The Steam discussion topic! Joy and happiness, right here, folks.

[quote name='MSI Magus']All I am saying is regardless of if its steam, XB/PS classics or whatever any digital download should always be cheaper then the physical copy. People pitched fits because the PSP go prices were the same as the disk based copies....so why are people not up in arms that most of steams games after just a month or two are priced higher then a physical disk copy?[/QUOTE]

You seem to either conveniently forget or are blissfully ignorant of the relationship between digital distribution services, retail, and publishers. Retailers have discretion over their prices so they can move merchandise. Steam does not (for the most part). And you do realize that console versions of Valve games are distributed by EA?

This "should be cheaper" thing is totally subjective. Some people think paying 10 dollars more for not having a disk is totally worth it. Some people, like you, think that paying for a disk is worth 10 dollars more. Also, consoles and handhelds have a much stronger history of physical mediums for games than PCs.

This topic has been done to death and you really should take the stick out your ass and drop it.

[quote name='Megazell']RE5 and Prototype are 5.99 at Amazing Savings and Staples and you can always have STEAM register them.[/QUOTE]

Wrong
 
[quote name='kilm']You seem to either conveniently forget or are blissfully ignorant of the relationship between digital distribution services, retail, and publishers. Retailers have discretion over their prices so they can move merchandise. Steam does not (for the most part). And you do realize that console versions of Valve games are distributed by EA?

This "should be cheaper" thing is totally subjective. Some people think paying 10 dollars more for not having a disk is totally worth it. Some people, like you, think that paying for a disk is worth 10 dollars more. Also, consoles and handhelds have a much stronger history of physical mediums for games than PCs.

This topic has been done to death and you really should take the stick out your ass and drop it.



Wrong[/QUOTE]

Agreed - I think it's the natural instinct of console players to defend their purchase mentality kicking in.


You can't register them?
 
[quote name='kilm']You seem to either conveniently forget or are blissfully ignorant of the relationship between digital distribution services, retail, and publishers. Retailers have discretion over their prices so they can move merchandise. Steam does not (for the most part). And you do realize that console versions of Valve games are distributed by EA?

This "should be cheaper" thing is totally subjective. Some people think paying 10 dollars more for not having a disk is totally worth it. Some people, like you, think that paying for a disk is worth 10 dollars more. Also, consoles and handhelds have a much stronger history of physical mediums for games than PCs.

This topic has been done to death and you really should take the stick out your ass and drop it.



Wrong[/QUOTE]

Wow way to be a dick vs having a civilized debate. Was there any reason to be so rude? Also if your going to state things in a way that makes you sound like a know it all expert how about dropping facts the way you suggest I drop my ass.

Honestly, how do you know what kind of relationship steam has with publishers? How do you know most of the price setting is being done by these publishers? My guess is you dont know shit and are just making ignorant assumptions and since someone else isnt making the same assumption you act like a dick.

If you have some sources id love to see them, I know I personally have searched for interviews or other articles that talks about the way Valve decides on prices and the relationship with publishers but havnt really found much info.

So again first off next time try having a mature/adult conversation vs just acting like your 15 or some lonely jackass. Second if you MUST be an arrogant dick at least prove you know what your talking about.

If you respond make damn sure you watch your tone too or I for one(and I doubt most others)will even bother reading your post.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Wow way to be a dick vs having a civilized debate. Was there any reason to be so rude? Also if your going to state things in a way that makes you sound like a know it all expert how about dropping facts the way you suggest I drop my ass.

Honestly, how do you know what kind of relationship steam has with publishers? How do you know most of the price setting is being done by these publishers? My guess is you dont know shit and are just making ignorant assumptions and since someone else isnt making the same assumption you act like a dick.

If you have some sources id love to see them, I know I personally have searched for interviews or other articles that talks about the way Valve decides on prices and the relationship with publishers but havnt really found much info.

So again first off next time try having a mature/adult conversation vs just acting like your 15 or some lonely jackass. Second if you MUST be an arrogant dick at least prove you know what your talking about.

If you respond make damn sure you watch your tone too or I for one(and I doubt most others)will even bother reading your post.[/QUOTE]

The publishers do set the price on their products on steam.
I use to work for a certain big name publisher a couple of years back and also have friends in many other development and publisher houses and the ones I spoke too said the same, Valve doesn't dictate the prices on steam outside of their own.

One thing though that you are over simplifying as well is while PC and consoles are both gaming, their targeted markets are a lot different. So trying to compare prices of a for a console (and used ones at that) to the PC is rather pointless.

