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[crimsonheadGCN]

serious sam hd worth it? i havent heard anything good about it mostly because it doesnt have dedicated servers or something so no one plays it

It's worth it for the single-player and online coop. There is still activity online, but sometimes it might not be in your area and you might have to change the Download Region in the Steam settings to view other matches that are going on. Once dedicated servers and deathmatch comes out, there should be more activity.

 

[ChoklitReign]

Why does Serious Sam have such a low Metacritic score? Not that I trust critics all the time, but I like shooters and I hope it's worth playing when I don't even have much interest in playing half of my bought Steam games (it's an addiction).

 

[Zachack]

serious sam hd worth it? i havent heard anything good about it mostly because it doesnt have dedicated servers or something so no one plays it

At the moment, kinda. The price is good, but I have to echo the opinion of someone else who said that while the visuals are improved, you really feel the age of the gameplay.

 

[Fragamemnon]

Why does Serious Sam have such a low Metacritic score? Not that I trust critics all the time, but I like shooters and I hope it's worth playing when I don't even have much interest in playing half of my bought Steam games (it's an addiction).

Because online co-op is pretty dead (and laggy when it is around due to lack of dedicated servers) and the game has not aged well. Painkiller in particular annihilates it if you want an 'old school' FPS experience.

 

[ArjanN]

At the moment, kinda. The price is good, but I have to echo the opinion of someone else who said that while the visuals are improved, you really feel the age of the gameplay.

I feel the 'aged' gameplay is exactly the strength of the game.

They just don't make FPS games in this style anymore, so the game felt really refreshing to me. It's just 100% non-stop balls to the wall action.

 

[John]

Yeah, but there's something Serious Sam doesn't have that Painkiller does. Maybe it's because you're much faster in Painkiller, or that you're bunny-hopping the entire game, or the weapons are more fun, or the sound design's better, but there's something that keeps me from enjoying SS even though I gush over Painkiller all the time.

 

[shintoki]

Blah, Anyone why this happens sometimes. When you get kicked off a game and steam dissappears but it still says it is running and on?

 

[MisterAnderson]

Does anyone else sometimes have issues with the TF2 server list? Like, it will say 22/24 players in the game, but when I join it, there will be zero people in the game. Or like, 90% of games I try to join say the server isn't responding. This happens way too often to me, I'm wondering if something is just messed up on my end (probably is).

 

[epmode]

Painkiller in particular annihilates it if you want an 'old school' FPS experience.

I like Painkiller and all but NO

Serious Sam is pretty much the best manic FPS since Doom 2 (not that very many have been released). Serious Sam HD is a carbon copy of that. Barely anything new but it sure looks better!

I really miss games like this.

BTW, I'm serious. I do like Painkiller. But there are little things about it that push me to SS instead. The weapons, for the most part. They don't feel, uh, meaty(?) enough. And I hate having to pick up the souls of the dead monsters. And the stupid souls despawn too quickly. And Painkiller doesn't have a goddamned cannon (YES I KNOW, SHURIKENS AND LIGHTNING).

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

Does anyone else sometimes have issues with the TF2 server list? Like, it will say 22/24 players in the game, but when I join it, there will be zero people in the game.

It's an exploit. The server admins have their servers set up to send false information to the Master Server that reports there being more players than what is actually in the server. Valve has tried to fixed this I believe, but there has been workarounds.

 

[K.Jack]

Blah, Anyone why this happens sometimes. When you get kicked off a game and steam dissappears but it still says it is running and on?

Then you have to go to Task Manager and find Steam.exe*32 to end it manually?

Yeah, I get that every once in a while, usually when it restarts after I change the download region.

 

[SapientWolf]

Yeah, but there's something Serious Sam doesn't have that Painkiller does. Maybe it's because you're much faster in Painkiller, or that you're bunny-hopping the entire game, or the weapons are more fun, or the sound design's better, but there's something that keeps me from enjoying SS even though I gush over Painkiller all the time.

PK is paced more like a traditional FPS than SS. SS is more wave based, like Robotron / Smash TV / Total Carnage in 3D. So maybe that's why.

serious sam hd worth it? i havent heard anything good about it mostly because it doesnt have dedicated servers or something so no one plays it

The online play is fine. P2P is probably better for a small community anyway. A lot of people just aren't aware of the game. It has had almost zero marketing.

 

[Relix]

Just spent 3 hours playing Medieval 2. Awesome.

 

[gregor7777]

I feel the 'aged' gameplay is exactly the strength of the game.

