And if you do buy it now, because it's DRM-free, you'll at least have it six months - or six years - from now when you finally get around to playing it.
Bought Half-Life 11 years ago. Registered it with Steam 7 years ago. Lost the disc sometime since then. Finally beat (the Steam DRMed versions of) Half-Life, Opposing Force, and Blue Shift 6 months ago.
This is a discussion about the merits of an OS, not the lack of merits that my mom and your mom inject into the equation. It is time you step up and explain to your Mother that she can't run Aunt Jane's game or the viruses Aunt Jane is sure to send her way. I did so with my mom years ago, and she has successfully used Linux ever since, and is forever grateful that she no longer has to worry about if she should read her e-mail or browse the web.
Mom already knows not to run random attachments... or any attachments from people she doesn't know or wasn't expecting one from. I check her machine sometimes when I'm at my parents house, and I haven't seen her get any malware yet.
Also, the games I was talking about from Aunt Jane? That would be from a pressed CD, not email.
If you want another example, here's a better one: I have Windows installed on my home PC because Linux doesn't have any games for it and the last time I tried to use Wine (several years ago) to set up the online games I do play, it was an absolute disaster.
Does that make you happy?
And yes, there are some games that are just inferior on, or not even available on, a game console. Team Fortress 2 is one where the console version is just plain inferior. This applies to FPS games in general. As for games that aren't available on game consoles, that encompasses something like 3 out of every 4 MMORPGs, including media darling World of Warcraft.
"... but I don't see why I can't enjoy games and using the power of "real" computers to get an even better gaming experience than I can on a console."
Of course you can do that. My objection is to you asserting that it matters what games are available when discussing the merits of an OS. It is especially objectionable because it is usually advanced by people who aren't either informed enough or smart enough to figure out that they are saying, in effect: Windows is better, because Microsoft has removed all my options!
I was under the impression that he was intentionally acting like Joe Average would act.
And yes, Joe Average, or in this case my parents, do care when they "can't run that game I got from Aunt Nancy." Did I mention that if my mother had Linux, this would have been a real life example?
Fair enough, but I guess I wanted to make him aware that you could activate it on Steam. I bought Civ V on Steam because I had no idea you could do that (after all, most games don't allow you to activate the physical copy even if it is also sold on Steam). I love the convenience of Steam, and not having to fetch no-CD cracks, but I do still love to have a physical copy.
I was under the impression that Civ 5 for Windows is a SteamWorks game... so you wouldn't have a choice; you'd have to run it through Steam*.
Argument in 1) is refuted by claims that gamers still like physical media, despite recent stats showing more PC gamers are buying downloads rather than physical copies of games.
Windows PC Gamers are buying downloads rather than physical copies for reasons including (but not limited to):
1. Convenience. One doesn't have to find the closest store that sells PC games. 2. Availability. Game stores like Game Stop have a terrible PC selection. Also, digital stores (usually) don't run out of products. 3. Cost. A lot of digital download sites have sales. Steam has at least one title a week, and sometimes week-long theme weeks with a different title on sale each day. The most recent was last week's LucasArts theme week. 4. DRM. Digital stores tend to have less DRM than the disc-based versions of the same game. Impulse and Steam are good examples here. Now, there are some games on Steam that have additional DRM (beyond Steam's built-in DRM), but those are noted on the game pages themselves. 5. HDD sizes. New PCs tend to ship with larger HDDs than new consoles do.
You'll notice that I only listed the pros above. The cons are that you don't have the physical media and... that's it.
For console gamers, the pros of buying downloads are 1 and 2 on the above list, but the cons list is larger: Cons of buying digital console games: 1. No resale value; console discs don't have DRM and can be resold. 2. Limited stores. Each console has exactly one online store: PSN (PS3 & PSP Go), Xbox Live Marketplace (Xbox 360), Wii Shop Channel (Wii), DSi Shop Channel (DSi) 3. Limited sales. A captive market means no need to have sales to get people to try your service, as there is no competition. Finally, the crux of the argument, and likely what I should have led off with: 4. Limited selection. Consoles only sell specific games online. In fact, they rarely include titles that are still available on disc. It's not like PCs where almost every new game has a digital version.