Console games have a very short window of actually selling and about the only way they make any worthwhile sales after its launch window is with price drops that boost sales for a short period.

PC games have historically have had a much long life span and prices in general have quite a bit of time to come down. It isn't unusual for PC games to actually see higher sales a few years into their lives then when they were first released at times. PC gamers tend to stick with their titles much longer where is console gamers tend to go to the next "new" thing dropping and most the time almost never going back to the previous titles.

I will agree, digital distribution IMO should be around $5-10 cheaper then a retail disc version, but now we know that if you are willing to wait up to a year for holiday sales, you will get what you want at a significant discount normally.
 
[quote name='Kenrik']This thread died... :([/QUOTE]

I figured it would the second QotD stopped...but eh people wanted to be rude and complain so whatever.

Topic updated momentarily with a QotW at least.
 
[quote name='Kenrik']This thread died... :([/QUOTE]

It went without a post for a day and it died?

Quick someone say something controversial.... Like Intel integrated graphics are just fine or something.
 
[quote name='foltzie']It went without a post for a day and it died?

Quick someone say something controversial.... Like Intel integrated graphics are just fine or something.[/QUOTE]

Well it kind of did. Its not just that it went without a post its that it went from receiving several posts an hour to a post or two a day. You can go back and just watch and people stopped posting.
 
I think Gametap has that region covered. I doubt they could keep the price low AND have a good library.

Does anyone think Bad Company 2 will get a 4 pack? I'm on the fence as to whether or not I'll get it and that would surely tip me over if they released one.
 
I really hope they do add a 4 pack. I can wait until its released even since the pre-order unlocks arent really that special and you will unlock them anyway sooner or later when you play the game.

they have squads in the game, a squad is 4 ppl, that just screams 4pack! So i really hope EA can get their thumbs out their asses and give us a 4pack.
 
heh, I was thinking of commenting the same thing...the thread died, that is:

As far as game rentals on Steam? Naw, I prefer to own my games, so I really enjoy getting the deals, and if its brand new? I can wait for it to go on sale for a reasonable amount...if its must have brand new, they usually have 10-20% off of newer games which works for me too....

I'm just not enthusiastic of game rentals at say, $10+ a month, when a little patience, you can buy the good games for that much anyways, and own them.
 
Rentals are interesting, the copy protection would likely be broken in days if not hours.

But ultimately, isnt this what demos cover in the PC world?
 
[quote name='foltzie']Rentals are interesting, the copy protection would likely be broken in days if not hours.

But ultimately, isnt this what demos cover in the PC world?[/QUOTE]

A demo is not the same as a rental. Rentals arnt always meant to get a taste of the game, lots of people rent a game then power game it to beat it. I have used gamefly numerous times to rent games like Uncharted 2, Kingdom Hearts 2 etc etc that I didnt want to buy while they were $40-$60 but I still wanted to play. I also know people that pirate games while their new and expensive then buy them when their cheap. Maybe if there was a rental option it would draw in some of those type of people. I know I personally never spend more then $30 on a game, but if I could rent a game for $3-$5 while it was new there are some I would.
 
You guys are silly. This thread isn't dead at all. 41 pages, and as long as it keeps getting posts, even if just one per day, I'd say that's active.
 
With the way prices drop on PC games, I can't see rentals being profitable at all from a business stand point. Also, I have little desire to rent games, so for me personally I don't care if it never comes. I am sure some people would like it though so I would not be against it.
 
This thread is undead.

I like the concept of rentals at a reasonable price, but I think it would kill the service. Certain games are just meant for one play through and a rental would take care of that for many people. In turn they would probably have to rely more on sales so there would be smaller discounts etc. Plus, are we really going to get a lower rental price than 2 bucks or 5 bucks or 7 bucks for a full game?

I think not.
 
About the only renting I ever did was to see if I liked a game enough to purchase it, and demos, for the most part, have replaced that for me, even on consoles. Lots of times reviews do the trick for me. Sometimes they cause me to overlook games I might like, so demos are still handy. (I can usually spot something I'll dislike, regardless of a glowing review, but there are times when I like a good old "B-game".)
 
I used to rent a lot or buy shareware - because 15 years ago I couldn't just go online to download a demo, so 5 bucks for a shareware disk or rental beat the heck out of 50 bucks or 30 bucks for a new game I never played before.

I think in today's market with the increased rental prices and quick price drops, renting just isn't cost effective. Maybe for Gamefly, but otherwise if I know I can get a game eventually for 10 bucks, I won't spend even 5 to play it for a week.
 
