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STEAM announcements & updates 2012 Thread - Summer sales usually last week of June

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S

spindoctor

Member
Stupacabra said:
RPG maker? ...My instincts are telling me to pass.
Click to expand...

That's understandable. However, the writing and music in the game are absolutely amazing. The gameplay is almost non existent and what little there is almost hinders the beautiful story that the game tells.

Do yourself a favor and don't dismiss the game outright because it truly is something special.
 
A

alexandros

Banned
crimsonheadGCN said:
Gaikai is testing a cloud-based version of Portal 2 and this site believes that it might be because Valve and Gaikai are teaming up to bring cloud-gaming to Steam:

http://onlivespot.blogspot.com/2012/04/has-gaikai-partnered-with-valve-and-is.html
Click to expand...

This would be extremely cool if true. Imagine this:

- Streaming game demos

- Log-in with your account, play the streaming version of every game you've bought if you're not on a sufficiently powerful PC

- Play the streaming version while waiting for the proper version to download. Steam cloud support means you continue right where you left off.

Not saying that it'll happen, but the added value would be phenomenal.
 
C

CecilRousso

Member
alexandros said:
This would be extremely cool if true. Imagine this:

- Log-in with your account, play the streaming version of every game you've bought if you're not on a sufficiently powerful PC

- Play the streaming version while waiting for the proper version to download. Steam cloud support means you continue right where you left off.
Click to expand...

That would without any doubts lead to one thing - games being sold that are only available as streamed versions.
 
D

drizzle

Axel Hertz
CecilRousso said:
That would without any doubts lead to one thing - games being sold that are only available as streamed versions.
Click to expand...

You know how you can buy a game on Steam and, if there's a MAC Version, you'll get that too free of charge?

The bad thing is that not all games have a MAC Version. However, if the streaming thing comes true, suddenly, all mac users can buy a lot more games...
 
H

HoosTrax

Member
crimsonheadGCN said:
Gaikai is testing a cloud-based version of Portal 2 and this site believes that it might be because Valve and Gaikai are teaming up to bring cloud-gaming to Steam:

http://onlivespot.blogspot.com/2012/04/has-gaikai-partnered-with-valve-and-is.html
Click to expand...
I thought that Gaikai's CEO was somewhat critical of Valve/Steam, claiming it was inaccessible to less hardcore gamers. And they also have a partnership with EA. Then again, the people running GoG love to take potshots at Steam, but that doesn't prevent their game studio from working with Steam.
 
F

Fare Godmace

Member
Why is it so hard for Steam to display the actual disk space required when installing a game? I guess that the size may get bigger as devs release updates, but couldn't they update whatever is needed so you don't see installs that double the amount of space stated previously?

/rant
 
L

louiedog

Member
I own a few games on OnLive (HIB keys and one game that I got a code for) and had their subscription service for a month. It works well. It's not as nice as having a local copy of a game, but it definitely works. I played Saints Row 3 here at home and when I was visiting family I was able to play my save on a netbook without having to download a thing. That was cool.

I could see myself subscribing to their service long term. There are some older games that I missed and would love to be able to jump in and play once without having to download and install. The problem for me is bandwidth. I have a cap. The month that I had the service I had to ration my tv/movies (ditched cable years ago) because I was so close to hitting it.

I also don't like the idea of buying games that I have no way to backup or even keep a save of in anyway. If Steam died tomorrow I at least have the data and could maybe download a crack. With OnLive they'd just be gone unless the publishers got together and gave out keys for download services.

I love the idea of Steam getting into this arena. Based on the way they do business I imagine I'd have a copy I could download and play on my desktop with a save that lived in the cloud. If I wanted to play on my netbook while traveling I'd be able to use that save while streaming. There doesn't seem like a downside.

Also... Steam for Linux. The only reason I boot into Windows on that netbook is Netflix and indie games on Steam. Lubuntu gives me much better battery than Win 7 or 8 and I'd love to not have to switch back and forth as much.
 
