Steam does have its advantages. It has a good sized community, reasonably helpful support (albeit with some issues), automatic patch updates, excellent sales, possible cloud syncing between machines, a legitimate compromise to the issue of DRM, and the ability to store shortcuts (whether Steam or not) to all your games in one single library.
Look at what happened to music prices when iTunes came about. Look at what happened to game prices on PC when Steam became a standard. Look at Netflix and other streaming options. Face it, digital distribution as a standard rather than as a side business drives prices down.
Not bashing Steam or digital distribution. As much as I love my physical copies, I've accepted the fact that this generation may be the last generation we get of brick-and-mortar gaming. And I'm okay with it, mostly because I'm running out of shelf space in my room.
What I don't like is that I can't PLAY anything right now. If my machine could run Skyrim, yeah, bring on the digital version. If I didn't need the Xbox Live Network to "Gay Bomb" online Soul Calibur 5, I'd try it out. If there was some way I could enjoy SW:TOR without having to deal with EA.... okay, that's asking too much, but still. You get my point now, right?
Actually, the state I'm in right now, I'd welcome EA to provoke me even more. The anger release would be more cathartic. As you will understand, using Origin needed a huge portion of resignation on my part. And I want my anger back.
Oh, so I take it you didn't hear about how EA's CEO is forcing all their single-player game titles into multi-player or social gaming avenues, with the next title being The Sims 3? Yeah, they're doing that, and all those people who have been long time franchise fans are saying how they don't want it and that EA is stupid for claiming that Single-Player Games are Dead.
Oh, so I take it you didn't hear about how EA's CEO is forcing all their single-player game titles into multi-player or social gaming avenues, with the next title being The Sims 3? Yeah, they're doing that, and all those people who have been long time franchise fans are saying how they don't want it and that EA is stupid for claiming that Single-Player Games are Dead.
A lot of companies are going this direction including Valve. I, for one, am mostly a single player campaign fellow and also find this trend disheartening. A lot of gameplay focus is going to be on multiplayer and not single.
A lot of companies are going this direction including Valve. I, for one, am mostly a single player campaign fellow and also find this trend disheartening. A lot of gameplay focus is going to be on multiplayer and not single.
Same here. I don't need multiplayer in games. Most of those multiplayer modes will be dead after 12 months anyways. Just see the Bioshock 2 multiplayer. I didn't even remember this game had a MP mode.
Over here music prices are the same. We actually still buy a quite large amount of CDs. I personally never bought anything from iTunes. The only digital music I own is on Steam.
I don't support Apple if I can avoid it, so I buy music from Amazon. I like Amazon a lot, and I have also not bought a physical audio CD in quite a while.
Reasons why I avoid buying from Apple are because their products are overpriced, have highly proprietary leanings, and are user friendly (read:dumbed down) to a fricken fault (I hate the iTunes software). I also used to use a cloud-based music service called Lala.com in which any song could be listened to once in full for free; I could purchase a streaming version of any song for 10 cents each (and stream it from the web unlimited times), or purchase the same song as a (256k bitrate) mp3 for $1 each (or cheaper per song if purchasing full albums). Apple bought Lala.com and promptly shut them down, then I got a coupon in my e-mail saying that my purchases had been converted into iTunes coupons.
I don't support Apple if I can avoid it, so I buy music from Amazon. I like Amazon a lot, and I have also not bought a physical audio CD in quite a while.
Reasons why I avoid buying from Apple are because their products are overpriced, have highly proprietary leanings, and are user friendly (read:dumbed down) to a fricken fault (I hate the iTunes software). I also used to use a cloud-based music service called Lala.com in which any song could be listened to once in full for free; I could purchase a streaming version of any song for 10 cents each (and stream it from the web unlimited times), or purchase the same song as a (256k bitrate) mp3 for $1 each (or cheaper per song if purchasing full albums). Apple bought Lala.com and promptly shut them down, then I got a coupon in my e-mail saying that my purchases had been converted into iTunes coupons.
-.-
Luckily, the actual MP3s from iTunes are DRM-free. You can download your songs, delete the iTunes software, and use whatever you want to continue playing them(a lot of the streaming functionality can be restored by using a service like Amazon's or Google's music-streaming initiatives).