Isnt that what we are doing right now with steam anyway? :p
Maybe not like renting physical copies but still we just only own the right to play the game, so its kinda like renting :p
 
[quote name='freddy_']Isnt that what we are doing right now with steam anyway? :p
Maybe not like renting physical copies but still we just only own the right to play the game, so its kinda like renting :p[/QUOTE]


Yes, but we actually do own something for an infinite amount of time. Where as rental you don't own any rights. You just get physical possession of the game for a finite amount of time.

And technically, even when you buy a physical copy you own just as much as you do on a digital service, the right to play the game so long as the disk isn't scratched beyond play or stolen... and then your rights go with the disk...lol
 
So any tips from people that had played it before starting Kings Bounty? I played the AP demo and it seemed pretty tough and like it could take quite awhile to learn the mechanics of the game. Going to play the first game first, but figured it wouldnt hurt to get some tips going into it.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']So any tips from people that had played it before starting Kings Bounty? I played the AP demo and it seemed pretty tough and like it could take quite awhile to learn the mechanics of the game. Going to play the first game first, but figured it wouldnt hurt to get some tips going into it.[/QUOTE]


The first one is a lot more friendly starting off. It isn't really to hard to learn the mechanics fairly quickly.

I do suggest sticking with battles that are slightly weaker and under for a bit at the start. Reason I suggest this is at the start you don't have many spells and you can't lead too much in the way of an army due to leadership being rather meh. Picking and fighting weaker foes will give you more of a feel how things work too without blowing tons of gold and time on harder fights to just find that you are going through troops you like and they aren't any more available for you to hire from where ever you were getting them from for some time.

Some tips, definitely get a wife (I believe the game gives you a few to choose from over your time playing and you can ditch her at any time). Getting a wife and have children the children give you benefits or you can just use your wife for extra item slots for some gear. Rage, it doesn't do anything till you get Pandora's box under your control and actually get some of the spirits to fight for you, so don't worry about rage early on.

As for your "talent" trees so to speak that you use runes you find to get new abilities, at the start unless you know what kind of style of fighting you like and such, I suggest not spending any of the runes for a little bit outside of some of the more common overall useful regardless skills. There are ones that will give you +mana at the end of each turn during battle, ones that lower leadership needed for certain types of armies so you can have more of them.

For your items you will get through various ways, most common of which is through merchants, some will have the ability to be upgraded, just right click on it and it will tell you if it can be (only a few items are upgradable iirc). The catch is, upgrading them is a battle you have to win to do the upgrade, the battles can be difficult cause there is no way to know how tough the foe is until you are in the battle. So save often before doing so :p

These are just things I have come across and some of which I did or would have done if I knew better. I'm currently at the 43 hour mark into the game and probably around 2/3s the way through it now.
 
[quote name='evildeadjedi']I hope that Steam continues the 4-packs they are a great value.[/QUOTE]

sadly it is up to the publishers to decide if they want a 4pack or not. I am hoping one comes along for Bad Company 2 (got in the beta through other means so preordering isn't a concern for myself currently).

I love the 4 packs, got in on one for Bioshock 2. If it wasn't for the 4 pack price along with getting Bioshock 1 for preordering I probably wouldn't had bothered since my interest in BS2 was kinda low, but at that price getting both of them I am able to sell my limited edition and it will cover the cost of the limited edition itself when I first got it along with BS2, plus some lol.
 
[quote name='KaOTiK']The first one is a lot more friendly starting off. It isn't really to hard to learn the mechanics fairly quickly.

I do suggest sticking with battles that are slightly weaker and under for a bit at the start. Reason I suggest this is at the start you don't have many spells and you can't lead too much in the way of an army due to leadership being rather meh. Picking and fighting weaker foes will give you more of a feel how things work too without blowing tons of gold and time on harder fights to just find that you are going through troops you like and they aren't any more available for you to hire from where ever you were getting them from for some time.

Some tips, definitely get a wife (I believe the game gives you a few to choose from over your time playing and you can ditch her at any time). Getting a wife and have children the children give you benefits or you can just use your wife for extra item slots for some gear. Rage, it doesn't do anything till you get Pandora's box under your control and actually get some of the spirits to fight for you, so don't worry about rage early on.

As for your "talent" trees so to speak that you use runes you find to get new abilities, at the start unless you know what kind of style of fighting you like and such, I suggest not spending any of the runes for a little bit outside of some of the more common overall useful regardless skills. There are ones that will give you +mana at the end of each turn during battle, ones that lower leadership needed for certain types of armies so you can have more of them.

