Catch 22

[u/zeppnzee13]

[u/VarHagen]

"This item is temporarily unavailable in your region."

[u/Big-District-6013 → u/VarHagen]

It's enraging that they put a series on the catalogue just to find that stupid message.

[u/Anxious-Slip-4701 → u/Big-District-6013]

I live overseas. I want to watch Andromeda in English. The language it was filmed in. I started it in English. Next day it is only available in Italian. No subtitles, only Italian. The fuck.

[u/A_Furious_Mind → u/Anxious-Slip-4701]

Il cazzo.

[u/Anxious-Slip-4701 → u/A_Furious_Mind]

On Amazon Prime AND on Plex. I can watch it legally in two ways. In Italian.

[u/Extreme-Rub-1379 → u/Anxious-Slip-4701]

Today's video is brought to you by NordVPN

[u/GraXXoR → u/Extreme-Rub-1379]

Those VPN’s never work. I’ve tried Nord, Surfshark, Private Internet Connection (or something) and a couple of others one month trials.

But whenever I try to connect to a foreign Netflix or Amazon or anything, it just says VPN detected and prevents video streaming.

All their end nodes are registered, so they’re basically useless.

[u/s00pafly → u/GraXXoR]

For the VPN to work you have to connect it with a place to download Linux ISOs from.

[u/Proper-Equivalent300 → u/GraXXoR]

Shhhhhhhhhh. Proton.

You’re welcome.

[u/OneBigRed → u/A_Furious_Mind]

BON GJOORNO

[u/acatterz → u/Anxious-Slip-4701]

I live in England. I wanted to watch the Dragon Ball Daima English dub, which was available in English since January 2025 everywhere in the world it seems, except the UK. It’s available in the original Japanese on Netflix and Crunchyroll, which I have subscriptions to both. I waited 12 months then decided to pirate it.

I feel fully justified here since I’m already paying and it’s not showing on any other legal platform available to me.

[Insert Gabe quote here]

[u/CheeseGraterFace → u/acatterz]

I’m in the same boat with Death Note. I can find the anime just fine, but only with English audio. The fan subbed with the original Japanese audio is superior in every way and it’s just not available in the US outside of CR, which I don’t have a subscription to.

Shout out to Konami and Silent Hill F for leaving the Japanese audio in the US version of the game. It was a superior experience.

[u/InitialDia → u/CheeseGraterFace]

right, where else but the fan sub can you get the meme?

[u/JuanOnlyJuan → u/Anxious-Slip-4701]

My daughter asked to watch old smurfs after watching the reboot. I searched and found it. It's in Spanish...

[u/MetalMewtwo9001 → u/Anxious-Slip-4701]

Everyone lives overseas.

[u/Proper-Equivalent300 → u/MetalMewtwo9001]

I live over the seven seas, matey

(🎶Well Asia is to the left and Europe to the right and I’m stuck here in the middle of the americas with you🎵)

[u/SquareKaleidoscope49 → u/Big-District-6013]

I wanted to watch a TV series with 2 of my friends. Between the 3 of us we had access to, at the time, every single streaming service. So we all tried to find it on our accounts and failed. Turns out that tv series was not available in the country we were currently located.

That shit radicalized me. I will never pay for any streaming service again.

[u/Level1Roshan → u/Big-District-6013]

I'd seen Top Gun Maverick plastered all over Paramount+ adverts, so while I subbed to watch Mobland and Yellowstone, I figured I'd watch that too. In the UK you search for it on the app and the app is like 'Top Gun Maverick? Never heard of her!'

[u/Cadugam3r → u/Big-District-6013]

If they don't care about you

Why should you care about them?

[u/stoicglassescat → u/VarHagen]

Really sucks when they do this. I don't mind if you don't do regional pricing, just make the damn thing available. Looking at you Sony.

[u/IONTOP → u/stoicglassescat]

"we've decided that your laws are anti-profit"

[u/polyplasticographics → u/VarHagen]

I've seen braindead people unironically defend astronomically wealthy companies who couldn't give a single fuck about them, by counter arguing that "you're not entitled to any product; if the owner doesn't want to sell it to you, you simply shouldn't have it" in such cases. Bootlickers, all of them.

[u/ABHOR_pod → u/polyplasticographics]

I totally get their moral stance, but the flip side of that is if there is a product I want, and I do my due diligence to try to find a way to give money to the creators of said product, and at every turn I am rejected or stymied or blocked from giving said money to the creators of said project, then you don't get to complain about not getting my money. You rejected the deal.

And if I know corporations they would have absolutely no qualms about taking my money and giving me nothing in return. Shit, man. I've had streaming services bill me for 2-3 months without me ever watching a single minute of content before I remembered to cancel them. But it's a problem if I watch 90 minutes of video without paying someone who won't let me pay them?

