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STEAM- Announcements & Updates 2011 Edition |OT2|

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E

Echoplx

Member
Gvaz said:
Real PC gamers use nothing less than 1920x1200
emot-colbert.gif




Why would anyone stop you from buying a good game?


Feh, 16:9 pedestrians ;)
Click to expand...

16:9 2560x1440 here. Deal with it.
 
Alien8

Alien8

Member
Over the years, Steam has delivered a lot of bits to a lot of people. Delivering content is really at the core of Steam, and we have been working on improving that core. As of today, you can download some of the content on Steam using all-new server and client code to get the job done.

The new content system is designed to do two things: deliver better download rates in more places around the world, and also to simply streamline the publishing process on Steam, ultimately making it possible to ship more games than we would have been able to with the old system.

The maximum aggregate bandwidth of the system will be greater than the current system; this will help us satisfy spikes in demand when there’s a big release. We will also be able to send content from more places, to better serve people all around the globe. All the content on the new system is sent via HTTP; this is more firewall-friendly than the current system, and will automatically take advantage of web-caching proxies installed at ISPs.

Another way that the new content system improves the bandwidth picture is by requiring each user to download less data. With the Steam content system that’s been in place for a few years now, if an individual file on disk were modified by a game update, your client had to download the whole file. That can be painful when the file in question is really large. The new system supports delivering only the differences between the old and new files, meaning game updates will be much smaller overall.

These changes have given us an opportunity to write new tools for game developers and content publishers that simplify the process of both publishing and updating a game on Steam. Simplifying the publishing process means it takes the partner and us less time to ship each product, so we can ship more stuff to more users.

In addition, the new content system will allow us to build several new features that we’ve often heard requested. Upcoming client releases will include things like download scheduling, bandwidth throttling, and prioritizing which games get downloaded first. You’ll also be able to download an update to a game while you’re playing that game; Steam will apply the update after you exit the game.

Over time, more and more of the content on Steam will be delivered using this new system. Soon, Dota 2 will be delivered using it. In the meantime, if you’d like to try out this new content system you can do so right now; if you download a 1280x720 (HD) trailer from the store, it will happen via the new content system. Give it a try!
Click to expand...



Source: Download Better, Stronger, Faster


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPq1_9DsLKk
 
G

Gvaz

Banned
amdnv said:
? They're just different aspect ratios. 16:10 adds a bit more height and thus a few more pixels. Which is great for productivity applications.
Click to expand...
yeah 16:10 isn't dying, it's just becoming more production than mainstream.
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
jaundicejuice said:
I have no idea but it's really, really weird. I got an S-rank on the tutorial. Had no desire to see my rank in the leaderboards. Went to Joe's apartment to save, walked into the giant floating silver house icon by his bed, saved and quit out.
Click to expand...
If you stick with it, there are 3-4 more story missions just like the initial one. The ranking system was probably due to fans bitching that the game wasn't GTA enough so they saw the mission ranks in Gay Tony and took that element.
 
S

Schmattakopf

Member
CecilRousso said:
Edit: Got SupCom1 and 2 confused. SupCom1 is not Steamworks.
Click to expand...
Although maybe SupCom1 will be on Steam at some point, it's not right now, and it's a great game.

PaulLFC said:
Sorry I know this is the Steam thread, but a lot of people seemed interested in Drakensang in the summer sale. If anyone didn't pick it up, Impulse has it for £1.69 / $2.73.

Not Steamworks as far as I know, but considering it's showing as £15 on Steam for me, still a great price.

Link
Click to expand...
People were recommending The River of Time over that one.
 
S

Sblargh

Banned
Goddamnit, sometimes I fucking hate how obtuse PC games can be.

Starting X3: Terran Conflict.

Learn how to fly, how to shoot, ok, this looks fun. Go somewhere, grab a mission, transport dude from point A to B, it says "very easy", looks that way, ok, let's go.
I dock on the station, the guy says to me "how am I supposed to breathe, there is no life-support system" or something like that. And I go "ok, this must be some pretty obvious thingy that is missing".

