In-game graffiti reveals that Midnight Riders used their popularity and fame to secure one of the first choppers out of the infected area.

It went something like this, in the traditional l4d "internet forum on a wall" style:

"rip midnight riders"
"no they're fine, they got airlifted out"
"I hope they're ok"
"wait, they got a chopper already? We've been waiting here days!"
"omfg, sellouts"
"I hope they crash and die"

Well that's not how it goes EXACTLY but you get the picture.

I find it likely NONE of the copies there are pirated, but all legitimate purchases. Let me run you through my reasoning:

1) Only games on the Steam games list, either games bought on Steam or manually added to your local list using the import Start Menu shortcuts tool, will change your status while you play them.
2) As I understand it from hearing about the "retail MW2 is unlocked on Steam two days before the Steam version" bit, retail MW2 requires Steam. Thus, if you install the retail version, it will show up in your Steam games list and you need to be running Steam to play it (see point 1).
3) Pirated Steam games cannot use Steam because of the built-in DRM, so they are forced to disconnect them from Steam and re-build features Steam provided such as server browsing.
4) Because of 3, the pirated game will not show up in your Steam games list unless you manually add it, as in 1.

I don't think many people would willingly advertise they are pirating games like this (it would be denoted a "non-steam game" while you were playing), let alone a whole list like in the picture. Thus I think it is safe to assume most, if not all, bought the game legitimately.

Hmm if this is true, why haven't they shut down Goldeneye Source yet? That is SOP for when you're making an official remake, to shut down all the unofficial ones...

If anything I think they would be MORE willing to stop your car if you stop paying them.

I'd rather see the taxpayer money wasted on trying to rescue a child that doesn't need rescuing than some of the other things it's spent on.

That said, I did hear the bit about it possibly being staged by the parents. NOT cool guys.

It is possible to make DRM that works for the consumer as opposed to against them, while actually working against pirates (as opposed to being cracked in under a week). Steam is the example I use to prove this.

- You can play your games on any computer with an internet connection.
- Easy management of your games. Install, uninstall, automatic update, don't update, favorites. A lot easier than the varied installers all over. Plus the same for tools and media for games.
- Integrated server browser.
- Integrated community features including IM, voice chat, stats, and achievements, including these features in-game using the overlay.
- Integrated shop along with plenty of free mods, demos and videos and other content.
- Digital distribution allows companies to do things like release a game in all regions simultaneously to combat piracy that may occur because a game is not released locally. Valve used to not release a Russian translation at the same time as their major game releases, but when they started including a high-quality Russian translation at game releases piracy from Russian dropped. T?hey could only reason that pirates were translating the game into Russian themselves and people were downloading it for a native language version. Once Valve included their own professional translation at release it made the legit version more enticing. (I forget where I read this unfortunately so I can't link it).
- Valve is working on further improvements such as the ability to upload your saved games and key bindings and then download them onto any computer to start where you left off.

All this is bound by the DRM locking your games to your Steam account. These features discourage piracy because pirates won't get them, IE no server browser can make it harder to find and get into games (someone has to make their own server browser, you can't get into VAC games or possibly any non-cracked game servers). Legitimate customers are not tied to a PC or a timeframe with their games and simply need their account username and password to access them anytime, anywhere there's an internet connection.

There are of course bugs that need to be ironed out, but I think the pros outweigh them:

- If you don't have an internet connection, you need to have authenticated your games with one before hand, and then you can use offline mode. Offline mode has been a bit unreliable in the past, unfortunately, though I don't know how it works now since I don't use it.
- If Steam should go belly up, all your games could be gone like that. Thankfully that's one of the reasons game cracks exist... and that's assuming game devs don't release their own patches to un-Steam your games so you can still play them... Valve themselves have stated they would do this if it came down to it... though again I can't provide a reference :(.
- I'm sure everyone has their nitpicks but I can't think of anything at the moment, other than lack of good third-party skins for Steam but that's not really Valve's fault.

First, Monday is the 21st. :)

My favorite moment I can remember was when I beat Mother Brain in Zero Mission... and I realized the game wasn't over, there was MORE! :)

Oh yeah JK and MotS don't have music since they used CD audio tracks. No source code, no changing that!

Note that DF, JK, and MotS are just the same versions as their CD releases but with minor configuration tweaks and LA-sanctioned no-CD cracks. JK/MotS in particular have big problems with newer systems and graphics cards. DF has DOSBox so everything is great except there's no Steam option for launching the external config program to remap keys and such... and they already remapped the keys to WASD so if you want to use the arrow keys like the classic game you gotta figure out how to use DOSBox to launch the config tool (I fortunately am a DOSBox and command prompt master).

The lack of fixes can probably be attributed to the lack of source code (LA lost the source to JK a while back).

JO and JA appear to simply have been recompiled to remove CD checks, no problems there I'm guessing.

Valve fought Russian piracy by simply offering a good Russian translation at launch time for their new games. Piracy rates plummeted. They figured that people who buy $1000 gaming rigs pirate games for a superior product... in Russia's case, a good translation was being made by the pirates before Valve released an official translation.

Pop Quiz: Based on this lesson, when "legit" games become harder to use thanks to whatever new DRM Ubisoft cooks up, what will happen to piracy?