I agree with that, also think of it this way, if a game like SOCOM, now can be bought for 15 bucks... but when it came out was sold for 59 bucks... why couldn't it have come out at 20 bucks? why raise the price soo much, the only thing I can think of, is to pay off the dev team, but even then, you don't really need to do that right away, plus if a game comes out at a lower price, more people will buy it.

Also there already is advertising in games, think of at the very start of games, sometimes it shows another company, or even they're company, also don't forget about the advertising on a developers web site, that makes big bucks

Another thing, it's really not hard, or expensive (for a big company) to buy a couple dedicated servers that only hold valid serial numbers, and once the serial is used up, it can't be used again, make a person create cridentials, so they have to log in to use things, not hard to do at all, it may be a little more annoying for honest people, but it's something that must be done

Also copying (notice I did use the word "stealing") is not illegal in EVERY country, just because it is in the states, or the UK, doesn't mean it is in Switzerland, or Canada (Although it is on the way to becoming illegal here) In Canada, the law currently states that you are allowed to download any content you want, as long as you are not uploading content (sharing content) and hence ISPs in Canada have started to limit upload speeds (And download speeds for another matter) but I can safely download a movie and not be stealing that movie.. Although I do agree it is dishonest, because people did work to make it, and it's the same with games, and songs

I also know for a fact that it's not illegal to download, or upload stuff in other countries around the world

Pirating and downloading are two different things, some people here seem to thing that pirating is downloading and playing the game... that is very incorrect, pirating is downloading, burning, and selling a game or movie, or songs, that is illegal, and the reason people do it, is because other people in the world who are not internet, or computer savvy don't know how to download movies, or games, so they go for the cheaper price, and voila, pirating