For your items you will get through various ways, most common of which is through merchants, some will have the ability to be upgraded, just right click on it and it will tell you if it can be (only a few items are upgradable iirc). The catch is, upgrading them is a battle you have to win to do the upgrade, the battles can be difficult cause there is no way to know how tough the foe is until you are in the battle. So save often before doing so :p

These are just things I have come across and some of which I did or would have done if I knew better. I'm currently at the 43 hour mark into the game and probably around 2/3s the way through it now.[/QUOTE]

Thanks! Sure a lot of this will be helpful when I start the game later tonight or tomorrow. It really did seem like an intimidating game, but im sure ill get the hang of it(I better since I spent like $15 on these 2 games!).
 
So here is a question for the topic that I just thought of but isnt interesting enough for QotW. Should steam censor user's with offensive names? I was just playing Nation Red and someone on the leader boards had the name Saint fuck. Most other services would have made him change his name by now or made it so he couldn't chose that name in the first place.

Personally I dont care and think at least in these violent games/M rated games people should be able to have what ever the fuck they want as their name. At the same time though I guess it is kind of wrong for my little brother to be playing something like Luxor or some other kid friendly game and see Saint fuck on the leader boards ;)
 
Names don't bother me. I always do find it funny people get in arms over certain words then have no problems with violence (just saying in general, not towards you).
 
I have a problem with racial slurs... but in the end the most you can do is just ignore or not play with people who have them in their names or use them a lot. Had to leave a Killing Floor match after everybody started using slurs to refer to the zombies.
 
Yeah Racial slurs and sexual slurs are different. I could care less if people drop an F bomb every other word but im not cool with racial or sexual slurs what so ever.
 
Well the thing I find funny is Steam makes you confirm you are 18 to look at the page for certain mature games, so allowing anyone to put "mature" material in their name seems to go against that. But I guess they can only control so much.
 
[quote name='CheapLikeAFox']Well the thing I find funny is Steam makes you confirm you are 18 to look at the page for certain mature games, so allowing anyone to put "mature" material in their name seems to go against that. But I guess they can only control so much.[/QUOTE]

I hate that crap how I need to always confirm my birthday when going to an M rated games page. I understand the legality of it, but at the same time I really wish they would put a feature into the settings that remembers your age.

I can't imagine how many people were born accord Jan 1 1981 according to steam lol
 
Wow I know iv ranted about Nation Red several times before but this game keeps impressing me. Apparently the reason this game has been getting so many patches is because the people behind the game are really freaking cool. The guy behind the game actually is extremely active at the games steam forums and is listening to the games fans and updating the game based on what they want. He said he wont charge for DLC and instead just keeps updating his game with new modes, weapons and maps based on what people are requesting.

Always awesome to see developers like this and since I cant give the guy any more money I want to keep pimping his product for being so cool.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Wow I know iv ranted about Nation Red several times before but this game keeps impressing me. Apparently the reason this game has been getting so many patches is because the people behind the game are really freaking cool. The guy behind the game actually is extremely active at the games steam forums and is listening to the games fans and updating the game based on what they want. He said he wont charge for DLC and instead just keeps updating his game with new modes, weapons and maps based on what people are requesting.

Always awesome to see developers like this and since I cant give the guy any more money I want to keep pimping his product for being so cool.[/QUOTE]


Yeah, the game is real cool - probably my favorite buy during the holiday sale - quite challenging, but in a fun way. If I can ever throw a little more money his way I will. Maybe I will buy gift copies for friends at some point.
 
[quote name='CheapLikeAFox']Yeah, the game is real cool - probably my favorite buy during the holiday sale - quite challenging, but in a fun way. If I can ever throw a little more money his way I will. Maybe I will buy gift copies for friends at some point.[/QUOTE]

Ya my little brother is the only person I am really close enough to gift the game to. Maybe what ill do is create a little trivia/quiz or something fun like that sometime soon. Then ill post it here and whoever wins ill gift the game to....with a catch. If you enjoy the game enough that you would have bought it normally then host a new quiz/trivia or something similar and give the game away yourself.
 
[quote name='KaOTiK']I hate that crap how I need to always confirm my birthday when going to an M rated games page. I understand the legality of it, but at the same time I really wish they would put a feature into the settings that remembers your age.

