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STEAM | May 2014 - every time improve protection Steam Guard

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N

nexen

Member
rookiejet said:
Is megatexturing a distinctly perceptible thing? I'm always surprised when it's specifically brought up. In my mind, it's like, you only notice it (or you think you notice it) when someone tells you it's there. And even then. *squints very hard at some RAGE screens*
Click to expand...

Megatexture has several noticeable impacts:
1) textures will 'blur in' when they come into view. How much depends on the amount of memory the engine is using to cache textures on your machine and how the camera moves in the game. How long they stay blurry largely depends on the amount of reading from disk that is allowed per frame and how fast your disk speed is.

2) it tends to limit the maximum resolution the textures. This is more of a tradeoff of detail vs. hard drive size and load speed though. There is no technical reason that all the textures can't be ginormous, it would just be really bad in practice.

3) Gigantic game installs. Seriously. Wolf is 40gb.
 
L

Li Kao

Member
Rhaknar said:
I see. and this is actual 3, not 6?
Click to expand...

Yup, actual 3. The one without a plot and mysteriously more appreciated than 2.
Worth of note, whatever your opinion on the game might be, is that it is know to have an horrendously long final dungeon without (or too few ?) save point.

I'm basing this on hearsay, couldn't continue playing on DS, bored to death.
But hey, YMMV, so...
 
D

DunderHassan

Member
Thanks a bunch for Inescapable Ruruja!
Looking forward to play it as I love metroidvania games, really didnt expect such a small install at 2mb though :p

Lomax said:
Has anyone here gotten any achievements tracked on Playfire since the weekend? They admitted to having a problem (and blame it on Steam), but they insist it's only "a small number of users" while it really seems to be almost universal. I figure anyone not having a problem won't be posting about it, so if there's anyone who everything is still fine and dandy, could you drop into the Playfire thread and tell us what games you had tracked? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Last achievement tracked for me was May 22, played QUBE earlier today and havent received anything yet.
Playfire Thread Link for you guys who doesn't know about it.
 
R

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
BundleStars ‏@BundleStars 6m

Anyone fancy a new bundle today?
 
E

Evrain

Member
derExperte said:
Lightning deal. http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/all-deals?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=gbdp_A32RPMHMGORKKF_B003O6CB6S Only 5% claimed. Nobody gives a crap and for good reasons.
Click to expand...
I have to wholeheartedly agree. In comparison, Treyarch managed to listen to gamers' feedback and react accordingly. World at War and the two Black Ops games are much more pleasant to the eye and enjoyable multiplayer-wise.

P.S.: anybody has tips on how to get BO1 cheap? I've been salivating after it for ages, but it'sstill somewhat beyond the reach of my wallet.

nexen said:
Can't bring myself to pull the trigger. Feels like I should? I kinda like some COD games. Is this worse than COD MW2?
Click to expand...
By the love of God, don't! Get Black Ops 2 if you want a game that, albeit still being "on rails", offers decent maps and settings, certain gameplay "novelties" and an enjoyable MP experience. Ghosts is painstakingly ba, even for a modern twitch shooter. I am used to point out, for example, how most maps have excellent contrast in textures, which result in reduced eyestrain, aong with lag compensation and anti cheat measures for online games that, for once, work.

arts&crafts said:
Play cod4 its the best one!
Click to expand...
I own it and play it from time to time (God bless the internet stranger that helped me get it from GetGames by paying in dollars), nevertheless I find it to be slightly more convoluted than Black Ops. Allow me to explain: the maps are good, the modding community is marvelous, and yet challenges andclass customization seem almost tacked on, lacking the streamlining and fine balance that Black Ops reached (e.g. why do I need to complete challenges just to add a scope to my rifle?)
 
A

arts&crafts

Member
Evrain said:
I have to wholeheartedly agree. In comparison, Treyarch managed to listen to gamers' feedback and react accordingly. World at War and the two Black Ops games are much more pleasant to the eye and enjoyable multiplayer-wise.

P.S.: anybody has tips on how to get BO1 cheap? I've been salivating after it for ages, but it'sstill somewhat beyond the reach of my wallet
Click to expand...

Play cod4 its the best one!
 
A

afternoon delight

Member
I think I have over 300 games in my backlog now, it's gotten to the point where I have no choice but to sacrifice a lot of my work/social life in order to get them played. And worse still I can't stop adding to it, somebody help me.
Click to expand...
It's much more rewarding to look at the covers and screenshots amirite?
 
M

MMBosstones86

Member
SparkTR said:
I think I have over 300 games in my backlog now, it's gotten to the point where I have no choice but to sacrifice a lot of my work/social life in order to get them played. And worse still I can't stop adding to it, somebody help me.
Click to expand...

Best advice : stop giving a fuck about the backlog and play what you want. It's a lot easier that way.

