Octopus Overlords

Np with Uplay here. I had to reinstall the Bethesda launcher tonight for that free Morrowind. That brings my installed launcher / stores to 12.

I agree completely. Ubi and Uplay are the bottom of the barrel when it comes to customer friendly. Ubisoft is utterly obnoxious.

People like facebook too.

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:38 pm

Rumpy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:35 pm You know, I think the practice of selling a game on a platform such as Steam and still requiring another service on top of that I feel is just as bad as an exclusive. In fact, it's probably worse. I'm eyeing Ubisoft on that one. Some of their games are available on Steam (they might have been removing them though?), yet they still require Uplay and won't function without some sort of Uplay activation. That's some BS right there. And I don't think it's really fair to the customer to have to install another service/marketplace in order to be able to play it.

Nobody likes Ubisoft and Uplay. Well, mostly nobody. I'm sure someone here will be along to look around perplexed wondering what the big deal is. Anyway, it might be the worst of the lot. They have engaged in some business practices that have been actively hostile to their customers in the past. I own some Ubisoft games and have Uplay installed, but I'm not happy about it and mostly go out of my way to avoid them.

Yeah, because I mostly see it as a way for them to drive people to their store rather than being out of convenience. Without the service, some of their games on Steam won't get activated if not present and flat out crash when trying to start them. Sounds like strongarm tactics to me.

Zenn7 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:02 pm

The Meal wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2019 5:04 pm September 19, 2010. NEVER FORGET.

OK, I'll be the first to ask...

What did I already forget about that date?

WYBaugh wrote: ↑Sun Sep 19, 2010 12:35 pm Well, this sucks:

Dear GOG users,

We have recently had to give serious thought to whether we could really keep GOG.com the way it is. We've debated on it for quite some time and, unfortunately, we've decided that GOG.com simply cannot remain in its current form.

We're very grateful for all support we've received from all of you in the past two years. Working on GOG.com was a great adventure for all of us and an unforgettable journey to the past, through the long and wonderful history of PC gaming.

This doesn't mean the idea behind GOG.com is gone forever. We're closing down the service and putting this era behind us as new challenges await.

On a technical note, this week we'll put in place a solution to allow everyone to re-download their games. Stay tuned to this page and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates.

All the best,
GOG.com Team

http://www.gog.com/" target="_blank

September 22, 2010: It's a hoax.

$0 from The Meal since that marketing ploy.

GoG's PR exists in a seemingly perpetual state of, "It seemed like a good idea at the time..."

The Meal wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2019 12:39 am
September 22, 2010: It's a hoax.

$0 from The Meal since that marketing ploy.

Jeebus, my stomach took a plunge. Given their recent financial trouble with GOG, I thought this was a very recent announcement. Until I saw the date.

As soon as I can afford some extra storage, I'm planning on downloading my GoG library. Just in case.

/edit - to clarify, I'm referring to the recent layoffs and rumbles of severe financial issues, not the old hoax.

Bethesda bucks the trend and sells games on Steam.

Bethesda are backing down from plans to make Rage 2 and other upcoming games exclusive to their own launcher, announcing today via Twitter that they’ll all be sold on Steam. Confirmed headed back to Valve’s storefront is Rage 2, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, VR spinoff Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot and (most importantly) Doom Eternal. The move will be partially retroactive as well, with Fallout 76 confirmed for a Steam release “later this year”, although no date has been nailed down for that yet.

Well they do want to make the most money.

Good. Hopefully they'll allow people who bought it on their launcher to also download it on Steam (but probably not.)

I suspect it will still require their launcher to install/etc. They dont say it will not and I would think you would clarify that if it was to be perceived as a positive. Im leaning towards this working like Uplay on steam. One launcher, launching another launcher that launches the game. Fun.

So, if you buy a new Elder Scrolls title (to be released), you'll have one launcher launching another launcher to launch another launcher to launch the game?