40 minutes looking on menus, on trade itens, on bartering, on the most useless encyclopedia in the history of gaming encyclopedias, checking every single menu, every single option, configuration, and nothing. It's like, on of the most basic aspects of your ship - how to keep alive people who wants to be transported - and NOWHERE in the fucking game there is an explanation of how am I supposed to do it.

I exit the game, go to the game manual, ctrl+f "life support" and there are three lines saying "it's the stuff that keeps people alive lol" and no other information whatsoever.

Then I google it and there is this guy complaigning that he spent 20+ hours looking for the fucking thing and not finding it, until someone said you gotta finding a pirate station somewhere that will sell it to you.

Why? I mean, for fucking sake, why, PC games, you must torture people trying to play you for the first time in their lives? Maybe after 100 hours of gameplay I will look back at this and say "oh, it's obvious I can't purchase this for this starting ship of mine" or something, but why not tell me? Why keep it hidden? Why force me to google for an answer? Why not make simple efforts to explain to me how the fucking game works?

I have no problem with complex games or learning how to play them, but fuck you devs, do your part on the fucking learning process, if I try to do something and I can't, explain to me how I could, put a message somewhere saying "life support missing - those are generally sold by pirates" or "life support missing - thoase are illegal and you can't buy them here" *wink wink*.

Sorry for the rant, it's just that, urgh, so frustrating to hit a wall like that and realize that the wall exist because tutorials are for peasants.
 
P

PaulLFC

Member
Schmattakopf said:
People were recommending The River of Time over that one.
Click to expand...

From what I heard, they were both great, although River of Time was better. For some reason though they refuse to release River of Time in the UK, so I'll have to make do with the original. No complaints though at less than £2.
 
A

Aselith

Member
Sblargh said:
Goddamnit, sometimes I fucking hate how obtuse PC games can be.

Starting X3: Terran Conflict.

Learn how to fly, how to shoot, ok, this looks fun. Go somewhere, grab a mission, transport dude from point A to B, it says "very easy", looks that way, ok, let's go.
I dock on the station, the guy says to me "how am I supposed to breathe, there is no life-support system" or something like that. And I go "ok, this must be some pretty obvious thingy that is missing".

40 minutes looking on menus, on trade itens, on bartering, on the most useless encyclopedia in the history of gaming encyclopedias, checking every single menu, every single option, configuration, and nothing. It's like, on of the most basic aspects of your ship - how to keep alive people who wants to be transported - and NOWHERE in the fucking game there is an explanation of how am I supposed to do it.

I exit the game, go to the game manual, ctrl+f "life support" and there are three lines saying "it's the stuff that keeps people alive lol" and no other information whatsoever.

Then I google it and there is this guy complaigning that he spent 20+ hours looking for the fucking thing and not finding it, until someone said you gotta finding a pirate station somewhere that will sell it to you.

Why? I mean, for fucking sake, why, PC games, you must torture people trying to play you for the first time in their lives? Maybe after 100 hours of gameplay I will look back at this and say "oh, it's obvious I can't purchase this for this starting ship of mine" or something, but why not tell me? Why keep it hidden? Why force me to google for an answer? Why not make simple efforts to explain to me how the fucking game works?

I have no problem with complex games or learning how to play them, but fuck you devs, do your part on the fucking learning process, if I try to do something and I can't, explain to me how I could, put a message somewhere saying "life support missing - those are generally sold by pirates" or "life support missing - thoase are illegal and you can't buy them here" *wink wink*.

Sorry for the rant, it's just that, urgh, so frustrating to hit a wall like that and realize that the wall exist because tutorials are for peasants.
Click to expand...

I had a tough time with it too. This game is fucked in a lot of ways and it's starting to become awesome in a lot of ways. Best missions to do if you are doing a combat start are actually the missions to pickup a ship, it'll be a mission to go to a place and recover a ship sitting in space do easy and very easy only until you understand how they work. DO NOT do the one's where they want you to actually get a ship for them (these will say you get X money + Ships Value) you can't afford to buy a ship which is basically what you'd have to do. They have a white light bulb looking icon at the station they're at although that indicates some other mission types too. If you get a transport or ship merchant mission just X out the window...don't respond at all.