M

MRORANGE

Member
As far as I can tell the last time I used Onlive I noticed my games were on a "contract" basis so I owned the game up until 2016 or something, hence why I never really wanted to go down that route, the problem with this is that they need a constant revenue source to keep servers running.

I always expected to Steam to dabble in this area but I would rather have cloud gaming separate from my purchases, for instance like a netflix subscription of a flat rate of $5 a month to play any game I own through the cloud, of course this would be optional and people who own the game can still play on there pc without using the cloud or the fee.
 
D

Derrick01

Banned
I played Space Marine on Onlive during that $1 sale but it's not something I would play instead of using a real gaming PC. The graphics were terrible and covered in vaseline to the point where it was pretty hard to see sometimes.

When it came to not losing connection though it worked well. I could see how someone with a laptop from 2007 would be impressed with it.
 
I

I H8 Memes

Member
crimsonheadGCN said:
Gaikai is testing a cloud-based version of Portal 2 and this site believes that it might be because Valve and Gaikai are teaming up to bring cloud-gaming to Steam:

http://onlivespot.blogspot.com/2012/04/has-gaikai-partnered-with-valve-and-is.html
Click to expand...


HMMMMMMM

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=470117


I H8 Memes said:
Mostly this sounds like they are looking to design some kind of peripheral. With them being a private company and all obviously I cant say how much capital they have on hand, but I'm pretty confident they dont have enough to design their own mass produced console type device. Maybe with a partnership with someone who does.

But more likely a peripheral. Or perhaps even a Roku type of device for streaming games like Onlive. That would fit their distribution business like a glove and expand their business to customers who cant afford or are intimidated by PC gaming.
Click to expand...
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
louiedog said:
I love the idea of Steam getting into this arena. Based on the way they do business I imagine I'd have a copy I could download and play on my desktop with a save that lived in the cloud. If I wanted to play on my netbook while traveling I'd be able to use that save while streaming. There doesn't seem like a downside.
Click to expand...
As mentioned, the downside is that some publishers could then start making games streaming-only. Piracy is bad, right? Streaming solves piracy, right? Therefore in publishermind, making all games streaming would be the best ever etc.

Also, if Valve did do this, they had better get Gaikai's help for sure. Valve didn't seem able to even have enough servers for the Portal 2 launch, and sometimes games become unavailable purely because of the license servers (as far as I know?). When they introduced TF2 stuff (the mann co store?) I seem to recall it absolutely killing performance to the level that people couldn't use backpack items at all. If they threw an additional cloud streaming service into the mix I would expect crazy performance problems, possibly fixed down the line if they figured out a way to make things scale. I just don't have faith in Valve's server infrastructure being 100% reliable, though in general it's pretty reliable at the moment.
 
F

Flunkie

Banned
Wahooo! I can return to playing stuffs on Steam after being out of commission for 3~ months with a video card on life support! Pretty pumped. :D

I bet I missed a lot. :(
 
L

louiedog

Member
Blizzard said:
As mentioned, the downside is that some publishers could then start making games streaming-only. Piracy is bad, right? Streaming solves piracy, right? Therefore in publishermind, making all games streaming would be the best ever etc.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and we need to stock up on guns because a democrat got elected and/or move to Europe because a republican was elected.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
louiedog said:
Yeah, and we need to stock up on guns because a democrat got elected and/or move to Europe because a republican was elected.
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That's a strawman comparison because your example involves huge real-world overreactions -- shooting someone or moving countries is a big deal compared to game DRM.

In contrast to that, companies making games streaming-only could both be feasible (Gaikai and onlive) and desirable (eliminates used game sales like Steam already has, also eliminates piracy like Ubisoft always-on DRM, solidifies control of publishers over games) for publishers. I don't think it's some crazy thing that no one would consider.
 
cicero

cicero

Member
G

gdt

Member
Just saw the Blur thread was in community after searching, will never get a response there.

Has anyone here cleared out the final boss demand?

"Stay above 125mph for an entire lap".

