WAIT, SO WHO'S THE PIRATE?

I totally get the fight against online piracy.   I've been an online pirate since I was copying my neighbor's Secret Of Monkey Island discs back in 1993, and have never stopped.  But from the companies' standpoints, I totally get it.  I know damn well I'm doing something immoral and illegal.  I don't justify it.  I don't pretty it up.  I'm just a cheap bastard that doesn't like paying for shit, I admit it.



And yet, the bullshit companies are pulling nowadays that fuck over the consumer in every conceivable way are considered legitimate business tactics.  Unfinished games being released, in the name of additional content you have to pay to unlock.  On-disc content masquerading as "DLC" (you can't call it DOWNLOADABLE content, if it's already on the disc and you don't have to download it).  We've reached an age where in order to be a hero, a company doesn't even have to go above and beyond, they just have to NOT be assholes like this.  When did normalcy become the new heroism?

The case that brings me to this is Saints Row The Third.  I haven't played it yet, but it looks like a lot of fun.  A friend has not stopped raving about how much ridiculous fun it is, since he got it for Christmas.  My biggest concern is that it's going to end up like the previous Saints Row games were for me; ridiculous fun for a couple hours, but got old really quickly, and I never picked them back up again.  This is not an experience I want to pay $60 for.  However, he's been very insistent that I pick up a copy of the game, and that I get it for the 360 so that he and I can play online together.  I have to admit, that sounds fun.

Wait.  Did I say $60?  Oh ho ho, not so fast.

The disc for the game is still $60, unless I buy it used.  Fantastic.  But then I have to pay for XBox Live Gold.  I've always had it, but my yearly subscription JUST ran out this month (I got a new PC and Steam, so my 360 has been neglected).   So I have to pay for Live...there's another $10 per month, unless I want to pay for the whole year.

But wait...now THQ says I ALSO have to pay a $10 fee (800 MS Points) for a Saints Row "Online Pass" if I want to play the game online, on top of my XBL monthly fees?  Are you fucking kidding me?!   That's what the XBL Gold fees pay for!   So right now, in order to play this game online with my buddy, I have to pay a minimum of $80!?

THQ, you can go fuck yourself.  I said that I don't justify myself as a pirate; you do that for me.