EA, humble?
August 15, 2013 7:17 AM Subscribe
The latest Humble Bundle is a collection of 8 AAA games from EA. Retail price for these games is $215 but, with the Humble Bundle, users can set their own price at anything starting from $1. Humble Bundle has received some flak previously for partnering with big brands, with many arguing that they had abandoned their original purpose of promoting indie game developers. EA however, in a likely attempt to stave off such criticism, has agreed to have 100% of proceeds from this bundle go to charity.
So what's in it for EA? Three of the games in the bundle can only be redeemed through Origin, EA's proprietary digital distribution framework which has thus far had very little success at competing with Steam. Unfortunately, Origin does not seem to be up to handing the influx of new users.
So what's in it for EA? Three of the games in the bundle can only be redeemed through Origin, EA's proprietary digital distribution framework which has thus far had very little success at competing with Steam. Unfortunately, Origin does not seem to be up to handing the influx of new users.
Of the 6 base games, only Dead Space 3 must be redeemed on Origin, the rest can be redeemed on Steam. Even if you add the two "pay above the average" games, only three of eight must be redeemed on Origin, which is not my definition of "most".
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 7:20 AM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 7:20 AM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
Most of the games in the bundle can only be redeemed through Origin,
that's not true though, yeah? everything i've seen says 5 of the games are both steam and origin and one of the games is origin only (or 3 of the games, if you get the expanded deal).
posted by nadawi at 7:22 AM on August 15, 2013
that's not true though, yeah? everything i've seen says 5 of the games are both steam and origin and one of the games is origin only (or 3 of the games, if you get the expanded deal).
posted by nadawi at 7:22 AM on August 15, 2013
(I also love charity leaderboards, and have been known to game my charitable giving just so I can be in the lead for a little while....)
posted by anotherpanacea at 7:22 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by anotherpanacea at 7:22 AM on August 15, 2013
ha. shoulda previewed. yeah - that.
the chatter i've been seeing nearly everywhere is "yeah, origin is pretty shitty for reasons, but it's basically awesome that so many get steam keys." and 100% charity. and, omg cheap.
posted by nadawi at 7:23 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
the chatter i've been seeing nearly everywhere is "yeah, origin is pretty shitty for reasons, but it's basically awesome that so many get steam keys." and 100% charity. and, omg cheap.
posted by nadawi at 7:23 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Ah. Fair enough. I didn't realize so many had alternate Steam codes. If a mod wants to change "Most of the" to "Three of the" I'm cool with that.
posted by 256 at 7:23 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by 256 at 7:23 AM on August 15, 2013
I get the feeling that the biz dev, and sales guys on the Origin team at EA have never once deigned to talk to the Developers or Operations teams.
posted by DigDoug at 7:29 AM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by DigDoug at 7:29 AM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
It does kind of suck that Dead Space 3 is Origin only, because I am not going to install Origin. Oh, well, I bought it mostly for Mirror's Edge and Burnout anyway.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 7:30 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 7:30 AM on August 15, 2013
>So what's in it for EA?
Seem fairly obvious. Good will to cover up the previous hate in the short attention span gaming community and origin is heavily advertising Battlefield 4, their next AAA game.
posted by anti social order at 7:33 AM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
Seem fairly obvious. Good will to cover up the previous hate in the short attention span gaming community and origin is heavily advertising Battlefield 4, their next AAA game.
posted by anti social order at 7:33 AM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
It looks like all the games beside Dead Space 3 can be unlocked on Steam, not Origin. Is that correct? I don't mind not playing DS3, but I'm not fucking using Origin so I won't pay for this unless Steam's a viable option.
posted by Rory Marinich at 7:37 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by Rory Marinich at 7:37 AM on August 15, 2013
Sims and BF3 are also Origin only.
The Sims base game is basically a DLC platform, so far as I can tell. They want that DLC money flowing through Origin, not Steam, so they don't have to share it. I'm guessing BF3 offers DLC or paid unlocks too, I dropped the franchise earlier on.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:37 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
The Sims base game is basically a DLC platform, so far as I can tell. They want that DLC money flowing through Origin, not Steam, so they don't have to share it. I'm guessing BF3 offers DLC or paid unlocks too, I dropped the franchise earlier on.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:37 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
They have sequels pending for most of these games. I would guess that's a good reason to do this.
posted by Brocktoon at 7:37 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by Brocktoon at 7:37 AM on August 15, 2013
While I would prefer to keep my digital game library on one service, I can't fault EA for wanting it's own non-Steam platform. While I always opt for the Steam version of a game if it's available (I know, I know, lock-in effect), Origin has already improved massively in the year since I've been using it (I've purchased several cheap keys for "Origin-only" games on Amazon). And Steam could benefit from customer service reps that are as accessible as those on Origin. In the end, I think the competition from Origin as it matures will be good for Steam and its users.
posted by longdaysjourney at 7:38 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by longdaysjourney at 7:38 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Yeah, well, Sims and BF3 being Origin-only just makes it way more convenient for me to only pay a dollar for this.
posted by Rory Marinich at 7:39 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Rory Marinich at 7:39 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
I have umptillion games on Steam, and precisely two games on Origin - the games that I really wanted and couldn't force myself to resist - Battlefield 3 and Simcity 2013.
You know what? I hop on Origin a couple of times a week to play those specific games, hop off immediately after, and I'm still puzzled by the gaming community's dramatised hate-on for it. Yeah, it's a big corporation's proprietary DRM platform. That's not great. But so's Steam.
posted by forgetful snow at 7:41 AM on August 15, 2013 [8 favorites]
You know what? I hop on Origin a couple of times a week to play those specific games, hop off immediately after, and I'm still puzzled by the gaming community's dramatised hate-on for it. Yeah, it's a big corporation's proprietary DRM platform. That's not great. But so's Steam.
posted by forgetful snow at 7:41 AM on August 15, 2013 [8 favorites]
i had heard that the burnout paradise port was awful and didn't include the extra island - can anyone speak to that? i have it on 360, but it would be nice to be able to play it on my pc too.
posted by nadawi at 7:46 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by nadawi at 7:46 AM on August 15, 2013
My only problem with this is that none of the games I want to play. Not a one. While I've done so many of the past bundles that I have more Steam games I haven't played than have, generally because there's this or that specific game I NEED.
posted by JHarris at 7:49 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 7:49 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
As far as I know the port itself is fine, but they never released Big Surf Island for PC.
(God, I loved that game soooooo much. Full 100% completion on 360 and I've reset my save a couple of times to do it all over again.)
posted by kmz at 7:50 AM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
(God, I loved that game soooooo much. Full 100% completion on 360 and I've reset my save a couple of times to do it all over again.)
posted by kmz at 7:50 AM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
I already have a ton of games I don't have time to play. So the obvious choice for me is to buy this and have even more games I don't have time to play. Obviously.
posted by Justinian at 7:53 AM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 7:53 AM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
Justinian: "I already have a ton of games I don't have time to play. So the obvious choice for me is to buy this and have even more games I don't have time to play. Obviously."
EA is helping you out then. Currently bundle buyers can't redeem anything on Origin.
posted by boo_radley at 7:58 AM on August 15, 2013
EA is helping you out then. Currently bundle buyers can't redeem anything on Origin.
posted by boo_radley at 7:58 AM on August 15, 2013
I'm surprised that one of the charities is Human Rights Campaign, the gay rights organization. I love HRC, they do amazing work, but it's explicitly a political organization. I wonder if they're making a taxable donation to the 501(c)(4) Campaign itself or a tax deductible donations to the lesser-known 501(c)(3) Foundation?
Average bundle price at the moment is $4.74. That's basically free, although IIRC that's par for the course for Humble Bundles.
posted by Nelson at 7:59 AM on August 15, 2013
Average bundle price at the moment is $4.74. That's basically free, although IIRC that's par for the course for Humble Bundles.
posted by Nelson at 7:59 AM on August 15, 2013
I'm not sure about the island and I don't have access to my gaming machine at the moment, but Burnout: Paradise plays fine on my PC with a Logitech racing wheel. And my machine is loooong in the tooth CPU-wise (a socket 775 Core2Quad OC'd to 2.9gHz, although my GPU is fairly recent: Radeon 5870..or maybe 6870...can't recall).
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:00 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:00 AM on August 15, 2013
Oh, and it's a little weird to see Dead Space 1 and Dead Space 3. Where's Dead Space 2? I wonder why it was excluded from the bundle.
posted by boo_radley at 8:04 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by boo_radley at 8:04 AM on August 15, 2013
Steam is great for sales, but software wise, it's pretty crap. The origin platform isn't worse than steam and may be less buggy. Steam couldn't even handle offline mode correctly for years. So it's DRM was defacto the dreaded "always on" type.
