MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - So Sandy Bridge CPU's......Looks like more Awesomeness for MAME....

> People like to be able to tweak, and control their data. Even if
> they don't have a clue as to the what or why, make them feel like they are in control
> and they won't abandon.

No, hardcore nerds and people who grew up on 1980s home computers like to be able to do that. Most modern end users are terrified of computers and Windows and they wouldn't dream of trying to modify a game unless there's some GUI "click here to cheat" kind of thing.

> Take Steam for example. Someone could very easily download every game they offer. and
> install every game they offer on every computer they own, and fudge with the
> multilplayer workarounds, cracks, etc... or they can buy content and have it at their
> fingertips wherever and whenever they want, with extra goodies. Their experience is
> easier than piracy. Funny that piracy is such a non issue that they basically admit
> to ignoring it.

Sure, and yet in spite of your claims that Steam is end-user nirvana it does get pirated and aim-botted.

> First time I browsed I saw less than a handful of titles, said WTF, and never looked
> back. Maybe that virtual catalog has improved over the years, and I'm not aware. If
> that is the case, it brings up a marketing flaws as well. Again, if their experience
> was better or more convenient that piracy options, I'd probably own a Wii right now.

I'm not sure if you're referring to the emulation catalog or the original Wii games one, but in both cases they've expanded quite a bit. A lot of games that on the PC would go through Steam or D2D or whatever get distributed on Wii that way.

> I've owned MAME cabinets. MAME allows me to play all my favorite arcade games. I can
> have all the pirated arcade joy I can handle, and more. Could one of these "Piracy is
> death" advocates explain to my wife why I have a sickening amount of space sucking
> arcade machines in my possession?

Same reason I go to CAX. The emulation experience, even under ideal conditions, is not like real cabinets (and having real cabinets in your house is not like having 500 of them in a room with a few thousand of your fellow enthusiasts to play against). Younger people may not understand what they're missing, but get them to CAX on a real upright Star Wars with a real flight yoke and a real vector monitor that goes whiter-than-white when you destroy the Death Star and they'll understand.

That's not a direct analogy though, because in the case of PC and console games when you pirate the game you *are* getting the exact full experience.

> Like steam,with an actual cabinet I'm getting
> something "more". I'm willing to part with my money for whatever "more" is. Give
> people a better experience than they'd get through piracy and they WILL pay.

That's been tried with downloadable content for registered users. People then pirated the downloadable content.

Similarly, the 3 console stores do give you similar benefits to Steam, but that's not exactly stopping people from pirating them. (Sony and Nintendo even are offering games that were not originally available in the US/Europe since that was a common justification for mod chips. Result: people pirated the downloadable Japanese games).

> If they still aren't paying at that point they never would have in the first place,
> bottom line.

Be that as it may, there is no fundamental right to play currently-sold commercial games for free. I expect to be paid for the stuff I do at my day job, and I would hope you do as well. If people flat-out refuse to pay for games, there is no shortage of free ones on PCs and smartphones nowadays. (Although I'm going to look askance at people who willingly pay a mobile contract but won't buy Call of Duty or whatever).

> Everything pirated on either system was a title I never would
> have bought otherwise.

Given that it's not exactly hard or expensive to rent games (and there's GameFly for the agoraphobic) I fail to understand how that's any justification for piracy.