God damn it, Johro! This whole thing has got me all hot and mad now to the point where I went to my Amazon Wish List to see what "new games" I still want but can't afford right now.
And surprise, surprise! The reason I can't afford them is because I still don't have a PS3 or a XBOX360. And with the console cycle coming to an end in the next year or two (as projected, but who the hell really knows), I bet that will be the only time I can afford the $300 price tag for both systems (if I'm not spending that much already on my loans).
As far as titles go? Arkham Asylum is $20. New, and from the publisher. But that's because nobody is playing it. Everyone else is playing Arkham City, which is still $55 new. Red Dead Redemption is $30 new from the publisher now.
Right now, given my economic state, the only games I could buy are BioShock 1 and 2, which total out to $30 for both of them! ($20 for BioShock 1, $10 for BioShock 2), but I wouldn't be able to play it. It'd be like the Penny Arcade comic where Gabe bought Uncharted for the Vita a week before the Vita even gets released for the US. So what would be the point? To have it sit on my shelf until I can afford a used Xbox?
BLAAHRGHG!! Why does this bother me so much?! Maybe it is because I can't take my rage out on virtual people anymore because I don't have aggressive shooters like Saint Row 3 because I don't have a computer powerful enough to run it! I guess that's what I get for investing my personal savings into a graphics card and RAM isntead of actual gaming systems, so there's only myself to blame.
I'm going to go back to facebook and play Frogger Pinball, since these are the only games I can play these days. And then once I'm bored, I'm going off to adultswim.com and play that game where a luchador beats up gummie bears.
Dude. I don't have a ton of spare cash either, but I've found the best thing to do is to wait for a Steam sale. I got Bioshock for five bucks during the Summer Camp sale and Fallout: New Vegas for fifteen bucks (and this was only a year or so after release) as well as a few other games at drastically discounted prices. There's also Onlive if you've got a decent internet connection and for awhile they had a promotion where you could get any game from their library for a dollar. Hence I ended up with LA Noire. Haven't tried it out yet because it makes the internet go wickedly slow for my roommates, but whatever.
Really, I find that gaming is switching from buying used to buying on sale. And since there's downloads, the sales I've found have been much better than the used games I used to buy.
Todays sale prices are yesterdays used prices.
(Over here in the UK at least!)
Seriously. I buy almost all of my games new. With Steam, GOG, and Online retailers like Amazon, I normally get games for about 50% cheaper when they are on sale than a USED copy in retail.
Luckily, the actual MP3s from iTunes are DRM-free. You can download your songs, delete the iTunes software, and use whatever you want to continue playing them(a lot of the streaming functionality can be restored by using a service like Amazon's or Google's music-streaming initiatives).
This is true.
I also disapprove of many people's attitude as though the sun rises and sets on Apple products. Certainly, they use effective marketing tactics, and their hardware products are generally of good quality, but I don't believe that they deserve the praises (and near idol worship it would seem) that many people give them.
I was going to bitch about this anyway, so imagine my surprise that it's actually on topic.
It's really pissing me off that all of the video game tie-in apps (most recently, the one for Skyrim, less recently for Arkham City, Dead Island, and others) are exclusive to iOS.
I was going to bitch about this anyway, so imagine my surprise that it's actually on topic.
It's really pissing me off that all of the video game tie-in apps (most recently, the one for Skyrim, less recently for Arkham City, Dead Island, and others) are exclusive to iOS.
What would you prefer? PC/Mac or Android? Which avenue are you upset that it isn't being explored?
I don't want to sound like a sap, but sometimes I get depressingly lonely, you know.
I'm way too needy for my own good really. I may act really independently in social circumstances, but in all honesty I don't think I really am.
I need some more friends, real life friends, and I haven't really connected with anyone this year at uni.
(If I was a Sims character, my social bar would be flashing red right now!)
Okay, so I got really friendly with those Swedish girls, but as soon as they left (they were only there for one semester), I now feel empty. Really empty.
I did fancy them, but I really valued them as people that could have really been my friends if we had more time together.
