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STEAM - announcements, updates and WIN

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Volcynika

Member
Xapati said:
So I just bought Sin and it's downloading now. After a bit of research the Arena mode sold me; sounds like mercenaries, which I liked a lot. Also 5$ isn't too bad and if the game is bad it's only a few hours long, so I'll beat it (unlike Prey which I got when it was 5$) :D

I got Prey for $5 and beat it in 4.9 hours I think. Almost got my money's worth! :p
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Yeah, I bought this for kicks. Don't know if I'll ever get around to it... but hey, comes with the original, so I can't complain.

It's a sad reminder of where things are now though. I still can't believe that Ritual became a casual game developer.
 

firex

Member
If puzzle quest isn't on there, I would maybe see about one of the popcap games packages, or at least Peggle.
 

fallout

Member
DyobolikaL. said:
Can you guys recommend a good puzzle game on steam, I already own audiosurf.
It may not be your thing, but I've enjoyed Peggle immensely. Lumines is alright, but it suffers from the "lazy port" thing. Still worth it though, I think.
 

Stitch

Gold Member
BobJustBob said:
Wow, Sin Episodes really sucks.

It's ok. At least for that price... i wish there would be more different Enemies. Those yellow Mercs are really annoying.
 
Yeah, I take that back. The opening does not impress, but it gets better later on. It's still not amazing or anything, but it was fun enough and $5 for it and the original Sin is a good deal.
 

Twig

Banned
BobJustBob said:
Yeah, I take that back. The opening does not impress, but it gets better later on. It's still not amazing or anything, but it was fun enough and $5 for it and the original Sin is a good deal.
Yeah it starts off real slow. I enjoyed it, though, in the end. Nothing fantastic, but like I said earlier, I still think it's a shame the series died after only one episode. I'd have liked to see a REAL episodic FPS. Shorter experiences, improvements with each new episode. Would've been interesting, at least.

Oh well.
 

DyTonic

Banned
I have Peggle Extreme, but i never installed it lol. I'll install that later, I wish more publishers get on steam...
 

dLMN8R

Member
Crazy Machines seems like a pretty cool puzzle game - there's a demo you can check out - but the backgrounds make it really hard to see what's going on. Still probably worth the $20, with all the community-related features, voting on the best puzzles, downloading them, etc.
 

Xapati

Member
So I'm about an hour into Sin, and I really like it. The weapons feel solid, the graphics are nice and The game has lots of extra stuff like the easter eggs (I've found a weird looking fish so far) and all the funny posters / commercials. The whole thing has a Perfect Dark vibe, which isn't a bad thing at all as I like spy settings.
I have no idea what the story is about though, except that there's a hot chick who wants something from me and I'm allied with a bunch of other dudes. Maybe if I played the original I'd understand more of what's going on, but I cannot deal with graphics that old.

It's really too bad the series is cancelled; this is one of the reasons why I never approved of Episodic gaming.
 

Finguo

Member
To any fellow German gamers who are thinking about buying Sin package, beware that you won´t get the original Sin (since it´s banned here) and that Sin: Emergence is the censored version. Details on the cuts can be found at schnittberichte.com.
A working uncut patch can be obtained from the fine dede1 boards.

I´ve read there´s some way to make Steam think you are in the US or something so that you won´t get the butchered German version. But for me it was too late... :(
 

Twig

Banned
Xapati said:
It's really too bad the series is cancelled; this is one of the reasons why I never approved of Episodic gaming.
Don't see what "episodic" has to do with anything. We're insanely lucky we're getting a BG&E2. When's the last time we had a new game in the Chrono series? Sam & Max is some of the best gaming you can purchase for a mere $35 a season.

Where's the rub?
 
TheOneGuy said:
Don't see what "episodic" has to do with anything. We're insanely lucky we're getting a BG&E2. When's the last time we had a new game in the Chrono series? Sam & Max is some of the best gaming you can purchase for a mere $35 a season.

Where's the rub?
Ehm, you do know what episodic gaming is, right? Because BG&E and CT sure as hell aren't. His complaint is valid, that if the first (or first couple of) episodes aren't commercially succesful you won't get a "solution" for the series (exactly what has happened with SiN).
 

Twig

Banned
Phife Dawg said:
Ehm, you do know what episodic gaming is, right? Because BG&E and CT sure as hell aren't. His complaint is valid, that if the first (or first couple of) episodes aren't commercially succesful you won't get a "solution" for the series (exactly what has happened with SiN).
...Way to completely miss the point?

