Everyone keeps mentioning Stardock, but who the hell are they? What games have they made that are even remotely worth the download? I'm being serious, I don't know who these guys are?
A whiny bitch? C'mon, he just lost his job. Everyone's allowed to bitch and whine when they get fired from an industry due to the PC crowd being douches and downloading games for free. Also, he is spot on when he talks about the PC market and having to develop for integrated graphics/audio and stuff like that. I heard that is a major pain in the ass. On top of that they introduce new fucking graphics cards every other week.
Everyone keeps mentioning Stardock, but who the hell are they? What games have they made that are even remotely worth the download? I'm being serious, I don't know who these guys are?
They publish games like the Galactic Civilizations franchise and others. Also, some software, I think.
OremLK on
My zombie survival life simulator They Don't Sleep is out now on Steam if you want to check it out.
Everyone keeps mentioning Stardock, but who the hell are they? What games have they made that are even remotely worth the download? I'm being serious, I don't know who these guys are?
Everyone? I thought I was the only person to bring them up so far? That and I thought I pretty much summed up everything in that post.
Anyway, Publisher / Developer. Made Galactic Civilizations I and II (along with a load of PC applications and things), and helped Ironclad studios with Sins of a Solar Empire (also handling the publishing of that game). Both companies have pretty much said that they think DRM does nothing for them and only causes problems, so they don't use any. And it seems to be working given how successful SoaSE has been so far. Little to no direct marketing to speak of, it's been largely word of mouth, and the game is still selling well in-stores (no word on Digital Distribution, but given the nature of the game and the community, I suspect those sales are doing better still).
They also have their own digital distribution platform for their games (and they publish a fair few indie titles on there as well from various developers), and typically when you order a game from them, you're also given the option of buying a hard copy to be sent to you for a small additional price.
More info and gushing from the devs here, and our big thread with more details and gushing from the fans here . EDIT: Oh, and Threepio did a pretty awesome interview with the guys from Ironclad here and here.
And to answer your question, yes, Sins is far more than 'remotely' worth the download. I'm sure a lot of people aren't into 4X / RTS games, but for those of us that are it's an awesome game, OK?
He didn't mention anything about the rubberbanding effect introduced by the expansion. Which, 3 computers later, I still encounter like clockwork. It was all over the support forums too.
TQ failed because it didn't have closed online play, imho.
I kinda agree here. There wil never be a Diablo-clone that's better than Diablo unless the developers and producers are willing to invest money in at least a little bit of infrastructure. Blizzard had great foresight to do this.
Yeah, my only serious complaint about TQ is the gaping lack of a good online service. I understand that it was ILE's first game, and they may not have had the money, but the multiplayer was a big letdown for me.
If anyone wants to do some Titan Quest co-op look me up on XFire (Accualt).
I have the original and expansion but never really played them. Bought for the promise of co-op but, at the time, my friends and I couldn't get it to LAN.
Accualt on
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Zen VulgarityWhat a lovely day for teaSecret British ThreadRegistered Userregular
edited February 2008
I was able to get it to work through Hamachi better than actual cables for some reason, Accu. Have you tried that?
Everyone keeps mentioning Stardock, but who the hell are they? What games have they made that are even remotely worth the download? I'm being serious, I don't know who these guys are?
A whiny bitch? C'mon, he just lost his job. Everyone's allowed to bitch and whine when they get fired from an industry due to the PC crowd being douches and downloading games for free. Also, he is spot on when he talks about the PC market and having to develop for integrated graphics/audio and stuff like that. I heard that is a major pain in the ass. On top of that they introduce new fucking graphics cards every other week.
Yah, but when he insults people that bought his game (i.e. the "stupid" ones) then you become a whiny little bitch like a certain D.S. whose full name I won't enumerate.
P.S. Not to mention that I don't fully buy into his piracy argument, but I won't go there for fear of derailing this even further.
if more people did it, there would be more bands, bands would stay around longer, CD's would cost less etc etc.
same with games
This is not strictly true.
