|
Grand Fromage posted:Ah, here it is: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/07/21/whee-downloads-now-48-of-pc-game-sales/ The TL;DR version, the stats didn't count digital downloads as sales, and downloads now account for half of the PC market so, yeah. Big oversight there. Yeah, no. The NPD can't count and sometimes outright lie to suit their agenda. Digital downloads do not account for half of PC sales. They account for less than a third by most estimates, and the NPD never bothers to do anything other than take wild guesses at sales numbers. So yes, it's dumb that the NPD overlooked making up numbers for digital sales while making up numbers for retail sales, but digital distribution is not the almighty saviour that people think it is (which doesn't mean the PC is dying either, I'm just correcting you on that fact). Besides, digital distribution is actually worse for the consumer than something like Amazon in the UK.
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 10:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 23:11 |
|
|
Ansob. posted:So yes, it's dumb that the NPD overlooked making up numbers for digital sales while making up numbers for retail sales, but digital distribution is not the almighty saviour that people think it is (which doesn't mean the PC is dying either, I'm just correcting you on that fact). Besides, digital distribution is actually worse for the consumer than something like Amazon in the UK. What a shame.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 11:13
|
|
|
3 posted:Invisible War has a ton of flaws, but the one thing it cribbed from DX1 that was right was allowing the player to come up with solutions to the problems the game presents them with. Deus Ex is like coming across a hallway with dozens of doors, and each of them is open. Invisible War is basically the same hallway, but with half its doors locked. And your modern FPS has no doors other than the one entered through and the one you see at the end of the hall. And in the modern FPS/RPG you'd press X to invoke the beautifully scripted "walking down the hall" cutscene. This is pretty true. As poo poo as Invisible War was, the game component of it is still better than a lot of modern games. At least they're trying to simulate a bit of a world. Ansob. posted:So yes, it's dumb that the NPD overlooked making up numbers for digital sales while making up numbers for retail sales, but digital distribution is not the almighty saviour that people think it is (which doesn't mean the PC is dying either, I'm just correcting you on that fact). Besides, digital distribution is actually worse for the consumer than something like Amazon in the UK. There's a good chance that this share will continue to increase. In the past I wouldn't have considered buying stuff from a digital distribution service but after several good experiences with Steam have come to quite like it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 13:11
|
|
|
Grey Fox V2 posted:Your assumption was that the game was bad because it was built for both Xbox 1 and the PC platforms when really was bad because of all the reasons Harvey Smith outlined in the video. My assumption was that one of the reasons the game was bad because it was built for the Xbox 1 and then haphazardly ported to the PC and it shows. And you assume that Harvey Smith is the only person who is allowed to say why DX:IW failed. I agree with every reason he said, but there more to it than that and the lovely port job was part of it. Deus Ex: Invisible War was the Highlander 2 of video games.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 17:17
|
|
|
Lowen SoDium posted:Deus Ex: Invisible War was the Highlander 2 of video games. Completely and totally accurate.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 17:32
|
|
|
Ansob. posted:Besides, digital distribution is actually worse for the consumer than something like Amazon in the UK. I'll grant that the NPD estimates might be very off, but you're going to have to explain to me why Amazon is bad and an assortment of digital stores is worse. There's a ton of players in Digital Distribution, all competing on features and service. And GoG and Impulse already compete by offering stuff DRM free. And It's important that you do explain it to me, because digital purchases as a share of all purchases is only going to go up, so if there's something terribly wrong, we need to know now.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 17:49
|
|
|
