are doing is trying to hang on to an old, unfair business phylosophy that no longer suits our technological capabilities. If they didn't charge so much for everything people would be more likely to be happy paying for it. Also, we need to remember that you have to release things GLOBALLY and at reasonable price. The UK pays on average 20% more (on top of exchange rates) for just about every consumer product, from computer games to TV's. So next time you grumble at having to pay more than everyone else in the World for just about anything, remember that HenryFord there, thinks this is perfectly OK and anyone trying to get a fair deal should be locked up.
Own a software house do you Henry? - Pratt.

NTT

Maybe if this country wasn't such a huge rip off, people wouldn't download illegally!!! It's about time some thing was done about that instead of persicuting people for trying to live of a pitance of a wage and trying to save money, whether it's illegal or not.

Emil..Why would this be just white people?? That aside, I think its a problem with no easy solution, although potential losses may be recouped slightly through advertising injected into files that companys deliberatly make available.

Emil Schlemiel: No they are not "whites" it is a well known fact that the "illegal" content people actually download is first placed on the internet by people in countrys such as Nigeria, Africa, China/Japan. Everyone downloads films music and games illegally at some point while using the internet and most of the time they dont even know they are doing it. The ONLY way to stop this activity is to ban the internet globally which would be impossible!. Media companys should make films music and games available online at a price most people can afford and are willing to pay and I think that would be the best starting point to get people away from illegally downloading the content.

im not really sure what your trying to argue with me here ?
im telling you alot of my customers really dont believe its illegal to download ds games, i personally hate downloads and people who do it are just scum, how is downloading games illegally getting a fair deal, piracy takes doesnt just hurt publishers, we hardly sell ds games now due to the r4, if you think illegal downloads are fine, what about other illegal activities drugs, people traficing ? or do you just follow the laws you personally agree with ??

What a bunch of HYPOCRITES! 120BILLIION!! ROFLMFAO!!!

The cheek of these monkeys! This type of "report" is WHY they are failing (ed!) - NO ONE will ever believe them because they LIE at every opportunity! Its a dead end for them I'm afraid - Piracy (otherwise known as civil disobedience in this case) will squeeze all the puss out of this infected industry.

If you pay over £100 for a games console which costs £30 to make, then you should get some games with it without having to pay extra! Plus, I would argue that if you are dowenloading games that cannot yet be purchased, then how is that infringing copyright if the item is not for sale? Finally, frankly a lot of these games are not worth the price charged in the shops.

The only reason I can think of why downloading is so popular is because companies don't release products worldwide at the same time, I mean what do you expect selling the product in the USA a year earlier than Europe! The British people are treated like mugs, we pay more for one product in global currency than anywhere else yet they still decide not to release the product in conjunction with other global releases. (I am not condoning piracy in anyway)

That is all

Not that anyone would accuse MCV of sensationalism, but the actual SABIP report says £12bn, not £120bn (an average of £17k per person, would be some going even for Somalian pirates). It's still a big number and as bandwidth gets fatter we'll lose even more.

Perhaps the guys who want people to download games illegally would like to invest THEIR millions and watch people steal from them. Come to think of it,perhaps Will & NevThetech & Kelvin will let me use old technology i.e. a crowbar to break into their homes and rob them 'cos I don't want to pay for things !
Just what crimes are acceptable ? Can you be a "little bit of a criminal" Illegal downloads ar THEFT !

People don't necessarily download because they can't afford things, or because they're trying to send a message to all the companies perceived to be overcharging. Many people, who have decent disposable incomes, simply download because it's convenient.

Go to the shops and buy a DVD, which then has to be stored on a shelf? Sod that, just a click here, a click there and download to a harddrive.

Torrent software doesn't really make the most of high broadband speeds, so I think people would pay to download movies from a service that can deliver it quicker than peer-to-peer tends to. But that said, it must be open and DRM-free. People don't want to be told which devices can play their films and have a limit on what timeframe they have to watch it.

The big corporations need to wake up and understand what's going on and give people what they want. The fact is, a full bredth of film, TV (some available on DVD, some not and some available on channels in the UK, some not) and games are available online on torrent sites. And until this selection, accompanied with greater delivery speeds and entirely restriction-free files, is provided legally, torrent sites will win.

Also, it's worth noting that torrent sites aren't the only way for people to get hold of pirated stuff. Things like Rapidshare are what gamers use, because they get better download speeds.

Rapidshare isn't free, but people pay to be able to download massive files quickly, rather than attempt to download a 7GB Xbox 360 file at 100k a second using torrent software.

Microsoft, here's a crazy idea: why not let people buy games online, download them and burn them to DVD themselves? As long as your service is a decent speed, I'm sure Rapidshare's popularity would soon dwindle.

Ultimately a deal will be struck with either ISP's or another body/mechanism which will enable the publishers of films, music and games to claw money back from downloads.

