GTA:SA leaked??
10-15-04, 11:59 AM
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GTA:SA leaked??
Just saw this story on Spong. Can anyone verify this?
Following on from the news that Halo 2 code had been leaked onto the Internet, comes widespread talk of the same fate befalling Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PlayStation 2.
File sharing sites have the game listed for download, with one version weighing in at a whopping, not to mention credible, 3.95GB currently seeing a lot of activity. If this proves to be the game, it marks a worrying turn of events for Rockstar and the industry in general.
Clearly, publishers sometimes create mules and honeypots to try and encourage downloaders to waste time and bandwidth in the hope of discouraging them. We asked Rockstar for a response to this news, but they were unwilling to make comment at this time. SPOnG expects the beleaguered company to make an official statement in the coming days.
We’ll keep you updated.
Following on from the news that Halo 2 code had been leaked onto the Internet, comes widespread talk of the same fate befalling Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PlayStation 2.
File sharing sites have the game listed for download, with one version weighing in at a whopping, not to mention credible, 3.95GB currently seeing a lot of activity. If this proves to be the game, it marks a worrying turn of events for Rockstar and the industry in general.
Clearly, publishers sometimes create mules and honeypots to try and encourage downloaders to waste time and bandwidth in the hope of discouraging them. We asked Rockstar for a response to this news, but they were unwilling to make comment at this time. SPOnG expects the beleaguered company to make an official statement in the coming days.
We’ll keep you updated.
10-15-04, 02:45 PM
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Probably perception of the negative stories reflective of the game's violence as being hurtful to the company's reputation as opposed to being a viral sales tool.
As well, if it was my biggest Christmas seller potentially floating around on BT, I would be a little bit "beleaguered".
As well, if it was my biggest Christmas seller potentially floating around on BT, I would be a little bit "beleaguered".
10-21-04, 08:21 AM
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It's really leaked now.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/10...s_6111057.html
Less than a week before its release, the wildly anticipated crime game has itself been stolen and republished on the Internet.
Less than a week after a pirated version of Halo 2 began appearing on the Web, another of the year's most sought after games has been stolen. Ironically, it also happens to be a game titled after a larcenous act itself. That's right. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has become the latest victim of piracy, with illegal copies of the game, its manual, and its cover appearing on various Web sites.
Late today, Rockstar issued a statement on this latest in a series of unfortunate events. "The proper authorities are investigating the theft and are continuing to investigate all possible leads to ensure there is no further dissemination of our creative content," read the statement. "Downloading, possession and distribution of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, including making the game available on the internet, is theft." Then came this warning from the company: "We take the theft of our intellectual property very seriously and we are and will continue to diligently and aggressively pursue this matter."
For those wishing to help track down the San Andreas thieves, Rockstar also offered the following advice: "If anyone finds information on websites with links to unauthorized downloads, information, scans or videos, please contact us at [email protected]."
Rockstar officials also emphasized the fact that the theft would not affect Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' release plans. The game is due in the US next Tuesday, October 26, and in Europe next Friday, October 29. However, it is already clear that with four of the year's top games--GTA: San Andreas, Halo 2, Doom 3, and Half-Life 2---being posted online before their official releases, piracy is becoming an increasingly common and serious problem for both gamers and the games industry..
Less than a week after a pirated version of Halo 2 began appearing on the Web, another of the year's most sought after games has been stolen. Ironically, it also happens to be a game titled after a larcenous act itself. That's right. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has become the latest victim of piracy, with illegal copies of the game, its manual, and its cover appearing on various Web sites.
Late today, Rockstar issued a statement on this latest in a series of unfortunate events. "The proper authorities are investigating the theft and are continuing to investigate all possible leads to ensure there is no further dissemination of our creative content," read the statement. "Downloading, possession and distribution of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, including making the game available on the internet, is theft." Then came this warning from the company: "We take the theft of our intellectual property very seriously and we are and will continue to diligently and aggressively pursue this matter."
For those wishing to help track down the San Andreas thieves, Rockstar also offered the following advice: "If anyone finds information on websites with links to unauthorized downloads, information, scans or videos, please contact us at [email protected]."