More so than games, the entire music industry could collapse tomorrow, and there would still be lots of fantastic music.
which would be made part-time. I like the band 'dream theater'. they release an album every year or so. if those guys had day jobs to pay the bills then
a) they wouldn't be such phenomenal musicians. That level of ability NEEDS 10 hours a day
b) they would release far far fewer material.
I don't see the big deal with jst paying for music you like. you pay for food you like right? And the same obviously foes for games too. I',m sick of spending 20 minutes a day emailing torrent sites and file hosting sites to stop people leeching my stuff. I could spend that time working on new games.
but i agree with him entirely. PC gaming is dying because too many fuckheads just pirate games now. Its great that you can play a game for free but why do you want to dick the developers, they spent years of their lives building this for you, the gaming consumer, and what do you do? you throw shit right into their faces.
fuck pirating.
Some people are just unimaginably pathetic. I know one warez forum poster who has posted links to all my games, on 5 or 6 different file sharing sites, and despite me checking every single day and getting them all removed, he takes the time to re-upload them from another IP the next day. he has now done this 47 times. FORTY SEVEN times. he just can't take the hint.
People borrowing a mates CD to demo a game is one thing. people who make it their lifes mission to try and put small PC games devs out of business are another level of scummyness.
Fuck piracy indeed.
If you really want to help PC gaming, the next time you see someone defending piracy, let them know that they are leeching and freeloading off of people like you, who (god bless you) are honest enough to buy their games.
I was able to get it to work through Hamachi better than actual cables for some reason, Accu. Have you tried that?
No. I didn't even know about Hamachi until I started playing DoW.
Maybe I can get them to dig out their old copies and we'll give it a go.
Still I'd like to play some TQ with PAers sometimes. Maybe I'll start up a Game On thread this weekend.
I'd be down for a Game On. I'll probably be busy tonight and tomorrow night, but I'm sure I can get on at some point over the weekend. My multiplayer experience with TQ is pretty limited, but I'd like to give it another shot.
Like what? There are already laws against copyright infringement.
Or maybe you want pirates to have the same jail time as murderers?
Oh wait, some of them already do.
Or they could go the way the British? government was thinking: fines followed by internet suspension for multiple repeat offenses. The problem is under the current law, governments lack the ability to go after downloaders at large. It's very easy to tell who's downloading, just need to be able to fine them.
Rakai on
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]XBL: Rakayn | PS3: Rakayn | Steam ID
I'm going to get slammed for saying this. But this is exactly why copy protection schemes don't work and why developers shouldn't bother putting that crap in their games.
In the case of TQ, if they didn't have that silly copy protection, the people pirating their game wouldn't have gotten crashes and word of mouth about the game would have been better.
I know it sucks that people were stealing their game, but putting in copy protection that doesn't work obviously isn't helping AT ALL, so why bother? Especially when the end user experience can suffer (legitimate purchase or not) because of it.
It seemed like that copy protection worked exactly how they wanted it to.
Right, which 20/20 hindsight shows was not such a bright thing to do because word got around that the game crashes a lot. It bit them in the ass in the end.
What I fail to understand is why the security check crashed the game rather than shutting it down with a "Buy the game, asshole" message. I mean, if that's the entire point of the security check, at least the pirate types would know they were caught and would have no recourse. Hindsight, right?
Personally, I would just go with console development. Closed platforms are absolutely superior from a development standpoint.
NofrikinfuN on
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Zen VulgarityWhat a lovely day for teaSecret British ThreadRegistered Userregular
edited February 2008
How the fuck did I lose both Diablo 2 and Titan's Quest?
Piracy, to me, also forces developers to work on the multiplayer portion of a game more than the singleplayer. I mean, look at COD4. The singleplayer wasn't nearly as good as 1 or 2. At least it wasn't too me. But the multiplayer was made amazing.
How the fuck did I lose both Diablo 2 and Titan's Quest?
They eloped?