Doc Hawkins posted:I'll grant that the NPD estimates might be very off, but you're going to have to explain to me why Amazon is bad and an assortment of digital stores is worse. Actually, no, I'm not, because that's not what I said. I said digital distribution is far worse than Amazon in the UK. It's roughly 30% worse, actually, since the price of a new game on Steam is £35 and the price of a new game on amazon.co.uk is £25. The reason this is the case is because amazon has to compete with other retailers. It's the same reason Tesco and Asda scramble to offer new titles below the £30 mark when they're sufficiently big. The retailers set the prices. However, if you'd like me to expand the point to digital distribution as a whole, contrast it with retail sales. On digital distribution services, the publisher sets the price. The "digital retailer" doesn't get a say about the price of anything being sold through its website beyond suggesting sales. This means that competition between DD services is irrelevant to publishers. Either way, they get to sell their games for as much as they want because there's no third-party deliberately reducing their profit margin per-item in order to make more money in the long run. The major reason why we're still getting new games at the £35-40 price range is because retail still exists, and if publishers started demanding £60 or £80 per new PC game on Steam everyone would just shrug and go buy from a physical store (look at what happens with Steam in Australia). When a publisher sells a game via retail, GAME, Amazon, Zavvi et al. all need to independently control their prices in order to get as many people as possible to buy from them. When a publisher sell a game via digital distribution, the only person setting prices is the publisher. I'm pretty sure I don't have to explain why the balance of power being that way around in DD is a bad thing for customers. Lemon-Lime fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Jul 25, 2010 |
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 18:04
|
|
|
Ansob. posted:Actually, no, I'm not, because that's not what I said. I said digital distribution is far worse than Amazon in the UK. Uh... that doesn't mean digital distribution is bad, that means that developers are overcharging.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 18:07
|
|
|
Valve dosen't actually set the price of games on steam (except for their own of course)
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 18:09
|
|
|
Cicadalek posted:Valve dosen't actually set the price of games on steam (except for their own of course) That is exactly why there's a problem.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 18:13
|
|
|
Oh, so you feel that many publishers aren't taking enough advantage of the savings and higher margins that digital distribution brings by making the price of digital versions significantly lower. I agree! Can't wait to see them smarten up, as has already happened, say, in the Japanese PSN. /Derails The 4th ending to Invisible War is awesome, period. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 18:25
|
|
|
Gynovore posted:The knife doesn't give a bonus for sneaking up on a guy. The prod does. Ainsley McTree posted:But I like it that way! Plus I'm pretty sure that upgrading your pistol skill still affects how much damage it does and how much recoil you have after taking a shot so it's not totally pointless to put more skill points in it. Quetzal-Coital posted:No.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 20:54
|
|
|
Lowen SoDium posted:My assumption was that one of the reasons the game was bad because it was built for the Xbox 1 and then haphazardly ported to the PC and it shows. What you're not getting is the port had nothing to do with it. The engine was hosed up because it was all written by one guy in his basement, who put in a ridiculous lighting system and other things that didn't work right, then left the company without leaving any documentation or clue of how to work with said lovely engine. They did not have the money or time needed to start over, so they were stuck with essentially making a mod of an engine that didn't work worth a drat and no one understood. It had everything to do with lovely project management and nothing to do with the console.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 21:04
|
|
|
Doc Hawkins posted:The 4th ending to Invisible War is awesome, period. Which ending is the "4th"? Lork posted:Sadly I'd have to recommend against using the texture pack. While the comedy value of making Alex D look exactly like Ben Stiller cannot be understated, it adds significantly to the loading times, which, as people have mentioned, are already the biggest problem with the game. Actually I wouldn't argue with this, it does increase your load times by about 30% or so. VVV: it worked for me in Win 7, but not in Vista. Quetzal-Coital fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Jul 25, 2010 |
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 21:06
|
|
|
Has anyone else had issues running DE2 from steam and if so how did you rectify it? I checked the tech support forum but it was useless aside from confirming that yes, many people had issues running this piece of poo poo
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 21:17
|
|
|
Lork posted:Actually, the way it works is, any attack from behind at point blank range will do 10x damage. That goes for any weapon; a knife, a prod, even a sniper rifle will do it. Yeah, it's pretty silly. Silly? Or yet another reason why this game owns?
