What Game Are You Currently Playing?

[Thanatos 2,847]

Because I am not spending $20 nor $60. I went in expecting to spend nothing and Steam isn't going to trick me like it does all of it's other moron consumers into think there is real savings going on.

 

Um. What.

 

There are $40 of savings going on, lol. And why did you go in expecting to spend nothing?

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Because it's Steam, and I refuse to contribute to their shenanigans. I would rather spend extra to own a game rather than save money to rent games. I stopped going to Blockbuster years ago, no reason to use an online service identical to them.

[funnygunny 521]

playing akrham origins

 

probably my favorite out of the arkham series. amazing storyline, game mechanics have been improved alot from city, combat is more rewarding because its a bit more difficult, so fun. and the graphics are amazing, its as if they pre-rendered the entire environment, like playing a movie

[Zack_of_Steel+ 3,014]

Still playing a lot of Rift.

 

 

Just played three matches of DOTA with my brother and cousin. Actually had a lot of fun this time (second time playing it).

[Thanatos 2,847]

Because it's Steam, and I refuse to contribute to their shenanigans. I would rather spend extra to own a game rather than save money to rent games. I stopped going to Blockbuster years ago, no reason to use an online service identical to them.

 

 

Steam and Blockbuster are only the same if Blockbuster lets you keep your "rented" movies indefinitely and keep as many of them as you want at the same time.

 

I just hope you don't buy any games that have online activation at all, since that's the only thing Steam requires as well.

 

You still didn't explain how they were using the same tactics as fast food restaurants to get you to spend more.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Thanatos19

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

You've clearly never ready your privacy policy and/or terms of service / subscriber policy or whatever the hell they call it. Pretty scary, but at least they are very up front with how horrible they are.

 

It's a pretty basic concept. You can get a Whopper for $5 by itself, or you can upgrade to a medium or whatever for $7. You don't want to spend $7, but the structure of the menu dictates that you may as well give that extra $2 because it appears you are getting a better deal or more bang for your buck. Which in reality, isn't necessarily the case being that they set it up to lure you into that $7 purchase from the beginning.

[Thanatos 2,847]

Except... you are getting more bang for your buck, lol.

 

In this case, $20 for all the DLC at once, or $60 for each one individually. If you just wanted one DLC, then sure, just buy the one DLC. I really don't see what your problem is here. How dare they... make money by giving good sales to people? I'm not a "moron consumer" because I knew beforehand I was going to get all the BL2 DLC, because Borderlands DLC is DLC done right, and thus waited for a good sale and grabbed it when it came up. It's called being a smart consumer, actually. You tend to talk down to people who disagree with your position on something, and its rather irritating.

 

I actually have read the agreement, (I do believe its the only one I have ever read in its entirety), and like I said, its only the same if Blockbuster allowed to keep as many movies as you wanted to for as long as you wanted to. Clearly, you have not read the agreement if you think that is a good analogy to make.

 

Sure, if you want to get very technical, I don't own the game, but I am more than confident that Steam isn't going to suddenly rip my library away from me, given the backlash this would cause among the consumers. This isn't even mentioning certain games that I love playing that I am forced to use Steam for, such as Hawken.

 

If you've played Assassin's Creed, its the same thing with Ubisoft's client, Uplay. If you've played Dark Souls or the Arkham series, (at least the first two games), Games for Windows Live- may the creator of that piece of shit burn in hell, Amen- also contains roughly the same terms.

 

What you are doing is the same thing that certain people do when they try to boycott some major company because of a grievance against them. They're simply too big.

 

If your principled stand is truly against any and all sorts of license agreements that do not result in you having complete and total ownership of the game, you are a) not going to be able to play many titles, and b) going to be playing less and less titles moving forward.

 

I understand where you are coming from, but the fact of the matter is that with people constantly pirating games, this is an acceptable compromise in most people's eyes.

 

When you have games from smallish development studios, (not so small anymore), such as the Witcher 2 from CDPR and people pirate the game at a rate of 4 to 1 compared to purchases, this is what a lot of companies have to do. Especially the really small indie ones. When people quit stealing games, maybe we can-- nope can't finish that sentence with a straight face. Never gonna happen. Besides, Steam is too big anyway, even if there was a sudden reversal of morality as regards pirating.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Thanatos19

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Blockbuster pushed a service very close to that of Netflix before they closed. They had the same campaign quite a long time ago, but it wasn't the real deal and they ended up settling in court. But before they closed, there were no late fees and you could keep it as long as you please. I am not sure where your antiquated knowledge of the store comes from, but it is clearly misguided and incorrect.

 

Furthermore, Blockbuster had borrowed a lot of their models from... McDonalds. No coincidence, I assure you.

The point isn't whether it will or will not happen. The point is... you own nothing. They have the power to pull everything you ever bought on there. Everything. Will it happen or not is a different debate, one I assume you would rather talk about. But that will have to be something you pursue on your own, as it isn't why I brought it up to begin with.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/12/30/steam-removes-game-order-of-war-challenge-from-user-libraries/

 

As I just said above.. You could very easily argue that Steam may never do this. And I would tend to slightly lean towards your argument because it will probably be rare for them to take any titles completely away from consumers -- especially those of the blockbuster titles.

