Direct 2 drive fiasco

[lymond]

Thanks. I prefer the idea of having the physical disc but a download could be acceptable. Do you happen to know whether Gamersgate saves games in certain directories according to their own methods the way Steam does or does it simply give you the files which can be installed a la the disc? The information on the site is inconclusive. And you're right, 60 USD is steep, and that's 33% off apparently! I'll watch the price and if I see one more reasonable I might go for it.

Gamersgate versions install normally, like most DD sites that are not Steam. GG has no client. Not sure what you mean by "a la the disc" (unless you mean it comparatively). With DD, you download all the game files and install - there is no disc.


Wow! I didn't notice that was a markdown price. Not that I look for Mac games, but I could have sworn I've seen it in the $25 range. Have no clue why Mac versions are always so expensive, even for much older games.

 

[TheWilltoAct]

If I had the choice of earning my living either with Steam or with XBOX Live - simple choice. XBOX Live any day...

I'm sure the folks at Valve who run Steam could build their headquarters out of gold bars if they wanted to, but comparing them with Microsoft is counter productive. Microsoft is a gigantic company with huge profits and huge expenses. The Steam service requires a bevy of servers to continue its operations but Valve is a much smaller operation.

Spoiler :

Market share and impact
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software)
Sales figures for Steam have not been released by Valve. However, Stardock, the previous owner of competing platform Impulse, estimated that, as of 2009, Steam had a 70% share of the digital distribution market for video games.[7] In early 2011, Forbes reported that Steam sales constituted 50 to 70% of the $4 billion market for downloaded PC games and that Steam offered game producers gross margins of 70% of purchase price, compared with 30% at retail.[72] In 2011, Steam served over 780 petabytes of information, double what it had delivered in 2010.

You have a point with XBOX Live also stretching my goodwill and my limits as how far I want to go with giving controll over my rightfully purchased software to others. Btw. the max I ever spent on Live were 800 points for the DLC cases of L.A. Noire. They were so cheap I could not resist. Nevertheless with games bought for the XBOX I am still much more in controll than I am with Steam.

We do agree on this, I misunderstood your comments about the LIVE service. I bought a 360 intending to use all of its services, but it sits unused and disconnected from LIVE.
Admittedly a poor use of the system, but I actually feel much safer making digital purchases through Steam. Probably a preference thing.

 

[slengtorm]

Gamersgate versions install normally, like most DD sites that are not Steam. GG has no client. Not sure what you mean by "a la the disc" (unless you mean it comparatively). With DD, you download all the game files and install - there is no disc.

Yes, that's what it means. "A la" means "in the manner of" or "similarly to."

I'm not sure why Mac versions are so expensive, either. You guys have it so easy. Grumble, grumble....

Regardless, this is probably my best bet yet if the price comes down. Thanks again.

 

[gps]

... but comparing them with Microsoft is counter productive. Microsoft is a gigantic company with huge profits and huge expenses.

Which I only did to get a bit of perspective to your rather enthousiastic "It's either Steam - or you're completely out of modern times video gaming" comments... ; )

We do agree on this, I misunderstood your comments about the LIVE service.

: )

 

[calmon]

Sorry you can't access your game, but you can't go wrong with buying a hard copy. It will always work, unless you abuse it...
Also, I always put the game in its case if I'm not playing it. None of my PS3 games have ever touched the floor.

Well. I bought civ4 and beyond the sword when rhey came out. Both were in my shelf the last 2 years untouched. I tried to install civ4 few days ago. Civ4 works fine but the beyond the sword dvd didn't work. The dvd edges were partly sligtly black (coming from inside of the dvd) and i can also look through the dvd on other points on the edge (like glasses). Seems not the best quality!

The dvd was completly save in the box the whole time! So don't trust this original dvd stuff not that much.

 

[gps]

The dvd edges were partly sligtly black (coming from inside of the dvd) and i can also look through the dvd on other points on the edge (like glasses). Seems not the best quality!

The dvd was completly save in the box the whole time! So don't trust this original dvd stuff not that much.

German BTS stand alone release? Have to check mine as well, but I am pretty sure it must still have worked when I reinstalled on a new PC some time ago...
Could be corrosion and might happen if a double layer DVD is not glued together solidly and air gets to the data layer. To be honest I'Ve never seen anything like that even with film DVDs from the first days...
Or were they exposed to direct sunlight? Sure way to kill burnt DVDs, and might also affect factory pressed disks.

 

[calmon]

German BTS stand alone release? Have to check mine as well, but I am pretty sure it must still have worked when I reinstalled on a new PC some time ago...
Could be corrosion and might happen if a double layer DVD is not glued together solidly and air gets to the data layer. To be honest I'Ve never seen anything like that even with film DVDs from the first days...
Or were they exposed to direct sunlight? Sure way to kill burnt DVDs, and might also affect factory pressed disks.

Yes german version. Don't know what happened, it worked 2-3 years ago and it was in the original dvd box whole time.

Like said, the Civ4 dvd stands beside beyond the sword and is working (and looking) fine.