Rhaknar said:
BundleStars ‏@BundleStars 6m

Anyone fancy a new bundle today?
Click to expand...

After the 2 weeks of Humble Fumble? Not really...
 
N

nexen

Member
Evrain said:
By the love of God, don't! Get Black Ops 2 if you want a game that, albeit still being "on rails", offers decent maps and settings, certain gameplay "novelties" and an enjoyable MP experience. Ghosts is painstakingly ba, even for a modern twitch shooter. I am used to point out, for example, how most maps have excellent contrast in textures, which result in reduced eyestrain, aong with lag compensation and anti cheat measures for online games that, for once, work.
Click to expand...
I don't play COD MP.
I'm only into them for the SP. I loved COD1 and 2, 3 was ok, and MW was amazing. I really hated MW2 and MW3, and was kinda 'meh' about WaW. I thought BO1 was a good ride and have been wanting to pick up BO2, but not at asking price.

I think I'll hold off on Ghosts. Activision seems to discount this one far more heavily than any other COD so maybe it will reach the golden $5 mark that MW1 and MW2 hit every now and then.
 
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.
Final Fantasy III released? Awesome.

EDIT: wow, those achievement icons. Really, Square Enix?
 
M

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
These are the COD games worth buying:

Black Ops 2
Black Ops 1

In order of priority and relative expense.
 
G

GaussTek

Member
About Final Fantasy III... I really hope S-E expectations are reasonable if they are planning to release more of the mobile games on Steam... I mean, FFIII has been released on multiple platforms before, and has sold 100.000 - 500.000 on Android alone (according to Google Play). I don't think that those who already bought it on DS/PSP/Ouya/Android/iOS/WP will buy it again, considering its high price.

Anyway, looking forward to IV and VI on PC, even if many hate the "new" visual style of that last one (the mobile "remake"). And of course, later on, XV... lol
 
H

_hekk05

Banned
Eehh. I've always liked Blops 1 better than Blops 2. Felt like some of the rifles in Blops 1 had actual weight, but the smgs were still lightweight.

Blops 2 just felt like I was running in water (also horrible server situation in SEA)
 
Dice

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
rookiejet said:
Is megatexturing a distinctly perceptible thing? I'm always surprised when it's specifically brought up. In my mind, it's like, you only notice it (or you think you notice it) when someone tells you it's there. And even then. *squints very hard at some RAGE screens*
Click to expand...
It doesn't change the quality of the textures, it changes how textures are applied to a level. Basically, instead of making a lot of little textures you either repeat or meticulously arrange around the level, you have really big textures you can drape over whole sections. The end result is that it is much, MUCH easier to create very "organic" scenes more closely fitting to the concept art.

It is technically possible to do the same thing with a UE3 or CryEngine 3 or whatever, but it takes a much higher level of coordination and effort between concept artist, texture artist, level (modeling) artist, and technical director to get everything looking good and running smoothly, so most of the time they don't go for such detailed results. I don't think it's really something you can understand from screenshots. You have to play Rage or Wolfenstein and just walk around looking at stuff. You'll definitely catch how "lived in" everything is, and then going back to other games they will feel more like manufactured toy-worlds than fantasy realms.
 
R

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
MMBosstones86 said:
Best advice : stop giving a fuck about the backlog and play what you want. It's a lot easier that way.



After the 2 weeks of Humble Fumble? Not really...
Click to expand...

speaking of, in theory there should be a regular new regular
android
humble bundle today
 
A

Authority

Banned
Edit: Just noticed this - Does Watch Dogs deliver on its stunning E3 2012 reveal?


Delaytion.

The Evil Within delayed to October

The Evil Within is no longer a summer game. Shinji Mikami and Tango Gameworks' survival horror adventure is now hitting just prior to Halloween on Oct. 21, publisher Bethesda Softworks announced today.

The game was originally scheduled for release on Aug. 26 in North America and Aug. 29 in Europe. The Evil Within is slated for simultaneous release on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

The Evil Within is being developed at Tango Gameworks, the Tokyo-based studio that Mikami founded in March 2010. Bethesda's parent company, ZeniMax Media, acquired the studio in October 2010.
Click to expand...

Credits to Polygon

I am starting to understand how this generation works for this year.

A

Leaks - No comment
Downgration - No comment
Gamers ask to confirm leaks and downgration - Silence
Media Hyperbole 2 weeks before Pre-orders are open - Company starts to comment.
Pre-order numbers not looking good - Company starts to explain.

B

Leaks - No comment
Downgration - No comment
Gamers ask to confirm leaks and downgration - Silence
Developers state "coming this summer/this fall" - Hype begins
Developers release small footage - Footage is not adequate
Developers release more small footage - Gamers are not content
Developers state delay - Hype ends

And regarding Watch Dogs

F5O09Wo.png


First one is for PC, second for PS4. My favorite reviews are from Eurogamer and Polygon. In that respect both Watch_Dogs and Titanfall fall short for different reasons. Money can "buy" hype but nothing else.