Rockstar officials also emphasized the fact that the theft would not affect Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' release plans. The game is due in the US next Tuesday, October 26, and in Europe next Friday, October 29. However, it is already clear that with four of the year's top games--GTA: San Andreas, Halo 2, Doom 3, and Half-Life 2---being posted online before their official releases, piracy is becoming an increasingly common and serious problem for both gamers and the games industry..
10-21-04, 11:05 AM
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The only reason that the pirating of Halo 2 and GTA-SA are getting any news at all is because they are major releases being released kinda early. Every game released gets pirated, it's not just the big ones. I'm sure that there are plenty of other games that had early releases that you never hear about because they aren't huge titles.
I don't think piracy is any more or less of a problem now than it has ever been. It's certainly not as easy for console games to be pirated as it is for PC games and I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last generation of consoles where piracy is relatively easy to accomplish. The GameCube seems to have had fair success in preventing piracy on that console already (I am aware that the ability to play pirated versions of games exists on the GameCube, but from my understanding of it it's much more difficult and problematic than on PS2 or XBOX).
--
fab
I don't think piracy is any more or less of a problem now than it has ever been. It's certainly not as easy for console games to be pirated as it is for PC games and I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last generation of consoles where piracy is relatively easy to accomplish. The GameCube seems to have had fair success in preventing piracy on that console already (I am aware that the ability to play pirated versions of games exists on the GameCube, but from my understanding of it it's much more difficult and problematic than on PS2 or XBOX).
--
fab
10-21-04, 12:18 PM
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GamesIndustry.biz Weekly Update - 21/10/2004
-------------------------------------------------------/
Sometimes it's not the news that matters, but the reaction to the
news. When two almost identical stories broke this week about Halo 2
and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, both revealing that the games in
question have been leaked onto the Internet several days (or in Halo
2's case, almost a month) before launch, the news itself was
worrying enough, but the reaction of consumers on forums around the
Net was even more so. "This isn't news," sites which reported the
news were told. "Every game gets pirated before release, so this is
nothing special."
For the creators of the games in question, of course, it's something
pretty special. Halo 2 and GTA San Andreas will be among the biggest
game launches in history, and their talented creators have laboured
for several years under intense pressure to follow up on previous
successes, only to see their games being freely distributed to
pirates weeks before loyal, paying fans can get their hands on them.
For the publishers, it's something special too - their biggest hopes
for Christmas will be on sale on market stalls before they're on
sale in videogame stores. And for consumers waiting for the games,
it's a slap in the face, as pirates gleefully discuss details of the
long-awaited games in chat rooms and forums weeks before the honest
consumer gets to see the title.
There's a grain of truth in what's being said all the same, though,
becuase it's true that almost every game is pirated before its
release - whether it's a couple of days before, a week before, or a
month before, the first distribution channel a game usually appears
on is a pirate one. It's a sad fact that this has become the status
quo, so much so that gamers are no longer even remotely surprised by
the appearance of leaked copies of headline games - a damning
indictment of the industry's security procedures in handling
valuable gold code, if ever there was one.
While we don't doubt that Halo 2 and GTA San Andreas will go on to
sell incredibly well despite the leaks, equally there's no doubt in
our mind that this sort of piracy is damaging - especially to less
high profile games which may be on the borderline of commercial
success in the first place. Online piracy itself is damaging, but
probably doesn't result in that many lost sales; the fact that
pirates take downloaded versions of games, stick them onto DVDs and
sell them on market stalls is the altogether more worrying aspect
which really starts to hit the bottom lines of publishers and
developers.
The question of how we can counteract this problem, as an industry,
is a convoluted one which requires a great deal more research and
investigation than is currently taking place. Much of the industry
pays lip service to the notion of curbing software piracy, while not
really taking any educated measures themselves - relying instead on
the actions of bodies such as ELSPA and the police to make the
difference. Existing software protection systems simply don't work,
and while there's some hope that technology from firms such as
Trymedia and Softwrap will deliver at least a partial solution for
the PC platform, publishers have been remarkably slow to adopt such
schemes. Platform holders, meanwhile, focus on the menace of chipped
consoles - while continuing to cling to the ridiculous notion of
region locking, which at worst provides a potential get-out clause
for chipping, and at best is an insulting way to treat their
consumers.
