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[Zeeman]

Finally grabbed the Humble Weekly and had an extra, so please enjoy:

Instructions for Zeeman:
Press the quote button to the left of this PM, select the quoted text, copy, and paste in the thread. You can remove these lines from the version you paste.

Instructions for participants:
I am giving away a Steam key. To enter this giveaway, send a PM to ModBot with any subject line. In the body, copy and paste the entire line below containing the key.

Rules for this Giveaway:
- This giveaway is a LIGHTNING raffle. The winners will be selected by random draw 15 minutes after the draw was created. Any games not claimed after that point will be given away first come first serve.
- Do not trade keys you win off-site to enrich yourself. Don't try to claim games you have no interest in collecting or playing. Don't claim games to give them to friends off-site.
- If the key is already taken you will not receive a reply. Replies may take a minute or two:


Offspring Fling -- MB-76DEF0BBDC108C46 - Taken by Vlad. 1 entrants total.

 

[atomic moth]

This might be better suited for the computer hardware thread,

but with the recent announcement of the amazon box with full Dolby support, I was looming at some sound cards and it seems like its probably around $60 for one with actual dts support?

I see cheaper ones but I don't think they have real optical cable options other than just stereo. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

 

[aku:jiki]

Well, we just happen to have opposite points of view on that regard, lol. I enjoy the interactivity it offers and it is what separates it from many other Tower Defense games. My last experience with a TD was PixelJunk Monsters and the difference is pretty abysmal.

Kingdom Rush requires a lot of strategy in order to perfect score each round. The tower and unit upgrades are fantastic and the fact that you can reset all the star upgrades according to each scenario is a much welcomed addition to the formula.

How unfortunate to read that you don't like it when I'm having a wonderful and enjoyable time with it! Different strokes for different folks.

Well, my frame of reference is different, I guess. The only TD I've sunk any real time into and that doesn't have any player interaction between build phases is Defense Grid. Everything from Sanctum TD to Orcs Must Die and Sanctum have some level of player interaction, so it's not something I can give KR any bonus points for.

In fact, I give it minus points for it because they decided to balance the entire game around spamming the "spells" and weakened the towers in order to extend the reliance on them. I would've very much preferred to see the "spells" as bonus tools for your arsenal for when your tower setup fails a little bit rather than having to spam them literally constantly. Feels like I'm barely even playing TD...

Well I decided screw it and just unlocked stuff. Since I don't have access to actually play the games on this laptop. We'll see what becomes of me.

Come on, son. That's the kind of shit that ruins it for everyone. Why you gotta be a dick like that?

 

[sheaaaa]

A bunch of spares from the Humble Weekly Sale, if anyone hasn't already got these:

Instructions for participants:
I am giving away 3 Steam keys. To enter this giveaway, send a PM to ModBot with any subject line. In the body, copy and paste the entire line below that corresponds to the key you want (if you include more than one game, you will be blocked from entering).

Rules for this Giveaway:
- If you are a lurker you are not eligible for this giveaway. You need five or more posts in either the current Steam thread or the previous one to be eligible
- Do not trade keys you win off-site to enrich yourself. Don't try to claim games you have no interest in collecting or playing. Don't claim games to give them to friends off-site.
- If the key is already taken you will not receive a reply. Replies may take a minute or two:


Offspring Fling -- MB-EC4BB438C11C92BC - Taken by Alduin
Incredipede -- MB-D52AB0B0A42A4D99 - Taken by cardinalmind
Anodyne -- MB-9303DA6A6A70BB29 - Taken by Pakkidis

 

[Knurek]

Well I decided screw it and just unlocked stuff. Since I don't have access to actually play the games on this laptop. We'll see what becomes of me.

You are aware that a PlayFire rep posts in this thread? And that using SAM is a big no-no with them.

 

[Pakkidis]

Just beat Syberia 1+2 for the first time in a few years. Really great and under appreciated point and click adventure games. You guys should really check it out if you haven;t.

 

[JaseC]

Does Jericho have any third-party DRM? This app appeared in the registry when the game was pulled:

Added store name – Clive Barker's Jericho Marketing App 2 days ago

Codemasters did the same thing with the GFWL-laden Dirt 2 and Fuel, the latter of which GamersGate more or less confirmed is in the process of being patched (those who didn't receive Fuel keys after GamersGate ran out during a sale a few months back will receive them when "Codemasters has finished updating the game"), which may suggest that Jericho is being patched, too.