A recent survey suggested that the majority of gamers prefer physical discs, and digital downloads have the secondary effect of entirely cutting out the popular market for second-hand films and games
OK, that explains the console market, but for PCs, most games on disc contain DRM. Given that fact, I'm going to look at my options for digital downloads first, starting with Steam.
If the game is on Steam, I'll check the game page and look to see if it includes Third-party DRM, which is noted on the right side of the game page for those that have it. Example: Batman: Arkham Asylum.
If it does contain Third-Party DRM, I'll skip the game entirely, as likely every version of the game for PC has some form of DRM.
There are a few games you can gift if you get duplicates, but the list is extremely small.
As far as I know, the list only includes: Any game that has a 4-pack (examples: Borderlands, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2), Half-Life 2, HL2: Episode 1, the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition.
Then Nintendo decided they didn't want a CD addon after all because it would be too easy to pirate the games, so they jumped ship, leaving Sony with all the incurred debt.
But they didn't. Nintendo left Sony and went over to Philips to create their CD addon instead.
Of course, Nintendo screwed over Philips, too, but Philips used specific terms of their contract to create several games from Nintendo franchises for the CDi... specifically Hotel Mario, Link: Faces of Evil, Zelda: Wand of Gamelon, and Zelda's Adventure.
We could equally ask why most have a prejudice against dying, never having "tried it?" Of course, people generally come to that conclusion because they've witnessed it and/or heard anecdotes about it. Fact is, direct experience and/or experimentation is often a bad way to form an opinion.
Because dying is irreversible.
Steam isn't.
Hell, a few months ago, Valve was offering Portal for free if you had a Steam account or signed up for a new one.
That would have been the best time to try Steam, particularly since Portal for Win/Mac isn't available in a non-Steam form.
Yes, it will. However, you need a GC controller and memory card.
This may be a surprise if you're used to the early PS3s, which use the PS3's hard drive to create virtual memory cards and use the normal SixAxis or DualShock 3 controllers.
Along those lines, they function as the business side of things. A bunch of programmers might not make for the best business team. The most classic example is Duke Nukem Forever. 3DRealm had lots of money from the original Duke title so they could self publish, if they wanted to, and elected to do so. However that meant nobody was minding after them to release it. So they faffed about and delayed things and so on. Eventually it became a joke, a lot of wasted money, and ultimately their demise. In a situation with a separate publisher they could have said "No, the game is looking good as it is. You go in to crunch mode, and we ship in 9 months." Might not have been The Best Game Evar(tm) had that happened but it would have been a game, not a perpetually half-finished project.
As I recall, Duke Nukem 3D did have a publisher funneling funds to them. However, that stopped after some point in time.
Who that publisher was changed over the years due to mergers and acquisitions. It started as GT Interactive, then eventually passed to Take-Two, then to a Take-Two subsidiary (2K Games).
Take-Two's later contracts supposedly said it would give 3D Realms a fixed amount upon completion of the game. Which was apparently the smart way to do it, seeing as how long the game was in development.
Of course, Gearbox has now taken over development of the title and is supposed to finally release it next year.
to force device manufacturers to use its technology rather than that of Skyhook, to terminate contractual obligations with Skyhook, and to otherwise force device manufacturers
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
You're right, they should have used the word "induce."
iirc, it's illegal in the United States to intentionally induce someone to do something that would unknowingly violate the terms of a contract.
(Which makes me wonder why Blizzard didn't bring that up in their suit against MMOGlider.)
If I remember correctly, last time they did a poll on this, there was like 50% IE users here. Not by choice, but a lot of people surf Slashdot at work, and a lot of workplaces force IE only.
It's just as possible that those (cheap) workstations are 32-bit Windows XP.
I was guessing, as steamcommunity.com is blocked where I work. I know I have most of the TF2 achievements, minus about 40-50; I was under the impression that TF2 had about 400 achievements.
