Sony and Rockstar
p2pnet.net News:- "As a game, San Andreas is ethically reprehensible. The language in this game is so filthy that I could not play it when my children were home. The missions and morals are even worse. The game play and storytelling, however, are beyond brilliant. Much as I hate this game, I see it as a work of art."
That’s an interesting, if diametrically opposed, contrast in views from Steven L. Kent on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Rockstar’s latest video game, centred on gore, robbery and murder.
CJ, the ‘hero,’ is a hood (in the classical sense of the term) and for his success, "players must help him steal from rival gangs, the military and the mafia," says Kent. "CJ kills cops, burgles houses and creates a crime empire."
Rockstar, owned by Take-Two, and Sony, on whose game box the crimes are committed, are doing well, selling pure, unadultrated violence.
In other interesting contrasts:
While the Sony half of the German/Japanese Sony-BMG partnership rakes it in via its PlayStation2, its music entity is one of the four international record label cartel members that are victimizing ordinary men, women and children for sharing music online.
Interestingly, Rockstar Games, Take-Two’s publisher, and Interscope Records, owned by France’s Universal Music Group (UMG) and another cartel member, are joint venturing the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack.
Sony is, of course, also one of the seven major movie studios who, through their MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), have just announced they’re going to copy the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and start suing file sharers.
It’s also a major manufacturer of CD / DVD burners and blank discs.
CD / DVD burners and blanks discs are essential components in any amateur or professional counterfeiter’s inventory.
Not only but also, Sony’s makes and sells easily concealed camcorders.
Camcorders, states Sony unequivocally, are used by criminal teenagers to surreptitiously film new releases so they can later post them on the p2p networks, one of the ‘crimes’ the MPAA rails about.
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See:-
$536 million – Grand Theft Auto: Despicable, Mesmerizing, TechNewsWorld, November 8, 2004
November 8th, 2004 at 5:26 pm
Are you ever gonna get off this anti GTA kick?
November 8th, 2004 at 6:04 pm
“Sony Music sues Sony Electronics for copyright violations.”
November 8th, 2004 at 6:12 pm
Oh foad, hes not on an anti-GTA kick.
The purpose of the article was to state the obvious, that Sony is a group of hypocrites who’s only motivation is by Capitalism.
They make MiniDV cameras, industrial grade DVD burners and everything else used by pirates because they make Money. But Sony, like every other major company out there, refuses to reap what it has sown. They will attempt to make more money by suiing those who have legally purchased and used their products, it makes no sense since the “fair use” clause permits us to do whatever we want with what we paid for.
This reminds me of the arguement that the RIAA was talking about a year ago. They were saying that p2p is extremely filthy and degrading due to the vast amounts of pornography on there. But on the OTHER side of the fence, their “music” is by vile, disgusting purveyors of rap, citing hatred for women, violence and everything else adding up to the demoralization.
These two stories come into the same general idea that companies can never see both sides of the picture. Just like they still refuse to accept the online music and movie sales (besides the same 750k songs out there by every company that sells music online), it seems like its going to take these people a long time to wise up and develop some ethics and stop making us look like criminals.
-MP
November 9th, 2004 at 3:21 am
Yeah if sony were so worried about copywrite they wouldn’t make products that could be used to break copywrite laws!!!!!