Fallout: New Vegas

[Irrelevant]

Um, they got paid to just make the game. Din't Mr. Avellone talk about how developers get money? People have a somewhat paradoxical view on money, it is also convenient to send money yourself than to start any sort of movement.

Some Fellow put up an 8 minute gameplay video, I think that in hardcore reloading in Vats should cost AP and that melee attacks should stop one from using a gun momentarily, forcing an enemy or you to back-up. The ability to stop the notification messages on the top left would be nice.

Edited October 18, 2010 by Irrelevant

[Gorgon]

This is the new reality with PC games, get used to it. STEAM is the limit of what I will put up with, but I will put up with it. I suggest you do the same. Crying about it is not gonna help.

[Hassat Hunter]

Not really.

 

Many games use one time online activation, after which you don't even need the disk. STEAM is a tad worse, and personally, above MY level of acceptance.

If I wanted Steam I bought it ON Steam, not inside a store.

 

If I put up with it, what's next? I gotta put up with Ubi-Soft DRM or something?

[Tigranes]

Um, they got paid to just make the game. Din't Mr. Avellone talk about how developers get money? People have a somewhat paradoxical view on money, it is also convenient to send money yourself than to start any sort of movement.

 

I know. But if someone wants to send them a cheque it's their business. Of course, if a thousand people emailed OBS cheques saying they pirated FNV, maybe, but..

 

This is the new reality with PC games, get used to it. STEAM is the limit of what I will put up with, but I will put up with it. I suggest you do the same. Crying about it is not gonna help.

 

You realise the faster everyone stops crying about it, the faster that "new reality" will change, right?

 

It's not as if it'll stop at Steam. Look at DLCs.

[Syraxis]

Crying about it is not gonna help.

 

People won't listen to this, it makes too much sense.

[entrerix]

there will come a point that is too far, where enough consumers pass on an item that the drm is actually costing more money than the piracy they claim to be fighting against. ubisoft drm is well past that point for me. forced steam is pretty much AT that point, the only thing that makes me ok with steam is the absurdly good prices for software through them

 

heck, right now its less than $5 for the entire tales of monkey island set...

[Tigranes]

Ubisoft's mistake was that they jumped the line by a mile instead of gradually encroaching it wearing various disguises of player benefit. Without becoming conspiratorial, look at the trajectory of Steam. It starts off as an optional service, primarily for Valve games, starts getting more and more third party games, starts becoming a one-stop shop full of various goodies and promotions, starts offering exclusive deals and sales, and now moves into Steamworks, as well as signing up various high profile games for Steam Only. This isn't tinfoil stuff - it's just a good business strategy from Valve's perspective, where they slowly cultivate more and more loyal customers to their service. The Steam Only policy now works great, because everywhere you look, every time someone complains about this, there are 20 posters who voluntarily defend Steam. Literally. Go to ETW forums, FM2009 forums, discussions of FNV, Civilisation V, etc - you will get people who tell you "I like Steam so I dont' care about your whining", "stop whining everyone uses Steam now anyway", "It's cool I don't mind cause Steam has cool sales". Zero brownie points for working out why none of those arguments are logically sound in any way, but that's how the market works - Steam has enough reasons for people to like it or tolerate it.

 

Anyway, the point is, if Steam continues in this way and racks up brownie points and consumers, if we use a crude example, how many people would quit Steam cold turkey if it made its DRM more cumbersome, or slowly retired Offline Mode (i.e. by adding various functionalities that require Online, making everyone use Online anyway, then after a couple of years, cutting out Offline)? Not many. It's always about gradual changes in what bull**** the customer will put up with, so in fact, arguing that "it's the reality now, stop whining" is simply playing into that - it's actually more parochial than 'longing for the good ol' days'.

[Syraxis]

Heh, I must be the one of a handful that doesn't instantly think "DRM" whenever steam is mentioned. Then again, I've been using it since HL2 came out in '04.

 

To each his own I suppose.

Edited October 19, 2010 by Syraxis

[Hassat Hunter]

Crying about it is not gonna help.

 

People won't listen to this, it makes too much sense.

Never worked with Spore after all... right?

Or the original plans for ME...

Edited October 19, 2010 by Hassat Hunter

[Pop]

Anyhow, while you all are bleating about DRM or some ****, I'm waiting 6 more hours and then playing the game I've literally waited half of my life for.

 

That is, of course, assuming that decryption works when they say it will, and it might considering this is one of the first high-profile "Steamworks only" games. They opened up pre-loading 4 or 5 days early, as opposed to, say, AP's 2-day pre-loading. One hopes they get their **** together.

[Hurlshort]

Steam is pretty much the future, it's free DRM. The nice thing is they have greatly improved Steam since the original launch, so at least Offline mode works more regularly.

