Not too long ago, we reported that Gears of War 2 had been leaked and was already available for download on the internet.
A tip has come in today, telling us that a local, with the incredibly elegant gamertag: Balsak66 was already spotted playing Gears of War 2 last night while connected to Xbox Live. A damn shame that some members of our local gaming community are supporting piracy and for all we know there are more although some of them may have actually made some sort of effort to hide their crime.
Piracy really is starting to become a serious problem in the console gaming industry and if we support it then we are going to slowly kill off the very thing that we all have in common, games.
More after the jump.
Come on guys, be a man (or woman) and do the right thing. Wait the wait and fork out the cash for the game that so many of us have been waiting for for such a long time. PC gaming is already suffering with Crytek announcing that they will no longer be creating games exclusively for PC as well as Epic Games announcing that they will not be releasing a port of Gears of War 2.
Gaming has just become the new “Hollywood” and already so many people are making such an active effort to destroy it by pirating games.
Last Updated: October 24, 2008
evilgrinningmonkey
October 24, 2008 at 12:51
He really is a ball sack
Macethy
October 24, 2008 at 12:58
With a nick like that it’s no suprise.Isn’t there a way we can report him or spam him to death?
bunnyfight
October 24, 2008 at 13:05
more piracy = less games = less piracy
self solving problem if i ever saw one
Dev
October 24, 2008 at 13:20
Whats the point if you work out the price of cap used to download a 7 gig file its almost R500 anyways, saving a R150…Big woop.
baba
October 24, 2008 at 13:21
I thought MS blocked chipped consoles on Live? What happened to that?
Fudzy
October 24, 2008 at 13:27
Yeah, if I had known I could play pirated games on Xbox live I would have chipped my console ages ago.
Kidding!
Seriously though, coming from a scurvy PC gamer I actually support purchasing my console games.
The article though makes LZ sound a bit jealous of the guy playing the game already, I dunno that’s my opinion. Also, what sort of proof do you have that this guy was playing GoW2? Its a bit unfair lambasting the chap if you haven’t got solid proof.
janrik
October 24, 2008 at 13:42
The gamertag shows it…
Squal666 is another local gamer that was playing farcry2 and fable2 last week allready.
http://www.ps3za.co.za/forum/showthread.php?t=13617&page=2
alphaV1za
October 24, 2008 at 14:14
Just so you know that aint me.
(I sometimes use a profile named Squall as well.)
koldFU5iON
October 24, 2008 at 14:18
I agree with Fudzy, there’s a chance that he has a legit copy there’s no way to prove on our end that he infact does have a chipped box and his copy of gears is an official release albeight probably stolen as international release date hasn’t hit yet.
if you’re interested: http://live.xbox.com/en-GB/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=Balsak66
but like I said unless he blatantly confesses to it there’s no way we can prove it.
ewie
October 24, 2008 at 14:25
well saffakana on the mybroadband openly admit he got a pirated copy
ewie
October 24, 2008 at 14:26
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=141580
LazySAGamer
October 24, 2008 at 14:54
When it comes to piracy I believe in guilty until proven innocent…
From the people I know who would have received the game early none of them would have called themselves ballsak.
If we are wrong I am more than happy to publish an apology, however I am pretty sure we are not
And no I am not jealous, I am irritated that people don’t see the damage they cause
CHase
October 24, 2008 at 16:23
is it just me or every week is there a piracy story on this site?
Get over it guys there are always gonna be pirates out there.
Its ruining the industry i agree. MS really need to sort out that stuff because it really is unfair for those of us that spend our hard earned cash, although u dont have much choice if you a ps3 owner like me.
New games are pirated as they come out, you can complain about it all you like but nothing is ever gonna change. Imagine the poor music industry.
ferver
October 24, 2008 at 16:55
I agree with CHase. there’s always going to be piracy and there’s nothing anybody can do it about it.
Theft unfortunately exists, period. Let’s be happy that it hasn’t got to the point of the music, video, and TV shows industry.
Wither
October 24, 2008 at 17:22
Okay wait, so 2 stories makes that every week??? Don’t know how you came to that count
Ramiz ZA
October 24, 2008 at 17:58
Balsak66 is Legend!!! he has done it twice now and im suprised that everyone only noticed this now cause of GOW2…
CHase
October 24, 2008 at 18:02
Just sick about reading about pirates. they always gonna be around.
rant over
Ramiz ZA
October 24, 2008 at 18:36
Its about this rant be over, now we can get on with waiting for g0w2 and xbox living
LazySAGamer
October 24, 2008 at 22:43
By that logic the newspapers should stop publishing crime stories as well?
The point of this story is that hopefully someone in Microsoft sees it and gives the offender a call…
Atomic
October 25, 2008 at 09:06
Crap like this is gonna kill the industry.. we wont sto it any time soon, it’s just sad that such a hugely anticipated title got leaked so early.
