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STEAM announcements & updates 2012 Thread 3 -

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JSR
Magicka
Crysis
You know, back before Steam, I barely played games other than Nintendo's, but then because of the awesome sales they have once in a while, I have been going into a much larger category of different types of games. I started to play more FPS's, RPG's and Action not to mention some nice Indie work. I do love Steam and the nice giveaway's they have every once in a while.
 

MRORANGE

Member
I made a small edit, since it's going to turn into a floodgate if I leave it overnight to continue:

Super Competition Time!

- Winners chosen at random-ish / based on written work, competition closes 22 hours 5 hours from this post.

less than 50 mins :)
 

Ocho

Member
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Valve has, basically, made PC gaming matter again. When people thought PC gaming was slowly dying, a niche of some sort compared to the numbers console games were doing, Valve came up with the perfect distribution center for developer we call Steam. Through its evolution, Steam has shown the world anyone can developer a game and self publish it through the platform, and even big developers can tremendously win. A centralized approach for you gaming needs in a "social" platform is what PC gaming needed to develop a sense of community that was somehow missing. We can't rule out Steam Sales for the current phenomena Steam currently is. I strongly feel Steam is the first step in the right way for how the future will eventually look for gaming, both in a PC and in a console.
 

My first contact with Valve was when Half-Life was released. I saw some videos in a technology TV show and the game footage blew me away. Unfortunately my PC wasn't unable to run Half-Life by then, and only in 2003 when I got my Pentium IV I finally managed to play the game. It was actually the first game I've installed on that machine. I could see clearly why the game completely revolutionized the genre. It was very immersive and story driven. The puzzles had logic and weren't there just because, and the sense of exploration was fantastic.
On the other hand, I never interested very much on steam. I always prefered retail games over digital, even on PC. Having the game case and the manuals sitting on the shelf... it's an awesome feeling if you're a collector. But I totally understand that digital is the future and Valve started doing it brilliantly. Steam isn't perfect, far from it (the offline mode is still buggy for me), but steam opened a whole new perspective in the videogame business. I actually started to care for indie games, some of them have way more quality than most big studios AAA titles, and the avalanche of promotions in steam sales are really very apelative. I never lost interest in PC gaming, but steam and valve have clearly revolutionized the industry. Now bring me Half Life 3.


MRORANGE, thanks for the giveaway! ;)
 
Man, Hitman 1 seems to be one of these games that hasn't aged well at all.
Yeah, I've tried playing it a few times now... every time I fail to make it past the first level. It's just not good anymore. =/

Jet Set Radio
Mirror's Edge
To be honest, I'm pretty late to PC gaming when compared to some of you. I joined Steam in 2009 because after playing The ORange Box on Xbox, I decided: "Wow, you mean I can have custom skins in Team Fortress 2 on the PC?! Sold!" Turns out, a crappy computer from 2004 couldn't run much of anything, even on the lowest settings! But then, about... a year and a half ago, the on-board graphics card decided to crap out on me, forcing me to upgrade my video card. When I put that card in, it seemingly changed my perspective on PC gaming and I really got into it. And by getting into it, I mean buying a bunch of games I'll never play, which I did before that, too!

But really, some recent changes Valve has made to Steam were beneficial and some were counter productive. Big Picture Mode was a feature many of you were looking forward to(it doesn't support XP, which I'm stuck with, woe is me~!) and from what I hear, it doesn't disappoint. Greenlight is another big change Valve has made that has almost changed the indie game scene on Steam. While it's not as... good as I would have wanted, 10 games have already been greenlit in such a short time, so I cannot complain further about that juuust yet. But a major issue that has come up was the recent change in the EULA agreement. While a smart business decision that others are now doing, I know some did not like this change and even refused to use Steam after it happened. Overall, though, I feel Valve has made many smart choices that overcome some of those disappointing choices, and I really look forward to whatever comes next. Can't wait for Ricochet 2!

Thanks for the generosity, man. It's actually the first "essay" I've cared about writing in weeks! :p
 

Baha

Member

I originally quit using Steam once Counter-Strike 1.6 came out due in part to the changes made in 1.6 and the fact that the Steam client was buggy as hell on launch (I do miss the green steam skin though). I returned for the launch of the Orange Box and I've been using it ever since. The community features, the library which stores all my purchases and the great deals have won me over. Still there is a lot of room for improvement and judging by the great strides they've made since launch, I think it'll only get better from here on out.
 

Cheddahz

Banned

Hmm well I started playing PC games when I was four or so, got my first gaming computer back in 2003 or so (I think I was 9 around the time) and my grandpa had built it for me (he is the one who got me into gaming, so it holds value). Well anyways, he gave me his copy of Half Life 2 and it required Steam! I proceeded to download it and I have been on Steam ever since then, it's a great community and it's cool that it's popular now and the fact that Value is making changes to it everyday is always a nice thing, I also enjoy the fact that my girlfriend, friends, and I can pick up cheap multiplayer games during the huge sales and have a game to play together for quite a while. Overall, Steam is an awesome program....and it's the next step in gaming
 

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, I've tried playing it a few times now... every time I fail to make it past the first level. It's just not good anymore. =/
The tutorial is horrible. I reached the third mission (fourth if you count it) and am tempted of leaving it alone and starting Hitman 2.