I was giving examples of non-episodic series that fell prey to the very thing SiN fell prey to. Until we got lucky with BG&E2. And they're not the only examples I can give, just two of the most prominent. And SAM is an example of a successful episodic series.

Episodic has nothing to do with whether a series is successful or not. His complaint is completely invalid, as it applies to all games, not just episodic games.
 

Mistouze

user-friendly man-cashews
Phife Dawg said:
Ehm, you do know what episodic gaming is, right? Because BG&E and CT sure as hell aren't. His complaint is valid, that if the first (or first couple of) episodes aren't commercially succesful you won't get a "solution" for the series (exactly what has happened with SiN).

Yeah but on the other hand it might be easier for a company to get funds to start the first ep of an episodic game and get it out there...
 

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
TheOneGuy said:
...Way to completely miss the point?

I was giving examples of non-episodic series that fell prey to the very thing SiN fell prey to. Until we got lucky with BG&E2. And they're not the only examples I can give, just two of the most prominent. And SAM is an example of a successful episodic series.

Episodic has nothing to do with whether a series is successful or not. His complaint is completely invalid, as it applies to all games, not just episodic games.

But at least with the original BG&E we got a 20+ hour experience. Imagine if the game was episodic? We may only have ever gotten to play around 5 hours of the whole game. Even if a second episode were given the go-ahead, if it also bombed then we'd only have roughly half of the same game.

Anyway, I bought SiN this weekend and played about 40 minutes worth of the first episode. I really enjoy the atmosphere so far. There are a few slightly spotty issues, which would have unfortunately been fixed in future episodes, but it was absolutely worth $5.
 

Twig

Banned
morningbus said:
But at least with the original BG&E we got a 20+ hour experience. Imagine if the game was episodic? We may only have ever gotten to play around 5 hours of the whole game.
Well then, shit happens? Game length is completely arbitrary, anyway. You also paid less.

Without episodic gaming, we would never have gotten another Sam and Max game. Or the Penny Arcade game. Or Ron Gilbert's currently-being-developed Deathspank game. And American McGee's Grimm games just plain wouldn't work without being episodic.

Episodic gaming allows for things to happen that likely couldn't or wouldn't happen, otherwise.
 

Stitch

Gold Member
Finguo said:
I´ve read there´s some way to make Steam think you are in the US or something so that you won´t get the butchered German version. But for me it was too late... :(


Get HideIP NG, let it change your german IP into a US one, buy uncut SIN :)
 
TheOneGuy said:
...Way to completely miss the point?

I was giving examples of non-episodic series that fell prey to the very thing SiN fell prey to. Until we got lucky with BG&E2. And they're not the only examples I can give, just two of the most prominent. And SAM is an example of a successful episodic series.

Episodic has nothing to do with whether a series is successful or not. His complaint is completely invalid, as it applies to all games, not just episodic games.
Why? Was BG&E or CT planned as a series? Did they lose funding while being in the development process? Could the developers not deliver a finished product?

No one is argueing that episodic gaming has anything to do with a series being successful or not - you're the one missing the point here (see below as well).

Mistouze said:
Yeah but on the other hand it might be easier for a company to get funds to start the first ep of an episodic game and get it out there...
That's not the point - his point was that if the first episode fails the game is doomed without a satisfactory conclusion. Think of it as a TV series where only the pilot is ever made.
 

Twig

Banned
Phife Dawg said:
Why? Was BG&E or CT planned as a series?
BG&E was, yes. A trilogy was planned. CT, no, but it's a very popular series that only got one (admittedly awesome, but sadly not nearly as popular) sequel.
No one is argueing that episodic gaming has anything to do with a series being successful or not - you're the one missing the point here (see below as well).
Oh, fuck off. I was the one MAKING the point to begin with. You can't change the point I was trying to make.
That's not the point - his point was that if the first episode fails the game is doomed without a satisfactory conclusion. Think of it as a TV series where only the pilot is ever made.
BG&E was the first episode. It failed. We got extremely lucky to have this sequel coming.

The same thing applies to BIG games where sequels are planned.

The point is that whether or not a game is episodic has absolutely nothing to do with how likely it is to fail. And it follows that whether or not a game is episodic has absolutely nothing to do with how likely it is to CONTINUE.
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
TheOneGuy said:
Episodic gaming allows for things to happen that likely couldn't or wouldn't happen, otherwise.

