Octopus Overlords

Dont forget metacritic. Steam a lot of times also lists the metacritic score of to the right side someplace.

Madmarcus wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 6:35 pm

Fitzy wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 8:39 am
Yeah, I don't see how it's possible for people to sift through all of the games randomly or through searches. It's been years since I looked for a new game on Steam without knowing the title. I use forums, game review sites, a couple curators on Steam, and other word of mouth. But never go to Steam and type in RPG or something anymore. It just won't work.

Don't take this as a personal attack but I think it is weird to expect to be able to find an interesting new game via random searching. As with books, movies, and music I feel that the default has always been that I need recommendations first.

I think I said the same thing, so I won’t challenge you to a death match. (Plus I don’t think I play any games with death matches assuming they are a thing and I suck at multiplayer anyway)

Books are sort of an exception for me though, I do sometimes browse libraries and bookstores, though I suppose an argument could be made that those are curated as well. I can’t recall browsing Amazon or other online bookstores though. At least not randomly.

I suppose I also browse top selling lists sometimes, though my tastes don’t match up well with the mainstream.

I used to be able to browse Steam and find cool new games I've never heard of. I know it's the inevitable result of the growth of digital distribution, but it still sucks. I'm just being curmudgeonly, I know.

gbasden wrote: ↑Tue Jun 19, 2018 12:25 am I used to be able to browse Steam and find cool new games I've never heard of. I know it's the inevitable result of the growth of digital distribution, but it still sucks. I'm just being curmudgeonly, I know.

I remember going into a computer store, I can’t remember the name Micro...something I think, anyway they had a wall probably 30-40 feet long, with maybe 6 shelves of Apple II games. Big boxes filled with big disks and giant manuals, the boxes had colorful pictures that didn’t remotely resemble the game inside. I browsed for hours, whenever my Dad would allow it. I bought a good number as well, many duds. So many duds.

I love Steam, I love ebooks, streaming video, all my media on my phone and/or computer, tablet, laptop, all much faster and more convienient than the giant ass, heavy brick parts of our Apple IIC, but I do miss the tactile feel of browsing in person.

I still miss Electronics Boutique, Babbages, CompUSA, and all the others. But the truth is that I wouldn't use them now even if they were still around. It's for the same reason that I don't use book stores. I've gotten too many duds based on a cover, a blurb, and a quick description. When I shop online, I have the option to research a title that catches my eye. I can read reviews, I can read samples, and I can find alternative options. If I got a dud before, it was marketing as much as anything. If I get a dud now, it's entirely on me. The same thing applies to board games.

If I do find myself in a store with computer games, books, or tabletop games and I see something I love, I usually take note of the title so that I can look into it later, and buy it online if I do (usually for far less than the store's asking price.)

I still have a box stuffed full of old gaming manuals from the days of physical purchasing. I lament that I don't get these anymore, but also admit that I haven't had to crack a game manual in quite some time. Everything I need is a Google search away.

I'm so reluctant to dispose of the manuals, though. Most of them are just cool and were nice bits of marketing in themselves.

Ditto

Ditto for me too. I miss the browsing.

Sometimes, I just drive to Best Buy to browse the heck out of the place. But normally their stuff, not just the game, are overpriced as heck. I remember walking into their black friday sale and walked out with NOTHING for the past two years.

There's nowhere to browse anything, except a couple random PC game boxes at Target. Sometimes I go to target to just look for clearance stuff.

It looks like Epic is gunning to dethrone Steam. That sentence sounds ridiculous as I type it, but if anyone's going to do it, Epic would be one with a shot at it. More from Eurogamer.

-Much-lower revenue cut
-Equal cut across all developers, rather than scalping the small guys
-Unreal Engine licesning fee is $0 for titles sold through their new platform
-They've got Fortnite as their huge anchor game to get people in the door.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

If Steam ever collapses, I'll feel justified in doing more business with GOG over the last couple of years. If GOG collapses, I'll always have my offline installers. Without Steam ... I'm not sure what they'd do for everyone who has hundreds of games through them.

