One Unlucky Soul And His Pirated Copy of Red Dead Redemption
It’s no secret that games are leaked several days before release on torrent sites, especially on private trackers. Many of these pirates are eager to show that they have procured a copy of a game well in advance of its release date.
If you know where to look, many of these pirates often stream the game live. I happened upon one of these streams on Justin.tv. He was playing Red Dead Redemption. Cool in itself, but I realized something had gone awry when his Justin.tv stream went down after only 15 minutes of streaming.
There was no warning from moderators, even though much of those 15 minutes were wasted banning people and circlejerking with the other chat moderators. He then created a second account on Justin.tv, which was also quickly banned. Before he was banned for a third time, he informed us that he could not figure out why Justin.tv continued to ban his accounts, so he decided to create a Ustream account just in case.
I didn’t think much of the move to Ustream. If he creates some no-name account and starts streaming, why would the moderators care? Sure enough though, his Ustream account was soon banned, and another temporary account created informing us that he was moving to the stream on his own site. At this point, I noticed several of the chat members were claiming to have emailed Rockstar, informing them of the illegal stream. I figured the host must have made several enemies banning swaths of people from his stream, but I assumed they were bluffing.
That was until his ISP called the house in the middle of the stream. While the quality wasn’t great, the ISP told the streamer over speakerphone that they had recieved word that he had illegally acquired a copy of Red Dead Redemption, and was proceeding to broadcast that to several other people. Upon hearing this, the streamer uttered a nervous “Oh shit” and ended the stream. While the call sounded legitimate, it could have very well been a prank, but if it was, it was good enough to scare the living hell out of the guy. I couldn’t hear everything the supposed ISP said, so it’s possible they said something to identify themselves that the streamer recognized.
He’s now ignoring the chat on his personal stream which has come back up, and he is currently playing some much more legitimate Ratchet and Clank.
Jesus, you’ve gotta be some kind of moron to pirate that brazenly, then act surprised when the company whose IP you’ve swashbuckled tries to e-kill you.
I used to go to that guy’s website, he’s pirated countless other games, whenever he gets a channel banned he makes a new one 5 seconds later, I’m glad they took more dire measures in this case to end this rampant piracy.
It’s good to see someone suffered for stealing from Rockstar.
Interesting story
There are several inaccuracies in this article.
1. The game was store-bought. The broadcaster lives near a humble mom-and-pop video game store that can only compete with big-name chains like Gamestop by selling games as soon as the shipment arrives. He bought the game for $60 like everyone is supposed to.
2. The broadcaster moved to Livestream first, THEN Ustream.
3. There was no speakerphone involved and he never said “Oh, shit.” He decided that it was too much trouble to keep looking for new sites to broadcast on, and that if Rockstar really didn’t want him broadcasting the game early, he might as well just respect their wishes and stop. When he decided that broadcasting the game was more trouble than it was worth, he *jokingly* said that they called him and asked him to stop.
4. He played Jak and Daxter afterwards, not Ratchet and Clank.
@trufax:
1. Oh look, its on one Eva’s hundreds of sheep who think he can do no wrong and will white knight for him to the ends of the earth. He never showed the box, nor did he show the receipt, despite claiming to do so. Also, buying the game from a Mom-and-pop shop doesn’t make streaming it legal, so defending one illegal action with another is ridiculous.
2.I retold the change streams how I remember them, I may have been wrong, but I don’t think the specific stream is important.
3. Also not true, but anyone who did see it probably got banned from the channel for calling him out on it.
4. Again, I’m retelling the story how I remember it. It could have been Jak and Daxter, I only watched a few minutes after he changed to that game. I’ve never played a Jak and Daxter or a Ratchet and Clank game in my life.
And by the way, nice name “trufax”
Eva is such a faggot. I hope he gets sued out the ass.
Wasn’t going to post, but the Recapcha was too good to pass up:
any repented
Couldn’t have said it any better. ^_^
Ahh the good ol’ days, when I played GTA 4 a week before it came out on a modded Xbox 360. The guys had enough time to pirate a copy, burn the disk and ship it all around Asia a whole week before the game even launched.
@trufax:
Sup Eva, next time you get caught pirating don’t try and act like the entire world is out to get you.
YOU HAVE BROKEN THE LAW, PREPARE TO FACE THE CONSEQUENCES CRIMINAL SCUM.
Sounds like a fine individual.
How’s that goblet of milk Eva?
I wouldn’t exactly call eva an “unlucky soul”, since every single bad thing that happens to him is a direct result of his own actions, and his refusal to own up to them due to a pretty major case of narcissistic personality disorder.
Wanna be less creepy to women? stop doing shit like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNJSjOPHJrs
Yeah, he does seem a little odd.
I’m actually so excited about RDR, I’m not reading any spoilers or even previews.