To do a ship transport, go to the system and get within 30m of the ship and eject so you're in your space suit you may have to move closer after you eject. Select claim in the right click menu. The ship will turn green, without getting in it go to right click on the ship, then orders, then navigation, then dock at..., then pick the system you're supposed to dock at then look for the name on the right side of that screen and the ship will autopilot itself there, when it arrives you'll have an option to relinquish control, select yes and you just made some money! Hope I didn't miss any steps there but you should be good now. Make sure you're doing the easy and very easy and trivial only as those have the longest times, I'll post later about how to get a life support system, gotta go to work.
 
H

HadesGigas

Member
S

Sportbilly

Member
PaulLFC said:
From what I heard, they were both great, although River of Time was better. For some reason though they refuse to release River of Time in the UK, so I'll have to make do with the original. No complaints though at less than £2.
Click to expand...

They've finally released it in the UK- Amazon link. It's generally regarded as better than the first one, but you can't go wrong at £1.69 for the original.
 
P

PixyJunket

Member
Aqauria is a lot larger than I thought it would be, it seems.

The first hour or so of the game is pretty slow and directionless, but once you enter the first dungeon area and are granted your combat abilities the game suddenly opens itself up. I particularly enjoyed how you had to defeat the first boss. I don't have many other impressions to give past that at the moment, other than the game is extremely pretty (should be obvious) and that the soundtrack is simply sublime.
 
O

ohhthegore

Member
Sgt.Pepper said:
Jesus, Plants Vs. Zombies soundtrack is really something. I really love the music in the roof stages, it is incredible.
Click to expand...

I always listen to the Dawn of the Dead soudtrack while playing this game but the PvZ OST is great as well
 
V

Volcynika

Member
PixyJunket said:
Aqauria is a lot larger than I thought it would be, it seems.

The first hour or so of the game is pretty slow and directionless, but once you enter the first dungeon area and are granted your combat abilities the game suddenly opens itself up. I particularly enjoyed how you had to defeat the first boss. I don't have many other impressions to give past that at the moment, other than the game is extremely pretty (should be obvious) and that the soundtrack is simply sublime.
Click to expand...

Looooooooved Aquaria. So good. If anyone wants the soundtrack: Link

EDIT: Universe at War 75% off ($5 USD) is the daily deal.
 
P

plc268

Member
Rufus said:
No. It doesn't even track it properly sometimes. Why? Wanna hide your shame? :p
Click to expand...

Never had much problems tracking my gametime... it's been pretty accurate.

There were two instances though, where it screwed up. I originally had 61 hrs in Fallout NV, but the next day it reverted to 55 hrs. Also on Uplink, I had a little under 6 hrs, then it reverted to 2 hrs.

The only time the gametime tracker really gets wonky, is if you end a play session if you have no connection the steam servers.
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Shaneus said:
Any word on Universe at War? $3.75.
Click to expand...

It's a solid RTS. The 3 sides all have distinct play styles, there is a significant single player component to the game (as I assume the online is dead by now). Made by the former Westwood guys (C&C) if that helps.

Oh and the soundtrack is god tier.
 
C

Confidence Man

Member
Sblargh said:
Goddamnit, sometimes I fucking hate how obtuse PC games can be.

Starting X3: Terran Conflict.

Learn how to fly, how to shoot, ok, this looks fun. Go somewhere, grab a mission, transport dude from point A to B, it says "very easy", looks that way, ok, let's go.
I dock on the station, the guy says to me "how am I supposed to breathe, there is no life-support system" or something like that. And I go "ok, this must be some pretty obvious thingy that is missing".

40 minutes looking on menus, on trade itens, on bartering, on the most useless encyclopedia in the history of gaming encyclopedias, checking every single menu, every single option, configuration, and nothing. It's like, on of the most basic aspects of your ship - how to keep alive people who wants to be transported - and NOWHERE in the fucking game there is an explanation of how am I supposed to do it.

