I don't really see this as a shady move. Practically everything plays DVDs and the price of a standalone DVD player has dropped to practically nothing. If the proprietary format boasts extra compatibility or features that's always a plus, but I don't really see the downside of this decision.

Somewhat true, but I would say whichever is the easiest platform to develop for gets the shovelware. This is the reason we see My Little Pony and ZhuZhu Pets on the Wii instead of the notoriously hard to develop for PS3. We get movie games even on the beefier consoles because large movie companies can pay the extra dollar to make it happen.

The Nintendo Wii and various versions of the handheld DS have outsold everything else so powerfully that companies are now forced to rethink their previous strategy of better hardware = better console. Given those factors and that the casual and 'family' gaming market has vastly overshadowed every other demographic and It's easy to see how the entire gaming landscape has changed since the PS2/XBOX/Gamecube generation. One rather bad downside to this trend is that shovelware is surging in this current generation, and has caused me to even stop buying games for my Wii. It's all obscure JRPG nonsense or movie games / shovelware. I haven't played my Wii in several months and do not plan to anytime soon, if I can smuggle it away from the GF I will probably sell it off cheap to a family who eats that crap right up. In case you couldn't tell I'm a PC gamer, which seems to be the only remaining platform for deep and intricate games. Even this is slowly withered by everything now having to be tailored for both the PC and consoles which usually leaves the PC port with the short end of the stick.

Do some of you even realize what you're saying? If you are doing an illegal activity (proven, questionable or otherwise put aside for now) you will be punished.

It's insane to me why everyone whines about the consequences when breaking the law, if you rip a game and share it over torrent with any sum of people you are clearly doing something illegal. Don't even argue back that your torrent usage is completely legit and you only download freeware, this might hold true for 1 of every 1,000,000 who say it. Stop trying to justify an illegal activity with cries about the how the government is snatching the right to privacy.

I am not necessarily against the idea of piracy, although I do not condone or solicit it, but the real bottom line is do it or don't. You have to weigh the consequences of breaking the law against getting off your ass and working to pay for that game.