I got Origin for Mass Effect 3, but they gave me a few other games and I couldn't resist this bundle. I really don't get the hate of the Origin launcher and barely get the hate of EA.
posted by jclarkin at 8:11 AM on August 15, 2013
I got Origin for Mass Effect 3, but they gave me a few other games and I couldn't resist this bundle. I really don't get the hate of the Origin launcher and barely get the hate of EA.
posted by jclarkin at 8:11 AM on August 15, 2013
Human Rights Campaign, the gay rights organization.
Ah damn, I confused them with Human Rights Watch aka the fckers who downplayed the Iraqi war deaths and are the go-to organisation for convenient denouncements of formerly friendly regimes for the US. So I made sure they didn't get a dime of my 4 dollars 62; had I paid attention I would've given them some money too.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:23 AM on August 15, 2013
Ah damn, I confused them with Human Rights Watch aka the fckers who downplayed the Iraqi war deaths and are the go-to organisation for convenient denouncements of formerly friendly regimes for the US. So I made sure they didn't get a dime of my 4 dollars 62; had I paid attention I would've given them some money too.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:23 AM on August 15, 2013
jclarkin: " barely get the hate of EA."
They've been Worst Company in America twice.
They bought and shut down Westwood Studios, Bullfrog, etc. A lot of great companies got smothered by EA.
They've used charity events to promote their games without permission by those charities (Child's play, I think?)
They rent out game servers to players -- the server software is not available directly -- and/or then shut them down arbitrarily when new game versions are released (Battlefield 3, a shitload of their sports games).
There's more, but you can do the legwork yourself at this point.
posted by boo_radley at 8:26 AM on August 15, 2013 [6 favorites]
They've been Worst Company in America twice.
They bought and shut down Westwood Studios, Bullfrog, etc. A lot of great companies got smothered by EA.
They've used charity events to promote their games without permission by those charities (Child's play, I think?)
They rent out game servers to players -- the server software is not available directly -- and/or then shut them down arbitrarily when new game versions are released (Battlefield 3, a shitload of their sports games).
There's more, but you can do the legwork yourself at this point.
posted by boo_radley at 8:26 AM on August 15, 2013 [6 favorites]
Literally every time I've tried to use Origin it's been broken, because literally every time I've tried to use Origin it's as a result of a big popular sale so their servers are crushed under heavy use so the thing I bought isn't usable and by the time they (presumably) get it sorted out I've already rage-uninstalled the platform. (You can picture this as me clicking the uninstall button really really really hard)
I don't really know what the solution to that is for them, other than "stop letting your servers get crushed under heavy load." It isn't "stop having big sales", because without those I'd never consider installing the thing in the first place.
posted by ook at 8:33 AM on August 15, 2013
I don't really know what the solution to that is for them, other than "stop letting your servers get crushed under heavy load." It isn't "stop having big sales", because without those I'd never consider installing the thing in the first place.
posted by ook at 8:33 AM on August 15, 2013
Is this a commercial?
"EA's proprietary digital distribution framework"
I love Steam but essentially it is the same...
Any of you used Steam back in the days, 2004-05? It was the worst thing ever and essentially it killed the CS scene (remember WON, NOWON?). So yeah, we hate EA but Steam wasn't better either.
posted by bdz at 8:34 AM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
"EA's proprietary digital distribution framework"
I love Steam but essentially it is the same...
Any of you used Steam back in the days, 2004-05? It was the worst thing ever and essentially it killed the CS scene (remember WON, NOWON?). So yeah, we hate EA but Steam wasn't better either.
posted by bdz at 8:34 AM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Steam is great for sales, but software wise, it's pretty crap.
Don't get this at all. I've never really had problems with Steam, no matter what game I was playing. I played ME3, so I had to use Origin, and I hated every instance of interaction with the software. Whether or not it'd be up was a complete crap shoot, and the fact that I had to manually install DLC rather than just buy it on Origin and let it do its thing--like Steam--was inexplicably lazy, given that EA controls both the distribution system and the software. It's not like they have to work with a third-party to get DLC to be compatible with Origin. But Valve gets theirs to work more-or-less flawlessly, whereas EA can't even be arsed to bother.
Screw those guys. I've sworn off the Dragon Age series simply because it'd require me to use Origin, and I don't want to ever have to deal with it again.
posted by valkyryn at 8:36 AM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
Don't get this at all. I've never really had problems with Steam, no matter what game I was playing. I played ME3, so I had to use Origin, and I hated every instance of interaction with the software. Whether or not it'd be up was a complete crap shoot, and the fact that I had to manually install DLC rather than just buy it on Origin and let it do its thing--like Steam--was inexplicably lazy, given that EA controls both the distribution system and the software. It's not like they have to work with a third-party to get DLC to be compatible with Origin. But Valve gets theirs to work more-or-less flawlessly, whereas EA can't even be arsed to bother.
Screw those guys. I've sworn off the Dragon Age series simply because it'd require me to use Origin, and I don't want to ever have to deal with it again.
posted by valkyryn at 8:36 AM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
"EA's proprietary digital distribution framework"
I love Steam but essentially it is the same...
Can you buy non-EA games on Origin? You can get non-Valve games on Steam.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 8:39 AM on August 15, 2013 [5 favorites]
I love Steam but essentially it is the same...
Can you buy non-EA games on Origin? You can get non-Valve games on Steam.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 8:39 AM on August 15, 2013 [5 favorites]
barely get the hate of EA.
EA should die in a fire made of fires.
I'm an avid gamer who has been playing video games since Combat. I remember when EA was a reasonably cool company with games like Skate or Die.
They've sucked since at least the late 90s, and I haven't bought an EA title in over 12 years. They could be the best games ever written, but I'll never know, because fuck EA.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 8:39 AM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
EA should die in a fire made of fires.
I'm an avid gamer who has been playing video games since Combat. I remember when EA was a reasonably cool company with games like Skate or Die.
They've sucked since at least the late 90s, and I haven't bought an EA title in over 12 years. They could be the best games ever written, but I'll never know, because fuck EA.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 8:39 AM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
Mod note: Edited the post per OP request, carry on.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:42 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:42 AM on August 15, 2013
MartinWisse: "...had I paid attention I would've given them some money too."
HRC is plenty problematic their own selves.
posted by jiawen at 8:43 AM on August 15, 2013 [5 favorites]
HRC is plenty problematic their own selves.
posted by jiawen at 8:43 AM on August 15, 2013 [5 favorites]
i don't really get the argument of - steam sucked 8 years ago! so why hate origin now? - like, if you put a 10 year old in a race with usain bolt and then argued that they tied because that was the speed bolt ran he was 10, everyone would wonder what you were on about.
posted by nadawi at 8:44 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by nadawi at 8:44 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Yeah, it's a big corporation's proprietary DRM platform. That's not great. But so's Steam.
The big difference in my view is that Steam mostly just works and gets out of your way, while Origin sucks in all kinds of unique and dysfunctional ways. People seem to tolerate DRM just fine if it doesn't stop them from doing what they want.
posted by bonehead at 8:47 AM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
The big difference in my view is that Steam mostly just works and gets out of your way, while Origin sucks in all kinds of unique and dysfunctional ways. People seem to tolerate DRM just fine if it doesn't stop them from doing what they want.
posted by bonehead at 8:47 AM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
my problem with ea is that they buy up awesome properties and ruin them and turn them into a nickle and dime operation where i have to swat away "buy this, no this improve your stats!" just to play the fucking game. i know this isn't an ea specific issue, but they are one of the very worst offenders at it. also "it's not always online drm! we just made the game so you have to be online to play it!" and it seems like every time i get the itch to actually log in to origin something is screwy with it.
i hope ea gets better and realizes that we don't all care about some sort of socially networked massive play experience (fat fucking chance). i hope that origin becomes a better client with better stability (this might happen). i still play ea games, but i'm buying less and less of them because of all the problems that come along with just wanting to sit down for 30 minutes and unwind.
posted by nadawi at 8:49 AM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
i hope ea gets better and realizes that we don't all care about some sort of socially networked massive play experience (fat fucking chance). i hope that origin becomes a better client with better stability (this might happen). i still play ea games, but i'm buying less and less of them because of all the problems that come along with just wanting to sit down for 30 minutes and unwind.
posted by nadawi at 8:49 AM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Am I one of the few people that just plays games for fun and doesn't care what digital delivery service they come through or what kind of DRM they have? Origin and Steam are tiny icons in the running programs, I don't care that it's there.
Same with Uplay. It's sometimes annoying to have to log-in to several services, but you have to do that anyway to use different websites. You can always pirate the games if it hurts you so much, judging by availability - DRM doesn't do any good at preventing piracy.
