It seems like everybody is using "WinCustomize talk" for general discussion. I cant actually find a general discussion catagory.
So heres the latest for steam exclusive games being advertised on Impulse:
When I first saw this I thought "wow thats pretty cool". In the fine print however, it says the steam client is required, and thats at the bottom only after clicking on the "read more" and in small letterings.
This trickery is done, ON PURPOSE by Gamestop no doubt having some sort of agreement with Steam. Steam sees the threat impulse poses. Impulse, while not very widely known, has a very superior DRM scheme to Steam.
Its very easy to miss that *steam required* fine print when your purchasing an "impulse" game. Even on retail copies, the part on the back of the game where it says the said fine print is designed to be overlooked.
So, why is Steam so bad? If you have an excellent internet connection then you wont have any problems with it, but people like me who have the lowest end connections speeds absolutely abhor it and even still people with decent connection speeds find it annoying.
Heres the stupidity of Steam:
The DRM is designed to prevent "unparalleled anti-piracy, making it a very popular retailer for software publishers and developers", yet every game on Steam has been pirated or will be pirated in the future. This raises questions as to how necessary Steam's intrusive DRM scheme is.
Mandatory updates: I have no idea why updates are mandatory when you have to be securely connected to Steam in order to play in the first place. Whoever in the company decided that this requirement was a good idea to implement was high or something, because anyone with half a brain can clearly see its not going to prevent pirating.
Games install more than once: I dont get this either. You buy a retail copy of the game, "install it from the disk" and then you are required to "update" when in reality you are just downloading and installing the whole fucking thing over again. Utter. Fucking. Stupidity.
Games download from overly secure connections: Even the worst internet connection in the world doesnt take 2 whole days to download 2-4 gigs of data. Thats how long it took me to install my game.
This is why PC gaming is dying, or at the very least vastly reduced.
I hung around the theatre department too much, though never got the sheepskin.
The 'joys' of posting from different forums/sites .....there be a lag...
Clarify. ..... .....
Enjoy your karma, good sir. Busted out laughing when I saw that.
Awesome! I never knew any real hippies growing up, although they were rumored to be around. I probably met some, but I can't confirm it. I was a little too young to know.
Did you go to Woodstock? Did you see the Kennedy assassination? Were you old enough to understand the moon landing?
Wow. I wish I could buy you a few beers and hear some stories.
Wrong country [tho we had a 'Sunbury']....I remember the Kennedy assassination....watched the moon landing 'live' on Telly at school in 4th form [I was 15]....was a hippy Architecture student, 1972....grew out of it by '74 when I started working for 'the man'....
That last part must have been a disappointment than again I don't know such things yet.
Much of our Architecture course was spent 'redesigning the world/society'....Dreamer....you're nothing but a dreamer.....
Sociology was sitting in at the Law Courts to support draft dodgers...
Protests included refusing to sit one of the 44 subjects [over 6 years] for it being too banal [common knowledge] ...and thus redesigning the course.
I was a 'failed hippy' though...cos not only did I support the draft dodgers I ALSO supported those that went.
The most vile thing in that age was the treatment of the Vietnam vets....
...and people's dress sense.
Music didn't go to crap for another decade yet.
Don't turn on the radio or Channel V then....
no, let it go on! WEEEEE!
btw, never picked up a game I couldn't find the client programs listed on.
never bought from Impulse because of Gamestop's history with credit information.
I am an informed consumer.
as for computer gaming going down proportionately: duh.
Before consoles you had computers and arcades. One was niche and one pop.
After consoles, you have xbox, nintendo, sega, etc... on top of computers and arcades.
More competition means more split. Although gaming is becoming more commonplace, arcades always gained popular attention over computers. Now everyone can have their own arcade box. Pop gaming shifted and grew. Computer gaming is still in the millions (check sales on SC2, SoaSE, E:TW, etc...). Now we just have more with consoles, weighing down the other side.