FUCK. Any tips?
 
I

I H8 Memes

Member
Yup down here too. I got two extra dota 2 invites in my inventory today though. If a lot of those went out then the servers could be pretty busy.
 
L

louiedog

Member
Blizzard said:
That's a strawman comparison because your example involves huge real-world overreactions -- shooting someone or moving countries is a big deal compared to game DRM.

In contrast to that, companies making games streaming-only could both be feasible (Gaikai and onlive) and desirable (eliminates used game sales like Steam already has, also eliminates piracy like Ubisoft always-on DRM, solidifies control of publishers over games) for publishers. I don't think it's some crazy thing that no one would consider.
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Shooting someone? People stock up on guns because they fear their right to buy them will be taken away, not because they're going to shoot someone. The reaction to Steam changing just reminded me of the way people react in other situations. It was meant to be a joke. I didn't mean to insult. I am sorry about that.

Anyway, go look at the Steam hardware survey. Most people don't have a connection that's fast enough to support this kind of service. Many of those who do, like me, have bandwidth caps that would severely limit their gaming.

There's also the question infrastructure for the service. You could have a 500 Mbps connection that's worthless for the service is if you're too far from a data center and have a high latency. You would need a ton of servers before you could roll this out worldwide. I live in a big city in the US and can play OnLive fine, but Gaikai's beta wouldn't let me connect due to my latency. It's going to be a very long time before it's feasible to do something like that. There are likely to be 50 dumb anti-piracy schemes to worry about before it's even possible to think about it.
 
S

ShaneB

Member
Hero_of_the_Day said:
Seems like Steam has been shaky for a few months now. Started right before the Christmas sales. Just little chunks of time here and there, but still weird.
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I'm trying to pinpoint if my wireless router is shit, and I now realize that using Steam as a benchmark is a horrible idea.

On that note, if anyone does have some wireless network status software that is simple to use for a layman like myself, that would be super. I basically just want to know when it drops, why does it drop. And should I just go out and buy a new wireless router, which I am leaning towards, given the mess of wireless networks in my condo building.
 
C

CrookedRain

Member
Fare Godmace said:
Why is it so hard for Steam to display the actual disk space required when installing a game? I guess that the size may get bigger as devs release updates, but couldn't they update whatever is needed so you don't see installs that double the amount of space stated previously?

/rant
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that the game may need to compress/decompress files and may actually use that much space at some point in time.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
louiedog said:
Anyway, go look at the Steam hardware survey. Most people don't have a connection that's fast enough to support this kind of service. Many of those who do, like me, have bandwidth caps that would severely limit their gaming.

There's also the question infrastructure for the service. You could have a 500 Mbps connection that's worthless for the service is if you're too far from a data center and have a high latency. You would need a ton of servers before you could roll this out worldwide. I live in a big city in the US and can play OnLive fine, but Gaikai's beta wouldn't let me connect due to my latency. It's going to be a very long time before it's feasible to do something like that. There are likely to be 50 dumb anti-piracy schemes to worry about before it's even possible to think about it.
Click to expand...
I agree that it would be a crappy idea, but I think that some publishers may want to do it anyway. Maybe it won't happen, and maybe I'm totally wrong. I just don't think that publishers take logic or treating consumers fairly/with respect into account in their decisions sometimes. :p

For instance, some people have crappy, unreliable, or unavailable (say, military personnel) connections, but that didn't stop Ubisoft from doing their always-online DRM. They've backed off a bit so maybe attitudes DO change, but I guess I'm just too cynical.
 
I

I H8 Memes

Member
Well Valve is working on some kind of hardware. No doubt about that anymore. A peripheral doesn't make any sense unless it is maybe something that would make playing pc games like dota 2 from the couch possible. But that's about it.

However a game streaming roku type of box fits their Steam business perfectly and would lead to a massive expansion of their customer base. It wouldn't be there to replace traditional PC gaming. It would only help them reach people who wouldnt normally game on a PC.
 
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