San Andreas: Pirated!

[Acid X]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/10/20/news_6111057.html

Less than a week after a pirated version of Halo 2 began appearing on the Web, another of the year's most sought after games has been stolen. Ironically, it also happens to be a game titled after a larcenous act itself. That's right. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has become the latest victim of piracy, with illegal copies of the game, its manual, and its cover appearing on various Web sites.

Late today, Rockstar issued a statement on this latest in a series of unfortunate events. "The proper authorities are investigating the theft and are continuing to investigate all possible leads to ensure there is no further dissemination of our creative content," read the statement. "Downloading, possession and distribution of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, including making the game available on the internet, is theft." Then came this warning from the company: "We take the theft of our intellectual property very seriously and we are and will continue to diligently and aggressively pursue this matter."

For those wishing to help track down the San Andreas thieves, Rockstar also offered the following advice: "If anyone finds information on websites with links to unauthorized downloads, information, scans or videos, please contact us at piracy@rockstargames.com."

Rockstar officials also emphasized the fact that the theft would not affect Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' release plans. The game is due in the US next Tuesday, October 26, and in Europe next Friday, October 29. However, it is already clear that with four of the year's top games--GTA: San Andreas, Halo 2, Doom 3, and Half-Life 2---being posted online before their official releases, piracy is becoming an increasingly common and serious problem for both gamers and the games industry.

By Tor Thorsen -- GameSpot

Stupid pirates.. yarr me matey.

EDIT: Meanwhile, i've already reported something that should be of some importance.

 

[Blake]

Man that sucks. R* have worked there assess off on this game, to have it pirated already is a bit of a supirse, though someone on the inside probably sold a copy for a fair bit. 👎

 

[Solid Fro]

I'm not surprised at all. Expect more of this to happen for other big titles.

Someone probably got a hold of one from an early shipment of the game to stores who need to get them sent out for people who pre-ordered them.

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

I also expected this somewhat, after Halo 2, Doom 3 and Half-Life 2. I mean, they're 3 of the biggest titles of recent times, and San Andreas is the biggest of them all in my view.

I usually wouldn't care too much, but like Blake said, Rockstar have worked their asses off for this game. The thing that makes me a little aggravated, is the fact that it's not even a week away. And also, the fact that I've spent alot of time finding info, pics, etc, and now it's out in the open. That's frustrating.

 

[Mark T]

There's only a few days left until its released! The pirate version will probably have some bugs.
I consider buying the game an investment because the money I put in will go to the development of the next Grand Theft Auto.

 

[Blake]

Yeah, I mean you could see it comming (just that I forget that 2+2=4) but it really is a shame.

 

[Mark T]

I've had a browse around a few "dodgy" sites and I haven't seen GTA:SA available. I think its probably been leaked to a Russian site. I know Half Life 2 was seen in shops in Russia.

 

[Blake]

Could probably find it on IRC

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

I consider buying the game an investment because the money I put in will go to the development of the next Grand Theft Auto.

Absolutely. I always say that. Usually, like I said, I wouldn't give it 2 looks if it was Half-Life 2, etc. But this is THE game. It's almost out. Why now? Why not earlier when it was first finished, and there was a little more time 'til the release date?

I mean, I'm not promoting them doing this, I think it's very wrong, but they timed this poorly. It's just about out, and alot of people like us will just wait the extra few days for the proper version. If it was earlier, alot of people who would usually be like us, would be swayed.

 

[McLaren]

Wait till they find criminals. THe fines are expects over $20,000!

I swear, I can wait another 2 years for SA before downloading it, and being fined 20K. And Halo 2...They got hacked by 2 French men.

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

THe fines are expects over $20,000!

Is that for the culprits, or anyone who downloads it?

 

[Mark T]

To me downloading GTA:SA spoils the build up. I like having the hype. If the leaked version of GTA:SA does contain bugs it will spoil the whole experience. I would rather spend £40 and have a copy that I know works.

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

Both of those statements are very true. Especially the first point.

The hype is great. I don't think there has been better hype for a game than San Andreas.

 

[Shannon]

Yeah, I read about this earlier today. For the uneducated, pirated games usually come with NFO file that contains details about the release group and such. From Neowin:

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

Hmm, ok. Thanks for that Shannon.

 

[Spuds725]

Wasn't me....