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 22:31
|
|
|
Relin posted:Has anyone else had issues running DE2 from steam and if so how did you rectify it? I checked the tech support forum but it was useless aside from confirming that yes, many people had issues running this piece of poo poo
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2010 23:22
|
|
|
Grey Fox V2 posted:Aside from an odd issue where the game minimizes then maximizes during load screens in Win7 64bit I haven't had any issues. That happens with every operating system because it's a piece of poo poo XBOX port.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 02:06
|
|
|
Actually it only started happening after I manually adjusted the FOV and resolution so it wouldn't look like dog poo poo in 1024x768.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 03:41
|
|
|
Quetzal-Coital posted:Which ending is the "4th"? Sorry, it was being referred to as such. It's the one where you destroy the very possibility of a global society, the earth is devastated by centuries of war, but the very few survivors are so enhanced and self-sufficient that they escape to space and found a civilization that spreads across the galaxy and lasts until the stars grow cold.  Some people call it "lame," because you're kinda choosing one especially nihilistic "faction" over the main three, and they're all like "Huh, are you sure? Well, we'll give you a discount at the company store, I guess." But I like them, and I like the ending, because to me, it underlines the single thing that Invisible War might have gotten a little bit more right than Deus Ex: all four endings are:
Did you find those choices pretty unchallenging and anticlimactic? So did people who didn't even play the game.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 04:13
|
|
|
Yeah, I can't imagine myself choosing anything but that ending for the first game (barring multiple playthroughs). It's way more appealing than the others based on the available information at the time.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 04:22
|
|
|
I have discovered that Deus Ex is a lot more fun when you cheat a little bit.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 07:48
|
|
|
I've been dicking around lately with just all-out cheating (max skills, max ammo, maxed out augs, etc) and it's even pretty fun like that. Storming through liberty island with a master rank assault gun is pretty satisfying.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 09:46
|
|
|
Ainsley McTree posted:I've been dicking around lately with just all-out cheating (max skills, max ammo, maxed out augs, etc) and it's even pretty fun like that. Storming through liberty island with a master rank assault gun is pretty satisfying. press T > set deusex.jcdentonmale bcheatsenabled true > allaugs > summon weaponpeppergun > set weaponpeppergun projectileclass rocketWP > allammo > spawnmass hooker1 30 pick up the pepper gun press F7 thank me later
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 10:14
|
|
|
Grey Fox V2 posted:Aside from an odd issue where the game minimizes then maximizes during load screens in Win7 64bit I haven't had any issues. I thought that was the game actually closing then reopening; certainly that was the problem with Thief 3 that caused the difficulty to reset to Normal every time you loaded a level more than once.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 10:50
|
|
|
tentaclesex posted:Yeah, I can't imagine myself choosing anything but that ending for the first game (barring multiple playthroughs). It's way more appealing than the others based on the available information at the time. Actually, if you're less of a socialist and more of a liberal, theIlluminatiending is way more appealing. TheHeliosending involves all life beingregulated by an AI with no illusion of choice,whereas theIlluminatione actually trusts human beings to remain in control of their private lives and believes they can build an utopia on their ownwith a little guidance from JC and Everett, who are both humanists - Everett's one-man crusade against the Illuminati was started because he believes they'd lost their way and gone from guiding hand to tyrannical, parasitical overlords.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 13:34
|
|
|
/\/\/\ That's all well and good, but the choice between peaceful Earthbound civilisation and near-eternal galaxy-spanning one is a no-brainer for me. orange lime posted:press T I prefer Biomod Unrealistic difficulty >spawnmass rat 50 >spawnmass cat 40 >spawnmass doberman 10 >spawnmass weaponWPgrenade 40 But any grenade is fun Cats and dogs going apeshit throwing phosphor grenades at each other, every time one goes off, clouds of flaming animals are flung 40 feet in every direction. Saved me from getting funny looks from MY WIFE for mass murdering hookers, too. Retro-Future Rodent fucked around with this message at 13:47 on Jul 26, 2010 |
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 13:40
|
|
|
Retro-Future Rodent posted:/\/\/\ Yeah but if we are talking first game only, you can even make a case for the Dark Age. On paper, it does make sense, as Tong is attempting to remove all global government control and returning actual power to the people on a local scale. It's the most idealistic, pure form of Democracy and if thats your thing than I can totally see someone picking it. I actually had to deliberate over which one to choose and it was overall an incredibly satisfying ending to a game that was already so amazing. Also, everyone who hasn't played the game wants to pick the Helios ending because it sounds the most cool/badass.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 14:05
|
|
|
