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STEAM Announcements & Updates 2014 III - Don't Believe The Tags

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B

BinaryPork2737

Unconfirmed Member
Thorgal said:
So after reading Oranges Thread A question popped in my head :

Did Steam make a substantial dent in rampant piracy and illegal downloading of games on PC ?

Now it is no question that Steam is very successful due to great sales and ease of use .
However ,even if the prices are low it is still not "free" which is enough reason for some to take the piracy route and download the game through a torrent .


I wonder if developers still lose a crapload of sales on PC because of Piracy even tough cheap and legal alternatives as Steam exist ?
Click to expand...

Piracy definitely still dents some releases, like Volgarr the Viking.
 
W

wilflare

Member
Grief.exe said:
Here is the thing about the Dark Souls Steam Page.

The shots that are up don't have the flat lighting that is in the console version, yet it has the same geometry/textures as the retail console version

ss_bad237171bd5ca612b57215da778b18748d91ada.1920x1080.jpg
Click to expand...

that looks pretty good :X
 
R

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
Thorgal said:
So after reading Oranges Thread A question popped in my head :

Did Steam make a substantial dent in rampant piracy and illegal downloading of games on PC ?

Now it is no question that Steam is very successful due to great sales and ease of use .
However ,even if the prices are low it is still not "free" which is enough reason for some to take the piracy route and download the game through a torrent .


I wonder if developers still lose a crapload of sales on PC because of Piracy even tough cheap and legal alternatives as Steam exist ?
Click to expand...

I live in Portugal. Piracy is (was?) the norm here with PC games. Most of my friends that used to (still do sometimes? not sure) pirate games now buy them on steam (on sales). Small example I know, but I bet it helped

but yes PC games are still hugely pirated
 
R

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
AScotAbroad said:
Hmmmm...I only see a key for Season 1 (eps 1-4), and a download link but no Steam key for episode 5 (think that was a BTA bonus).
Click to expand...

im assuming the steam release has all the 5 eps since its called season?
 
masterkajo

masterkajo

Member
Grief.exe said:
Here is the thing about the Dark Souls Steam Page.

The shots that are up don't have the flat lighting that is in the console version, yet it has the same geometry/textures as the retail console version

ss_bad237171bd5ca612b57215da778b18748d91ada.1920x1080.jpg
Click to expand...

Which would suggest the PC has indeed the lighting effects that are missing from the console verison albeit is still far away from the initial revail which we can all agree on was just a wonderfully looking demo. So your theory about the PC being not only a high texture and 60FPS version sounds better with every picture you post. And I choose to believe you more and more.

I soo hope you are right!
 
jshackles

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Thorgal said:
So after reading Oranges Thread A question popped in my head :

Did Steam make a substantial dent in rampant piracy and illegal downloading of games on PC ?

Now it is no question that Steam is very successful due to great sales and ease of use .
However ,even if the prices are low it is still not "free" which is enough reason for some to take the piracy route and download the game through a torrent .

I wonder if developers still lose a crapload of sales on PC because of Piracy even tough cheap and legal alternatives as Steam exist ?
Click to expand...

Gabe Newell has gone on record several times as saying that piracy is just a problem with logistics. There are people who are going to pirate a game no matter the price. But there are a lot more that will pirate the game if it costs $60, but would/could buy it if it were $20 or less. A lot of people in that category will pirate the game when it's first released, then buy it when it goes on sale for $20.

One of the big ways that Steam has "decreased" piracy is that a lot of PC game piracy was happening because these games weren't legally available for purchase in many countries, which made piracy the only option. Steam (and digital distribution in general) alleviates this by allowing publishers to sell to these countries without having infrastructure in place there.

It is, however, something that will be very difficult to track or put hard numbers on, given the mostly decentralized nature of how piracy works these days, combined with the fact that unit sales aren't published by Steam.
 
R

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
AScotAbroad said:
Logic...enemy of jumping to conclusions.

Well played...
Click to expand...

I have no idea if that is the case, like I said, Im just assuming. Kinda like Cognition is just 1 season on steam, but seperate episodes on some bundles
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
masterkajo said:
Which would suggest the PC has indeed the lighting effects that are missing from the console version albeit is still far away from the initial reveal which we can all agree on was just a wonderfully looking demo. So your theory about the PC being not only a high texture and 60FPS version sounds better with every picture you post. And I choose to believe you more and more.

I soo hope you are right!
Click to expand...

There are three distinct versions of Dark Souls 2 that have been shown to the public so far.

  • Vertical Slice (Reveal Demo)
  • Retail Console
  • PC Trailer

The reveal was a vertical slice that does not contain the same textures or geometry as the PC trailer shown in November, or the retail console version.

Every time the PC version has been shown to the public, it has had the same textures and geometry as the console version, but increased effects, lighting, particle, higher texture-res, etc. That includes the trailer and the screenshots.

Keep your fingers crossed guys, we have a chance here.
 
R

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
Block Story has a store page, that was in a few bundles correct? I think I have it in at least 2 (flying bundle and indieroyale?)
 
M

MasterOfPastures

Banned
This might be the wrong thread, but has anyone bought the Substance Indie pack? Does the pack include the full commercial releases of the software, or is it the student versions? And, what are your opinions on it?
Thanks in advance!
 
