Age and Steam reluctancy

[isndl]

Rose tinted spectacles. The games industry has been less willing to take risks in the past couple of years with the economic downturn but the quality of games looks to be ever improving to me.

To some degree that would depend on how you define the quality of games. The visual quality has certainly increased, and there's a undeniable trend towards larger spaces to play in, but all too often there are noticeable design decisions that cater to the console market. For myself, this makes the game feel more like a poor port rather than a game intended for play on the PC.

 

[Senethro]

quality? or graphics?
graphics are improving since the beginning.
but quality? somehow I disagree.

They're so long ago you've forgotten the bad bits. Even when you play them now, you're not just playing them, you're reliving the experience of what they were at the time and smoothing over the rough edges.

which games possibly could beat the mechanics of MoM, MoO, Baldurs Gate2, Alpha Centauri

Its a good thing you said mechanics because the implementation, the AI and often the interface of these games was quite terrible. Civ4:FFH, GalCiv series are distant descendants with everything done right and I'd like to say Dragon Age, but I've not played it.

and why is that? because EA, Ubisoft and Activision destroyed the market with their paranoid fear of pirates, which made Securerom rich, but not the games they developed...

No, its the consoles taking a bite from one side and entitled pirates from the other. Piracy is quite significant enough to justify DRM attempts.

Firaxis was one of the last shining hopes on a more on more darkened gamers sky.

Whats with this statement? What does it even mean and what is it based on?

now there's only Stardock left and some other small distributors. Bethesda maybe.

but how long will they stand against an uber Valve who controlls everything, who controls even the quite enourmous civ community? not long enough I guess. and then will all publishers be forced to use the stream Gate to publish their games, and gloom will be rising on the pc market...

Both will be fine because they're selling games to different markets.

in another thread one said we should appreciate what take2 did all the years for us.
that's true (aside the fact, that my appreciation goes to Firaxis first but anyway).
but now: take2 destroyed everything, every little bit of trust they had,
with the decision to support the dark side.

Its something of a dilemma for the publisher. When they show up, people moan like hell at them. When they don't show up they still moan. So maybe they should just save the money and be like Ubisoft instead?

 

[Gelvan]

here is an interesting post from the CEO of Stardock
http://forums.stardock.com/381719/page/5/#2613468

but let me answer to your comments:

Even when you play them now, you're not just playing them, you're reliving the experience of what they were at the time and smoothing over the rough edges.

you know, actually this could be the case...^^

Its a good thing you said mechanics..

well of course, that's why I said mechanics I know sure as hell, that the UI of Civ4 is miles ahead MoM, or that Galciv's AI... exists, compared to MoO.
Although, when I read the thread about the combat system in civ5 or if I think about the SoD problematic in FFH (compared to MoM), or remember the thread in the MOO2-mod concerning the difficulty to make the same research paths, as in the original... well and so on. I suppose you know what I mean: it has more stuff in the old games, an all of that stuff made (and had) sense.
I liked Oblivion and loved Fallout3, but compared to the atmosphere of Planescape:Torment, something is missing..
I think what hooked me so much on FFH2 was the combination of atmosphere and complexity which these days hardly is to be found in computer games. (and of course the UI of Civ4 is really MUCH better than in MoM )

Firaxis was one of the last shining hopes on a more on more darkened gamers sky.

Whats with this statement? What does it even mean and what is it based on?

well, I meant that Firaxis produced Alpha Centauri ('nuff said) ; then they made something strange with civ3 (corruption and I found this strange: the graphics compared to ToT), but improved on the Civilization series as a whole with civ4 (imho... ^^). Firaxis even tried to get the rights for Alpha Centauri back (which have been stolen from EA), and so there was a short time, with high hopes that one day AC2 could came out or even MoM2.
And then, they said civ5 comes out, which is just wow! i mean who had thought of civ5 back in 1991?
so that's what I wanted to say, Firaxis was in my books always one of the shining stars in the gaming industry, that resembles on a dark sky mostly, because of so many (or more exactly: so few) overlords who decide how big a game box has to be...

Its something of a dilemma for the publisher. When they show up, people moan like hell at them. When they don't show up they still moan. So maybe they should just save the money and be like Ubisoft instead?

wait a minute, don't get me wrong. I think it's great if publishers and developers (if they have the time), show up on a forum, even their own, especially if they come to a gamer forum. with "supporting the dark side" I was refering to their support for Steam, in the form, which is is planned for civ5. I still want to find out, why they had to do it this way - and why they restrained from publishing also a stream-free key-code version.
This is so bad, that for me all the trust they have built up in all the years somehow waned.

because:

Piracy is quite significant enough to justify DRM attempts.

yes or no - I really don't know it. Also I really don't know, who I could ask, who is trustworthy and not bound by his own interests. But let's assume you are right, with this quoted sentence, even then it's a question of "how" you do DRM.
Steam and Impulse are quite similiar, but the details which are not, make impulse absolutely ok, while steam is the incarnation of evil. ^^

 

[Maniacal]

Turning 21 this Sunday, I use steam constantly and while it could have some changes it works fine.

 

[tom2050]

Piracy is quite significant enough to justify DRM attempts.

To my own demise... I actually believed Gabe of Valve when he said this, instead of the obvious common sense:

“Anecdotal evidence appears to suggest that DRM is increasing and not decreasing piracy.”

This is correct only if DRM is very bad, like Ubisoft's, 2K's SecuRom, Steam, StarForce, etc... Valve is obviously trying to put distance between themselves and DRM, even though Steam is a form of intrusive DRM that does things just much differently than others in ways that you cannot 'see as well'.

This appears to be wrong overall though... http://www.aladdin.com/SoftwarePiracyBlog/post/2009/03/Gabe-Newell-gets-it-wrong-at-DICE-on-software-DRM-and-Piracy.aspx

However, his errant remarks on the subject software DRM and software piracy reveal that he is a bit of a noob in this particular area. With the help of quotes from IGN, G4, and Techdirt, I will rebut three of his assertions.

Seems it is just more non-sense from places like Valve and Blizzard. Perhaps purposefully spreading misinformation for marketing purposes, or perhaps they talk before they know what they are talking about. Hard to keep track of what is truth and what is not from these companies.

Valve's self-description of 'Transparent' is about as transparent as the oil spill in the gulf.