They just don't make FPS games in this style anymore, so the game felt really refreshing to me. It's just 100% non-stop balls to the wall action.

Right on, man. I wouldn't change a thing. It's perfect. And SE is even better.

 

[Sinatar]

Painkiller in particular annihilates it if you want an 'old school' FPS experience.

Going to have to disagree with you on that one man.

 

[nyong]

I'm off the wagon.

 

[Chiaroscuro]

Borderlands DLC: Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is up.

 

[ArjanN]

Borderlands DLC: Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is up.

More expensive than serious sam HD right now. And not as good.

 

[MoFuzz]

Fuck DLC. Tell em to call me once they've scraped enough content together for an expansion pack.

That goes for all devs.

 

[Twig]

Fuck DLC. Tell em to call me once they've scraped enough content together for an expansion pack.

That goes for all devs.

Protip: not all DLC is overpriced.

 

[Sinatar]

Protip: not all DLC is overpriced.

Protip: 99.99% of it is, including this shit.

 

[Volcynika]

I'd buy DLC of Gearbox fixing the crappy Borderlands online before that!

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

I'm not sure if this was posted, but it seems that the bundle of Natural Selection 2/Overgrowth that both Unknown Worlds and Wolfire are selling on their websites will be able to be registered through Steam:

http://www.wolfire.com/pack

Q: You guys are awesome but I am totally faithful to Steam! I will only buy OG and NS2 if I can transfer them onto Steam when you release. What do you say to that?

A: In the case of Overgrowth, you are good to go! Valve has already assured us that we can transfer our preorders onto Steam. See this blog post for more details. Furthermore, Impulse has also agreed to honor preorders. So one Overgrowth preorder will be good on Steam, Impulse, and direct from us on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

In the case of NS2, it is a little more complicated. Unknown Worlds doesn't have it in writing that Valve will distribute NS2 on Steam yet. I am pretty confident on their behalf that NS2 will be good to go on Steam, but it is not 100% confirmed.

Overgrowth registration is confirmed, but Natural Selection 2 registration is unknown at the time. Valve will most likely allow Natural Selection 2, since Unknown Worlds and Valve seem close.

 

[MoFuzz]

Protip: not all DLC is overpriced.

That's just it though, I've yet to come across any that was actually worth its asking price.

From map packs, to extra costumes & skins, to Rock Band/Guitar Hero tracks, to enhanced guns and whatever else. I just don't see the value in a lot of these. Not when DD can deliver whole games for less.

They should just bundle it all up once it's done and charge me $20 or whatever instead of 6 installments of $7.99.

 

[Sciz]

Why does Serious Sam have such a low Metacritic score? Not that I trust critics all the time, but I like shooters and I hope it's worth playing when I don't even have much interest in playing half of my bought Steam games (it's an addiction).

It is literally the old game with a new coat of paint and no additions of consequence, and the original has admittedly held up pretty well. Some reviewers took offense to that.

Then you have all the ones who marked it down for being archaic and out of date, but they completely missed the point anyway, much like the people who keep berating Capcom for Mega Man 9 and 10 not evolving the classic series any.

As for if it's worth it, the comparison to Smash TV is pretty apt. It is the essence of shooting and dodging in a form even more distilled than DOOM itself.

You can sort of compare it to Painkiller, but Painkiller is a much more enclosed game and only its bosses really come close to approaching the enormous scale and sheer chaos of Serious Sam 1.

 

[Twig]

Protip: 99.99% of it is, including this shit.

Protip: I didn't say this wasn't. You might wanna try reading comprehension. It'll do you wonders!

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Borderlands DLC: Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is up.

From what I have seen of it and from what I heard about it on the recent Giant Bombcast, I think I will definitely be passing on this one. I enjoyed the last DLC pack, although I kind of regret paying full price for it, but Moxxi's really has nothing to interest me. I hit the level cap anyway, so I probably won't be touching any more Borderlands until they come out with an expansion that raises the cap further.

 

[drkOne]

I'd buy DLC of Gearbox fixing the crappy Borderlands online before that!

This.
I lost my interest for Borderlands because joining friends' games was just too broken. Horrible experiences with too many port-forwarding tries, and it still wasn't sure to work all the time.
Otherwise I'd be all over the DLC. Maybe when they release a "GOTY" pack with all the DLC I'll try getting into it again.

 

[graywolf323]

I'm not sure if this was posted, but it seems that the bundle of Natural Selection 2/Overgrowth that both Unknown Worlds and Wolfire are selling on their websites will be able to be registered through Steam:

http://www.wolfire.com/pack



Overgrowth registration is confirmed, but Natural Selection 2 registration is unknown at the time. Valve will most likely allow Natural Selection 2, since Unknown Worlds and Valve seem close.

interesting but $40 seems pretty expensive to me and that's after a 40% discount?