Nabs

Nabs

Member
New Steam beta:

In-Home Streaming Beta

Added hardware accelerated encoding via Intel QuickSync
Added mouse emulation mode for controllers, toggled with Guide+A
Revamped the streaming options UI, all settings have been reset to defaults
Added an option to disable streaming
Added a speed vs quality preference setting
The stats overlay is now off by default and can be enabled in the advanced client options
Added a 30 Mbit bandwidth option
Unlimited bandwidth has been increased to 100 Mbit for those who want to live on the edge
Added a setting to enable traffic QoS priority in the advanced host options
Changed framerate limit back to the refresh rate instead of refresh rate - 1
OpenGL games are now scaled correctly during capture
 
B

Baha

Member
Zia said:
Is there a way to get a Dr Who Steam key from Groupees if I purchased the bundle without making an account?
Click to expand...

If you didn't delete the email groupees sent you when you purchased it then you should be able to access your games.
 
C

crimsonheadGCN

Banned
I am not sure if I want to buy Battle Chess or not. I read that the original kickstarter failed and I see that interplay is the publisher. I have this feeling that this is all just a cash grab by Interplay since they really are not much these days.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
toddhunter said:
Tried Ku: Shroud of Morrigan for a bit.

kua6upt.gif


I want to like it, because it has a nice graphic style, somewhere between Bastion and Machinarium. It is also apparently pretty short, so I was keen to get through it.

Unfortunately I've hit quite a few control issues and everything just seems a little too clunky. For example buttons that stop working, or work too well and skip text when you don't want it to.

Might be one to pick up cheap if it gets a few patches.
Click to expand...

Guess that's what I'm doing too, gonna wait for it to be patched then get back and beat it.
 
C

crimsonheadGCN

Banned
By the way, if you check mark the Show Downloadable Content box then it also shows Early Access Games on it. It seems like Valve finally implemented that today.
 
K

Knurek

Member
jshackles said:
One of the big ways that Steam has "decreased" piracy is that a lot of PC game piracy was happening because these games weren't legally available for purchase in many countries, which made piracy the only option. Steam (and digital distribution in general) alleviates this by allowing publishers to sell to these countries without having infrastructure in place there.
Click to expand...

Which is quite funny, considering the same publishers more often then not fuck customers from those regions with regional pricing/markup.
 
G

Gintoki313

Banned
I finally got my dongle working (thanks to corrosivefrost), and just got done playing some Borderlands 2 wireless. Feels so good not having to care about a wire, or disconnections anymore. This gives me a good reason to try and clear up my backlog.
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Nabs said:
New Steam beta:

In-Home Streaming Beta

Added hardware accelerated encoding via Intel QuickSync
Added mouse emulation mode for controllers, toggled with Guide+A
Revamped the streaming options UI, all settings have been reset to defaults
Added an option to disable streaming
Added a speed vs quality preference setting
The stats overlay is now off by default and can be enabled in the advanced client options
Added a 30 Mbit bandwidth option
Unlimited bandwidth has been increased to 100 Mbit for those who want to live on the edge
Added a setting to enable traffic QoS priority in the advanced host options
Changed framerate limit back to the refresh rate instead of refresh rate - 1
OpenGL games are now scaled correctly during capture
Click to expand...
Living on the edge 4 life
 
M

MRORANGE

Member
Nabs said:
New Steam beta:

In-Home Streaming Beta

Added hardware accelerated encoding via Intel QuickSync
Added mouse emulation mode for controllers, toggled with Guide+A
Revamped the streaming options UI, all settings have been reset to defaults
Added an option to disable streaming
Added a speed vs quality preference setting
The stats overlay is now off by default and can be enabled in the advanced client options
Added a 30 Mbit bandwidth option
Unlimited bandwidth has been increased to 100 Mbit for those who want to live on the edge
Added a setting to enable traffic QoS priority in the advanced host options
Changed framerate limit back to the refresh rate instead of refresh rate - 1
OpenGL games are now scaled correctly during capture
Click to expand...

Nice, Valve just needs to pump out ARM version of SteamOS to make the dream come true.

Grief.exe said:
Ecstatic.
Click to expand...

Dunno what's going on, but I can see my profile/store and had an hour of tf2 like an hour ago.
 
J

jaundicejuice

Member
I love Dust Force, I hate Dust Force, I love it, I hate it.

This game drives me batty, one slip up, one mistake and I have to restart the whole damned level.
 
R

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
The Dear Leader said:
It's basically a way of saying, "of course Steam is down" when someone asks if Steam is down.
Click to expand...
But I'm asking for the meaning of the phrase itself. I know what it means in context, just not what it does in a literal way :p

Think I'm gonna buy Mars: Wars Whatever tonight. I'm drunk enough that $3.75 feels like the best bargain ever, and sober enough that I can click the proper buttons.

morningbus said:
It's an intentionally mangled combination of two different expressions that have the same meaning. "Does a bear shit in the woods," and "Is the Pope Catholic?"

The answer to both is, "of course yes.'
Click to expand...
Thanks man. You never disappoint when it comes to usage of the English language. I've learned something new today!

Arthea said:
It's when you stare at something very long time, later you keep seeing it even when thing you was staring to no longer there. steamgaf is very prone to this, every time when steam servers are down, someone is sure their steam is OK, when in fact it's afterimage.
Click to expand...
Like an image burned into your retinas? I've learned two new things today. I should celebrate!
 
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