Actually, I think it's the change in models that allows for these games to happen. Steam, XBLA, PSN, Gametap, etc. THESE allow for things to happen that likely wouldn't. Not episodic gaming. Heck, "episodic gaming" was planned during the Dreamcast years, but the model wasn't there.

Sam and Max is the only true episodic gaming series right now anyway.
 

Twig

Banned
Kintaro said:
Actually, I think it's the change in models that allows for these games to happen. Steam, XBLA, PSN, Gametap, etc. THESE allow for things to happen that likely wouldn't. Not episodic gaming. Heck, "episodic gaming" was planned during the Dreamcast years, but the model wasn't there.

Sam and Max is the only true episodic gaming series right now anyway.
It is essentially a fact that Sam and Max would not work as it is without being episodic.

Penny Arcade appears to be episodic. It's got slightly longer episodes. (Think HBO instead of ABC.) They'll be spread out a bit more. But everything we've seen so far points to episodic.

Deathspank is reportedly episodic, but admittedly we don't really know much about it at all.

Obviously the HL2 episodes are not really episodic. Which is why I really wanted SiN to succeed as an episodic series.

Let's say that SiN Episodes wasn't episodic. Let's say they'd poured all their resources into a 15-20 hour game. That's three to four times as much gameplay, but it ALL would've been mediocre and still would've failed. Now let's say that SiN had remained episodic, butt he company hadn't been bought out and were able to keep making SiN Episodes. The next five hours would've included not only more story content but also engine and gameplay tweaks and improvements.

That's a huge advantage of being episodic. The ability to deliver more content at a slightly slower rate in order to improve the gameplay and engine bit by bit.

As a point of fact, rather than a SiN hypothetical, Sam and Max has already improved quite a bit from the first episode, both in terms of gameplay and the engine. And, hell, Sam and Max has already delivered more content in two years than most non-episodic series deliver in three years.

EDIT: D'oh. I forgot to say that I actually agree with you about the content delivery systems contributing significantly to episodic gaming. With Digital Distribution, episodic gaming would never work.
 
TheOneGuy said:
BG&E was, yes. A trilogy was planned. CT, no, but it's a very popular series that only got one (admittedly awesome, but sadly not nearly as popular) sequel.

Oh, fuck off. I was the one MAKING the point to begin with. You can't change the point I was trying to make.

BG&E was the first episode. It failed. We got extremely lucky to have this sequel coming.

The same thing applies to BIG games where sequels are planned.

The point is that whether or not a game is episodic has absolutely nothing to do with how likely it is to fail. And it follows that whether or not a game is episodic has absolutely nothing to do with how likely it is to CONTINUE.
Hm, resorting to abusive language...

It's not about the likeliness of the game or episode failing, the original point was that if the first episode fails gamers are left without a satisfactory conclusion. Now in the case of BG&E you do have a proper ending even if it was intended to be a triology. Sure you have
that spore thingy in the pig iirc
but it's not like it just ends before it even began.
 
TheOneGuy said:
|:

Okay, and this is where I stop taking you seriously. Good day!
Well I'm not a native speaker, but around here telling someone to "fuck off" is most definetly abusive language. Tell that to someone's face and you'll get a good walloping.

Anyways g'day to you too.
 

Xapati

Member
TheOneGuy said:
Don't see what "episodic" has to do with anything. We're insanely lucky we're getting a BG&E2. When's the last time we had a new game in the Chrono series? Sam & Max is some of the best gaming you can purchase for a mere $35 a season.

Where's the rub?

A 15-20 hour game experience has a story ark: it builds up the setting, the intensity increases to a climax and then there's a conclusion. Yes they may leave some plotholes and unanswered questions at the end, yet no game just builds just a setting, yet that is exactly the case in an episodic experience. As such I do not believe you're comparison is valid.
 

Twig

Banned
Phife Dawg said:
Well I'm not a native speaker, but around here telling someone to "fuck off" is most definetly abusive language. Tell that to someone's face and you'll get a good walloping.

Anyways g'day to you too.
Abusive would be me calling you a fucking moron or whatever. But that's not what I did, nor will I do it. Words is words is words. Sorry if the word "fuck" offends you, but it shouldn't and it wasn't intended to. Had I said, "Oh, shut up" the meaning wouldn't have been any different -- only the visual presentation.