Just bought Absolution, btw.
 

camerooni

Neo Member
Hmm, can't find NWN2 on Steam anymore, odd. Pretty sure it used to be in the store.

Atari no longer have the rights to DND. Which means that that game can no longer be sold by them. This is what is wrong with game rights - see Ferrari game no longer being sold by SEGA (Outrun?) and now can't be purchased even if you wanted to.. Surely the game was made by SEGA during the time that they bought the rights for the products during that time.. but they must sign stupid contracts that says they can only sell the games for the duration of the license..

If you have a license for a game during a time period - you should have exclusive rights to that for that time period -> though I guess this protects company's making subsequent games that are crapper and people just continuing to buy the original - because that's good for everyone right?

Argh.. This annoys me with music in original tv series as well, that get released on dvd and all of a sudden it needs new music :/ nevermind the fact that they've just destroyed the original feel of the show - and defeated the memories that people wanted to reignite by buying and watching the original series. *sigh*
 
The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned was a lot of fun. I respec'd Roland and bought a good commando mod so I could hunt zombies proper and I'm glad I did. Didn't even realize today was the first of October.
 

I discovered Steam when friends offered me HL2 Ep 1 some years ago to introduce me to the saga, of course at the time, I could just see it as a weird game manager. Over the year, I went from a pc desktop to a macbook and I always missed gaming. The annoucement of the new Steam and a Mac version was the best news ever back then. I could experience TF2 all over again and I witnessed the changes being made on Steam : from a client to a store, with a community and such

I also got the Sale fever : first on week end deals because I was always out of the country during winter sales so I never dropped the ball. Yet, i was keeping buying games at bargain prices and build a collection, " for the future " or " because I'll want to replay that one " and even " one day I'll have a pc to run it "

This day, happened last june when I build a brand new desktop computer, just in time for the summer sales. I was suck into the crazyness of stupidly low prices and collections, bundles and other whatnots. Now, not only I got a huge back log of all the games I bought all these years to catch back, but i also have all these newly bought game I have because I couldn't play it on console last year for various reasons.

Every morning when I boot my desktop, I'm welcomed by my glorious screen library in grid view as the most awesome and yet most time sucking wallpaper ever. Not only I feel like an architect, building a library, a legacy, but also like a proud gamer or an historian collecting pieces of arts, from fps to racers, going through rpg to console port or even indie shmups or korean visual drama.

Steam is really all that. Also, the biggest money sink and time wormhole I know.

Edit : Am I late ? God no... I couldn't post this before from the phone TT
 

MRORANGE

Member
Winners:

It's done! here are the winners, I've also listed how many people who have entered for each one, Jet Set Radio with 28 entries and Magicka only gaining 1 :lol

It's kinda weird but I do agree with all the points that people have raised about Steam, even some of the critical one's I have awarded a game, others were just chosen at random, depending on how many people wanted it.

If you are not on my friends list, send a PM so I can give you the game, thanks for joining in everyone!



=======================
Game: (No. of entrants for that game)
Winner:
=========================

Mirror's Edge (10)
CrunchyFrog

Just Cause 2 (3)
Wario64

Poker Night at the Inventory (7)
Stumpokapow

Crysis (10)
Xeno_Flux2113

Magicka (1)
Demon Lizardman

Home (13)
Fireblend

Kung Fu Strike - The Warrior's Rise (4)
Sajjaja

Renegade Ops (4)
ochobit

Jet Set Radio (28)
Tomodachi

Rome: Total War (4)
Jables Swan
 
Winners:

It's done! here are the winners, I've also listed how many people who have entered for each one, Jet Set Radio with 28 entries and Magicka only gaining 1 :lol

It's kinda weird but I do agree with all the points that people have raised about Steam, even some of the critical one's I have awarded a game, others were just chosen at random, depending on how many people wanted it.

If you are not on my friends list, send a PM so I can give you the game, thanks for joining in everyone!



=======================
Game: (No. of entrants for that game)
Winner:
=========================

Mirror's Edge (10)
CrunchyFrog

Just Cause 2 (3)
Wario64

Poker Night at the Inventory (7)
Stumpokapow

Crysis (10)
Xeno_Flux2113

Magicka (1)
Demon Lizardman

Home (13)
Fireblend

Kung Fu Strike - The Warrior's Rise (4)
Sajjaja

Renegade Ops (4)
ochobit

Jet Set Radio (28)
Tomodachi

Rome: Total War (4)
Jables Swan

Legend. Thanks mate.
 

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
This is great, I finally bought Hitman Absolution, and Sniper Challenge refuses to start. The game loads, but when I try to start a new game, the opening cutscene begins, and crashes to desktop as soon as a voice starts speaking. I tried lowering everything to the minimum, including resolution, but it's still not working. Can't believe my luck, 34 bucks wasted :/
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
This is great, I finally bought Hitman Absolution, and Sniper Challenge refuses to start. The game loads, but when I try to start a new game, the opening cutscene begins, and crashes to desktop as soon as a voice starts speaking. I tried lowering everything to the minimum, including resolution, but it's still not working. Can't believe my luck, 34 bucks wasted :/

Updated drivers? Downgraded drivers? Verified cache? All the other obvious questions?
 