Blizzard games have a habit of growing legs and getting the fuck outta your house, heading to the closest Blizzard manufacturing center and resealing itself.
I've bought StarCraft about 3 times and Diablo 2 at least 4.
If anyone wants to do some Titan Quest co-op look me up on XFire (Accualt).
I have the original and expansion but never really played them. Bought for the promise of co-op but, at the time, my friends and I couldn't get it to LAN.
Acc, I'm always up for some TQ co-op. Back when Hellgate: London was still in beta, Devoir and Jawsh and Pantsy and I played quite a bit. Harsh even joined us.
I've had the bug to play it more, lately, too. I love TQ.
How the fuck did I lose both Diablo 2 and Titan's Quest?
They eloped?
Blizzard games have a habit of growing legs and getting the fuck outta your house, heading to the closest Blizzard manufacturing center and resealing itself.
I've bought StarCraft about 3 times and Diablo 2 at least 4.
You know, I think you might be onto something. The secret to Blizzard's success, I dare say. I myself have purchased Warcraft 3 either two or three times and World of Warcraft twice.
OremLK on
My zombie survival life simulator They Don't Sleep is out now on Steam if you want to check it out.
It's too late to reply coherently but I wonder what percentage of consumers are unduly inconvenienced by copy protection. I've literally never, in my 20+ years of PC gaming, had copy protection keep me from playing a game I bought at retail (or on Steam, for that matter).
Well, no, that's not true. I did lose the code wheel for Secrets of the Silver Blades once, but I found it the next day.
I stand by my TV store analogy. ;-)
I've never had a problem with Steam but I have had retail games not work due to copy protection; it's really frustrating because you can't even return it.
How the fuck did I lose both Diablo 2 and Titan's Quest?
They eloped?
Blizzard games have a habit of growing legs and getting the fuck outta your house, heading to the closest Blizzard manufacturing center and resealing itself.
I've bought StarCraft about 3 times and Diablo 2 at least 4.
You know, I think you might be onto something. The secret to Blizzard's success, I dare say. I myself have purchased Warcraft 3 either two or three times and World of Warcraft twice.
Just put it in a safe. The bitches can't break out of a safe, right? RIGHT?!
Piracy, to me, also forces developers to work on the multiplayer portion of a game more than the singleplayer. I mean, look at COD4. The singleplayer wasn't nearly as good as 1 or 2. At least it wasn't too me. But the multiplayer was made amazing.
I'm going to have to disagree there. I don't think devs are emphasising multiplayer at the expense of singleplayer. I would say they focus more on it these days, but that's largely because that's where the legs of a game are these days. Singleplayer campaigns these days usually last for a whole 8 hours, if that. You need something to keep players hooked into the game and stop them trading it in. And besies, players also want multiplayer to be a huge part of the experience as well.
If it was piracy issue for example, I wouldn't have expected Bungie to have put so much effort into the multiplayer on Halo 3. It's not as if that game's going to be pirated, at least not in any significant numbers. But they took the time and effort to make it something really special, and it's something that's going to last on XBL for years as a result.
With respect to Blizzard games, at least they're still available.
It's amazing to think that Starcraft and Diablo II are still selling for £10 in the UK when they're literally decade old games.
I was more-so looking at the PC scene, but you're right subedii.
I don't think people can trade in PC games, can they? And why would they care? They already got your moniez. I just feel like the SP campaigns are just thrown in for the poor saps that don't have internets.
urahonky on
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Zen VulgarityWhat a lovely day for teaSecret British ThreadRegistered Userregular
How the fuck did I lose both Diablo 2 and Titan's Quest?
They eloped?
Blizzard games have a habit of growing legs and getting the fuck outta your house, heading to the closest Blizzard manufacturing center and resealing itself.
I've bought StarCraft about 3 times and Diablo 2 at least 4.
You know, I think you might be onto something. The secret to Blizzard's success, I dare say. I myself have purchased Warcraft 3 either two or three times and World of Warcraft twice.