Where I come from, telling someone that the point they're trying to make isn't the point they're trying to make is ridiculously annoying. Don't say such things if you don't want your so-called "abusive language".
Xapati said:
Yes they may leave some plotholes and unanswered questions at the end, yet no game just builds just a setting, yet that is exactly the case in an episodic experience.
It's completely obvious to me now that you've never played Sam and Max.

Feel free to present your opinion on episodic gaming after actually experiencing a good episodic game, but until then, your opinion is a waste of time. It'd be like me saying Sonic Heroes is representative of all platformers. It just doesn't work.

I mean, look, I'm not saying there aren't disadvantages to episodic gaming. There are plenty. However, yours is an invalid complaint, as it doesn't apply to episodic gaming anymore than it does non-episodic. It's all up to the developer. There is no set in stone formula to follow when developing any game in any format in any genre.

There are just as many advantages as there are disadvantages.
 

M3wThr33

Banned
Actually, Sin Episodes was doomed even before release. Basically their other projects folded, so they poured TONS of resources into the game, then got bought out right after release and got stuck making casual games.
 

Twig

Banned
M3wThr33 said:
Actually, Sin Episodes was doomed even before release. Basically their other projects folded, so they poured TONS of resources into the game, then got bought out right after release and got stuck making casual games.
This, too.

I remember reading about it waaaay back when the game was released. (Though I didn't play it until last year.) I always thought it was a shame. (And still do, obviously!)
 

Xapati

Member
M3wThr33 said:
Actually, Sin Episodes was doomed even before release. Basically their other projects folded, so they poured TONS of resources into the game, then got bought out right after release and got stuck making casual games.

Supposedly they made enough money to cover the expenses, but they didn't make enough to fund the second one.I feel sorry for the poor devs, I mean it's one thing to work on cool casual games like RockBand / Wii Fitt / Lips, but it's an entirely diffrent thing to have work on games like this: http://www.ritual.com/

It's completely obvious to me now that you've never played Sam and Max.

Feel free to present your opinion on episodic gaming after actually experiencing a good episodic game, but until then, your opinion is a waste of time. It'd be like me saying Sonic Heroes is representative of all platformers. It just doesn't work.
Okay let me make myself more clear: I strongely dislike the way Sin and Half Life episodes approaches episodic content and I do not believe that the discontinuation of Sin is comparible to the fact that some games don't get sequals despite that they haven't answered all questions in their respective universe? Happy?
 

Twig

Banned
Xapati said:
Okay let me make myself more clear: I strongely dislike the way Sin and Half Life episodes approaches episodic content and I do not believe that the discontinuation of Sin is comparible to the fact that some games don't get sequals despite that they haven't answered all questions in their respective universe? Happy?
Half-Life is not episodic! Not in the least. And even if it was, Valve is unique in that you KNOW they will be able to finish their series because they're so huge.

SiN's story was self-contained, as far as I can remember, but obviously was part of one overarching storyline.

Do you also object to TV shows like The Wire or Lost or Battlestar Galactica?
 

dLMN8R

Member
:lol @ BG&E being a 20-hour experience. That game took me no longer to finish than Half-Life 2 Episode 2. Maybe 7-8 hours at most.

With BG&E, I was promised a sequel by the first game because of its cliffhanger ending. Because of the fact that I paid full price for it, I was far more disappointed when I got no sequel I was promised (until recently) than I was when I heard that the next Sin episodes were canceled.
 
TheOneGuy said:
Abusive would be me calling you a fucking moron or whatever. But that's not what I did, nor will I do it. Words is words is words. Sorry if the word "fuck" offends you, but it shouldn't and it wasn't intended to. Had I said, "Oh, shut up" the meaning wouldn't have been any different -- only the visual presentation.

Where I come from, telling someone that the point they're trying to make isn't the point they're trying to make is ridiculously annoying. Don't say such things if you don't want your so-called "abusive language".
It's annoying that people miss the point of a discussion too, yet I wouldn't tell anyone to "fuck off". After all this is just a gaming message board, it's not like we discuss things of any real importance.

But it seems the abusive language thing is more of a cultural misunderstanding - it's been a while since I was last in the US and the use of language probably has changed a lot since then.
 

