Wii Piracy: Wii Games Rips Already Online. What You Gonna Do Nintendo?

This was what worried me when Nintendo moved to full DVD as a medium (from the more secure GC media), but it seems some of the first Wii games are already being copied and uploaded onto the interweb.

The question is what are Nintendo gonna do to protect their games and encourage customers to buy legit prints over copies (if they even work wwho knows)? I'd like Spong tor un this question buy Nintendo, because I know there stance on us playing import games is a lot better (is that a new Freeloader Wii disk I see on the horizon from Datel, finger crossed?), but pirate copies are another issue altogether.

What I'd do (if I was Nintendo) is start giving away WVC point with each game sold, which can only be put into the case when sold so say if you buy one Wii game you get 400points , two for 800 points and so on. Total your points up and get a free WVC game from the online selection. This way people will build the WVC games collection faster too.

Please have a word with Nintendo about this cause I really want to know what they'll do or if the Wii has any copy protection stuff in it.

Let us know your thoughts on this people.

if i didnt have to modify my wii then i mite get a few copied games,i know its unethical and its nintendo but wen it comes down to it,i would prefer to get a free games than pay for them.

Try before you buy. If you dismiss the ones you don't get on with, but purchase the ones you can see yourself pursuing to the end, I can't see the problem.

I think that's an awful attitude. "Why should I pay for games when I could just get them illegally for free?"

awfull,yes,but completely understandable and its an attitude that will be taken up by many.

who downloads music here of a P2P?anyone?
exactly the same thing.

I don't understand why this sort of piracy is acceptable or understandable. If you pirate the new Zelda game, you are effectively stealing it from Nintendo who in turn will make less money to develop future games. In the end it's just stealing.

The only times I think that this piracy could be justified is if you are purely trialing (as in trying a game for half an hour to see if you like it, and even then I would think maybe a retal or borrowing it from a friend would be more appropriate) or if the game has been discontinued or is not available in your country/language/etc and no release date has been set (in which case the company that made the game would never make a sale from you anyway).

That goes for music too.

I think its very dangerous to tread on the wrong side of Nintendo when the Wii is just getting out of the starting blocks. If the piracy becomes rife they'll obviously be a clamp down and measures taken. This is why the Wii points thing would be a good idea, as discounts off WVC and Wii games are better than no sale at all.

The thing that worries me is that the separate issue of import games could be effected because of piracy, I pray this doesn't happen because Wii is gonna see a lot of games we won't see officially. Datel will probably save us here hopefully.

When you look at Wii from an online perspective too, you could see a lot of gamers being locked out if they have pirated copies of games, like on Xbox Live. The difference here is that Wii has no hard drive, so are there more options for a Nintendo lock out or not?

The differences between music and games when touching the piracy circle are different, like they are for visual and audio media. I've been in the mind that the more immerssive the media the more it should be protected. Video games at their highest have four levels of immersion, story, visuals, audio and gameplay. Films have four story, visuals, audio and acting performance. Music has a lesser immersion level of one (two if you count music videos though where it starts to enter film territory, or for a live performance).

I also think music is different and as a result should be free to a certain degree. A busker in the street is a good example off how things should be with music. If you like what you hear you pay, if you don't you don't pay. The artist should always have more control too. This can't be done or is more difficult to do with games or films because you need specific equipment to run them and therefore the protection level should be higher.

Piracy has its place mind (i feel there are two different types of piracy, for profit and for passion), if you think of emu roms on PCs before Xbox Live Arcade and WVC. Either still will not let you play japanese untranslated games that are no longer available, and as a result emu roms will exist further to meet this demand. Piracy bought us iTunes too, so not all it does is negative.

Can whoever uploads LoZ: TW online really say they are doing it for passion, when its out in the shops new to buy and rent? I just hope Nintendo don't frown upon demo downloads or dvds for Wii.

Because of the nature of consoles, expensive software backing expensive hardware, especially when a console is new its hard to let it slide. We'll soon see if Nintendo do anything about it.

So for me if its a game I can't get or is out of print or obscure, perhaps I'll hunt online, if its widely available I'll buy and support the industry I love. Would be nice if more people did the same, but I can only speak for myself.

No it's not. It is illegal, but "piracy" is not stealing, it's actually copyright infringement. Let's be clear here, because a lot of organisations like the RIAA and MPAA are trying to "new speak" this in under the radar.