I just broke the word 'launch' in my brain. I no longer recognize it as a word.

Yeah, that's what's so silly about the launcher thing. It makes sense for MMOs. But why do I need to launch another store to get to the game I bought at another store? That's not convenience. Simplicity is key, yet these publishers have to make it so complex to get to your game. If I had wanted to get to your store, I would have in the first place. Shoving stores in our faces is not going to make me want to shop there.

The Verge

Fortnite creator Epic Games announced today that it’s acquired the independent game development studio Psyonix, makers of the massively popular vehicular soccer game Rocket League.

As a result of the deal, Psyonix says it will have access to more resources to support Rocket League’s competitive e-sports league and, by late 2019, will bring the game to Epic’s PC storefront.

After that, it sounds like Rocket League will no longer be available on Valve’s competing Steam store, though buyers of the Steam version can continue to play their existing copy of the game indefinitely and continue to receive support, which Variety is reporting includes downloadable content, patches, and all other future content.

Here’s the bit that makes it sound like Rocket League’s days on Steam are numbered (bolding ours):

“The PC version of Rocket League will come to the Epic Games store in late 2019. In the meantime, it will continue to be available for purchase on Steam; thereafter it will continue to be supported on Steam for all existing purchasers.”

*sigh* I just hope this doesn't mean that even on Steam we'll have to go through their launcher to play the game.

Publishers pull their games from Epic store during sale:

“If a developer or publisher chooses to not participate in our sales, we will honor that decision,” the Epic rep said in an email. “Paradox Interactive has chosen to not participate in the Epic Mega Sale and the game has been temporarily removed from sale. If you’ve purchased Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 during the period when the discount did apply at the time of check out, Epic will honor that price.”

...

The structure of this sale, after all, is unusual; the additional $10 off games priced $14.99 and higher comes “courtesy of Epic,” meaning that Epic itself is taking the monetary hit, so companies like Paradox and Klei can’t easily match those prices on Steam. In Paradox’s case, it’s doubly dicey, seeing as Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 isn’t out yet. Why pre-order it anywhere else if Epic could, theoretically, discount it again before it’s released? Some people have pointed to regional pricing differences that would’ve led to impractically large discounts on an unreleased game in some territories, as well.

The Epic sale has me seriously considering jumping over... $10 for subnautica below zero, $22 for outward, $20 for satisfactory, $50 for borderlands 3... that extra $10 off is very nice.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 8:07 pm $50 for borderlands 3... that extra $10 off is very nice.

No such luck, from what I can see. They've changed the price to "Coming Soon" and won't let you pre-purchase it at the moment. Maybe Gearbox doesn't like this sale any more than Paradox did.

Max Peck wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 8:36 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 8:07 pm $50 for borderlands 3... that extra $10 off is very nice.

No such luck, from what I can see. They've changed the price to "Coming Soon" and won't let you pre-purchase it at the moment. Maybe Gearbox doesn't like this sale any more than Paradox did.

I actually had the purchase screen and didn't buy it... oh well.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 8:07 pm $10 for subnautica below zero

I jumped on that this morning, as did my son. I'm not messing with the early access this time, though. It spoiled too much of the finished product on the first one (not that I haven't still played it through 2 1/2 times since release.)

One app to list them all, one app to find them, one app to bring them all and on your desktop bind them...

GOG GALAXY 2.0. All your games and friends in one place.

There are two things that matter to all of us gamers: the games we play and the friends we play them with. But as more titles come with dedicated launchers and clients, our games and gaming buddies become scattered in between them. With GOG GALAXY 2.0, you’ll be able to combine multiple libraries into one and connect with your friends across all gaming platforms!

“As gamers, we need to juggle between multiple clients to access our games and see what our friends are playing,” says Piotr Karwowski, Managing Director at GOG. “We believe gamers deserve a better experience, and this became the driving force to redefine GOG GALAXY client,” Karwowski adds. “GOG GALAXY 2.0 is designed for all gamers and extends well beyond existing GOG.COM users, into both PC and console platforms.”

