I know the groups that release all the games I burn work very hard to do so. And I'm sure that the hardware they use must be expensive. And I know they must put in countless hours to crack a game.

I know they get props, (well some people give them a hard time) But do they do it for free?

There was one group that Sega paid to stop cracking the DC and to come work for them, I forget what their name was though.

Kalisto. Apparently Sega gave them stock options to quit ripping games. I don't believe it though.

DAMN. Too bad they have sega stock...

As far as I can tell, most hackers do it for the thrill of doing it. It's a hobby for them, much like knitting may be for someone else. They get a thrill out of breaking the program, and a greater one out of doing it first.

If you have a real fast internet connection
like 100mbit at college or work Groups will send
you hard drive(s) if you Host a FTP site
for them.
And the people who have the real good
encoding equipment and having been
doing it for along time get the VHS tapes
of the movie bootlegs to encode them
to VCD for the groups.

this guy knows a little too much...=)

With the state the PC gaming industry is in, I get mad at people who pirate. I do it to test games out, and to get older games that aren't available anymore, but I always go out to Future Shop and pick up a game that I think it worth it. I mean people who love the game, have the money, but wont buy it because they can get it for free. It's just annoying.

I totally agree with you. But... sometimes companies overprice some software (Paint Shop Pro, Windows 2k) so I have the ripped version of those. But all my games are paid for and legal.

Yeah, as hypocritical as it may sound, I have much less of a problem with Appz than Gamez. In all honesty, Photoshop (for example) is probably worth the several hundred dollar price tag; that's one well-made, feature-rich piece of software. But I simply can not pay that much, and need some good photo-editing software now and then - I get warez versions or copies from friends with a clean conscience.

PC Gamez, however, are REALLY cheap for the amount of playtime you get. Compare a 2 hour, non-interactive movie at $8 a pop to a $50 80+ hour game (BGII) and anyone with an understanding of oppurtunity costs will see the clear unbalance. OK, maybe a movie rental is a better analogy, but you get the idea. So I make sure to only copy what I absolutely wasn't (couldn't!) going to buy. Games are doing fairly well these days, but it's an unstable market; every little bit helps.

After all, we don't deserve to be the most powerful nation in the world until "Deus Ex" sells more copies than "Who Wants to Be a Millionare" in their opening week.