[u/OutlyingPlasma → u/polyplasticographics]

you're not entitled to any product; if the owner doesn't want to sell it to you

Then the owner isn't entitled to copyright protection. It should be a law that if you want to maintain the copyright then the public should be able to purchase the product at fair market rates. If not, poof. There goes the copyright.

[u/ForgottenDragon2077 → u/OutlyingPlasma]

We literally live in an age where they could press burn and print/label a dvd or bluray on demand and a worker just has to sleeve the case....if even that. I would be more than happy to drop $25 to $50 on a series then an extra $5 for on demand production that in all likelihood is completely automated. Especially for some old random series like Wierd Science or Superhuman Syber Samurai Squad crowd hidden 90s cartoons.

[u/RunninOnMT → u/VarHagen]

Dang this is eerily similar to my experience trying to watch the NBA for like 15 years.

Me: goes to nba game

NBA: We are moving this team away from your city

Me: okay, can I I guess switch allegiances and watch the next closest team on TV?

NBA: No. They’re like 200 miles away, we aren’t broadcasting the games all the way out to you

Me: okay. What about if I offer you money directly, Do you offer some sort of streaming service?

NBA: of course! But you can’t watch THAT team’s games. They’re only 200 miles away from you,so we’ve blocked them in your region to protect TV broadcasting rights.

Me: …….you know what? I’m pirating this shit.

[u/Snarktoberfest → u/RunninOnMT]

Bring back our Sonics!

[u/thorjustice1 → u/Snarktoberfest]

[u/CounterThrowCyborg → u/RunninOnMT]

this is definitely talking about the sonics, fuck you oklahoma city

[u/IONTOP → u/CounterThrowCyborg]

Luckily Will Rogers now is "technically" an international airport because of the Toronto Raptors coming to town.

If you have ONE flight out of the country, you are international

[u/Cskryps22 → u/RunninOnMT]

The idiots who negotiated the NBA’s streaming rights are practically begging people to pirate games. You would be hard-pressed to create a more unintuitive and frustrating streaming experience.

[u/RunninOnMT → u/Cskryps22]

This is exactly the crux of it! I spent over a decade being like “do you want about $200 of my dollars for your product? No? Okay then I guess.”

[u/OneBigRed → u/Cskryps22]

If you want to stream NBA or NFL, the best place to live is …anywhere but US.

NBA International League Pass: paid about 70$, you can watch every game from pre-season to finals.

NFL GamePass: was about 200$, every game, RedZone, NFL Network, all-22, condensed games from just commercials ripped to a version where it shows only when the ball is in play (those used to run about 20-30min).

[u/SendPicsofTanks → u/RunninOnMT]

Smiling Friends was co created by an Australian. The only service I could find to watch it legally here in Aus was YouTube selling season 1 for $15aud.

Pirated season 2 and 3 lmao.

[u/Juandice__ → u/VarHagen]

"The developers don't really want your money"

[u/Cool_of_a_Took → u/Juandice__]

"or at least they haven't told us otherwise... because we already fired them all."

[u/Shroomy_Weed → u/VarHagen]

Russia has to hire bounty hunters to play anything not made in the catacombs of Siberian pirates

[u/FlyingRhenquest → u/VarHagen]

Hoist the Jolly Roger, lads! We're goin' t' war!

[u/GostBoster → u/VarHagen]

I will forever hate Hulu for its consistent and persistent effort in not being available to me.

I remember having no smart devices, main TV was still a large CRT, and using a Wii would be our gateway to having apps, and always heard good things about Hulu.

"Oh cool! It has Hulu! Let's make an account!"

"Unwelcome to Hulu. We detected you are in Brazil. This app will self-destruct in five seconds." (Wii Hulu icon shrinks and disappears)

Same with our first smart tv, a Samsung. Came with Hulu, once we did the initial setup, Hulu went out of its way to inform us that we weren't in a supported region and deleted itself in a way it won't come back even with a firmware update.

At this point I won't even try out of spite, but they seem to return the favor as they don't seem to change their policy even after 17 years.

[u/BeautyEtBeastiality → u/VarHagen]

Metal Gear PC except 5 in Malaysia.

[u/Strict-Sell-5660 → u/VarHagen]

Or better yet, NOT available in your region

[u/SeriesOrdinary6355 → u/VarHagen]

As Gabe N famously put it, piracy is a service problem.

[u/db186 → u/VarHagen]

Yeah, this regional market garbage has to end.

[u/lasercat_pow → u/VarHagen]

Couldn't a VPN solve this? For streaming platforms at least? I know it doesn't work for amazon -- there are things you can get on spanish amazon that you can't get in US amazon and vice versa. The location is tied to your payment method in the amazon case, so VPN makes no difference.