Just put it in a safe. The bitches can't break out of a safe, right? RIGHT?!
I've bought SC and BW five fucking times. Five fucking times. And I still don't have a copy.
How the fuck did I lose both Diablo 2 and Titan's Quest?
They eloped?
Blizzard games have a habit of growing legs and getting the fuck outta your house, heading to the closest Blizzard manufacturing center and resealing itself.
I've bought StarCraft about 3 times and Diablo 2 at least 4.
You know, I think you might be onto something. The secret to Blizzard's success, I dare say. I myself have purchased Warcraft 3 either two or three times and World of Warcraft twice.
Just put it in a safe. The bitches can't break out of a safe, right? RIGHT?!
I've bought SC and BW five fucking times. Five fucking times. And I still don't have a copy.
Yep, yesterday I went looking for my SC and BW to play it again. WOULDN'T YOU FUCKING KNOW IT!! They were gone. Oh I still have the BW disc, but that's useless with SC. Looks like I'll have to buy that damn game again.
I just feel like the SP campaigns are just thrown in for the poor saps that don't have internets.
Yeah, most SP campaigns usually are poor. The only answer I can give to that is that it's probably an established tradition or something. :P
I found it sad that UT2004's single player campaign was more fun that most FPS games' SP campaigns. If you haven't played it, its basically a series of bot matches against various teams.
surprised no one else talking about how he also blames integrated video and audio as well as people getting the cheapest stuff and thinking they can run with max settings. These points were spot on and will always be a problem until integrated crap is much much improved.
I just feel like the SP campaigns are just thrown in for the poor saps that don't have internets.
Yeah, most SP campaigns usually are poor. The only answer I can give to that is that it's probably an established tradition or something. :P
I found it sad that UT2004's single player campaign was more fun that most FPS games' SP campaigns. If you haven't played it, its basically a series of bot matches against various teams.
Yeah the whole team thing was really cool. It'd be nice if they implemented some RPG elements or something to it. If you win a match you get 20 XP, and when you gain a level you can use that to buy slight upgrades on your guns or something.
surprised no one else talking about how he also blames integrated video and audio as well as people getting the cheapest stuff and thinking they can run with max settings. These points were spot on and will always be a problem until integrated crap is much much improved.
I understand its a problem for PC Devs in general. But I honestly can't see Titan Quest running on integrated video. It runs worse than Oblivion on my PC.
surprised no one else talking about how he also blames integrated video and audio as well as people getting the cheapest stuff and thinking they can run with max settings. These points were spot on and will always be a problem until integrated crap is much much improved.
I would guess it's because we all pretty much agree with this sentiment. It is a huge stumbling block, and whilst that whole "PC-Gaming Alliance" thing is supposed to fix it, I doubt it'll do anything more effecting than having a short stint of ad-campaigns to say "Hey! Look at us! We exist, and we're helping! Please won't you improve, Mr. Situation?"
surprised no one else talking about how he also blames integrated video and audio as well as people getting the cheapest stuff and thinking they can run with max settings. These points were spot on and will always be a problem until integrated crap is much much improved.
I understand its a problem for PC Devs in general. But I honestly can't see Titan Quest running on integrated video. It runs worse than Oblivion on my PC.
It probably does but you get <10 frames. It is a problem for devs in general, since they haven't been improved in years. Like I have said in other threads, integrated video that comes with PCs (the intel garbage) can't even run Quake3 very well on default settings, a game from 1999. That is just unacceptable. Now imagine all these people buying pre-built brand name computers which most come with this shit and people trying to play games released in the present, not gonna happen.
surprised no one else talking about how he also blames integrated video and audio as well as people getting the cheapest stuff and thinking they can run with max settings. These points were spot on and will always be a problem until integrated crap is much much improved.
Yeah I'm a little pissed off at the PC hardware situation that's going on around here. Like he said, there are thousands of video cards/sound cards that a game has to cater to now. If we could have some sort of standardization when it comes to video cards, it would make it a little easier.
surprised no one else talking about how he also blames integrated video and audio as well as people getting the cheapest stuff and thinking they can run with max settings. These points were spot on and will always be a problem until integrated crap is much much improved.