Hope M$ find a way to ban these mofo’s cause they are just rubbing in the faces of those good people who actually buy the games.
Anyone who pirates games is a frikken @$$hole
ewie
October 25, 2008 at 19:19
Crap like this will kill the second hand market,
why because more and more publishers will go the online distribution route, or incline dlc that is downloaded with a code for first use only. Or like new gears- down loadable maps etc etc etc. Or unlock codes for discs etc etc.
roro
October 26, 2008 at 01:09
i have people all over my friends list playing gears 2, whats the big deal?,,..
Charl
October 26, 2008 at 12:21
I find it funny that everyone is out raged about this. Check back in two months, Gears of War 2 still sells millions :p
Interesting fact: GTA IV leaked weeks early, still became one of the biggest multimedia releases in history.
Yeti
October 27, 2008 at 08:21
What is not to be outraged about? Do you openly support crime? Saying it is only the minority is also absurd. Only a small percentage of people steal cars as opposed to buying them, do you defend those people?
Just because a game will go on to sell millions of copies doesn’t give anyone a right to justify their piracy.
Wesley
October 27, 2008 at 09:26
i highly doubt that yesterday i was at the flea market and saw a pirated gears of war 2 copy being selled at R120 now if that isnt tempting i dont know what is lol
Wesley
October 27, 2008 at 09:29
one thing is for sure with the next generation piracy will be something of the past. with a diffrent media used . then it would be ages before pirates will be able to crack or buy that media format at a good price to even manufacture pirate games… look at the PS3 i hate to say it but they were smart knowing this
Wesley
October 27, 2008 at 09:36
i seriously doubt it will. if you dont know having a pirated game can lead to your own downfall. like for example getting banned form xbox live. and there are alot of people scared of working up those gamer points and paying that xbox gold membership just to lose it over a modded console or pirated game.
Cant see that happening. The only people who really buy pirated games in my opinion are people who dont have xbox live. in other words , they’ll never get the exclusive DLC or even patches for fixing small bugs ect ect.
And lets say they have xbox live some where along the line they will get banned and we all go home happy ok?
IkariX
October 28, 2008 at 07:35
I refuse to give M$ any more money. I’ll never pirate for the ps3. The ps3 deserves original copies
frostxsuicide
October 28, 2008 at 08:02
ballsak66 is actualy selling copys of gears of war 2 from xbox live and his myspace, as well a a few others who do you report this to?
LazySAGamer
October 28, 2008 at 10:44
I will happily take those details support@lazygamer.co.za or you can report it to FACT http://www.safact.co.za/piracy_reporting.htm
LazySAGamer
October 28, 2008 at 10:44
Care to back that up with a solid reason? Why should one capitalist company be worse than another?
Wesley
October 28, 2008 at 10:59
That is so idiotic! why doesnt he just advertise it on google aswel. “GEARS OF WAR 2 FOR DOWNLOAD DONT TELL MY MOM”
Wesley
October 28, 2008 at 11:07
thats so stupid. looks like everybody here forgot about the massive PS1 and PS2 piracy dillema. I mean every where you turned were pirated games . AND I MEAN EVERYWHERE!
And Sony survived. chill your noodle, there is always light at the end of the tunnel
Wesley
October 28, 2008 at 11:10
and thats not counting the numberous DVD9 you have to waste to get it working, i read on hacker sites there are all kinds of stealth and checks you have to do not to mention something of a layer break?
Right there i decided nah too much work ill keep original hahaha
Wesley
October 28, 2008 at 11:13
Well if your xbox is to say “chipped” they will ban you it just depends on when MS decides to do a security sweep and check your gamertag and other computer langauge stuff .MS can also see when a console is modded. just a matter of how often they do it i guess
Wesley
October 28, 2008 at 11:15
well law states if you do have an original copy of your game, you are allowed to make ONE.. I repeat ONE copy of the game for BACKUP purposes everybody knows the prices of games these days. So maybe he has an original but thats a big IF. and how many people do you know that can actaully back up xbox 360 games lol
Wesley
October 28, 2008 at 11:23
whose to say its M$ fault, there are smart people out there. If the material is cheap and the technology is there then, its nobodies fault except ours for being too damn smart to find a loop hole in the first place.
And if you ever pirate a PS3 game then sony will probably make you their lead manager in IT devoloping hahaha the PS3 will never be cracked and thats a fact
ChewyChris
October 30, 2008 at 09:07
i found another guy who’s been playing it.
http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=Sirus+7he+Virus
Lynked
November 6, 2008 at 22:44
I feel this topic is useless. Who cares if he played a copied game i mean it is technically illegal but so what. I spend my hard earned money getting conned by MS but what does he have to do with me? I see no outrage towards the criminals who have opened their original copies of GOW2 early (illegal, embargo is still active) when i have to wait how fair is that i have to wait they should do, or those who play illegally on xbox live committing credit card fraud (Serious crime). I say make sure you buy originals and dont worry about the rest.