The act of piracy has been around since the dawn of man, and in gaming, it's been around since some wise person found a way to copy something he or she was not supposed to, and either sold it shared it with others, at the expense of the owner/s.

But game piracy has now moved to a greater level. A level where it now is shaping how both publishers and developers both make and sell their wares.

Which is now changing the way we will be able to access games and one which platforms they will appear.

Come see how one young developer explains his experience and what affect it is having on how developers work.

As today’s gamers, we have the great honour of being a part of the first generation of consoles and games where game development has actually been slowed and or even stopped in some cases due to piracy.

Of course it’s not like piracy is a new thing. Since we’ve had computers capable of writing to game media there has been the possibility to obtain your latest game fix via copying legal game media to blank equivalent storage, from floppy discs to CD-Rs to DVD-R and quite possibly BD-R soon. The difference this generation however is that it’s actually changing what games are being released and for which platform and in what order.

The lure of free games has often outweighed people’s morals, but never before has it been so common than present day. Someone who doesn’t know how to attach a picture to an email still knows how to get the latest Sims expansion for free. That’s why I think we should keep up to date with the current state of piracy and see the effect it’s had on each platform.

So here we go, starting with the traditional home of piracy: the humble PC.

XboxOZ360 via oxcgn.com »