And I'll let everyone else have a turn, after I've said my shtick.
An Internet connection should never be necessary to install or play a game.
I'm deployed in Afghanistan right now. My Internet exists, though there's very little bandwidth (10-15 guys sharing one satellite signal at any given hour). I really, really want to install Orange Box, Portal 2 and Duke Nukem Forever on my shiny new laptop, EXCEPT all three of these require Steam to be connected and functioning well just so I can install them.
Now, maybe I'm just a curmudgeonly old man of 23 who still remembers exactly what his dial-up sounded like, but right away, that just does not sit well with me. I thought for a second that this sort of thing my be a necessary evil, what with software piracy and all that. Then I remembered that sometimes, a great big middle finger is all the counter-argument I need. Call it false-entitlement if you will, but I still say it's a great load of bovine-fornicating-feces.
But anyway...
I know for a fact that my connection, while slow, is reliable enough, since I can let my computer sit for a few hours to load up a video. Therefore, Steam SHOULD be able to connect, even if it takes a minute, right? I mean, I can even connect to my battle.net account for Starcraft 2, so surely Steam should be alright, too.
Well, no. It isn't. I boot up Steam, and it tells me it's trying to connect to my account. 33 seconds later (yes, I timed it), it gives up and tells me my connection probably just sucks.
Screw. You. Valve. I won't get a good connection until the Q2 of next year.
AND ANOTHER THING!
Why do I sometimes have to keep the game disc in my computer in order to play a game? Bad enough that I have to jump through a few hoops to install a game, including game registration, special memberships (Steam/battle.net) and the omnipresent CD key that, in a futile effort to prevent piracy, is now a minimum of 25 digits long, but NOW I can't play Mass Effect 2 unless the disc is in the drive. Necessary evil, my achin' ass.
I also have Assassin's Creed 1 & 2. You know what it takes to play them? Install (Internet connection not needed at any point) and then hit the icon labeled "Assassin's Creed" and away I go. I could have a music CD in my drive, it'll still play without a complaint. THIS is how I know the problems mentioned above are problems that need not exist.
And yes, I am well aware that there are surely perfectly reasonable explanations for all this arbitrary crap. I don't care. This is a rant, and the point of a rant is to throw up a big damn middle finger in the face of whatever annoys at the moment, and reason be damned.
An Internet connection should never be necessary to install or play a game.
I'm deployed in Afghanistan right now. My Internet exists, though there's very little bandwidth (10-15 guys sharing one satellite signal at any given hour). I really, really want to install Orange Box, Portal 2 and Duke Nukem Forever on my shiny new laptop, EXCEPT all three of these require Steam to be connected and functioning well just so I can install them.
Now, maybe I'm just a curmudgeonly old man of 23 who still remembers exactly what his dial-up sounded like, but right away, that just does not sit well with me. I thought for a second that this sort of thing my be a necessary evil, what with software piracy and all that. Then I remembered that sometimes, a great big middle finger is all the counter-argument I need. Call it false-entitlement if you will, but I still say it's a great load of bovine-fornicating-feces.
But anyway...
I know for a fact that my connection, while slow, is reliable enough, since I can let my computer sit for a few hours to load up a video. Therefore, Steam SHOULD be able to connect, even if it takes a minute, right? I mean, I can even connect to my battle.net account for Starcraft 2, so surely Steam should be alright, too.
Well, no. It isn't. I boot up Steam, and it tells me it's trying to connect to my account. 33 seconds later (yes, I timed it), it gives up and tells me my connection probably just sucks.
Screw. You. Valve. I won't get a good connection until the Q2 of next year.
AND ANOTHER THING!
Why do I sometimes have to keep the game disc in my computer in order to play a game? Bad enough that I have to jump through a few hoops to install a game, including game registration, special memberships (Steam/battle.net) and the omnipresent CD key that, in a futile effort to prevent piracy, is now a minimum of 25 digits long, but NOW I can't play Mass Effect 2 unless the disc is in the drive. Necessary evil, my achin' ass.
I also have Assassin's Creed 1 & 2. You know what it takes to play them? Install (Internet connection not needed at any point) and then hit the icon labeled "Assassin's Creed" and away I go. I could have a music CD in my drive, it'll still play without a complaint. THIS is how I know the problems mentioned above are problems that need not exist.
And yes, I am well aware that there are surely perfectly reasonable explanations for all this arbitrary crap. I don't care. This is a rant, and the point of a rant is to throw up a big damn middle finger in the face of whatever annoys at the moment, and reason be damned.
