Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

tuluse

Arcane
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Messages
11,400
Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Steam replaced my torrent site,before that my torrent side replaced my LAN server for pirated games,that replaced game clubs selling burned CD/DVDs...Nothing to do with good PC centric games.Real bros are game designers and developers that keep making them.As I see it ,it's like saying Wallmart saved X-industry because selling cheap and it's convenient.
If Walmart sold something other stores weren't, that would be true.
 

Zewp

Arcane
Joined
Sep 30, 2012
Messages
3,566
Codex 2013
Pretty much that. Around 2007/2008 it got very difficult to get new PC games in stores in South Africa and some stores even did away with PC gaming sections entirely.
 

Zewp

Arcane
Joined
Sep 30, 2012
Messages
3,566
Codex 2013
Which isn't the point. The point was that PC gaming was falling by the wayside and the rise of Steam helped the industry realise that PC gaming can be profitable if handled correctly.

Steam also greatly helped the rise of the indie scene, though that wasn't necessarily entirely good.
 

BlackAdderBG

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Apr 24, 2012
Messages
3,046
Location
Little Vienna
Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex USB, 2014 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker
The question is, what do you oppose? Steam specifically, or the concept of a universal standard digital distribution platform and client in general? I think most Steam-haters are in the latter camp - they find the existence of a standardized gaming "portal" controlled by a third party to be inherently offensive.

I oppose hyperbolization and kotaku speech.I wouldn't have problem with Valve controlling digital market,but they are giving it up to the masses.Just see what crap is best selling and say again with straight face that PC gaming is "saved".


However, this was the only way to bring PC gaming back to a position of prominence. Most PC users like having universal standard tools for doing stuff on the Internet. We search with Google. We mail with Gmail. And we game with Steam. Media that doesn't have this type of online centralization and standardization tends to suffer.

I would like that ,but we do not have centralization ,I bet 90% of us have at least 3 programs like Steam on the desktop,so this argument is not true.

Also Valve putting PC as leading place for profit is silly,most profitable games just before Steam getting popularity were on PC and most profitable now are again on PC ,but not on Steam. :D
 

Kane

I have many names
Patron
Vatnik
Joined
Nov 1, 2008
Messages
22,250
Location
Drug addicted, mentally ill gays HQ
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
How+the+Steam+Summer+Sale+went_335b1b_5208514.gif
 

Spectacle

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 25, 2006
Messages
8,363
I love Steam ,but saving something that never was in danger is silly statement."We could have had it much, much worse" or better ,who knows.
Here in the US, you could only find the most popular PC titles in brick and mortar stores around the time Steam launched. The selection was seriously like 10-15 games and that's it.

I don't know if Steam saved PC gaming, but it did save whatever is left of the PC dev middle class and eventually created an indie market that never really existed before.
Imagine how much could have been saved if Digital Distribution had gotten big as early as 2001.
 

Ninjerk

Arcane
Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
14,323
I love Steam ,but saving something that never was in danger is silly statement."We could have had it much, much worse" or better ,who knows.
Here in the US, you could only find the most popular PC titles in brick and mortar stores around the time Steam launched. The selection was seriously like 10-15 games and that's it.

I don't know if Steam saved PC gaming, but it did save whatever is left of the PC dev middle class and eventually created an indie market that never really existed before.
Imagine how much could have been saved if Digital Distribution had gotten big as early as 2001.
Imagine where Sega might be if broadband had been cheaper and more accessible when the Dreamcast was released.
 

Turjan

Arcane
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Messages
5,047
Around 2007/2008 it got very difficult to get new PC games in stores in South Africa and some stores even did away with PC gaming sections entirely.
Same in the US. Stores didn't want to stock PC games anymore.
PC gaming is saved!!! GTA V is coming to PC!!! Praise Steam!!! All pop-a-moles are better looking on PC!!! We are saved!!!
Except the greater impact was for indie developers and not AAA publishers.
Yup, just look at the success story of games like Terraria and the flood of games that came later. Also, smaller publishers benefited a lot, like Paradox Interactive. Even mid-sized AAA publishers like SEGA had a hard time paying for shelf space in stores and needed a digital distribution platform with an inbuilt audience.

You can see which games have obligatory Steam activation (regardless of distribution method) here. A look at the publisher names gives a hint at the respective motivations.
 

BlackAdderBG

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Apr 24, 2012
Messages
3,046
Location
Little Vienna
Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex USB, 2014 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker
PC gaming is saved!!! GTA V FEZ is coming to PC!!! Praise Steam!!! All pop-a-moles Xbox Live games are better looking on PC!!! We are saved!!!
Except the greater impact was for indie developers and not AAA publishers.

