The problem, as some other have pointed out, is the "physical" medium. Unlike traditional goods, a "video game" exist only virtually.
If someone could copy a car with no repercussions, people would "pirate" car and auto-dealers would complain, car manufacturers would complain and such... Hey it's free cars and no one will arrest me, why not do it?
"Physical" games, like board games, don't have the problem, they cannot be reproduced easily. Every medium with "virtual" formatting has the same problem: music, movies and even online books, among others.
So there's *only* two possibilities to "solving" the video game pirate problem:
1) Change the way people think and treat a game pirate the same way as a car thief, with "real" repercussions.
2) Make the game "physical" instead of "virtual". This requires developpers to be inventive:
Integrate the hardware component along with the software...
Like Eye of Judgement on the PS3, where i cannot even imagine ANYONE pirating the game since it requires physical components to play. If they pirated the game itself, why even care as no one is even able to play it?...
The same way, i don't see anyone pirating Steel Battallion, Guitar Hero, DDR or Rock Band because of their special respective controllers.
Of course, all the examples listed in solution #2 are on console, which are "somewhat" harder for Mr. average joe to pirate in the first place.
And to people thinking pirates don't have *that* much of an effect, i would point to the fact that where the PC was king of gaming, now it's on consoles, notably because it's harder for the common folk to copy, requiring mod chips and other such "heavy" modifications, which is not within reach of most people.
This leaves PC gaming in a sad state indeed...