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STEAM announcements & updates 2012 Thread 3 -

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Wok

Member
I don't understand what people see in Dear Esther. I "played" it during the Steam sale and felt ripped off, and this from someone who really enjoyed Journey.

People like watching movies. People like playing video games. Why would people not like playing movies?
 

Nymerio

Member
There. I fixed that for you.

Seriously, I just don't understand what people see in Dear Esther. I "played" it during the Steam sale and felt ripped off, and this from someone who really enjoyed Journey.

I don't care what you want to call it. It has some nice environments and the atmosphere is good too.

If you can get it for two dollars it's worth it, just don't buy it for the full price. There's lots of impressions on the internet so there's really no reason why you should feel ripped of because you thought it would be anything else than what it is.
 

DOA

Member
Some fun I saw over at Alienware

genrereport.jpg


Basically comparing which genres are popular between console and PC. Damn shame about how low Sports and Action are.

it's the publishing/developing companies fault - they focus on consoles support more than PC support, that's why ppl prefer to play on the consoles.
 

Wok

Member
People like playing games that have good stories. What exactly is your qualification for "playing a movie"?
The more limited the interactions, the closer to a movie a game is.

Maybe we don't have the same qualification of "movie". There are some dedicated people who agree with me though, by comparing the game to movies:
I’m addicted to movies like The Fountain, Donnie Darko, Stay, not to mention all the Andrei Tarkovski’s movies, and so I could find lots of similarities with Dear Esther. [...] Well, this is my Dear Esther experience. It isn’t the story [...] the important thing in this game, but the feelings, the introspection it suggests. [...] Not sure what were the developer’s intentions, possibly they were just stoned and wanted to share in a lyric fashion when made the thing, but what I played was quite unusual in the gaming world. I liked it.

.... that's the only response you can think up? "Well, it has good music"?
The music is what I prefer about the game. I am not fond of the story. To each his own.

Dear Esther is a ghost story, told using first-person gaming technologies. Rather than traditional game-play the focus here is on exploration, uncovering the mystery of the island, of who you are and why you are here. Fragments of story are randomly uncovered when exploring the various locations of the island, making every each journey a unique experience. Dear Esther features a stunning, specially commissioned soundtrack from Jessica Curry.
This is the description of the product on the official website, so I am not too wrong: Dear Esther is a "story, told using [...] gaming technologies" and the soundtrack is "a stunning, specially commissioned" "feature".
 
I was more affected by Dear Esther than by any other game I've played. The seeming familiarity of some of the locations contributed to this - the first area is a dead ringer for a place from my childhood - but the atmospheric music and the sheer joy of the exploration absolutely worked for me. I remember when I entered the shack early on in the game and found a calf birthing kit, a set of bloodied forceps and a metal tray. Wordless, unexplained, and oddly chilling. Even without the dialogue the game tells a story.

Highly recommended from me.
 

Berto

Member
Seriously, I just don't understand what people see in Dear Esther. I "played" it during the Steam sale and felt ripped off, and this from someone who really enjoyed Journey.
It's the atmosphere, the sense of being isolated in a beautiful and haunting landscape. The same feeling some of us have when walking in a winter afternoon near the sea, all alone hearing the waves with the wind blowing in your face. I really loved just walking in Dear Esther island.
 

1-D_FTW

Member
Humble Bundle for Android 3 has these games so far:

Uplink, BIT.TRIP BEAT, Spacechem, Fieldrunners

Beat the Average: Spirits

Sold. Although my Android backlog is much worse than my Steam library. At least I actually play Steam. I need to start playing some of those touch games.

EDIT: Spirits is a modern day version of the Atari trackball game Quantum? I used to love that game on my Mame cabinet.
 

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
You don't plan on playing Beat? It's one hell of a game. I don't understand why they haven't released the other games in the series, besides Runner, on Android/iOS/Steam.

Have it on Steam already, as do I Spacechem and Uplink. Fieldrunner is unfortunately a tower defense game, so I'm not very interested in it by default (will still try, though).
 

Darklord

Banned
Every time I try and buy Sleeping Dogs I get "There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance."

The fuck, Valve?
 

Nabs

Member
Every time I try and buy Sleeping Dogs I get "There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance."

The fuck, Valve?

Maybe they are looking out for you. It's @ GMG for 25-30% off. If you pick up the free game you get a 20% off coupon in your email.
 
FYI: Mutant Blobs Attack is being released on Steam today, in about an hour. If you like your platformers with a side order of simple puzzles and a great 2D style, it's well worth the pick up, even though it's a bit short.
 
I'm only looking forward to the next sale if there's community stuff because this will be the year I'll be able to go all in with hardware, money and time. This year's summer sale was a big disappointment in that regard.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
On the bright side, the lack of a meta-game meant I didn't need to spend ~$100 on indie shovelware. But I am looking forward to amassing a pile of coal in a few months!
 
On the bright side, the lack of a meta-game meant I didn't need to spend ~$100 on indie shovelware. But I am looking forward to amassing a pile of coal in a few months!

We went from potatos to coal so I assume the next thing we'll collect will be another fist-sized object...


hmm... fist-sized...

eNoBK.jpg


D: oh god
 

plc268

Member
it's the publishing/developing companies fault - they focus on consoles support more than PC support, that's why ppl prefer to play on the consoles.

Well, there aren't many sports games on the PC anyway. Hell, compared to 10 years ago, there aren't many even on the consoles anymore.
 
Hope the last update is for the achievement system. I'm not really an achievement hunter, but the system has always felt weak for me.
 

Exuro

Member
Hope the last update is for the achievement system. I'm not really an achievement hunter, but the system has always felt weak for me.
It's probably going to be the friends page, seeing as it's an entire tab now. If that'll include achievements or not, I don't know. I would love a change to the system though. It has to include an updated profile page at the very least. Today's update was pretty bland. Looks like it's just a wall that you can format media on.
 
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