Edit: Also, if you missed out on Jericho you can still buy the game from Amazon for $5.

Edit edit: Google tells me that the retail version of the game sports SecuROM but the PC Gaming Wiki makes no mention of this as far as the Steam version is concerned. The game did release on the PS360, though, so perhaps Codemasters is patching in Steamworks for achievements.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Jawmuncher
survival panic
(Today, 09:23 PM)

Gotta live dangerously

Come on, son. That's the kind of shit that ruins it for everyone. Why you gotta be a dick like that?

I just had to see for myself exactly what system is in place here. I mean all in all worst case scenario is I get blacklisted from rewards. Doubt it'll affect anyone else using the service. But if I was back home and not in Afghanistan I would have played the games for the achievements.

 

[Jawmuncher]

You are aware that a PlayFire rep posts in this thread? And that using SAM is a big no-no with them.

Looks like Karma gotta be sooner than I expected.

 

[Nabs]

I hope the Arkham City rewards go up this weekend. I've been meaning to replay the game soon.

 

[MMBosstones86]

Well I decided screw it and just unlocked stuff. Since I don't have access to actually play the games on this laptop. We'll see what becomes of me.

youarealreadydead.jpg

 

[Tizoc]

Thanks for the GOAT Simulator cash rewards Playfire!
Made $2.50, gonna aim to get a few more and all that cash is going towards Tex Murphy.
Now umm if you could credit my remaining The Cave cheevo rewards that'd be nice =P

 

[Alduin]

A bunch of spares from the Humble Weekly Sale, if anyone hasn't already got these:

Thanks sheaaaa!

 

[nampad]

I think only by changing the region settings in Windows which also changes the date format and so on. Yep, it's stupid.

Figured because Google didn't help but I hoped maybe someone knows a workaround. With it being an arte game the localization will probably be good at least.
Tried it for Playfire but not sure if I'll keep playing it. I like historical stuff so learning about the different alphabets and fonts is interesting and the music and art are atmospheric but the gameplay is pretty boring so far.
My 128GB SSD is also running into space issues.

 

[Knurek]

Not exactly video games, but there's a new Story Bundle that has some good books, including all issues of Ray Barnholt's Scroll Magazine. On of BTA books is The Final Hours of Portal 2 (Ebook and Steam Key!).

 

[Stallion Free]

I finally got all of the achievements in GRID 2.

Damn yo that's impressive. There are some really difficult ones in there that I just gave up on like the "Gone in 60 Seconds" one. Plus I was playing a friends copy so we couldn't cheese the multiplayer stuff together.

 

[Lunaniem]

Edit edit: Google tells me that the retail version of the game sports SecuROM but the PC Gaming Wiki makes no mention of this as far as the Steam version is concerned. The game did release on the PS360, though, so perhaps Codemasters is patching in Steamworks for achievements.

Would be nice for companies to add achievements to older games, I wish that happened with Bioshock when they added them to Bio2.

 

[HoosTrax]

Figured because Google didn't help but I hoped maybe someone knows a workaround. With it being an arte game the localization will probably be good at least.
Tried it for Playfire but not sure if I'll keep playing it. I like historical stuff so learning about the different alphabets and fonts is interesting and the music and art are atmospheric but the gameplay is pretty boring so far.
My 128GB SSD is also running into space issues.

You can finish it in about 2-3 hours, and the puzzles and platforming do get a bit harder in later levels.

I guess I enjoyed it, because it's so novel, and I liked the atmosphere. It's got some small bits of NightSky, Thomas Was Alone, and LIMBO stylings as well.

 

[MUnited83]

Far Cry 2 is a game where you truly get out of it what you make of it. If you want a good, traditional game, it's gonna fall flat. Treat it as an African savannah simulator where you're loaded with fun weapons and it gets a bit more fun.

Personally, I use it as a "assault convoy" simulator and its wonderful. Putting some C4s on the road, scoping the area with the sniper, wait for the convoy to arrive, and all hell breaks loose. For me it's the most fun thing in Far Cry 2

 

[Jawmuncher]

Would be nice for companies to add achievements to older games, I wish that happened with Bioshock when they added them to Bio2.