Stealing is depriving a person or organisation of something physical or of value. Walking into HMV and leaving with a Zelda disc up your jumper is stealing, but only from HMV, not from Nintendo.

Copyright is a temporary, exclusive right to copy an artistic (i.e. a non-physical) work, granted by the government on behalf of the public, to the originator of that work in order that they can gain the benefit of having produced it. Copyright can be transferred either by sale or contract to another person or organisation. For example, a recording contract for musicians, they give up copyright on their works in exchange for a large company giving them the resources to record and publish those works.

Copyright was invented after the the printing press became widespread to guard authors against other people printing their works and selling them without any recompense to the original author.

Copyright is intended to be temporary so that the general public will benefit when the period of exclusivity has expired, the artistic work will then pass into the public domain and effectively be freely copyable by anyone.

An example of this is the Penguin Classics range of books, the stories are all in the public domain, you could print your own versions of those stories. You can't copy the Penguin book though, that would be an infringement of their copyright on the particular printing of the story. There is a similar deal for specific arrangements of public domain music.

Copying a game, DVD or CD without the consent of the copyright holder is infringing their exclusive right to copy and is punishable by law because copyright is enforced by the government.

It is not stealing, because you have not deprived the copyright owner of anything, they can still sell their products. You may have prevented a sale, but I can prevent loads of sales by advising people not to buy a s**t game, that's not against the law. What is against the law is breaking the social contract that only the copyright owner can copy the work during the exclusive period.

The problem comes when the copyright owners try to extend the exclusive period so that they can benefit for much longer than strictly necessary and actually deprive the general public of access to artistic works.

So anyway, pirating a game is not stealing, it is infringing copyright. However it is still illegal.

JOJI***************

The differences between music and games when touching the piracy circle are different, like they are for visual and audio media. I've been in the mind that the more immerssive the media the more it should be protected. Video games at their highest have four levels of immersion, story, visuals, audio and gameplay. Films have four story, visuals, audio and acting performance. Music has a lesser immersion level of one (two if you count music videos though where it starts to enter film territory, or for a live performance).
*************************

u can split hairs and define different mediums but at the end of the day u are getting music for free when ur expected to pay for it.

Adam,i totally agree with u but unfortunitly most people will see it a lot more simpley than you,put down £40 to buy a game or dont put down £40 and get it for free,a no brainer for most.

heck,ive gon on about the wii sooooo much to people im starting to annoy them but i have also converted at least 5or6 people to get one,if not more.im going to my cuzins house on sunday to show it off,im a freakin nintendo sale's man,except om not on the pay-roll,so if were gona be spliiting hairs here i reckon i hav generated about a grands worth of nintendo business,so im entitled to "steal" that back in game's if i want.

Thanks for Tyrion's guide about the mind boggling minefield that is piracy and copyright differences. I feel enlightened by it.

Thing is though Wii games can be picked up for as little as £32-35 pounds if you look around, that's not to much to pay for a game compared to a 360 game. If you aren't sure about a game read reviews or rent it or download a demo if available.

I guess if something isn't done there will be a Sony style clamp down on pirate Wii games from Nintendo. Its like the Hulk and how you shouldn't make him angry, its up to you.

I've only just registered, but I've been checking spong and it's forums for quite a while, it's very good, to find out what's new in the gaming world.

But I read this topic and felt that I should post, so here goes:

I think you're missing the point; the law is there for a reason and it's just plain unethical to copy something just because you can.

As for saying that the majority of people would choose to pirate a game instead of buying it, well that's just nonsense, how do you think the industry is sustained? You dont just go into a shop and take DVD's because you can do you? I would at least hope that the majority of people would be able to see that if you bite the hand that feeds, you ultimately go hungry.

Sorry to start my sponging with a rant, but...

lol,i angered someone so much spong got a new member.

the simple answer to ur rant is because they dont know how.go pick 10 people of the street and chances are maybe 1in10 randomers would be able to find,download,play a PSP game illegally.

look at it hypathetically,place a copied game to left of a gamer,which costs them nothing and to the right an official game that costs them £30-£50,most people would pick the free game.

guys,im not claiming to be right,i know im not,but if i had the option to get sumthing for free and it was accessiable,i know which one i would pick,aslong as there were no problems.

Yeh, I once publicly admitted to quite liking a Brittany Spears song, but she never replied to my email demanding my free blow job.

haha.

You have got to admin though, she has recently shown you (and the rest of the world) her lady pink bits!