I wasn't saying I was a hippie, only that it was during that era. By the time I was 19, the movement was starting to fade. Real hippies were pretty rare in the wilds of Missouri, it was mostly redneck country. You know, the ones that instead of saying "Get high" say "GET A HAIRCUT!"
Did you go to Woodstock? No. I was pretty much of a square and living at home when Woodstock happened. And it was too far away. Just as well. Anyone who says they went to Woodstock wouldn't remember it. None of the friends I ever knew went. If you were buying flowers from kids on street corners in the late 60s/early 70s, they were probably hippies. When my dad died (same year I turned 19), I began identifying more with the movement, but I didn't even smoke a joint until I was 26.
Did you see the Kennedy assassination? No, because I didn't live in Dallas. Very few people saw the actual event. It happened on a weekday, early afternoon I think, so school was in session. I heard about it between classes in junior high school ("Kennedy got shot!"). The teachers were all trying to maintain their composure (one of them suddenly slammed down his fist and blurted "Goddammit!"), and after about an hour they wound up sending us home. All tv (only 3 major networks then, public television, no cable) was running special bulletins constantly for the next 72 hours or so, with no regular programming. It was all pretty grim. I don't think the motorcade had even been broadcast. I don't think there was any true document until Abraham Zapruder turned over his 8mm film. I wasn't really interested in politics in those days. I was 12, and my parents didn't care for Kennedy because he was a Catholic.
Were you old enough to understand the moon landing? I was 18 when it happened, so I hope I was old enough. I was very much a follower of the space program, starting from the Project Mercury days. One of the deacons at our church was an engineer at McDonnel-Douglas, and he was involved with the Mercury and Gemini space capsules. I had a Polaroid instant film camera (digital cameras did not exist) and took snapshots of the tv screen (without the flash). One of the photos I managed to keep for about 10 years, showing Aldrin coming down the ladder.
serious?
Yeah, Bill's a real Texas boy from the roots.
Yeah, right.....
....and according to wiki I'm a fascist bastard admin.....
....oh....wait......
Here's perhaps a more reliable source than Wikipedia, showing young Bill: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2007/03/the_day_bill_paxton_saw_john_f.php
I wouldn't give a squirt of piss for your ass right now...
That was a quick phase then.
@Donfield - Yeah, we had more rednecks and such here in Texas back then too and I was a little to young to understand any of that while it was happening.
You didn't even smoke your first joint until you were 26? I was much younger at around 13. I guess it was all too available to us down here, although I wouldn't have a clue how to get any nowadays. No interest in that sort of stuff either since I grew out of it decades ago.
But we had the cheap Mexican stuff for $5.00 to $7.00 an ounce, the standard fare at $10.00 and the "good stuff" at $15.00 to $20.00 an ounce. I'll bet it's gone up significantly since then.
As far as the Kennedy assassination, I was thinking more about the news and all. It seems that you had some direct exposure to it. Looking at the reaction from the history books is a little confusing to me. It was significant, but people who never met the man appeared to be crying as if their brother was shot. I can't imagine loving a president or any other politician to that degree. Even when I shell out a political donation, I don't feel particularly attached to the person. It's almost always just the lesser of two or more evils in my view.
The moon landing was on TV when I was a child, but I didn't understand it so much either. It just seemed like the thing our country was doing. Kind of like it was inevitable and not fraught with the risk and danger that becomes obvious later. Especially in light of the Challenger and Columbia disasters.
Oh, and something for the topic I suppose - PC gaming isn't dying. If anything, it's getting a resurgence due to digital download clients like Steam.
Ok, this conversation needs to be locked.
I will say this, we often have to deal with the world as it is, not as we wish it was. Stardock plans to make considerable use of Steam as we go forward. Not because there's a conspiracy or that we love Steam in particular but because it provides services and features that we, at Stardock, need in our gaming software.
Similarly, if/when Gamestop is able to introduce features that we can make use of, we'll happily evaluate that. As a game developer, my interest is on making games, not getting into a quasi-political debate regarding the virtues of the companies who provide the platforms in question.
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