That's not living in the past. Thats not having ownership of the very things you purchase. "Licensing agreements" has got to be the biggest racket from corporations since the railroads used too pay their workers in 'scrip' that they exchanged for food and basic ammenities, resulting in these workers actually ending up in debt to theiremployers.

I can mod my car, but I can't mod my XBox?

Steam is just another form of control that the Matrix has put you under NeoSnob. You can play offline, but you can't play it without online registration. Amd like the Matrix people will die to defend their masters wihout ever knowing they were slaves.

Quit livin in a world that controls your gaming, youngster!

-mirocu goes back the past, but not to play the shi**y games that suck a**-

OMG YOUR ALL SO PARANOID!

"OH VALVE ARE GONNA TAKE AWAY MY GAMES"

"OH THE GOVERMENT IS SPYING ON ME"

"OH THE ILLUMINATI ARE GONNA BRAINWASH MY CHILDREN"

If Valve don't make enough money, they'll go out of business, and the games will stop working, because the servers won't be running to give out permission. It's the fact that the games are built that way that annoys us, especially the way we're considered guilty of piracy until we can prove our innocence.

I'll never buy a game that requires Steam, either. Or an always-online console, or anything like that.

Valve......not making enough money.....ha.....haha.....HAHAHAHAAMUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

THIS! 100% agreement with you.

And in many cases follow the shepherd down any trail he leads because they don't realize the power they hold as a united front to change these trends. If a big enough bite comes out of sales, companies will listen.

(Case in point = Microsoft XBox division trying to say that people would not be allowed to play used games on their products anymore. By the end of E3 AND before the product was even available for sale they realized what a huge mistake they were making and reneged on all their statements about that).

I wouldn't be able to play games at all if it weren't for used games.

Oh yes Impy, large corporations never make horrendous choices that cause their bidnezzez to crumble :-P

You are young still. I shall remain silent and hold my 'I told you so.'

EDITED, sorry on phone. It gets reaaalllyyy slow when I type...

And let's not forget - Valve may be making big money now. But what about in ten years? Twenty? Thirty? IDK about you, but I'd like to be able to play my games long after they come out. (I still play some classics every now and then - thank god for DOSbox, I say) And the market in *anything* related to computers changes sooo quickly that even without horrendous decisions I'm not sure I'd bet on Valve still being around in a few decades' time.

And the problem with Steam/Always online console isn't just from the side of the company. Internet is not a stable and sure thing, no matter how much people want to believe it is. I had a powercable break and needed to wait a week or so for a replacement. (Which was also broken, so yeah I wasn't happy with my provider.)


This left me completely out of luck. No internet, no tv, no phone. I've got a few Steam games, even though I don't like Steam. It's got offline mode, so I should be fine, right? Well no I wasn't. After a few days Steam decided to erase my 'login information' and just whine that I have to access internet to unlock it. Of course, when I got internet back, it just logged in automatically and proved that the lack of information was a grand lie.


So yeah, long story short. Valve goes down, you're screwed. Internet goes down, you're screwed. Got one of them fancy 'have to log in on our server every x days or we perma-lock your game and call you a dirty pirate' drm, you're totally screwed.




Back on topic. I'm not playing much at the moment. Mostly waiting for Starbound/Dragon's Crown I suppose.

You can laugh all you want, but the truth is that companies do go under, and if those companies are hosting games that cannot be played by people unless they can get onto servers which have become defunct, then people will not be able to play those games.
If I buy a game I want to be able to play it even if the company that made it has long since disappeared into the ocean. Increasingly it seems, or at least the perception is, that that paradigm is no longer cogent.
You can put as many capital letters in your post as you like, but it is a truth...

I just think always online is a ripoff because the company retains control over your game. You don't actually own your own game, you just get the priviledge of playing the game that you have to be connected to their service to even enjoy.

Companies come and go. If STEAM is out of business in 20 years your game will be a worthless piece of plastic because you can't connect to their server.

I'm sorry but if I fork over $60-70, I want complete control over that game. It is my property that I should be able to play on my terms. If the phone lines go down I still would like to be able to use the product I paid for.

+1
Sorry for the double entry here but this makes a lot if sense.

This is what I don't like about it.

I tolerate Steam because it's that or no Skyrim.

Respectfully, that does not mean that they are *not* out to get you.



Respectfully, they do hold the right to do as such, in the fine print.



Respectfully, they are. Every text you send, every character you type, every call you make, every time you use skype, no matter what country you live in, it is being stored and can be retrieved at any time. Snowden revealed it. Nobody denied it. Because they could not.



WHAT?! WHO TOLD YOU THAT?! Oh...I mean, haha! Of cooouurrsse they don't! Because we,...they, do not exist. (Prepare the Sedative/Laxative Tranquilizer Dart!!)

