Posted by In a previous post we covered Scene Releases. In that post however we went over only movies & TV shows scene releases.
A Scene Release can be any piece of software that adheres to some guidelines set by the Warez scene and is made available on the internet, usually through Torrents. So Scene Releases do not cover only Movies & TV Shows but also Games, Software, etc.
Games is what this post is all about.
If you already followed this post you should already be somewhat comfortable with using Torrents. As noted in that post it would be great if we all used Torrents for downloading free software, but chances are we don’t 😉
In the past there used to be “Demos” for the games you wanted, to test before you bought anything. You could also visit a brick & mortar store, and sometimes, there were systems there displaying games and you could even play the game prior to making a purchase.
Now it’s all digital releases and online distribution platforms like Steam, GoG and Origin. You no longer own a physical copy of your game. Your game is there as long as the online distributor is there. You can see why some people don’t like this.
So what’s the alternative? Well, it’s what it’s always been. Torrents.
Again, as a disclaimer, I must say that if you like a game you should also purchase it, albeit even through an online platform, to support the developers.
Torrenting movies & TV series is relatively safe, as you download a single movie file and you can check the extension, size and the Scene release description to verify that what you are downloading is legit.
With Games however things get a lot more complicated. You are downloading executable files on your computer that you have no way of assessing if these files contain the game you want or are infected by malware and viruses.
Sure you can use an antivirus to scan the files but that means you already wasted time and bandwidth downloading the files in the first place and most of the time antivirus software mistakes the files used for cracking the games as malware thus rendering the game you downloaded unplayable.
The easiest way is to monitor Scene Game releases to make sure the game you want to download:
a) has been cracked and released and
b) know the Group that released it so you can verify the torrent release.
That way you minimize the risk of downloading dummy files that contain malware and viruses.
The best source for this information is:
It’s a database showing Game releases, their crack status, protection and the Group taking credit for the Scene release when the Game was cracked.
In the Games Section just use the drop-down menus to filter through “Status”, “Alphabetically”, “by Scene Group” and even “Release Date” as even upcoming Games sometimes are cracked prior to release.
With that information in hand you can then visit your favorite Torrent site and make an informed decision as to if that cracked Game you found is the real deal.
Enjoy and stay safe!
