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STEAM- Announcements & Updates 2011 Edition

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D

Diebuster

Member
confused said:
Anybody here play Ninja Blade ? Is it any good ? Decent action game or unbelievably shit ? Help me out GAF.
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I tried the game out during the OnLive beta and didn't like it. Way, way too QTE-heavy. Failing them isn't too bad since you'll just get sent back a few seconds but there are SO MANY. The actual combat isn't too bad, typical button-mashing stuff - satisfying but lacks depth. Didn't get very far, but the plot didn't seem like anything special, just a reason for your character to slash up monsters while looking cool.

I wouldn't recommend it, not when there are better action games on Steam like Darksiders or Devil May Cry 4.
 
A

Air Zombie Meat

Member
confused said:
Anybody here play Ninja Blade ? Is it any good ? Decent action game or unbelievably shit ? Help me out GAF.
Click to expand...

It's alright I guess, certainly not shit anyway. Theres lots of batshit crazy ninja action. Stay away if you despise qtes though.
 
C

confused

Banned
Diebuster said:
I tried the game out during the OnLive beta and didn't like it. Way, way too QTE-heavy. Failing them isn't too bad since you'll just get sent back a few seconds but there are SO MANY. The actual combat isn't too bad, typical button-mashing stuff - satisfying but lacks depth. Didn't get very far, but the plot didn't seem like anything special, just a reason for your character to slash up monsters while looking cool.

I wouldn't recommend it, not when there are better action games on Steam like Darksiders or Devil May Cry 4.
Click to expand...

I have those two games already. I'm kinda scraping the bottom of the barrel on PC action games.

Air Zombie Meat said:
It's alright I guess, certainly not shit anyway. Theres lots of batshit crazy ninja action. Stay away if you despise qtes though.
Click to expand...

I can live with QTE's as long as bad-ass shit is going on. Are they bad-ass?
 
A

Air Zombie Meat

Member
confused said:
I can live with QTE's as long as bad-ass shit is going on. Are they bad-ass?
Click to expand...

Definitely, thats what I meant by batshit crazy ninja action. The qtes will make you say wtf. How ridiculous they are is one of the best things about the game.
 
P

Pachael

Member
pilonv1 said:
Pretty sure Cricket Revolution is mainly online versus play.
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There's also a single player mode. I did get it for $1, and found nobody online (keiko). Single player can be challenging and rewarding (batting requires good timing and shot selection). Bowling seems to be a bit more of a toss up.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
webrunner said:
I'd say we're at 1.9

We'd need to ditch the decades-old "BSP" format and all it's leaky baked lightingy dos compiley slow loady closed spacey glory before I could say we're source 2.
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Not to get off-topic too much, but what methods are better than BSP for blocking out levels quickly, and better in general for engines? Are you suggesting that an engine should focus on meshes only, or some other geometry system? I'm very new to 3D engine stuff and I have only really used the UDK (plus the Mirror's Edge editor).
 
S

Suairyu

Banned
MNC said:
We've already had Source 2.0 basically. Source Engine keeps updating. Keep that whole "New source engine" outta here foo'!
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The updates were part of the design - base engine with room for expansion. Half-Life 3 will bring with it a new engine. People saying 'episode 3 should be renamed HL3' never seem to get that.
 
TheUsual

TheUsual

Gold Member
Just discovered I have a giftable copy of Half Life 2. Just Half Life 2. First to PM me gets it. Just want to get rid of it.

EDIT: It's gone!
 
Dice

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
How is it possible that I'm running a game that looks this good with 8xSSAA at 60fps? The Underworld engine is supreme!
 
E

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
Pre-baked lighting and small environments do that. Is a nice game though, if you ignore physics bugs.

And that ass is quite a prize piece.
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Lyphen said:
Pre-baked lighting and small environments do that. Is a nice game though, if you ignore physics bugs.

And that ass is quite a prize piece.
Click to expand...
Huh? Underworld has some huge levels. I actually gasped a bit both times during both ocean segments.
 
E

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
Some huge, but most, from what I remember, are just barren corridors with rubble. The ocean floor was large, but it really just consisted of three rock formations and some plant life. Couple that with the fact that view distance fog is pretty much mandatory to make the ocean look good anyway. Thailand's intro was gorgeous too, if you ignored the 2D skybox (then you enter boxed in tiger temple territory). They take shortcuts, and know what they can handle, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm hoping TR has busier and larger environments though. Areas like the Tibetan ice temple in Uncharted 2.

And more color!
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Dice said:
How is it possible that I'm running a game that looks this good with 8xSSAA at 60fps? The Underworld engine is supreme!
Click to expand...
Lyphen said:
Pre-baked lighting and small environments do that. Is a nice game though, if you ignore physics bugs.

And that ass is quite a prize piece.
Click to expand...
Stallion Free said:
Huh? Underworld has some huge levels. I actually gasped a bit both times during both ocean segments.
Click to expand...
Of what game are you guys speaking?
 
X

Xapati

Member
graywolf323 said:
looks like the Command & Conquer games are the weekend deal, they are all on sale for 75% off now
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Don't these have some ridiculous DRM shit?

Edit:

Yep, just checked:

NTERNET CONNECTION, ONLINE AUTHENTICATION AND ACCEPTANCE OF END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY. TO ACCESS ONLINE FEATURES, YOU MUST REGISTER ONLINE. ONLY ONE REGISTRATION IS AVAILABLE PER GAME.
Click to expand...