Well, one problem - which is inherent in all games is updating. I hate not playing a game for awhile, logging into Uplay or Origin for the first time in months and having to wait an hour for some update or another to load. But Steam does that too.
posted by thylacine at 8:56 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Same with Uplay. It's sometimes annoying to have to log-in to several services, but you have to do that anyway to use different websites. You can always pirate the games if it hurts you so much, judging by availability - DRM doesn't do any good at preventing piracy.
Well, one problem - which is inherent in all games is updating. I hate not playing a game for awhile, logging into Uplay or Origin for the first time in months and having to wait an hour for some update or another to load. But Steam does that too.
posted by thylacine at 8:56 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
I love Steam but essentially it is the same...
That's like saying the Tesla Roadster and a Ford Pinto are essentially the same because they're both cars. The details are what matters and Steam is better than Origin in virtually every single way. Steam won the PC gaming digital distribution system war before EA or Ubi even knew the battle was happening and their completely unnecessary, terrible, and redundant apps are utter fails.
posted by Justinian at 8:59 AM on August 15, 2013 [8 favorites]
That's like saying the Tesla Roadster and a Ford Pinto are essentially the same because they're both cars. The details are what matters and Steam is better than Origin in virtually every single way. Steam won the PC gaming digital distribution system war before EA or Ubi even knew the battle was happening and their completely unnecessary, terrible, and redundant apps are utter fails.
posted by Justinian at 8:59 AM on August 15, 2013 [8 favorites]
I repeat myself:
"EA's proprietary digital distribution framework"
I love Steam but essentially it is the same... A same _proprietary_ _digital distribution framework_
posted by bdz at 9:02 AM on August 15, 2013
"EA's proprietary digital distribution framework"
I love Steam but essentially it is the same... A same _proprietary_ _digital distribution framework_
posted by bdz at 9:02 AM on August 15, 2013
i totally play games for fun - which is why uplay and origin aren't my preferred clients since for me they don't seem to work as consistently as steam. maybe they'll get there, but since we have 250+ games in steam, i'm pretty much always going to use it as my default client.
posted by nadawi at 9:03 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by nadawi at 9:03 AM on August 15, 2013
After just spending $10 bucks on it, doesn't EA get props for releasing the BF3 and Sims sountrack in FLAC?
posted by thylacine at 9:04 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by thylacine at 9:04 AM on August 15, 2013
EA sells old titles via digital delivery on platforms like Amazon that have had their installers modified since regular support was discontinued to add Origin activation wrappers. Origin will not, in fact, successfully activate these titles. But they are still for sale out there on various sites. Origin support has no way to fix this, and most of the support reps don't even know this problem exists. Ultimately they give you a store credit, which itself is often not applied correctly and requires further support calls to make use of.
The last PC version of Tiger Woods/EA Golf that wasn't a crappy standalone port of the in-browser webgame (as vs the full console title) is one of these titles. If you buy it, you end up having to use a cracked EXE to play it anyway. I think its TW07, but I'd have to check.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:04 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
The last PC version of Tiger Woods/EA Golf that wasn't a crappy standalone port of the in-browser webgame (as vs the full console title) is one of these titles. If you buy it, you end up having to use a cracked EXE to play it anyway. I think its TW07, but I'd have to check.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:04 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
you can repeat yourself, but if you don't engage with people who have responded by saying why in their minds it's not the same, the conversation isn't really going to go anywhere.
posted by nadawi at 9:05 AM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by nadawi at 9:05 AM on August 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
EA is doing such a fantastic job of ruining all of their main franchises that I haven't actually been tempted to buy anything that's only on Origin. Between the relentless shoehorning in of DLC, not giving teams the resources they need to actually make games, and driving away their talent, they just haven't produced anything compelling lately.
Not that you shouldn't get the bundle, mind you; much of the stuff was produced in their pre-ruining things period. Also, from what I hear, they were unsuccessful in their attempt to ruin Dead Space 3. Turns out that if you shoehorn in DLC awkwardly enough, people just ignore it.
posted by Mitrovarr at 9:14 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Not that you shouldn't get the bundle, mind you; much of the stuff was produced in their pre-ruining things period. Also, from what I hear, they were unsuccessful in their attempt to ruin Dead Space 3. Turns out that if you shoehorn in DLC awkwardly enough, people just ignore it.
posted by Mitrovarr at 9:14 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Since the second humble bundle, there's been an option to get at least some of the games on Steam. I'm pretty sure I got Samrost 2 that way.
posted by bonehead at 9:18 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by bonehead at 9:18 AM on August 15, 2013
Fairly easy buy for me. I already had Origin (ME3 got me in the door, as I recall). I don't mind giving to charities. I doubt I'll play anything other than Mirror's Edge from the bundle, but you never know if the mood will strike me to play something else, or give deep space horror a try.
Of course, I wanted the Sims 3 DLC stuff and the code didn't work, but you can't have everything.
posted by YAMWAK at 9:24 AM on August 15, 2013
Of course, I wanted the Sims 3 DLC stuff and the code didn't work, but you can't have everything.
posted by YAMWAK at 9:24 AM on August 15, 2013
This is a great bundle of some pretty terrific games, and any of you not buying it solely because of Origin are being dumb. Origin shits the bed every time it is under heavy traffic load, but so what? So does Steam. Accessing the store during the first few hours of the summer sale was all but impossible.
Where's Dead Space 2? I wonder why it was excluded from the bundle.
I'm guessing it'll be added to the bundle later as an add-on. Humble always adds a couple of games a week or so into the bundle to drive more sales.
posted by graventy at 9:24 AM on August 15, 2013
Where's Dead Space 2? I wonder why it was excluded from the bundle.
I'm guessing it'll be added to the bundle later as an add-on. Humble always adds a couple of games a week or so into the bundle to drive more sales.
posted by graventy at 9:24 AM on August 15, 2013
I had to do significant workarounds to get Mass Effect 1-3 to work on my Windows 8 machine using Origin. I won't be purchasing anything else until they do a lot to improve the support system. I realize that Windows 8 is garbage, but it's the garbage that I'm stuck with for the moment.
posted by Sequence at 9:28 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by Sequence at 9:28 AM on August 15, 2013
So yeah, we hate EA but Steam wasn't better either.
If Valve had launched old-Steam when current-Steam already existed, people would have questioned the point then too.
posted by anifinder at 9:32 AM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
If Valve had launched old-Steam when current-Steam already existed, people would have questioned the point then too.
posted by anifinder at 9:32 AM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
are you "it's all the same" "you're dumb if you don't but this" people even reading the thread? some people are buying anyway but are kind of annoyed about some things, some people feel like ea is actively trying to ruin their own games, some people have repeated problems getting games to run after they've bought them (and away from big sales - but, come on - if you can't keep your servers up during what you already know will be one of your biggest chances to prove you can play with big boys, that's a sign).
posted by nadawi at 9:39 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by nadawi at 9:39 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Am I one of the few people that just plays games for fun and doesn't care what digital delivery service they come through or what kind of DRM they have?
No. I don't either. Except when said service and DRM sucks. I don't want to have to worry about whether my games or their components are disabled because the DRM system is down. With Steam, that happens once in a blue moon, and I don't really think about it. When I was playing ME3, there were multiple occasions where I either couldn't play at all, or couldn't reference my Galactic Readiness score--which is critical for the plot!--because Origin was down. This meant that I had to be very careful about progressing through the game, as I didn't want to hit any triggers that referenced my score when Origin was down. Also several occasions where I just wanted to go around and shoot things in multiplayer, but nope, Origin was down.
So no, you're not the only person who doesn't actually give a crap about this sort of thing, as long as it's unobtrusive. But as soon as it starts to detract from the actual game, well, screw those guys.
posted by valkyryn at 9:58 AM on August 15, 2013
No. I don't either. Except when said service and DRM sucks. I don't want to have to worry about whether my games or their components are disabled because the DRM system is down. With Steam, that happens once in a blue moon, and I don't really think about it. When I was playing ME3, there were multiple occasions where I either couldn't play at all, or couldn't reference my Galactic Readiness score--which is critical for the plot!--because Origin was down. This meant that I had to be very careful about progressing through the game, as I didn't want to hit any triggers that referenced my score when Origin was down. Also several occasions where I just wanted to go around and shoot things in multiplayer, but nope, Origin was down.
So no, you're not the only person who doesn't actually give a crap about this sort of thing, as long as it's unobtrusive. But as soon as it starts to detract from the actual game, well, screw those guys.
posted by valkyryn at 9:58 AM on August 15, 2013
dragons age 2 in fact has one of the best responses ever to 'omg the gays' hand wringing.
