Messages

176

Living Room / Re: Steam: Savior or Slayer of PC Gaming?

« on: August 30, 2011, 04:18 AM »

Sorry Steam but the natural unit of a game played is the household. Now we have always bought two copies of games we both wanted to play a lot, or play online. (we have 2 copies of all Half Life games, Portal, Portal 2, Dungeon Keeper, Kohan, Din's Curse, Defense Grid etc. etc.) but there are many games which we might just dabble in and it should be possible to NOT have to buy two copies...

-iphigenie (August 29, 2011, 03:49 PM)

I love this quote as there are so many truths to it in just 2 sentences. 

Unfortunately, Steam, and many companies like them, still seem to believe that the only gamers in a household are the 12-25 year old males.  Couple that with only 2.4 kids/household (in the US) and that makes 1 or less in that market per household on average.  And we ALL know that the US is representative of the world market, right?

-steeladept (August 29, 2011, 04:22 PM)

It is incredibly short sighted and what is annoying is that Steam is announcing that it is looking into trade-ins (another teen focused feature) before it is looking into couple/household sharing or the issues people with large number of games face.

The average gamer age is above 25 (that is the average!) and the gender balance is about 45/55 many places. It is not uncommon to see couples in their 20s or 30s where both play games, and families with 2 or 3 generations of gamers...

The focus on teens is not uncommon in the US since they have high disposable income, and it might work for the movie theatre industry because teens need to hang out the way other ages don't. I think it hurts the games industry - and it is sad that so many games websites (and steam) focus on an adolescent image of gaming

Let's look into "perfect steam":
- allows me to designate people as "in my household" so they can play my games but under their user name (for achievements and chat while they play)
- totally happy to have to jump through some hoops for this, at the point of account "tie-in" and approving computers who can be used
- also ok to have some sort of limit above which one must explain via support that indeed one has an 8 people household..
- games have to be installed while logged in on owner's account, but can then be played by a tied-in user
- doesnt allow the same game to be played in multiple locations at the same time unless we have two licenses for the game. but instead of disconnecting the person already playing, it might prompt the person trying to play that they might want to buy another license
- can give a person guest access to games on a designated registered computer
- allows for children accounts with some form of parental safety

This would then mean you can have a game shared in a household the way a physical/console game might be, without losing the advantage of the steam social graph.

And on another note, further features of "perfect steam":
- allows installing on multiple partition
- tells us where the saved games/user settings are on each game so we can back them up (or, better yet, comes with a built in backup option for the saved games and configs. the normal backup does not back these up, just the game files)
- allows us to show/mark which games we already own. I don't mean that we then can download them in Steam, but just that our friends know we have them and don't gift them again to us...

177

Living Room / Re: Steam: Savior or Slayer of PC Gaming?

« on: August 30, 2011, 03:57 AM »

* I cannot run steam on two machines at once. Even though I have 100 games on Steam. Connecting on one immediately closes the other. I cannot download on one machine while playing on another, even though this is a common scenario since Steam forces all games on the same 1 partition and most of us have non infinite partitions...

-iphigenie (August 29, 2011, 03:49 PM)

An annoyance that I run across to be sure.  But how is this so different than when we had physical media?  And how is this assuming you are a criminal?

-wraith808 (August 29, 2011, 04:38 PM)

Well I have 100+ games in Steam, so I might be downloading for one of them, playing on another. Why is this not possible? Because Steam assumes that 2 computers = piracy

With physical media I of course could be running 10 different games on 10 different machines if it so struck me. I also could be playing Game 22 on my PC while my husband plays game 47 on his PC and perhaps a friend visiting or a nephew could be having a go at Plants versus Zombies. With Steam doing that could result in account suppression and losing all the games! I should buy an additional copy of the game for my nephew before he can play it - or make my nephew register (he's probably too young...) and send him a guest pass (if the game allows)

I have no problems with the requirement that I cannot play the same game on 2 computers in two locations at the same time, especially in multiplayer/online play. My husband and I routinely bought 2 copies of any game that clicked with both of us, even if the game didn't enforce it (Call it "doing our bit so the developer has a chance to do more great stuff". Doesn't work, though, publishers are stupid.)

But I should be able to play two different games in 2 different locations while logged in. Especially when I have bought 100. And especially when the games cost more than the retail version.
Heck, just launching raptr forgetting I have steam chat enabled can shut down the 12Gb download running on my home computer. How annoying!