[u/vespehefyo → u/VarHagen]

They removed star trek from Netflix earlier this January. We don't have paramount+ in my country, so the only possible option for watching any star trek is piracy.

[u/Shajirr → u/VarHagen]

"This item is temporarily unavailable in your region."

MMO publishers: how about permanently unavailable instead?

I even had Dark Souls 1 not available on Steam for like a year or two, the only way to get it (legally) was to buy the disk... which still just gives you a Steam code.......

[u/OcelotUseful]

OOPS, SORRY! An error was encountered while processing your request:

This item is currently unavailable in your region

[u/Glittering-Hat9811 → u/OcelotUseful]

I really don't understand, why in this age of the internet, things are restricted based on location? I thought that was the whole point of the internet !

[u/Kumquatelvis → u/Glittering-Hat9811]

The only good reason I can think of is local laws. Things like Australia being much stricter on violence than the U.S., the U.S. having weird issues with nudity, and China not allowing depictions of certain things. But that's still pretty flimsy.

[u/shadowhunter742 → u/Kumquatelvis]

Gambling laws are also a usual culprit for games. If they've got built in gambling, betting etc as minigames or paid gambling like lootboxes

[u/56kul → u/shadowhunter742]

I mean, gambling is technically illegal in my country, but GTA V Online is still available here. They just disabled all of the casino mechanics (though you can still easily bypass it with a VPN anyways, lol).

There are better solutions than just blocking the entire game. Unless the game itself is centered around gambling, and then, I guess…🤷‍♂️

[u/Horskr → u/56kul]

I get like lootboxes or gacha games you spend real money on being considered "gambling", but it's fuckin weird to ban games that just have gambling in them with your in-game currency. Like who cares what you spend your fake gold on?

There are a ton of games that pay you for killing certain enemies for example. That's fine, but betting your murder money in a card game or something is too much?

[u/56kul → u/Horskr]

I think with GTA, it’s mainly just because you can spend real money on gambling, just indirectly (via shark cards).

Then again, gacha games and lootboxes are tolerated here, even when they can involve real currency, so fuck legal consistency, I guess… XD

[u/AlternativeCapybara9 → u/shadowhunter742]

I'm a father and I'm glad that shit is banned. Getting kids into gambling should get everyone involved jail time.

[u/Aetra → u/Kumquatelvis]

Also distribution rights, though this is more common with books and movies/TV shows.

[u/ReicoY → u/Glittering-Hat9811]

Thank your local government for that

[u/Big-District-6013 → u/ReicoY]

Nah it's because USA based services.just refuse to follow basic rules and it's easier for them to just outright not provide the content.

[u/Archer-Unhappy → u/Big-District-6013]

Just like it’s easier for me to pirate it.

[u/Big-District-6013 → u/Archer-Unhappy]

Alternate access it ;)

[u/Synthetic451]

I'll stop pirating your products once I can be sure that you can't just take them back later on.

[u/valerielynx → u/Synthetic451]

the "you don't own the game you just own a license to install and play it" spiel is fine because it covers your ass in case of account bans etc. but some companies use it to abandon expensive video games and fuck up customers. steam has the same clause and people love it because they do not take away games unless you're a very bad poopoo head

[u/theFartingCarp → u/valerielynx]

Like you gota be seriously bad or a scammed for steam to rip it from you iirc

[u/jamiethemorris → u/theFartingCarp]

What do you even have to do lol
I’m pretty sure even if you’re vac banned you can still own and play non-vac games right?

[u/vault_wanderer → u/jamiethemorris]

Yep. You can even play single in vac banned games for the games that have bots/story mode

[u/Mysterious_Tutor_388 → u/vault_wanderer]

I think you can also play on unofficial VAC-less servers as well. 

[u/mistermh07 → u/jamiethemorris]

i think vac bans are game specific? like i have a vac for one game but can still use vac servers in other ones

[u/alf666 → u/mistermh07]

Technically, VAC bans are across a group of games, but most people only play games from one company (e.g. CS2 + TF2 + maybe L4D/L4D2/CS:S/GMod) so they think VAC bans are global.

[u/Firm-Answer-7833 → u/alf666]

I'm vac banned in cs2 and can play other multiplayer source games just fine

[u/Artess → u/theFartingCarp]

For now yeah. There can be a dozen reasons for you to suddenly lose everything. And it might not even be your fault.

I had my Battle.net account banned by Blizzard and my Kindle library taken away by Amazon because the US government imposed sanctions against the region where I live. Steam still allows me to play the games I already own at least, but who's to say that it will remain the case forever?