Apparently adding achievements can be a pain if it's after the fact.
I know that was the case with War of the Human tanks and why it took so long for the game to come out after it had been greenlighted.

 

[derExperte]

Figured because Google didn't help but I hoped maybe someone knows a workaround. With it being an arte game the localization will probably be good at least.

Passable at best, I noticed some spelling errors in the German texts and they generally read... clunky?

Gameplay doesn't become terribly exciting later on but you can power through the game in less than 3hrs when not going for all secrets.

 

[nampad]

When do savegames get synchronized with Steam Cloud and how do I know if a game save is synced?

You can finish it in about 2-3 hours, and the puzzles and platforming do get a bit harder in later levels.

I'll keep it on my harddrive as long as the Playfire promotion runs. Got some backlog of new games which should get played before it though.

 

[derExperte]

When do savegames get synchronized with Steam Cloud and how do I know if a game save is synced?

Everytime you quit a game. And the cloud symbol has another icon over it if something went wrong.

 

[Jawmuncher]

When do savegames get synchronized with Steam Cloud and how do I know if a game save is synced?

Saves are synced automatically when you exit the game. If you have fast internet you probably won't even notice that it was done. If you're in list view the game will go orange and say that it's syncing the save.

 

[nampad]

Thanks to both of you.

 

[Aerocrane]

Does Jericho have any third-party DRM? This app appeared in the registry when the game was pulled:



Codemasters did the same thing with the GFWL-laden Dirt 2 and Fuel, the latter of which GamersGate more or less confirmed is in the process of being patched (those who didn't receive Fuel keys after GamersGate ran out during a sale a few months back will receive them when "Codemasters has finished updating the game"), which may suggest that Jericho is being patched, too.

Edit: Also, if you missed out on Jericho you can still buy the game from Amazon for $5.

It's not really proof, but according to PC Gaming Wiki's article on the game, it doesn't have DRM on Steam. If Codemasters are really going to patch FUEL to Steamworks, I hope they manage to get the multiplayer working so you can freeroam with other people reliably. The GFWL multiplayer is prone to disconnecting randomly in my experience.

 

[_hekk05]

Instructions for participants:
I am giving away a Steam key. To enter this giveaway, send a PM to ModBot with any subject line. In the body, copy and paste the entire line below containing the key.

Rules for this Giveaway:
- If you are a lurker you are not eligible for this giveaway. You need five or more posts in either the current Steam thread or the previous one to be eligible
- This giveaway is a LIGHTNING raffle. The winners will be selected by random draw 15 minutes after the draw was created. Any games not claimed after that point will be given away first come first serve.
- Do not trade keys you win off-site to enrich yourself. Don't try to claim games you have no interest in collecting or playing. Don't claim games to give them to friends off-site.
- If the key is already taken you will not receive a reply. Replies may take a minute or two:

Shattered Haven -- MB-D768DAE7351BDBD1

mmm

 

[JaseC]

It's not really proof, but according to PC Gaming Wiki's article on the game, it doesn't have DRM on Steam.

Yeah, I edited my post again shortly after. I just took a look at Jericho's community hub and it seems many were having issues with crashes, seemingly related to the engine's reliance upon an older version of PhysX, so I'd guess Codemasters pulled the game, at least for the time being, to prevent a backlog of support requests.

 

[Nabs]

The Goat Simulator WTF is proof that TotalBiscuit has no soul. I feel for him.

 

[radMonkey]

FYI - I've added the other Goat Sim achievements that were just fixed to the Playfire Rewards.

Awesome Thanks. Now the only thing i'm wondering is if they have a system to detect SAM or not.

As others have said, definitely not advised . We do ban those that we detect using SAM. But generally speaking, if the game has an exploit for a reward, we won't do anything about that. For instance, if you change your PC's clock for a time-based achievement, that's totally fine and really up to the developer whether they're happy about it.

More info here: https://playfire.zendesk.com/entries/37809833-What-happens-to-people-who-exploit-Playfire-Rewards-

Awesome Thanks. Now the only thing i'm wondering is if they have a system to detect SAM or not.

Feel free to post suggestions on our blogs/forums, or follow me on twitter: @benbateman. Usually once a week I'll be putting together the rewards so often I ask for suggestions.

 

[Big_Al]

What is so philosophical about FC2? It's baby's first "into the heart of darkness" told in the most uninteresting, dry way you can tell it.

