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STEAM- Announcements & Updates 2011 Edition

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S

scorpscarx

Member
CoffeeJanitor said:
Alright I'm gonna get it. I'm putting my trust in you guys. :p
Click to expand...

Umm I don't think I am in the minority here when I say that Mass Effect's gameplay isn't exactly its forte, so to speak.

Here are the specs


Supported OS: Microsoft Windows® XP with SP2 or Windows Vista*
Processor: Intel P4 2.4 Ghz or faster / AMD 2.0 Ghz
Memory: 1.0 GB RAM or more (2.0 GB for Vista)
Graphics: DirectX 9.0c compatible, ATI X1300 XT or greater (ATI X1300, X1300 Pro, X1600 Pro, Radeon 2600 HD, and HD 2400 are below minimum system requirements); NVidia GeForce 6800 or greater (7300, 7600 GS, 8500 are below minimum system requirements)
Hard Drive: 12.0 GB or more free hard drive space
Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible
DirectX®: 9.0c
 
Dice

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Mass Effect 2 is the most fun I have ever had with a story-based game. I would only make three small changes:
1) Be able to mark all the spots you want to send probes and then rapid-fire launch them all at once. Scanning was fun but not watching that animation every single time before finding another hotspot.
2) My guys to actually stop running ahead after new enemies when I tell them to freaking stay put. This isn't as annoying if you choose a direct-combat class but I still like to take time to grab items as I go, rather than quickly tear through a whole area and then backtrack to pick them up.
3) The amount of money in the game further exceed the amount needed to buy all upgrades.
Apparently billions were spent to get you alive again but then you barely scrape together 2mill for your entire cause?
 
C

CoffeeJanitor

Member
scorpscarx said:
Umm I don't think I am in the minority here when I say that Mass Effect's gameplay isn't exactly its forte, so to speak.
Click to expand...
Well, if anything I'll get at least $5 of enjoyment out of the game. Plus, if I don't like it, I can write a big LTTP rant on it.

Should be interesting, I've always heard so much about the game.

Thanks guys
 
T

TheFightingFish

Member
scorpscarx said:
Umm I don't think I am in the minority here when I say that Mass Effect's gameplay isn't exactly its forte, so to speak.
Click to expand...

It's actually a little hard to sometimes explain the appeal of Mass Effect. And that's coming from someone who likes the games quite a bit.

I guess if I had to pick something I would say that the big triumph of Mass Effect is one of setting. The combat is fun, but can become rote at times (especially in the first game) and the characters and dialog are nice when they are not falling into the usual Bioware stereotypes. But what I really enjoyed was the feeling that you were taking part in a really big fleshed out universe that had lots of stuff going on outside of your little slice of time. There is a lot of explicit and implied backstory in the game and instead of just content filler like most game's backstories you can see how it actually informs the current shape of the Mass Effect world. I also enjoyed a return to Space Opera which in my book has started to actually become a bit of an underused setting since the 80s-90s.

I played both on the 360 and enjoyed them. I'm considering the PC version now for possible replays, but considering how often I actually would have the time to replay a game (read: never) I think I'll just leave them for now. Also while pretty graphics would be nice I don't think the PC versions have the same type of modding upgrades that would really change a game like Oblivion or Fallout do.
 
S

SonofdonCD

Member
I have my characters on the 360. But I was thinking since I upgraded my computer that maybe I wanna go through Mass Effect 3 on PC. Do you guys think it's worth it? I wouldn't be able to not play through them again and recreate my characters, but I love those games so it wouldn't be a thing.

If so, does anyone wanna trade? I have a Steam game that I can trade that is worth more than $15: Total War: Shogun 2. If someone would get me both ME games, I'll give them the download code.
 
Leatherface

Leatherface

Member
TheFightingFish said:
It's actually a little hard to sometimes explain the appeal of Mass Effect. And that's coming from someone who likes the games quite a bit.

