Comments on: 2K: Bioshock 2 Dates, Mafia 2 Delay

By: MD

MD — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:45:20 +0000

Fair enough, but don’t say I didn’t warn you of my own ignorance. :p

(Also I still won’t be using it!)

By: Psychopomp

Psychopomp — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:27:55 +0000

@MD

You’re thinking of a completely different browser. Shift+Tab while in-game, and click web. It’s been there for months now.

By: George Rohac

George Rohac — Thu, 28 May 2009 06:57:24 +0000

So complaining about internet purchasing systems aside – anyone else getting in on this Bioshock 2 ARG thing going down?

And if you didn’t realize its an ARG in the making, check the wall. I hastily penned a letter to 1968 and will be dropping it off tomorrow.

By: MD

MD — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:44:07 +0000

@ Blast Hardcheese, you seem to have responded to my post without actually responding to my post, picking a couple of barely relevant points and ignoring the rest. :-[

@MD Of course if you have no Steam friends you won’t find it useful. It has an IM in it, as well as a web browser.

I have quite a few Steam friends, and I’m aware of the messaging function. When I’m playing multiplayer games and want to link up with people I know, it can be useful. (Hence the ‘mildly pleasant some of the time’ comment). When I’m playing a single-player game I usually prefer to have it off, which fortunately is an option. As for the web browser, I already have a far better one for desktop use, and have no inclination to surf the internet in the middle of a game. (Also, last time I looked it was locked down to the Steam Store, Steam Community and the like, making it a ‘web browser’ in the same sense that my pocket calculator is a ‘personal computer’. But it’s quite possible that changed long ago and I simply didn’t notice.) I didn’t complain about either of those features though, or claim that Steam was useless. All I said regarding the client was that I’m personally not a fan of it, and more importantly not a fan of being forced to use it.

And the end of your dial up days were… recently? Honestly Steam isn’t gonna matter so much if you’re trying to play any somewhat modern multiplayer game on dial up. Because it doesn’t happen.

The end of my dialup days came a few years ago, and I’m not sure why you’re picking that out for a response. The reference to dialup came with me saying “That said, I haven’t HATED Steam since the end of my dialup days,” and going on to acknowledge that Steam isn’t all bad/completely unjustified.

I never said Steam was the end of the world, I was just answering the question ‘why do people not like it?’ It’s fine that you DO like it, but if you want to argue the toss with me (which is probably fairly pointless other than to point out factual errors or features I’m unaware of, but sadly I’m always up for a pointless internet discussion/argument) then at least respond to the complaints I actually made.

By: Sparvy

Sparvy — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:32:25 +0000

The browser is there so that you can browse the internet with the steam overlay without tabbing, I doubt anyone would use it as their standard browser.
Steam prices are of course controlled by publishers, not steam. Thats also why the prices often are just as high as retail even though you arguably get less, publisher dont want to piss off retailers. There are very often sales too so to call the prices high is a bit ludicruos.
Server issues? Not sure what you mean here, you could mean game servers which have very little to do with steam. The only steam related “server issue” you can have for an allready installed game would be stat tracking or possibly being unable to login, which I cant remember happening to me since counter strike 1.6, so I cant see how this is really a problem.
And my download speed rarely go below 1MB/sec.

Its possible I’ve just been lucky for the last 6 years or whatever, but I have never seen any of the usually mentioned problems with steam in reality. Probably the only exception is offline mode which does suck, though I cant think of scenario where I would use it anyway.

By: Aubrey

Aubrey — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:26:03 +0000

That bioshock 2 date is actually a bit close for comfort. We’ve only just seen footage. Surely it needs more than 6 months?

By: Psychopomp

Psychopomp — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:22:14 +0000

@nikos

*Then don’t use the browser.*

Now, I don’t know what it is, there may be a server a few blocks down or something, but I *always* get max speed on my downloads >_>

As far as pricing goes, the complaint that something costs as much on Steam as it does in a box is ludicrous. Sure, that sort of pricing makes zero sense, but to rail against something because you have to pay the *same* prices is silly.

By: ZIGS

ZIGS — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:32:04 +0000

They better not fuck up Borderlands. I want it to be “Hellgate: London: the version that works like it was supposed to”

By: nikos

nikos — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:05:37 +0000

Re steam: a 15sec delay added to game startup (with a modest PC and a slow but consistent network connection) is annoying. Also, the patching that happens automatically, blocking you from starting up until it’s finished (I don’t run the steam client all the time). Also, the botched downloading – sometimes I have to pause/unpause the downloads to work. Oh, and the browser – why oh why implement yet another browser? Is my browser not good enough? Do you want your own, enhanced set of security holes? I bet they are not as quick to update their browser’s vulnerabilities as fast as browser vendors are.

That said, I like steam :)

By: iincompetent

iincompetent — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:42:15 +0000

For Borderlands’ sake I hope “fourth quarter” relates to their fiscal year (which ends in October). I’m looking forward to this one and I’d hate to see it get overlooked like Dead Space last year.

Infact, I’m secretely hoping they actually meant “Winter” so that it doesn’t get shoved out the door before it’s cooked in order to avoid the Bioshock 2/Modern Warfare 2 brouhaha.

Sounds like the game has scope, they should keep working on it til february and allow the open-world-awesome-sauce to simmer. (Unlike some other open world game due to release soon, whisperings on the wind tell me that peeps forgot to add “corners” and “handling” to a racing game).

By: icedon

icedon — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:33:21 +0000

Max Payne 3 not for the PC? On the Website it says: XBox360 & PS3. Any Info on it?

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:21:08 +0000

@dsmart
Has anyone ever mentioned that you look kinda like Sean Connery in that picture?

More on topic though, why does the store suck in your opinion? I’ve always found it to be very easy to find what I need with very little effort. It is also really quick to go from purchase to play, no problem with that either on my end. On prices, I think it has more to do with finding the right deals at the right time using any of these services. I’ve never really found that any one of these services always has the best prices all the time. Nor have I found that any one of these services always has the worst prices.

Most people like the community aspect because it is more fun to play games with friends, not snoop on other people’s purchasing and gaming habits :)