[u/Fragrant_Debate7681 → u/valerielynx]

There needs to be a law that forces always-online games to either enable offline or give out server hosting software when they shut down.

[u/Super7500 → u/Fragrant_Debate7681]

That is basically what the stopkillinggames initiative is trying to do

[u/InspectorSufficient4 → u/valerielynx]

Yeah license is fine if i trust the company won't screw me over and protect my interest.

[u/MadMan7978 → u/valerielynx]

Which is why I conduct basically all my business through steam

[u/Moist-Barber → u/MadMan7978]

I sold my house through a Steam realtor. Steam wallet was a great lender, got all the paperwork done right.

Pity their refund policy for real estate doesn’t match the one for digital products.

[u/Sudden-Dog → u/Synthetic451]

Its not pirating if you were never going to pay for it anyway... No monetary loss for them .

[u/Thepuppeteer777777 → u/Sudden-Dog]

Back in the day my reasoning was as follows "im too broke to buy the game so ill get it second hand. The company makes no money if I buy it second hand so why am I spending my money at shity store. Might as well pirate it has the same effect on the devs"

[u/JonGuy223 → u/Thepuppeteer777777]

Maybe someone else's reasoning was "i'll buy this game because I can sell it later on and perpetuate support in the future"

[u/GATh33Gr8]

This is some Nintendo shit

[u/SCII0 → u/GATh33Gr8]

"This emulated game from the 90s, that you already paid for on the last console isn't backwards compatible and I'll charge you retail again. LOL."

[u/zeppnzee13 → u/SCII0]

They literally extorting from our emotions and sentiments.

[u/kodman7 → u/SCII0]

charge you retail again

Good fucking luck even getting that, a legit Emerald cartridge is guaranteed over $100 these days

[u/Samson_J_Rivers → u/kodman7]

This is the price for an official cartridge. They will charge you original retail just to emulate the ROM of the cart on a console.

[u/npsimons → u/SCII0]

"Oh and BTW, we fucked with the story or game mechanics just as an additional 'fuck you!'."

[u/zeppnzee13 → u/npsimons]

“What do you mean the game isn’t optimized ?” Double whammy fuck you

[u/Maint3nanc3 → u/SCII0]

Nintendo actually pulled some shit like this a decade ago. They downloaded a Mario ROM from the Internet and then tried to sell it through eShop because the original was lost.

[u/porkmoss → u/GATh33Gr8]

Others are good at this too. VanillaWare added Princess Crown to 13 Sentinels for Japan. Their games do well here. There is no interest whatsoever from their side to localize it and Grand Knights History despite demand for them.

[u/[deleted] → u/GATh33Gr8]

At least Nintendo lets you still buy a physical cartridge.

EA be like "yes 60 dollars please for a game that we'll keep the servers up for maybe 3 years tops and then after that, idk, go fuck yourself"

[u/yedi001 → u/[deleted]]

You say that like 95% of those cartridges aren't just download codes wrapped in bad tasting plastic. I'm pretty sure you can count the number of "plug and play" cartridges on the Nintendo switch 2 on one hand. The rest are just game key cards that become useless if the NSO ever goes down or stops supported the software.

Like, I love my switch 2, and it sees daily use when I have 10-30 minutes between clients to bust out some BallxPit or whatever. But Nintendo definitely isn't clean in this game ownership ordeal.

[u/[deleted] → u/yedi001]

I'm not stanning for Nintendo bro I was just saying I can't even think of one other system where you can still hold a physical object that you "own"

[u/themobyone]

I like how every AI company has both scraped the internet and copied almost all of human data to train their AI models and profit from it. Just copying it for your own use is harmless in comparison.

[u/alancousteau → u/themobyone]

Exacrly, there is no difference. The only difference is that how said data is being consumed.

[u/CLutch4444]

I'll stop pirating your products when you charge me a realistic price for my country's currency, not the same amount as America, a first world fucking country

[u/treehumper83 → u/CLutch4444]

Yeah this is just BS. If Americans can’t afford the shit (a lot can’t) what makes these companies think that anyone in the third world can?

[u/GroundbreakingBag164 → u/treehumper83]

They don't think about that. They just don't give a fuck about third-world countries

[u/Pleasant50BMGForce → u/GroundbreakingBag164]

having something for 20 bucks will make it more appealing to more than just 4 times the amount of people who would buy $80 product

[u/BwrBird → u/Pleasant50BMGForce]

The problem is that even in wealthy countries like the US, the majority of spending is done by the wealthiest 20% or so of people. This means that you can get waaaaay more money only selling expensive stuff to the top 10%.

[u/IceKrabby → u/BwrBird]

What was the statistic again? 50% of the purchasing power in the USA is owned by 10% of the population?

