321 Studios mkes copying PC games easier

[garfield hates mondays]

From Gamespy.com:

Copying games: Is it a buyer's right or blatant piracy? Whatever your stance on this controversial subject, one company is making it a whole lot easier. 321 Studios, makers of DVD X Copy , showed something called Games X Copy at its CES booth.

DVD X Copy and its subsequent products, for the uninitiated, are PC tools that allow people to back up their DVD collection with ease. As you can probably deduce, Games X Copy works the same way, but with PC games. You can also burn the games, in their entirety, onto you computer's hard drive.

The software is not as effective for Xbox, PSone, and PlayStation 2 games. However, a rep from 321 Studios said that you could burn backups and play them on modified consoles. "Modding" your console, of course, is frowned upon by the manufacturers, and voids your warranty.

It doesn't take a crystal ball to tell that the video game industry is probably going to have a problem with this piece of software. No matter how much 321 Studios claims that parents with the most honorable intentions are its target market, it's easy to see where it would be the perfect item for unscrupulous gamers to copy software to give to or trade with their friends. It goes against everything the industry has been fighting against.

The same uproar happened in the motion picture community. The press materials includes a lengthy chronicle of the legal battles between 321 Studios and MGM Studios, Tristar Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and other major motion picture studios. The ironic thing is, 321 Studios was apparently the first company to file any formal complaint -- with the above-mentioned studios listed as defendants.

No doubt, the same barrage of lawsuits will occur between 321 and companies like EA, Microsoft, and Vivendi Universal. That's definitely not an enviable position, as those companies do not mess around (in a litigious context). Games X Copy will be released within the next month, though how long it will be available remains to be seen. Pricing information is still to be determined. •

[garfield hates mondays]

So, what do you guys think? Is game pirating ok? Should companies like 321 Studios be making software like this? Discuss.

[Josh]

Well look...

if it is TOO easy to copy games then everyone will do it, no one will buy games, and video game company's will go out of business, and we won't have any more gaming.

I mean, I'm not sure how you can say copying is really a GOOD thing.