Getting Into PC Gaming. Help with Dualshock 3 On PC.

[2HF]

Anyone know a better way than motionjoy to get Dualshock 3 working on PC?

I recently bought a laptop and was pleasantly surprised when I ran it through a particular system requirements analysis website and discovered that it can run a large number of games, and not even on minimum settings.

So I went to GOG and bought my old Thief Games and I plan on purchasing from them whenever possible. I also plan on purchasing from Steam as I hear mostly good things about it and the sales sound fantastic.

Then there's Origin... who is currently running a humble bundle sale...

So I figure I'll go ahead and ask, what are the actual pros and cons of each service? I'm new to this so I know virtually nothing.

And let's leave the fanboying at the door?

 

[Vegosiux]

GoG:
+No DRM
+Large selection of nostalgia titles
+Common sales
-Not as large selection of newer titles

Steam:
+Large selection of tites
+Common sales
+A nice centralized system for all your games in one place, and possible to use the overlay even in non-Steam ones
+Offline mode
-Damn near monopolistic
-Tech support kind of tends to suck

Origin:
Yeah, not going here. Got nothing relevant to say about it.

 

[Clowndoe]

Don't forget GamersGate, which doesn't add DRM except when the games use Steamworks. GamersGate has good sales and rewards loyalty for every purchase with Blue Coins, which can be used for future purchases.

Another is Green Man Gaming, although I haven't used it.

 

[Rack]

GoG:

Pros

Ultimate in convenience. GoG just works. Actually it isn't even that, there isn't anything to work you download your games and you can play them.

Cons

No auto patching. Patches may arrive later than they do on Steam (but not by much) Extremely limited game selection

Origin.

Cons

The Devil.

Seriously I don't know, I trust EA about as far as I can throw Manhattan so this hasn't got it's way onto my PC. Some people say it sort of works a bit in that sometimes you can play your games. Realistically the only pro you're going to get on this is you need to have it to play EA games and they are doing that bundle right now.

Steam

Pros.

Sales. You're going to have it on your PC one way or another so just get used to it. Has a decent community going so you may want to keep Steam running so you can chat to people.

Cons.

Kind of crappy evil software. While the community features are nice it's mostly this annoying thing you have to keep patching that will periodically stop you playing games you've bought. While MOSTLY you can play your games as long as you are online mostly isn't near good enough. It also fits in the same position as Origin in that Valve reserve the right to do any one of a number of extremely crappy things to your PC. I don't like it but I don't really have the option of opting out of Steam, it's pretty much essential to being a PC gamer these days. And at least Valve have proven themselves reasonably trustworthy.

There's also Uplay which fits right alongside Origin as horrible software which only exists to stop you playing your games and hand your passwords over to Hackers and GFWL which somehow manages to be much much worse than that.

 

[The Madman]

Origin is trying really, really hard to be STEAM and for the most part failing horribly. It just can't match STEAMs massive catalogue nor the glorious sales, which leaves it mainly as little more than an annoying launcher for EA games for me.

STEAM itself is exactly what you'd expect and, truth be told, like it or not if you're going to get into PC gaming you're inevitably going to have to work with STEAM. Fortunately it's not particularly evil, instead acting as a benevolent deity that watches over the platform and occasionally sprinkles down treats for the mortals to enjoy.. so far anyway. I've always been kinda hesitant about STEAM just because with a monopoly like they've got the temptation to go evil must be so very, very great, and when that day comes I'd rather not be surprised. For now however it is a kind deity.

And as for GOG it's a fantastic service if you're looking for older games or indie titles, not really much else to it. Great prices, good sales, fantastic ethics, and it's quite often the easiest and most friendly way to replay or play for the first time some of the best PC games ever made. You probably wont be buying the latest and most shiny AAA games from them, but for niche products or old classics it's the place to go.

 

[2HF]

Another is Green Man Gaming, although I haven't used it.

Thank you for that! GTA collection is on sale and I've been dying to play that Ironman mod since The Escapist posted an article about it.

 

[porous_shield]

GoG is DRM free which is a big selling point but their sales aren't as good and they often want you to buy a group of games to get a bigger discount. They offer some games for free every now and again as well. They don't have achievements fr their games like Steam does but once you download a game you can do whatever you want with them.


Honestly, the only reason I tolerate Steam on my computer is because of the sales. I spend large amounts of time in offline mode because my internet is spectacularly slow and Steam doesn't play nicely with me and will often, after a couple of weeks, make me sign in. I've heard this is because of a temporary file getting deleted but I still don't appreciate being forced to sign in.

Steam's big sales are pretty great though and they do things to keep them fresh. The last sale you could earn trading cards, also get them from playing games, and you could sell them for real money on your account. I managed to get over $10 just from selling trading cards which I used to buy two or three steeply discounted games.