I guess if I had to pick something I would say that the big triumph of Mass Effect is one of setting. The combat is fun, but can become rote at times (especially in the first game) and the characters and dialog are nice when they are not falling into the usual Bioware stereotypes. But what I really enjoyed was the feeling that you were taking part in a really big fleshed out universe that had lots of stuff going on outside of your little slice of time. There is a lot of explicit and implied backstory in the game and instead of just content filler like most game's backstories you can see how it actually informs the current shape of the Mass Effect world. I also enjoyed a return to Space Opera which in my book has started to actually become a bit of an underused setting since the 80s-90s.
Click to expand...


I completely agree with this. The games are both flawed but completely excel at creating a fulfilling sci-fi universe. It doesn't ever feel generic, had great characters/races/voice acting/ story elements/music/drama and lots of attention to detail. I really got sucked into it's atmosphere. This for me is what really made both games probably my favorite gaming experiences in recent memory. Like any game it can be picked apart on it's flaws, but it's what it does RIGHT that makes it so special to a lot of people.
 
S

Shambles

Member
I'm on the fence about ME. I'm sure it's good but i'm at the point where my steam list is getting populated by games I haven't even opened and yet i'm still buying others. Is ME frequently on sale for $5? I'm thinking perhaps I should wait until a fall/winter sale or perhaps just waiting for ME2 complete to hit 5$ might be a better idea too. I still have to finish JC2 :S

Oh also, is there some other bullshit DRM on ME or just steamworks?
 
G

GWX

Member
Lasthope106 said:
If you can run the OB, you can definitely max ME1.

Here are my specs

E6750 DC2D OC @ 3.3 GHz
8800GT
4 GB DDR2 SDRAM
Windows 7 x64
Res: 1440x900

I can run both ME1 and ME2 maxed at a solid 60+ fps.
Click to expand...

How? Both ME1 and ME2 have frequent framerate dips to ~50fps in my rig, that is, in theory, faster than yours.

Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz
9800GTX+ 512MB
4GB DDR2 @ 800MHz
@1440x900

Actually, I've never played an UE3 game that didn't have frequent framerate dips in my rig. Gears of War, Mirror's Edge, Bulletstorm... =(
 
Dice

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Damn it, I just got ME anyway. Will I ever play it? That is the question. I have all of Dragon Age UE and then The Witcher 2 coming up...
 
O

opticalmace

Member
Shambles said:
I'm on the fence about ME. I'm sure it's good but i'm at the point where my steam list is getting populated by games I haven't even opened and yet i'm still buying others. Is ME frequently on sale for $5? I'm thinking perhaps I should wait until a fall/winter sale or perhaps just waiting for ME2 complete to hit 5$ might be a better idea too. I still have to finish JC2 :S

Oh also, is there some other bullshit DRM on ME or just steamworks?
Click to expand...
ME is a great game and this is a good price, but you can be damned sure it'll be just as cheap (or possibly cheaper--not sure though) during the winter sale. So if you have a bunch of games still to play I would just wait if I were you.

Of course, it is only $5.... ;)
 
M

MacGurcules

Member
Shambles said:
I'm on the fence about ME. I'm sure it's good but i'm at the point where my steam list is getting populated by games I haven't even opened and yet i'm still buying others. Is ME frequently on sale for $5? I'm thinking perhaps I should wait until a fall/winter sale or perhaps just waiting for ME2 complete to hit 5$ might be a better idea too. I still have to finish JC2 :S

Oh also, is there some other bullshit DRM on ME or just steamworks?
Click to expand...
The Mass Effect games are certainly worth playing, but if you're not going to get around to them right away, I don't think they're in danger of pulling a Bloodlines or anything. If I had to guess, I'd wager that $5 is about as cheap as you'll see Mass Effect, but ME2 will probably drop a bit further before the end of the year.

There isn't any extra DRM unless you consider EA's bullshit online social network. It's a requirement for any DLC.
 
R

RustyO

Member
Ah Steam, you make it too easy to buy games.