And people say to me, just go out there, and throw yourself at people, but as hard as I try, (and trust me I try really hard), I'm struggling to find the courage to talk to people.
I've always been like that. Always.
Unless I instantly hit it off with a person, (I had maybe a small handful of people that I instantly was friends with, one of those being my best friend), I just struggle to bond with people.
At work, I just do as I do. I don't talk to people no matter how much I want to, (there is a group of people that talk about videogames sometimes, and I just itch to say something). It normally has to be someone that approaches me for me to converse with them.
Again, its just a self-fufilling prophecy. My cold exterior in unsafe environments makes most people afraid to approach me, therefore I never usually talk to anyone.
And even in the first year, when I had a group of people to hang with, to almost be proper friends with, they were kind of endeared, but also bewildered by not just the way I talk, (my upbrining is for most circumstances, quite irregular), but what I talk about.
I am the alien. I speak an entirely different language. They never got anything I'd say. I'm Mr. Pop-culture when I talk. Videogame and old movie/tv shows just ooze out of me.
My best friend gets all of it, he's a smart guy, we have similar backgrounds, similar tastes, stuff only a handful of people out there would ever know and experience.
I think that prevented other people from really getting to know me. And I kind of made people feel a little bit awkward by kind of having to be very vocal and honest about myself, say a few things that might have been better left unsaid, just so that I could provide some context, for people to actually understand what I am, what I do, how I feel/think.
I usually ended up controlling conversations, just because I had to say a lot of stuff. I might like talking about myself, but I feel like a jackass afterwards because I robbed someone of the opportunity to speak.
Anna didn't mind it so much, because she found what I said to be interesting, and she would comment about the parallels and differences between our lifestyles, (and she would prompt Jessica into the conversation), but I could clearly see that Jessica didn't have as much patience for my monologues.
And when I do speak about myself I am like that. I practically monologue.
I speak out to people a bit, rather than speak to them.
I feel uncomfortable about that, and I can see why others do too.
Sometimes I can't even look directly at people when I speak to them. I catch that too.
And if I am self-aware about my own quirks, then it must be obvious and a bit disturbing to others.
Normally I can deal with my loneliness. I can shake it off. I can get much needed feedback from my best friend, and it soothes the pain and makes it bearable.
But he's been so busy lately, and I'm getting into that funk again.
This slowly growing sadness, is hitting my motivational drive quite hard, (and I have pretty low drive to begin with), and I'm developing apathy for almost everything.
Even the things I love so much: Videogames!
I guess thats why I've gone shopping with my mother at every opportunity lately.
Just a bit of time spent having a bit of fun, buying stuff I don't realistically need, (just kind of making excuses to go out), trying not to worry about this issue pressing in my mind.
I think I'm going to go to bed soon. Maybe go out tomorrow, to the library.
Take the Caanoo, my laptop, my notes, and my iPhone with me.
Just do some studying for the day. Maybe I'll strike up a conversation with someone there.
(Hopefully they will have a power socket somewhere to charge my lappy up. Maybe I'll go to McDonalds and get some burgers and use the internet)
I can't just spend time here at home. Its too distracting. I need to get to a neutral environment and focus on the uni work that needs to be done this week.
(I need to worry less about my petty problems, and get serious for a moment. (Man! I really am quite pathetic sometimes.) Work needs to get done. Assignments need to be planned and worked on. The little soppy dramatic "oh woe is me" persona is going to have to take a backseat now. He's had his vent time, he's going back into the box. We'll deal with his problems later. I'm going to set my alarm nice and early, go to bed, get up, have breakfast, shower, get my stuff together, go to the library in town, and find a nice quiet desk to sit down and work!)
I get lonely, too RV. When I get lonely, I draw and paint. I only have two really good friends here at uni- most of my friends are scattered around the world-literally. But I'd rather have a few close friends than just barely know a lot of people.
Comments
Okay, fair enough. Although I must say that I'm not bothered about post count.
Also, I'm not sure that my crappy doodles technically qualify as "art", general or otherwise.
The creative urge is obviously there. Now go on finding a way to cultivate and canalize that energy!