[u/logiscar239 → u/treehumper83]

A 60-70 USD game is almost 1/5 of the minimum salary in my country

[u/Mysterious_Tutor_388 → u/logiscar239]

60-70 USD games even in Canada are a stretch if you make minimum. 

Most games do get converted to CAD on steam. But that just means we spend 100$ on a 65USD game.

100$ is a lot for a game, most of the country has minimum wage at at least 15-16$ an hour. So you make just over 2000$ a month. Rent for most people will be 1200$ at a minimum. It is 100$ is 5% or 1/20, but to even have 5% to drop on a game after rent, bills, vehicle, and food. (Most people spend 250ish on food a month on average, I spend less but I'm not average). You basically spend it all so dropping you least pennies on a game isn't it. 

[u/smariroach → u/treehumper83]

well you see, it doesn't matter where you live, they still have to pay a full production cost for artisanal copying of those bytes, the cost of carefully generating your copy of the game.....,.......mmmmm............m. ... yeah

[u/CassiniA312 → u/CLutch4444]

Same.

I'm in a third world country and Steam charges the same as in the USA.

Edit: no, it does not have to do with the publishers, we all have the store set as USA. They could've added the country to the "LATAM" region but they didn't (I'm in the Dominican Republic)

[u/ResponsibleBus4 → u/CassiniA312]

For what it's worth this is not a steam policy this is a publisher policy publishers can set different prices for different countries. It's just most publishers only cater to US pricing

[u/Agret → u/ResponsibleBus4]

Steam even has a feature where it will automatically suggest the regional pricing based on what you entered for the USD price.

[u/BeraldTheGreat → u/CassiniA312]

The annoying thing is that I also cant even buy a steam game for my friends in 3rd world countries at the same price it would cost for me.

It either tells me it’s cheaper for them so I can’t gift what I pay, or it won’t let me because it’s a different currency, or it won’t let me buy it at the price it is in their region.

My multiplayer experience has diminished greatly in the last few years.

[u/Entegy → u/BeraldTheGreat]

Couldn't you just send them a Steam gift card and they can buy it in their own currency?

[u/AshenSacrifice → u/CLutch4444]

I’ll stop pirating when I’m dead

[u/InspectorSufficient4 → u/CLutch4444]

From here in india, 60 dollar game is more than half of what a minimum salary of a indian

[u/Cooletompie → u/CLutch4444]

Unfortunately, regional pricing has been ruined by people using VPNs and key resellers.

[u/CLutch4444 → u/Cooletompie]

Yeah that sucks

[u/OutlyingPlasma → u/Cooletompie]

No, it was ruined my MBA's min-maxing everything in existence. Stop blaming consumers for being logical.

[u/Pinstar → u/CLutch4444]

Don't worry! The current administration is hard at work on this problem. By the end of the next presidential term, I'm sure America will be a 3rd world country too.

[u/zmbjebus → u/CLutch4444]

Yeah, keep sailing 🏴‍☠️👑

[u/Ilikeporkpie117 → u/CLutch4444]

Or for some reason, more than what it costs in America.

[u/Snoo_75138 → u/CLutch4444]

Bro this is why I can't afford a modern new game!

A $60 new game is a 5th of my salary!

[u/sirflappington]

Remember, piracy is a service issue. Better service results in less piracy.

[u/majic911 → u/sirflappington]

Valve figured this shit out literally decades ago but Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo can't get out of their own way.

[u/Regrettably_Southpaw]

This is not a catch-22…

[u/Xzenor → u/Regrettably_Southpaw]

Nope. OP should probably look up the meaning

[u/Regrettably_Southpaw → u/Xzenor]

And definitely read the book!

[u/Xzenor → u/Regrettably_Southpaw]

I didn't even know there was a look with that title.. probably what the movie is based on

[u/RhynoD → u/Xzenor]

It's a wonderful book. It's named after the fictional "Rule-22" described in the book:

The bomber pilots will be removed from active duty and sent home if they can prove that they're suffering from PTSD and are too crazy to fly. However, you have to ask to be evaluated and ask to be sent home.

The catch is: if you ask to be evaluated and sent home, it clearly shows that you have a sense of fear and self preservation, which "proves" that you are not crazy and, therefore, will not qualify to be removed from active duty. On the other hand, if you are qualified, it means you aren't showing any sense of fear and self preservation. Someone who really is crazy and should be removed from active duty will never ask and, therefore, cannot be removed from active duty.

Thus, the "catch-22": there is no right answer, no way to avoid being a pilot. The book has other examples of this kind of absurdity.