 

[Firestorm]

Borderlands DLC: Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is up.

Will buy for $2.50. $10 lol

 

[shintoki]

That's just it though, I've yet to come across any that was actually worth its asking price.

GTA4 DLC Embarrasses even most PC retail expansion packs...Most retail games also :lol

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

interesting but $40 seems pretty expensive to me and that's after a 40% discount?

It's not really that expensive for what you get. Overgrowth normally costs $29.99 and I believe the version of Natural Selection 2 that is included will cost $39.99. With Overgrowth, you get access to the weekly alpha/beta builds that lead up to the game's official release and, when it is released, you get access to the editor and the Steam/Windows/OSX/Linux version of the game. With Natural Selection 2, you get access to the editor that was recently released and access to the upcoming alpha/beta tests, as well as special armor for your marine.

Also, both companies have been relying on the pre-orders to fund the game development, since neither has a publisher. They've found success with it.

 

[Slavik81]

That's just it though, I've yet to come across any that was actually worth its asking price.

From map packs, to extra costumes & skins, to Rock Band/Guitar Hero tracks, to enhanced guns and whatever else. I just don't see the value in a lot of these. Not when DD can deliver whole games for less.

They should just bundle it all up once it's done and charge me $20 or whatever instead of 6 installments of $7.99.

The math is pretty simple. If you can make 10 units of content for $20 million, and sell it to a million people, it costs $2 per unit of content. Then you make 1 unit of DLC for $2 million and sell it to 10% of the people who bought the original (100,000). Well, then it's $20 per unit of content.

 

[MoFuzz]

GTA4 DLC Embarrasses even most PC retail expansion packs...Most retail games also :lol

In fact, I would even go as far as saying they are more along the lines of a traditional expansion pack in terms of how much they offer. Definitely one good exception.

The math is pretty simple. If you can make 10 units of content for $20 million, and sell it to a million people, it costs $2 per unit of content. Then you make 1 unit of DLC for $2 million and sell it to 10% of the people who bought the original (100,000). Well, then it's $20 per unit of content.

Don't get me wrong, I know exactly why they're doing it, and it's one of the main reasons why I choose not to support it. I don't appreciate being nickel & dimed to death. Still gonna bitch about it tho!

 

[TheExodu5]

interesting but $40 seems pretty expensive to me and that's after a 40% discount?

NS2 Special Edition costs $40 on the NS site. It just gets you early alpha access and black marine armor when the game launches. Mostly, it's there to help support the developers. I went for the full package. NS2 is a game I'm very much looking forward to, as I think the original is one of the best online games we've seen in the past decade.

You can buy the plain game, which comes with access to tools (map maker was released in November) and beta for $20.

http://www.naturalselection2.com/buy

 

[shintoki]

I'll wait till the game is actually out, but NS2 does look sweet

 

[Morbid Angel]

nvm

 

[Javaman]

The math is pretty simple. If you can make 10 units of content for $20 million, and sell it to a million people, it costs $2 per unit of content. Then you make 1 unit of DLC for $2 million and sell it to 10% of the people who bought the original (100,000). Well, then it's $20 per unit of content.

Millions to develop DLC? :lol :lol

If it costs them over a million just to develop some DLC then they must be running their office like ION storm. This is more likely price gouging. I'll buy DLC if it's worth the money, but after seeing the support Valve does with TF2 and the recent sale over the holiday it's got to be a hell of a lot more content then a couple of maps and modes for $10.

 

[poppabk]

Millions to develop DLC? :lol :lol

If it costs them over a million just to develop some DLC then they must be running their office like ION storm. This is more likely price gouging. I'll buy DLC if it's worth the money, but after seeing the support Valve does with TF2 and the recent sale over the holiday it's got to be a hell of a lot more content then a couple of maps and modes for $10.

Yeah it is pretty ridiculous when you pick up Burnout Paradise - the entire world, 75 odd cars, bikes, hundreds of events, online etc - for $7.49, and then they want the same amount or more to add a few extra cars or even more ridiculous $5 for a car unlock code.

 

[Doytch]

Millions to develop DLC? :lol :lol

If it costs them over a million just to develop some DLC then they must be running their office like ION storm. This is more likely price gouging. I'll buy DLC if it's worth the money, but after seeing the support Valve does with TF2 and the recent sale over the holiday it's got to be a hell of a lot more content then a couple of maps and modes for $10.

