" For me, Final Fantasy died at 6 (3 on SNES in the States). That game, with the completely different gameplay mechanics for certain characters and the ability to eventually 'teach' magic to everyone via the Espers just stands miles out from the rest. Add to that the massive and fairly open world(s), the opera scene, the music, and the story and you have a game that makes a complete laughing stock out of the rest of the franchise. Bonus: I've seen both Spirits Within and Advent Children. I preferred Spirits as I really have no interest in the characters or world of FF7. "
I don't even have to post now. Took the words out of my mouth.
Name one artist that was bankrupted by piracy. Just one.
Thats right, there aren't any. While piracy may not be good, your view of this completely black and white world is crazy.
You do realize that the artists receive virtually none of the money from their album sales right? (Less than 10%. Exact figures vary based on artists contract) Meanwhile their record label keeps 80%+ of the profits. If you really want to support a band, go see them in concert and buy their merch, thats where they actually make their money.
And what exactly is the difference between not buying something because you can't, and downloading it? In both situations you are not giving the owner any money obviously, so you downloading it changes nothing as far as he is concerned. The difference is that now you have something that you otherwise could not have obtained. Perhaps you listen to this CD, and realize its terrible. You saved $15 and with one less possible CD sale for that artist, you are part of the invisible hand of the market, helping weed out bad things. What if the CD is amazing?! Well, chances are you will probably show it to some friends, who will also download it, and if they like it, suddenly that band just got new fans! When the time to go on tour comes around, you and your friends go see the band together because you all like the band, the band makes money.
" A study by Blackburn (2004), a PhD student from Harvard, found that the 75% of artists actually profit from piracy. Blackburn reports that the most popular artist (top 25%) sell less records. However, the remaining 75% of all artists actually profit from filesharing." While the most popular artists may suffer slightly from piracy, they are still the most popular artists, and therefore enjoying the millions upon millions they are earning from everything else. The people who lose money from digital distribution are the record labels, and they are the same people suing anybody they can and doing everything in their power to prevent digital distribution from growing. Why? Because the advancement of technology means that they no longer have a viable and profitable place in the world. History shows us that those with power and money resist the evolution of society when it affects them negatively. Similar examples would be the newspaper industry getting angry and wanting to change the way digital newspapers do business (Online newspapers are free, and make money from ads), so that they don't keep losing customers and therefore money. Another example is the oil industry, obviously they make billions of dollars. They are very furiously resisting alternative fuels because if people stop using gas, they go out of business. By the way, you should try forming your own opinions instead of just assuming everyone who tells you what to believe in is telling the truth. People are selfish assholes. People will lie to you to make money. News stations love to lie to make news more sensational, because more viewers means more money. The truth is out there if you look for it. So let me end this rant, which could easily continue for many more pages, by asking you this: Name one artist who was bankrupted by piracy? There aren't any. Don't let people tell you something is bad just because they don't like it. Technology and Society need to evolve or else it will die. People will inevitably lose their jobs, and the balance of power will shift. But thats life. ~Xeiphyer "
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