:salute:

And with all that power Steam allegedly gives independent devs first game that is incline in rpgs comes from Ubi with MMX.All other needed to go with Kickstarter.Yes ,Steam did good overall for PC gaming ,but saving it is way over the top phrase with garbage like CiV and Skyrim leading with millions of sales fags whom favorite games are Zelda and Final Fantasy chanting here "Steam saved PC gaming". Where are the cRPG ,the tactical TB strategies,RTS,4x,space games?All begging for money on Kickstarter.

Yes some decent companies make more money now,but what games they are going to make next?I doubt it will be to the most of codexinas liking.Paradox is going hard for the decline for sure,milking us for same shit we mock EA and Activision.
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
'Saving' is a bit strong. As far as the KS argument... it's not Steam's job to fund things and even after a game is funded it still has to actually sell additional copies for the developer to remain afloat. Steam helps on that end tremendously.
 

LordDenton

Augur
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
271
Location
USA
The question is, what do you oppose? Steam specifically, or the concept of a universal standard digital distribution platform and client in general? I think most Steam-haters are in the latter camp - they find the existence of a standardized gaming "portal" controlled by a third party to be inherently offensive.

However, this was the only way to bring PC gaming back to a position of prominence. Most PC users like having universal standard tools for doing stuff on the Internet. We search with Google. We mail with Gmail. And we game with Steam. Media that doesn't have this type of online centralization and standardization tends to suffer.
I like GOG. I also like the idea of the upcoming GOG Optional Gaming Client.

I don't like DRM in general period. Steam is one of the most restrictive DRM platforms out there. I've said this before, but I'll take SecuROM over Steam anyday (even though Securom is horrible, it's not as horrible as Steam). I don't care about its supposed benefits like friends lists or download convenience (I buy physical when possible, and store installers for my GOG purchases locally). I most certainly don't give a fuck about Big Picture or SteamBox or whatever console bullshit Valve is adding to Steam.

When I buy a physical DVD I don't want to have to install an internet connected "gaming client" that needs to download 400MB of data

When I run my single player games, I don't want to wait for massive gaming client to load, connect to the internet, verify my ownership, and reside in my RAM for the duration of the gaming session.

I want to install my single player games anywhere, without worrying about internet connectivity availability or speed.

etc etc
 

Turjan

Arcane
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Messages
5,047
I don't like DRM in general period. Steam is one of the most restrictive DRM platforms out there. I've said this before, but I'll take SecuROM over Steam anyday (even though Securom is horrible, it's not as horrible as Steam).
That's the typical mental mix-up of Steam and Steamworks. Steam, as a platform, carries lots of completely DRM-free titles. You can install those games with Steam, then uninstall Steam and copy and play those games as you wish.
 

Baron Dupek

Arcane
Joined
Jul 23, 2013
Messages
1,870,765
New patch comes, it remove doubled titles that have separate PC and MAC versions (like GTA3 for example). Still not erased dead beta versions like Chivalry...
So if anyone have OCD/CTD/other donkery will be amused.
 

Gord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
7,049
I don't like DRM in general period. Steam is one of the most restrictive DRM platforms out there. I've said this before, but I'll take SecuROM over Steam anyday (even though Securom is horrible, it's not as horrible as Steam).
That's the typical mental mix-up of Steam and Steamworks. Steam, as a platform, carries lots of completely DRM-free titles. You can install those games with Steam, then uninstall Steam and copy and play those games as you wish.

Yes, although I'd like a possibility to download those titles outside of the steam client.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
What Was Prospero, The Fantasy Game Valve Never Made?

prospero2.jpg


The road not traveled is uninteresting to me when the road we are travelling is winding, densely populated and has no speed limit. (The road I’m talking about is videogames.) That didn’t stop me being intrigued to find out more about Prospero via the latest episode of Valve Time Database. Prospero was one of two game’s Valve were working on when the company was founded in 1996, and Valve Time Database is a series of short YouTube videos detailing elements of Valve’s universe of games.

Episode 3 contains previously unreleased screenshots of the never released game, along with quotes from Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw. I think the information is new, but either way it’s entertaining and embedded below.



When Valve was founded the company began work on two games, Prospero and Quiver. Quiver would eventually grow and change to become Half-Life, while Prospero seemed to disappear entirely. It was mentioned in Half-Life 2: Raising The Bar as a fantasy game inspired by Myst and Borges, but this is the first time that I’ve heard that it was third-person, or that it was set in a hub library through which you could access a database of player-created worlds.

It sounds in some ways, as the video touches on, like Steam Workshop: The Game. In fact, it seems like a lot of the ideas the game contained have been revived elsewhere, as recently as in Portal 2′s level creator and as significantly as the lambda symbol originating in this piece of Prospero, er, concept art.

prospero.jpg


There are Prospero screenshots over here, but it’s worth watching the above video for the quotes and details of what this thing could have been. The first episode of Valve Time Database, about headcrabs, is also good watching.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom