Is this true? http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/31/gamestop-acquires-game-streaming-startup-spawn-labs-and-distribution-platform-impulse/
However in teh 2010 Consumer Report it stated Impulse made more money that their other business interests.
No no no No! At least steam is a privatly held company. I won't use steam and passed on Civ5 over issues of privacy, security, reliabilty, and license ownership. If I don't trust steam how can I trust a corporate entity!? Particularly one who just last month got slapped with a class action lawsuit for their handling of customer credit card info!?! And one who last year faced a suit for deceptive DLC advertising!?! A company who's been sued by its own employees at least twice for unpaid overtime! etc.
Bah! I hope this isn't so. If it is, then I may close my Impulse account. I'll lose Elemental and Fallen Enchantress, but count myslef lucky that I learned of this before making my planned purchase of GalCiv2 and Sins. And what about Object Desktop? Will the only way to get it be through Gamestop?
Man I hope this is just an April Fools joke. It's gotta be. All this Stardockian talk about the benefits of being a privatly held company and owning their own online distribution. Don't tell me all that talk was just marketing cheese. It meant something more than just selling me on a game... right?
Depends on the company in question.
(though I guess your PR minder would have to kill you if you said it was a bad thing)
Beat me to it, but yeah.
As for Gamestop being a good/bad thing:
1. Corporations are not all evil.
2. Almost anything that provides Steam with competition is a good thing.
3. Gamestop has a lot of anti-gamer PR. - They could screw over customers in new, exciting ways. - They could use this as an opportunity to fix their image.
Certainly Impulse is likely to be a much more viable competitor to Steam with such a major backing behind it. Competition is good so I guess it's probably good for the PC market as a whole.
What it means for Impulse fans specifically though is more questionable. It's unlikely that Impulse will remain unchanged and fans tend to be unhappy with change.
You do know that Stardock is a corporate entity, right?
I think he means publicly traded company.
Hmm, missed that. Then to sell that they probably decided it was drawing attention away from the other parts of the business, and/or Gamestop showed up with a dumptruck full of cash. Gamestop is a $3 billion market cap company with $377 million in net profit last year. If they were serious about wanting Impulse they could bring significant cash to the table. They could also offer Stardock better placement for titles in stores for X years, or some such.
Nothing was announced in terms of what was actually paid, and it might never be since Stardock is private and the terms could require that. But maybe not. Gamestop is public and having a conference call about it April 4. Might want to listen in on the webcast if you're really interested.
You know part of why I find this puzzling is because a lot of my local area gamestops don't carry computer games at all. So I don't think this would have been a big consideration on Stardock's part. Also I wonder if they'll go like Steam and start getting consoles on Impulse.
Bottom line for me: Gamestop's been sued for ripping off their employees, abusing customer payment data, advertising bogus DLC bundles, selling used games as new, ripping off customers with a hidden monthly payment scam, selling roach infested product, and more. I trust Stardock with my credit card info and to manage my software usage license. I do_not trust Gamestop! They have an ugly history. I won't place my credit card, or my products in the hands of an entity so untrustworthy.
This has me wondering what the hell is going on here. I thought Impulse was a huge part of Stardock, both financially and business-wise, serving as both revenue stream and distribution platform. I'd like to know what Brad was thinking when he agreed to this deal, especially given his views on Impulse keeping Steam honest.
This is the most depressing news that actually made me cry.
What is the most depressing news that didn't make you cry?
Then archive your games and an install of pre-Gamestop Impulse to a disc, and do not have the internet running while installing. Then you can continue to use your games without dealing with GameStop.
If your are worried about credit card numbers, they disapear from the servers 24 hours after the payment goes through.
I bet Impulse could get more global licenses with Gamestop behind it, that would be a good thing.
Indeed.
I'm a bit skeptical about Impulse getting detached from Stardock, but on the other hand, it seems like this might give both Impulse and Reactor a needed boost.
OK, so now how do I get the archived copy of my purchased games again?
I really now want to store all my game setups on my HDD!
Gamestop certainly isn't known for supporting the PC market... Their primary concern has been getting customers to flip their new purchases so that Gamestop can sell it a second time for $5 under MSRP. They've also been known for not stocking new games outright if they don't get enough pre-orders. It seems to me that the more control Gamestop gets over Impulse, the more the service will suffer downgrades in the eyes of customers.
Open Impulse, select the game, right click and pick "Archive Application". To set where they will be sent, go to Folders under the advanced Impulse options. You may want to also set it to prompt before installing Impulse updates & burn an install disc for Impulse.
Edit:
The good new is those that have already been installed do not seem to need to be redownloaded.
Not to mention they now own stardocks half of the Subscriber agreement.. and can change it to whatever they want. and our options are either take it or quit using impulse to access our games. I chose impulse because it was ran by a company i trusted(a huge mistake in hindsight).. NOW im stuck dealing with a company I don't trust or giving up the games I purchased. Thanks alot..
Stunning news. Hopefully all of the Elemental stable continues unabated, if not perhaps somehow bolstered---but wow, Gamestop of all companies!?
I would never have guessed Impulse changed in this direction away from the "split" style like Gamersgate/Paradox and GoG/CDPROJECKT have going.
Strange times ahead....not even sure how to process this.
See my comments about archiving. Then you get to keep the games.
E:WOM's not yet complete! To get the updates which fix the memory issues, and to get the content which fleshes out the game, I would have to have Gamestoppers version of Impulse. And if I close my Impulse account, I won't get my bundled copy of Fallen Enchantress. And I do want to close my account if an entity such as Gamestop takes over. I've reached a point in my life that I won't stand for corporate blood sucking bullshit anymore. The US legal and government systems are epic fail in regards to consumer protection. So I fight the blood suckers the only way I legally can... I vote with my wallet. I won't empower known frauds by doing business with them. It matters not how enticing the product may be. If it is being peddled by bloodsucking bandits, I'll have nothing of it. And I would say that the fraud, scams, and ripoffs that gamestop has been repeatedly involved with; does correctly categorize their behavior as that of bloodsucking bandits.
This most recent lawsuit (filed just a month ago) alleges that Gamestop did not delete Personal Identification Information, customer name and credit card number. As the suit plays out we will learn if there is something to this or not. However, what we already know as matter of public record, is that Gamestop has been fraudulent with its customers and employees. It has faced numerous suits, with repeated occurrence. If I were to accept being sold out to Gamestoppers, all of my existing customer data will be in their hands. With their track record this is not something I want. And with their history of scamming their customers, I do not want my software usage license to be pwned by them. We don't yet know how they will manage our access to our software. But looking at their history, I surmise they will be more steam like than Stardock like.
I belive this only if this is kept up for a week at least. Really. Sometimes April Fools' are just done very convincingly.
I don't belive anything said beetween March 31-April 2...
BTW does installing an archived version mean you get to skip activation? If not they can still force you to use the new gamestop client.
Lastly this means its only a matter of time before steamworks titles are sold via impulse.. Looks like steam wins. Guess if i'm stuck with dealing with this BS i may as well use steam since at least i know valve won't sell steam.(and I fking hate steam..but valve may be the lesser of 2 evils )
Stardock will be creating a new interface just for there apps, and they are keeping a copy of the data. Likely that will be an option.
The credit card number will be gone before the transfer takes place.
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