But again, that isn't the focus here. They have that power and authority -- given to them by you. Guess what... 3rd party middle man software giants aren't coming into my house and taking my video game collection away... Why? Because I own it. It's my property.

 

The fact that you were very confused prior to me actually telling you to go read the ToS and Privacy policies is unbecoming. I am not going to make assumptions, but you most certainly did a very good job of playing dumb and pretending like you hadn't read it before. Regardless of which was the case -- I am glad you have read it now. Not that it will change your mind -- but at least you are aware of the chaos that Steam is looking to rain down upon the industry.

 

Uplay passes are gone. Windows Live is shit, but nothing more than a response to the monopoly Steam has exerted onto the industry. Doesn't make it right -- mind you.

Excusing the practices of Steam and other like-minded companies and software by blaming Piracy is ridiculous. Hiding behind that facade is nothing but a sorry excuse gamers and Steam themselves use to convince themselves what they are doing is the right thing.

It isn't.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/01/12/minecraft-creator-notch-tells-players-to-pirate-his-game/

 

Somebody who understands the industry. Somebody who understands what it means to be a gamer, a developer, a creator of these things.

[Thanatos 2,847]

I wasn't confused and still am not confused. I don't get where you think I am confused, unless your definition is simply, "He doesn't agree with me and therefore must be confused." Your analogy is crap. There's nothing confusing here except your insistence on jamming a square peg into a round hole.

 

Netflix and the Blockbuster online are different business models- a pay a certain fee every month and have access to whatever movies you want to access. I am not forced to pay anything for Steam. If your analogy was accurate, I'd be paying a monthly fee to Steam in order to access whatever games I wanted, and I would lose that access once I ceased paying that monthly fee.

 

The developer your article quotes doesn't get it. At all. The article even hints at it, in a roundabout way:

 

It’d be a bold statement coming from a struggling developer barely making his costs, but the indie darling doesn’t exactly have financial troubles, with over 4 million copies sold worldwide

 

He also attempts to redefine theft in a way that would make all intellectual property that does not have a physical counterpart- music, pictures copied off the web, games, etc.- public domain, which is utterly ridiculous. People put money and time into making these things, and it is indeed stealing, regardless of how people justify their theft.

 

I'm not saying that Steam is "right." In a perfect world, something like Steam would not exist. I am saying that given the fact that people treat games as public domain and convince themselves that pirating is not stealing, or just flat out don't care that it is stealing, you are going to have very few developers who won't do what is necessary to prevent their product from being stolen.

 

3rd party middle man giants aren't coming into my room and taking away my video game library either, because this is the real world, not an Orwellian novel.

 

I'm just curious here, but you have, I believe, talked about AC before. I bought 3 of the games as hard copies and all of them required steam activation, (on top of uplay activation as well).

 

Same with Skyrim, I have a hard copy of Skyrim, but it required Steam activation. Are you okay with that? Or would that also be something you wouldn't buy?

 

Edit: Your article about Steam removing a game from user's libraries is a false one. What happened is this: Square Enix dropped the servers for the game, so the multiplayer portion was no longer available and was subsequentially removed due to the inability to continue playing it- much like any other multiplayer game may have the servers taken down once the cost to keep them online becomes prohibitive. However, the singleplayer portion of the game remains available to purchase and was never removed from user libraries.

Edited February 15, 2014 by Thanatos19

[SteelersNation36 128]

Thank god Ubisoft has decided to do away with Uplay.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

I wasn't confused and still am not confused. I don't get where you think I am confused, unless your definition is simply, "He doesn't agree with me and therefore must be confused." Your analogy is crap. There's nothing confusing here except your insistence on jamming a square peg into a round hole.

 

Netflix and the Blockbuster online are different business models- a pay a certain fee every month and have access to whatever movies you want to access. I am not forced to pay anything for Steam. If your analogy was accurate, I'd be paying a monthly fee to Steam in order to access whatever games I wanted, and I would lose that access once I ceased paying that monthly fee.

 

The developer your article quotes doesn't get it. At all. The article even hints at it, in a roundabout way:

 

It’d be a bold statement coming from a struggling developer barely making his costs, but the indie darling doesn’t exactly have financial troubles, with over 4 million copies sold worldwide

 

He also attempts to redefine theft in a way that would make all intellectual property that does not have a physical counterpart- music, pictures copied off the web, games, etc.- public domain, which is utterly ridiculous. People put money and time into making these things, and it is indeed stealing, regardless of how people justify their theft.

 

I'm not saying that Steam is "right." In a perfect world, something like Steam would not exist. I am saying that given the fact that people treat games as public domain and convince themselves that pirating is not stealing, or just flat out don't care that it is stealing, you are going to have very few developers who won't do what is necessary to prevent their product from being stolen.

 

3rd party middle man giants aren't coming into my room and taking away my video game library either, because this is the real world, not an Orwellian novel.

