By Alec Meer on February 29th, 2012 at 10:32 pm.
It’s late o’clock in Britainland, so forgive this being a shortie of a post but… well, as the headline says, really. The lovely Rayman Origins, which made all the right people cheer over on console, is due on PC on March 29, but a demo unexpectedly arrived earlier today. Go get (the demo link is over on the right of the page that links to), and hopefully understand why John and I are absolutely delighted to see this mega-cheerful, visually inventive platformer find its way to PC.
Right, GOODNIGHT.
Thanks, Drew C.
29/02/2012 at 22:38 ad_hominem says:
Steam thoughtfully seems to have added it to my library and downloaded it without my input, so that’s handy.
29/02/2012 at 22:43 Unaco says:
Yeah. Wonder how much Ubisoft paid them for that? Doesn’t actually work though… It informs me it needs to convert the game content to a different format, which needs time and a Net connection. Then fails because I have no subscription.
Edit: Can’t install it from the link, or the Store page, or remove it from my game list. Doesn’t appear to have actually downloaded anything though.
29/02/2012 at 22:44 LTK says:
Yeah, not doing anything for me either.
29/02/2012 at 22:45 TCM says:
Glitches: The new conspiracy
29/02/2012 at 22:45 Vandelay says:
Yeah, doesn’t actually seem to be that helpful, as it is now downloading a whole load of stuff and not letting me do anything with Steam whilst it is doing it.
Edit: Okay, think Steam must have crashed after the download was complete. Crashing out of it and restarting seems to have worked, as it is now doing the usual DirectX install, rather than strange reconfiguring files .
29/02/2012 at 22:49 Icarus says:
Yeah, same issue here. For feck’s sake, Ubi.
Edit: Restarting Steam seems to work, the files are downloading now.
29/02/2012 at 22:55 Winged Nazgul says:
Link doesn’t work from Steam app but does from website. YMMV.
29/02/2012 at 22:56 Aemony says:
Works for me. I double-clicked on the entry in my library, clicked OK regarding the conversion and suddenly a 750 MB download began in the client.
Installing the demo from the store proved unsuccessful, however.
29/02/2012 at 23:13 Suits says:
Restarting steam i guess, I want to play it so bad :D
-
Okay so, I couldn’t download it by using toe ‘download demo’ button. But by clicking ‘play’ as it’s already in my library, then it converts files and validates them (which involves downloading everything for the first time)
29/02/2012 at 23:14 Bhazor says:
“Vandelay says:
02/29/2012 at 22:45
Yeah, doesn’t actually seem to be that helpful, as it is now downloading a whole load of stuff and not letting me do anything with Steam whilst it is doing it.”
Hate it when Steam does that. Especially when it insists on redownloading whole games whenever I start up Steam.
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01/03/2012 at 02:29 Chizu says:
I can’t download it, its in my games list by won’t start and I can’t delete it, I’ve restarted steam, theres a whole lot of nuffin going on.
edit: okay now its finally downloading something…
01/03/2012 at 03:29 Metalhead9806 says:
Ehhh I only buy Ubi games when they go on a soul crushing sale. They don’t deserve full purchase money for annoying paying customers with DRM.
01/03/2012 at 04:12 SCdF says:
And here I thought I must have drunk downloaded it..
01/03/2012 at 05:55 Dorque says:
Yeah, I’m really, REALLY not amused by them adding it to my library automatically. Things need to be advertised to be played, I get that, but my library should be limited to the games I add to it.
01/03/2012 at 07:48 LionsPhil says:
The really hateful one is free weekenders that vanish from your library again without sticking around to be Delete Local Content’d.
Yes, I know they get Add/Remove Programs entries. Now.
01/03/2012 at 10:09 Khemm says:
@Unaco
Right, it obviously must be that evil Ubisoft, not Valve fucking something up…
According to a Valve employee on Steam forums, it’s a bug. Yes, Steam has bugs, imagine that, it’s not perfect and there’s no “Ubi paid them!!!!” conspiracy.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=29525378&postcount=23
01/03/2012 at 10:23 Unaco says:
Haha… It worked. Thanks for being so predictable Khemm.
