Is it ok to download a game.....

Is it ok..?


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Reaktor4

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...that you bought for a console but want to play on your pc too (for example)? Just wondering what others think about this.. I have bought two versions of the same game in the past and didnt really think it was worth it. Imo if you have paid for a game once you should be able to play it on any format you like.
 
Legally no, you have to buy the PC copy seperately

Sucks really

D:
 
I dont mean legally.. Just want to see if anyone thinks its wrong for any reason, and what those reasons are.
 
In that case my vote should be Yes :E
 
yes, to find out if the game worths £35.
 
Depends. The PC version could be a lot different.
 
It's ok to download games as long as you buy them after. Or is it?

They can't arrest you or fine you because you own a legit copy of the game after you downloaded it.
 
I say it should be ok, if they're pretty much identical. If I already bought a movie, and i'm too lazy to watch it on the tv or if I'm unable to, I just download it. I've downloaded plenty of movies, but i've paid for every one in the past. I guess this is different though.
 
I'd say it's justified to download it ... as long as you didnt then sell the legitimate version.
 
yes, to find out if the game worths £35.

This is the stupidest thing ever. People always say that. Are you honestly going to be like "Yep, I like this game, let me uninstall and go buy the real version!". It's a stupid excuse used by those who download games illegally.
 
Well, if you buy the real version you dont need to uninstall. Just put the CD in. If that.
 
Well, if you buy the real version you dont need to uninstall. Just put the CD in. If that.

Doesn't change the fact that no one is going to pay for something they already have for free. It's human nature.
 
Yeah, if it's a game that will work just as well downloaded as it would retail, chances are I'll just go ahead and download it. I'm a bad person, I know.
 
It's ok to download games as long as you buy them after. Or is it?

They can't arrest you or fine you because you own a legit copy of the game after you downloaded it.

No you still get in trouble.

Example being an MPAA case where her daughter downloaded a video online, and then the mother found out and bought that movie on DVD (thinking the same thing you do that you "own the license" to it now)

The problem is that if you use P2P not only are you downloading, but you are uploading it to other illegal users and are thus spreading the file to others who are obtaning it illegally...

Also, I really think that it would be nice for one game to give you cross-platform licenses (imagine if you could pop your Xbox360 disc into both your PC and X360 to play the game?)... However, a lot of times (recent example being Prey), is that they have one dev team doing PC work, and another doing Xbox360 work... Thus they each get their own stream of revenue...
 
I actually got into to Half-Life when I downloaded it. I played it that night and thought "This game has an AMAZING amount of detail and passion in every part of the game." Being all impressed, The next day I went out and bought the game out of respect, supporting the developers. Shortly after, I bought Counter Strike and all the other official retail mods...

This is barely over one year ago btw. I also did the same thing with Unreal Tournament, and a bunch of GBA games.
 
I actually got into to Half-Life when I downloaded it. I played it that night and thought "This game has an AMAZING amount of detail and passion in every part of the game." Being all impressed, The next day I went out and bought the game out of respect, supporting the developers. Shortly after, I bought Counter Strike and all the other official retail mods...

This is barely over one year ago btw. I also did the same thing with Unreal Tournament, and a bunch of GBA games.

While some people do that, there are just two problems.

1) If you don't like the game and don't buy it, you pretty much use their product and the developers get nothing in return for you using their product (even though you didn't like it)

2) You distributed it to others at the same time (unless you used direct download, but still in some way through ads or whatever, it helps maintain those pirate sites), and I assure you that most that you shared it to won't go through to buy the game, so you just sort of contribute.

Oh, btw I'm not making it personal against your or anything because I'm glad you bought the game. I'm just speaking generally.
 
That's an interesting idea, being able to pay for the 'game' and then get it on whatever format you want...That seems fine to me, but I don't see anything like that ever happening...at least not in this generation.
 
I haven't paid for a PC game in a long time... :D
 
I actually got into to Half-Life when I downloaded it. I played it that night and thought "This game has an AMAZING amount of detail and passion in every part of the game." Being all impressed, The next day I went out and bought the game out of respect, supporting the developers. Shortly after, I bought Counter Strike and all the other official retail mods...