A just as pertinent question is: Why did you take the time to look that up?
Re:why a $130 250gb HDD why M$ lock out 3rd party
on
Review: Halo: Reach
·
· Score: 1
why a $130 for 250gb HDD. Why M$ do you lock out 3rd party HDDs? why ban for USING YOUR OWN HDD?
One word: Greed.
Which also explains why they charge fift... whoops, sixty dollars a year for a glorified IM and game matchmaking service. Yes, it adds Twitter, Facebook, and NetFlix support as well, but all of those are also free for the PC and every other system they're on.
Since PAE doesn't work too well in windows (releases meant for desktops at least) you'd expect more interest in switching to 64bit to get more than ~3.5GB usable memory.
That's the reason my home Windows workstation / gaming machine has a 64-bit version of Windows on it... it has 8GB of RAM (mainly for running VMs, but if I actually have Windows programs that can use it...)
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry, midnight EDT. Since they reopen at 8am tomorrow, that's 150 hours even.
GOG was down Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and is still down today. At midnight PDT tonight, that will be 144 hours.
How is that "few" or "measly?"
Bought Half-Life 11 years ago. Registered it with Steam 7 years ago. Lost the disc sometime since then. Finally beat (the Steam DRMed versions of) Half-Life, Opposing Force, and Blue Shift 6 months ago.
You were saying?
Mom already knows not to run random attachments... or any attachments from people she doesn't know or wasn't expecting one from. I check her machine sometimes when I'm at my parents house, and I haven't seen her get any malware yet.
Also, the games I was talking about from Aunt Jane? That would be from a pressed CD, not email.
If you want another example, here's a better one:
I have Windows installed on my home PC because Linux doesn't have any games for it and the last time I tried to use Wine (several years ago) to set up the online games I do play, it was an absolute disaster.
Does that make you happy?
And yes, there are some games that are just inferior on, or not even available on, a game console. Team Fortress 2 is one where the console version is just plain inferior. This applies to FPS games in general. As for games that aren't available on game consoles, that encompasses something like 3 out of every 4 MMORPGs, including media darling World of Warcraft.
I was under the impression that he was intentionally acting like Joe Average would act.
And yes, Joe Average, or in this case my parents, do care when they "can't run that game I got from Aunt Nancy." Did I mention that if my mother had Linux, this would have been a real life example?
I was under the impression that Civ 5 for Windows is a SteamWorks game... so you wouldn't have a choice; you'd have to run it through Steam*.
*Or, ignoring legalities, a Steam emulator.
Windows PC Gamers are buying downloads rather than physical copies for reasons including (but not limited to):
1. Convenience. One doesn't have to find the closest store that sells PC games.
2. Availability. Game stores like Game Stop have a terrible PC selection. Also, digital stores (usually) don't run out of products.
3. Cost. A lot of digital download sites have sales. Steam has at least one title a week, and sometimes week-long theme weeks with a different title on sale each day. The most recent was last week's LucasArts theme week.
4. DRM. Digital stores tend to have less DRM than the disc-based versions of the same game. Impulse and Steam are good examples here. Now, there are some games on Steam that have additional DRM (beyond Steam's built-in DRM), but those are noted on the game pages themselves.
5. HDD sizes. New PCs tend to ship with larger HDDs than new consoles do.
You'll notice that I only listed the pros above. The cons are that you don't have the physical media and... that's it.
For console gamers, the pros of buying downloads are 1 and 2 on the above list, but the cons list is larger:
Cons of buying digital console games:
1. No resale value; console discs don't have DRM and can be resold.
2. Limited stores. Each console has exactly one online store: PSN (PS3 & PSP Go), Xbox Live Marketplace (Xbox 360), Wii Shop Channel (Wii), DSi Shop Channel (DSi)
3. Limited sales. A captive market means no need to have sales to get people to try your service, as there is no competition.