Not bashing Steam or digital distribution. As much as I love my physical copies, I've accepted the fact that this generation may be the last generation we get of brick-and-mortar gaming. And I'm okay with it, mostly because I'm running out of shelf space in my room.
What I don't like is that I can't PLAY anything right now. If my machine could run Skyrim, yeah, bring on the digital version. If I didn't need the Xbox Live Network to "Gay Bomb" online Soul Calibur 5, I'd try it out. If there was some way I could enjoy SW:TOR without having to deal with EA.... okay, that's asking too much, but still. You get my point now, right?
Oh, so I take it you didn't hear about how EA's CEO is forcing all their single-player game titles into multi-player or social gaming avenues, with the next title being The Sims 3? Yeah, they're doing that, and all those people who have been long time franchise fans are saying how they don't want it and that EA is stupid for claiming that Single-Player Games are Dead.
A lot of companies are going this direction including Valve. I, for one, am mostly a single player campaign fellow and also find this trend disheartening. A lot of gameplay focus is going to be on multiplayer and not single.
Same here. I don't need multiplayer in games. Most of those multiplayer modes will be dead after 12 months anyways. Just see the Bioshock 2 multiplayer. I didn't even remember this game had a MP mode.
I don't support Apple if I can avoid it, so I buy music from Amazon. I like Amazon a lot, and I have also not bought a physical audio CD in quite a while.
Reasons why I avoid buying from Apple are because their products are overpriced, have highly proprietary leanings, and are user friendly (read:dumbed down) to a fricken fault (I hate the iTunes software). I also used to use a cloud-based music service called Lala.com in which any song could be listened to once in full for free; I could purchase a streaming version of any song for 10 cents each (and stream it from the web unlimited times), or purchase the same song as a (256k bitrate) mp3 for $1 each (or cheaper per song if purchasing full albums). Apple bought Lala.com and promptly shut them down, then I got a coupon in my e-mail saying that my purchases had been converted into iTunes coupons.
-.-
Just wait until you hit 30...
...like me...
Yeah. There are a lot of older people here.
I guess, I just am an odd duck, even among my peers.
I must ask... why?
You're asking a bunch of nerds whether they know The Luberjack song?
Seriously?
It's probably a shorter list for who "doesn't". The general population here isn't overly young.
Dude. I don't have a ton of spare cash either, but I've found the best thing to do is to wait for a Steam sale. I got Bioshock for five bucks during the Summer Camp sale and Fallout: New Vegas for fifteen bucks (and this was only a year or so after release) as well as a few other games at drastically discounted prices. There's also Onlive if you've got a decent internet connection and for awhile they had a promotion where you could get any game from their library for a dollar. Hence I ended up with LA Noire. Haven't tried it out yet because it makes the internet go wickedly slow for my roommates, but whatever.
Really, I find that gaming is switching from buying used to buying on sale. And since there's downloads, the sales I've found have been much better than the used games I used to buy.
(Over here in the UK at least!)
Seriously. I buy almost all of my games new. With Steam, GOG, and Online retailers like Amazon, I normally get games for about 50% cheaper when they are on sale than a USED copy in retail.
I know the whole song by heart. I'm not going to sing it for you, though.
Because I don't like you.
They are Satan's spawn children, agents of hell on earth.
They make good glue.
You know what I always say: "Don't be a dick."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDPQumbccCY
Show her this forum? GOOD IDEA.
I also disapprove of many people's attitude as though the sun rises and sets on Apple products. Certainly, they use effective marketing tactics, and their hardware products are generally of good quality, but I don't believe that they deserve the praises (and near idol worship it would seem) that many people give them.
It's really pissing me off that all of the video game tie-in apps (most recently, the one for Skyrim, less recently for Arkham City, Dead Island, and others) are exclusive to iOS.
What would you prefer? PC/Mac or Android? Which avenue are you upset that it isn't being explored?
I'm way too needy for my own good really. I may act really independently in social circumstances, but in all honesty I don't think I really am.
I need some more friends, real life friends, and I haven't really connected with anyone this year at uni.
(If I was a Sims character, my social bar would be flashing red right now!)