"The romances in the game are not for "the straight male gamer". They're for everyone. We have a lot of fans, many of whom are neither straight nor male, and they deserve no less attention."
posted by nadawi at 9:59 AM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
"The romances in the game are not for "the straight male gamer". They're for everyone. We have a lot of fans, many of whom are neither straight nor male, and they deserve no less attention."
posted by nadawi at 9:59 AM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
My problem with Origin is that it works so poorly when compared to Steam. Steam had several years of badness becwuse they had to experiment and find out how to do things. But Origin is making many of the *same* mistakes early Steam did and that is just plain lazy/thoughtless/did no do the research. EA had an exqmple of a drm/distribution system working right, and they ignored it to screw up in ways known to screw you up. WTF?
Also, EA is just plain evil. Remember when they quietly anounced that one of their Origin games would be shut down and you'd never be able to play it again in a month. But they kept selling it for full retail on Origin with no notice to the effect that the game would be killed very soon?
posted by sotonohito at 10:07 AM on August 15, 2013
Also, EA is just plain evil. Remember when they quietly anounced that one of their Origin games would be shut down and you'd never be able to play it again in a month. But they kept selling it for full retail on Origin with no notice to the effect that the game would be killed very soon?
posted by sotonohito at 10:07 AM on August 15, 2013
Am I one of the few people that just plays games for fun and doesn't care what digital delivery service they come through or what kind of DRM they have?
It's because I play games for fun that I don't want to use my precious gaming time fighting with the DRM or digital download service when I could be playing games.
posted by straight at 10:11 AM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
It's because I play games for fun that I don't want to use my precious gaming time fighting with the DRM or digital download service when I could be playing games.
posted by straight at 10:11 AM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
Anyone know or have a good guess at which extra games they're going to add at the midpoint of the sale?
posted by straight at 10:12 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by straight at 10:12 AM on August 15, 2013
Dead Space 2 seems like a gimme.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:15 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:15 AM on August 15, 2013
Here's the problem:
A LOT of gamers already have had bad experiences with Origin, so they are staying away from this bundle. So, assuming that most people buying this bundle have a neutral opinion of Origin, and they're not able to get into the games they just bought because of Origin's failure, then now EA has essentially targeted people who had no reason to dislike Origin (yet), and made them ... dislike Origin.
Also, the fact that some of these games have Steam codes is not guaranteed to make everything okay - I purchased Ubisoft's Driver SF on Steam, and it makes me use their silly UPlay thingie, whose servers were down after buying the game and would cause said game to freeze every 30 seconds while trying to phone home until I blocked it in my firewall. I know, I know, EA is not Ubisoft...but it could be argued that EA is WORSE.
posted by destructive cactus at 10:17 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
A LOT of gamers already have had bad experiences with Origin, so they are staying away from this bundle. So, assuming that most people buying this bundle have a neutral opinion of Origin, and they're not able to get into the games they just bought because of Origin's failure, then now EA has essentially targeted people who had no reason to dislike Origin (yet), and made them ... dislike Origin.
Also, the fact that some of these games have Steam codes is not guaranteed to make everything okay - I purchased Ubisoft's Driver SF on Steam, and it makes me use their silly UPlay thingie, whose servers were down after buying the game and would cause said game to freeze every 30 seconds while trying to phone home until I blocked it in my firewall. I know, I know, EA is not Ubisoft...but it could be argued that EA is WORSE.
posted by destructive cactus at 10:17 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Also, five bucks is a more than fair price for Burnout Paradise and Mirror's Edge, both of which are on Steam anyway and have no DRM above and beyond what your typical game on that platform would contain (certainly nothing of UbiSoft proportions). I haven't played any of the others yet, but even if nothing else is worth touching and I never install Origin, this is still a good deal.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:18 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:18 AM on August 15, 2013
Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish: Dead Space 2 seems like a gimme.
I dunno. Sometimes there's an IP issue with a game that keeps it out of the bundle, and sometimes the 'good game in a series' is withheld in the hopes that they can hook you in and sell it later. For instance, in the first THQ bundle, Red Faction Guerrilla (i.e. the only good Red Faction game) wasn't included, if I remember correctly.
posted by Mitrovarr at 10:26 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
I dunno. Sometimes there's an IP issue with a game that keeps it out of the bundle, and sometimes the 'good game in a series' is withheld in the hopes that they can hook you in and sell it later. For instance, in the first THQ bundle, Red Faction Guerrilla (i.e. the only good Red Faction game) wasn't included, if I remember correctly.
posted by Mitrovarr at 10:26 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
destructive cactus: The games I've tried so far on Steam just have the Steam DRM and don't try to pull UPlay/GFWL double login shenanigans.
It looks as though they're trying to keep Origin separate and publish their new titles exclusively through it.
posted by ODiV at 10:30 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
It looks as though they're trying to keep Origin separate and publish their new titles exclusively through it.
posted by ODiV at 10:30 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
ODiV: Ah - that's a relief, at least!
posted by destructive cactus at 10:35 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by destructive cactus at 10:35 AM on August 15, 2013
I don't have a problem with Origin, except that I don't like EA and don't buy their games. (I will donate money to charity for their games, though!) I mean, using Origin is kind of a pain because I happen to have my gaming heavily integrated with Steam -- library, chat lists, marketplace, wishlists, big picture, and so on -- but I don't have an issue with the software itself.
As some folks above said, UPlay is a far greater Crime Against Gaming than Origin, and clearly both of those are walks in the park with fluffy puppies when compared to trying to authenticate anything with Games for Windows Live.
posted by jess at 10:37 AM on August 15, 2013
As some folks above said, UPlay is a far greater Crime Against Gaming than Origin, and clearly both of those are walks in the park with fluffy puppies when compared to trying to authenticate anything with Games for Windows Live.
posted by jess at 10:37 AM on August 15, 2013
I'd love to tell you about my adventures trying to get GFWL working so I could play Bulletstorm, but first you'll have to download an update to your word-reading updater.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:41 AM on August 15, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:41 AM on August 15, 2013 [6 favorites]
Do people seriously have problems with Games for Windows Live? Granted, all I've ever tried to use on there is the Minesweeper/Solitaire/whatever else came preloaded on my one Win8 machine. But all I had to do there was to create some hotmail address that I never check and click on "remember login" and that was it.
I chipped in $10 for this. But only because I paid about the same for the Orange Box that got me a handful of halfway decent games back in the day, not the least of which was Portal.
posted by Blue_Villain at 10:57 AM on August 15, 2013
I chipped in $10 for this. But only because I paid about the same for the Orange Box that got me a handful of halfway decent games back in the day, not the least of which was Portal.
posted by Blue_Villain at 10:57 AM on August 15, 2013
I have a friend who always tells me that he won't intentionally buy anything he has to sign in to Origin or GFWL to play, and if he buys one by accident, he won't play it.
I don't hate GFWL to that extent, but I do consider it a blight. It contributes nothing and is frequently a hassle.
posted by Mitrovarr at 11:03 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
I don't hate GFWL to that extent, but I do consider it a blight. It contributes nothing and is frequently a hassle.
posted by Mitrovarr at 11:03 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
I don't hate GFWL to that extent, but I do consider it a blight. It contributes nothing and is frequently a hassle.
Also, for some reason, its username suggestion feature told me to select the name Poonhar27 and I am powerless in the face of such bizarre stupidity.
posted by Copronymus at 11:09 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Also, for some reason, its username suggestion feature told me to select the name Poonhar27 and I am powerless in the face of such bizarre stupidity.
posted by Copronymus at 11:09 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Do people seriously have problems with Games for Windows Live?
It only lets you install a game a limited number of times with a particular key. It's something like thirty, which may seem like a lot, but I'm an aggressive tinkerer and wind up having to reinstall Windows pretty often; I've already had to send in for a replacement key for one GfWL game of mine, and it literally took months for them to get me a new one.
I have games in my Steam account that have become lead bricks due to the publisher double-dipping into another DRM system with a limited install count. Crysis is one of them.
posted by reprise the theme song and roll the credits at 11:30 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
It only lets you install a game a limited number of times with a particular key. It's something like thirty, which may seem like a lot, but I'm an aggressive tinkerer and wind up having to reinstall Windows pretty often; I've already had to send in for a replacement key for one GfWL game of mine, and it literally took months for them to get me a new one.
I have games in my Steam account that have become lead bricks due to the publisher double-dipping into another DRM system with a limited install count. Crysis is one of them.
posted by reprise the theme song and roll the credits at 11:30 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
"What's in it for EA?"
What's in it for me? Those titles all look like shit.
posted by notyou at 11:32 AM on August 15, 2013
What's in it for me? Those titles all look like shit.
posted by notyou at 11:32 AM on August 15, 2013
Humble Bundle just announced the pewdiepie bundle, which is pretty sad.
posted by boo_radley at 11:35 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by boo_radley at 11:35 AM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
GFWL is consistently the most frustrating of all of them. for instance, the other day my husband and i learned that since we connected our xbox and steam accounts i couldn't play ssx (technically online, but only because they're fucked up system makes the funnest free play an online only experience) while my husband was online in steam playing batman arkham city.
posted by nadawi at 11:37 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by nadawi at 11:37 AM on August 15, 2013
A pewdiepie? That one o' them pokeymans?
