Fan buys leaked copy of No Man's Sky and publishes gameplay videos online

At least one copy of No Man's Sky was bound to slip through the cracks, and someone paid $2,000 to own it.

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Reddit user 'Daymeeuhn' claims he paid $2,000 for a leaked copy of No Man's Sky up for sale on eBay, and posted gameplay videos to Daily Motion as proof (via GameSpot).

No Man's Sky is scheduled to launch on PS4 on August 9—with the PC version following a few days later—but Daymeeuhn wasn't willing to wait less than two weeks to play early. "I told him I wanted the best lightning fast-as-Zeus Shit-Your-Pants-Speed overnight shipping he could buy. It ain't cheap," he wrote.

Check out the videos, and you'll hear Daymeeuhn narrating as he moves through his PS4 dashboard to boot up the game, sit through the opening credits, and take his first few intrepid steps onto the surface of a planet.


Opening Credits / Intro by daymeeuhn

One wonders if Daymeeuhn could be the first player to discover a planet outside of developer Hello Games and sanctioned preview/review copies.

Of course, that's hardly the real issue, as Reddit user 'Mashedwaffle' points out. "$52.95 for shipping?!? I don't care if it's the only copy available, that's some bullsh*t."

Update: 156p Pacific

Daymeeuhn responded to a Reddit post asking why he'd spend thousands of dollars just to get a video game early. His answer makes a lot of sense when you consider his situation.

"I'm a lucky guy. I've done well for myself. I have disposable income and I'm happy in life. I'm in a state of being where I don't look at a purchase and determine the overall value by the price tag, but rather by how much happiness it will bring myself or the people I care about. I'm also very much in a weird state of mind half the time in that I've seen some shit, and I've dealt with loss, and I know all too well that too many of us take life for granted. I could die in a car accident tomorrow - who knows? If I did, all that money I had saved up didn't do me a whole lot of good, did it? That's not to say that I'm YOLO spending every cent every day, because I'm not - contrary to what you might believe looking at a purchase like this that some would label with the "completely insane" tag, I'm actually pretty good with money. Most of the time. :) But that buys me the opportunity to live on the edge a bit with more reckless and crazy purchases when the time comes."

Daymeeuhn reasons that lots of people enjoy dropping money on food, or drinks, or other hobbies. Playing games is his hobby, and the opportunity to be among the first to explore No Man's Sky was worth the eBay seller's steep price of admission.

"I'll always remember this, I'll always have that moment in time when I was able to step foot in the world of NMS 'early' and experience it without any temptations of spoilers. While plenty enjoy spoilers and while I even check them myself when they're there, knowing they don't exist and that I'm ahead of them is the best feeling for me in gaming."

 

Long Reads Editor

David L. Craddock writes fiction, nonfiction, and grocery lists. He is the author of the Stay Awhile and Listen series, and the Gairden Chronicles series of fantasy novels for young adults. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing Mario, Zelda, and Dark Souls games, and will be happy to discuss at length the myriad reasons why Dark Souls 2 is the best in the series. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    July 29, 2016 1:14 PM

    David Craddock posted a new article, Fan buys leaked copy of No Man's Sky and publishes gameplay videos online

    • reply
      July 29, 2016 1:39 PM

      Holy shit, DailyMotion can die in a fire, and so can anyone who posts videos there. I just spent several minutes trying to get these videos to play without hitching and without ad audio playing over them, and ultimately failed.

    • reply
      July 29, 2016 1:39 PM

      That's a fuck-ton of money just to say "FIRST POST!"

    • reply
      July 29, 2016 1:55 PM

      Damn it, this game looks amazing. I may have to buy it now. :|

      • reply
        July 29, 2016 2:08 PM

        Yeah, I hate buying amazing games too!

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      July 29, 2016 2:00 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      July 29, 2016 2:06 PM

      Already down.

    • gmd legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury mega
      reply
      July 29, 2016 2:09 PM

      it was me

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      July 29, 2016 2:14 PM

      Typo after your update:

      "...asking why he'd [spend?] thousands of dollars...."


      Did anyone see the video? Did it show anything new or interesting? Namely gameplay that hasn't been shown?

      • reply
        July 29, 2016 2:15 PM

        Fixed! Thanks, good buddy.

      • reply
        July 29, 2016 2:15 PM

        [deleted]

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        July 29, 2016 2:16 PM

        Yeah it shows credits. It's new footage but it could be Hello Games doing it as PR.

      • reply
        July 29, 2016 2:20 PM

        The one I saw had a lot of exploration.

        - Player went into a gave and uses a jet pack to get out again.

        - wildlife had icons above them indicating friendliness. The player wasn't sure if it was or not but approached a baby something and a smiley face appeared indicating nice.

        - player was using a weapon of some kind to hit rocks and get resources. These resources can be used to upgrade the ship systems it looked like.

        - UI was very similar to Destiny with the thumb stick navigation, looked great!

        - some technology of the ship can be irreparably damaged.

        Game looked awesome!

    • reply
      July 29, 2016 2:22 PM

      Oh I guess it got taken down. Got to watch the whole 30 minute one though.

