Matrix Games Forums

Its been bought to my attention that a torrent of the game is in circulation.

Why in gods name would someone want to crack the game. Its hardly the latest FPS or racing game.

We all know the Panther boys need as many sales as possible. Their not UBI soft for gods sake.

you are correct sir...just did a google and there it was.......it didn't take long for the slimey side of compu geeks to show up did it!!! [:@] [:-]

That's sad... But there are people who'll steal things simply because they're there to steal...

Most of the people who download it probably wouldn't have bought it anyway.

But it is still annoying that there is a percentage of the population that think they have the right to steal anything they can - and feel morally justified to do so on the basis that 'it's there' and 'their great grandfather paid taxes'

Not to worry guys, the law of karma pays out in the end. Though with my car just breaking down and the mechanic saying it's going to cost $2,000 to fix I must have run over a monk in a previous life. [;)]

Let us be optimistic - you never know when an owner of a warez title might turn around and buy it, thereby converting another.  Typically these cracked titles can't be patched, so you never know.

I also firmly believe that many of these ppl are not lost sales, as they would probably never have bought it.

There is no cure in the world for dishonest people. It can't be helped, stopped, or prevented. Hopefully people who download it are the type who just want a demo and probably decide to buy it. They won't stop me from having fun either way.

ORIGINAL: Crimguy

Typically these cracked titles can't be patched, so you never know.

This isn't true, unfortunately.
Cracks use to be offered for patched versions as well, with a delay of like 1 day (or even less...."0-day"-stuff) to 3-4 months - once an official patch had been released, depending on the popularity of the title in question. There are special websites offering cracks for patched versions, and the owners use to move their mirror-servers every few days/hrs.
Btw.....The torrent "news" are kinda old news, as a mate told me that HttR once circulated on IRC as torrent, for a few days only (fortunately), though.
I guess noone showed interest in downloading this niche-game, it would've been offered for a longer time otherwise. [:D]
Nonetheless, the topic on IRC said that it included support for version 2.179 I think, according to the mate.

So, it's like "if you can't get it on a torrent, than the game doesn't exist" nowadays.....sad !

i wouldn t have bought all 3 if someone haden t slipped me a copy of RDOA from p2p networks.

it s the "demo" for unbeleivers.

Dreams die hard guys.

The last bastion, the last vestige of innocence died recently for me.

Yep, this game, along with TOAW3 was all over the newsgroup scene moments after the first sale.

I once thought serials made em safe, it doesn't.

There's no answer to why they do it. The guys making these games available come up with the flakiest justifications you can hope for. Worst, is the dumbasses actual implore people with "if you like the game, buy it".

How about, "if you like the game, don't give it away"?
I guess that is too obvious for some.

But there not wargamers (regardless of what they might say), and so, nothing we real wargamers say, is going to mean bugger all to them.

Hello,

ok there's p2p version which are on the net.
I think there is others things you should think:
 - Few matrix games have demo, so how could you buy a game, if you can't try it before. (will i enjoy it, will it install and run correctly on my computer....).
 - These versions (p2p) are not compatible with official versions, so why get a game, if you can't play online with
it. Solo games are boring.

I'm interesting in COTA, but for the first thing i've said before, i won't buy and play it.

It's not the good forum, but with this post i just want to say to matrix staff, i want demos for evry game. I don't think it's hard to release demos of games.

[font="times new roman"]Shouldn’t torrents be illegal? I guess I am having a hard time between what torrent sites do and what Napster did for music. [/font]

It depends which files you are downloading.
You could download a game, it's illegal.
You could download a linux distro, it's totally free.

Same problem for p2p networks.

ORIGINAL: Uddaerth
It's not the good forum, but with this post i just want to say to matrix staff, i want demos for evry game. I don't think it's hard to release demos of games.

Uddaerth,

Welcome.

While I can appreciate your desire for a free demo - after all who doesn't want something for nothing - you couldn't be more wrong about it not being hard to release a demo. For a demo to be successful it has to provide the prospective customer with enough information on how to play the game and how to get enough out of it to stimulate them to buy it. Now for a first person shooter that maybe relatively easy to do but for much more complex wargame that is not so.

What is required is an accompanying interactive tutorial. If you don't have one of these people either find it too difficult to understand what to do ( because it is so different from other games they have played ) or they issue a single order, watch the powerful AI handle everything and then complain that they can't get involved enough and that all you do is sit back and watch. This was the feedback we got from the demo we released on the very first game in this series way back in 1998. So we know what we are talking about here.

Interactive tutorials do not come cheap. To do it properly requires the addition of a scripting engine to the game, plus the addition of a graphics overlay. My estimate of the cost for doing that would be something around the $40-50,000 mark ( maybe more ). That means the demo would need to bring in an extra 2,000 sales just to break even and we would have to put up that money in advance and on spec. Now we are not selling tens of thousands of units. Wargames are a niche market with low volume sales. Profit margins are very low as it is. We don't have bags of money. So this would be a risky undertaking for us. Maybe one day in the future we may be fortunate enough to be able to do it.

Until then consider this, there is an old saying that you only get out of life what you put into it. If you want something of quality you have to pay for it. The more you pay for it, the more you tend to value it. If you pay little for it you don't value it much. $50 for a quality game that will entertain you for hundreds of hours is not much to ask. But rest assured it is a quality product. Just ask others who have it here on this forum or on the war-historical newsgroup, if you want more of an independent assessment.

ORIGINAL: Uddaerth

I'm interesting in COTA, but for the first thing i've said before, i won't buy and play it.

The mini guide's and AAR's are really all you need to make your mind up about a game.

Its all I need anyway.

Arjuna,

thank you for your quick answer (very quick).
I'm totally agree with you, just didn't think in the cost of a demo (time and money).

Wodin,
i'll follow your advice.

Bye.