Parallax Abstraction’s Comments

• Oct 5th, 2010 @ 11:23am

  Re: Re: Please

  on Minecraft's Developer Making $350,000 $100,000 Per Day [Updated]
  I take issue with the argument that "all you have to do is make a good game and people will pay for it!" Tell that to System Shock 2, Psychonauts, the Freedom Force games and any other numbers of critically and player acclaimed commercial failures over the years. Minecraft is cool and its uniqueness (and the viral nature of it) combined with its low price certainly have made it the deserved runaway success that it is. But to say that this proves that piracy isn't a real problem is ridiculous. There are a lot of entitled people out there who will still steal a product no matter how much "reason to buy" is offered. I do believe a certain amount of this must be considered a cost of doing business and accepted and that's why I support the idea that things like DRM do nothing to solve the problem while hurting the true customers.
  
  However, one guy making $350,000/day (a figure which is in dispute as others have already pointed out) and the success of the Humble Indie Bundle (a bunch of games that didn't sell nearly as well until the price was heavily discounted and which were still pirated to Hell and back) is not a sign that piracy is a non-issue and that just "make a good game" isn't the universal answer. Many also agree that Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a fantastic game as well but the developer is on record as saying it was still heavily pirated and despite selling well, hasn't been enough to give them the stability they need.
  
  You guys are so determined to prove that piracy is a non-issue that you will glom on to any success story (and the ones you cited are true but still the vast minority of cases) and say "See, it's not a problem if you just make good games!" Making good product is essential but to insinuate that it's all that is needed to guarantee success is ludicrous.
• Oct 5th, 2010 @ 11:01am

  Please

  on Minecraft's Developer Making $350,000 $100,000 Per Day [Updated]
  So one massive abberation of a success story means that piracy is no problem whatsoever? Please. I don't agree with how the game industry is trying to combat thieves and I am totally on board with the notion that DRM is not the answer. But c'mon Mike, this is a stretch even for you. There are plenty of universally renowned games that no one bought and that this guy is (deservedly) succeeding in this very unique way is not a sign of any kind of trend. Are thieves everything that's wrong with the game industry? Certainly not. But they are still a very big problem.
• Dec 4th, 2009 @ 3:21pm

  Re:

  on Does It Make Sense To Ban Players From Xbox Live Just For Using A Glitch?
  I'm not sure if they actually have the ability to ban people from a specific game. They're able to track what you're playing so I can't see why not and they definitely should add that functionality if they haven't. Personally, I'd say ban them until the title update is available. And I think instituting some kind of fine system into the Microsoft Certification process for glitches that enable this kind of game breaking behaviour would ensure better QA real damn fast.