I can't really comment, other than to say that the statement should be that it doesn't work reliably for you.  I use it quite a bit on my netbook and on my other computer previously mentioned.  Both of them stay in offline mode, and both of them have never had a problem with playing any game in offline mode- including MMOs.

-wraith808 (August 29, 2011, 04:38 PM)

Glad to know it does work - I will keep trying. The same things that causes the validation email reoccurrence must wipe whatever file Steam checks when starting a game or steam in offline mode - but since Steam won't say what files I need to protect, I cannot do much about it

The other one that &%ç me is that I can run steam shortly before I leave work, just to make sure all is ok, go offline. Then at the hotel I try to start a game and get "steam detected that there is a client update available, you must update before you can play". Of course by then I am offline... That's just mean 

If I let my husband play one of my 100 games, I am a steam-criminal. I am supposed to buy a separate copy of each game... Sorry Steam but the natural unit of a game played is the household. Now we have always bought two copies of games we both wanted to play a lot, or play online. (we have 2 copies of all Half Life games, Portal, Portal 2, Dungeon Keeper, Kohan, Din's Curse, Defense Grid etc. etc.) but there are many games which we might just dabble in and it should be possible to NOT have to buy two copies...

-iphigenie (August 29, 2011, 03:49 PM)

Not a Steam criminal- it just doesn't work in the way that we'd ideally like it to work.  But it's understandable when compared against the limitations of physical media that it would be this way.  I don't like it- but I don't see where the assuming I am a criminal comes in.  Their business model is not as I would like it (and this is the reason that they have a lot of games that GoG doesn't), but it is what it is.

At the end of the day GoG has chosen to limit their catalog by sticking to their guns on DRM, and I do appreciate it, especially for the unique offerings in its catalog.  But I also like the convenience of downloading and firing up Deus Ex on launch day, and not having to use media for it, so Steam offers me something other than the assumption that I'm a criminal, IMO.

-wraith808 (August 29, 2011, 04:38 PM)

There's not just gog though. There's Impulse and Gamersgate and D2D and greenmangaming and the eurogamer store and many others. GG and Impulse are able to sell most of the games Steam sells without forcing this limit on the client (well Impulse is changing and focusing on North America only, so it leaves Gamersgate). In many cases they have the games before Steam does, especially many of the indie and smaller titles.

As for physical media, very clearly my husband could play Deus Ex while I play Section 8 Prejudice - and we could swap later - without buying two copies. Only if we like the game enough that we want to play it at the same time or both online do we need to buy two copies..

Don't get me wrong, I love digital distribution, I just think that Steam has some short sighted "single user" ideas that aren't adapted to the reality of gaming, and that makes a game on Steam less valuable than a physical game or a game in another download service. I'll explore in another reply what would make sense

178

Living Room / Re: Steam: Savior or Slayer of PC Gaming?

« on: August 29, 2011, 03:49 PM »

steam asumes that the user is a thief

-rxantos (August 29, 2011, 01:44 PM)

Huh?

In what way(s) does Steam assume the user is a thief?

-Deozaan (August 29, 2011, 02:59 PM)

Let's see...
* I have to enter an email verification code at least twice a week, if not more often because I use two computers and multiple browsers. Sometimes these emails take a while to arrive and in between... no play

* I cannot run steam on two machines at once. Even though I have 100 games on Steam. Connecting on one immediately closes the other. I cannot download on one machine while playing on another, even though this is a common scenario since Steam forces all games on the same 1 partition and most of us have non infinite partitions...

* Offline mode doesn't really work reliably. I am currently staying regularly in a little hotel without room internet access and most of the time Steam finds a reason or another... some bit of information missing which makes it doubt I have used steam on the machine before. Perhaps one time out of 3 I can play when offline. Assumption: unless it can validate everything, I am not allowed to play my games

If I let my husband play one of my 100 games, I am a steam-criminal. I am supposed to buy a separate copy of each game... Sorry Steam but the natural unit of a game played is the household. Now we have always bought two copies of games we both wanted to play a lot, or play online. (we have 2 copies of all Half Life games, Portal, Portal 2, Dungeon Keeper, Kohan, Din's Curse, Defense Grid etc. etc.) but there are many games which we might just dabble in and it should be possible to NOT have to buy two copies...

179

Living Room / Re: What Happened to Genie Backup Manager?

