Epic sinks Gears 2 pirate's ship

by Dustin Burg { Nov 13th 2008 at 4:30PM }

Protip: Pirating video games just doesn't pay. As is made evident by the recent lawsuit Epic Games filed against a St. Louis man who advertised copies of Gears of War 2 on Craigslist prior to its release along with modded Xbox consoles.

A settlement has been reached where the St. Louis Mod Shop owner agreed to never sell copies of Gears 2 or any modded Xbox hardware, turn over all modding hardware, pay an undisclosed amount in fees, help Epic identify other copyright violoators and issue a public apology. For shame! Remember kids, pirating games doesn't pay. Ninjaing games just makes more sense.

[Via Kotaku]

Tags: epic, epic-games, gears-of-war-2, gow2

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Latin Trident @ Nov 13th 2008 4:39PM

shame on that man!

Dragod @ Nov 13th 2008 4:41PM

Ninjaing games does make more sense... Wear all black, break in to a GameStop at 3 am, take a game, then get out of there... No modding required!

DJcube @ Nov 13th 2008 5:00PM

Plus the developers still get the money.

Dragod @ Nov 13th 2008 5:08PM

Sounds like a win-win to me.

MDJ2010 @ Nov 14th 2008 2:14AM

Win-Win is good but nor ideal.

Ideally we're looking for Win-Win-Win

Ian @ Nov 14th 2008 9:33AM

It is Win-Win-Win

From a gamer's perspective:

Epic gets paid - Win
Gamers get free games - Win
Gamestop suffers damage - Win

Bravo6 @ Nov 14th 2008 11:23AM

Then it's settled! Meet you guys at Gamestop, 3am sharp. Bring your own ski-mask!

DBoyFlex @ Nov 13th 2008 4:44PM

At least something has been done. Good for Epic. I want them to keep cranking out good games, and that might not happen if everything gets pirated.

Erik Stroud @ Nov 13th 2008 4:47PM

At least he has agreed to stop. Some people would continue even if they got busted.

SadisticHam @ Nov 13th 2008 5:07PM

What hes agreed to do and what he does do are two different things, Epic or the law for that matter can't have a guy standing behind him all the time.

Should of had his shop shut down and be refused the right to start up any other ventures, businesses - anything in the long distant future. Make it so stealing from Developers is a big risk, one that'll fuck up your career, life, whatever.

Off topic:
I'm in a lovely mood today.

Erik Stroud @ Nov 13th 2008 8:37PM

I doubt he will try again, I mean, now I'm sure he is being watched because of it.

BFBeast666 @ Nov 13th 2008 5:00PM

Yay, Ninjas win!

Seriously though: Pirating video games sucks. I still fondly remember my Amiga 500 and I'm damn sure that the excessive pirate scene surrounding that machine killed it off in the end.

Jamin @ Nov 13th 2008 5:00PM

Maybe they should focus more on making sure their product even works before they bother worrying about people pirating it. Public Matchmaking is a joke!

ChuckJ @ Nov 13th 2008 5:14PM

I have downloaded/burnt/played GOW2 before it's release. The only game ive ever done this with. But before you get your panties in a bunch, i did buy the game upon it's release.
I dont have a huge problem with media pirates. The price of electronic media has always been high and over priced and it is only going to get worse, wether there are people pirating copies or not. And let's be honest, there are many games that just arent worth $60.
That and with companies like Epic now focusing in on putting a dent in the Used Game sales, I can not frown upon people who want to pirate games.

Strike Man @ Nov 13th 2008 9:18PM

"And let's be honest, there are many games that just arent worth $60."

Can you say irrelevant?

Tampa813 @ Nov 13th 2008 5:23PM

So basically he has to snitch and he's basically free?

I think that including 5 maps that you need a key to download was a good thing to discourage piracy, but wont stop it.

ChuckJ @ Nov 13th 2008 5:42PM

Those 5 maps arent a good thing when it comes time to sell your game. The person who buys your game will be unable to use the original code and will be out the full game essentially.

Chester @ Nov 13th 2008 6:05PM

I totally disagree that putting a key in the original packaging for the maps was a good idea.

What about people like me who use "GameFly"! We get screwed!!

Viridium @ Nov 13th 2008 7:36PM

LOL @ Chester... you don't get screwed, you just don't get five maps.

prence @ Nov 13th 2008 5:32PM

What an idiot :\\

Anticrawl @ Nov 13th 2008 5:33PM

I buy legit. I find the disgruntled UPS employees that sell off gamestop's shipments for 20 bucks a title.

Not really, but a friend of mine does. I buy from the mom n pop store here.

Seba501 @ Nov 13th 2008 5:46PM

i am a pirate arrrrrrrrrrggggg.

Free games arrrrrgggg.

Sry developers, but u cant NEVER stop the piracy, just mitigate it. The only thign that u can do is make a "blocked" sistem like the Ps3.

PD: arg

ryan @ Nov 13th 2008 9:12PM

It's "Arrrrgh!"

If you're going to act like a pirate at least write like a pi-....Oh...I see what you didn't mean to do there...*applauds, tips hat*

yolarrydabomb @ Nov 13th 2008 6:15PM

*Claps*

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

He deserves it for playing it before all us gets it.

adam @ Nov 13th 2008 6:38PM

"help Epic identify other copyright violators (don't worry, I fixed your typo!)" = turning over his entire customer list and anybody he has ever shipped to ... nice.

Mazrael @ Nov 13th 2008 7:37PM

Go Epic - Ourah!

Avan @ Nov 13th 2008 10:44PM

today this guy tomorrow the internet, good luck epic

Colby @ Nov 13th 2008 10:50PM

I think Epic games is too worried about retarded stuff. I know pirating is bad,but perhaps they should create a new game engine...it's all looked the same since the first generation of 360's and PS3. I don't burn or mod stuff, but come on... I don't really want to buy another Epic game...ever. They've really turned away their demographic. Why do you think Sony has half tried to stop the pirating on the PSP, because they understand that's one of the most attractive points to it...and dude..you'd rather sale a crap ton of systems other than a crap ton of crappy games and make people mad. So, maybe Epic should follow them, and make good games...and let the good times roll haha.

MDJ2010 @ Nov 14th 2008 2:18AM

you cant compare the modding of the psp to that of the 360, the things you can do with the modded psp are endless because it is a portable device.And as for Epic making crappy games? Well you are wrong, I have 2 games from them that are truly pic, hmmm now I wonder what those games are.....