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Fallout 3 leaked, pirated, a full 20 days before release
Kevin Spiess - Thursday, October 9th, 2008 | 10:15AM (PT)


Condolences to Bethesda

Fallout 3 leaked, pirated, a full 20 days before release Image 1

Oh this has to hurt -- sure-blockbuster Fallout 3 has been leaked very early, and is currently being pirated across many P2P clients.

Before you get on about how piracy is killing the PC, and piracy is the reason why developers don't bless us with games, you should know that it is the Xbox 360 version of the game that is making its rounds.

It seems highly likely that it was a early review copy of the game, given to the press, that has been leaked. The game only went gold yesterday, after all. Hopefully Bethesda will track be able to track down game-leaker and fine him, or punch him with a fatman fist, or what not. A studio can probably handle 0-day piracy of the game they have spent the last 2 years working on, but when the game is leaked 20 days before release, you have to imagine that that will hit them in the pocket books. 

Hmm... could more Xbox 360 DRM be coming after this boondoggle? I hope not. 

 

Source: Bill Gates03

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Comments:

October 9th, 2008 10:53AM(PT)
chautemoc
Hmm I'm not sure when it's leaked would affect whether or not someone was going to pirate it, at least not much. I mean, I dont really see why it would. But still, yeah, I think people should respect release dates!

Boondoggle? Amazing.
October 9th, 2008 11:00AM(PT)
Jarhead255
I don't see how this is a issue. Unless someone can format the thing into a disk for their 360. Then they are screwed in the ass. I think it would hurt more if copies of the game disk were being made this early.

Also, how the hell would DRM work on a 360?
October 9th, 2008 11:07AM(PT)
kspiess
quote Jarhead255
I don't see how this is a issue. Unless someone can format the thing into a disk for their 360. Then they are screwed in the ass. I think it would hurt more if copies of the game disk were being made this early.

Also, how the hell would DRM work on a 360?
You can burn the game onto a disk for a 360.

Regarding DRM, a PC and Xbox have much more similarities than differences. Getting Spore-style 3 install limit DRM onto the Xbox would not be that hard.
October 9th, 2008 11:09AM(PT)
kspiess
quote chautemoc
Hmm I'm not sure when it's leaked would affect whether or not someone was going to pirate it, at least not much. I mean, I dont really see why it would. !
I think that if it is leaked super-early, those that are interested in the game -- and especially those that have been waiting for the game a while -- might go crazy with anticipation and download the game in some sort of orgy of piracy, so they don't have to wait for the official release.

October 9th, 2008 11:10AM(PT)
chautemoc
quote kspiess
Regarding DRM, a PC and Xbox have much more similarities than differences. Getting Spore-style 3 install limit DRM onto the Xbox would not be that hard.
The future is nigh.
October 9th, 2008 11:26AM(PT)
Azuma
Thats gotta hurt Bethesda. Wasnt Spore just a week?
October 9th, 2008 11:46AM(PT)
twizttid13
Well at least its not a PC version. That would be pirated like wildfire. I don't think this will hurt Bethesda at all. People that download consoles games then burn them is a small percent compared to PC game pirates. Plus this is only a review copy not the actual copy.
October 9th, 2008 11:47AM(PT)
kspiess
quote Azuma
Thats gotta hurt Bethesda. Wasnt Spore just a week?
Something like that. I think it was 5 days.
October 9th, 2008 1:21PM(PT)
OmegaFury
This is disgraceful. Bethesda is a respectable company, and its games do not deserve to be pirated. They have not put on ridiculous DRM, or anything of the sort. This is one of the rare cases where I will denounce piracy, especially since it is 20 days before its release day. This kind of B.S. is going to cost everyone as a whole. Thanks a lot pirates -.- Actions like this will only force developers to become more strict with DRM and protection protocol.
October 9th, 2008 1:50PM(PT)
chautemoc
Yeah, they were pretty reasonable about it. I'm kind of a miser when it comes to games with DRM..and I think I'll pay for this if I like what I play. Their basic concession was "we dont think its okay to give people the complete freedom to mass distribute the game", so they gave the PC version a disk check thinger. I can deal with that I guess. I dont feel its unthinkable to have no protection though..some devs have done it and with great success, so, I dont really see why its such a big deal. Paranoiiiaaaaaa.
October 9th, 2008 3:49PM(PT)
THM
Umm..,What can I say, Piracy is ubiquitous or omnipresent among new games. The publishers and game developers should aware of that mundane phenomenon before they release their new games...
October 9th, 2008 3:50PM(PT)
kspiess
DRM does little to actually hamper piracy. It is more of a knee-jerk reaction that punishes people who buy the games.
October 9th, 2008 4:18PM(PT)
ShadowJ
360 jerk offs I see? I say you don't just punish the person/people that have leaked the game but also as punishment, hit the 360 where it hurts and give them a disadvantage to the rest of the platforms.