 

I'm just curious here, but you have, I believe, talked about AC before. I bought 3 of the games as hard copies and all of them required steam activation, (on top of uplay activation as well).

 

Same with Skyrim, I have a hard copy of Skyrim, but it required Steam activation. Are you okay with that? Or would that also be something you wouldn't buy?

 

Edit: Your article about Steam removing a game from user's libraries is a false one. What happened is this: Square Enix dropped the servers for the game, so the multiplayer portion was no longer available and was subsequentially removed due to the inability to continue playing it- much like any other multiplayer game may have the servers taken down once the cost to keep them online because prohibitive. However, the singleplayer portion of the game remains available to purchase and was never removed from user libraries.

Except you already agreed with me. You don't own your own games. That was the only point I was making. And one you conceded to.

 

I've wanted to buy Skyrim on PC, as it is a pretty bad port, admittedly. One of the few games I actually desire to play on PC... Then you see Steamworks has distribution on PC and vomit spews forth. I haven't bought it. There is literally no reason to require steam to play a game. I mean.. If I bought a physical copy of it, I couldn't even play it unless I subjected myself to the despicable acts of Steam. How dumb is that? Very.

 

I am not sure you get the Minecraft reference at all. Minecraft started just like any of those other small, insignificant, indie games did. Notch supported people just spreading the word about his game, even through piracy.. because he knows that eventually that one person who pirated is going to effect others decisions into actually buying the game legit. His opinion has not changed from the time Minecraft was a small indie game with no chance of making it to international sensation. Plus, there are tons of huge non-indie titles that require Steam to operate anyway. So,.. Either way.

 

I realize it isn't for everyone to be weary of the evil empire. Most people are like you..." Well, they are evil, but I am going to put up with it because I get good rental deals on these games I want to play ". And hey, that's cool. At least you are aware of your contributions to the eventual demise of an already inferior gaming community.

 

That's your business. Your rent money.

 

I just don't like the idea of being patiently content to take their crap -- much like the federal government. I am not going to stop detesting the injustices set forth upon us just in the sake of convenience. Not something I do, nor will it be. I can merely spread the word. Lead the horse to water... Whether you drink or not is of your own accord.

[Thanatos 2,847]

I think you're being incredibly naive and making this out to be something it isn't, talking as if this is the demise of gaming, etc. Steam's been out awhile, bro.

 

Not to mention, asking quite a bit of gamers, basically saying you can't buy any game for the PC that is only distributed via Steam. I think half of my library falls into the category of "you can't play this if you don't have Steam," and most of those are really good titles, such as Skyrim.

 

It's not like there's going to be enough people stop using Steam to force gaming companies to do something else. So you're essentially asking people to "hurt" themselves indefinitely... for no reason at all.

 

 

Just seems like you are taking a stand just for the sake of taking a stand.

 

We shall have to agree to disagree here. This battle ain't worth fighting to me.

Edited February 11, 2014 by Thanatos19

[RazorStar 4,025]

Racked up a few hours on Xenoblade, and I've got 6 party members now. I'm changing them as I go around, but Dunban, Riki and Shulk seems to be the best damage dealing party for me at the moment.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Lightning Returns!

Probably going to be horrible, but I shall refrain from early judgement.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

[funnygunny 521]

TITANFALL

 

IT IS AMAZING. BEST VALENTINE'S DAY EVER

[SteelersNation36 128]

I got a Titanfall beta key this morning.

[funnygunny 521]

hit the level cap on titanfall for the beta

 

so good, hurry up march 13th pls

[Thanatos 2,847]

Um. What.

 

Titanfall's max resolution on PC is 7680x1440.

 

That is not a misprint.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Been watching streams of it and wow... Definitely a huge step forward for the FPS genre. It has so many more complexities than you would imagine. Gonna be amazing. Might just get me to buy an Xbox One.

[GA_Eagle 595]

Way behind the times but I finally got a 360 and I'm playing Fallout 3. It's pretty awesome.

[Thanatos 2,847]

GA, you should get New Vegas as well, though personally I think any of Bethesda's games are infinitely better on the PC. We have the modding community here that fixes a ton of bugs and makes the game look a hell of a lot better.

Edited February 15, 2014 by Thanatos19

[GA_Eagle 595]

Got new Vegas but haven't started it yet. I get distracted too easily to test out other games before getting engrossed in this one. I just bought the 360 and then bought 10 games from my buddy so I wouldn't be lacking in things to play.

 

My PC was not designed for gaming or I would have gone that route a while ago. It can't support most newer games and I'm not knowledgeable enough to upgrade a laptop and I'm too cheap to have someone else do it.

Edited February 15, 2014 by GA_Eagle

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

You just bought a 360? Oh... Go buy all your games for PC. Great suggestion.

What else did you get, if you don't mind me asking? 360 has so many great titles and even more coming out. I don't think you will regret it.

[GA_Eagle 595]

Skyrim and oblivion (oblivion shows it's age a little haven't tried Skyrim)

The fallouts I mentioned and an expansion for 3.

A couple of kiddie-ish games for kinect that my son can plAy and some guitar hero games.

Edited February 16, 2014 by GA_Eagle