i think they have a cheek charging that much cash for a patch? i'm going to pick up the 20p version next time i'm in town. £15.99 price difference because they added the letters hd to title, no thx.
It's a total graphical overhaul. It's not exactly reasonable to call it a "patch."
Yeah... It's rebuilt from the ground up correct? I think $20 is very reasonable for it. The original Serious Sam probably cost what $30-40 when it was released?
The only difference between this and any other game is they new what they had to create.
Funny thing is, console gamers are expected to pay $40 for God of War Collection, which isn't even a remake. It's just God of War 1&2 made PS3 compatible, with the exact same graphics, but rendered at 720p with AA and a higher frame rate. Which is something *every* PC game released this century can do on a modern computer for free. And not only are they happy to pay this, but they're begging permission to pay for ICO and SotC a second time as well.
Funny thing is, console gamers are expected to pay $40 for God of War Collection, which isn't even a remake. It's just God of War 1&2 made PS3 compatible, with the exact same graphics, but rendered at 720p with AA and a higher frame rate. Which is something *every* PC game released this century can do on a modern computer for free. And not only are they happy to pay this, but they're begging permission to pay for ICO and SotC a second time as well.
however console gamers tend to buy & resell at highest rates
at least in france the used market for console games is very present in physical shops.
How much do *you* actually get for selling a used console game? The used market might be very present, but chances are it's only the retailers who are getting anything estimable out of it. Stores like EBGames make most of their profits from used games - they'll give a $50 coupon towards a Wii in exchange for two full priced games, and then sell them for $5 off the normal price.
Back to Steam quirks :
-no error messages when install can't complete because servers are too busy. It just won't finish and you'll have to try the download again later, from the start.
-Fraps may not work in certain games. Shows 0 fps or even prevents game launch. Really depends on the game, but totally linked to Steam.
-embedded IE. The Steam client may open IE pop-ups, e.g for Paypal transactions. You're much better off browsing the store from inside your usual non-IE browser.
I don't think I will ever use Steam to buy just-released, full-priced games, let alone preorder/preload stuff. As for special offers though, it's a neverending party :oops: 4€ for Mirror's Edge or Zeno Clash ?! I'm too weak to turn my back on that, even if that means installing a stupid client app to download and activate the games. At such prices, quirks are just quirks, nothing to complain about, really.
I too like it for the cheap games. Weekenddeals are great. At first i only used it to play HL2 and CSS (which i bought in a store, not through Steam). But now i see myself buying more and more games through steam. Although i still don't buy my new games there. It's quite pricy. Modern Warfare 2 is € 60,00 on steam. In the store it was just € 35,00.
Upside Never have to worry about scratched or lost disks
Always patched within a reasonable amount of time
The biggest sell for me Reloading games after reformatting the HD is as easy click and wait...no re-entering keys, etc
Downside Miss reading through a game manual for the first time (or re-reading for clues)
Box and disc artwork
The excitement of running home and loading up a new game (depending on the game and time of the day,
a new larger game can take forever to download!)
I do love finding the sales and getting cheap games, but fear just as CD's killed the art of the album, Direct to drive games sales will kill the art of the manual and even the box.
Anyone old enough to remember the amazing packages games came in before they standardized the boxes for retailers 'convenience'?
Anyone old enough to remember the amazing packages games came in before they standardized the boxes for retailers 'convenience'?
I do and I'm glad I don't have a truckload of huge square cardboard packages to worry about... My truckload of standardized DVD-boxed games is enough trouble. I love thick game manuals, poster maps and the casual artbook though. No pdf version can quite replace that, it's not just the "pixel content" that's so cool about it.
Can't blame Steam for the cons of DD as a whole, though. :wink:
[quote]Anyone old enough to remember the amazing packages games came in before they standardized the boxes for retailers 'convenience'?
I do and I'm glad I don't have a truckload of huge square cardboard packages to worry about... My truckload of standardized DVD-boxed games is enough trouble. I love thick game manuals, poster maps and the casual artbook though. No pdf version can quite replace that, it's not just the "pixel content" that's so cool about it.
Can't blame Steam for the cons of DD as a whole, though. :wink:
Remember when they weren't even squares sometimes? ie.: Tomb Raider's weird trapezoid thing
blerg
I miss some of the better boxes. I was replaying Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb earlier this year and it had an awesome booklet that mimicked Indy's writings and newspaper clippings and I said "I miss this stuff!"
I think the reason that doesn't deter me from Steam is because no one does it anymore anyway. I went through a boxed retail period for a while not long ago and everything I got basically was a disc in a plastic case with a two-page manual.
Manual art is not dead at all my friend (although marginal), and the pdf format helps it survive even through digital distribution. I do love poster maps and thick manuals and the casual glossy artbook, but I don't miss the big cardboard boxes at all - my truckload-sized collection of standardized DVD game boxes is enough trouble.
We can't blame Steam for all the limitations of DD anyway ;)
I very much like steam for non-subscription based games and would even be willing to pay a premium for a game on Steam VS a disc and CD key.
The ability to keep all m games "in the cloud" versus in a desk drawer is quite comforting. I feel like I can't loose them this way. Also consolidated automatic updates FTW!
But for a subscription based game like EVE Online I wouldn't dream of using steam. My account is already "in the cloud" and using steam just reduces the developers income. Not only this but there have been some problems with the steam version of the EVE client that are not experienced by non-steam users.
Steam would provide one benefit, auto updating/patching of EVE, while this is appealing it wont make a deal.
It's really annoying to me that I go back and forth on Steam. One month I love it and buy all my games there, the next I hate it and search for retail copies.
One big factor for me is that in 2003 I went through a "no more games" period and sold my massive collection of PC and Playstation games. I stayed away from games for a year and never even thought of playing them until the Doom 3 hype got me to play the game at a friend's and then I think Final Fantasy X-2 came out at roughly the same time and I was hooked all over again. I have been building back my old collection ever since and Steam offers me an easy way to do that with incredibly cheap sales at times that are hard to ignore. Does one pay $50 for KotOR on ebay or $10 on Steam? It is almost a no-brainer.
Yet I do love the packaging and more importantly the sense of actual ownership that comes with a boxed copy. So I go back and forth.
As convenient as steam is, I miss buying, racing home and loading up a new game. With the number stores carrying a decent range of PC games or the new releases, its not unusual for me to drive to a couple of stores.
Then if I do find it, it has to be registered or load up through Steam.......arrrrgh.