Once you connect GOG GALAXY 2.0 with other platforms, it will import all your games into one library. You will see your friends activities and online status across connected platforms. All new library and friends features apply to your GOG.COM games and enhance your experience. And it’s designed to protect your privacy – your data belongs to you and will never be shared with third parties. We see it as an all-in-one solution for the present-day gamer.

Max Peck wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 8:36 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 8:07 pm $50 for borderlands 3... that extra $10 off is very nice.

No such luck, from what I can see. They've changed the price to "Coming Soon" and won't let you pre-purchase it at the moment. Maybe Gearbox doesn't like this sale any more than Paradox did.

I was able to buy it before they pulled it.

Regarding GOG Galaxy, when it was originally in beta, It was fairly barebones and it still somewhat is, but It's come to become quite a good platform and I like that it's lean. This new version looks to be pretty good too with many expanded features. Although I've never been a fan of connecting other services and won't likely use that feature. It does seem like an expanded version of GOG Connect though.

FWIW, I've been doing the same thing for a while now with Playnite. And it doesn't involve actually connecting the various services, just using the publicly available information and generating links through their own clients to make it look like they're all in there.

I know we've had this conversation before, but I hadn't realized just how scummy G2A is. They are now paying for targeted ads that appear in searches above the website for the game devs. Because many keys are being purchased with stolen credit cards it actually costs the devs money. They are publicly requesting people torrent their games rather than going through G2A.

Rami Ismail of studio Vlambeer elaborated further, saying “If you can’t afford or don’t want to buy our games full-price, please pirate them rather than buying them from a key reseller. These sites cost us so much potential dev time in customer service, investigating fake key requests, figuring out credit card chargebacks, and more”.

More shots fired, this time from Ubisoft:

Speaking to the New York Times, Early said Ubisoft decided to stop selling its latest blockbuster games on Steam because Valve will not budge on its revenue sharing model, where Steam keeps 30 percent of a game's sale price.

“It’s unrealistic, the current business model that they have,” he said. “It doesn’t reflect where the world is today in terms of game distribution.” Early explained that the decision to not sell The Division 2 on Valve's platform was made as part of a larger business discussion at Ubisoft in regards to releasing games on Steam.

The upshot of this competition to cut the revenue of the platforms hosting the games is cheaper overall game prices for consumers, right?

Its hard to care about which big company is picking another big company's pockets when nothing changes for me, though I'm very familiar with Steam's software and haven't heard anything good about Epic's that would make me want to buy from them. I expect that Steam will either die fighting this battle or get their shit together and compete. I'd rather not have the 300 titles I have on their platform become inaccessible.

As far as downloading and playing games Epic is fine (we'll find out for sure in two weeks when Borderlands 3 hits), but from a feature standpoint, Epic has a lot of ground to cover... like *all* of it. It's kind of shocking they have launched and gone this long without basic features like a wishlist.

Paingod wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 9:30 am The upshot of this competition to cut the revenue of the platforms hosting the games is cheaper overall game prices for consumers, right?

Game prices haven't budged in decades, and won't now. And if you take inflation into account, game prices have dropped considerably.

What we stand to gain in the short term is competition, by which I mean the retailers competing for us. If Epic actually starts making a dent in Steam's revenue, we could see Steam sales actually mean something again, and Epic is already giving away tons of free product.

What we stand to gain in the long term is Valve not having a monopoly on our hobby. Valve has been fairly benign, but what about five years from now? Ten? If the current big wigs step down (or have a heart attack...), who takes over? What is Valve 2.0 like? What if they take their monopoly and start using it, becoming consumer-hostile, openly selling our data for more profits, lowering their support budget to save money? Reducing developer cuts and placing hostile restrictions on them? And what if, should this happen, there is no competition breathing down their neck, and we all (developers and consumers) just have sit there and accept it? Obviously this is all just 'what ifs', but I'm more comfortable having a competitive marketplace. Let them fight over me, and should one turn into assholes, let me have an established alternative that I can turn to.