I'll have a stab at this, I'm not really philosophical but I can guess all I can give you is my perspective (and apologies for any waffling).

The thing I love is that FC2 is essentially about about very bad men (any of the characters you pick), doing very bad things, for other very bad men. There's not one single decent or good character in the whole game, even from the start (apart from maybe the preacher in the church). For example, and this is more of a personal connection for me. I'm from (and live in) Northern Ireland and one of the mercenaries you can choose is an ex - IRA terrorist so just because of that connection I chose that character and for me I wasn't playing a very nice person from the outset.

The thing I love is that when doing missions and you are given a choice by your 'buddy' the choice is usually even meaner/worse but rewards the player more. Essentially the game's asking the player to do worse things for more reward, ie completely self serving and this is how it goes throughout the whole game. You are doing nothing for anyone else, you don't care about anyone else and you are only doing it for the diamonds and the weapons. This ties into your chase for the Jackal who despite not being a very good person himself

Spoiler

is trying to change some of the damage he did, and reverse and do even a little bit of good. The guy you are chasing/trying to kill is the most 'honorable' (and I use that VERY loosely) in the game and even then he's despicable as well

There's also Jackal tapes you can collect which allude to this as well.

So this leads to the end where you are

Spoiler

confronted by all the other mercenaries and the Jackal tries to get you to do some good

I guess you could say the philosphical element comes from after you doing so many bad things are you willing to actually do some good ? It's not completely successful but what you find dry and uninteresting I found to be very subtle and quite intelligent. But ey, horses for courses. Fuck man I love Far Cry 2.

I appreciated it even more when I found Far Cry 3s story to be utter shit and hamfisted in the most awful sense.

'Wow DUDE, you just just killed THEM GUYS'

'LEAVE ME ALONE! I'm TRYING TO PROCESS MY EMOTIONS!' *cries*

*Tooltip:Kill one more crocodile for a bigger wallet*

 

[Nabs]

FYI - I've added the other Goat Sim achievements that were just fixed to the Playfire Rewards.

Nice!

 

[Backlogger]

FYI - I've added the other Goat Sim achievements that were just fixed to the Playfire Rewards.

One of the great things about SteamGAF are the resources for direct or insider info we have as part of the community. Thanks!

 

[derExperte]

More info here: https://playfire.zendesk.com/entries/37809833-What-happens-to-people-who-exploit-Playfire-Rewards-

Users who abuse the Rewards program will be immediately banned from Playfire, their Steam account blacklisted and reported to Valve.

The rest is fine but I'm not sure if I'm okay with the underlined, can you elaborate? Under what conditions do you involve Valve and why exactly?

 

[Jawmuncher]

As others have said, definitely not advised . We do ban those that we detect using SAM. But generally speaking, if the game has an exploit for a reward, we won't do anything about that. For instance, if you change your PC's clock for a time-based achievement, that's totally fine and really up to the developer whether they're happy about it.

More info here: https://playfire.zendesk.com/entries/37809833-What-happens-to-people-who-exploit-Playfire-Rewards-



Feel free to post suggestions on our blogs/forums, or follow me on twitter: @benbateman. Usually once a week I'll be putting together the rewards so often I ask for suggestions.

It's to late for me but thanks for the clarification.

 

[Stallion Free]

The rest is fine but I'm not sure if I'm okay with the underlined, can you elaborate? Under what conditions do you involve Valve and why exactly?

Abuse of the achievement system? Is there any legitimate, non-scummy reason for needing to use SAM to unlock achievements?

 

[aku:jiki]

The Goat Simulator WTF is proof that TotalBiscuit has no soul. I feel for him.

I've felt for a while that he cares way too much about the technical aspects of a game. He starts every WTF off on a negative note by spending 10 minutes bitching about how there's no FoV slider or whatever, only to then proceed and admit that the game actually doesn't need one and is fun anyway.

Dude needs to find the fun in gaming again.

Abuse of the achievement system? Is there any legitimate, non-scummy reason for needing to use SAM to unlock achievements?

The only one I can think of is picking up the slack when the game itself fails. Like the only way I can unlock some achievements I actually did earn in Prime World is to wipe my save and re-do the entire damn 30 hour thing again, or just use SAM. I ended up doing neither but I wouldn't blame anyone for doing specifically that.

