No, it is not illegal to
play a pirated game. It is against the law in most jurisdictions to copy and redistribute a game, but playing it is not illegal. I also disagree that it is disrespectful. By playing the game, you are validating the hours they spent creating it. I think it would be much worse to ignore the game. For example, If I spend many hours of my life writing a book and no one wants to pay for it, but a lot of people read it for free, my ideas still reached people, and other opportunities arise thanks to that.
One could argue that spending millions of dollars on games that enough people aren't willing to pay for is what is to blame. It is not the fact that people have chosen not to pay for them. You aren't stealing their money, because they don't have that money yet. That's why many businesses are adopting a
lean methodology to validate their value proposition before shelling out millions on developing it.
Regarding your exam analogy, you are not ripping off the game and selling it to other people, you're just playing it. You are not stealing their project,
copying is not theft.
Now to answer your question. Never buy old technology. Always go with the new. If they'd want you to buy the old, they wouldn't release a new one in the first place.
This fuels consumerism and is ecologically harmful.
Electronic waste is an issue. Of course the company would like you to shell out more money to buy something new. This is mostly the side-effect of a capitalistic system. But It doesn’t mean you need to buy the newest version of everything. I’m pretty sure you can get the same amount of entertainment from an xbox 360 than an xbox one. Just like you can get the same kicks out of an
Atari 2600, 7800, or a master system.
Finally, I would to like to clarify that I am tackling your arguments and not you personally. I'd love to get your opinion on the points above and continue this discussion.