Yeah I'm a little pissed off at the PC hardware situation that's going on around here. Like he said, there are thousands of video cards/sound cards that a game has to cater to now. If we could have some sort of standardization when it comes to video cards, it would make it a little easier.
Heck, I would appreciate standardisation in just the naming conventions. How exactly is the average person supposed to know that a GeForce 7200 performs worse than a GeForce 6800?
surprised no one else talking about how he also blames integrated video and audio as well as people getting the cheapest stuff and thinking they can run with max settings. These points were spot on and will always be a problem until integrated crap is much much improved.
Yeah I'm a little pissed off at the PC hardware situation that's going on around here. Like he said, there are thousands of video cards/sound cards that a game has to cater to now. If we could have some sort of standardization when it comes to video cards, it would make it a little easier.
Heck, I would appreciate standardisation in just the naming conventions. How exactly is the average person supposed to know that a GeForce 7200 performs worse than a GeForce 6800?
surprised no one else talking about how he also blames integrated video and audio as well as people getting the cheapest stuff and thinking they can run with max settings. These points were spot on and will always be a problem until integrated crap is much much improved.
Yeah I'm a little pissed off at the PC hardware situation that's going on around here. Like he said, there are thousands of video cards/sound cards that a game has to cater to now. If we could have some sort of standardization when it comes to video cards, it would make it a little easier.
Heck, I would appreciate standardisation in just the naming conventions. How exactly is the average person supposed to know that a GeForce 7200 performs worse than a GeForce 6800?
Both the points that you two have just raised are right on the mark. I think it's symptomatic of an industry that has been competing with each for so long that things just got out of hand. Now they've realized that they need to get their shit together if they want to make some more money.
It'll be interesting to see how the PCGA plays out, but these companies have been competing so vigorously with each other for so long now, that it seems near impossible for them to make amends.
surprised no one else talking about how he also blames integrated video and audio as well as people getting the cheapest stuff and thinking they can run with max settings. These points were spot on and will always be a problem until integrated crap is much much improved.
Yeah I'm a little pissed off at the PC hardware situation that's going on around here. Like he said, there are thousands of video cards/sound cards that a game has to cater to now. If we could have some sort of standardization when it comes to video cards, it would make it a little easier.
Heck, I would appreciate standardisation in just the naming conventions. How exactly is the average person supposed to know that a GeForce 7200 performs worse than a GeForce 6800?
the manufacturers aren't really helping either. I got a 8400GS (on purpose mind you, I know it is a piece of shit, was just a cheap replacement for my home computer) that all over the box in big letters stating: "DIRECTX 10 CAPABLE" etc. Yeah... it barely can run games better than my (now) ancient 6800GT (on a much more powerful system too) so saying it is "capable" is not technically wrong, but it is hugely misleading since the games will run like shit anyway.
Posts
A whiny bitch? C'mon, he just lost his job. Everyone's allowed to bitch and whine when they get fired from an industry due to the PC crowd being douches and downloading games for free. Also, he is spot on when he talks about the PC market and having to develop for integrated graphics/audio and stuff like that. I heard that is a major pain in the ass. On top of that they introduce new fucking graphics cards every other week.
They publish games like the Galactic Civilizations franchise and others. Also, some software, I think.
Everyone? I thought I was the only person to bring them up so far? That and I thought I pretty much summed up everything in that post.
Anyway, Publisher / Developer. Made Galactic Civilizations I and II (along with a load of PC applications and things), and helped Ironclad studios with Sins of a Solar Empire (also handling the publishing of that game). Both companies have pretty much said that they think DRM does nothing for them and only causes problems, so they don't use any. And it seems to be working given how successful SoaSE has been so far. Little to no direct marketing to speak of, it's been largely word of mouth, and the game is still selling well in-stores (no word on Digital Distribution, but given the nature of the game and the community, I suspect those sales are doing better still).