I can't imagine how many people were born accord Jan 1 1981 according to steam lol[/QUOTE]

That occurred to me as well. How hard could it be to add a Steam age cookie (or whatever) and also you'd think they'd want to take advantage of the data mining opportunity.

I'm also still annoyed with Valve's "spec-bug" in L4D2, where if you have free look enabled in a team VS match, it puts you in spectator and you have to drop/rejoin to get back to your team. It's been like that for a while now, and it didn't exist in L4D1, so what the deallyo?
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Wow I know iv ranted about Nation Red several times before but this game keeps impressing me. Apparently the reason this game has been getting so many patches is because the people behind the game are really freaking cool. The guy behind the game actually is extremely active at the games steam forums and is listening to the games fans and updating the game based on what they want. He said he wont charge for DLC and instead just keeps updating his game with new modes, weapons and maps based on what people are requesting.

Always awesome to see developers like this and since I cant give the guy any more money I want to keep pimping his product for being so cool.[/QUOTE]

I love devs like that.

That is one of the reasons I love and have pushed AI War Fleet Command so much. One guy made the game. He is extremely active in the community, takes ideas submitted by users to improve the game, won't charge for DLC and is updating the game all the time. He did release a new expansion for the game that added a huge amount of content for a cheap price while keeping up with everything else.

He is very open about his company/games. Since AI War's had pretty good success so far he has been able to work fulltime for his company quitting his job and hiring on 2 or 3 other people for future titles they are working on as well as continued support. Real cool guy, really cares about his game as he originally came up with the idea and making it due to no other games out there that fit what he wanted and he plays it heavily.

Need more devs that truly care and support their games. It isn't that big dev houses don't care, it is just that the publishers actually make the calls for so much stuff that you don't get as involved with the community as they would like. That is what is great about indie devs though.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Question of the Week - Should steam keep the current format or expand to add game rentals or a monthly fee option?[/QUOTE]

Publishers would never go for it.
 
I have a question - is anyone running Company of Heroes on windows 7 and running into problems? My computer exceeds all the specs, but when I try to run it I find it very slow, laggy, skipping frames, etc. CanYouRunIt tells me there is no windows 7 support for it - could that be the problem?
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Wow I know iv ranted about Nation Red several times before but this game keeps impressing me. Apparently the reason this game has been getting so many patches is because the people behind the game are really freaking cool. The guy behind the game actually is extremely active at the games steam forums and is listening to the games fans and updating the game based on what they want. He said he wont charge for DLC and instead just keeps updating his game with new modes, weapons and maps based on what people are requesting.

Always awesome to see developers like this and since I cant give the guy any more money I want to keep pimping his product for being so cool.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I can't believe how much work they have done just based off of what I and the rest of the community has said. Offline co op on a pc game = awesome. And multiplayer is coming soon!
 
I told them to put in a resource-management hunting-gathering phase, but they didn't listen to me.

Also more outfits and a dress-up/closet mode.

And decals.
 
[quote name='CheapLikeAFox']I have a question - is anyone running Company of Heroes on windows 7 and running into problems? My computer exceeds all the specs, but when I try to run it I find it very slow, laggy, skipping frames, etc. CanYouRunIt tells me there is no windows 7 support for it - could that be the problem?[/QUOTE]

It works fine for me, what are your specs?
 
[quote name='KaOTiK']sadly it is up to the publishers to decide if they want a 4pack or not. I am hoping one comes along for Bad Company 2 (got in the beta through other means so preordering isn't a concern for myself currently).

I love the 4 packs, got in on one for Bioshock 2. If it wasn't for the 4 pack price along with getting Bioshock 1 for preordering I probably wouldn't had bothered since my interest in BS2 was kinda low, but at that price getting both of them I am able to sell my limited edition and it will cover the cost of the limited edition itself when I first got it along with BS2, plus some lol.[/QUOTE]

Oh okay that makes sense yes hopefully BC 2 gets a 4 pack. I also went in on a Bioshock 1&2 4 pack deal. 33.75 was too good to pass up for a classic plus its sequel that will hopefully be just as good.
 
Jeez, that's kind of tempting, and I don't really even like that style of game... not to mention I also have Torchlight, still unplayed.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Great price but really annoying since this game has been on sale 3 times now in the last few months.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it's sort of lame that they do that.
 
[quote name='Jesse_Dylan']Yeah, it's sort of lame that they do that.[/QUOTE]

I wouldnt mind except for it feels like its been happaning a lot. We see something on sale for $10, then 2 months later see it again...then a month or two later there is one final sale on the game but its for $5.
 
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