EA Gets Ready to Throw Down With Steam - UPDATED
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
You can't make up meanings. Prominent does not mean monopoly. Microsoft and EA accusing Valve of something certainly does not make it true; in fact it is absolutely incorrect for them to be making those statements.Azaraxzealot said:
Also you should reference such a quotation.
In other news: I'm buying ME3 from a store, skipping BF3 even though I was mildly interested, and buying no future EA-published games until they knock this crap off.
Did they decide Activision had plunged so far into the "fuck you, gamers" abyss that it was probably safe to pull some bullshit of their own?
Did they decide Activision had plunged so far into the "fuck you, gamers" abyss that it was probably safe to pull some bullshit of their own?
I really don't buy EA's excuse, especially considering they were changing their site to say "Only digitally available via Origin" in relation to Crysis 2.
I would expect the EU Origin site to have an exchange rate of 1 EUR = 1USD.Abedeus said:
Well if signing up for this Origin stuff means I'll finally get to update my copy of Bad Company 2 instead of just getting an unending stream of download errors (or corrupted files when trying to do a manual patch install to avoid the errors), then I'm all for it.
If I still have to use EA's lousy auto-updater then they've made no improvements whatsoever.
If I still have to use EA's lousy auto-updater then they've made no improvements whatsoever.
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAAHHAAHAH
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaah.
Not gonna happen.
Basically, EA, the thing people hate, trying to take business away from Steam, something that is loved. How about no.
What would make me laugh is if this made PC gamers stop buying EA games.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaah.
Not gonna happen.
Basically, EA, the thing people hate, trying to take business away from Steam, something that is loved. How about no.
What would make me laugh is if this made PC gamers stop buying EA games.
That's certainly the effect it's had on me. I was on the fence about getting Mass Effect 3 after the turd that was Dragon Age 2, and now I'm decided. Nope! No more EA garbage.Fluffles said:
Being indie is a lifestyle choice it seems.Looks like I'm in the minority of people who enjoy EA games even their lolsome adds.lithium.jelly said:
Nope, I'm pretty convinced that steam is offensively overpriced.Gametek said:
A quick look at their main page shows the following in the Australian region:
The witcher -$74US
Duke Nukem -$79.99US
Brink -$89.99us
red faction -$79.99
Even the rip off local department stores generally match those prices (or beat if you consider the cost of bandwidth), the more reasonably priced independent stores charge closer to $60au (~$63US) (which is well under the steam prices, and still more expensive than ordering overseas for $50au and paying a few $$s postage).
As for steam being flawed, while I'm sick of constantly pointing this to fanboys, it:
-Has a terrible update system that installs files from packages that have not been completely downloaded (ie A game cannot be paused mid download and played)
-Does not store any user credentials on the machine (cannot re-log in if it's cache is cleared).
-infrequently (but frequently enough to be significant) crashes. This wipes the systems cache....
-forces its advertisements on users
-constantly updates
-reverts settings to 'default' options on some updates (including the 'do not update this game automatically option- great fun if it starts updating a single player game that you want to play but don't have the bandwidth to fully update).
etc.
Crysis 2 is not the first game to have been hurt by the conditions of steam. Usually, developers choose to use steam and submit to its agreements (as it's the biggest fish) and neglect the smaller platforms. That is why so many titles are absent or only have limited availability on the smaller platforms.
Valve have been dicks to PC AND console games for some time. Remember the german kid they deceived into thinking he had a job then had arrested? How about them blasting PS3 gamers as inferior? What about starting the trend of forcing draconian drm on gamers with steam?. Yes, EA have a track record of being assholes, but criticizing them for the "you don't own the game" train of thought while simultaneously defending valve is absurd - When steam first cropped up only a tiny portion of its users purchased their games through it, the system was designed as a DRM that forced users to register their game online and effectively stopped them from being able to trade in or resell their copys of half life 2. It worked rather well....
Again I say, while valve have successfully forced steam onto consumers, even convincing many that the service is a good thing (which, despite it's flaws, it probably is) there's no reason why EA can't make their system workable (provided they are not stupid). People will buy popular EA franchises just as they bought the popular half life sequel. If the system is good[footnote]By good I mean "not so shit that it's completely unusable" (like games for windows live).[/footnote], and they are forced to use it anyway then it's hardly going to fail.
The one thing I'm curious about is if EA are going to have massive sales like Valve does... I'm not sure. For one, I doubt Origin will have the same size customer base as Steam does so there would be less viability for crazy ass sales.
Also, without sales, Origin would lose steam (excuse the pun).
Also, without sales, Origin would lose steam (excuse the pun).
Games for Windows Live might disagree.Sean Strife said:
The big question, in fact the only question I can think of right now is;
"How intrusive will Origin be?"
I like that they called it "Origin" reminds me of the maniacal religion founded by those insane higher beings from Stargate.
GOG is actually owned by CDProjekt (or however you spell it). I would imagine that it is because it is available on other sites, like D2D that it was kicked, not on EAIrridium said:
Competition with Steam is a good thing. And I really don't think it will hurt EA in the long run. Blizzard only uses it's own system for digital distribution and that certainly hasn't hurt them. EA is a lot bigger than Steam/Valve, and hopefully EA taking the steps to compete with Steam will cause other publisher/developers to grow a pair too and fully embrace other distributers or even sell directly.
The people who say that Steam can't be beat really don't know history. In every industry the big players early on usually become bit players or owned by another party who merely uses the older companies name by the time that industry matures. The reason is that those big guys end up getting the "my shit doesn't stink" attitude, which kills them in the end. And digital distribution still has a long way to go before it enters the mature phase. Plenty of time for new players with new ideas to enter the market. Maybe Origin won't make it. But hopefully it will give someone else an idea that will be successful and better for the consumer (which is what we all want, right?).
The people who say that Steam can't be beat really don't know history. In every industry the big players early on usually become bit players or owned by another party who merely uses the older companies name by the time that industry matures. The reason is that those big guys end up getting the "my shit doesn't stink" attitude, which kills them in the end. And digital distribution still has a long way to go before it enters the mature phase. Plenty of time for new players with new ideas to enter the market. Maybe Origin won't make it. But hopefully it will give someone else an idea that will be successful and better for the consumer (which is what we all want, right?).
Origin is a new service so there are bound to be some growing pains, and although I personally never buy digital (well, maybe on extremely rare occasions, although I can't think of any off the top of my head) I heartily approve of EA's effort to move into the digital space. In my eyes, it's like a new store opening; I can keep shopping at the old places I know and love but now I've got a new spot to explore and enjoy too.
And really, is market fragmentation really a factor if you never move from you chair while you hop from seller to seller?
And really, is market fragmentation really a factor if you never move from you chair while you hop from seller to seller?
The 1st clue it was going to fail was that it was made by EA and thus will have more security leaks than Sony (High Fives) while maintaining all the functionality of the Titanic post iceberg (Double High Fives)Sean Strife said:
So kids, the moral here is. If you actually plan to support this idea expect to find you're personal details, credit card info and so on, on the internet before you can say "Lulzsec" while the software crashes because it is only half baked... like everything EA does.