01/03/2012 at 10:49 Khemm says:
@Unaco
My pleasure.
I mean, you aren’t the only one. The Ubisoft hate is so ridiculous people are already blaming that company for the demo appearing on their games lists. I don’t know what to say. That’s Internet for you, I guess.
04/03/2012 at 02:17 Aradalf says:
@Khemm
While I generally never agree with your pro-Ubisoft comments, this time I find it amusing that people are blaming Ubisoft for it having been added automatically to our libraries. Way to jump to conclusions, people.
29/02/2012 at 22:42 _PixelNinja says:
What I’d really like to know is what DRM (Tages?) and account connexion (UPlay?) will the game require on Steam. But I can find much information…
29/02/2012 at 23:07 djbriandamage says:
Yep, despite the incredible things I’ve heard about this underappreciated gem there is absolutely no way I will put my faith in an Ubisoft game by preordering it. I’ll wait for 50 people to confirm that the DRM is either nonexistent or reasonable and then I’ll consider buying it.
29/02/2012 at 23:08 TCM says:
Or you could get one of the console versions on the cheap, assuming you own a console (and really you should, if only because, shocking as it may be, the PC doesn’t have all the good games)
01/03/2012 at 01:05 MSJ says:
Last I heard the PC version will be DRM-free, but only if you buy retail. If you buy it from Ubisoft, there will be a first-time activation, might be the same for Steam (other than the Steam DRM of course).
01/03/2012 at 01:41 Urthman says:
the PC doesn’t have all the good games
But it does have far more great games than I’ll ever have time to play, so buying a console would be pretty pointless.
01/03/2012 at 01:44 Sarlix says:
PC has the ultimate backlog. Ultimate
01/03/2012 at 07:42 Gnoupi says:
Well, there is nothing on the Steam page about third-party DRM (and the demo exe doesn’t come with any protection, which is surprising).
But it might be only on Steam. See the Gamersgate page, for example, lists TAGES as DRM: http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DD-RMO/rayman-origins
So I guess that the Steam version will not have another layer of DRM over Steam, but others are protected with TAGES. Which is most annoying if I want to have the game without TAGES, but at 2/3 of the Steam price. (20 gbp on Gamersgate which are roughly equal to 20 euros with the lifetime IGN discount, versus 30 euros on Steam).
01/03/2012 at 15:50 _PixelNinja says:
If the game does not have any intrusive DRM nor UPlay I will be getting this and sending a little message to Ubisoft telling them that they need to continue on this path. This will be the first Ubisoft game I have bought in years.
29/02/2012 at 22:51 MistyMike says:
Rayman: Origins? Does this mean the game is set in a dark fantasy world, where everybody is racist towards people with blonde fringes? And that people often have prolonged conversations while thoroughly splattered with blood?
29/02/2012 at 22:56 Dominic White says:
Rayman is kind of a slap-happy lazy jerk and uses his propeller-hair to blow up fairies skirts.
It’s so French, it’s perfect.
01/03/2012 at 01:08 MSJ says:
I can confirm for a fact that there will be several large-breasted, scantily-clad cartoon ladies in this game. Just look for “rayman origin nypmhs” on the interwebs.
01/03/2012 at 10:05 Khemm says:
THIS IS THE NEW SHIT
01/03/2012 at 15:00 Dominic White says:
Before anyone starts to worry, there’s nothing in the game that wouldn’t be out of place in a French saturday morning cartoon. Maybe not an American one, but the idea of women having boobs seems to scare them.
29/02/2012 at 22:53 Forgoroe says:
Can’t wait for it to come out
29/02/2012 at 23:07 EhsanKia says:
Does anyone know if the demo has coop in it?
01/03/2012 at 08:54 Gnoupi says:
It doesn’t.
02/03/2012 at 09:38 yandexx says:
In fact if you hit a button that is mapped for a different player, that player will show on the map. So I believe the coop is included. Didn’t have anyone around to try it though.
29/02/2012 at 23:08 Kinch says:
Fair warning, this game is really really difficult at later levels. Some treasure chest chases are infuriatingly challenging. Still a great game though, lots of fun.