 

I'd say you could get a console to avoid these hassles, but my PS3 is getting more and more finicky over the fact I don't have a stable internet connection, so I don't see that lasting much longer.

[Hurlshort]

Anyhow, while you all are bleating about DRM or some ****, I'm waiting 6 more hours and then playing the game I've literally waited half of my life for.

 

That is less impressive when we take into account you are only 8-years old.

[Llyranor]

Still old enough to be Hurlshot's mom.

[Tale]

Or the original plans for ME...

W-what... what were the original plans for ME? I'm scared.

[Pop]

Steam pre-loaders have reported a pre-launch patch download to the tune of 4 megs or so. What it is?

[Syraxis]

Crying about it is not gonna help.

 

People won't listen to this, it makes too much sense.

Never worked with Spore after all... right?

Or the original plans for ME...

 

forgot about Spore.

 

Man I'm tempted to go to the midnight launch at my local gamestop (something I've never dreamed of doing) because of the lack of time I'll have tomorrow.

[Hassat Hunter]

W-what... what were the original plans for ME? I'm scared.

Having to re-verify your copy every 5 days or something stupid like that...

 

Could have been DA or ME2... one of EA's BioWare titles at least. They didn't after everyone complained about Spore.

[Kiwi]

When I saw the official System Requirements that Bethesda announced, I was not surprised that they were wrong once again. The minimum Geforce video graphics card for Fallout 3 is the 6800; I cannot imagine there having been enough improvement in graphics optimization for a Geforce 6200 to suddenly be usable now. And yet, supposedly the entire Gefore "6 Series" is satisfactory? Sure. Right.

 

I really believe that.

[Pop]

Second "review" is up, hard to tell if this is a legit reviewer (I'm assuming not) but they go the opposite direction from the pageview-bait first review and give it 10/10.

[Thorton_AP]

Ubisoft's mistake was that they jumped the line by a mile instead of gradually encroaching it wearing various disguises of player benefit. Without becoming conspiratorial, look at the trajectory of Steam. It starts off as an optional service, primarily for Valve games, starts getting more and more third party games, starts becoming a one-stop shop full of various goodies and promotions, starts offering exclusive deals and sales, and now moves into Steamworks, as well as signing up various high profile games for Steam Only. This isn't tinfoil stuff - it's just a good business strategy from Valve's perspective, where they slowly cultivate more and more loyal customers to their service. The Steam Only policy now works great, because everywhere you look, every time someone complains about this, there are 20 posters who voluntarily defend Steam. Literally. Go to ETW forums, FM2009 forums, discussions of FNV, Civilisation V, etc - you will get people who tell you "I like Steam so I dont' care about your whining", "stop whining everyone uses Steam now anyway", "It's cool I don't mind cause Steam has cool sales". Zero brownie points for working out why none of those arguments are logically sound in any way, but that's how the market works - Steam has enough reasons for people to like it or tolerate it.

 

Anyway, the point is, if Steam continues in this way and racks up brownie points and consumers, if we use a crude example, how many people would quit Steam cold turkey if it made its DRM more cumbersome, or slowly retired Offline Mode (i.e. by adding various functionalities that require Online, making everyone use Online anyway, then after a couple of years, cutting out Offline)? Not many. It's always about gradual changes in what bull**** the customer will put up with, so in fact, arguing that "it's the reality now, stop whining" is simply playing into that - it's actually more parochial than 'longing for the good ol' days'.

 

Steam (and Steamworks) must benefit developers in some way because they opt-in to use the service (when they could simply just use steam as a distribution method which they are allowed to do).

[Hurlshort]

Again, Steam is free DRM, whereas that used to be a significant cost. That is why it is no surprise developers are jumping at it.

[Pop]

Gerstmann sticks to the Obsidz review narrative. That damned developer just can't handle bugs! 4/5. Edited October 19, 2010 by Pop

[Pop]

Joystiq sez jus like Fallout 3 hur dur. 3.5/5.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Brother None has done a newspost with the early reviews on NMA

 

Seems like the first reaction is positive but I've only read the score for now.

Pop's reviews are also included so you'll likely want to skip them.

 

EDIT: Also, I wouldn't go all 'herp derp' on the game being buggy. The fact is, Obsidian has basically being confirmed to be almost physically unable to polish a game with this project. I'm setting my expectations towards Dungeon Siege III accordingly and at this point, I'm surprise some of you still aren't.

Edited October 19, 2010 by WorstUsernameEver

[Deraldin]

EDIT: Also, I wouldn't go all 'herp derp' on the game being buggy. The fact is, Obsidian has basically being confirmed to be almost physically unable to polish a game with this project. I'm setting my expectations towards Dungeon Siege III accordingly and at this point, I'm surprise some of you still aren't.

 

Bugs don't really bother me too much. Crashes are what get to me. That said, Fallout 3 + Obsidian. Was anyone really expecting a polished, bug-free experience?