I'm no pirate...

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

If you found that, then....

You find the most pointless, yet strangely funny things.

 

[Mark T]

Yeah, I read about this earlier today. For the uneducated, pirated games usually come with NFO file that contains details about the release group and such. From Neowin:

Where did you get this from Shannon?

 

[Spuds725]

Yeah, I read about this earlier today. For the uneducated , pirated games usually come with NFO file that contains details about the release group and such. From Neowin:

Technically we are ignorant, not uneducated --although some of us are both.

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

Only some...

I would say that Shannon got it off a website:

From Neowin:

 

[Mark T]

My bad.

 

[emad]

Anyone downloadign this, let me say *I hate you.* If I had a dual layer dvd burner and a chip capable of handling dual layer disks, I would have been one of the first in line to download it.... but that's because I'm itching in anticipation for the release date since I preordered the game like a month ago. Good thing EB is opening super early (midnight) and that the release date is on a tuesday (I have only 1 class on tuesdays). I'd go nuts otherwise

on a side note: something about that 57x50mb rar files thing is a bit unsettling. That comes out to 2.7gb. This game is supposed to be dual layer dvd. Sooo, unless it was raw, uncompressed data on the disk, the size isn't right.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Why would you Download it?
D/L is destroying modern nidustry and okay, music is very often a rip off and so some peopel feel it is right to D/L music. But a game can last for ages and is surely worth the £30.

 

[emad]

I would download it so I could play it before they start selling it at the EB near my school. I have a pre-order slip for it already, it's just that I don't have the patience to wait till tuesday. Doesn't matter though seeing as how I lack the hardware to burn it if I *did* download it. Plus nobody sells dual layer dvdrs anyways.

 

[ExigeEvan]

I still wouldn't download it even if I was highly impatient and had a DVD dual layer writer.
Even though I would pay a price for the game it would still feel like petty theft, especially as the game is so close.

 

[emad]

even if you are 100% sure you're going to walk into the game shop as soon as it opens in order to buy this game? My schedule at school is such that I'm going to just that.

As I said, if I had the hardware to burn the game, i'd do it only in order to keep myself satisfied for the next couple of days until the release date

 

[ExigeEvan]

Well I don't have the chance of walking into a shop as soon as it comes out. The nearest games shop is 30 mins by bus and getting my parents to give me a lift (I have 3 other siblings all needing to be in alot of places) would be difficult. So ia have it ordered on amazon.co.uk and thus I have to wait a few more days than the rest.

 

[Viper_Maniac]

Even if I had the hardware to download and burn the game I still wouldnt do it. It wouldnt be right. I'd much rather wait just like everyone else.

 

[Jedi2016]

Hehe.. yeah, wait a whole five days.

This is no different from any other game online.. someone got a hold of the game early (game store employee or some such), and ripped a copy. Happens to every game AFTER release, it shouldn't come as a shock that it would happen before release, especially in a game that's been so hyped.

As I mentioned in the other two threads, though, it won't make any difference to the sales. There are three things necessary in order to make use of this: Access to the game online (not as common as the company would lead you to believe), a DVD-burner, and a mod-chipped PS2. Many gamers may have one or two of these, but very few have all three. The number of downloads will probably be less than 1% compared to sales next week. And at this late date, the only ones who will probably bother with it are the ones who wouldn't have bought the game anyway.

 

[KieranMurphy]

Here's a screenshot from a P2P program. I did a search for San Andreas just to see what came up. None of it makes any sense however.

The PC version isn't due to be complete for 9 months or something and the PS2 version will be on DVD so I don't understand the list of ISO CD images. There's ones that look like single CD versions, ones that look like 2 CD versions and the top one which looks like it runs on 4 CDs. But whether or not what's being offered is the PS2 version of San Andreas, it's going to be no use on CDs.

It's not like some hackers got a copy of the source code and reprogrammed thousands or millions of lines of code to reconfigure the game to run off of CDs. Did they design "INSERT DISK 2" screens, program them and reconfigure the game engine to handle multiple disks?

I think that alongside the genuine stolen game out there, that a lot of very pathetic people renamed other game CD images to make some strangers on P2P networks think they've got a copy of San Andreas. I'm almost tempted to download it to see what it contains. I bet none of them are really San Andreas.


KM.