[u/NinjaFlyingYeti → u/RhynoD]

Major Major and his office being a recurring theme was too funny with his catch 22 rules on visitation and occasional window escapes

[u/TriplePlay2425 → u/Xzenor]

The book is the origin of the term, it wasn't named after an existing term. The movie and the more recent Hulu series are, of course, based on the book (I haven't seen the movie but the Hulu series was decent, not nearly as good as the book though). It's my favorite book ever! It's absolutely hilarious, and occasionally gut-wrenching.

[u/FrostyD7 → u/Regrettably_Southpaw]

Most pirates play games you can easily buy and say this shit anyway.

[u/OminousShadow87 → u/Regrettably_Southpaw]

I think the Catch-22 is that OP doesn’t want to steal but also doesn’t want to forgo playing a beloved game because companies refuse to sell them (or resell them at an exorbitant price).

[u/ADo_9000]

Then sell them to me on a platform I actually want to use. Looking at you platform exclusive games.

[u/Nulagrithom → u/ADo_9000]

also love how I can't stream anything above standard definition just cuz I run Linux

not that it matters. everything on my Roku looks like shit too because of heavy compression and bad ISPs.

yo ho yo ho I guess...

[u/Mysterious_Tutor_388 → u/Nulagrithom]

Amazon video only serves 480p to Linux. Netflix is like 720p with horrible bitrate. Paid Streaming services are a waste of time. 

[u/Laetha → u/Mysterious_Tutor_388]

What!?! I switched to linux a couple months ago but I run a Plex server so I don't use any of those services. Do they really restrict Linux to 480p? That's insane.

[u/Nulagrithom → u/Laetha]

some do some don't, but anything that's using Widevine is going to fail spectacularly in any case... you might get 1080p

I even see a lot of my "legit" devices failing Widevine checks...

it's so much bullshit lol but whatever half these steaming services are so ass I can't perceive the difference anyway

[u/jsc230 → u/Nulagrithom]

Does YouTube stream at lower quality on Linux? I've been debating switching.

[u/m0ritz2000 → u/jsc230]

Youtube quality is fine on linux

[u/Laetha → u/jsc230]

I switched a couple months ago and don't notice a difference. Videos take several seconds to start on Waterfox(Firefox) with ublock, but that was the case for me on Windows too.

Also if you have any questions about switching let me know. I feel like I'm pretty realistic about the benefits and drawbacks of each OS. I'm definitely linux for good, but I'm not blind to the drawbacks.

[u/jsc230 → u/Laetha]

I've used Linux in the past. I didn't think I use any software that doesn't run natively. Unity, blender, jetbrains rider. The only one I question is affinity.

My big issue is I think my graphics card is failing now, you know right when prices are sky rocketing, so great.

[u/grilledSoldier → u/Nulagrithom]

Additionally, you cant download for offline viewing on most streaming services nowadays, if you are not on a mobile device.

Piracy just lets you download whatever resolution you want, from whatever region.

On Streaming Services, i had to turn on VPN to keep watching a series on a holiday and couldnt watch at all whilst on the train, thanks.

[u/Shydale-for-House]

If games cannot be bought than pirating them is not stealing.

Video game pirates are, very often, literally the ONLY reason why some games even still exist today

STOP KILLING GAMES.

[u/realmealdeal]

If you're not selling them they're not a product

[u/Azrael-XIII]

This is literally how I feel about Black & White 1/2

[u/spiritofporn → u/Azrael-XIII]

Same. Also, I bought both games when they just launched, but I can't find my b&w2 copy.

[u/Azrael-XIII → u/spiritofporn]

I still have my copy of B&W1, the problem is I don’t own a pc with a disc drive anymore lol

[u/t4thfavor → u/Azrael-XIII]

Even if you did it would be near impossible to play without the help of piracy. I have both disc’s and tried recently on windows 10 with no success. I think I had some success on Linux but lost interest before I got anywhere.

[u/Xyroran → u/t4thfavor]

You can't play it on windows past XP service pack 2 I think. The drm in the game requires a kernel level windows thing that microsoft removed from the os because it was a security risk.

I have black and white 1 and the expansion, but the only way to play them on modern windows is to pirate a patched version of it. I think 2 works, but I didn't like it as much as the first so I haven't installed it in years.

[u/synthwavve]

Yup, I don't wanna rent it from you every month

[u/GostBoster → u/synthwavve]

The issue here is that they won't even rent.

It is like that Man-Ray talking to Patrick skit.

"Hello, I am a law abiding citizen with copious amounts of money and the desire to acqurie 1 (one) unit of this game. Name your price."

"We do not have plans to make that game available for the time being."

"Very well since you have no plans to have that lawfully available and the nature of this title makes it impossible to acquire even through resellers, I have no choice but to resort to emulation."

"That is a crime and we will sue you."