 

[Backlogger]

Abuse of the achievement system? Is there any legitimate, non-scummy reason for needing to use SAM to unlock achievements?

Maybe only if you are trying to overcome some type of bug in the game. I have been getting "Easy" mode achievements on Hard Reset even though I am playing in "Normal" mode. I don't really care about achievements on most games so I won't bother doing anything about it, nor do I want to ever risk losing access to my Steam library, but that is the only scenario where it might seem legit.

 

[MUnited83]

Abuse of the achievement system? Is there any legitimate, non-scummy reason for needing to use SAM to unlock achievements?

Unlocking bugged achievements I guess.

 

[Knurek]

Abuse of the achievement system? Is there any legitimate, non-scummy reason for needing to use SAM to unlock achievements?

Having to play offline (or not being able to go online) and still wanting to get the cheevios?

 

[Nabs]

I've felt for a while that he cares way too much about the technical aspects of a game. He starts every WTF off on a negative note by spending 10 minutes bitching about how there's no FoV slider or whatever, only to then proceed and admit that the game actually doesn't need one and is fun anyway.

Dude needs to find the fun in gaming again.

Agreed completely. That's why I rarely take his opinions on a game seriously anymore.

I bet if I had to play as many (shitty) games, I'd probably turn into a mini-TB myself.

 

[ashecitism]

I see Valve pissed off the Dota fans again? heh

 

[Stallion Free]

Maybe only if you are trying to overcome some type of bug in the game. I have been getting "Easy" mode achievements on Hard Reset even though I am playing in "Normal" mode. I don't really care about achievements on most games so I won't bother doing anything about it, nor do I want to ever risk losing access to my Steam library, but that is the only scenario where it might seem legit.

Why do you need those Easy mode achievements though? If they matter enough to you, play the game again. If they matter so much to the people viewing your profile and your internet street cred, then set your profile to private.

Risen 2 has like 15 broken achievements. I love the game and I would love to 100% it, but I'm not going to use SAM just to fix those errors. Shit is broken or poorly designed. That is life.

 

[Cheddahz]

I am so tired of the Black Eyed Peas...it's rock and roll for people who don't like rock and roll, it's rap for people who don't like rap, it's pop for people who don't like pop

 

[Darth Kupi]

I see Valve pissed off the Dota fans again? heh

What now? We can't all be A star students...

 

[spindoctor]

I see Valve pissed off the Dota fans again? heh

What happened now?

 

[Backlogger]

Why do you need those Easy mode achievements though? If they matter enough to you, play the game again. If they matter so much to the people viewing your profile and your internet street cred, then set your profile to private.

Risen 2 has like 15 broken achievements. I love the game and I would love to 100% it, but I'm not going to use SAM just to fix those errors. Shit is broken or poorly designed. That is life.

I agree as I would never use SAM myself, but if someone used it to fix those types of errors, I won't judge. Time is a precious thing.

 

[derExperte]

Abuse of the achievement system? Is there any legitimate, non-scummy reason for needing to use SAM to unlock achievements?

As other have already said for getting a bugged achievement for example, did it in Chaos Engine. And I just don't like the whole 'don't be bad and everything will be alright' thing, there are too many cases where something unpredictable can happen without anyones fault. I get that they can't say what Playfire does exactly to detect abuse but what for example if I start a game, don't touch the controls, quit it after 10 minutes and PF thinks I used SAM to idle to get a 'first played' reward?

 

[catabarez]

FYI - I've added the other Goat Sim achievements that were just fixed to the Playfire Rewards.



As others have said, definitely not advised . We do ban those that we detect using SAM. But generally speaking, if the game has an exploit for a reward, we won't do anything about that. For instance, if you change your PC's clock for a time-based achievement, that's totally fine and really up to the developer whether they're happy about it.

More info here: https://playfire.zendesk.com/entries/37809833-What-happens-to-people-who-exploit-Playfire-Rewards-



Feel free to post suggestions on our blogs/forums, or follow me on twitter: @benbateman. Usually once a week I'll be putting together the rewards so often I ask for suggestions.

What if we already earned most of the achievements? Will we still get the rewards?

 

[ashecitism]

What now? We can't all be A star students...

What happened now?

Valve's supposed favoritism for certain workshop artists.

But from what I gather from reddit this once again boils down to Valve's lack of communication :lol