It isn't like 10 years ago where you would buy a cartridge
and be able to use it anytime you want forever. You pretty
much are just licensing the experience.
which is retarded. I want to be able to play games I buy ten years from now. I still play the original starcraft from time to time, for example (not to mention all my NES games).
But there's never a justification for piracy. Piracy is the reason
why developers are leaving the PC market in droves. Man, even
id is primarily a console developer now with the PC being an
afterthought. Same with Epic. And Crytek (Crysis) said that
they're not going to releace PC exclusive games anymore (after
Warhead).
I agree. I just won't buy Spore. Ironically, that has about the same impact on EA as if I had just pirated it. I'm primarily a console gamer anyways (that way I don't have to spend loads of cash and pray my system works well with the game).
I think EA is looking 10 years down the road. Looking to condition
a new generation of gamers with the idea that they're not buying
the game. They're simply paying for the experience. Sort of like
going to a themepark, which btw, is about the same price.
That's a scary thought. I'm willing to pay a reasonable price for access to a system like Xbox Live, but I'm not going to pay monthly fees for any of my games. (Well maybe for a select few that I've been waiting years for...)
BTW, just what is a casual gamer? I generally have only one game that I'll play for months at a time and I don't have a high-end gaming PC, so does that make me a casual gamer? Or am I a hardcore gamer because I play games like Starcraft, Halo, and Civ III?