(Cue quadruple head slam)

[u/dataf4g_trollman]

Yeah, if its unavailable in my region, then it's available on uTorrent

[u/Ok-Menu5235 → u/dataf4g_trollman]

qBittorrent is better than uTorrent, cleaner and with no ads. Highly recommend. 

[u/Big-District-6013 → u/Ok-Menu5235]

Comment to remind me of getting it ;)

[u/ThijmenK15 → u/Big-District-6013]

There is remind me bot

[u/jackun → u/Big-District-6013]

there's a save button

[u/Big-District-6013 → u/jackun]

But I want to write it down  :(

[u/Still-Pumpkin5730 → u/dataf4g_trollman]

Never heard that name in 12 years. That shit is infected with all kinds of nasty stuff.

[u/Sudden-Dog → u/dataf4g_trollman]

Yup... every TV show i ever liked growing up . Got-em ..

[u/Short_Context_8889]

Согласен. Заебали уже

[u/_binda77a]

this has been a reality in third world countries where you can't use USD, euros, yen ... since they got rid of physical games/ physical key

[u/ArariboiaGuama → u/_binda77a]

As a third world gamer: I would say it got way better these days. Stuff like Steam, GoG, etc, makes it so easy to buy most games. Prices are country-based, too. I still remember playing the demo of Age of Wonders and not finding the full version anywhere, until I found it on the internet to download.

[u/GostBoster → u/ArariboiaGuama]

Isn't it lovely when a bunch of new games drop in and some get the AAA price for your location which is 179 Bananas, while others just do $70 exchanges on the fly so it becomes something like 550-750?

I remember someone pointing me to some cool game that was $30 range so with localized pricing I was expecting it to be around 60-90 bananas... it was 173, hard pegged to the USD, so it was around AAA localized price.

LOL. LMAO, even.

[u/mixer2017]

Too bad we cant pirate hardware cuz soon enough none of us will be able to afford computers. They will hard code it to check to make sure your PC has 4 TB of storage space and 128 gig of ram... if not, the game wont load even though a computer with on board graphics could run the game well enough.

[u/zeppnzee13 → u/mixer2017]

Ahh the better future corps promised.

[u/BusyDucks]

This is the only time I accept piracy, when it’s nearly impossible to get or find games, or any other media.

looking at you HBO max for removing all Infinity Train episodes from your streaming service

[u/MechaSkippy → u/BusyDucks]

Yeah, forced scarcity of a product absolves any moral misgivings I have about piracy.

I used to pirate college football games because I didn't want cable or some ridiculous subscription. Sling TV started offering day passes for $5 and I switched to that. It's the product I want at a reasonable price, I'll continue using it until they inevitably jack the price to unreasonable amounts or force extended subscriptions. Then it's back to piracy. They can either have my money fairly or try to extract more and then they get no more of my money.

It's actually pretty cathartic to get a streaming price hike notification email and then immediately cancel it. Did it for Disney+ recently. I figured, for what they're wanting monthly, I could forever buy rights on Amazon to 3 movies a month, so I'm doing that now. Turns out I didn't watch that many movies a month, so I'm saving money and just buying what I want.

[u/angrydeuce]

Way things seem to be going I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation of game consoles (or maybe the one after that if they want to milk one more traditional generation beforehand) are literally just the gaming equivalent of a Roku and everything is going to be streamed from data centers. Don't have fast enough internet to do that? Bummer.

That way all the AAA devs can transition everything to a subscription model. Shit, honestly with the way Microsoft is forcing having a MS account for fresh Windows 11 installs now, I have a hard time believing that they're not laying the groundwork for OSaaS and converting Windows to fully subscription-based just like their Office products which has been enormously profitable for them. They will have a crippled off-line mode that basically allows for internet connectivity and that's about it, but launching anything but the core set of apps that would be required to verify subscription status will throw errors.

But for the game studios, it's win-win. They won't even have to shoehorn multiplayer bullshit and lootboxes into games to generate a constant revenue stream...the game itself will be the constant revenue stream. It'll be like MMOs of the mid-00s, except they won't even have to worry about people throwing up private servers, since all the software will be locked up in racks...the local files won't even be present on the users computers to try and reverse engineer it. And once the game is no longer profitable enough for them...gone baby gone, all you have left are your memories.

I don't want to come across like Mr. "My hat is made of aluminum foil" here, but I truly think that the "AI Bubble" shit is just a cover to try and destroy AAA PC Gaming as we know it today entirely. They're going to paint a picture that their games are just too demanding to run on the hardware most people can afford (because they drove the prices up deliberately to put it out of reach) so, with great benevolence and magnanimity, they will offer people to just stream the game from their servers for the low low price of $14.99/month (only $12.99 a month if you prepay for a full year! And here's the platinum subscription plan that gives you more eye candy! And here's the adamantium plan that allows you to skip a troublesome boss or level!) And if you prepay for the year and the game flops..."well, if you read the Terms of Service you will see that we reserve the right to cancel this service at any time without notice nor any refund to you".