Oh, and it has absolutely brilliant music!
01/03/2012 at 07:47 siegarettes says:
I can indeed confirm this. However, playing with at least one other person makes the game more manageable, but in doing so adds the challenge of resisting the urge to smack each other into death pits.
Oh, and if you are going to get all the electoons, good luck buddy.
And those treasure chest levels…thats some abuse I haven’t seen since my last foray into Super Meat Boy.
01/03/2012 at 09:21 Milky1985 says:
The install process for this was screwed up so homefully they get that sorted.
Click on download demo in the steam store, nothing happens (BAD UI design, always show something happening), then you go to library it says its installed, hit play then it downloads.
And it doesn’t background downoad you can’t use steam while it downloads.
Then it seemed to downlaod but the screen never left (and i couldn’t click on “cancel” because it was a classic steam fake cancel button), so quit steam, open up and thn it finally let me hit play.
Then the main menu had no music , other than that its great, actually better and crisper than on the ps3 for me, might be cause i sit closer to the screen.
01/03/2012 at 10:48 Milky1985 says:
Oh also yes to the music, as soon as read “rayman origins” the music that plays during the chest chase sequences started playing in my head (love those levels, best of the lot)
Example – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmc-IncccwI
01/03/2012 at 11:54 LennyLeonardo says:
This game made my thumbs hurt., I had to force myself to take a break for a few days. Then I unlocked the Land of the Livid Dead. God…
Ahem. One of the best games of last year. It’s loverly
29/02/2012 at 23:22 hap says:
Never played the console version but I’ve been waiting for months to get this game. No demo required!
29/02/2012 at 23:26 Vandelay says:
Played the first two levels and loved what I have seen so far. Think I will definitely be putting a purchase in for this, just for the look alone, even if it didn’t play that good. Screenshots really do not do this justice.
Only complaint so far is that it hasn’t picked up my pad and I’m left playing it with the keyboard. I imagine it will only work with 360 pad. Having said that, didn’t really have any problems playing it on the keyboard.
01/03/2012 at 14:57 Potentaint says:
I had seen some screenshots and videos of this game, but I also had no idea how beautiful the game was until I actually played it. I can’t even be mad at Steam for sticking this in my library and making the download process all fucked up, I probably wouldn’t have played it otherwise.
29/02/2012 at 23:28 liquidsoap89 says:
Can’t say I’m too comfortable logging on to steam to see a new game just sitting in my library…
29/02/2012 at 23:33 ResonanceCascade says:
Eh, I played the demo on my Vita and it was fun enough…until I played Mutant Blobs Attack, which kind of blew it out of the water.
29/02/2012 at 23:50 Dominic White says:
Really? This Gish clone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXfGiBVjeG8
01/03/2012 at 00:24 ResonanceCascade says:
That would be the one. Gold star for you!
01/03/2012 at 07:53 siegarettes says:
I always feel uncomfortable with these games that are obviously riffing on other indie’s work. For example, there are some games on PSP and iOS that are totally made from Deathworm and Hammerfight, which I would love to have on a portable system. On the other hand, they are profiting off another authors work, and likely passing off the games as their own and not giving a cent of cash, or any credit to the original authors.
Sure, that’s how the industry works, and has worked forever. Its makes me a bit more queasy however, since I’m more aware of the originals.
29/02/2012 at 23:56 LTK says:
Okay, these controls hardly make any sense and whoever bound ‘Space’ to the action that says ‘Enter’ should be smacked upside the head, but goddang it, this game has enough funloving spirit and personality to power an entire planet of amusement parks. I’d have a spanking good time just watching this being played.
01/03/2012 at 00:01 foda500orama says:
Glorious.
01/03/2012 at 00:21 Icarus says:
I should really be in bed but THIS GAME IS BEAUTIFUL.
Edit: Wilhelm scream ftw
01/03/2012 at 07:55 siegarettes says:
Every time I play this game on the console toy with my brothers I make a comment on how great the game is and how good it looks. EVERY TIME. Without fail.