I did the exact same thing
 
While some people do that, there are just two problems.

1) If you don't like the game and don't buy it, you pretty much use their product and the developers get nothing in return for you using their product (even though you didn't like it)

2) You distributed it to others at the same time (unless you used direct download, but still in some way through ads or whatever, it helps maintain those pirate sites), and I assure you that most that you shared it to won't go through to buy the game, so you just sort of contribute.

Oh, btw I'm not making it personal against your or anything because I'm glad you bought the game. I'm just speaking generally.
Indeed, I agree with what you're saying. I think that the downloading of games should be overlooked to a degree, though not completely disreguarded. As long it's pretty much only core gamers and such doing the majority of the downloading, then they will look at the game and understand why they need to support the developers.

But of course, there is the problem of casuals downloading the game, and not giving a **** about all the work put into said game.

I did the exact same thing
Good man. :cheers:
 
The only game I ever played a pirated copy of was HL :o
My brother got it off a friend, not me. We bought HL generations soon after anyway.
 
I was bought Opposing Force as a present, but at the time I didn't have Half-Life. I got a copy of half-life off a friend so I could play opposing force, but I did complete half-life first. I've since paid for every single package on steam (most were included in the silver HL2 package anyway) ... I'm sure Valve don't mind. If they do, they can talk to my lawyer.
 
I was bought Opposing Force as a present, but at the time I didn't have Half-Life. I got a copy of half-life off a friend so I could play opposing force, but I did complete half-life first. I've since paid for every single package on steam (most were included in the silver HL2 package anyway) ... I'm sure Valve don't mind. If they do, they can talk to my lawyer.
That reminds me. I borrowed Warcraft 3 off my friend (as you do) and I really liked it. I then went out and bought the expansion pack and gave the game back to my friend. Would anyone consider this wrong?
 
Yes now go jump off a cliff!! or just feel really bad!!! or just not care what I wrote!! and read on.
My only reasoning is that its a Blizzard game. They deserve every penny on there games.
 
I say yes. If you own it, and just want to play it on a different platform, then what's teh point in buying it again..what a waste of money.
 
Mostly I'd say no, but lemme run a scenario past you -

I own KOTOR for Xbox, and recently replaced it with an Xbox 360. Now, KOTOR and KOTOR 2 are both listed as backwards compatible for 360, however both have issues with skipping audio and framerate that make them practically unplayable. Would I be "entitled" to pirate a PC version of either if I already purchased the Xbox versions, which are now rendered useless through no fault of my own?

(Note, I'm not actually going to do this, both due to bandwidth limitations and the fact that I still have access to the original Xbox which I sold to a friend. I just thought it'd be an interesting scenario.)
 
Some people seem to have misunderstood the point of this thread. I didnt mean downloading a game to demo it. I mean say i bought the ps2 version of gta san andreas, then when the pc version was released i downloaded it with no intention of buying it, since i had already paid for the ps2 version.
Lots of people have answered no without giving a reason.. A couple have mentioned that the game may be completely different on different platforms which is a good point, and in that case i would probably say its not ok to download the other version, but in my experience they are usually the same except the pc version will have better graphics. However, the devs still had to port the game and update the graphics, and also the pc version is usually cheaper...
 
Morally, yes its okay imo. Mainly because you have given your money for the game, and in your single situation the PC version is no different and its merely for your preference. But of course, theres no way for developers to know these sorts of things so any form of downloading a game should remain illegal.
 
If a game doesn't have a demo, I'll download and crack the full version. If it's crap I'll delete it and throw it out straight away. If it's good I'll go buy the full version.

In response to the original question, I too think that if you own a game, you should be able to play it on any platform. It isn't legal, but who cares? You still end up paying ($90AUD) for the game, that's more than enough.
 
most of the time, when i decide to download a game, it is so crap, i dont play it again the second time. consider it like a demo, you get what im saying?
 
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