Atari Goes Social with GO; Partners with Pirates

[exfileme]

Atari's new Games Online service will partner with websites hosting illegal versions of its games.

Atari Goes Social with GO; Partners with Pirates : Read more

 

[COLGeek]

Good move, if it works. All about the money.

 

[aracheb]

wow atari is setting a new standard..
well this is what happens when you are force to kneel down and you have a meeting with reality and you humble yourself down. You actually get out of the Darwin trash can and start using your brain again.

 

[Guest]

HOLY COW!!!!!! Finally a smart gaming company!

 

[liveonc]

Sad that I just don't believe that goodness sells as well as aggressive marketing & below the belt self-sabotage spread of crappedware on P2P. Everybody needs at least a very busy team of cheap Indian/Chinese SPAM/vira yes-men. Either vira discouragement of pirate-free, Pro/Anti SPAM bloggers, & site hacking squads. In order to get a little bit of Online Justice.

 

[zerapio]

Wow, this is brilliant. Here's someone thinking outside the box.

 

[Cy-Kill]

This is a good move, however, I see it pissing off the other gaming companies at first, until they decide to or not to do the same thing.

 

[hellwig]

People have for years been saying that companies could help themselves if they gave the customers what they want, rather than tell them what they get. In response, those companies have been telling us to go ourselves. I recall a story not too long ago about a company suing the operator of their largest fan-site for one of their games because he had a paypal link or some kind of ads to help pay hosting costs (aside: companies and government seem to think owning, operating, and maintaining a website is done for free).

It's refreshing to see a company take the opposite approach and work with those people. How many companies just let a product die, then go after the fans who try to keep it alive? Obviously Atari sees that there's still money to be made from these old titles, and is working to help reward the individuals that kept them alive in the minds of the customers.

More companies should take this approach. Look at the Nintendo marketplace. I know I've purchased a few NES games to play on my Wii, even though I could easily download an emulator and a ROM.

 

[fenixkane]

It's like I've been saying for years. Don't fight the pirates (it's a loosing battle), find a way to benefit from them.

 

[liveonc]

[citation][nom]fenixkane[/nom]It's like I've been saying for years. Don't fight the pirates (it's a loosing battle), find a way to benefit from them.[/citation]

That's right! Hire them, or throw them in jail until they sign up! ;-)

 

[killerclick]

Pirates should be fought at every step. Push through tougher penalties including jail time for downloaders and after a few years piracy will be eradicated in developed markets.

 

[jazn1337]

You see that, Ubisoft? This is how to properly deal with piracy.

 

[rohitbaran]

This is good. Lesser illegal games. Happier customers.

 

[eddieroolz]

I'm sorry to be a bit ignornt, but Atari is still around?

 

[thejerk]

paradigm shift?

 

[r0x0r]

As a company, if someone's gonna pirate something then you want them to pirate your stuff (well, you want them to buy it but let's be realistic).

If someone's using your stuff then they aren't using the competitors stuff, and the pirate might actually like it enough to buy it and/or recommend it to their non-pirating friends.

 

[liveonc]

[citation][nom]r0x0r[/nom]As a company, if someone's gonna pirate something then you want them to pirate your stuff (well, you want them to buy it but let's be realistic).If someone's using your stuff then they aren't using the competitors stuff, and the pirate might actually like it enough to buy it and/or recommend it to their non-pirating friends.[/citation]

Try before you buy is old, bundle-ware newer, now they'll either force, coerce, shut down, multi market you until you cry, or send it to you without your knowledge or consent & the cops if you don't pay them.

 

[Marco925]

[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom]People have for years been saying that companies could help themselves if they gave the customers what they want, rather than tell them what they get. In response, those companies have been telling us to go ourselves. I recall a story not too long ago about a company suing the operator of their largest fan-site for one of their games because he had a paypal link or some kind of ads to help pay hosting costs (aside: companies and government seem to think owning, operating, and maintaining a website is done for free).It's refreshing to see a company take the opposite approach and work with those people. How many companies just let a product die, then go after the fans who try to keep it alive? Obviously Atari sees that there's still money to be made from these old titles, and is working to help reward the individuals that kept them alive in the minds of the customers.More companies should take this approach. Look at the Nintendo marketplace. I know I've purchased a few NES games to play on my Wii, even though I could easily download an emulator and a ROM.[/citation]

*Cough*Squaresoft*Cough*Chrono Trigger*Cough*

 

[teknomedic]

only problem is some of these "illegal" versions are better than the original.

 

[pabeader]

and if that's true, Atari will probably buy it and make it one of the options. they have proven they are smart, now let them prove they are savy!