KeezNah Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Hey, fellas. I wanted to know what your opinion was on this particular matter that's been bugging the shite out of me for quite some time. To put things in perspective, I recently posted a story on TAP about the lastest SKOAR issue. Let me just paste a quick reference from that, as I don't know want to sound like a broken record. Plus, I enjoy be lazy like that. After some delay, SKOAR! #XVI — Oct-Nov 2007 has finally hit stands in most metropolitan areas. For the uninitiated, SKOAR! is an Indian Gaming Magazine published every two to three months by Jasubhai Digital Media, which also happens to publish its tech-centric cousin Digit. SKOAR! got its first wind in 2003, right after Computer Gaming World (now known as the Games For Windows Official Magazine) was no longer being officially distributed for reasons I’m not aware of (Come back to us, Jeff Green!). It’s considered the de facto gaming magazine here in India, largely because it’s the only gaming magazine widely available. Recently in the past year, SKOAR! has been placing full versions of oldie-but-still-very-goldie PC titles on their DVDs, with the help of keygens and No-CD/DVD patches. With more and more readers becoming rapidly aware of the issue, there was much probing from the community regarding this controversy, demanding an explanation from the staff members themselves. However, it has come to the point that despite certain staff members (mainly the Managing Editor himself, Badri “Badjag” Narayan) being full-aware of their own actions, they just don’t seem to give a fig. SKOAR continues piling on whatever their torrents can fetch them, and Issue XVI is no different. Which makes us very sad pandas, quite frankly. Now, I've spoken to EA regarding this matter and they were simply amazed something this publicly-open didn't catch their attention sooner. And that's what bugs me: Do Indian Distributors care about this sorta thing or not? I understand the whole legal structure here in India is about as shaky as bucket full of infected wombats on opium, but that's what cease and desist orders are for, right? How hard would it be for Microsoft to tell PC World to not include free copies of Vista in one issue by just saying, "Yo, stop that. I'll smack you. Hard." Someone please put this in perspective for me, since I have little to any idea how distributors here in India operate. That, and they're just to shy wanting too answer my questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeezNah Posted November 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 woh they actually give pirated full games with their mag? Yes, indeedy. Please see the article for more details, along with pictures. im sure vin will have some insight on this.....he worked for jasubhai and i think led the CGW mag Vinit led CGW? This wouldn't happen to be the same Vinit Aggarwal, would it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeezNah Posted November 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 yup that him Wow, never knew that. He always had some interesting stuff to say in his editorials for CGW India. God, those were the days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reaper Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 :shock3: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reaper Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 ^^ even i was wondering how they could distribute so many full versions of pc games in every issue ...... well even digit sometimes gives away full versions of old pc games .......... i only hope they too arnt ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeezNah Posted November 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 For the purpose of curiosity, can one of the mods/admins put up this poll question: Did you know Indian gaming magazine SKOAR distributes full-version PC games illegally on their discs? - Yes. - No. - Never heard of them until now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reaper Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 ^^ u not sure too??? ... may be we need to confirm b4 we reach an opinion ..... may be V can give us more insight into this ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emo-Iwata Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 why does this thing not shock me?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reaper Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 poll added, voted peace and may be there should be an other option that says "cant say" (seriously!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reaper Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 thats really serious ..... damn!! theve really got the nerve ..... what shocks me is how could they????? skoar really on of the reallly really few gaming magazines in india .... and of considerable repute ...... i really am shocked .... beyond words... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MightySkate Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 OMFG..!!! I've seen it on stands but never bought one. And i'm shocked to hear they include full pc games. Thanks Keez for bringing this up. It's really disheartening to hear such a respected mag do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lastAvenger Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 I could care less about them. Skoar is a pretty crappy magazine anyways. By the way dude, if i am not wrong weren't you or someone from your website was a part of Digit ? prolly a forum moderator or some. I can't seem to recall but i had heard about your website from some other place but didn't bother too much during that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MightySkate Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 ^^Yeah but for the masses that don't have an internet connection at home and don't have time to go to cafes and browse, it's a pretty good gaming news source IMO. Except for the issue mentioned here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeezNah Posted November 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Not... really. Most of the freelancers who worked on SKOAR now work for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lastAvenger Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 What do you think Jasubhai will be sued or what ? They will prolly blame it at the place where their dvd's are written. Just blame the fellow who was responsible and its gonna be over with some compensation. Keeznah - Imo you should put forward your findings towards some newspaper also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeezNah Posted November 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 They will prolly blame it at the place where their dvd's are written. Just blame the fellow who was responsible and its gonna be over with some compensation. Check the article for references of SKOAR's Managing Editor (Badri "Badjag" Narayan) admitting to having put pirate games there, and his reasoning for doing so. It's not just the people who mass-produce these, it's the people who are sending them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GamerZ-Cloud Strife Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Damm...skoar.. i am Digit Subscriber ..Digit also gives full version softwares...and games.. Skoar RIP... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeezNah Posted November 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 There are more than just those scans, though! Look at their bloody forum, for god's sake. An "Unofficial Games Request Thread"? *barf* Trust me, BJ in this sh*t deep. He's gonna need one big trump card if he wants to point fingers at others at a time like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GamerZ-Cloud Strife Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 There are more than just those scans, though! Look at their bloody forum, for god's sake. An "Unofficial Games Request Thread"? *barf* Trust me, BJ in this sh*t deep. He's gonna need one big trump card if he wants to point fingers at others at a time like this. Dammm..what were they Doing??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinitwins Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 this news saddens me personally. i worked at jasubhai in various capacities - editor/manager cgw, editor digit; badri was a freelancer on my team - and yes, we did make a few blunders along the way (software keygens on our multimedia cds), but THIS is beyond comprehension. the only logic (albeit flawed) behind such a decision is that people buy gaming magazines for the CDs - a few years back, bundling a couple of CDs (1gb+ data in the form of demos, patches, videos, etc) was exciting enough to make gamers shell out 200 bucks to buy the magazine. BUT with the prevalence & penetration of broadband connections, these demo CDs (or samplers as we call them) have lost their appeal - but this is a crazy and irresponsible way to sell a magazine. send me a list of games that they have pirated via their CDs and i'll personally email the concerned publishers to initiate legal action. V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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