They also have their own digital distribution platform for their games (and they publish a fair few indie titles on there as well from various developers), and typically when you order a game from them, you're also given the option of buying a hard copy to be sent to you for a small additional price.
More info and gushing from the devs here, and our big thread with more details and gushing from the fans here . EDIT: Oh, and Threepio did a pretty awesome interview with the guys from Ironclad here and here.
And to answer your question, yes, Sins is far more than 'remotely' worth the download. I'm sure a lot of people aren't into 4X / RTS games, but for those of us that are it's an awesome game, OK?
Yeah, my only serious complaint about TQ is the gaping lack of a good online service. I understand that it was ILE's first game, and they may not have had the money, but the multiplayer was a big letdown for me.
I have the original and expansion but never really played them. Bought for the promise of co-op but, at the time, my friends and I couldn't get it to LAN.
Yah, but when he insults people that bought his game (i.e. the "stupid" ones) then you become a whiny little bitch like a certain D.S. whose full name I won't enumerate.
P.S. Not to mention that I don't fully buy into his piracy argument, but I won't go there for fear of derailing this even further.
which would be made part-time. I like the band 'dream theater'. they release an album every year or so. if those guys had day jobs to pay the bills then
a) they wouldn't be such phenomenal musicians. That level of ability NEEDS 10 hours a day
b) they would release far far fewer material.
I don't see the big deal with jst paying for music you like. you pay for food you like right? And the same obviously foes for games too. I',m sick of spending 20 minutes a day emailing torrent sites and file hosting sites to stop people leeching my stuff. I could spend that time working on new games.
Some people are just unimaginably pathetic. I know one warez forum poster who has posted links to all my games, on 5 or 6 different file sharing sites, and despite me checking every single day and getting them all removed, he takes the time to re-upload them from another IP the next day. he has now done this 47 times. FORTY SEVEN times. he just can't take the hint.
People borrowing a mates CD to demo a game is one thing. people who make it their lifes mission to try and put small PC games devs out of business are another level of scummyness.
Fuck piracy indeed.
If you really want to help PC gaming, the next time you see someone defending piracy, let them know that they are leeching and freeloading off of people like you, who (god bless you) are honest enough to buy their games.
No. I didn't even know about Hamachi until I started playing DoW.
Maybe I can get them to dig out their old copies and we'll give it a go.
Still I'd like to play some TQ with PAers sometimes. Maybe I'll start up a Game On thread this weekend.
I don't get pirating games.
Accu I'd have to find my discs, which apparently D2 and TQ went missing from my binder.
I'd be down for a Game On. I'll probably be busy tonight and tomorrow night, but I'm sure I can get on at some point over the weekend. My multiplayer experience with TQ is pretty limited, but I'd like to give it another shot.
Or they could go the way the British? government was thinking: fines followed by internet suspension for multiple repeat offenses. The problem is under the current law, governments lack the ability to go after downloaders at large. It's very easy to tell who's downloading, just need to be able to fine them.
What I fail to understand is why the security check crashed the game rather than shutting it down with a "Buy the game, asshole" message. I mean, if that's the entire point of the security check, at least the pirate types would know they were caught and would have no recourse. Hindsight, right?
Personally, I would just go with console development. Closed platforms are absolutely superior from a development standpoint.
They eloped?
Blizzard games have a habit of growing legs and getting the fuck outta your house, heading to the closest Blizzard manufacturing center and resealing itself.
I've bought StarCraft about 3 times and Diablo 2 at least 4.
Acc, I'm always up for some TQ co-op. Back when Hellgate: London was still in beta, Devoir and Jawsh and Pantsy and I played quite a bit. Harsh even joined us.
I've had the bug to play it more, lately, too. I love TQ.
You know, I think you might be onto something. The secret to Blizzard's success, I dare say. I myself have purchased Warcraft 3 either two or three times and World of Warcraft twice.