Not that I'm expecting competition to cause them to collapse. They'll probably always hang around as a portion of the market.

I doubt that Epic is particularly interested in the indie games I'm interested in. If that's how it goes, hopefully Steam will still work with indie developers for indie games.

Also honestly everyone is doing that including FB and Twitch. We'll see how it shakes out but I doubt Steam is going anywhere.

Well, I've managed to avoid buying anything on Steam since I started this thread. There were a handful of Steam exclusives that I wanted, but I managed to purchase keys elsewhere, either GMG (Rise of the Tomb Raider) or on the publisher's website (Two Point Hospital, Jurassic World, Battletech DLC). I don't think I can ever stop using Steam, but it's relatively easy to stop giving them money.

The absolute last thing I want is to see Steam dethroned. Give them strong competitors to keep them consumer friendly, yes. But I want their business to be rock-solid. 14 years of investment in my hobby rely on it.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 12:39 pm The absolute last thing I want is to see Steam dethroned. Give them strong competitors to keep them consumer friendly, yes. But I want their business to be rock-solid. 14 years of investment in my hobby rely on it.

I agree with that. What I'd like to see is some actual competition to bring them around to fixing the things devs and customers complain about.

There really are so many (legit) options now to get STEAM activated games. I'd say 90% of my purchases come from Humble or Fanatical at this point as they're routinely pricing things better than STEAM does (at least outside of holiday sales).

My issue is that I currently have STEAM, Blizzard, UPlay and Origin already installed on my PC. When I go to play an Ubisoft game, invariably, that client needs an update. I never fire up Origin so I need to remember to do it every few months...and then dig out my password. Blizzard I try to do once a week or so, but it's like a job to remember to run them all to get updates. First world problems, I know, but the digital gaming world is getting to be as fragmented as the televised entertainment world.

I have taken to doing an 'everything update' every week or so. I'll sit down and open every client or launcher, plus GeForce Experience (the shortcuts are kept together anyway) just before lunch or running to the store. When I get done, everything is up to date, and it is regular enough that it doesn't time out my logins. When I get back I close them, install any new drivers that GeForce Experience has downloaded, and restart my system. The whole things requires maybe two minutes of active participation on my part.

To be fair, now that I have a legit internet connection, it's not as bad as it used to be. Prior to a few months ago, I'd go to play a game and it might actually be hours before I could launch something. Regardless, I do appreciate having a choice, particularly when it has financial impact.

And then there's Windows Task Scheduler.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 12:59 pm There really are so many (legit) options now to get STEAM activated games. I'd say 90% of my purchases come from Humble or Fanatical at this point as they're routinely pricing things better than STEAM does (at least outside of holiday sales).

My issue is that I currently have STEAM, Blizzard, UPlay and Origin already installed on my PC. When I go to play an Ubisoft game, invariably, that client needs an update. I never fire up Origin so I need to remember to do it every few months...and then dig out my password. Blizzard I try to do once a week or so, but it's like a job to remember to run them all to get updates. First world problems, I know, but the digital gaming world is getting to be as fragmented as the televised entertainment world.

No Epic?

If their core market is people that play Fortnight, I'm not sure they're looking for my business.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 1:59 pm If their core market is people that play Fortnight, I'm not sure they're looking for my business.

This.

Lorini wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 12:16 pm Also honestly everyone is doing that including FB and Twitch. We'll see how it shakes out but I doubt Steam is going anywhere.

Discord too, just to add another odd company getting into the online store business.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 1:59 pm If their core market is people that play Fortnight, I'm not sure they're looking for my business.

I imagine that they very much want your business (aka money). Launching with a popular cornerstone game to encourage early uptake of the service is just good business sense -- that's how Steam got rolling, after all.

