[CaptainHaplo]

Well mate - since you were a former "civil servant", its a thankless job, but thank you for the time you put in trying to make us all safe at night. I spent 8 years in a funny green suit, like many other ex-military that are in this community - but in all that time I also remembered and appreciated those that protected my home and family when I was deployed.

I have to agree with you on the no-cd issue. I have purchased every game I have, and right now I play SH4 cracked. While I see no issues with what I use (as some have with certain exe files) - I test using the original exe and dvd. This is just to insure no anomolous results.

Does this make us thieves? No - because we have stolen nothing. Does it make us immoral or unethical? No more so than the companies that want to charge us 20 bucks or more for a replacement cd - after we send them not only our original disk - but also the sales reciept from the store where we bought the game 2 years ago.....

For pirating games - I have no problem with tracking and stopping that practice - its what pays devs to make games is the SALE - not the theft. So yes - that has to be reacted to, and I don't blame companies for wanting to do it.

Now - as to companies sending out a game that doesnt need a patch - those were the good old days, my friend. Where Silent Service 2 came on 4 or 2 disk floppies based on size - it still had a patch. Managing the amounts of code on a DVD is exponetially more difficult - and with the need to "cut costs" - come the realization that no program is ever truly "finished". Companies used to cringe when they concluded they had to pay to develop a single patch - now - a number of them are factored into the financial equation before a game is ever given the ok to be developed. Thats what happen when things get bigger and "better". Alas.

Since your an "old man" - one thing you may enjoy - as I do on occasion - is a return to the games of yesteryear. Whenever nostalgia hits - check some of the old games - alot of companies have released their rights to games that were out in the 80's and 90's.