01/03/2012 at 22:48 Guvornator says:
It is absolutely gorgeous. And wonderful. And FUN!!! It genuinely bought a tear to my eye with it’s sheer lovability – I think there was a mixture nostalgia for old gaming style and just being unable to fully cope with the sheer amount of joy in every pixel.
I know it’s Ubisoft and I’m not a fan of their whole attitude to PC gaming, but, honestly, if you don’t buy this game you want shooting. Convincing publishers that there is a market for old school fun 2d platformers made with love and humour on the PC can only be good for everyone, unless you are looking forward to Big Shooty Man Shoots Stuff 5 (now with more ‘splodes)…
it’s going to sell shit, isn’t it…
01/03/2012 at 00:27 shiajun says:
Too bad it’s Ubisoft here. I’m on a boicott of everything Ubi until they drop their stupid ass DRM schemes. IF, and only IF, Ubisoft adds nothing besides the use of Steam to this game, they I think I’ll have to pass, even I’m excited about it.
01/03/2012 at 08:41 tsagan says:
Too bad you are not voting with your wallet , things will not change if you don’t send a signal to ubisoft when they are going in the right direction
01/03/2012 at 15:20 trjp says:
@tsagen nothing will change because there will never be remotely enough people who boycott a publisher that they’ll notice or care.
Worst case is they’ll re-conclude that the PC is ‘pirate heaven’ and stop porting to it (again).
Boycotts almost never work because the sort of people who’ll join-in make-up a tiny percentage of the population.
01/03/2012 at 15:47 _PixelNinja says:
Yes but if this game does not have any intrusive DRM nor UPlay and we support it –maybe even writing to Ubisoft to say they’ve done the right thing here– there are chances they might get the message.
01/03/2012 at 00:39 Auspex says:
I’m glad everyone has posted about the demo automatically appearing in your games list; I thought I’d installed it and couldn’t remember doing so.
I was somewhat alarmed.
01/03/2012 at 00:49 trjp says:
Rayman Origins is the best Sonic game since Sonic 3 (or possibly even earlier).
Not sure it’s top-class PC gamer stuff but go find our for yourselves :)
01/03/2012 at 07:57 siegarettes says:
Top class PC Gamers don’t discriminate. They know all games are equal. Until they play em. They they become the work of the gods or scum of the earth.
On topic, I’d say this has a different rhythm than the classic Sonic games. Its a bit between Super Meat Boy and old school Sonic, specially near the end. Ya know, when you get the power to run up walls.
01/03/2012 at 12:14 trjp says:
It takes it’s rhythm from Sonic tho – the idea that there’s a superfast route through every level OR you can faff about trying to collect everything…
It’s a tease of a game for sure – you look at it and think it’s a regular platformer but it’s got a bit of depth to it. It’s not SMB tho – it’s MUCH MUCH BETTER than SMB, there’s some ‘game’ in there, not just a stream of frustration.
01/03/2012 at 00:59 The Sombrero Kid says:
Ubisoft = No Sale.
01/03/2012 at 04:34 Daryl says:
This.
01/03/2012 at 10:02 Khemm says:
It’s really great that an average PC gamer can behave rationally, unlike you two.
01/03/2012 at 10:21 Suits says:
Get over it, this is a great game.
01/03/2012 at 12:15 trjp says:
It’s your loss – by all means you keep up the hunger strike tho…
01/03/2012 at 13:22 Saiko Kila says:
To me both Ubisoft and console origin is no sale. I’ve read the article only because I wanted to know whether that marketing gimmick is true. Why? The game (or demo) didn’t show on my list. So apparently Steam chooses its customers carefully.
01/03/2012 at 15:17 trjp says:
Someone who boycotts games due to “console origin” is a total idiot – esp when the game is a 2d platformer, a genre which ORIGINATED ON CONSOLES YOU BERK
What next? Will you boycott games which don’t use a keyboard because joystick are ‘arcadey’??
Will you demand a game requires a week of patches and 14 hours of driver upgrading before it runs??
