Wow, so many narrow minded comments.

Which is to be expected by the gaming community btw.

I see lots of guilty people that now buys games and thinks it's right to oversimplify piracy because, oh well, I'm not one anymore, so let's bash them all.

Or people who thinks "it's against the law, so it's wrong for me".

Because of course, it is rather easy to make statements like that.

Kudos to Cliff Harris, because at least he tried to understand the subject before sproutting nonsense on blogs or communities.

Here's the thing: I rarely pirate things nowadays, except for stuff I can't get my hands otherwise... like animes that didn't get licensed in my country yet, or big pricey sofware I want to fully test.

Animes and other medias only have a huge market on western countries nowadays because of piracy.

Sony Playstation only got as big as it is today because of piracy.

Lots of bands, musicians and other types of media only got known worldwide because of piracy.

And well, computers... do I have to say anything else?

Yes, games, music albums and DVDs really are too pricey.

And not only because this or that person is poor, but because it's sometimes 2000% the cost of production.

It's hard to put a price on creativity and talent, but I don't think that it's fair to have people like doctors and firefighters working long hours or endangering their own lives just to get a small fraction in a month of what an artist can get in on day's work.

Things are completely messed up nowadays.

People tend to blame piracy for lots of things, but I never saw artists giving up on their careers because of it.

I mean, TRUE artists, not people who are there only for the money.

Because long ago, most people won't remember this anymore, being a musician was all about making musics for people to enjoy and listen... not making music to make money and fortune.

That said, yeah, lots of people pirate stuff because it's for free. Lots of people also get free samples twice because it's for free, even if they have the money to pay for it.

It's a cultural problem, and no law will ever correct it.

If we want people to pay for stuff they value, we have to work on the education system, not forcing laws on it.

I always buy movies, licensed animes, music albums and other stuff, even though I still think the price is unfair, to support the works of those I like.

For games it's the same. But I will only pay those ridiculous prices when I'm shure the game is worth it.

I'm really sorry for companies that goes bankrupt because of games that people don't buy, but games are risky business. If they weren't prepared to take the plunge, they should've never began with it in the first place.

Lots of companies will say they gone bankrupt because of piracy, but those who actually tries to understand what really happened behind the scenes will know that piracy was not the reason. A game that went bad, a failed marketting strategy, unexperienced programmers and other stuff like that are usually the real reasons behind it.

I know lots of people will disagree with me, but I think some oversimplifies the matter. Piracy isn't something localized, isn't something that some few assholes do... it's a worlwide phenomena, and it does have legitim reasons to exist.

So, that's it. I can only hope big companies stops trying to delay the matter, stops with the DRM/RIAA/MPAA crap, stops with failed anti-piracy plots, and do something like this guy did.

Try to undestand what's going on, listen to the other side, and work with that to solve the problem.