« on: August 29, 2011, 11:32 AM »

I just received a promo email from Genie9 and it seems they at least still sell Genie Backup Manager
They are quite clear that it is not a product they are developing going forward, whereas Timeline is

Link to the 50% promo (very similar to the one they had early in the summer) http://www.genie9.co...id=214&srcid=469

180

General Software Discussion / Re: Any better Clipboard program.

« on: August 29, 2011, 11:09 AM »

Back years ago I tested ClipCache for a while. I spent time on it, I created a whole subdatabase of clips from my old "webgal" snippets/assets database as well as one of often used phrases.
Then it crashed and lost it all and I gave up on it and went and used a freeware tool

About a year or two ago I once again wanted something more and found CHS, I also revisited CC and bought it when on a special deal. It has been on my main laptop for a long time time now and has never crashed and I dont purge very often so there are a lot of clips

181

Living Room / Re: Donation gamer: Games to give

« on: August 29, 2011, 02:46 AM »

I'm quite interested in Vertex Dispenser, if I'd be eligible. It looks interesting and is not a TD clone. (I hate Tower Defense.)

Thanks for this great initiative. More people should do this. If I had any spare games, I definitely would.

-worstje (August 29, 2011, 12:54 AM)

PM'ed you for what I need to send it to you

Vertex dispenser is definitively not a tower defense game, it's an action puzzler based around territory capture and a variation on map-coloring.

You get vertexes by moving over them, and they get a specific color based on neighboring (already used) colors. There are patterns to getting to the rarest colors (i hadnt noticed that part of the game at all, until they show it in a tutorial level, as caught up in the action and figuring out the movement as I was).

So far, puzzler - now add competitors, bots, and that colors fill up reservoirs which then trigger boosters or weapons... and suddenly you're trying to figure out the patterns while not losing territory....

It could get quite interesting between humans if they are at the same stage of learning the game

182

General Software Discussion / Re: Comment Explorer 1.8.1.0

« on: August 29, 2011, 02:22 AM »

I'm curious about this one - where do the comments get stored? a db? attributes? sidecar data?

183

Living Room / Re: Centurylink is on CracK

« on: August 29, 2011, 02:17 AM »

Something seems to go wrong once a company goes above a certain size. The system takes over. The system likes process, reports, predictable repeatable jobs, interchangeable people, monocultures, single task silos, metrics and, most of all, control, control, control. None of this is necessarily bad, we need some (except for silos and monoculture), but somehow once the system takes over it gets in the way of getting things done, or enjoying doing them.

The tech support is a case in point: not enough engineers so companies put people in front to protect their time, so they don't become a bottleneck. Except the people in front often become more of a bottleneck and create more work for the engineers, if they are not trained and empowered and if the engineers are prevented from dealing directly with customers...

Hope you told these two techs how much you appreciated what they'd done - and if you can put your politically correct hat on for a bit you might want to send the company a short letter of commendation for them sorting out what seems to have been a "complex layered situation of multiple failures and defects" which they had to work through 

184

General Software Discussion / Re: Any better Clipboard program.

« on: August 29, 2011, 02:02 AM »

One feature that I use a lot and that I haven't found in other programs I've tried is ClipMate's PowerPaste.  It will automatically paste each item from the clipboard in order (ascending or descending) into any document.  It's great for making lists, filling out forms, putting selected paragraphs together, etc.

-cyberdiva (August 26, 2011, 06:14 PM)

I really wanted to like Clipmate but something in the many modes of operation keeps confusing me.
Clipcache - has a "power paste" like feature and I though CHS too

I have noticed though, that whether with CHS or clipcache - I don't seem to use the features much. Perhaps I should do a concerted effort

185

Living Room / Re: Donation gamer: Games to give

« on: August 28, 2011, 06:09 PM »

Steeladept, Let me have a look what I have on linux - I keep thinking I'll switch so buy the occasional game just to encourage them, but linux remains my secondary OS

186

Living Room / Re: Donation gamer: Games to give

« on: August 28, 2011, 01:48 PM »

Why so many games? I bought when on sale, often packs, which overlap and create duplicate licenses. Thankfully Steam detects that so you can give the duplicate

Gamersgate is even more flexible, if you havent taken the license code and downloaded the full installer, you can still donate any game you bought. So if it turns out you never got around to playing it, you can gift it

Edit: we've had one person delurking (well registering) to come and ask for a game, welcome

187

Living Room / Re: Donation gamer: Games to give

« on: August 28, 2011, 01:44 PM »

On gamersgate I also have one copy of Crayon Physics Deluxe, Mac or PC. Sent to R months ago but he hasnt bothered to accept, so perhaps someone here will appreciate it more. This might take a bit more time since I need to send a support ticket to cancel the unaccepted gift