Okay, so I got really friendly with those Swedish girls, but as soon as they left (they were only there for one semester), I now feel empty. Really empty.
I did fancy them, but I really valued them as people that could have really been my friends if we had more time together.
And people say to me, just go out there, and throw yourself at people, but as hard as I try, (and trust me I try really hard), I'm struggling to find the courage to talk to people.
I've always been like that. Always.
Unless I instantly hit it off with a person, (I had maybe a small handful of people that I instantly was friends with, one of those being my best friend), I just struggle to bond with people.
At work, I just do as I do. I don't talk to people no matter how much I want to, (there is a group of people that talk about videogames sometimes, and I just itch to say something). It normally has to be someone that approaches me for me to converse with them.
Again, its just a self-fufilling prophecy. My cold exterior in unsafe environments makes most people afraid to approach me, therefore I never usually talk to anyone.
And even in the first year, when I had a group of people to hang with, to almost be proper friends with, they were kind of endeared, but also bewildered by not just the way I talk, (my upbrining is for most circumstances, quite irregular), but what I talk about.
I am the alien. I speak an entirely different language. They never got anything I'd say. I'm Mr. Pop-culture when I talk. Videogame and old movie/tv shows just ooze out of me.
My best friend gets all of it, he's a smart guy, we have similar backgrounds, similar tastes, stuff only a handful of people out there would ever know and experience.
I think that prevented other people from really getting to know me. And I kind of made people feel a little bit awkward by kind of having to be very vocal and honest about myself, say a few things that might have been better left unsaid, just so that I could provide some context, for people to actually understand what I am, what I do, how I feel/think.
I usually ended up controlling conversations, just because I had to say a lot of stuff. I might like talking about myself, but I feel like a jackass afterwards because I robbed someone of the opportunity to speak.
Anna didn't mind it so much, because she found what I said to be interesting, and she would comment about the parallels and differences between our lifestyles, (and she would prompt Jessica into the conversation), but I could clearly see that Jessica didn't have as much patience for my monologues.
And when I do speak about myself I am like that. I practically monologue.
I speak out to people a bit, rather than speak to them.
I feel uncomfortable about that, and I can see why others do too.
Sometimes I can't even look directly at people when I speak to them. I catch that too.
And if I am self-aware about my own quirks, then it must be obvious and a bit disturbing to others.
Normally I can deal with my loneliness. I can shake it off. I can get much needed feedback from my best friend, and it soothes the pain and makes it bearable.
But he's been so busy lately, and I'm getting into that funk again.
This slowly growing sadness, is hitting my motivational drive quite hard, (and I have pretty low drive to begin with), and I'm developing apathy for almost everything.
Even the things I love so much: Videogames!
I guess thats why I've gone shopping with my mother at every opportunity lately.
Just a bit of time spent having a bit of fun, buying stuff I don't realistically need, (just kind of making excuses to go out), trying not to worry about this issue pressing in my mind.
I think I'm going to go to bed soon. Maybe go out tomorrow, to the library.
Take the Caanoo, my laptop, my notes, and my iPhone with me.
Just do some studying for the day. Maybe I'll strike up a conversation with someone there.
(Hopefully they will have a power socket somewhere to charge my lappy up. Maybe I'll go to McDonalds and get some burgers and use the internet)
I can't just spend time here at home. Its too distracting. I need to get to a neutral environment and focus on the uni work that needs to be done this week.
(I need to worry less about my petty problems, and get serious for a moment. (Man! I really am quite pathetic sometimes.) Work needs to get done. Assignments need to be planned and worked on. The little soppy dramatic "oh woe is me" persona is going to have to take a backseat now. He's had his vent time, he's going back into the box. We'll deal with his problems later. I'm going to set my alarm nice and early, go to bed, get up, have breakfast, shower, get my stuff together, go to the library in town, and find a nice quiet desk to sit down and work!)
my waifu
Android. I hadn't actually considered a PC/Mac port, though that's interesting to think about, now that you mentioned it.
I understand. I'm Android as well. Not like I need anything to drain my battery faster, but hey, it's nice to have the option.