Game Jackal

[AgustusM]

http://www.gamejackal.com/home.asp

anyone use this????

is it legit?

Please understand I have no interest in using this to steal games, I simply get tired of constantly shuffling CD's of things I have paid for just to play games - this looks like a good solution to that problem.

[sachmo71]

uh oh. :D

[AgustusM]

uh oh. :D

apparently something I missed?

[jeff061]

apparently something I missed?Should be good. But the man in charge is a tad illogical sometimes.

[CraigSca]

Actually - I was just loading Microsoft Flight Simulator on my home PC today but I couldn't find the damn 4th disk to finish the install. Why? Well, because it's the disk you need to actually run the game at start-up. Where is it? I left it in the stupid laptop from my previous job.

My mistake, but having a disk in at start-up absolutely sucks. Quit pirating software, a-holes.

[AgustusM]

Actually - I was just loading Microsoft Flight Simulator on my home PC today but I couldn't find the damn 4th disk to finish the install. Why? Well, because it's the disk you need to actually run the game at start-up. Where is it? I left it in the stupid laptop from my previous job.

My mistake, but having a disk in at start-up absolutely sucks. Quit pirating software, a-holes.

this is exactly the kind of thing I am hoping to avoid

[AgustusM]

Should be good. But the man in charge is a tad illogical sometimes.

I am assuming this is in reference to the " sleeping skydogs lie" thread that I avoided like the plague after reading the first half page

[sachmo71]

I am assuming this is in reference to the " sleeping skydogs lie" thread that I avoided like the plague after reading the first half page


Well, if you had read it, you would already know what all of the uh-ohing and other stuff was about, and this thread would have come full circle.

I don't mind losing posts, and it might not be a bad idea if I lost these, if you know what I mean. :)

[DaddyTorgo]

hey...they sell GameJackel in stores right next to games. It can't be THAT illegal eh?

[Blade6119]

well, id hope there is some sort of coding for that particular game, or else skydog will certainly be quick to kill this thread. YAY, this post doesnt exist in a bit! Kinda like Michael Jacksons career

[AgustusM]

forgive me if this has already been discussed ad nauseum, but the tool itself can't be illegal.

for example if I buy a knife and cut a steak with it, no problem (except I guess to militant vegetarians) but if I use it to chop people up into little pieces then of course there would be a problem.

with this software I would like to do exactly as it is advertised to do and that is eliminate the need to locate CD's of games that I paid for directly from a retail outfit. when I am done I have zero intention of re-selling the games or anything like that - they will go into the cupboard and stay there. So my intent is 100% legal.

funny, how the game industry has gotten into this "use the CD" thing, imagine if everytime you wanted to use excel or outlook you needed to find the office CD. I know it is a response to piracy, but in the end the pirates ALWAYS find away around it and the self-respecting people who do pay for what they use have to suffer the consequences.

In the end, it really doesn't matter what the board moderator or anyone else thinks, since I have the free will to purchase this and use it if necessary - and an ethical debate was not really what I was looking for here, rather if anyone on this board had actually used this software and their experience with it.

My past experience with shareware is that some of it, is amazing software that I couldn't do without and others are adware, spyware filled nonsense that never deliver the intended purpose and cause a myriad of other problems - I was kind of hoping someone here had tried it and could tell me their experience on which it is.

[jeff061]

The DMCA is a scary thing, there's probably some provision that covers bypassing a copy protection check(ownership of physical media).

In any case, I've used similar software for the same purposes. I hate swapping discs and have 500gb of storage. It works but you need to take extra steps a lot of the time to get it functioning. Not going to go into it here though.

[Airhog]

Just remember that the goal for the longest time was never to eliminate piracy. It is simply not possible. If they make it hard enough to defeat the protection, most people will go out and buy the game.

[Draft Dodger]

http://www.gamejackal.com/home.asp

anyone use this????

is it legit?

Please understand I have no interest in using this to steal games, I simply get tired of constantly shuffling CD's of things I have paid for just to play games - this looks like a good solution to that problem.

I personally find it easier to just get a NoCD patch for games. I've only come across a couple of games that I couldn't find one for.

the reason I steer away from emulators like this is that from time to time you get a game that freaks out if it detects it and I'm not really interested in creating new issues because of some shady business practices.

I am thinking about getting one for my wife's PC - my son has a lot of kid's games that he plays on it, and it's a hassle (and a bit challenging for him) to swap the disks.

[Antmeister]

I personally find it easier to just get a NoCD patch for games. I've only come across a couple of games that I couldn't find one for.

the reason I steer away from emulators like this is that from time to time you get a game that freaks out if it detects it and I'm not really interested in creating new issues because of some shady business practices.

I am thinking about getting one for my wife's PC - my son has a lot of kid's games that he plays on it, and it's a hassle (and a bit challenging for him) to swap the disks.


What he said....