      Game looks good. Dude can't read tooltips but it looks awesome.

      Crafting seems simple and intuitive, interface seems fine and everything looks like it'll be a lot faster/easier with a mouse.

    • reply
      July 30, 2016 12:08 AM

      Why's everyone so excited about this game? I have a feeling that it'll get boring after a couple of days, just like Pokemon Go or Cities Skylines. And it's priced as a triple-A title on PS4... wtf?

      • reply
        July 30, 2016 12:32 AM

        And Spore and Elite Dangerous and so on. But I guess if people like it good for them!

        It definitely seems like something that will get boring rather quickly to me too.

      • reply
        July 30, 2016 4:22 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        July 30, 2016 5:26 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        July 30, 2016 5:39 AM

        Theres a lot of people that dont get bored with games like these. The skylines crowd is still going crazy strong.

        Heck even simcity 4 still has a big fan base.

    • reply
      July 30, 2016 1:57 AM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      July 30, 2016 2:10 AM

      Considering the game also doesn't have DRM, it's gonna get pirated from here to hell, especially considering the full price point and the uncertainty of what you actually do and what the longevity of the game is.

    • reply
      July 30, 2016 3:05 AM

      Dis' game gon' be good. I won't be able to play it upon release. I'm tempted to just read the massive threads that are gonna pop up here in a month and live vicariously through you guys.

    • reply
      July 30, 2016 4:27 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        July 30, 2016 4:30 AM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          July 30, 2016 7:08 AM

          It's not the genre that caused it, but procedural generation. It just hasn't worked with AAA titles in the past.

      • reply
        July 30, 2016 4:30 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        July 30, 2016 4:32 AM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          July 30, 2016 4:39 AM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            July 30, 2016 5:31 AM

            [deleted]

          • reply
            July 30, 2016 6:57 AM

            Yeah, what the developer says usually turns out to be true!

            • reply
              July 30, 2016 7:01 AM

              [deleted]

              • reply
                July 30, 2016 7:14 AM

                Most of us do have skepticism for every game. Until reviews and word of mouth come out to indicate whether a game is good or not. Previews, interviews, and even publisher-sanctioned gameplay videos aren't always indicative of the final experience.

                • reply
                  July 30, 2016 7:26 AM

                  [deleted]

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                    July 31, 2016 8:12 AM

                    Well if you haven't seen it, I suppose you think it didn't exist for other recent games? I can name numerous examples, including the grandaddy hate campaign of them all: Star Citizen. Then there was the hate campaign and hype over Minecraft, Terraria, ARK: Survival Evolved, RUST, DayZ, Elite: Dangerous, H1Z1.

                    Notice a pattern? Survival games get the most hate/hype and NMS is getting the same treatment, except heightened because of the extra hype due to major marketing over what everyone suspects is the same survival game with thin gameplay we're seeing cropped up constantly. NMS having a price of $60 just made it worse.

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                      July 31, 2016 7:24 PM

                      True, I'm out less than $30 for Star Citizen, whereas NMS being double the price...

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          July 30, 2016 7:12 AM

          If I paid over $1000 for a game, hell, I'd even say Barbie Fashion Designer was fun.

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            July 30, 2016 7:13 AM

            [deleted]

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              July 30, 2016 7:15 AM

              It's highly likely. Although I can't imagine ever paying that much for a game, even if I was real stinking rich. But people do have a tendency to lie to themselves when they pay a lot of money for anything and don't want to admit that they wasted their money.

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        July 30, 2016 7:02 AM

        Unfortunately, a lot of games make way too much money not because they're great, but because of marketing hype. Brink, Destiny, Watch Dogs, etc. Rabid hyping isn't doing us consumers a favor. Yeah it's fun to collectively get excited about potentially awesome upcoming games, but we should be a bit critical. Especially when there's a fucking video review embargo in place.

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        July 30, 2016 7:07 AM

        It has to do with a game being built on a foundation of procedural generation. Games in the past that used that same technique have been shallow and short-lived for most gamers, so the track record isn't there yet. Until that trend changes, people will continue to feel negative towards any game that isn't an indie title that costs less than $20 using procedural generation.

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      July 30, 2016 5:29 AM

      [deleted]

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        July 30, 2016 6:59 AM

        Thanks!

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        July 31, 2016 6:53 PM

        Wow, glad I watched this. I will be cancel my preorder/return the game once I get it. Reminds me of all the parts I didn't like about Destiny aka the grindy-farming.

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      July 31, 2016 10:41 AM

      So the guy that got the game early has already beaten it - he has done everything, maxed out factions, upgrades, ships and he has traveled to the center of the universe (whole point of the game). It's also riddled with bugs and crashes - his game has crashed over 20 times since he got it a few days ago.

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        July 31, 2016 7:22 PM

        Are you serious, or just trolling? I'm not going to watch the video, etc. because I don't want more spoilers. I had been planning on sinking hundreds of hours into this game, and preordered the other day. Now I wonder if I should cancel it.

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        August 1, 2016 5:04 AM

        [deleted]

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