I exit the game, go to the game manual, ctrl+f "life support" and there are three lines saying "it's the stuff that keeps people alive lol" and no other information whatsoever.

Then I google it and there is this guy complaigning that he spent 20+ hours looking for the fucking thing and not finding it, until someone said you gotta finding a pirate station somewhere that will sell it to you.

Why? I mean, for fucking sake, why, PC games, you must torture people trying to play you for the first time in their lives? Maybe after 100 hours of gameplay I will look back at this and say "oh, it's obvious I can't purchase this for this starting ship of mine" or something, but why not tell me? Why keep it hidden? Why force me to google for an answer? Why not make simple efforts to explain to me how the fucking game works?

I have no problem with complex games or learning how to play them, but fuck you devs, do your part on the fucking learning process, if I try to do something and I can't, explain to me how I could, put a message somewhere saying "life support missing - those are generally sold by pirates" or "life support missing - thoase are illegal and you can't buy them here" *wink wink*.

Sorry for the rant, it's just that, urgh, so frustrating to hit a wall like that and realize that the wall exist because tutorials are for peasants.
Click to expand...

Look for a TP class ship - these are personnel transport ships with built-in life support.

If you really want to retrofit another ship for life support there are a few normal stations that sell them aside from pirates: http://eng.x3tc.ru/x3_tc_map/ware-list.php?s=cargo+lifesupport+system
 
J

jaundicejuice

Member
mrgone said:
I'm not sure the GoG version would run any better, I think they're both patched up to the version that Arkane released in mid-January. If you didn't try it after that, though, you might want to give it another shot
Click to expand...

stuminus3 said:
It's been mentioned, but I just wanted to confirm - Arkane patched the game earlier this year (!) so the Steam version is now on par with any other version.
Click to expand...

I had the final Arkane patch, I believe. Arkane released the source code and some industrious fan made another patch. That's what worked for me.

Ledsen said:
Always ran perfectly fine for me.
Click to expand...

Dropped frames and accelerated movement were what I experienced with my Steam purchased copy of Arx Fatalis with the final Arkane patch on my 64bit Windows 7 machine. I had to find and try a community made patch to get it to run properly.


I don't know if the GoG version is any better, mrgone is saying that Steam and GoG both have the same patches now but generally it's a pretty fair assumption that if you buy an older game off of Steam it's going to be a crapshoot if it'll function properly. That's not putting forth an extreme opinion. You will potentially invest x amount of time tracking down a solution. When it comes to older games I personally prefer GoG to Steam now because GoG do some, if not all, of that leg work for you to get older games functioning on modern machines. GoG provides support that Steam/Valve, the publishers and/or developers do not. GoG put together modding guides on their forums with links to said mods. The Steam user forum for any given game are usually a mess to sort through to simply find a solution, nevermind improving the experience.

If it's the same, buy away I guess. I'll try to dig up that fan-made patch I found and used just in case.
 
K

KrayzeeGloo

Neo Member
Iadien said:
steamgifts invite!

fepu27378c9idv2rxciog7vzv3921fjbfvks25zc
Click to expand...

If you've got any left, I'd love to snag one! :3

EDIT: Whoops, just noticed that you use the code when you log in. I snagged it. Thanks! :D
 
J

jaundicejuice

Member
Carm said:
I'm going through my massive backlog and I was gonna finish Joe's Adventure. It's definitely not what I thought it was gonna be. I lasted maybe 6 missions in, the one where you have to help Marty in the subway.

I'm playing on easy, so I go down there, and kill off the guys, almost dying because I was a bit gungho. I get to Marty, and find you have to literally drag this lifeless body, ssslllooowwwly back to your car, of course you get a bonus, waves of enemies. So you have to stop dragging the body and kill like 5 guys, then go back to dragging the body, and again another way spawns.