GROW UP
01/03/2012 at 17:43 VoEC says:
So Ubisoft finally releases a really good game for PC, at half the console prize, with no drm (depending on your version) and you choose to not buy it just because it’s Ubisoft?
Yeah, that will teach ‘em!
We don’t want your great games, give us more crappy drm…
Seriously, they will not change if you don’t support their good products.
01/03/2012 at 01:02 Vartarok says:
FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YEAH.
01/03/2012 at 04:50 Time_Muffin says:
Doesn’t recognize my wireless Xbox 360 controller. Not sure I could stand playing this with a keyboard.
01/03/2012 at 05:22 vash47 says:
Wow, demo was great, short and sweet. It runs on my ancient integrated videocard with a bit of slowdown when there are many enemies (geforce 6150le). Keyboard controls are tight, I haven’t tested it with a gamepad, yet.
01/03/2012 at 06:33 Kobest says:
Agreed, short and sweet, I just have to decide whether the Steam version or the PC download from the UbiShop will do the trick. Probably the latter, if the DRM-free quality is confirmed. But really, the game reminded me playing Super Mario World when I was 7 years old, with all the charm I felt that time. Insta-buy, there you go!
One thing though: I played the demo with a friend using a Logitech Dual Action gamepad (DInput mode, so didn’t act as a 360 controller) and it worked flawlessly!
01/03/2012 at 07:44 brulleks says:
Interesting that some people found this added to their library as if by magic. I’m finding that the demo resists any attempt to download it at all. Pressing on the ‘download demo’ button does nothing.
Maybe they realised there was a problem with it mystically appearing and went too far the other way in their attempts to fix it.
01/03/2012 at 15:04 Ninja Dodo says:
Same.
01/03/2012 at 15:22 trjp says:
It’s appearing as a ‘downloaded’ game is a bug – it’s not installed and never has been.
If you try to run it – it will first download itself (apparently again but it’s never done so before).
You can’t actually remove it until it’s been installed – so you either install it or ignore it – your choice.
They might fix it – perhaps – this happens with a lot of demos on Steam when you try to download them (tho this is the first time I’ve seen a demo appear in that state by default).
01/03/2012 at 17:21 brulleks says:
It’s not appearing in my games library – hence my commenting on it appearing in other people’s. I’m just referring to the normal ‘download demo’ button on the game page, which still isn’t working for me.
Might see if there’s anywhere else to download it. But not directly from Ubisoft. I don’t even want to add to their website stats.
01/03/2012 at 07:50 Net_Bastard says:
Wow, thanks Ubisoft! The demo automatically got put into my library, it won’t download, just stays on download paused, and I restart Steam and the demo gets taken off my library, and I still can’t download it! Once again Ubisoft, thank you so much.
01/03/2012 at 10:13 Khemm says:
Some of you people are unbelievable…
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=29525378&postcount=23
See? It was VALVE’S FAULT. Your precious fantasy world in which that EVIL Ubi made the demo appear on your beloved list is a lie. You live in a Matrix.
01/03/2012 at 19:24 Net_Bastard says:
Jesus christ dude it was late at night! Valve didn’t even cross my mind, I saw a shitload of Ubisoft bashing and thought that they had something to do with it. Sorry! I hate Ubi-bashing and Valve fanboyism as well!
01/03/2012 at 09:31 PaulVonStomptown says:
Nice J’n'R…from youth to now
01/03/2012 at 12:24 magnus says:
It’s fun alright, I’m buying. And I would be playing the demo if it hadn’t disappeared from my steam games list, hmmm, it’s still in my steam folder and it works, nice use of the Wilhelm Scream on the second level there.
01/03/2012 at 19:57 Tuco says:
The game is simply gorgeous, extremely fun, challenging, and apparently Steam version will come without third party DRMs, so it’s a day one purchase for sure.
02/03/2012 at 09:55 yandexx says:
More like day minus 27 purchase!
01/03/2012 at 21:24 hypercrisis says:
$30? Really?
01/03/2012 at 21:33 LennyLeonardo says:
It’s more than worth that price. I got more enjoyment (time-wise and otherwise) from this than 99% of the other releases in 2011. It’s a full-price game, for sure.