If the sales aren't a big deal to you then you have to decide if you want DRM free games or the achievements, multilayer, and community aspects of Steam.

 

[Doom972]

Steam: Use it if you want access to the biggest gaming library. It has AAA games, indie games, and some retro games

Pros:

Has the most games.

Cons:

Minor DRM

GOG: Use it if you want to play mainly retro games and indie games,

Pros:

Optimized retro games
DRM free.

Cons:

No AAA games except for The Witcher games.

Origin: Use it if you really like EA's more recent games, as it's the only digital platform to get them on.

Pros:

Fastest download speed.
Many DRM-free games that don't require Origin running at all (some still require an activation after installation).

Cons:

Small library of games.
Rarely has sales, and even when it does, many of them are only for North America.

My personal favorite is Steam.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I recently bought a laptop and was pleasantly surprised when I ran it through a particular system requirements analysis website and discovered that it can run a large number of games, and not even on minimum settings.

So I went to GOG and bought my old Thief Games and I plan on purchasing from them whenever possible. I also plan on purchasing from Steam as I hear mostly good things about it and the sales sound fantastic.

Then there's Origin... who is currently running a humble bundle sale...

So I figure I'll go ahead and ask, what are the actual pros and cons of each service? I'm new to this so I know virtually nothing.

And let's leave the fanboying at the door?

Never used GOG, Origin is a massive pain in the ass. Steam is mostly great, it sorta had it's growing pains a while back.

Want Medal of Honour(steam)? Got a code. If you reject it, anyone else is welcome.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Steam:

It has good sales but the program itself is poorly laid out and quite slow. Download speeds are often patchy.

GOG:

Good deals and no DRM, limited selection of games.

Origin:

Has consistently fast download speeds, sales and available games are lacking.

 

[SilkySkyKitten]

As someone who has a decent amount of experience with all three, let me give ya' the lowdown on 'em...

----------

GoG:
+Decent selection of games if you're into older titles. They don't have it all, but they do have some great classics.
+No DRM whatsoever. No restrictions or anything.
+Most games are packaged and tweaked in such a way that they will run without needing to hunt down fixes and such
+I personally haven't encountered a single game that I bought from GoG that didn't run.
-Pretty much isn't recommended for new stuff at all, unless it's an indie title.
-Isn't as convenient as Steam and Origin, since GoG's downloader client is... just that, a downloader client which still requires the use of a browser.

Steam:
+The premier digital distribution service, thus it's very well supported
+Massive catalog of games, both old and new
+SALES. Oh god the sales. So many great discounts to be had...
+Plenty of awesome community features integrated into the client, such as forums and chat and the ability to track the activity of your friends and easily join multiplayer games with them... and so on and so forth.
+All of the above community features can even be accessed while playing most games through the Steam Overlay, which also has a web browser in case you don't want to alt-tab for that.
-Still can be a bit glitchy, at least it is for me
-Not all games are packaged or tweaked in such a way to make them run. Many older games still require you trying to find fixes or do some tweaks and such on your own.[footnote]A prime example of this is the Steam version of Wolfenstein 3D. It comes with DosBox so you can play it, but by default DosBox isn't properly tweaked so you can have the best possible framerate in the game. You have to manually go in and do it yourself if you want the game to not chug as if it was being played on a computer that was outdated even by 1992-standards.[/footnote]
-Related to the above: it is very much possible to buy a game on Steam that won't run on your computer at all due to some sort of issue. This has happened to me personally, too.[footnote]... don't buy the original Far Cry if you have a 64-bit version of Windows 7. Some people claim they can get it to work, but I never have been able to.[/footnote]
-SALES. They will drain your wallet so fast you won't even know you had money to begin with.
-Technically still is DRM, and games bought though Steam might even have third party DRM like Games for Windows Live or UPlay as well.

Origin:
+Pretty much is Steam, but run by EA and with a new skin.
+Is more stable than Steam, at least in my experience
+Has very quick download speeds
+All games I've purchased through Origin have worked on my rig. Might have needed some tweaking still, but I don't have any games that won't run at all.
+Not nearly as horrible as people make it out to be. Seriously...
-While pretty much identical to Steam, it's slightly less polished
-Community features aren't as good
-Possibly the smallest selection out of all three
-Technically still is DRM, and still can have third party DRM tacked on alongside Origin's DRM.

----------

Out of all three, I prefer Steam the most. But all three are perfectly fine and work well in my experience.