Buy an Xbox360. It is the only real benefit to consoles. So far my $60 plastic disks belong to me and not another company.

Yes, that is the one good thing about a current console. Still, I do not want to play on a 360. I can't give up the mods! They make it worth tolerating Steam.


Anyways I started playing League of Legends again after a long absence from the game.

THIS! Absolutely, and excellently put too.






Love the way you put this, agreed agreed!

WALKING DEAD GAME IS AMAZING GET IT NOW.

EXPECT DON'T GET THE ACTIVISION FPS THAT IS FULL OF WASTED POTENTIAL!

p.s.Valve will always have enough money.

p.p.s Gaben is the man bubba.

p.p.p.s Haters to da left,Lovers to da right,coz son you don't wanna fight,naw you don't wanna fight.

And you base this on what? Besides, they can make the choice of shutting down their server that your games require, and force you onto another one if you want to continue to play, just to make more money only to prove your point!
They can always shut it down anyway, for no reason.

Point being, you will be called a pirate if you don´t agree and do as they say and if you do, you´ll have to pay big bucks to play while I pay nada, zilch, nothing

And 3dfx will always have enough money, and Kodak, and 3M, and Montgomery Ward, and World Com, and Enron. No business is immune from insolvency, nor corruption. Sooner or later, everything ends.

I base this on the fact that Half Life to this day is still being sold and that's 1 of there games AND Steam is the biggest digtal PC Gaming store.

Why would they shut it down for no reason?That would be really stupid.

But that's just the thing, they may well not shut it down for no reason, but if they had a reason then they would and then all our games that were dependant upon their servers would go down the toilet, potentially.
It boils down to the fact that games that have a basis in an online server are only available for as long as those servers are available and if you have paid for that game, I think, that that is fundamentally wrong.

Fight?! It's an execution about to take place, son!

Black Hand puts on his black hoodie, and gets up on stage very reminiscent of eight mile.

The D.J. is Bane from Batman. Because that's possible in this work of fiction, and frankly because I could see him just *rocking out* at a rave behind a turntable...in fact I may have...I was quite drunk that particular halloween party...

Blackie glances over to the D.J. and nods to signal that he's ready, the beat drops and his eyes like razorblades to ImperialSnob.

Somebody get some Brawny's for this mess I'm about create!
ImpySnob's gonna get blinded with the power of my illuminate!
Your gonna feel my words as weapons in this eloquent trait!
A blind slave to these corporations I just can't freakin tolerate!

First off, you think Valve will always be around have some money?
Your the only one who get's the joke, but that statement's still funny!
Have you forgotten all history since two-thousand and three?
When was the last time you saw or ate a genuine twinkie?

Hostess had the mostest money and employees, not no more
One Union Strike and the twinkie is history! A shame for sure...
Let's roll tha clock back a decade when the Superbowl ran
a whole buncha commercials for these Internet scams

It seemed like the future in 2000, with NASDAQ at 5048
Sky was the limit and even that they would penetrate!
Three years later, a boardroom full of haters couldn't agree
who's shoesize was most impressive for the ladies

A crash heard 'round the world, and they swirled into VH1's 'Where are they Now?'
as it turns out, venture investments weren't enough to feed their cash cow
ya need actual customers to make the rounds, of their products not being sold now!
Then let's take it forward five years to two-thousand and eight, where we're worse, and how!

Maybe you were too young to have a job then, and a new Black President was all the rage.
But I was there, working crap jobs and worse food, and witnessed the spirit of the age.
AIG, Wells Fargo, Chevrolet, maybe you aint heard of 'em, but they got *your* mo-nay!
All these megacorporations would 'never, ever fail!' until the gub'ment came in with bail.

Perhaps your perception is too short too see the trail
But all things are temporary and destined too fail
These words are spoken in love, that is right
Haters have already left, and this ain't a fight.

Naw, this is lessons learned passed on to the next generation
The older and wiser stay silent as they realize the young ain't listenin'
until they come up against that same wall with the hard knocks frustration
but see that mark there, next to yours? That was my Wisdom's Christening.

Black Hand drops the mic.

P.P.P.P.S. You've just been served.

-begins slow clap-

*looks around angrily*

I'S THE BEST RAPPAH HERE!

*mALX bows down to the master rap"

Never mind those. I'm still mourning the loss of the Pullman Company. Damn that Eugene V. Debs!

History is filled with wars that could never happen, businesses that could never go under, and empires that could never fall.

Psst.

Wasn't on this page yet when I replied to him so I didn't even see your post.

Your rap is spot on with the point I was intending to make, and did indeed make it before me. All things are destined to die eventually, including massive corporations. Sometimes it happens over several lifetimes and sometimes it happens so quickly and dramatically that nobody sees it coming.