Also one or two of the turn based xcom games, need to go check which

188

Living Room / Re: Donation gamer: Games to give

« on: August 28, 2011, 01:35 PM »

@iphigenie - I just wanted to commend you for your generosity. With all the hoarding going on, it's nice to see people sharing what they no longer have a use for. I have the same attitude towards my own stuff. These days, if I'm not currently using something (or keeping it as an emergency spare) it's out the door in a heartbeat. I'd much prefer to see something I bought put to use rather than gathering dust on a shelf.
 (see attachment in previous post)
The sole exception is my book collection. Those I keep more of than I probably should. Gonna have to get my head around doing something about that too.

 

-40hz (August 28, 2011, 08:13 AM)

For me, It's easy if someone will use it, not if I am actually throwing it away...

I can therefore give away decorative objects and clothes etc. easily, as charities always happily take them. Electronics, computer bits, old PC games, accessories for gamecube or mobiles... not so much. Nobody just takes that. I should list it on ebay, much of it would go, but frankly the hassle of it is too much. I'd give a pile to someone even if they then go and sell them at car boot sales or on ebay, I dont like waste and that I own so much more than I need bugs me :S

Increasingly charities dont take books either

189

Living Room / Re: Donation gamer: Games to give

« on: August 28, 2011, 05:48 AM »

well I haven't been swamped so far - not 1 taker

I did check the people from DC I have in my friends list on steam, but all have Defense Grid except for Carol - I'm not going to "throw" games around as it is always possible you a)didnt like it or b)already have it in some other format/platform

Go on, do indulge your curiosity  

Creeper world and Din's Curse are gems - many of the ones you haven't heard of are worth. Creeper world is kind of tower defense, but against an ennemi which is, really, a fluid. Quite unique.

PS: all I need for the steam or gamersgate giving is a valid email address. Steam then wants you to register and use their client etc. Gamersgate asks for minimal registration and has a special download file per game, no client or anything once the game is downloaded (although there is a screenshot/chat overlay if you want one)

190

Living Room / Re: What Happened to Genie Backup Manager?

« on: August 27, 2011, 01:16 PM »

But anything that backs up files in a format that isn't usable without the utility that created them is no longer welcome in my toolkit.

too right!

To stay on topic... Genie Timeline does backup in either a compressed or uncompressed format, and the files are just that, normal, browsable and accessible.

The way I set it up it just creates a root folder on the backup drive, and within there it has a)an index db of all the files and b)a mirror tree of the files chosen. I can access and find specific files via the software but I can also just browse the drive

191

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Paragon Rescue Kit 11 PRO ÷70%

« on: August 27, 2011, 01:11 PM »

As far as I could tell, having had it a while, there is no enforcement. Not that I used it on more than 5 or 6 machines. Paragon works mostly on honesty, it seems. I have installed and reinstalled some of their other tools and never had any block or query.

When the new version came out I automatically received an email and a new code for the new version since i was in my 12 month updates period. Didn't have to ask or go on the site to get it or anything

192

Living Room / Donation gamer: Games to give

« on: August 27, 2011, 01:00 PM »

Hi

I have a bunch of games on gamersgate and steam (and a few direct from developers) which I meant to give to friends but, I must notice, in quite a few cases I have failed to convince individual friends to be interested enough. In other cases I received as a bonus or gift something I already had...

So I figured, this is donation coder, I'll be donation gamer

None of them are expensive, but still, a freebie is nice  

Here are the "rules"
* Please be nice, I'll try to do first come first serve but I might get something wrong and apologise in advance
* actually think you'll play the game a few hours in the next month
* If on gamersgate or steam, I'd expect you to add me to your network (iphigenie/superiphi) so I can bask in the warm glow that at least someone is playing the games my friends wouldnt play
* removed the 4th rule on intending to donate - intending to participate is fine too

On Steam:
Several copies of "Defense Grid". That one is so awesome I first had it on Direct2Drive, then on Steam, then I bought a 10 pack on sale to spread the love . 4 gone, 1 left
Detour - a bit clunky but a neat idea, and probably will get patched. Pipeman with weapons. Mac and PC, iirc. 2 gone
Hoard - Mac or PC. Xbox port, best played with a gamepad
Portal 1 - 1 copy. Mac or PC
Vertex Dispenser - an action puzzler game about lines and colors Mac or PC. 2 gone
NEW: Sanctum - First Person Shooter Tower Defense