 

[B5Alpha]

GoG:
+No DRM
+Large selection of nostalgia titles
+Common sales
-Not as large selection of newer titles

Steam:
+Large selection of tites
+Common sales
+A nice centralized system for all your games in one place, and possible to use the overlay even in non-Steam ones
+Offline mode
-Damn near monopolistic
-Tech support kind of tends to suck

Origin:
Yeah, not going here. Got nothing relevant to say about it.

Really? Complaining that a company has a near momopoly then going to give a biased opinion of it's competitors?

 

[Gennadios]

Almost everything else worth saying has already been said, but I'd like to add one thing:

Origin servers for multiplayer absolutely suck. I've had all the players in the same room and we still couldn't get a full game of ME3 or Deadspace without someone getting kicked or desynching. The lack of any control outside of click to find a server is probably the culprit, but Steam's online play platform is hands-down the best.

 

[GoGoFrenzy]

Can't go wrong with Steam but to make the most of it put the games you want on your wishlist. That way you can wait to buy them during one if their frequent sales. I think I have only paid full price on less than 10% of my 100+ games on Steam.

Best time to buy anything on Steam is Summer sale and Christmas. Save up for the ridiculous 75% -80% flash sales. Too good!

 

[2HF]

Another is Green Man Gaming, although I haven't used it.

Thank you for that! GTA collection is on sale and I've been dying to play that Ironman mod since The Escapist posted an article about it.

I haven't seen that article and I bought a GTA collection off an Amazon sale (all on Steam although San Andreas has some technical problems. Maybe I'll pirate a version if these persist). Would you please link it?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123162-GTA-IVs-Iron-Man-Mod-Is-Exactly-What-You-Hope-It-Is

 

[Rednog]

I honestly wouldn't worry about being loyal to one DRM or another...because let's face it, loyalty to a DRM is a bit silly, your primary concern should be you the consumer. Shop around and find the best deal you can and then just play the game no matter which DRM service the game forces you to use.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

There's also Greenman Gaming. Essentially Steam, but different shit is on sale. Most of the games they offer do need to be activated on Steam, so the DRM situation is no different.

Possibly my favorite feature of Steam is the workshop for games that have modding communities. Modding a game has never been easier. You quite literally subscribe to whatever mod you want and, for the most part, it works. If the modder comes up with a new version, it's patched automatically.

Origin.... Functionally similar to early Steam. However, I really don't trust EA and their sales suck balls. Just spite them and buy their games at a retailer so they still have that overhead.

GOG is what I wish Steam could be, but we can't have it all our own way it seems.

Whatever, I don't really consider Steam an inconvenience and it lets me mod my games with relative ease. That's all I can ask for in a service that also seeks to weed out pirates and does it without treating it's customers like pirates.

 

[Launcelot111]

Steam is good for the sales first and foremost (only one game in my whole library was bought for more than $5), but the extra bells and whistles like achievements/trading cards, the in-game overlay, and the workshop are fun too. The interface is difficult and sometimes it chews up my processing power like no other, but these don't affect too much if you just use it to open a game and play it.

GOG's collection of old games has surprisingly little overlap with Steam, and their deals are solid, but sometimes the updating to make these games work with newer computers isn't perfect. Just peruse the comments before buying a game and see if others have problems first and you'll usually be fine.

If you want to fill your PC game library in a hustle, then bookmark the Humble Bundle. Every once in a while, they bust out a big flashy bundle of AAA games for dirt cheap, but they also have their weekly sale where you can get a bunch of games from AA to niche indie stuff at the usual absurdly low prices

 

[Joccaren]

Steam:
Pros:
-Massive selection of games, from indie to AAA, and everything in between.
-Frequent sales
-Automated patching
Cons:
-No choice in having it. It is a form of DRM that a massive number of PC titles utilise.
-Offline mode can be buggy at times, telling you you need to go online to go offline. This can be annoying.
-Automated patching [Seriously, when there's a 3Gb patch to install, Steam just starts and won't let you play the game until its downloaded and installed. Supposedly this can be disabled. In practice this does not always work]

GoG:
Pros:
-No DRM at all
Cons:
-Mostly, but not exclusively, sells - as the name would suggest - old games.

Origin:
Pros:
-Offline mode works, generally not too many bugs from my experience
Cons:
-Small selection of titles
-Sales are rare and not all that great
-Necessary for most EA games

 

[thebakedpotato]

I have enjoyed using GoG and they have the occasional sale to boot as well. Steam... Well I have had an account with them for nearly a decade now, it's certainly grown in leaps and bounds and I consider myself a fan. Steam is fast, easy, convenient (Which is just basically a combination of fast and easy.)

Origin I hear neutral to positive reviews about. However I don't have the mileage and friendslist and library and community that I do on steam so I am biased. Why try something new when you have everything you want already?

I am interested in hearing your experiences around though. Keep us posted.