I have never played Fortnite, nor have I watched that much of it. I was under the impression that it was just another battle royale game with a Team Fortress style aesthetic. Is there something about it to make it's audience so undesirable?

It's brightly-colored, free to play, and attracts the kid demographic.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 3:32 pm I have never played Fortnite, nor have I watched that much of it. I was under the impression that it was just another battle royale game with a Team Fortress style aesthetic. Is there something about it to make it's audience so undesirable?

No... unless you are a community of old fogeys.

Also, it turns out that Steam Spy was, well, a literal Steam Spy...

coopasonic wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 3:52 pmNo... unless you are a community of old fogeys.

If the entire point of a game is to have you pay real dollars to purchase haircuts, pants or some other in-game flair that has little (if any) impact on the game itself? I guess I'm an old fogey. Kindly extricate yourselves from my yard. I think that's why I'm suspect of this new platform. Fortnight (at least to my old-man eyes) seemingly exists to separate tweens from their money (via their parents). I'd rather give my kid a few dollars so she can go to the mall and see a Star War.

You guys are so old and unhip you don't even know only unhip olds call it anything but Forknife.

Z-Corn wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:40 pm You guys are so old and unhip you don't even know only unhip olds call it anything but Forknife.

Or that the game is actually called Fortnite.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:46 pm

Z-Corn wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:40 pm You guys are so old and unhip you don't even know only unhip olds call it anything but Forknife.

Or that the game is actually called Fortnite.

Wait, what?

I only know about it because I read it in Reader's Digest.

Competition is good.

What I don't like is game publishers running the online stores because I can't buy all of my games in one place. Especially when I have to use Origin. Man it sucks.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:46 pmOr that the game is actually called Fortnite.

Kids today with their simplified spelling! Either be intentionally wrong or spell it the correct way. We played Mortal Kombat and liked it, dammit!

"Amid Fortnite's Success, New Unreal Tournament Stops Development At Epic Games"

noooooooooooo

JCC wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 7:00 pm Competition is good.

What I don't like is game publishers running the online stores because I can't buy all of my games in one place. Especially when I have to use Origin. Man it sucks.

In this particular space, competition is a pain in the neck So many different clients and trying to remember what is where. I love Steam where I can put my games in categories and then when I want to play a game of that type, I just scan the category. No rummaging around in my brain trying to remember the name of the client for the game I want to play.

I'm sure that Blackhawk has a spreadsheet design he can share with us.

There are tools that already exist for organizing your games across platforms. I forget which one I downloaded... Whichever one it was had options for tagging and I think it even brought in my steam tags.

Or you can take my approach--if it ain't on Steam, I ain't buying it.

Unless/until one platform in particular exceeds Steam, and I move wholesale to it going forward.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Wed Dec 05, 2018 10:25 am I'm sure that Blackhawk has a spreadsheet design he can share with us.

I do, but I barely bother to maintain it anymore. This is because...

coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Dec 05, 2018 10:32 am There are tools that already exist for organizing your games across platforms. I forget which one I downloaded... Whichever one it was had options for tagging and I think it even brought in my steam tags.

...I researched these quite a bit. I tried a few. I ended up with Playnite. it is free. It is open source. It is updated regularly. Once you set it up - which is fast - you end up with a window that looks a lot like the Steam library view, but includes games from Steam, GoG, Origin, Uplay, Twitch, and Battle.net, and Bethesda, all of which are updated automatically with your current libraries. Other games can be added manually. The only problem I've seen is that it can only detect Uplay games if they're already installed, but that isn't a huge deal, as I try to avoid Uplay as much as possible anyway.

For 15 minutes of setup work, it is worth it. And unlike Steam, it has never randomly forgotten my settings and sorting for hundreds of games. Multiple times.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Dec 05, 2018 10:32 am There are tools that already exist for organizing your games across platforms. I forget which one I downloaded... Whichever one it was had options for tagging and I think it even brought in my steam tags.

In my day we used a folder and alias, and most of us didn’t bother to use the folder!