Purkake

Indeed, second hand sales are hurting publishers as much as piracy is and they would love to get rid of it.

At the end of the day you're exchanging convenience for potential long-term safety.

*Looks around the room, coughs* Right, whatever you say. *Grin* I'm not saying Steam does'nt have something for anyone, but I just don't happen to need any of it. My mate got his Steam account shut down for cheating, though knowing that he's never cheated at anything during the 15 years I've known him, and the time he was supposed to be playing he was doing something completely different - we both suspected he'd had his password stolen/hacked. He still lost his entire game library due to that. @Purkake; I live across the Baltic Sea from you, so sez the location indicated in my profile. You can easily get your account re-enabled if it was a mistake from what I've heard, especially if he got his password stolen. I wasn't speaking about your location specifically, but in more general terms. Steam is fairly popular here in Estonia from what I know.

Bioshock did that and probably quite a few other Online Securom using games. @ all the hate. There is nothing wrong with the idea itself. If you don't see anything wrong with the idea of buying game for 50EUR and then paying another 10EUR for final boss fight, so just you could finnish the game, then i say, there is something wrong with you I was speaking of the model where you get the first part for free or for ~$10 and then pay another 10 for another part and get about the same value out of them at $50 as you would a normal $50 game. All that changes in this case is the initial investment. As for paying for demos, we hardly ever get demos any more. The model you describe would be a ye olde "screw the second hand market" trick, if the cost comes out the same in the end, it doesn't really matter other than being slightly less convenient.

Bioshock did that and probably quite a few other Online Securom using games. @ all the hate. There is nothing wrong with the idea itself.

Just proposing a hypothesis, people around other parts seem to have embraced Steam much more. Maybe it's a geographical/cultural issue?

What's wrong with charging a smaller amount upfront and then having to pay for the parts if you like it? If it comes up to a normal game's cost and length you'll end up saving money if the game sucks, no? It might lead to games being frontloaded, but that's pretty much the case anyway. EDIT: This is assuming that all the parts of the game are completed at release.

Man, lots of folks who don't like Steam around these parts. Maybe it is somehow tied to being an old school PC gamer and disliking change? Maybe we should have a for/against Steam poll?

Yes, Gaider's Law.

Well, it might go all meta and talk about this topic

I'd stock up on some protective eyeware as well

Yeah, go spoil one of the central things that sets most of the first books events into motion. Good job!

Finished Mission of Honor, the latest in David Weber's neverending series. It had a little too much talking and too little action, but had some nice resolution(finally), reveals and an awesome setup for the future.

It was used awesomely, in addition to also being used as you said. Go read the books, they're great.

Not in 2010, I hope or maybe I just hang with the more progressive crowd.

*cough* A song of ice and fire *cough* Just wanted to say that, grr. "The things I do for love..." Not that Dragon Age managed to capture any of ASoIAF's goodness.

People on the Bioware boards have always been pretty candid about what they expect from Bioware's games. It would be nice if the writers paired that up with some decent characters and story, though.

AP doesn't look that hot outside of cutscenes, doing a quick search of Fallout 3 reviews, most said that the graphics help set the mood with open landscapes or don't have any pop-in, no one that I read was specifically saying that they were pretty. No idea about Singularity.

It is made by Bioware. Even if those screens were final, DA2 reviews would be praising the graphics. If there's one thing most reviewers get right, no matter how biased they may be, it's the graphics. You mean when they talk about Bio games, or in general? In general. It is kind of hard to straight out lie about that since you have screenshots right next to the review and there's really no subjectivity about that.

It is made by Bioware. Even if those screens were final, DA2 reviews would be praising the graphics. If there's one thing most reviewers get right, no matter how biased they may be, it's the graphics.

Gaider has the Denis Dyack syndrome of lowering himself to the average board-dweller level to defend his stuff. Just let it be and finish your game, man.

2007 is long gone, son.

some really good stuff this time. This constitutional monarchy thing has potential for an epic deconstructive parody of the series, if Nintendo ever licenses out the franchise and someone actually manages to do it in the grim darkness of the far future...

Oh well, Steam had a good run.

They would probably work for pretty cheap, but then again they might just copy the DLC material from fanfiction.net and get the same results.