Ok so Bioshock’s been released. Demo’s out, but I can’t download it! *fume*
Ok ok not really. But, I have been trying to download the demo from various sources like FilePlanet, Fileshack et al, all without satisfying success. Come on, I have a 6MB link, but my download is only a pathetic 20K/sec! It’ll take 10 hours to download (1.9GB)!
Yeah so I posted in various local forums asking if anyone has a fast link for me to download the demo. Nobody has.
Then I found the demo on Bittorrent. WOO!!!
“But wait,” a well-meaning friend cautioned. “Downloading is illegal!”
I look at him, puzzled. “Why is downloading ‘illegal’?”
“cuz,” he said “The game company might sue you for downloading from Bittorrent! Look at what this Odex company is doing to the anime crowd!”
Ok this part really gets me. First we have these stupid “Hi I’m Alvin and I’m a filesharer” anti-P2P campaigns, which are already lame in the first place. Now, the Odex saga has started to brainwash and scare local tech-unsavvy Singaporeans into thinking Bittorrent is illegal.
(I won’t touch on the Odex case here. Suffice to say it’s been talked to death on many blogs as well as in forums. Personally I think Odex is behaving like the RIAA – cyber mafia. Good thing Judge Lau put a halt to their bullying tactics. They might be doing things legally, but the way they executed it leaves much to be desired. Thus, I think very poorly of them, even though I may not be an anime fan)
Get this, friends – the Bioshock DEMO is free. The game companies would HIGHLY encourage everyone to get it any way they can. It doesn’t matter if I get the demo from Fileshack or from Bittorrent, as long as I get it. If I liked the DEMO enough, you bet I’ll buy the original game. Hell I invite any anti-piracy bodies to come to my house and take a look at my cupboards CHOCKED FULL of original games dating back to 1996, then tell me they gonna sue me for downloading a demo from Bittorrent.
Yes, I saw a lot of bittorrent links for the actual full release of Bioshock, but I’m not downloading them. Why? Well, a few reasons:
1. It’s 6 bloody gigs.
2. It’s a good game. I’ll buy it. Well I think it is. Once I played the demo I’ll know for sure if it’s good.
3. I’m not gonna download 6GB just to see if “it’s any good”.
Unless someone tells me the DEMO is “copyrighted” and downloading it is ILLEGAL (which is actually damn stupid if you ask me), I’ll stop downloading it via BT and get it the old, slowpoke way via Fileshack et al.
Anyway the point of this rant – IT IS NOT ILLEGAL TO DOWNLOAD STUFF FROM BITTORRENT! Use your common sense, geesh. This is a DEMO I’m downloading. I’m not stealing anything! They’re giving it away for free dammit!
ps: All you guys who got “Odex-ed”, stick together and fight! Go here for more info!