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 12:01 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 12:01 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Fuck EA. They could give away their profits for the next hundred years and I'd still hate them for the way that Every. Single. Friend of mine working for them or their subsidiaries has been treated like absolute shite. They're the fucking Walmart of the gaming industry.
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 12:05 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 12:05 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Also, for some reason, its username suggestion feature told me to select the name Poonhar27 and I am powerless in the face of such bizarre stupidity.
Hello fellow fan of the GFWL name suggestion tool! Sincerely, ShoppingWeevil8.
posted by jess at 12:22 PM on August 15, 2013
Hello fellow fan of the GFWL name suggestion tool! Sincerely, ShoppingWeevil8.
posted by jess at 12:22 PM on August 15, 2013
The Origin bundle's still up - the pewdiepie bundle is just their weekly sale not their normal bundle. They started running two bundles simultaneously like this a few months back.
posted by bookwo3107 at 12:23 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by bookwo3107 at 12:23 PM on August 15, 2013
bookwo3107: "The Origin bundle's still up - the pewdiepie bundle is just their weekly sale not their normal bundle. They started running two bundles simultaneously like this a few months back."
Yes, yes. We all know that. The point being they're working with EA and pewdiepie both in one week.
posted by boo_radley at 12:35 PM on August 15, 2013
Yes, yes. We all know that. The point being they're working with EA and pewdiepie both in one week.
posted by boo_radley at 12:35 PM on August 15, 2013
fwiw - it wasn't at all obvious to me what your first comment was about and it seems like it wasn't obvious to bookwo3107 either.
posted by nadawi at 12:40 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by nadawi at 12:40 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
yeah, I got a lotta virtual irons in the e-fire right now. sorry for the tersity.
posted by boo_radley at 12:45 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by boo_radley at 12:45 PM on August 15, 2013
They bought and shut down Westwood Studios, Bullfrog, etc. A lot of great companies got smothered by EA.Including, ironically, Origin
posted by roystgnr at 12:52 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
RAPID-FIRE RESPONSES TO THINGS
Oh, and it's a little weird to see Dead Space 1 and Dead Space 3. Where's Dead Space 2? I wonder why it was excluded from the bundle.
Rumour says Dead Space 2 will be amongst the games added to the bundle next week, as usually happens with the main Humble Bundles. Also rumoured: Bulletstorm, Red Alert 3: Uprising and Medal of Honor: Airborne (aka one of the old Medal of Honors). Personally I think I would've rather had a different set of games, but on the other hand it's hard to think of any EA games I really want at this stage. I kinda want Medal of Honor: Warfighter just because I had the first game after the reboot, but I hear it's not very good at all so meh.
A LOT of gamers already have had bad experiences with Origin, so they are staying away from this bundle.
I'm pretty sure this is one of the biggest selling Humble Bundles to date. It's already cleared $4 million and it's barely a day old.
I'm surprised that one of the charities is Human Rights Campaign, the gay rights organization. I love HRC, they do amazing work, but it's explicitly a political organization.
EA's made their stance on gay advocacy pretty clear over the years, so their support of the HRC makes sense.
After just spending $10 bucks on it, doesn't EA get props for releasing the BF3 and Sims sountrack in FLAC?
No, because they're clearly missing the best soundtrack: the Mirror's Edge one.
posted by chrominance at 2:13 PM on August 15, 2013
Oh, and it's a little weird to see Dead Space 1 and Dead Space 3. Where's Dead Space 2? I wonder why it was excluded from the bundle.
Rumour says Dead Space 2 will be amongst the games added to the bundle next week, as usually happens with the main Humble Bundles. Also rumoured: Bulletstorm, Red Alert 3: Uprising and Medal of Honor: Airborne (aka one of the old Medal of Honors). Personally I think I would've rather had a different set of games, but on the other hand it's hard to think of any EA games I really want at this stage. I kinda want Medal of Honor: Warfighter just because I had the first game after the reboot, but I hear it's not very good at all so meh.
A LOT of gamers already have had bad experiences with Origin, so they are staying away from this bundle.
I'm pretty sure this is one of the biggest selling Humble Bundles to date. It's already cleared $4 million and it's barely a day old.
I'm surprised that one of the charities is Human Rights Campaign, the gay rights organization. I love HRC, they do amazing work, but it's explicitly a political organization.
EA's made their stance on gay advocacy pretty clear over the years, so their support of the HRC makes sense.
After just spending $10 bucks on it, doesn't EA get props for releasing the BF3 and Sims sountrack in FLAC?
No, because they're clearly missing the best soundtrack: the Mirror's Edge one.
posted by chrominance at 2:13 PM on August 15, 2013
destructive cactus: The games I've tried so far on Steam just have the Steam DRM and don't try to pull UPlay/GFWL double login shenanigans.
Sadly not always. For instance Dawn of War II has GFWL and From Dust has Uplay. When I saw the latter required me to create an account with Ubisoft to play a game already installed on my pc, I deleted it. Life is too short and I have a big enough backlog already.
posted by ersatz at 2:15 PM on August 15, 2013
Sadly not always. For instance Dawn of War II has GFWL and From Dust has Uplay. When I saw the latter required me to create an account with Ubisoft to play a game already installed on my pc, I deleted it. Life is too short and I have a big enough backlog already.
posted by ersatz at 2:15 PM on August 15, 2013
ersatz - i think that comment was saying that the origin titles don't do the thing that gfwl and uplay do (which is super annoying and happens to all of the gfwl and uplay titles).
posted by nadawi at 2:18 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by nadawi at 2:18 PM on August 15, 2013
I'd say Ubisoft didn't have a leg to stand on.
That last Rayman game was fantastic.
posted by ersatz at 2:19 PM on August 15, 2013
That last Rayman game was fantastic.
posted by ersatz at 2:19 PM on August 15, 2013
EA have been worst company in the US twice in a row
Mind you, a lot of that was ridiculous nerd blubbering about Dragon Age 2 being a bit sub-par and the Mass Effect 3 ending not giving everyone a space pony. Origin is a functional and unobtrusive store front.
And holy shit this deal.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:52 PM on August 15, 2013
Mind you, a lot of that was ridiculous nerd blubbering about Dragon Age 2 being a bit sub-par and the Mass Effect 3 ending not giving everyone a space pony. Origin is a functional and unobtrusive store front.
And holy shit this deal.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:52 PM on August 15, 2013
So I went ahead and bought this, because it's not like I don't already have a stack of unplayed games left over from the Steam summer sale, and now that I've installed Origin again I realized that I never have installed Origin before -- it was UPlay I was angry at all this time.
Now I feel dumb for getting my proprietary digital distribution frameworks confused. Origin seems pretty much fine so far, as proprietary digital distribution frameworks go. UPlay is still the devil, though.
posted by ook at 3:04 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Now I feel dumb for getting my proprietary digital distribution frameworks confused. Origin seems pretty much fine so far, as proprietary digital distribution frameworks go. UPlay is still the devil, though.
posted by ook at 3:04 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Do people seriously have problems with Games for Windows Live?
Google "Games for Windows Live" and "lost save" or "deleted save" or "save game recovery."
There are a whole lot of people who've put 20+ hours into a game and then had GFWL eat their save.
Google "Games for Windows Live" and "DLC problem" A whole lot of people who can't buy DLC, can't download DLC, can't get access to DLC they've paid for, etc.
I read a lot of PC gaming blogs and can't think of any digital distribution service (definitely including Origin and Uplay) that has generated so many problems as GFWL.
posted by straight at 3:35 PM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
Google "Games for Windows Live" and "lost save" or "deleted save" or "save game recovery."
There are a whole lot of people who've put 20+ hours into a game and then had GFWL eat their save.
Google "Games for Windows Live" and "DLC problem" A whole lot of people who can't buy DLC, can't download DLC, can't get access to DLC they've paid for, etc.
I read a lot of PC gaming blogs and can't think of any digital distribution service (definitely including Origin and Uplay) that has generated so many problems as GFWL.
posted by straight at 3:35 PM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
Everyone needs to play Papers, Please.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:37 PM on August 15, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:37 PM on August 15, 2013 [6 favorites]
Everyone needs to play Papers, Please.