What is interesting is that The Order: 1886 and The Division were delayed for the same reason,

Speaking at a pre-E3 Sony event in Santa Monica, Ready at Dawn chief Ru Weerasuriya tells Eurogamer the decision was made so the developer could try to make sure the entire game was at a high quality level, rather than just certain sections.
Click to expand...

Quite a messy-year if you ask me and I do not think it is coincidental. I think most delays are intentional - because they are trying to get away with cross-gen bullshit in which they show surreal graphics, think they can get away with it (i.e who will notice the downgration) only to get burned by the footage they release afterwards.

That is how I interpreted it anyhow.

Lets see how the Witcher 3 will play out.
 
M

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
arts&crafts said:
More like this.

This is based on MP alone as who really plays COD for the single player? Same with BF
Click to expand...

Oh then you're list is even wronger, then.

Treyarch snatched the multiplayer crown with Black Ops 1 and then held a god damn diamond jubilee with Black Ops 2.
 
R

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
just realised my computer is now 5 years old, man time flies. it handled last gen like a champ, but ill need a new one soon for the current one (I cant run these recent games maxed out anymore), but funds are scarce atm so it seems im back in my "PC is for smaller games and mmos"
who we kidding, its my marvel heroes machine lol
rotation and ill play the "TripleA" (ugh I hate that term) stuff on PS4 (and hey, I should play fucking something on that thing), and then ill double dip on stuff like watch dogs and whatever else is coming this year in the future during a sale.

ill probably get a new rig next year (hopefully)

edit: wait people liked Blops2? we talking multiplayer here? I thought the campaign was awful with those horrible "strategy" missions, god I hated those
 
T

The_Super_Inframan

"the journey to a thousand games ends with bad rats. ~Lao Tzu" ~Gabe Newell
Reboot 4.0

http://www.bundlestars.com/all-bundles/reboot-bundle-4/

Tropico Trilogy (Includes Tropico, Tropico 2: Pirate Cove, Tropico 3: Steam Special Edition and Tropico 3: Absolute Power)
Hard Reset: Extended Edition (Includes Exile DLC)
Inquisitor Deluxe Edition (Includes 2 book PDFs, an artbook PDF plus two-hour soundtrack)
Zeno Clash 2
The First Templar
Combat Wings: Battle of Britain


1,79€
 
J

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Reboot 4.0:

- Tropico Trilogy
- Hard Reset: Extended Edition
- Combat Wings: Battle of Britain
- Inquisitor: Deluxe Edition
- Zeno Clash 2
- The First Templar

$1.99 for the first 48 hours.

Edit: Aw, beaten by milliseconds.
 
C

Cyberquake

Member
Had this around for a while...

ModBot said:
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:

Time Gentlemen Please -- MB-0B894286F3FA1587 - Taken by SeZMehK
Legends of Aethereus -- MB-0644DA67FF6375B2 - Taken by Sendou
Shattered Haven -- MB-E2CF1F36DC9C95F2 - Taken by NotSelf
Click to expand...
 
P

phantomspiker

Member
B

BinaryPork2737

Unconfirmed Member
MMBosstones86 said:
(OT)

Was away from GAF too much over the weekend. Did manage to get some exciting news though : looks like my wife and I are going to be parents in about 8 months. Not telling anyone is killing me, so this will have to do for now. It's all been pretty surreal so far.

and thus is the circle of life.
Click to expand...

Congratulations :D

Atraveller said:
I'm not familiar with the MGS franchise, why is Raiden wearing heels?
Click to expand...

He needs them for dancing.
 
M

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
MMBosstones86 said:
FTFY
Click to expand...

I mean, I get it. It's not easy to ride for Activision and Call of Duty, both entities that are often maligned as cancers to the industry.

But Black Ops 2 is probably the best arena shooter since Quake. It's easy to dismiss but there are few games that get the mobility and movement through space as correct as Black Ops 1 + 2. Add to that, with Black Ops 2, there are just so many different ways to succeed while playing.

Compare that to Ghosts, or even Modern Warfare 1 or 2, and those other entries might as well be in different genres with different brands.

Is it worth the price it is usually on sale for (usually about $29.99)? At this stage in the game where you can only really play the team deathmatch mode with regularity? That's up to you. The money I spent at launch was certainly well worth it at this stage, I can say,
 
B

Benedict

Member
This bundle on amazon seems interesting but it seems like there is some confusion if all the games are redeemable on Steam.
Somebody here knows what activates on Steam, all of them or just some?

