I remembered that i liked nightwatch (the movie), i found it so interesting that i decided to get the books once the last one gets translated. And I think it is considered some sort of horror (and ironically, dark city is one of my fav movies of all time). The VTM:B setting is somewhat similar, and with a good story i think i won't have problems. Actually usually I go for either story or characters, cause I don't get both very often, so i'm okay with cliche chars too. Thank you, your comment was very helpful!

Well, I still think:

- it is still morally wrong (well, maybe not totally in this case, but still...)

- in worst case I might get into legal trouble, in case MS is still actively pursuing its rights even with XP piracy

- I am not sure whether it would work quite the same as genuine XP (downloading updates etc.)

- using a modified OS from some pirate just sounds... a bit fishy. Even with virus scanners, how can I be 100% sure I'm not getting more than I bargained for? If the virus scanner complains about some file and the pirate author just proclaims "Oh don't worry about it, it is a false alarm, nothing to be worried about...", can I really trust him? Should I buy a used car from him as well?

- and maybe the most important thing: re-installing (replacing) the OS is just so much hassle, I'd simply rather not do that unless I definitely have to. After all, for all my other older games except Steam games, the system still works quite ok. It might not be so secure anymore for web browsing etc. because MS isn't releasing security fixes for it, but for (retro)gaming it still works great.

you really think microsoft is gonna call the cops on you as soon as they found out someone uses a illegal copy? at most they deactivate your windows.
note that even happened to me with a legal version of windows 7 on my hp pc.
with the result to calling the hp help desk in which they said i should contact microsoft
and which they said to contact hp.
i came up with my own solution by editing the register and fill in the microsoft code
that was on the sticker on my pc (apparently they filled in another)

i used to own a legal version of 95,98 and xp, and now 7. at a moment i thought i would throw away 95/98 thinking why would i ever need that again?
then i noticed how i couldnt play all those old games again, so i installed vmware, and used a torrent to get back 95/98. (yes there are bad ones but look on isohunt f.e at the comments, always read the comments) never had problems...
then also that wouldnt play all games still so i also installed xp but i still had a legal copy somewhere.

i read that it is possible to upgrade from 2000 to xp professional (not home) i dunno
if you would need an upgrade cd or just windows xp professional.
which would be alot less hassle, you just simply upgrade.

if you dont trust torrents then you could always look at second hand places like ebay.

on a sidenote if you make it a xp machine you would have a lesser retro machine as
xp might not play all older games too but you could also make a virtual machine running 95/98 in that. then again you might be able to play some more games with xp that 2000 can't run.

To me it seems the backwards compatibility on Win2000 with Win9x games is pretty much the same as in XP. IIRC the XP compatibility tab has some more options than the same tab in Win2000.

I actually have a Win98 partition available, but I haven't been using it for a long time because I seemed to have pretty good success rate(*) getting my Win9x games to run in Win2000, and for DOS games DOSBox is the best way even though I can't currently use my Roland sound module with it (but I have the MT-32 emulator in place for DOSBox, even though it is quite far from perfection).

(*) The only game I've had major problems is The Reap, a Zaxxon style Win9x shooter. I haven't been able to get it to run under Win2000 or WinXP yet. Maybe it needs a genuine Win9x environment. EDIT: Hmmm, even though here it is said it runs fine under XP:

http://www.ntcompatible.com/compatdb/details/the_reap_windows.html

EDIT2: Scratch that, I just located and installed the offical patch for Reap, and now it runs fine under Win2000, even without compatibility mode. This is yet another example of an old PC game that I bought god knows when, never even installed it on my PC before, then I suddenly get an urge to install and play it (for the first time). Fortunately it is not a Steam game or need any other online activation either. :)

I took one of my old magazine DVDs and installed again... it's so awesome! Malks rule and are the best dancers ever :D

Dammit I cant buy it. :(

it's quite a paradox how a popular game developed in US is so hard to get there, while here in Europe it's literally laying around everywhere...

No I lacked funds. Got it though. :D

yay! :) time to spank some sabbath buttocks!

I want it so bad :o

Just started replaying this (Bloodlines), anyone able to advise me on a Malkavian build please?

cheers :)

Wait until you play a Malk in that game :D Best playthrough ever!
It's really tough to build any character in the game as you would like since the end game becomes a pure combat fiasco which means if you tried to build a role-playing character you could screwed in the end game.