Not touching this stuff.
 
graywolf323

graywolf323

Member
Xapati said:
Don't these have some ridiculous DRM shit?
Click to expand...

that's only C&C 4

edit: don't go making it seem like all the C&C games have that

edit 2: you do realize what you quoted is the same DRM almost all games have? it specifies you have to go online once to authorize the game

hell EVERYTHING you buy on Steam technically has that since you can't play a game in offline mode without having launched it at least once while connected

C&C 4 however does require constant internet connection
 
S

scorpscarx

Member
Union Carbine said:
Took a spin in the Total War Shogun 2 demo. For some reason, the demo runs like crap maxed out on my system (Core i7, GTX 580 SLI, 16 GB RAM). I was getting ~20 FPS.

The game itself looks very nice. I uploaded a couple of unimpressive screenshots.

Anyone else who try the demo have similar performance issues?
Click to expand...

I have lesser specs than you and I have it maxed with forced 8AA, it runs really well actually.

Try turning off Vsync?
 
MoFuzz

MoFuzz

Member
Xapati said:
Don't these have some ridiculous DRM shit?

Yep, just checked:

Not touching this stuff.
Click to expand...
That was the case when it first released, but looks like it's been removed now according to The Big DRM list: http://steamdrm.flibitijibibo.com/the-big-drm-list/

Don't mind the generic text posted at the bottom of the page, it's there for every single recent EA game that gets put on Steam.

Basically, it only uses Steam DRM at this point, but you will need an internet connection for DLC or online which is to be expected.
 
X

Xapati

Member
MoFuzz said:
That was the case when it first released, but looks like it's been removed now according to The Big DRM list: http://steamdrm.flibitijibibo.com/the-big-drm-list/

Don't mind the generic text posted at the bottom of the page, it's there for every single recent EA game that gets put on Steam.

Basically, it only uses Steam DRM at this point, but you will need an internet connection for DLC or online which is to be expected.
Click to expand...

I see. Well if that's the case I'll probably give it a shot.
 
P

plc268

Member
I know pretty much everybody hated C&C4... but that was at full price. Would anyone recommend it at $5?

Regardless, I might finally pick up Red Alert 3 for PC. Had it for the 360 at one point, but I couldn't get used to the control scheme.
 
L

LocoMrPollock

Banned
plc268 said:
I know pretty much everybody hated C&C4... but that was at full price. Would anyone recommend it at $5?

Regardless, I might finally pick up Red Alert 3 for PC. Had it for the 360 at one point, but I couldn't get used to the control scheme.
Click to expand...



4 is great if you have someone to co-op with. Singleplayer, or co-op with random douche, not so much.

Red Alert 3 is awesome.
 
E

eznark

Banned
plc268 said:
I know pretty much everybody hated C&C4... but that was at full price. Would anyone recommend it at $5?

Regardless, I might finally pick up Red Alert 3 for PC. Had it for the 360 at one point, but I couldn't get used to the control scheme.
Click to expand...

I'll be grabbing C&C 4 for $5. Why not? Red Alert 3 is really a pretty damn good game. Worth $5 just for the Russian cut scenes!
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
plc268 said:
I know pretty much everybody hated C&C4... but that was at full price. Would anyone recommend it at $5?

Regardless, I might finally pick up Red Alert 3 for PC. Had it for the 360 at one point, but I couldn't get used to the control scheme.
Click to expand...

C&C4 is actually quite a bit of fun as long as you can deal with the fact that it plays nothing like C&C.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
Huge Steam update is live, 1GB of screenshot storage per user:

Steam Screenshots

  • Added support for Steam Screenshots. Press F12 while in any game that runs the Steam Overlay to take screenshots, then publish them to your Steam Community profile, or anywhere else on the web. Each user is allotted 1 GB of Steam Cloud storage for screenshots.


Library Search capability and related navigation updates

  • Added Search capability to the library for quick filtering of your list. Press Tab to move focus to and from the search field, press Esc to clear the search.
  • Moved access to all library sub views (Games, Media Tools, Downloads, etc.) into the library's dropdown control


Voice quality improvements

  • Changed microphone voice input from 11 kHz to 16 kHz
  • Changed voice output from 8 kHz to 16 kHz
  • Fixed the settings-dialog microphone test to correctly re-init the calibration client if the active voice device changes
  • Reduced voice prefix buffer size from 200 to 100 ms, but increased trailing from 200 to 400 ms - reduces latency when transitioning from silence to active voice, but still should keep it from sounding like chat is cutting out mid-sentence
  • Increased thresholds for voice activity detection, making it less sensitive
  • Increased amount of gain applied to voice
  • Changed disconnect message when a friend ends a voice call to ' has ended the call'
  • Windows: Fixed microphone to reinitialize correctly if Windows signals that a device in the system has changed
  • Windows: Changed voice output device for Steam to be the default communication device


Web addresses

  • Added an option to display the client's URL address bar, and turned it off by default, given its limited utility
  • Web views now include a "Copy Page URL" command in the context menu, to copy the page's web address to the clipboard


Game invites

  • Moved game invites from friends outside of the chat stream, into their own panel in the chat dialog for improved discoverability


Account security

  • Added password strength meter to the Change Password wizard
  • Added a prompt to choose a new password if you've recently had Steam Support change your password on your behalf


General bug fixes

  • Fixed game invites not working from lobby-based games
  • Fixed games not launching automatically after resolving a cloud conflict
  • Fixed download rate sometimes erroneously reporting very high speeds
  • Fixed a crash on startup or when viewing Games page
  • Fixed client hang which could occur while hovering on links in any HTML-based display area
  • Corrected check box states in the Friends window menu to properly remain in sync
  • Fixed bug where some downloadable content was not downloaded until the client was restarted
  • Fixed a rare and small, but steady memory leak caused by the Steam Overlay in some full screen D3D10/D3D11 games
  • Mac OS X: Fixed a problem where attempting to resume a paused/interrupted download could always report ‘server unavailable’
  • Mac OS X: Fixed password input fields in the Steam Overlay to correctly receive input
Click to expand...
 
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