@anus_sleeve: I could probably fill a book with all the creepy things he does.
soo many people have the game already..
THe number 1 booster on the leaderboards for GTA IV, is currently number 1 on red dead redemption.
loads of people are streaming that game right now.
jsut gotta know where to look
@Aaron “Wheatyâ€:
@ Aaron, I agree with Trufax regardless if you claim he is one of Eva’s hundred of sheep. There is a significant number of inaccuracies in this article.
First of all I am not aware of his claim that he bought the game. So I
can’t comment on that. Let me continue by saying “Assumptions are the mothers of all Screwups”. By which I am referring to your comment stating majority of Streamers precur games illegally. If thats make you sleep better at night, so be it, but some people actually get the games through legal means and stream. Its no quantum physics on the how to…
Secondly, how can you publish an article self justified with inaccuracies and go one to comment “I retold the change streams how I remember them, I may have been wrong, but I don’t think the specific stream is important.” when someone comes out and points out the your mistake has it actually happened and I can attest to that.
Thirdly, its not new that EVa has lots of haters. Seriously they are many, so might say he deserves it. while Playing RDR, I have never been on a stream and see some many people get banned and also the streamer swearing so much. Lol that was just EPIC!!!
Finally, again if you are ok retelling your story how you remember it, which is indeed inaccurate, why not edit the story to actually give a proper oversight of how things really happen.
@r1sh12: whats up rish.. haha
@Chaterone: The article will be edited to correct the order of streams since more than one person has brought that up, and credit goes to you and Trufax for that.
And I never assumed that all streamers procured games illegally. Rather, I said that those who do procure games illegally before the release date often stream said game. I never once said that all streamers pirate games.
I wanna form a nukezilla posse i will be getting rdr on midnight relaese at gamestop psn name: SAVEYOURSORRYS.
outlaws to the end
Oh look, another “journalist” who posts things as fact and can’t handle constructive criticism. Trufax merely pointed out some inaccuracies in your article. I didn’t see a single insult, yet you automatically go on the offensive. Guess what? Stores do sell games early. Whether the guy showed the box or not, that’s a fact. You can’t prove he pirated it any more than you can prove he legally bought it. I know of at least two people who have obtained an early copy (legally). Retailers have been sitting on the game for the past week or so.
Furthermore, I’ve never heard of an ISP calling up one of their customers to complain about an illegal stream. That’s just nonsense.
@A RAGE filled moose: Wow you guys are a bunch of panzies! Leave the guy alone if he gets caught and they take legal action then ok thats his problem not yours. Mind your own buisness…
@J: I couldn’t care less about this post(although I do find it RETARDED that people stream games early, get banned and cry about it when people tell other people).
You’re an idiot as the only people who would take offence are the people who really follow this steaming faggot around and hell, the only people who would bother to defend him are sheep(point in case, you). Go eat a dick faggot.
@r1sh12: It’s super smart to play a game online before release huh?
@Alex
Much like this article, you’re wrong. I don’t follow streams, or Eva, or anyone else for that matter. I’m not sticking up for this kid, either, nor did I take offense to anything (unlike you). I just get a kick out of writers that state things as fact, then get all butt hurt when someone calls them on it. Especially when that person didn’t insult them in any way while doing so.
And why do you want me to eat a dick? Are you hoping I’ll stream it for your viewing pleasure?
@Edward Parker:
u mad.
also my captcha was “at skimpy” awesome.
@J: I call bullshit and didn’t I tell you to go eat a dick?
You just had to piss off the internet didn’t you Aaron? and on the weekend the boss is out. LETS BURN THIS PLACE TO THE GROUND BOYS! LETS DO WHAT BRANDON COULDN’T DO during that week of Pax.
@Alex
Call it whatever you want. I know you’re trying to be funny in front of your buddies and all, but grow up a little. If you’re going to try insulting me, at least use some intelligence. Telling me to eat a dick and calling me a faggot doesn’t really work.
@J: I’m trying to be funny in front of my “buddies”? I don’t care about any of the members of this site. Now hurry up and eat that dick!
@Alex
You certainly are fixated with eating dicks dude. Are you a former altar boy or something? The funny thing is, you are really coming (funny) across as one (a dick). Oh well, you are what you eat (bon appetit).
@fragasaurasflex: J, if you really want to eat my dick… just ask. :)
@Alex
Sorry dude, your mom beat me to it. She likes to snack before coming (again-funny) over to my place for a dinner sized serving of dickliciousness! She’s so hungry for it I can tell she’s tired of the kid’s menu (if it makes you feel any better – you did got served).
“dickliciousness” is a smashing quote.
Who the fuck cares. I surprised they didn’t go round to his house and kill him just for playing the game a few days early.
What a bunch of cunts.