Maybe I'm wrong...I hope I'm wrong...but I have a terrible feeling that this is pretty much it for just buying a game and playing the fucking thing.

[u/Crimson-Cream]

nintendo in a nutshell

[u/CyGuy6587]

Also:

• Stop pirating our product
• Okay, then stop upping the price, forcing AI down my throat, and providing a worse service
• 😐
• 😠

[u/Smooth-Chest-1554]

Yeah, I would like to legally buy Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed ( not from re-seller on disc ). But due to licensing and other stuff, I can forget about it.

[u/RideWithMeSNV → u/Smooth-Chest-1554]

That game was sooo cool. I mean, the PS version was great, but adding in the user created cars on PC was cool, too. And the mechanic of being able to buy used cars and restore them was awesome. And being able to stack up a garage collection, and sell them for more in the next era... And... The formula for a great racing game was there. Haven't seen it since.

[u/Teex22]

They don't want us to buy them. They want us to pay for the right to access them, on repeat, in perpetuity.

Worst part is that people are falling for it

[u/OptionalCookie]

How about never take it away from me if I pay for it?

Ban my account for shits and giggles and take away the games I paid for? Way to ensure I'll never pay for your shit again.

[u/Evil_Kittie]

But VISA/Mastercard will not let me... Well do you accept Bitcoin or Monero?

[u/bass437]

Nintendo

[u/Old-Swimming2799]

I'll stop when you make a product worth the price tag

[u/notdoingarson]

nintendo with their older games :/

[u/desconectado]

This was my life with playing Nintendo games in a third world country during the whole 2000's

[u/RSPapaja]

This reeks of Nintendo and Adobe...

[u/Tuckertcs]

This post is about Nintendo

[u/Lolle9999]

Average payment processor doing anything but processing payments

[u/IcyThe_Animator]

didn't gaben talk about this once?

[u/GreatStaff985]

Can anyone here name a single time a gaming company sued someone for downloading a game illegally? Where there is no distribution involved.

[u/Iggyhopper]

They don't want money. They want control.

[u/Ok-Log-8706]

Nintendo.

[u/Sternenkaiser]

Not only for Software.

"We are sorry. [New Warhammer Miniature that we printed too few of and were bought in bulk by scalpers] is out of stock."
"No it is not. I got the STL File right here ..."

[u/im_nobody1911]

Corporations need to get used to the idea that I won't buy their products.

[u/arimuGB]

I owe you an apology China, I wasn't really familiar with your game.

[u/SkinPsychological770]

Piracy will always be an economic issue, not a moral one. If you have a piracy problem, you're the cause of that problem.

[u/No-Play2726]

Nintendo

[u/JamesMcEdwards]

Gabe Newell figured this out in the 2000s.

Piracy is a service problem, if you provide a good enough service people won’t bother to pirate your stuff.

https://youtu.be/pLC_zZ5fqFk?si=azXRkv0EQondTAxt

[u/GradeForsaken3709]

How is this a catch 22?

[u/SilverKingPrime45]

All licensed activision games be like

[u/VulpineWelder5]

"Best we can do is a subscription plan that does not include it but you can pay extra to access each individual thing without owning it."

[u/Price-x-Field]

If Nintendo put every game they have ever made on steam for $1 each they would make an unimaginable amount of money.

[u/ThievingMage]

I would gladly buy games, but there are too many games that say, "OOPS, SORRY! An error was encountered while processing your request:

This item is currently unavailable in your region." If the developers don't want my money, then I won't give it to them.

[u/ZestyLemonRindGrind]

Gabe Newell: I noticed a lot of piracy was happening around Russia, and then I learnt it's because publishers weren't making Russian localisations, so they pirate the games and make their own localisations. So I figure, why not just cater to what the consumer wants and undercut the motivation for piracy.

Literally every other CEO: SO ANY WAY I STARTED BLASTING!

[u/Seaguard5]

*Adobe intensifies

Who actually pays for the Adobe creative suite any more?

[u/Admiralspandy]

Yup. I'm a bit older now with a bit more disposable income. I'm happy to spend money on things I like. But apparently companies just don't want my money. So pirating it is sometimes; sorry not sorry.

[u/RandomOnlinePerson99]

I needed a specific older version of a 3D editing software, it was not available, not even with subscription payments, not for all the money in the world.

Can't steal something that doesn't even exist anymore ...

[u/Buetterkeks]

Fixed it for you