Then again this isn't a surprise, the lasy several months, it has been known that Beth Soft were making the 360 the lead platform for Fallout 3...maybe next time around they will think twice

Just a shame there are some petty and pathetic people out there who couldn't wait another 20 days
October 9th, 2008 5:18PM(PT)
B2smoove
Never fails to amaze me how stupid pirates can be. PC games are so full of DRM that I wont buy, so I leave my beloved mouse and keyboard in exchange for a controller and here they come again.... Well we all see where this is going. Soon we wont be buying games at Gamestop or Walmart, because they wont be selling them. Soon the only way you will be able to play is from direct download services like Steam or now XBL or Sony PSN. All cd type sales will be gone and what we will have left is DRM stuffed consoles with harddrives that will cost a fortune. No more game collections or Limited edition discs. No more used game purchase's. No more letting your cousin borrow your game because it will be attached to your harddrive. I gaurantee you unless these sorry a$$ pirates get a life or they find a non copyable media this is whats next.
October 9th, 2008 5:37PM(PT)
OmegaFury
I believe the greatest example of what happens when there is not any protection is the Sega Dreamcast. Piracy completely sunk that ship. It had no chance...
October 9th, 2008 5:39PM(PT)
kspiess
Hmmm +1 points OmegaFury. For the Dreamcast, a little anti-CD copying technology would have gone a long way.
October 9th, 2008 5:41PM(PT)
chautemoc
Well thats awfully one dimensional.
October 9th, 2008 5:43PM(PT)
kspiess
That's why I thought a +1 was fair. You know, it wasn't a +5008^2 .
October 9th, 2008 10:18PM(PT)
Bill Gates03
Cmon Kevin, you are getting slow on the news!

I posted in the other news comments 9 hours before you made this one that I saw a pirated version was out already.

I mean, if I hadn't at least let some people know then, how are we to let everyone else know? I mean, it's not like everyone sits there refreshing the page everyday to see if Fallout 3 has been added to usenet yet!
October 10th, 2008 6:35AM(PT)
Azuma
Why would they make a console the lead version if its coming out on PC too? I thought oblivion was a good enough example to show that MOST games are better on the PC.(If you can run them that is.)
October 10th, 2008 6:56AM(PT)
Bill Gates03
Yeah, but who NEEDS to know about Fallout 3? The average lazy console gamer.

Us PC Gamers are on top of every new game that can possibly make our PC's sweat.

I don't really know what you mean by they made it the lead version, but I am guessing you mean that they mostly talk about it on the 360, and show videos of it from the 360?
October 10th, 2008 11:19AM(PT)
kspiess
quote Bill Gates03
Cmon Kevin, you are getting slow on the news!

I posted in the other news comments 9 hours before you made this one that I saw a pirated version was out already.

I mean, if I hadn't at least let some people know then, how are we to let everyone else know? I mean, it's not like everyone sits there refreshing the page everyday to see if Fallout 3 has been added to usenet yet!
I changed the source of my news story
October 10th, 2008 1:58PM(PT)
Sabre 220
I personally wouldn't touch that download with a 30 inch stick. Bethesda should punish the uploader and downloaders severely, and if they do get punished, ill say shame.
October 15th, 2008 5:34PM(PT)
Bill Gates03
AHHHH! I just saw this Kevin, good job!
October 21st, 2008 11:52AM(PT)
Teodor Tenchev
What about those of us who don't play pirated games or don't own the xbox360?
October 21st, 2008 12:01PM(PT)
kspiess
Hark! The end is near. Game comes out in another week.
October 31st, 2008 9:11AM(PT)
Teodor Tenchev
Aaaaaand it sucks. I'm sorry.
October 31st, 2008 1:22PM(PT)
kspiess
I'm not the biggest fan of the game -- but apparently I'm in the far minority. You go to some sites and they are just gushing over the game, like it's the second coming of videogames or something.

One reviewer from Paste Magazine said this :"Fallout 3 is, hands-down, the richest, deepest, most captivating game world I�ve ever explored. You�ll have that same feeling of awe you experienced after reading J.R.R. Tolkien�s appendices at the end of Lord of the Rings. Middle Earth really did exist, if only in the head of a mad artist dreamer from Oxford, England. The world of Fallout 3 must never exist. Consider Bethesda Game Studios the Ghost of Christmas Future."

The Lord of the Rings of video games? That's more than a bit absurd.
October 31st, 2008 8:57PM(PT)
Bill Gates03
HAHA

I have only played around 20 minutes so I can't tell yet, but lets just say the graphics look pretty good with everything crank ultra high
October 31st, 2008 10:52PM(PT)
malmsteenisgod
And doesn't posting something like this just make matters worse for Bethesda? Now that we all know about it, it will spread like wildfire.
November 3rd, 2008 8:37PM(PT)
MrGrimm
Thank you for welcoming us to "visit us if you are a game lover." ._.

Anyway, I was just about to say the same thing as malmsteenisgod. Publicity is the EXACT thing pirates need to thrive. If they're at least making you talk about it, it's likely to make piracy thrive more.

Btw, B2smoove: It was going to happen eventually, regardless of piracy. CDs will likely be completely wiped out in the future, thanks to the internet. CDs might be a nice antique, but they are obsolete in some ways.
November 7th, 2008 1:11PM(PT)
kspiess
CD's? You mean DVD's right? CD's are already obsolete


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