DTKT

Member
Valve really needs to revamp the download system and add some kind of queue system. Right now, I want to download the XCOM demo and Hearts of Iron and let it run throughout the night. I have a pretty bad connection so 1 gig usually takes 1 hour. For some reason, probably the new content delivery system, you can only download one game at a time if it's using the new file packaging.

Really annoying. :|
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Valve really needs to revamp the download system and add some kind of queue system. Right now, I want to download the XCOM demo and Hearts of Iron and let it run throughout the night. I have a pretty bad connection so 1 gig usually takes 1 hour. For some reason, probably the new content delivery system, you can only download one game at a time if it's using the new file packaging.

Really annoying. :|

There is a sort of queue system -- a suspended download automatically resumes when the then-current download completes.

Edit: Order is determined by recency. So, if you initialised the installations of, say, Dota 2, Shuggy, and Gish, in that precise order, Gish would download, Shuggy would resume thereafter, and finally Dota 2 would itself resume after the Shuggy download completes.
 

Exuro

Member
Valve really needs to revamp the download system and add some kind of queue system. Right now, I want to download the XCOM demo and Hearts of Iron and let it run throughout the night. I have a pretty bad connection so 1 gig usually takes 1 hour. For some reason, probably the new content delivery system, you can only download one game at a time if it's using the new file packaging.

Really annoying. :|
Moving everything over to the new content system IS part of the revamping. They've already told us they want to implement queuing, throttling, scheduling ect, but they can't until everything has moved over to the new system.
 
Winners:

It's done! here are the winners, I've also listed how many people who have entered for each one, Jet Set Radio with 28 entries and Magicka only gaining 1 :lol

It's kinda weird but I do agree with all the points that people have raised about Steam, even some of the critical one's I have awarded a game, others were just chosen at random, depending on how many people wanted it.

If you are not on my friends list, send a PM so I can give you the game, thanks for joining in everyone!



=======================
Game: (No. of entrants for that game)
Winner:
=========================

Mirror's Edge (10)
CrunchyFrog

Just Cause 2 (3)
Wario64

Poker Night at the Inventory (7)
Stumpokapow

Crysis (10)
Xeno_Flux2113

Magicka (1)
Demon Lizardman

Home (13)
Fireblend

Kung Fu Strike - The Warrior's Rise (4)
Sajjaja

Renegade Ops (4)
ochobit

Jet Set Radio (28)
Tomodachi

Rome: Total War (4)
Jables Swan

Oh hey, I won something at last.
 

Sajjaja

Member
....:| oh well, only 500 megs

Hitman 2 was a big upgrade from #1 but the difficulty and AI are fucked.

Contracts was reaaly good. Even though it was mostly old levels remade but had some new ones added.

Blood Money is fun times. Really wish it had achievements though.
 
....:| oh well, only 500 megs
Also make sure to enable vsync in Blood Money lest you get to the end of the second level and can't finish it because of an invisible wall on a cliff wall that you have to pass. Shit was maddening, especially looking up a video and seeing someone walk past it unphased. Apparently disabling vsync does quirky things to collision detection.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
In preparation for AssCreed 3, I recently began another playthrough of AssCreed 2 after completing the original yet again (it's still awesome), and in addition to the terrible LOD bugs I couldn't help but also notice that every time I would alt-tab out of the game, it would immediately crash. Google got me nowhere, as did verifying the game's cache (via Steam, since Uplay has no such function), so I began suspecting that the issue was due to the revamped Uplay client. Lo and behold, I fire up Uplay today, running it in Offline Mode this time since it apparently cannot connect to Ubi's servers, and alt-tabbing out of the game no longer causes it to crash.

That's some fine software you have there, Ubi.
 
In preparation for AssCreed 3, I recently began another playthrough of AssCreed 2 after completing the original yet again (it's still awesome), and in addition to the terrible LOD bugs I couldn't help but also notice that every time I would alt-tab out of the game, it would immediately crash. Google got me nowhere, as did verifying the game's cache (via Steam, since Uplay has no such function), so I began suspecting that the issue was due to the revamped Uplay client. Lo and behold, I fire up Uplay today, running it in Offline Mode this time since it apparently cannot connect to Ubi's servers, and alt-tabbing out of the game no longer causes it to crash.

That's some fine software you have there, Ubi.

I'm playing AssCreed BroHood, and I found that the UPlay app clashes with the Steam overlay so much that removing the Steam overlay takes my FPS from a shaky 30-~60 to a solid 60, and upwards of 120 w/o V-Sync.


Ugh.
 
Almost at 100 hours in Borderlands 2. Beat the game twice, once with a Gunzerker and once with a Siren. About a third of the way through True Vault Hunter Mode with the Siren. And just created a Commando and Assassin to play with friends who just started playing Borderlands 2 recently. Yeah, this game is alright.
 
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