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Downloading Games Not Just For Pirates

Posted by Zonk on from the speedy-delivery dept.

1up is running a piece entitled Digital Delivery, which looks at alternate distribution models for new titles in the here-and-now of fast download speeds. They cover outfits like Steam and GameTap, in addition to the ever popular Xbox Live. From the article: "Steam's birth came with some controversy, though. It was only in late 2004 that this happened, but if you missed it, a brief explanation might be in order. When Valve decided to embrace digital distribution, they didn't do it in half measures. The retail version of the game that shipped to stores was more like a formality to appease Vivendi Universal Games, Valve's megalithic publisher: for $50, gamers got a box containing five discs inside a sleeve. If players wanted a manual, they had to refer to the PDF version on the disc, and the irritation at this was nothing compared to the real bombshell."

5 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. crappy cliffhanger summaries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "...and the irritation at this was nothing compared to the real bombshell."

    Which was?!? Leave it to Slashdot to end the summary with a cliffhanger like that. I guess I'll have to wait for the dupe to find out what happens next...

  2. well, sure by syrinx · · Score: 3, Funny

    I would think that it's tough for pirates to download games... I can't imagine you'd be able to get much bandwidth out there on the high seas.

    --
    Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
    1. Re:well, sure by Kesch · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yarr, us pirates have been hijacking shipments fromm Japan. Recently we got a nice satellite internet setup with gyro-balancing to keep her steady on stormy waters. BTW(By the waves), we also pirated the subsription. 'Tis no problem now to pirate all the games and peg leg fetish videos we want.

      --
      If this signature is witty enough, maybe somebody will like me.
  3. Re:Yarrr! Matey! by vertinox · · Score: 3, Funny

    I would think that it's tough for pirates to download games... I can't imagine you'd be able to get much bandwidth out there on the high seas.

    Not when ye have a Galleon loaded with 20 cannon, 100 vicious men, and a cargo hold filled to the brim with ye backup tapes traveling at 5 knots due to a ragin carribean storm!

    Yar! Thar be ye bandwidth!

    --
    "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
    -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
  4. Re:The real bombshell by cornface · · Score: 4, Funny

    The gluttony implied by complaints of having to wait "four fucking hours" for a video game should make you ashamed. Some people don't have medical care / food / a place to live, and another segment of the population can't wait four hours for a video game. If you happen to be an American, thanks. You've made me ashamed to be an American.

    If you accidentally cut off your foot with an axe, don't cry about it and rush to the hospital, you selfish glutton. Some people don't have legs!