But yes, Epic needs to get some basic functionality in place. Wishlists, a proper cart, a friends list (it'll be a pain setting up BL3 groups without it...), etc. Of course, Valve has a 15-year head start on them, so it'll take a while. And, to be honest, I really don't want or need another full gaming service. Just a solid storefront with good support and matchmaking is plenty.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 9:41 am As far as downloading and playing games Epic is fine (we'll find out for sure in two weeks when Borderlands 3 hits), but from a feature standpoint, Epic has a lot of ground to cover... like *all* of it. It's kind of shocking they have launched and gone this long without basic features like a wishlist.

Yeah, I'm really surprised at how little the Epic Games Store has evolved since launch. There's still no way to sort or search for games, which is a problem when they offer 100+ titles. There's no wishlist. There's no shopping cart, so you can't buy more than one game at a time, which is just weird.

These are all basic functions that would help them sell more games. None of this affects me in any significant way, but as an observer it's puzzling.

I think game prices have changed quite alot lately. Yes retail is still $59, but we're seeing games go on sale much faster and much lower than before. Unless your Call of Duty they usually stay near retail for quite some time.

A couple of other entries that need to be added:

Google Stadia
xBox Game Pass

I think one or both will be big players and they appear to have a pretty good head start in the direction of the sector.

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 3:43 pm xBox Game Pass

This requires xbox to get back on top to really be a player in my mind. I was all xbox, but still bought sony and nintendo offerings) until current gen and ps4 has crushed xbox this generation to the point that I probably won't even buy the next gen xbox. Also game pass is only supplementary unless you are ok with just playing whatever is available.

Both of those require a custom hardware purchase.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 3:53 pm Both of those require a custom hardware purchase.

True, though both are cheaper than a good video card (definition of good being just good enough to make my point valid).

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 3:53 pm Both of those require a custom hardware purchase.

Game Pass Ultimate works with windows.

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 3:56 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 3:53 pm Both of those require a custom hardware purchase.

Game Pass Ultimate works with windows.

One of those requires custom hardware.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 9:41 am As far as downloading and playing games Epic is fine (we'll find out for sure in two weeks when Borderlands 3 hits), but from a feature standpoint, Epic has a lot of ground to cover... like *all* of it. It's kind of shocking they have launched and gone this long without basic features like a wishlist.

I bought my first game from Epic (Control) and I noticed that the speeds were not competitive to Steam. I can max out my pipe (~20 MB/s) from Steam. Epic maxed out at 4 MB/s. In fact, I was feeling cheeky so I fired up a Steam download at the same time and it happily tapped into the 15 MB/s available to it. This wouldn't be a big deal if they had pre-loading...but that is another feature that is missing.

That said, the AAA games sell themselves and the PC market is declining in general; so Steam doesn't have a lot of room to maneuver here. They are going to have to change their model or watch Epic not even have to pay to get AAA titles onto their platform.

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Aug 30, 2019 7:20 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 9:41 am As far as downloading and playing games Epic is fine (we'll find out for sure in two weeks when Borderlands 3 hits), but from a feature standpoint, Epic has a lot of ground to cover... like *all* of it. It's kind of shocking they have launched and gone this long without basic features like a wishlist.

I bought my first game from Epic (Control) and I noticed that the speeds were not competitive to Steam. I can max out my pipe (~20 MB/s) from Steam. Epic maxed out at 4 MB/s. In fact, I was feeling cheeky so I fired up a Steam download at the same time and it happily tapped into the 15 MB/s available to it. This wouldn't be a big deal if they had pre-loading...but that is another feature that is missing.

I just ran a quick test on Epic, downloading For Honor which looked like the biggest thing I had that wasn't already installed and it was running around 98MB/s. I started downloading XCOM2 on steam and am seeing 83-88 MB/s.