I told some friends that I spent all of a day off from work simulating the experience of being a border guard in a small Eastern European country in the 80s and they just started laughing. When I tried to explain that keeping up with changes in visa requirements was suprisingly tricky, they only laughed harder. So I detained them and collected my $5 bribe from the shady policeman.
posted by Copronymus at 3:46 PM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
I told some friends that I spent all of a day off from work simulating the experience of being a border guard in a small Eastern European country in the 80s and they just started laughing. When I tried to explain that keeping up with changes in visa requirements was suprisingly tricky, they only laughed harder. So I detained them and collected my $5 bribe from the shady policeman.
posted by Copronymus at 3:46 PM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
It'd be nice if they'd pick a gay organization that didn't pretty much constantly throw transgender people under a fucking bus. (One of the folks on the generally amusing /r/killallgames subreddit posted a guide to buying these games.)
posted by NoraReed at 4:21 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by NoraReed at 4:21 PM on August 15, 2013
This is a great bundle of some pretty terrific games, and any of you not buying it solely because of Origin are being dumb.
I will directly contradict you. Every always-loaded DRM manager on your computer consumes resources you could use to do other things. Even if Origin were exactly as good as Steam, there would be a real reason to use only one or the other. And it's not as good as Steam, not by a long shot.
Origin shits the bed every time it is under heavy traffic load, but so what? So does Steam.
I've never had trouble with it.
posted by JHarris at 5:53 PM on August 15, 2013
I will directly contradict you. Every always-loaded DRM manager on your computer consumes resources you could use to do other things. Even if Origin were exactly as good as Steam, there would be a real reason to use only one or the other. And it's not as good as Steam, not by a long shot.
Origin shits the bed every time it is under heavy traffic load, but so what? So does Steam.
I've never had trouble with it.
posted by JHarris at 5:53 PM on August 15, 2013
I'm always surprised at the love for steam as a platform. It's been really buggy for a long time. They took years to fix offline mode (if it's fixed yet!). Several great games on Steam are crippled because the steam version doesn't support essential mods (eg. Fallout/Fallout2). Steam has no problem with games including additional DRM (eg. Fallout 3 requires GFWL). Valve has notably poor customer service with respect to problems with steam. Valve is probably violating the law in some countries because they don't allow the "owners" of the SW to resell licenses. And if you read the fine print, you don't have a permanent license to your games as they can be revoked at any time.
Valve's just another big company. They make really great games and sell games at great prices. But the platform isn't great and it's just another form of DRM. It's not the best nor the worst DRM. It doesn't really do well with old games (GOG is _far_ better for that), and it's policies do have some real gotcha's.
EA's a worse company, but reading the things made them win the "worst" label portrays gamers as majorly overly entitled.
posted by jclarkin at 5:58 PM on August 15, 2013
Valve's just another big company. They make really great games and sell games at great prices. But the platform isn't great and it's just another form of DRM. It's not the best nor the worst DRM. It doesn't really do well with old games (GOG is _far_ better for that), and it's policies do have some real gotcha's.
EA's a worse company, but reading the things made them win the "worst" label portrays gamers as majorly overly entitled.
posted by jclarkin at 5:58 PM on August 15, 2013
Also, there's a rumor going around on Reddit at the moment that STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl is out of keys and people who've bought it in the last couple of weeks can't play the thing.
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:06 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:06 PM on August 15, 2013
And yeah, Steam (the desktop version, at least, which is the version I and probably most people use) is a terrible bit of software, slow and clunky and counterintuitive. How long it's going to take them to figure out that when I'm looking at the list of new releases or games on sale, I want to right-click and open the game details in a new tab - rather than having to click on the game, have it load that game's screen, then have to go BACK to the front page (while losing my place in the sometimes pages-long list), and then wait for it to load again for ten or fifteen seconds - I have no idea. And yeah, yeah, everything's amazing and nobody's happy, but still, shit sucks.
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:09 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:09 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Steam's big problem is that it is trying to be Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and the AppStore all at once.
It's not the game delivery software I would write, sure. But, it mostly works and it's pretty much the only way I get my games anymore, mainly.
Origin ? Worse by far. And, I've already mentioned how much shit EA can go eat. Seriously. They can eat shit, AND die. In a fire made of fires that are themselves on fire with fiery fires.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 6:35 PM on August 15, 2013
It's not the game delivery software I would write, sure. But, it mostly works and it's pretty much the only way I get my games anymore, mainly.
Origin ? Worse by far. And, I've already mentioned how much shit EA can go eat. Seriously. They can eat shit, AND die. In a fire made of fires that are themselves on fire with fiery fires.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 6:35 PM on August 15, 2013
I will directly contradict you. Every always-loaded DRM manager on your computer consumes resources you could use to do other things. Even if Origin were exactly as good as Steam, there would be a real reason to use only one or the other. And it's not as good as Steam, not by a long shot.
Okay, so buy the bundle for the Steam games alone, use the Steam keys, and never even think about installing Origin. It's still worth whatever pittance you care to give to the charities. EA will see neither your money nor your use of their service, and you'll get to play some good games.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:04 PM on August 15, 2013
Okay, so buy the bundle for the Steam games alone, use the Steam keys, and never even think about installing Origin. It's still worth whatever pittance you care to give to the charities. EA will see neither your money nor your use of their service, and you'll get to play some good games.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:04 PM on August 15, 2013
The really sad thing is that the only games in that bundle I don't have are games I don't want. Steam sales have got to the point where the only things I want anymore are games released since the last Steam sale.
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:06 PM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:06 PM on August 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
Pogo_Fuzzybutt: "Steam's big problem is that it is trying to be Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and the AppStore all at once.
It's not the game delivery software I would write, sure. But, it mostly works and it's pretty much the only way I get my games anymore, mainly.
Origin ? Worse by far. And, I've already mentioned how much shit EA can go eat. Seriously. They can eat shit, AND die. In a fire made of fires that are themselves on fire with fiery fires."
Lit with shit made from people who ate shit.
posted by Samizdata at 7:20 PM on August 15, 2013
It's not the game delivery software I would write, sure. But, it mostly works and it's pretty much the only way I get my games anymore, mainly.
Origin ? Worse by far. And, I've already mentioned how much shit EA can go eat. Seriously. They can eat shit, AND die. In a fire made of fires that are themselves on fire with fiery fires."
Lit with shit made from people who ate shit.
posted by Samizdata at 7:20 PM on August 15, 2013
And Steam is pretty awesome for us dual-booters too. One might almost, among other things, wonder if they introduced and beta'd Steam Cloud just for us...
posted by Samizdata at 7:21 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by Samizdata at 7:21 PM on August 15, 2013
Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish: "I will directly contradict you. Every always-loaded DRM manager on your computer consumes resources you could use to do other things. Even if Origin were exactly as good as Steam, there would be a real reason to use only one or the other. And it's not as good as Steam, not by a long shot.
Okay, so buy the bundle for the Steam games alone, use the Steam keys, and never even think about installing Origin. It's still worth whatever pittance you care to give to the charities. EA will see neither your money nor your use of their service, and you'll get to play some good games."
And, ahem, gift the Origin keys for the titles they didn't use to people that might want to try out the game? (Okay, I am whoring my unemployed integrity for Dead Space 3. Pity me.)
posted by Samizdata at 7:23 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Okay, so buy the bundle for the Steam games alone, use the Steam keys, and never even think about installing Origin. It's still worth whatever pittance you care to give to the charities. EA will see neither your money nor your use of their service, and you'll get to play some good games."
And, ahem, gift the Origin keys for the titles they didn't use to people that might want to try out the game? (Okay, I am whoring my unemployed integrity for Dead Space 3. Pity me.)
posted by Samizdata at 7:23 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Okay, so buy the bundle for the Steam games alone, use the Steam keys, and never even think about installing Origin. It's still worth whatever pittance you care to give to the charities. EA will see neither your money nor your use of their service, and you'll get to play some good games.
My own interest in this conversation is pretty much Steam vs. Origin. I'm not getting the games because there aren't any of them I want to play; if there were, and they were on Steam, I would. If a game I REALLY wanted to play was on Origin then I might try it, but nothing EA currently makes fits that bill.
Samizdata, I hear you. I feel I should call out, BTW, to dragoon, who very kindly gifted me a copy of Dark Souls on Steam -- which I have still yet to play, since its receiving corresponded with the beginning of my rewrite of In Profundis. Still though, it was very much appreciated, and I'll get around to playing it... someday....
posted by JHarris at 7:56 PM on August 15, 2013
My own interest in this conversation is pretty much Steam vs. Origin. I'm not getting the games because there aren't any of them I want to play; if there were, and they were on Steam, I would. If a game I REALLY wanted to play was on Origin then I might try it, but nothing EA currently makes fits that bill.
Samizdata, I hear you. I feel I should call out, BTW, to dragoon, who very kindly gifted me a copy of Dark Souls on Steam -- which I have still yet to play, since its receiving corresponded with the beginning of my rewrite of In Profundis. Still though, it was very much appreciated, and I'll get around to playing it... someday....
posted by JHarris at 7:56 PM on August 15, 2013
Valve's just another big company. They make really great games and sell games at great prices.