I've never had a problem with Steam but I have had retail games not work due to copy protection; it's really frustrating because you can't even return it.
Just put it in a safe. The bitches can't break out of a safe, right? RIGHT?!
I'm going to have to disagree there. I don't think devs are emphasising multiplayer at the expense of singleplayer. I would say they focus more on it these days, but that's largely because that's where the legs of a game are these days. Singleplayer campaigns these days usually last for a whole 8 hours, if that. You need something to keep players hooked into the game and stop them trading it in. And besies, players also want multiplayer to be a huge part of the experience as well.
If it was piracy issue for example, I wouldn't have expected Bungie to have put so much effort into the multiplayer on Halo 3. It's not as if that game's going to be pirated, at least not in any significant numbers. But they took the time and effort to make it something really special, and it's something that's going to last on XBL for years as a result.
With respect to Blizzard games, at least they're still available.
It's amazing to think that Starcraft and Diablo II are still selling for £10 in the UK when they're literally decade old games.
I don't think people can trade in PC games, can they? And why would they care? They already got your moniez. I just feel like the SP campaigns are just thrown in for the poor saps that don't have internets.
I've bought SC and BW five fucking times. Five fucking times. And I still don't have a copy.
Yep, yesterday I went looking for my SC and BW to play it again. WOULDN'T YOU FUCKING KNOW IT!! They were gone. Oh I still have the BW disc, but that's useless with SC. Looks like I'll have to buy that damn game again.
If I game isn't worth playing in a decade, it probably isn't really worth playing now.
Yeah, most SP campaigns usually are poor. The only answer I can give to that is that it's probably an established tradition or something. :P
I found it sad that UT2004's single player campaign was more fun that most FPS games' SP campaigns. If you haven't played it, its basically a series of bot matches against various teams.
Yeah the whole team thing was really cool. It'd be nice if they implemented some RPG elements or something to it. If you win a match you get 20 XP, and when you gain a level you can use that to buy slight upgrades on your guns or something.
I understand its a problem for PC Devs in general. But I honestly can't see Titan Quest running on integrated video. It runs worse than Oblivion on my PC.
I would guess it's because we all pretty much agree with this sentiment. It is a huge stumbling block, and whilst that whole "PC-Gaming Alliance" thing is supposed to fix it, I doubt it'll do anything more effecting than having a short stint of ad-campaigns to say "Hey! Look at us! We exist, and we're helping! Please won't you improve, Mr. Situation?"
It probably does but you get <10 frames. It is a problem for devs in general, since they haven't been improved in years. Like I have said in other threads, integrated video that comes with PCs (the intel garbage) can't even run Quake3 very well on default settings, a game from 1999. That is just unacceptable. Now imagine all these people buying pre-built brand name computers which most come with this shit and people trying to play games released in the present, not gonna happen.
Yeah I'm a little pissed off at the PC hardware situation that's going on around here. Like he said, there are thousands of video cards/sound cards that a game has to cater to now. If we could have some sort of standardization when it comes to video cards, it would make it a little easier.
Heck, I would appreciate standardisation in just the naming conventions. How exactly is the average person supposed to know that a GeForce 7200 performs worse than a GeForce 6800?
Ugh. I know what you mean.
I miss Voodoo
Both the points that you two have just raised are right on the mark. I think it's symptomatic of an industry that has been competing with each for so long that things just got out of hand. Now they've realized that they need to get their shit together if they want to make some more money.
It'll be interesting to see how the PCGA plays out, but these companies have been competing so vigorously with each other for so long now, that it seems near impossible for them to make amends.
the manufacturers aren't really helping either. I got a 8400GS (on purpose mind you, I know it is a piece of shit, was just a cheap replacement for my home computer) that all over the box in big letters stating: "DIRECTX 10 CAPABLE" etc. Yeah... it barely can run games better than my (now) ancient 6800GT (on a much more powerful system too) so saying it is "capable" is not technically wrong, but it is hugely misleading since the games will run like shit anyway.
Stop making fun of my video card.