Finally, the crux of the argument, and likely what I should have led off with:
4. Limited selection. Consoles only sell specific games online. In fact, they rarely include titles that are still available on disc. It's not like PCs where almost every new game has a digital version.
OK, that explains the console market, but for PCs, most games on disc contain DRM. Given that fact, I'm going to look at my options for digital downloads first, starting with Steam.
If the game is on Steam, I'll check the game page and look to see if it includes Third-party DRM, which is noted on the right side of the game page for those that have it. Example: Batman: Arkham Asylum.
If it does contain Third-Party DRM, I'll skip the game entirely, as likely every version of the game for PC has some form of DRM.
There are a few games you can gift if you get duplicates, but the list is extremely small.
As far as I know, the list only includes:
Any game that has a 4-pack (examples: Borderlands, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2), Half-Life 2, HL2: Episode 1, the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition.
But they didn't. Nintendo left Sony and went over to Philips to create their CD addon instead.
Of course, Nintendo screwed over Philips, too, but Philips used specific terms of their contract to create several games from Nintendo franchises for the CDi... specifically Hotel Mario, Link: Faces of Evil, Zelda: Wand of Gamelon, and Zelda's Adventure.
Because dying is irreversible.
Steam isn't.
Hell, a few months ago, Valve was offering Portal for free if you had a Steam account or signed up for a new one.
That would have been the best time to try Steam, particularly since Portal for Win/Mac isn't available in a non-Steam form.
Yes, it will. However, you need a GC controller and memory card.
This may be a surprise if you're used to the early PS3s, which use the PS3's hard drive to create virtual memory cards and use the normal SixAxis or DualShock 3 controllers.
or buy a boxed copy from a store.
In the U.S., Best Buy still sells StarCraft a decade on.
The Librarian of Congress has been empowered to create DMCA exemptions, so the Library of Congress would win.
As I recall, Duke Nukem 3D did have a publisher funneling funds to them. However, that stopped after some point in time.
Who that publisher was changed over the years due to mergers and acquisitions. It started as GT Interactive, then eventually passed to Take-Two, then to a Take-Two subsidiary (2K Games).
Take-Two's later contracts supposedly said it would give 3D Realms a fixed amount upon completion of the game. Which was apparently the smart way to do it, seeing as how long the game was in development.
Of course, Gearbox has now taken over development of the title and is supposed to finally release it next year.
They're routinely mentioned on gaming sites, blogs, etc... Hell, this isn't even the first time /. has mentioned them.
Shouldn't that be -1: Offtopic? It really isn't related to what we're talking about.
You're right, they should have used the word "induce."
iirc, it's illegal in the United States to intentionally induce someone to do something that would unknowingly violate the terms of a contract.
(Which makes me wonder why Blizzard didn't bring that up in their suit against MMOGlider.)
Ssh, don't give them ideas.
It's just as possible that those (cheap) workstations are 32-bit Windows XP.
I was guessing, as steamcommunity.com is blocked where I work. I know I have most of the TF2 achievements, minus about 40-50; I was under the impression that TF2 had about 400 achievements.
A just as pertinent question is:
Why did you take the time to look that up?
One word: Greed.
Which also explains why they charge fift... whoops, sixty dollars a year for a glorified IM and game matchmaking service. Yes, it adds Twitter, Facebook, and NetFlix support as well, but all of those are also free for the PC and every other system they're on.
How does it compare to Steam?
Then again, Steam offers things like in-game IMs, Steam cloud support for game settings (and with certain single-player games, saved games), etc...
And achievements. I have over 360 of them in Team Fortress 2 alone.
Last I checked, there was only one 64-bit browser for Windows that wasn't a preview release or beta, and that would be IE8.
Even if the people who visit this site use Windows, they don't generally use IE.
Ergo, 64-bit Flash plugin for IE has virtually no audience here.
That will surely change when Firefox releases a 64-bit Windows version, but until then, it's just a novelty.
That's the reason my home Windows workstation / gaming machine has a 64-bit version of Windows on it... it has 8GB of RAM (mainly for running VMs, but if I actually have Windows programs that can use it...)