Yeah screw them!
posted by Justinian at 8:14 PM on August 15, 2013
Yeah screw them!
posted by Justinian at 8:14 PM on August 15, 2013
People who shit on any competitor to steam should:
A) remember what steam was like initially, and the incredible uphill battle they had to wage to win the love of geeks
B) remember the cooling effect on innovation from the similar free and awesome Google Reader
C) remember Valve's increasingly creepy experiments in online marketplaces, I.E. Steam trading cards.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:27 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
A) remember what steam was like initially, and the incredible uphill battle they had to wage to win the love of geeks
B) remember the cooling effect on innovation from the similar free and awesome Google Reader
C) remember Valve's increasingly creepy experiments in online marketplaces, I.E. Steam trading cards.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:27 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'm always surprised at the love for steam as a platform.
I don't know that anyone loves Steam. It's just (1) not quite as terrible as its competitors, and (2) practically gives away games for free.
I wouldn't pay $60 for a game that I can only play when Valve says it's okay and hobbled by the various problems Steam has. But I don't mind paying $5.00 to basically rent a game indefinitely, even through a clunky, unreliable download service like Steam.
posted by straight at 8:53 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
I don't know that anyone loves Steam. It's just (1) not quite as terrible as its competitors, and (2) practically gives away games for free.
I wouldn't pay $60 for a game that I can only play when Valve says it's okay and hobbled by the various problems Steam has. But I don't mind paying $5.00 to basically rent a game indefinitely, even through a clunky, unreliable download service like Steam.
posted by straight at 8:53 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
C) remember Valve's increasingly creepy experiments in online marketplaces, I.E. Steam trading cards.
But... steam trading cards are completely optional and do nothing for your games. They can be completely ignored without a single consequence?
posted by Justinian at 9:18 PM on August 15, 2013
But... steam trading cards are completely optional and do nothing for your games. They can be completely ignored without a single consequence?
posted by Justinian at 9:18 PM on August 15, 2013
People who shit on any competitor to steam should:
A) remember what steam was like initially, and the incredible uphill battle they had to wage to win the love of geeks
This reminds me of people whose excuse for a given MMO being shitty at launch is "but World of Warcraft was shitty at launch!" And yeah, that's true, but WoW's launch was nine fucking years ago, and the competition isn't 2004 WoW, it's 2013 WoW. Similarly, yes, Steam had some bad times, but they were a decade ago, so the fact that Origin is as shitty as launch Steam means it doesn't fucking matter.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:20 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
A) remember what steam was like initially, and the incredible uphill battle they had to wage to win the love of geeks
This reminds me of people whose excuse for a given MMO being shitty at launch is "but World of Warcraft was shitty at launch!" And yeah, that's true, but WoW's launch was nine fucking years ago, and the competition isn't 2004 WoW, it's 2013 WoW. Similarly, yes, Steam had some bad times, but they were a decade ago, so the fact that Origin is as shitty as launch Steam means it doesn't fucking matter.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:20 PM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
But... steam trading cards are completely optional and do nothing for your games. They can be completely ignored without a single consequence?
They can be sold for Steam Credit for about 15 cents each- more if you jump into a just-released game and get cards ASAP.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:25 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
They can be sold for Steam Credit for about 15 cents each- more if you jump into a just-released game and get cards ASAP.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:25 PM on August 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
That doesn't mean they can't be completely ignored with no negative consequences any more than me typing this instead of doing something which earns a pittance of spare change is a negative consequence of posting to metafilter.
Why are steam trading cards creepy?
posted by Justinian at 9:30 PM on August 15, 2013
Why are steam trading cards creepy?
posted by Justinian at 9:30 PM on August 15, 2013
I just think they're silly, but I can totally see how somebody would find the gamification of purchasing games to be creepy. Gamification is itself creepy.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:49 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:49 PM on August 15, 2013
The WoW comparison is inapt; WoW was infinitely better when the level cap was 60. Smaller (in terms of the world) but way better (in terms of the game-systems and the overall quality of the content).
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:58 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:58 PM on August 15, 2013
Also, I have the sense (based upon process explorer + feelings) that Steam is buggy because it is some mixture of WebKit and Flash, making it inherently rather unstable--and especially so, it has seemed to me, if you're also running Chrome/Chromium and Flash alongside the Steam client.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:14 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:14 PM on August 15, 2013
The WoW comparison is inapt; WoW was infinitely better when the level cap was 60. Smaller (in terms of the world) but way better (in terms of the game-systems and the overall quality of the content).
Please also insist that Trammel ruined UO so I can completely write off your MMO opinions. Vanilla WoW was an awful mess of grinds, badly-designed encounters, and infinite busywork. Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King were each huge improvements, and the bizarre nostalgiafests that have been the endgame advancement designs of Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria have IMO been the cause of the huge subscription losses- it's become more work to get ahead just like it was in vanilla, and trying to go back to the days of spending a million hours a week in-game or else having nothing to do at 60 is the stupidest, most self-defeating idea. Raid Finder has been a step in the right direction, but the completely self-defeating Pandaria model of using it as a replacement for heroics past the first patch is so astoundingly stupid that I'm loathe to regard it as anything other than an act of deliberate sabotage.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:51 PM on August 15, 2013
Please also insist that Trammel ruined UO so I can completely write off your MMO opinions. Vanilla WoW was an awful mess of grinds, badly-designed encounters, and infinite busywork. Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King were each huge improvements, and the bizarre nostalgiafests that have been the endgame advancement designs of Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria have IMO been the cause of the huge subscription losses- it's become more work to get ahead just like it was in vanilla, and trying to go back to the days of spending a million hours a week in-game or else having nothing to do at 60 is the stupidest, most self-defeating idea. Raid Finder has been a step in the right direction, but the completely self-defeating Pandaria model of using it as a replacement for heroics past the first patch is so astoundingly stupid that I'm loathe to regard it as anything other than an act of deliberate sabotage.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:51 PM on August 15, 2013
Also, I have the sense (based upon process explorer + feelings) that Steam is buggy
I've never had a single major problem with Steam. It strikes me as remarkably stable these days. It didn't start that way but it's become very highly polished.
posted by Justinian at 12:38 AM on August 16, 2013
I've never had a single major problem with Steam. It strikes me as remarkably stable these days. It didn't start that way but it's become very highly polished.
posted by Justinian at 12:38 AM on August 16, 2013
I've never had a single major problem with Steam. It strikes me as remarkably stable these days. It didn't start that way but it's become very highly polished.
It's definitely improved.
GFWL continues to be a sack of poo.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:23 AM on August 16, 2013
It's definitely improved.
GFWL continues to be a sack of poo.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:23 AM on August 16, 2013
It might be worth an FPP, but Microsoft is killing GFWL on the 22nd, and has hired Jason Holtman (formerly of Vale) presumably to make Windows 8 App Store-driven gaming more competitive.
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:24 AM on August 16, 2013
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:24 AM on August 16, 2013
Ahem. Formerly of Valve. I am not saying he is an elf.
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:36 AM on August 16, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:36 AM on August 16, 2013 [4 favorites]
Several great games on Steam are crippled because the steam version doesn't support essential mods (eg. Fallout/Fallout2)
That's a bit of a grey area when republishing games from 1997-1998 to a service that has its own mod system, isn't it? GOG is better when it comes to old games since that's their specialisation. Steam is still way better than Origin for old games; good luck finding the games of Origin Systems on Origin apart from UO.
ersatz - i think that comment was saying that the origin titles don't do the thing that gfwl and uplay do (which is super annoying and happens to all of the gfwl and uplay titles).
It got right over my head, thanks!
posted by ersatz at 3:59 AM on August 16, 2013
That's a bit of a grey area when republishing games from 1997-1998 to a service that has its own mod system, isn't it? GOG is better when it comes to old games since that's their specialisation. Steam is still way better than Origin for old games; good luck finding the games of Origin Systems on Origin apart from UO.
ersatz - i think that comment was saying that the origin titles don't do the thing that gfwl and uplay do (which is super annoying and happens to all of the gfwl and uplay titles).
It got right over my head, thanks!
posted by ersatz at 3:59 AM on August 16, 2013
Yeah, when it comes to running old games, the absolute worst period for that is games released during the Windows 95-98 era. There's not really good emulators (short of running a virtual machine) for the platforms and in general if there isn't a source port, good fucking luck. This is a big part of GOG is so great.