Yup. I'm a cheap sonofabitch usually, in that I have to be pretty well convinced to buy anything, but Valve's done a lot to make me skeptical of other companies' DLC efforts. I think the only bit of DLC I have specifically exchanged cash monies for is the Lost and Damned expansion.

When I look over and see Armored Princess for $10, and then some lame POS "content" for Borderlands for the same price, I have a good laugh. I don't even know how someone can be so hard up for some more Borderlands that they'd rather get that than a new game.

 

[graywolf323]

I just realized the Steam Calculator isn't fully accurate always

it just pulls from your profiles games list and for some reason my profile only lists one of the six Sherlock Holmes games

even looking at a Valve employee's list there are only two of the six games listed :-/

 

[Javaman]

I just realized the Steam Calculator isn't fully accurate always

it just pulls from your profiles games list and for some reason my profile only lists one of the six Sherlock Holmes games

even looking at a Valve employee's list there are only two of the six games listed :-/

I don't trust those at all. Not only do they tend to miss recently added games, they have no way to differentiate between someone who bought a pack of games or bought them individually or to determine if the games were bought during a sale. My steam account value is likely over 2x what I've actually paid for stuff.

 

[erpg]

I just realized the Steam Calculator isn't fully accurate always

Definitely. My girlfriend's account is showing up with over 100 games she doesn't own. Account value: $2585.81!

 

[Twig]

I don't trust those at all. Not only do they tend to miss recently added games, they have no way to differentiate between someone who bought a pack of games or bought them individually or to determine if the games were bought during a sale. My steam account value is likely over 2x what I've actually paid for stuff.

Yeah those calculators aren't the most accurate and they're not really meant to be. It's more of a "how much is my account worth right now."

This is the best one, I think: http://www.ddgamer.com/worth.php?account=theoneguy

Missing games or adding games to the account value is obviously a bug sorta fing, though.

Interestingly, according to the above calculator:

Big Spender: Chet spent $10,603.95 USD

 

[Slavik81]

Millions to develop DLC? :lol :lol

If it costs them over a million just to develop some DLC then they must be running their office like ION storm. This is more likely price gouging. I'll buy DLC if it's worth the money, but after seeing the support Valve does with TF2 and the recent sale over the holiday it's got to be a hell of a lot more content then a couple of maps and modes for $10.

If you noticed, the hypothetical DLC was a tenth of the size of the game. But, regardless, I think you missed the point. The numbers were hypothetical, and were meant only to illustrate that the fact that DLC sells only to a fraction of the number of people as the main game, that it is going to be a worse deal because the cost of development is spread over fewer people.

 

[vazel]

Because online co-op is pretty dead (and laggy when it is around due to lack of dedicated servers) and the game has not aged well. Painkiller in particular annihilates it if you want an 'old school' FPS experience.

Yea online is a ghost town. And game hasn't aged well at all. It's basically deathmatch against bots before you can move on to the next area. Painkiller is much better for mindless action there is a better flow in Painkiller.

 

[epmode]

Yea online is a ghost town. And game hasn't aged well at all. It's basically deathmatch against bots before you can move on to the next area. Painkiller is much better for mindless action there is a better flow in Painkiller.

If "deathmatch against bots" = the closest we've come to Robotron in 3D, then give me MOAR. I love that game to death.

Reread Sciz's post because he's 100% right.

 

[Rubezh]

The price on the Borderlands DLC is really quite ridiculous. Even if they were cheaper and more people bought them, this kind of DLC always fragments the online user base.

 

[Hawk SE]

Grabbed Serious Sam HD, for $6.67 seems worth it to me. I love having a lack of narritive first person shooter than I can spend 20 minutes on. It's a really fun game.

 

[Doytch]

If you noticed, the hypothetical DLC was a tenth of the size of the game. But, regardless, I think you missed the point. The numbers were hypothetical, and were meant only to illustrate that the fact that DLC sells only to a fraction of the number of people as the main game, that it is going to be a worse deal because the cost of development is spread over fewer people.

True, but you can't amortize the cost over 100% of the people who bought your game. You'd have a tough time getting a 50% conversion since a tonne of people never take their console/game online, or don't follow the news about that game, or won't spend money on DLC at all (no CC, aversion to online payments, principals).

I'd bet that given the raw numbers and research, it'd be trivial to see that it's a much safer model to price your DLC highly and cater to 1-5% of the people who bought your game. Otherwise, we wouldn't continue to see the model that Bethesda pioneered with Oblivion.