After dying a few times, I just through my hands in the air and said fuck it, this sorta frustration in game design isn't worth what little story this DLC was gonna give me. Promptly uninstalled and won't ever reinstall.
Click to expand...

Stallion Free said:
If you stick with it, there are 3-4 more story missions just like the initial one. The ranking system was probably due to fans bitching that the game wasn't GTA enough so they saw the mission ranks in Gay Tony and took that element.
Click to expand...

I bought all of the DLC so I should at least try and play Joe's Adventure and some of Jimmy's Vendetta, although I suspect I'll really dislike it if JV is nothing more than open world activities.
 
Joe Molotov

Joe Molotov

Member
Visualante said:
Bohemia is really taking the piss with their pricing on Steam. £40 for a pack of games that can be had at retail rather cheaply.
Click to expand...

What, you don't think $36 for ARMA 1 is a good deal? lol
 
J

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Volcynika said:
Looooooooved Aquaria. So good. If anyone wants the soundtrack: Link

EDIT: Universe at War 75% off ($5 USD) is the daily deal.
Click to expand...

I've said it least a dozen times now but I'll say it again: Aquaria is the best Metroidvania game since Super Metroid. Also, thanks for linking to the soundtrack, which I had forgotten to purchase all those months ago. Pity I missed out on the signed copies. Fuck. :(
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
jaundicejuice said:
I bought all of the DLC so I should at least try and play Joe's Adventure and some of Jimmy's Vendetta, although I suspect I'll really dislike it if JV is nothing more than open world activities.
Click to expand...
I feel bad for the devs because they released the game without side missions (which was completely fine as that isn't the type of game it is) and then people bitched that there weren't side missions. To appease the "fans", they loaded up the DLC with side missions and it was complete garbage, proving their initial approach to be the right one.
 
P

plc268

Member
Visualante said:
Bohemia is really taking the piss with their pricing on Steam. £40 for a pack of games that can be had at retail rather cheaply.
Click to expand...

Bohemia has always had weird ass pricing.

They've never discounted Operation Arrowhead much, but yet they practically give away Arma II (and in the case of GreenManGaming, they actually did).

I paid full price for Arma II ($50) at launch, and while I know I'm not entitled to anything, but damn, I wish they would discount Arma II OA below $20 once in a while. See, I like Arma II and all, but not enough to spend more than $10-$15 to get the new installment.

I can't be the only one, but hardly anyone ever calls them out on their pricing.
 
E

Echoplx

Member
Well at least you can gift the pack with the discount, I own Arma2/OA and get the 40% discount so if anyone wants the pack for 36$ pm me.
 
P

PixyJunket

Member
JaseC said:
I've said it least a dozen times now but I'll say it again: Aquaria is the best Metroidvania game since Super Metroid.
Click to expand...
I'm still VERY early on in the game, but Metroid Zero Mission and Shadow Complex are my current best Super Metroid clones. I would say Aquaria has a LONG way to go to reaching any of those, but that's not to say it isn't a great game in its own right.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be able to appreciate it more once I'm more outside of the beginning of the game.
 
A

Aaron

Member
ohhthegore said:
ohh man I want that, I've never used D2D though before
Click to expand...
Very easy to use. You can download directly, or use one of their two file managers. Once downloaded, you need to verify the game with a code they supply you. After that, you don't need to be connected to the internet to play.
 
J

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
PixyJunket said:
I'm still VERY early on in the game, but Metroid Zero Mission and Shadow Complex are my current best Super Metroid clones. I would say Aquaria has a LONG way to go to reaching any of those, but that's not to say it isn't a great game in its own right.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be able to appreciate it more once I'm more outside of the beginning of the game.
Click to expand...

Just wait until the game opens up. I don't expect you to agree, of course, but at the very least you'll understand how I arrived at the conclusion.

Speaking of Shadow Complex, there needs to be a sequel. I don't regard it quite as highly as you do, but in this day and age anything that takes the Metroid formula and moulds it into a great game is a fantastic change of pace. C'mon, hop to it, Chair.
Yes, I know about (and own) Terraria.
 
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