GOG also has some issues on games like Alone in the Dark, which is a data file and an executable. I have a floppy copy of Alone in the Dark, with the far superior FM soundtrack, and the GOG version is the CD version, with the horrible CD audio music. I figured I'd mess around with the files a little and see if I could replace the CD music with the floppy music, but I can't even figure out how to unpack the GOG data file for the game. Total bummer- the game's still a wholly justifiable classic, but that CD music is just not nearly as good or as atmospheric.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:27 AM on August 16, 2013
GOG also has some issues on games like Alone in the Dark, which is a data file and an executable. I have a floppy copy of Alone in the Dark, with the far superior FM soundtrack, and the GOG version is the CD version, with the horrible CD audio music. I figured I'd mess around with the files a little and see if I could replace the CD music with the floppy music, but I can't even figure out how to unpack the GOG data file for the game. Total bummer- the game's still a wholly justifiable classic, but that CD music is just not nearly as good or as atmospheric.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:27 AM on August 16, 2013
I am very surprised to hear people call Steam "buggy". I haven't heard any widespread reports of trouble using Steam and have only experienced issues with it once or twice myself in the years I have been using it, issues which were quickly resolved. Everyone else is completely correct, however, when they say that GOG is by far the superior choice for old games, as while Steam will deliver the files to you, it will make zero attempt to ensure they run on your OS (Mac notwithstanding).
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 6:27 AM on August 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 6:27 AM on August 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
I am very surprised to hear people call Steam "buggy". I haven't heard any widespread reports of trouble using Steam
I went for a couple months this summer where about 75% of the time I tried to play a game, Steam would get hung up with a message about updating my game library. I had to quit, delete a config file, then restart Steam to play anything. Google found quite a few people complaining about the problem--with no official response from Valve, of course--but somebody had found this fix on their own which is how I got it working.
posted by straight at 7:51 AM on August 16, 2013
I went for a couple months this summer where about 75% of the time I tried to play a game, Steam would get hung up with a message about updating my game library. I had to quit, delete a config file, then restart Steam to play anything. Google found quite a few people complaining about the problem--with no official response from Valve, of course--but somebody had found this fix on their own which is how I got it working.
posted by straight at 7:51 AM on August 16, 2013
There's not really good emulators (short of running a virtual machine) for the platforms and in general if there isn't a source port, good fucking luck. This is a big part of GOG is so great.
Yes, it's been literally easier for me to buy games I already had from GOG when on sale, than go out to my shed and dig the cds out.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:11 AM on August 16, 2013 [3 favorites]
Yes, it's been literally easier for me to buy games I already had from GOG when on sale, than go out to my shed and dig the cds out.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:11 AM on August 16, 2013 [3 favorites]
I am very surprised to hear people call Steam "buggy". I haven't heard any widespread reports of trouble using Steam
It can be slow and unresponsive sometimes and when their servers are congested, things get wacky. I had a purchase once get billed twice. Took a few emails to sort out.
My main complaint is that there is no warning when an update download is about to occur (you can select each game to update manually, but not globally) and that finding patch notes is such a pain in the ass.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 9:03 AM on August 16, 2013
....it's been literally easier for me to buy games I already had from GOG when on sale, than go out to my shed and dig the cds out.
I'll have to look into this more in the future. Last time I tried to install PSTorment (original 4 CD set), and update with the screen size and fan bug fixes, was indeed a torment.
posted by bonehead at 9:08 AM on August 16, 2013
I'll have to look into this more in the future. Last time I tried to install PSTorment (original 4 CD set), and update with the screen size and fan bug fixes, was indeed a torment.
posted by bonehead at 9:08 AM on August 16, 2013
And there just happens to be a D&D sale at GOG this weekend!
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:56 AM on August 16, 2013
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:56 AM on August 16, 2013
wait - with gfwl going away, what happens to the games that authenticate through it right now?
posted by nadawi at 9:58 AM on August 16, 2013
posted by nadawi at 9:58 AM on August 16, 2013
GFWL isn't going away they are just turning off future purchases. So games you already have will "work" (with MASSIVE air quotes) as they always have. But there will be no more GFWL games in the future. Thank god.
posted by Justinian at 11:45 AM on August 16, 2013
posted by Justinian at 11:45 AM on August 16, 2013
Justinian: "Also, I have the sense (based upon process explorer + feelings) that Steam is buggy
I've never had a single major problem with Steam. It strikes me as remarkably stable these days. It didn't start that way but it's become very highly polished."
And it works right lovely on Linux too. (Plus it's quite nice - If you buy a game for Windows and it has a Linux version, that's in there free automatically. Sometimes that can be sort of surprising like Brutal Legend. Didn't expect that one.)
posted by Samizdata at 12:00 PM on August 16, 2013
I've never had a single major problem with Steam. It strikes me as remarkably stable these days. It didn't start that way but it's become very highly polished."
And it works right lovely on Linux too. (Plus it's quite nice - If you buy a game for Windows and it has a Linux version, that's in there free automatically. Sometimes that can be sort of surprising like Brutal Legend. Didn't expect that one.)
posted by Samizdata at 12:00 PM on August 16, 2013
running order squabble fest: "It might be worth an FPP, but Microsoft is killing GFWL on the 22nd, and has hired Jason Holtman (formerly of Vale) presumably to make Windows 8 App Store-driven gaming more competitive."
Does that mean my GFWL games stop working?
posted by Samizdata at 12:00 PM on August 16, 2013
Does that mean my GFWL games stop working?
posted by Samizdata at 12:00 PM on August 16, 2013
No. For now, they're just closing the marketplace. You won't be able to buy DLC for those games through GFWL, but the games themselves will continue to log in to GFWL.
For now. There's rumors of GFWL getting patched out of some games (like Batman: Arkham City and Bioshock 2) or that Microsoft is planning to get rid of it altogether.
posted by straight at 1:19 PM on August 16, 2013
For now. There's rumors of GFWL getting patched out of some games (like Batman: Arkham City and Bioshock 2) or that Microsoft is planning to get rid of it altogether.
posted by straight at 1:19 PM on August 16, 2013
GTA 4 is the best.
Steam, SecuROM, GFWL, Rockstar Social Club. 4 layers of DRM. Like when you unwrap a fine belgian praline.
posted by bdz at 2:53 PM on August 16, 2013 [2 favorites]
Steam, SecuROM, GFWL, Rockstar Social Club. 4 layers of DRM. Like when you unwrap a fine belgian praline.
posted by bdz at 2:53 PM on August 16, 2013 [2 favorites]
I've never had a single major problem with Steam. It strikes me as remarkably stable these days. It didn't start that way but it's become very highly polished.
Perhaps I should have said that when Steam acts buggy on my machine, it appears to have to do with WebKit and Flash. Killing Chrome and/or its shockwave processes sometimes makes Steam stop lagging or freezing.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:04 PM on August 16, 2013
Perhaps I should have said that when Steam acts buggy on my machine, it appears to have to do with WebKit and Flash. Killing Chrome and/or its shockwave processes sometimes makes Steam stop lagging or freezing.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:04 PM on August 16, 2013
straight: "No. For now, they're just closing the marketplace. You won't be able to buy DLC for those games through GFWL, but the games themselves will continue to log in to GFWL.
For now. There's rumors of GFWL getting patched out of some games (like Batman: Arkham City and Bioshock 2) or that Microsoft is planning to get rid of it altogether."
So glad I already got all my Fable III stuff I planned on getting.
posted by Samizdata at 5:43 PM on August 16, 2013
For now. There's rumors of GFWL getting patched out of some games (like Batman: Arkham City and Bioshock 2) or that Microsoft is planning to get rid of it altogether."
So glad I already got all my Fable III stuff I planned on getting.
posted by Samizdata at 5:43 PM on August 16, 2013
Yes - forgive my imprecision. The marketplace is shutting down, but GFWL will continue to work, FSVO work.
posted by running order squabble fest at 7:50 PM on August 16, 2013
posted by running order squabble fest at 7:50 PM on August 16, 2013
The other (game-filled) shoe drops: late additions to the bundle are Red Alert 3 and Populous. Yes, the real one, not some EA-ified remake like "SimCity." Sadly it's Origin only. (Red Alert is on Steam though)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:14 AM on August 22, 2013
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:14 AM on August 22, 2013
Whoa, Populous? The original one? Wow, that's pretty neat.
If you're not playing along on Origin, though, you can get it on GOG for $6.
posted by boo_radley at 11:20 AM on August 22, 2013
If you're not playing along on Origin, though, you can get it on GOG for $6.
posted by boo_radley at 11:20 AM on August 22, 2013
Note that it's the critically-panned expansion of Red Alert 3, not RA3. I was underwhelmed by the extras (still got Populous somewhere), so I gave a couple of dollars for Dead Space, which was the only game I was interested in.
edit: If anyone wants a key for Mirror Edge MeMail me; I got a spare.
posted by ersatz at 12:17 PM on August 22, 2013
edit: If anyone wants a key for Mirror Edge MeMail me; I got a spare.
posted by ersatz at 12:17 PM on August 22, 2013
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