Your mum takes it in the bum by dirty crack head aids infected niggers.
Now fuck off you cunt.
I love the internet.
@Aaron “Wheatyâ€: loser
SHUTUP I CAN’T BELIVE I READ THIS WITH MY EYES YOU ARE ALL GAY.
Ahahah… I can’t wait to see if he’s getting sued, and for how much. The faggot deserved it to be quite honest.
Can we all at least pretend we’re adults and not use derogatory homophobic slurs?
@Aaron “Wheatyâ€:
“Also, buying the game from a Mom-and-pop shop doesn’t make streaming it legal”
Streaming a video game session in progress is illegal?
@NoZart: In the same way that broadcasting any copyrighted content is, I’d imagine.
Our copyright laws are messed up though – It’s actually illegal for you to download an album you own on CD, for example.
DAMN! I can’t believe I entered this party late.
@J: We’re not journalists, we’re bloggers and if you don’t like it, we couldn’t care less.
@NoZart: No, I meant purchasing the game before release date from a mom and pop store and then streaming that game before release date is still illegal.
Once being a viewer of Eva’s stream, and once considering myself a friend of his, which I am ashamed of and which I do not plug in anyway (Look up his fanfics…Dear god he ruined Fallout for me), he has constantly lied about pirating games. Being female, its easy to get the truth out of him if you just act the right way. And as Aaron has said, its still illegal.
Looks like some rage exploded all over the story. Very messy.
Also, whether or not it’s illegal is pretty much a dick move to stream yourself playing a game you got from a “Mom-and-Pop” store. I used to work at one.
Independent store owners don’t have the same obligations to publishers that chain stores do; they don’t get special extras or marketing material in return for keeping street dates. However, if word gets out (through someone in an area of one of these store continually streaming games) that these store regularly break street dates, publishers can put pressure on distributors not to sell copies of their games to the store before release date. This, in turn, fucks up the sales of said stores. It’s one of those “bite the hand that feeds” type deals.
@Nintendoll: But if the mom and pop stores didn’t break street date, then all would be fine and dandy. While it is true that smaller retailers don’t get the bonuses that larger chains do, if a publisher/distributor says, “here’s this product, but you can’t sell it until 3 days from now”, they’d be wise to listen. Pissing off the guys who give you your product is never a wise decision, especially now that it’s becoming easier to get caught.
You’re sooo talking about Eva, aren’t you?
@Naughton: I concur.
If you have a wireless router couldn’t you just turn off the password protection and say someone else may have connected to his wifi and probably downloaded it? Of course they probably got whos IP it was that was downloading though…
@Naughton:
Chain stores are contractually obligated to follow street dates, independent stores are not. That is why places like Gamestop and Amazon.com get preorder extras. The only way smaller store can compete is to sell games earlier. However, publishers can try to pressure whoever is distributing to that store not to let them get copies before the street date.
It is not illegal for independent shops to sell games early, and often it is the only way they can get an edge of chain stores that can afford better advertising and such.
@Nintendoll: That does surprise me – I’d have thought that any store would be contractually obliged to not sell games before street date.
When I used to work for GAME, if we got wind that another company had broken street date, we were allowed to break it as well; Well, I don’t know if we were ‘allowed’, but we did. Tended to be Supermarkets with staff who didn’t really know what they were doing.
@Nintendoll: I understand that independent stores are not contractually obligated to follow street dates, that it is not illegal, and that it is a way for them to compete with the larger chains.
At the same time though, the smaller stores still know what the street dates are for games, and by selling them early, they are going against the wishes of the publishers of said games. To expect the publishers not to pressure the distributors into not letting these smaller stores get games early would be foolish.
@Aaron “Wheatyâ€: i find this issue rather interesting.
As a customer, do you act ILLEGALLY or against some EULA when you buy a game before release? Isn’t the retailer responsible for holding the games back until release?
And then the streaming issue: the copyrighted material is the game, i would presume. But the stream is only a video of the game, kinda like an extended trailer. I know that in the US you can get sued if your toenail has the same color as a texture in a game, but i would be interested in the details.
On street dates: Thats funny, here in austria it doesn#t matter if the shop is a chain or small – street dates are for everyone (and are ignored regularly by some)
Are you guys serious? you believe the retard buys it from the mom and pop store? He’s still on a pirating rampage even with 2 weeks release of Dead rising 2 is being streamed. Hes been doing it to every hot game. He works in a game industry now and all we need is his real name to report what he does. Someone really needs to take this guy out and yes the mom and pop store is a complete fabrication. You should had learned that by now. His website is evaxephon.com and if you work for any major game company TAKE HIM DOWN.
@Mrman: His name is Alex Mahan. All you have to do is google EvaXephon, and his facebook pops up.
Not that hard.