Dogs and cats can use grenades on the unrealistic difficulty??  Ansob. posted:Actually, if you're less of a socialist and more of a liberal, one actually trusts human beings to remain in control of their private lives and believes they can build an utopia on their ownwith a little guidance from JC and Everett, who are both humanists - Everett's one-man crusade against the Illuminati was started because he believes they'd lost their way and gone from guiding hand to tyrannical, parasitical overlords. Huh. Well, you may have just done a pretty impressive analysis of my circle of friends based on very little information. Speaking for myself, I find it pretty hard to trust Everett's plan when the Illuminati started off as humanists too, but being composed of humans, they were inevitably corrupted by their position, and he's trying to do the same thing and claim things will be different.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 14:10
|
|
|
I think the main reason people pick the Helios ending is because it is the easiest one to get of the three.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 14:12
|
|
|
Ansob. posted:Actually, if you're less of a socialist and more of a liberal, theIlluminatiending is way more appealing. TheHeliosending involves all life beingregulated by an AI with no illusion of choice,whereas theIlluminatione actually trusts human beings to remain in control of their private lives and believes they can build an utopia on their ownwith a little guidance from JC and Everett, who are both humanists - Everett's one-man crusade against the Illuminati was started because he believes they'd lost their way and gone from guiding hand to tyrannical, parasitical overlords. I'm pretty sure the Helios ending leaves people's private lives intact, it just overhauls the entire governmental system in favour of an omniscient, benevolent dictator, whereas the everett ending leaves the structure of society entirely intact, warts and all. Not to say your essential point is incorrect. The latter would still be far preferable from the individualist standpoint.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 14:17
|
|
|
Hank Morgan posted:I think the main reason people pick the Helios ending is because it is the easiest one to get of the three. Not true, I've gone through and cleaned out the entire level only to choose the Helios option.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 14:30
|
|
|
It's rather smugly satisfying to leave Page helpless in his little bubble though.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 14:32
|
|
|
In Training posted:Yeah but if we are talking first game only, you can even make a case for the Dark Age. On paper, it does make sense, as Tong is attempting to remove all global government control and returning actual power to the people on a local scale. It's the most idealistic, pure form of Democracy and if thats your thing than I can totally see someone picking it. The thing I like best from Invisible War is that it's a massive gently caress you to the people naïve enough to think that ending would work out well for humanity.  Frankosity posted:I'm pretty sure the Helios ending leaves people's private lives intact, it just overhauls the entire governmental system in favour of an omniscient, benevolent dictator, whereas the everett ending leaves the structure of society entirely intact, warts and all. We have no proof either way, I think, so you're safe assuming both. That said, given that that ending involvesputting an all-powerful AI in charge of running the world, I'm pretty sure its mandate would eventually spread to regulating stuff like traffic, etc., then on to running people's daily lives - just some ways down the line. Basically: is it better to do away with our humanity in an effort to make a better world, or is it better to try to make a better world despite our humanity? Pick one: Hobbes or Locke.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 15:09
|
|
|
Hank Morgan posted:I think the main reason people pick the Helios ending is because it is the easiest one to get of the three. Not quite you can hit the reactor destruct switch through the glass shield 
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 15:39
|
|
|
Ansob. posted:Actually, if you're less of a socialist and more of a liberal, theIlluminatiending is way more appealing. Ansob. posted:I'm pretty sure its mandate would eventually spread to
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 16:25
|
|
|
Ainsley McTree posted:I've been dicking around lately with just all-out cheating (max skills, max ammo, maxed out augs, etc) and it's even pretty fun like that. Storming through liberty island with a master rank assault gun is pretty satisfying. All I did was max out my skills and give myself lockpicks, mulitools, and ammo. I picked up all my augs legitimately and then spawned upgrade canisters to upgrade the ones I wanted. Now I run around with Cloak, Run Silent, and Power Regulator on all the time while I keep refilling my energy. That, and sometimes I ghost when I want to get somewhere faster, like exiting the VersaLife building your first time through.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 16:25
|
|
|
Hogburto posted:Siding with Everett is unappealing to anyone that searched his home. Did you find his child porn sex dungeon or something?
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 16:29
|
|
|
Hogburto posted:Siding with Everett is unappealing to anyone that searched his home. Except he has JC with him. Hogburto posted:That is an opinion based on other works of science fiction rather than one based on anything you learn about the character/circumstances in the game. Except we have nothing else to go on.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 16:35
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 23:11 |
|
|
Lowen SoDium posted:Did you find his child porn sex dungeon or something? They're probably referring to Lucius DeBeers, who serves as an example of how cynical and manipulative Everett is, providing a darker side to the Illuminati ending.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2010 16:35
|
|