Sega Sporty Pack


1. Jet Set Radio [Online Game Code]
2. SEGA Bass Fishing [Download]
3. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed [Download]
4. Virtua Tennis 4 [Download]

$4.89
 
D

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Because of the new Evil Within impressions, I am now officially 100% checked-in on the Evil Within train. It probably won't do well with mainstream, but sounds like it'll be really appealing to genre fans. Looks like it'll look great on PC too (outside of texture pop-ins likely from the engine).

the-evil-within-gif-1.gif
 
R

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
these are videogames

ModBot said:
Instructions for Rhaknar:
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 5 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
- This is a free for all! You can enter for multiple games on the list below. Send an individual PM for each game you'd like to win.
- 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:


Hard Reset Extended Edition -- MB-D3484277F8D39FD5 - Taken by _hekk05
The First Templar -- MB-D4DDD694C1FB8192 - Taken by topyy
Zeno Clash 2 -- MB-B9B88D785FEF58C9 - Taken by Gianni Merryman
Q.U.B.E. -- MB-784F345C63989DEE - Taken by Scipius
Inquisitor Deluxe Edition -- MB-62CD654179524FA9 - Taken by Evrain
Click to expand...
 
abracadaver

abracadaver

Member
M

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
Benedict said:
This bundle on amazon seems interesting but it seems like there is some confusion if all the games are redeemable on Steam.
Somebody here knows what activates on Steam, all of them or just some?

Sega Sporty Pack


1. Jet Set Radio [Online Game Code]
2. SEGA Bass Fishing [Download]
3. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed [Download]
4. Virtua Tennis 4 [Download]

$4.89
Click to expand...

Jet Set Radio and Sonic All Stars are both definitely Steam keys.

Bass fishing, I'm not sure. This doesn't preclude Amazon from offering a Steam key.

Virtua Tennis 4 I'm pretty sure if GFWL. This doesn't preclude Amazon from offering a Steam key.
 
A

Angel Abaddon

Member
The_Super_Inframan said:
Reboot 4.0

http://www.bundlestars.com/all-bundles/reboot-bundle-4/

Tropico Trilogy (Includes Tropico, Tropico 2: Pirate Cove, Tropico 3: Steam Special Edition and Tropico 3: Absolute Power)
Hard Reset: Extended Edition (Includes Exile DLC)
Inquisitor Deluxe Edition (Includes 2 book PDFs, an artbook PDF plus two-hour soundtrack)
Zeno Clash 2
The First Templar
Combat Wings: Battle of Britain


1,79€
Click to expand...

Thats rather nice. Already got Hard Reset, but the other games look fairly good (And then ZC2 which is supposedly awesome).

And what the hell, 2 hours to download Watch_Dogs. Definitely upgrading to fibre tonight. TO HELL WITH YOU ADSL!
 
E

Evrain

Member
morningbus said:
Jet Set Radio and Sonic All Stars are both definitely Steam keys.

Bass fishing, I'm not sure. This doesn't preclude Amazon from offering a Steam key.

Virtua Tennis 4 I'm pretty sure if GFWL. This doesn't preclude Amazon from offering a Steam key.
Click to expand...
Wasn't VT4 delisted from Steam? Also, anyone else having troubles starting downloads right now?

EDIT: nevermind, a router reboot and a few punches fixed it.
EDIT-bis: thanks for Inquisitor Rhaknar!
 
R

rookiejet

Member
nexen said:
Megatexture has several noticeable impacts:
1) textures will 'blur in' when they come into view. How much depends on the amount of memory the engine is using to cache textures on your machine and how the camera moves in the game. How long they stay blurry largely depends on the amount of reading from disk that is allowed per frame and how fast your disk speed is.

2) it tends to limit the maximum resolution the textures. This is more of a tradeoff of detail vs. hard drive size and load speed though. There is no technical reason that all the textures can't be ginormous, it would just be really bad in practice.

3) Gigantic game installs. Seriously. Wolf is 40gb.
Click to expand...

Dice said:
It doesn't change the quality of the textures, it changes how textures are applied to a level. Basically, instead of making a lot of little textures you either repeat or meticulously arrange around the level, you have really big textures you can drape over whole sections. The end result is that it is much, MUCH easier to create very "organic" scenes more closely fitting to the concept art.

It is technically possible to do the same thing with a UE3 or CryEngine 3 or whatever, but it takes a much higher level of coordination and effort between concept artist, texture artist, level (modeling) artist, and technical director to get everything looking good and running smoothly, so most of the time they don't go for such detailed results. I don't think it's really something you can understand from screenshots. You have to play Rage or Wolfenstein and just walk around looking at stuff. You'll definitely catch how "lived in" everything is, and then going back to other games they will feel more like manufactured toy-worlds than fantasy realms.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarifications. This old Beyond3D interview article also further defined the technique and its implications for me.
 
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