Dear Future Gamer

If in-store manufactured CDs (news story in a recent Future Gamer) mean I don't have to carry all those stupid boxes around with me then I'm all in favour of 'em! HMV recently did one of their three for 10 quid offers and I bought six games, plus the one I actually went in for and then I tried to get them in my backpack...

Yes, folks. I was the guy sitting on the steps of the Oxford Co-Op taking CDs out of boxes and folding the boxes up so they'd fit in his backpack with the groceries. Don't these people realise that some of us still cycle to the shops?

Incidentally, I sent the boxes back to the companies concerned, with a letter suggesting that they sell OEM-style packs for those of us who want slightly more environmentally friendly packaging. I received no replies. Maybe I should have stamped the parcels.

Just a quick one on the subject of pirate software. Criminals will deal in anything that makes money, and games make money. The odds on the guy who sells you your pirate games being, or obtaining them from, a drug dealer are actually pretty good. Are you honestly trying to tell me that the guy who sells you those stupid little pills that you use to disorientate and ultimately destroy your brain with can't also get you any PlayStation game you want? Try asking. The guy's a crook, isn't he?

Deke Roberts

FG: I guess the answer, in the short term at least, is to make two trips, one for groceries and the other for games. As for your last point, I can't agree. I really don't see the connection between someone flogging pirated games and dealing in drugs. Just because they're both illegal doesn't mean they're automatically connected. Being convicted of drink driving, say, doesn't make you a house-breaker or more likely to be a house breaker.