On Gamersgate:

Infans Solaris - asteroids with co-op mode
Woody Two-Legs: Attack of the Zombie Pirates
Guilty Gear Isuka - a fighting game http://www.gamersgat...GI/guilty-gear-isuka
Stronghold 1 - old but good
RIP - old school shooter
RIP strike back - old school shooter

Directly bought from software developer

Creeper world - hard to describe, but awesome little game, with a huge amount of content. small web demo here http://knucklecracke...erworld/web/play.php
Din's Curse - an excellent indie game, mix of diablo and rogue with emergent storyline

193

Living Room / Re: "The Fourth Reich: Facebook's Like button banned in Germany"

« on: August 27, 2011, 10:49 AM »

I have experienced German privacy laws first hand and as I said in my previous comments, companies and institutions tend to overcompensate just to be sure to be safe.

For example on my project we had lots of issues because we supported the platform and our main support team was in Romania (which is in the EU, btw) and our email with Rackspace and out ticket system with onJira and perhaps now and then someone from the client's front end support team might put in the ticketing system some information about a problem about an order which could perhaps contain a name of a german person and which perhaps would go via email or jira temporarily outside the EU...

No surprise institutions like this County choose to play it safe and preempt some employee putting the like button somewhere it shouldnt be, like that tax information page...

194

Living Room / Re: HP announces it's discontinuing all WebOS device development

« on: August 21, 2011, 04:31 PM »

first meego and now webos. Guess we're out of luck for getting mainstream devices with proper linux. i feel cursed.

As for the hardware, I am quite pleased with my HP mininote (the 2133, came with linux, although i replaced suse) and I had just bought an envy 14 which is a wonderful machine. before that i was unimpressed with the normal machines (servers are pretty fine)

And in the same breath they buy Autonomy. Madness.

195

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Wise Cleaner Pro giveaway

« on: August 21, 2011, 04:27 PM »

I was just wondering today whether registry cleaners, system cleaners and tweakers are still needed, and which ones actually add value... you can't tell from looking online, with no serious reviews and tons of "everything is awesome" SEO software sites...

196

Living Room / Re: "Upgrade" Button is Patented -- Trolls Come Out of Sewers...

« on: August 21, 2011, 04:25 PM »

looking at this chart on mobiles... can't help but wish for some new technology idea to come and render most of it irrelevant... that'd be just the thing... *sigh*

197

Living Room / Re: The Fourth Reich: Facebook's Like button banned in Germany

« on: August 21, 2011, 04:17 PM »

Germany has some very strict privacy laws - and they have further laws preventing taking information out of the EU in order to bypass the german laws. It is possible that the Facebook button could infringe some of the law.

As I have experienced first hand on an ecommerce website I built for T Online, German businesses and institutions will err on the safe side to make sure they don't infringe the law, and often put rules above and beyond what the law could be interpreted as, just to be safe from ever beeing at risk. Seems to be what happened here, with one of the regions in Germany deciding the like button could land them in trouble and therefore their own state sites won't have it. And in our day and age of CMSes all it takes it one employee putting the button somewhere and suddenly facebook has a profile of people's tax status, domicile etc. just from the URLs and page data of pages on what is a government site.

Whereas this can be considered overkill, wheeling out comparisons to Nazis and Hitler when talking about the Facebook like button is ridiculous and an insult to the victims of the Nazis and World War II. Out of proportion even when compared to the arbitrary laws the nazis made...

Kind of discredits whatever point the author had to make - if you have to bring the Nazis up, I can assume you didnt have much to contribute in the first place.

198

Living Room / Re: Patent Wars: Apple Hits Samsung in EU

« on: August 21, 2011, 01:13 AM »

seriously though, there had to be black shiny devices with rounded corners before the iphone/ipad, and hopefully sanity will eventually prevail

we want competition and we want it to be possible for small companies to launch products - even products that are only a variant or evolution of similar things - and not be immediately swamped out of existence by corporate protection rackets

Even more in software than hardware...

199

Living Room / Re: Patent Wars: Apple Hits Samsung in EU

« on: August 21, 2011, 01:12 AM »

Imagine if someone had gone and sued all these beige boxes everyone was doing for copying their beige box....

200

General Software Discussion / Re: SpiderOak - very nice people =)

« on: August 21, 2011, 01:07 AM »

I would ping the main support address again - they are normally fast to respond, so perhaps something happened to the email address you are sending to