It is simply a matter of negotiation and timing, there is no way you will effectively be able to prosecute 7 million people, it is simply too expensive, logic and common sense will dictact that a deal will be reached a compromise that means a fairer deal for all concerned.

The relaity is that downloading is convenient, apart from professional pirates i believe the majority of consumers who download do it for themselves are willing to pay in order to be legal.

There is a customer base out there who seeks out your productand is willing to pay a fair price if givent the chance to do so, i suggest that you publishers consider and devise a way that this market can be tapped into effectively and legally.

Rather than continue to demonise on line consumers as people only out to pirate and profit, why not recognise the fact that they are consumers who do not want to go to the cinema or a DVD rental shop or Game Store or a music shop?

It is simply a matter of time, it is inevtiable that a deal will be struck that suits all.

Remember if people are already prepared to pay for faster downloads via Rapidshare then they are already inclined to pay for the product if there was a method available at a reasonable price.

Henry ford..... People are not buying DS games becuase of the r4 card? Give us a break, everyone knows the game take up rate for the DS (and wii) is very low compared to the 360 and PS3 because most DS games are rubbish.

Maybe people do feel ripped off at paying £30 for a bunch of rubbish.
There is no way in a million years that nintendo nor stores are suffering in any noticeable way because of the card. It's ridiculous.

Most people tend to download music as opposed to movies or games and the majority of people would never have bought that item anyway in the stores. So to suggest the industry is losing out on such a massive figure is such nonsense.

I agree

Most New DS Games are awful, and to price them at 20 to 30 pounds is a rip off (more for the pokemon platinum game, which is the same as all the other pokemon games), bring the prices to 5 to 10 pounds and they may sell.

Martin

Just after I started in the gaming industry, over 23 years ago, news was rife that piracy was killing the industry. 23 years on, numerous new pieces of hardware later, millions upon millions of pieces of software later, guess what??? Yep, the industry is still being killed by piracy.

Makes you kinda wonder, just how long does it take to kill an industry that was on its last legs over 20 years ago?

And then there's the poor film industry, while we have to pity the poor actors who struggle to get by on their $30+ million payday for doing a years work, we then have to support the ailing industry by buying the "2 disc extended edition", followed by the "2 disc directors cut", followed by the "3 disc, ultimate scraped all the bits of the cutting room floor edition", followed by... you get my point?

Isn't it funny how the industry is in such dire straights with how people are treating its films, yet it seems quite happy to throw out that "ultimate trilogy", just before it announces a fourth in the series. They should realise by now, if you don't rape your legitimate paying customers, you won't have to bend over so far, when it comes back round to bite you on the ass.

But of course, we all have to remember that buying pirated movies funds crime. While we're at it, you might like to remember that buying legitimate movies funds crime to. You think Amy Whine-house buys her drugs from a legitimate high street chemist? You think all those actors buy all theirs from dealers who don't deal to kids too?

Piracy has a big foundation in respect, and until the big industries start treating the customers with some, then they better get used to not getting some in return.

And lastly, we have of course the piracy hypocrites. If you can stand up and say "I've NEVER watched a copied movie, NEVER downloaded a TV show that wasn't available in the UK, NEVER borrowed a CD/Film/Game and made a copy of it, NEVER lent a CD/film/game to a friend for them to copy, NEVER downloaded a single MP3 you didn't own, NEVER used a ROM on an emulator of which you don't own the original, NEVER used a single piece of pirated software... EVER", then you're either lying, or you blag everything for free.

In general, any seller has a right to set his price and accept or reject any offer, and any person that wants the product has a right to make an offer or walk away.

I thought that was obvious until I got the impression from the intertubes that many people think they are entitled or justified to have something for nothing if they disagree with the price.

Radiohead's experiment is instructive in a few different ways. The on-topic point is that the average consumer paid £4 *but many people didn't pay anything at all*. Their justifications included: they had gone to a gig or concert; they had purchased previous albums; Radiohead were rich enough; the bit rate wasn't high enough.

I repeat: many people were unwilling to pay anything at all. I wonder how common it is to think that is wrong.

There is no human right to have games, music or films. If you don't like the price, walk away.

It will probably be cheaper in two weeks time anyway.

do what you want 'cause a pirate is free

youu are a pirate

ok.. now i had a read what ppl have been posting here and i think its mixed, my verdict is that the uk is a big rip off as we all know, and that downloading a game/film/music is a lot quicker a lot cheaper and in the current state of time with all the credit crunch and so on its hard for ppl to be able to pay for thing's they want
its just like living with no air its not possible life wouldnt be good at all with out all this stuff so if you want ppl to pay for the stuff then they need to think about making it cheaper, the cinima's have the best idea with the orange wednesday's 2 for 1 tthey are packed on a wednesday maybe the game and music areas need to be thinking what they can do to make ppl buy off them and not download it

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