Topic: So where are the legal game torrent sites?

[idolminds]

All the good download sites went pay. Fileplanet, 3D Gamers, etc. Sure you can still download for free from them as long as you wait in a long queue. At least there are some places like FileFront that haven't yet fallen into that trap.

Still, it made me wonder: where are the game torrent sites? The whole idea of the lines is so the popular, newly released files don't take down a site due to bandwidth usage. But thats the very scenario BitTorrent solves. Now, games are all about large media. We've got HD videos of gameplay, trailers, demos, patches...all sorts of large files. Why has no site come along that handles these files as torrents? Why wouldn't publishers put this together themselves?

Think about it. Most techy people know about torrents. Gamers are techy people. So if a file comes out that they want, they don't want to sit in a queue for an hour before they can download it. This is where sites like Fileplanet stop thinking. "Well they can subscribe and not wait in line, making us money! Awesome!" Actually, no...what happens is those techy people will go in search of torrents since they know thats the best way to get popular, large files. This search leads them to torrent sites, almost all of them the seedy variety. So now they search for "Tomb Raider: Anniversary" so they can get the demo. Sure...the demo is there, but so is the full game. Hell...might as well download the full game, right? I'm sure the developers LOVE when that happens.

I did find a site called gameupdates.org that does pretty much what should be done: a web site that hosts legal torrents for games...demos, updates, videos, mods, etc. I'm not sure how popular it is, but someone should take this idea and make a popular site out of it.

[scottws]

Yeah, I thought the same thing.  3DGamers was offering torrent downloads for some of its files shortly before IGN bought them out.  I don't know why more sites don't do it.

[Cobra951]

It's such a commercially convenient truth that bandwidth issues would impact an overwhelmed free download service much more than one limited to paying customers.  I can't imagine that this business model would benefit very much from bittorrents, where the preponderance of freeloaders can be beneficial.

[Pugnate]

I use Fileplanet and don't have issues with the Ques..er..queues.. because I tend to be patient. I find there are no lines if I wait another day for a hot of the oven patch.

[poomcgoo]

In the same vein, who would go to these legal torrent sites when they're buried under all the "illegal" ones?  Say I open up google and type "Tomb Raider Anniversary Torrent," (I wouldn't, but say I did) and the top 3 results are for seedy torrent sites that host the full game.  The fourth is a torrent site with the demo or some wallpapers or something lame -- now where would I go?

I guess it would be cool to have a place to download trailers and such without wait lines, and I can also see a guy like you opting for the demo over the full game due to your connection, but nobody would go there.  9 out of 10 people would grab the full game.  If the same procedure can get you either a demo or a pirated copy, who would go for the demo? 

If she's gonna tease you she might as well finish the job, right?!  (read: demos are lame)

[scottws]

I never searched for "Game X Demo Download" when I happened upon 3Dgamers.com.  Someone referred me or I was linked there.  It doesn't have to be any different with a legal torrent site.