This sequence of events will no doubt reignite the debate on the war on software piracy. However, I’m also sure that Halo 2 will still sell a few million copies regardless of how many people download a copy, so whether or not this will change anyone’s views on piracy is the real question that needs answering.
I’ll add my thoughts here quickly. I wish it hadn’t been pirated -.- It makes avoiding spoilers a lot more difficult. [size=150]And if anyone even thinks about posting Halo 2 spoilers in this forum without good warning I will be so fucking pissed.[/size] -.-
I heard about this a few days ago, as I was shown the site where it can be downloaded. A friend of mine was telling me that I should download it now, but I’m quite content to wait for the game to be released and buy my own copy…
In my opinion, there’s no reason to release games before their official release date. Everyone should have the same chance of playing the game, at the same time… why should those with a DVD burner (or a modded Xbox) get to play Halo 2 before everyone else? Also, like Shadow mentioned, the chances of spoilers appearing before the game is released isn’t good at all.
I don’t doubt that Halo 2 will still sell more than enough copies to make it into the top seller charts, but even so the damage has been shown with games like Half-Life 2… a game that was supposed to come out a year ago but was delayed because the source code was stolen. Since Halo 2’s release date hasn’t changed, it sounds as if the leaked copy hasn’t ultimately done any harm besides Microsoft loosing some profit from pirates who probably would have downloaded the game when it was officially released anyway…