Twig

Banned
Phife Dawg said:
But it seems the abusive language thing is more of a cultural misunderstanding.
Hah, I doubt it. I just tend to use... colorful language more often than most people. No harm intended, that's just how I talk. D:

At any rate!
dLMN8R said:
Because of the fact that I paid full price for it, I was far more disappointed when I got no sequel I was promised (until recently) than I was when I heard that the next Sin episodes were canceled.
Hey, me too!

However, you have to admit, BG&E's quality is far above and beyond that of SiN's, so that surely contributed to your disappointment far more than the price.
 

DKo5

Respawn Entertainment
DyobolikaL. said:
Can you guys recommend a good puzzle game on steam, I already own audiosurf.

Trials 2 is a puzzle game... sorta. Regardless, I recommend it 100%.
 

Atilac

Member
Spellforce 2 is now available. any good?

One of the topics (one of two to be exact) on the steam forums is whether or not this game uses starforce. anyone know?
 
Spellforce 2 is very good. I really enjoyed that game.

Bumping this thread to let everyone know that Tilted Mill's new-and-improved "enhanced edition" of Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile is now up and available on Steam:

http://steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=app&AppId=17100&cc=US

There's also an updated demo for the game:

http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=app&AppId=17110&cc=US

Patches for existing owners will be available soon on TM's website.

I strongly urge anyone who in the past has liked games like SimCity, Caesar III, the Settlers, or any of the Anno games to check out this demo. CotN is one of the most unique (and, even before the enhanced edition changes) city-builder games ever made, a simply wonderful game that fans of the genre should at least try out.
 
I don't own a PS3 and was always interested in Everyday Shooter, so I picked it up via Steam.

The concept is awesome, and the music and graphics are absorbing, but the controls are poor. I simply cannot play a two stick shooter with arrows and WASD. Even when I hook up a 360 gamepad it feels like the game is translating the analog controls through a digital pad. I'm a huge fan of Geometry Wars, and like everything about Everday Shooter (sans controls) so I will give it another shot.
 

epmode

Member
mikekennyb said:
I don't own a PS3 and was always interested in Everyday Shooter, so I picked it up via Steam.

The concept is awesome, and the music and graphics are absorbing, but the controls are poor. I simply cannot play a two stick shooter with arrows and WASD. Even when I hook up a 360 gamepad it feels like the game is translating the analog controls through a digital pad.
This is absolutely correct. However, even the PS3 version shoots digitally via the analog pad. You just have to live with it or use the buttons to shoot (which feels a lot better to me).

The problem with the Steam port is that even the movement controls are digital, while the PS3 version has full analog movement. This will be fixed in an upcoming patch but the programmer is sure taking his time getting around to it.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
Fragamemnon said:
Spellforce 2 is very good. I really enjoyed that game.

Bumping this thread to let everyone know that Tilted Mill's new-and-improved "enhanced edition" of Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile is now up and available on Steam:

http://steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=app&AppId=17100&cc=US

There's also an updated demo for the game:

http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=app&AppId=17110&cc=US

Patches for existing owners will be available soon on TM's website.

I strongly urge anyone who in the past has liked games like SimCity, Caesar III, the Settlers, or any of the Anno games to check out this demo. CotN is one of the most unique (and, even before the enhanced edition changes) city-builder games ever made, a simply wonderful game that fans of the genre should at least try out.
god damn it.... god damn it damn it damn it damn it damn it damn it ... since installing steam it's been like a crazy leach stuck to my wallet and here you come with this..... gaarrrrrrrr...........
 

Finguo

Member
Stitch said:
Get HideIP NG, let it change your german IP into a US one, buy uncut SIN :)

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately didn´t work, though. My IP was changed but it didn´t have any influence on Steam, still couldn´t buy the Quake package for example. Same with the US version of Sin.
 
If you don't have a PS3, immediately download Everyday Shooter on Steam. I have a self professed obsession with music/game hybrids (Rez, Amplitude, Gitaroo Man etc..), and Everyday Shooter is probably the best in recent memory.

Oh and hi, almost never post here but saw this thread and I feel like telling you all what to do :D
 

Stitch

Gold Member
Finguo said:
Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately didn´t work, though. My IP was changed but it didn´t have any influence on Steam, still couldn´t buy the Quake package for example. Same with the US version of Sin.

mh did you restart steam after changing the ip? and you have to visit the steamstore with steam, not your browser.
 
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