Grabbed SimCity 4 and Plants vs Zombies for myself yesterday.

Just purchased Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 as a present for a friend today, he's going to have fun downloading them if it's 22gb.

Can't be bothered double dipping myself as have both on XBox360 and have barely started the first one.
 
V

vocab

Member
Shambles said:
I'm on the fence about ME. I'm sure it's good but i'm at the point where my steam list is getting populated by games I haven't even opened and yet i'm still buying others. Is ME frequently on sale for $5? I'm thinking perhaps I should wait until a fall/winter sale or perhaps just waiting for ME2 complete to hit 5$ might be a better idea too. I still have to finish JC2 :S

Oh also, is there some other bullshit DRM on ME or just steamworks?
Click to expand...

No drm. Just buy it. It's $5.
 
1

1-D_FTW

Member
GWX said:
How? Both ME1 and ME2 have frequent framerate dips to ~50fps in my rig, that is, in theory, faster than yours.

Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz
9800GTX+ 512MB
4GB DDR2 @ 800MHz
@1440x900

Actually, I've never played an UE3 game that didn't have frequent framerate dips in my rig. Gears of War, Mirror's Edge, Bulletstorm... =(
Click to expand...

CPU limited? Monitor your CPU utilization and if you're capping at 100 percent on a core, start overclocking it. Many older games rely mostly on CPU speed and don't utilization quad cores. His clock speed is significantly better in that respect.
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
shuyin_ said:
I don't know, 60 megs is a lot to me. Windows uses like a quarter of RAM with all the proceses and then you have Adobe stuff, Yahoo stuff and it adds up. And i want as much RAM available as i can get when playing, because i hate swapping. And i don't hate it because my HDD tries to liftoff; i hate it because it screws performance in-game.

Steam is great and all, but i just don't like the client. Hell, i don't even like it when i use D3DOverrider for triple buffering (not sure how much RAM that uses) but when i can, i try to have as less processes as i can.

Anyway, can anyone from ther US gift me Mass Effect 1 and i'll paypal the $5 tomorrow morning (in about 12-13 hours).
Click to expand...
You're being delusional, if you believe any 60MB process is eating enough RAM to be negatively affecting your gaming experience.

Also D3D uses a paltry ~2.5MB of system RAM.
 
C

Cheech

Member
SonofdonCD said:
I have my characters on the 360. But I was thinking since I upgraded my computer that maybe I wanna go through Mass Effect 3 on PC. Do you guys think it's worth it? I wouldn't be able to not play through them again and recreate my characters, but I love those games so it wouldn't be a thing.

If so, does anyone wanna trade? I have a Steam game that I can trade that is worth more than $15: Total War: Shogun 2. If someone would get me both ME games, I'll give them the download code.
Click to expand...

PM sent. As GAF is my witness, I'm good for it.
 
T

Technosteve

Banned
ME2 i still haven't beaten the game yet, can some one play it for me while i watch i'll pay you the ten dollars oh and you have to voice shepard when i "watch/play" Serious offers only
 
M

MacGurcules

Member
And while Steam may use 60 megs with the full interface up, it only uses like 10 when it's fully minimized like it is whenever you're actually playing a game.
 
M

manji

Member
(don't kill me if this is the thousandth time this has been asked, but I did check the OP faq)

Any word on Big Picture mode? Was hoping to take advantage of the next Zino HD or Mac Mini hardware refresh and have it do double duty as a HTPC and "Steam Console".
 
S

Schmattakopf

Member
nyong said:
The Men of War series is on sale as well. How is this game?
Click to expand...
The original is amazing; great multiplayer. Red Tide is a single-player only expansion. And I'm still waiting to hear about Assault Squad myself.
 
B

balladofwindfishes

Member
Client update that adds a video button in steam community that allows you to link your Youtube account with your Steam account.

Your videos. Now on Steam.
Share your finest gaming moments with your friends. Upload amazing highlights, insightful reviews, helpful tutorials and other game-inspired greatness created by you.


