Nintendo To Take On Piracy In 3-D

crimeandpunishment writes "Nintendo says when its new handheld game device with 3-D technology comes out, it will have beefed-up anti-piracy measures. For obvious reasons, the company is keeping tight-lipped on the specifics. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata says they're not only concerned about software piracy, but also a growing tolerance for it. He said, 'We fear a kind of thinking is become widespread that paying for software is meaningless.'"

Quit spending money on DRM

[KarlIsNotMyName]

You lose more to that than you ever did on piracy.

paying for software is meaningless?

[nurb432]

No, its obscene.

Re:Nail on the head

[metamatic]

While a lot of slashdotters support Software as a Service, very few, if any, would support Music as a Service.

Funny, I'm exactly the opposite.

I want to control when I get software upgrades, and not be reliant on someone for access to my data, so software as a service is extremely unappealing to me.

However, if I could get access to an infinite jukebox with a superset of my music collection for a monthly fee, I'd definitely go for that.

Dear Nintendo,

[maugle]

Dear Nintendo,

I am a paying customer. I do not pirate DS games. But I do transfer my legally-purchased games to my CycloDS Evolution because there's no way in hell I'm going to carry around 40 different cartridges when I can just carry one (and the ability to use cheat codes comes in handy occasionally, too). Recently, however, I was tempted to just start pirating games again. Do you know why? Because your God damn copy protection on the latest Zelda game left it unplayable on the CycloDS, while the cracked version available online was fine!

You ridiculous attempt at stopping piracy didn't turn any pirates into customers, it just made your existing customers start considering piracy! Thankfully, the CycloDS team has since released an update to evade your stupid piracy-detecting-game-breaker. But please, Nintendo, don't fall into a situation where the pirated product is better than the legitimate one. Because if you dick me around to the point where I still have to search through the Internet to get the product I bought to actually work, I might just start skipping the step where I buy the game in the first place!

Oh, and I might as well mention that the only reason I haven't bought your DSi is because the CycloDS won't run on it.

Re:Nail on the head

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going to let you in on a little-known secret (ssh! don't tell!) The cost of software creation is principally in its development, not in its duplication, or its distribution. You're not paying for the DVD mastering process. You're paying for the three years of work - for the thousands or hundred-thousands of human-hours - of which the duplication was only the final, trivial step. In essence, you are making a retroactive investment in the company's venture. By the time a piece of software hits the market, it is an actual financial loss to the developer or its backers. Sales defray that loss. Ideally, enough sales are made to turn a profit, in which case the developer may have enough capital or investor confidence to work on another project. How is paying for copies of software meaningless?

Re:DSiware is a step in the right direction

[citizenr]

I stopped pirating PC games when Steam came out. The convenience of ownership outweighed the convenience of piracy.

This is double plus funny as Steam doesnt let you own anything, you merely borrow software and Steam can take it away at any moment.

Re:The trend on Nintendo Consoles

[DaAdder]

Pricing might have a little something to do with it as well.

I believe titles are quite a bit more expensive in at least parts of Europe.
Picking up one of the latest Pokemons here in Sweden will set me back about $55.
At those prices I expect a pretty fantastic game as it's more than I've spent on any game in the last 10 years.
Normally I pick up bargains on Steam or one or two almost-launch titles at just below $50.

I own a DS and I'd like to sample and play quite a number of games, but the DS for me is a much more casual platform and something I'll mostly use when I travel.
I gave up sampling games at $55 and gave up the DS altogether, quite a few others went with pirating instead.

I have no clue why Nintendo thinks this sort of pricing is actually anywhere near the perceived worth for these games.
We have less disposable income than the average American.

Re:Piracy is indeed for the most part meaningless

[Blakey Rat]

You haven't provided a *single number* to back up your point. Look, to make a case, you need at least:

1) A good estimate of the number people who pirate the title
2) A good estimate of the number of people who would not buy the title had it DRM (which, contrary to Slashdot's estimation, is extremely tiny)
3) An estimate of the cost of developing adequate DRM policies and code

You haven't provided any of those numbers. Not even rough estimates. You have absolutely no case here, none at all.

Instead of providing figures to back-up your assertion, you throw in shit like your point 5 which is completely irrelevant to the problem, and point 6 which appears to be a scaremongering urban legend at best.

And then to really make it all come together, you back away from your original assertion by adding weasel words (very possibly) to it when you re-state it in point 7. I seriously don't know why you even bothered replying, since you'd added nothing to the conversation.

Is it possible you're correct? Yes, I concede that. Is it likely? No-- if it was, then you'd see major studios ditching DRM as quickly as possible. The "Law Of Look In A Goddamned Gaming Store" says that your assertion is wrong, and I see no reason to believe that all game studios are somehow insane and you're not.