Actually I have GameJackal on my shareware thread and it is actually being sold in stores. There is nothing illegal about it. If you use it for illegal purposes is a whole different thing. Much like CD/DVD burners, it is the choices you make with it that make it legal/illegal.

Anyways, as Draft Dodger was saying, there is a site that gives you the option of downloading a no CD patch. I have used this site for years because I was sick of having to put the wear and tear on my CD Rom just running games and having to clean every two weeks.

http://www.gamecopyworld.com/

If you can't find it for the game you are looking for, then Game Jackal could be a good option. The difference this is free of charge.

[AgustusM]

funny - I have used gamecopyworld for years pretty much just for Madden - and went there today to see if there was a Madden 2006 No-Cd patch and there was not - but in its place was an add for GameJackal.

In the end I think I am going to give it a try on my kids computer - they are the ones that could really use it since they are constantly changing games and at ages 6,7 and 8 they change games a lot and leave them lying around. I am hoping this will allow me to get the games loaded without worrying about the disk changing.

[AgustusM]

So installed the Jackal trial and tried it on the games my kids got for Christmas - this is really the primary need I have for this thing since my kids do a horrible job of taking care of the CD's - I find them all over the playroom.

anyway - it didn't work I followed all the directions, created a jackal profile and my daughters barbie game still crashed every time without the CD.

now on to try the Alcohol 125 demo and see if that is any better.

[Marc Vaughan]

forgive me if this has already been discussed ad nauseum, but the tool itself can't be illegal.

for example if I buy a knife and cut a steak with it, no problem (except I guess to militant vegetarians) but if I use it to chop people up into little pieces then of course there would be a problem.

with this software I would like to do exactly as it is advertised to do and that is eliminate the need to locate CD's of games that I paid for directly from a retail outfit. when I am done I have zero intention of re-selling the games or anything like that - they will go into the cupboard and stay there. So my intent is 100% legal.

funny, how the game industry has gotten into this "use the CD" thing, imagine if everytime you wanted to use excel or outlook you needed to find the office CD. I know it is a response to piracy, but in the end the pirates ALWAYS find away around it and the self-respecting people who do pay for what they use have to suffer the consequences.

In the end, it really doesn't matter what the board moderator or anyone else thinks, since I have the free will to purchase this and use it if necessary - and an ethical debate was not really what I was looking for here, rather if anyone on this board had actually used this software and their experience with it.

My past experience with shareware is that some of it, is amazing software that I couldn't do without and others are adware, spyware filled nonsense that never deliver the intended purpose and cause a myriad of other problems - I was kind of hoping someone here had tried it and could tell me their experience on which it is.

No idea regarding this specific software - but its dead easy for software to be illegal, if it circumvents a prior copyright or infringes upon other peoples copyrights in some manner then its illegal.

(to build upon your example - purchasing a knife is legal, an individual purchasing thermo-nuclear weaponry would be frowned upon by most goverments ;) )

[Marc Vaughan]

Just remember that the goal for the longest time was never to eliminate piracy. It is simply not possible. If they make it hard enough to defeat the protection, most people will go out and buy the game.

Thats still the case - we try and make our protection solid enough to annoy pirates so that they fork over the massive £14.99 (current UK price in Woolworths for FM2006 I believe) for our product .....

Eliminating piracy would be nice, heck apart from anything else we'd have an extra 2-3 man-months development on the game each year because we wouldn't be pratting around with protection systems.

[Marc Vaughan]

funny, how the game industry has gotten into this "use the CD" thing, imagine if everytime you wanted to use excel or outlook you needed to find the office CD. I know it is a response to piracy, but in the end the pirates ALWAYS find away around it and the self-respecting people who do pay for what they use have to suffer the consequences.
The difference is largely that business software costs more than games (by a multiple of 4-5x usually if not more) and there are very large incentives for companies to purchase legitimate copies of it (otherwise they end up with fines etc. when inspected, at least in the UK - I presume this happens in most countries?).

With games they cost a fraction of the price and because there is no legal incentive to play honest beyond the normal 'guilt' factor its believed by retailers that protection is a prerequisite for stocking a game - otherwise piracy would destroy that products sales.

(for an example of difference in sales - our last 'non protected' game sold around 80,000 units in the UK, our first protected game after that one (CM3 if you're interested) sold 350,000 units in the UK ... could be coincidence but I somehow doubt it ;) )

[AgustusM]

Marc - I have zero problems with the anti-piracy solution companies like you, solecismic and the like use because there is no need for the CD.

It is a great solution IMO. I have bought over a dozen games with e-licensing and never had a single issue - I LOVE e-licensing because I can easily download a game, pay for it legally and play it all within less then an hour and never need to worry about loading a CD.

If only the EA's and the like would change to this model I would be ecstatic, however I doubt we will ever see that since it seems most of them are trying to steer us towards consoles and away from PC's.

Again I am not looking to pirate anything, I am looking for a solution for games I have already paid for. - I just want my kids to be able to play their games without ruining them and I would like to be able to switch from Madden, to Civ to the movies without needing to change the CD.