1. Link your YouTube™ account to your Steam Profile.
2. Select the videos you want to add to your profile.
3. Share with your Steam friends so they can marvel.
Click to expand...
 
B

Baha

Member
balladofwindfishes said:
Client update that adds a video button in steam community that allows you to link your Youtube account with your Steam account.
Click to expand...

Is that the beta client? I'm not seeing the option here.

[EDIT]Found it, it's under Profile > Videos.
 
B

balladofwindfishes

Member
A large engine update is planned for TF2 (and all Source games) tonight

And they've been testing YouTube linked replays in the TF2 Beta

So chances are, this downtime is to get everything ready to launch the TF2 Replay Feature with YouTube and Steam Community integration.
 
B

Baha

Member
balladofwindfishes said:
A large engine update is planned for TF2 (and all Source games) tonight

And they've been testing YouTube linked replays in the TF2 Beta

So chances are, this downtime is to get everything ready to launch the TF2 Replay Feature with YouTube and Steam Community integration.
Click to expand...

Ohh, forgot about the new replay feature in the TF2 beta. Tonight's going to be a busy night if that's the case.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
balladofwindfishes said:
A large engine update is planned for TF2 (and all Source games) tonight

And they've been testing YouTube linked replays in the TF2 Beta

So chances are, this downtime is to get everything ready to launch the TF2 Replay Feature with YouTube and Steam Community integration.
Click to expand...

Oh snap TF2 GAF unite (at the usual time).

What else is the engine update going to contain?

scorpscarx said:
A large engine update? Niceeee, not that it needed anything that I can think of.
Click to expand...

Would be crazy if somehow all source games got updated to use the lighting from Alien Swarm/Portal 2. Then again, I probably dont know what im talking about.
 
B

balladofwindfishes

Member
Teknoman said:
Oh snap TF2 GAF unite (at the usual time).

What else is the engine update going to contain?



Would be crazy if somehow all source games got updated to use the lighting from Alien Swarm/Portal 2. Then again, I probably dont know what im talking about.
Click to expand...
we don't even know if the replays are being added.

I'm just saying an Orange Box engine update is planned for tonight, and they've been playing with replays in the TF2 Beta, so it seems likely that's what's going to happen.
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
K.Jack said:
You're being delusional, if you believe any 60MB process is eating enough RAM to be negatively affecting your gaming experience.

Also D3D uses a paltry ~2.5MB of system RAM.
Click to expand...

d3doverrider.png


Got you beat! :p
 
D

Diablohead

Member
I've had 4GB ram since I made this pc in early 2009 and i've only ever hit that limit a few times usually via multitasking then playing a big game, the games themselves always leavel a ton of ram empty.

Only time steam annoyed me was back on my old pc with 1gig, steam was using 40mb back then I think and closing it did improve my games by about 1-3 fps lol.
 
C

comrade

Member
Diablohead said:
I've had 4GB ram since I made this pc in early 2009 and i've only ever hit that limit a few times usually via multitasking then playing a big game, the games themselves always leavel a ton of ram empty.

Only time steam annoyed me was back on my old pc with 1gig, steam was using 40mb back then I think and closing it did improve my games by about 1-3 fps lol.
Click to expand...
Yeah 4gb-8gb is the sweet spot for sure. I got lucky with mine cause I only had to buy one set. My friend bought the same rig as I did and then shortly parted it out due to lack of funds. Ended up giving me his matching 8gb since he owed me some $.
 
V

Volcynika

Member
Yeah it keeps saying "The username entered does not appear to match the account accessed." which is wrong! Bad Steam. Bad. (trying to link YT and Steam)
 
R

ROBOKITTYZILLA

Member
TheExodu5 said:
Logitech Illuminated Keyboard

I hear it has ghosting problems with shift + W in the newer models...though mine does not have any ghosting I have been able to perceive.
Click to expand...

I have two of them and they are great. Neither one has any issues with ghosting.
 
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