As two of its biggest prospects for the busy holiday season
circulate freely on the Internet and gradually make their way into
car boot sales and market stalls, perhaps this should be the sign
that the industry needs to sit up and start taking piracy more
seriously. This is not a problem which can be solved by one
publisher in isolation; best practice security and technology
methods must be established which can protect the output of the
industry as a whole, rather than having individual publishers
striking technology deals for outdated disk protection systems and
watching as their valuable games go missing from duplication plants
and localisation agencies.
There won't be a universal panacea, and piracy isn't going to go
away - but working with the platform holders, embracing digital
distribution paradigms and co-operating to develop industry
standards for code security and proven copy protection technology
could go a long way towards lessening the impact of this kind of
mess on Christmas line-ups to come.
Hey fab, they were quoting you!
Chris
-------------------------------------------------------/
Sometimes it's not the news that matters, but the reaction to the
news. When two almost identical stories broke this week about Halo 2
and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, both revealing that the games in
question have been leaked onto the Internet several days (or in Halo
2's case, almost a month) before launch, the news itself was
worrying enough, but the reaction of consumers on forums around the
Net was even more so. "This isn't news," sites which reported the
news were told. "Every game gets pirated before release, so this is
nothing special."
For the creators of the games in question, of course, it's something
pretty special. Halo 2 and GTA San Andreas will be among the biggest
game launches in history, and their talented creators have laboured
for several years under intense pressure to follow up on previous
successes, only to see their games being freely distributed to
pirates weeks before loyal, paying fans can get their hands on them.
For the publishers, it's something special too - their biggest hopes
for Christmas will be on sale on market stalls before they're on
sale in videogame stores. And for consumers waiting for the games,
it's a slap in the face, as pirates gleefully discuss details of the
long-awaited games in chat rooms and forums weeks before the honest
consumer gets to see the title.
There's a grain of truth in what's being said all the same, though,
becuase it's true that almost every game is pirated before its
release - whether it's a couple of days before, a week before, or a
month before, the first distribution channel a game usually appears
on is a pirate one. It's a sad fact that this has become the status
quo, so much so that gamers are no longer even remotely surprised by
the appearance of leaked copies of headline games - a damning
indictment of the industry's security procedures in handling
valuable gold code, if ever there was one.
While we don't doubt that Halo 2 and GTA San Andreas will go on to
sell incredibly well despite the leaks, equally there's no doubt in
our mind that this sort of piracy is damaging - especially to less
high profile games which may be on the borderline of commercial
success in the first place. Online piracy itself is damaging, but
probably doesn't result in that many lost sales; the fact that
pirates take downloaded versions of games, stick them onto DVDs and
sell them on market stalls is the altogether more worrying aspect
which really starts to hit the bottom lines of publishers and
developers.
The question of how we can counteract this problem, as an industry,
is a convoluted one which requires a great deal more research and
investigation than is currently taking place. Much of the industry
pays lip service to the notion of curbing software piracy, while not
really taking any educated measures themselves - relying instead on
the actions of bodies such as ELSPA and the police to make the
difference. Existing software protection systems simply don't work,
and while there's some hope that technology from firms such as
Trymedia and Softwrap will deliver at least a partial solution for
the PC platform, publishers have been remarkably slow to adopt such
schemes. Platform holders, meanwhile, focus on the menace of chipped
consoles - while continuing to cling to the ridiculous notion of
region locking, which at worst provides a potential get-out clause
for chipping, and at best is an insulting way to treat their
consumers.
As two of its biggest prospects for the busy holiday season
circulate freely on the Internet and gradually make their way into
car boot sales and market stalls, perhaps this should be the sign
that the industry needs to sit up and start taking piracy more
seriously. This is not a problem which can be solved by one
publisher in isolation; best practice security and technology
methods must be established which can protect the output of the
industry as a whole, rather than having individual publishers
striking technology deals for outdated disk protection systems and
watching as their valuable games go missing from duplication plants
and localisation agencies.
There won't be a universal panacea, and piracy isn't going to go
away - but working with the platform holders, embracing digital
distribution paradigms and co-operating to develop industry
standards for code security and proven copy protection technology
could go a long way towards lessening the impact of this kind of
mess on Christmas line-ups to come.
Hey fab, they were quoting you!
Chris