-joins in, clappin´ a little bit faster while slowly standing up-

Awesome, Blackie! You nailed it!

I just felt the poor boy had enough, and took it like a real sport I might add

But your point is equally valid and astute sir. ALL things are impermanrnt. The real joke is when we are under the illusion that they are not.

Interesting... I have seen that game lying around the house for ages. I think my mom bought it years ago but it is still unopened. Frankly, I don't think she remembers buying it!

Even after ten years (I think), it is still a fun game. Give it a try. You need to use the 1.66 patch to get it to work on a 64-bit system though.

I've started playing the new online game Neverwinter. It's a free game. I haven't played the game enough yet to form an opinion of it, but I can say one thing about it already. It has an amazing character generation process. There are more sliders than you can shake a stick at. It's like Oblivion on steroids. There is an entire page of sliders for the body. I was amazed at that. Games usually don't offer much in the way of body customization. There is even a slider for the length of the fingernails.

I just finished the tutorial and am now in the city of Neverwinter itself. The city is large and I think it looks very nice. I have to say, so far I am pleasantly surprised by this game.

So many sliders can be too much!

Guess I could check it out, but I´m also undecided about whether or not to do Deus Ex again and if I do that, I have no time for another game!

I followed the link, and it does look very neat. Too bad it is an MMO though. Otherwise I would probably buy it.

I am curious about the payment model. It says it is free. But I believe the FAQ said that people will have to buy at least some their character's gear with real world money? Is that how they are going to finance the game?

I don't know. I haven't paid a dime for the game yet. I've read a few posts on the Neverwinter forums from a few players who say they've purchased "fluff" items like mounts. But offhand I don't recall reading a post from anyone who said they bought gear. I have read posts from players who say they have level 80 characters and have never spent any money, though.

I have not felt pressured to buy anything yet. But if it ever reaches the point where I do feel pressured to spend real money I will stop playing, quick.

Still grinding out AC Revelations, but I did have a go on Red Dead Redemption the other day...Definitely going to play it properly once I'd done going through the AC ones...

RDR is probably one of the best games I played on my Xbox.

Apparently it isn´t available to the PC and even if it were, it´s a sure bet it´d be Steam-dependent

I remember Red Dead Revolver on the first xbox. So awesome!

A prequel, maybe?

It was indeed... ...There's also a follow-up coming at some point in the near future on the next-gen machines...

I am looking forward to getting into it properly though...It'll be a while yet though...

Red Dead Redemption is a sequel I think. Maybe. You certainly didn't need to know anything of Red Dead Revolver in order to enjoy it.

Red Dead Redemption is by far my favorite game by Rock Star. GTA is a lot more popular, but I prefer the wild west, and Marston is actually a pretty good guy. The story is very good. Gameplay is more fluid than GTA games were. And the horses rocked. BethSoft wanted theirs to be like RDR's and they missed it by a lot.

Reading the stories that I post about in the "commentasaurus" has cause me to revisit Cyrodiil in Oblivion...finished the tutorial with a Bosmer last night. Reading the "Mojave Wanderings" has caused me to revisit Megaton in the DC Wasteland...that dude is level 3 now. Skyrim is always there for the backdrop of my fan fic...Valrimor is close to meeting Balgruuf (or Jarl Ballin, as SubRosa has introduced). This forum has me playing more games than I have in a long time. And then when I need an MMO fix, I shoot down WWII fighters and bombers in War Thunder.

And speaking of Oblivion...I had an issue that I wonder if anyone else has had. When I got the hankering yesterday, I dragged my GOTY Edition off the shelf and loaded the disk. My DVD drive wouldn't recognize that a disc was loaded. It recognizes every other CD or DVD I put in the drive...software, music CDs, other games...everything but my Oblivion disc. Anyone got any idea why or how this could be?

I wanted to play so badly that I bought the game again through Steam and play it there now. I actually got a good deal on it...$14.99 for the game and ALL...and I do mean ALL available DLC. The only DLC my GOTY Edition had was SI and KotN, and it was $40.00 when I bought it.

Put your disc in the drive, start Windows Explorer, and see if it shows there. Double-click on Readme.txt to make sure you can read from the disc. If you can, its not a problem with your disc. My guess would be Securerom or whatever drm solution Oblivion has. If you can't read the disc, then make sure its clean, and look for cracks and scratches.

Oh, I have two discs in my Oblivion GOTY. Make sure you are using disc 1. It may be that is the only one the launcher looks for when you start up the game.

And wow, $15 for the whole enchilada! That is the great thing about playing old games. You can get them really cheap.

Just play it if you ever have a chance no matter what it's on.

It's actually amazing.

It's one of the only games to make me truly feel feelings.