message to Splash Damage: one version of brink without steam

(Pytox) #41

I guess you could still buy from retailers and get a disc like Half-Life 2.
And when your disc is damaged you can probably re-download it on steam :slight_smile: (?)

(SockDog) #42

[quote=heXen;224229]simply why we should be forced to install steam? Why force people to install steam to play.

Then, VAC is better than PB? lel… ;_;[/quote]

You’re no more “forced” to install steam than you’re “forced” to install the game. It’s a third party API to give you additional functionality in the game and beyond if you so wish.

I very much doubt this will be the case although it’s possible that each version will need to be “activated” via steam regardless of being retail purchased. This is like HL2.

(light_sh4v0r) #43

Posted it in the other topic as well, but I have bad experience with steam and avoid using it as much as possible.

(LyndonL) #44

You definately can buy it in hardcopy. I have seen it for preorder on a few local stores’ websites.

(Nail) #45

ports:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8571-GLVN-8711

(BioSnark) #46

Read the first line of the second paragraph of the post you quoted. I’m with Chris on this (other thread, same topic) and it’s nice to see things less heated.

(signofzeta) #47

hmm, my say on this? Any program that couldn’t run by itself is a lame program, not that I won’t use it, it is just that I don’t like those kinds of things.

If it runs better with steam, then it is OK. If it can’t run without steam, then it is NOT ok.

(LyndonL) #48

[QUOTE=Nail;224282]ports:

I have most of those ports forwarded to my server PC, and I still don’t have problems on any of our client PCs.

I guess it depends on the firewall :slight_smile: I only have a pos router hehe

(SockDog) #49

[quote=signofzeta;224343]hmm, my say on this? Any program that couldn’t run by itself is a lame program, not that I won’t use it, it is just that I don’t like those kinds of things.

If it runs better with steam, then it is OK. If it can’t run without steam, then it is NOT ok.[/quote]

Its use of Steam is no different than its use of Live or PSN.

(kamikazee) #50

Where do I sign to use Steam only as an alternative distribution channel?

I like to run games from the DVD, not by messing around with petty programs cluttering up my system tray.

(signofzeta) #51

lol, all 360 and PS3 games don’t need live and PSN to function. It is those that DON’T function without them, unless it is fully multiplayer.

Example. Name a Single Player game one on 360, and one on PS3, that requires a live silver or gold for 360, and a PSN account for PS3.

Now name any game that has to have Live and PSN.

Any game that needs anything to make it work isn’t a good game. Heck, any game that needs an internet connection to make it work isn’t a good game.

The game needs to run on its own, even if the game has to have limited features.

Are we talking about this game needing steam or else it won’t work? Or are we just talking about something else? Because I get the impression that we are all worried about Brink being lame because if you don’t install steam, you don’t get to play, which is true for some games.

Same with punkbuster. You don’t install it, you don’t get to play on certain servers, rather than all servers.

Unless you mean the game only sells through steam, then that is even more bull. Some people have problems with steam, and there is no “return defective copy” option when you files become corrupt upon download.

(Slade05) #52

Any game can run without steam. Programmers still compile their exe files and put in all required dlls.

It`s the DRM aspect and built-in community features that attract developers.

(SockDog) #53

Games calling on Live/PSN is no different than a PC calling on Steam APIs for exactly the same functionality. Just because Live/PSN is locked down and integrated into the console OS doesn’t make then any more different than Steam.

Any game that needs anything to make it work isn’t a good game. Heck, any game that needs an internet connection to make it work isn’t a good game.

This is a troll right? You’re not seriously suggesting that good games don’t use a ton of existing, third party code.

Brink being lame because if you don’t install steam, you don’t get to play, which is true for some games.

Brink uses the Steam APIs/DLLs. Unless they can be loaded separately from the Steam client then yes you’ll need to run Steam to play the game. Maybe SD could just run it in the background and build a fake login screen in game for those people adverse to running and closing Steam.

Same with punkbuster. You don’t install it, you don’t get to play on certain servers, rather than all servers.

No this is more like refusing to install OpenGL then asking SD to code a DirectX version.

Unless you mean the game only sells through steam, then that is even more bull. Some people have problems with steam, and there is no “return defective copy” option when you files become corrupt upon download.

Wow, have you ever even used Steam? You’re actually ripping on something you have no idea about! Although I have to say that at least seems consistent to many of its detractors.

FTR. You can download as many times as you like, backup, burn and copy the downloads where ever you want. You can use multiple machines to download, and even use a nifty feature to verify the downloads are valid.

(SockDog) #54

For anyone who’s not tried Steam and doesn’t want to buy a game to try it, ‘Trackmania Nations Forever’ is Free on Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/app/11020/).

Install Steam and grab the game, play it, poke around the UI and give it a try. If you don’t like it then you uninstall and at least have some valid, first hand experience to bring rather than anecdotal forum posts.

(light_sh4v0r) #55

Do note that that ‘nifty verify downloads’ feature doesn’t work when you need it to.

(Nail) #56

but Trackmania doesn’t require Steam, I can run it without Steam client

I’d like Brink to be the same way, people who want to use Steam for the social aspect can, and those of us that don’t need that functionality don’t have to install Steam client

(sereNADE) #57

show some backbone. if steam is required then you won’t play. a respectable ultimatum yet you sadly cheapen it with further posting. you want sd to sympathize with the realities of your situation so try to sympathize with the realities of their business situation and cultural trends regarding “piracy”. it’s a huge clusterf*ck of politicizing and “investment securing” where offices higher than the developers will probably be calling the shots. read just about any gaming website and you might come to develop a picture of how aggrivating and downright silly the industry’s fight against piracy is. not saying this is necessarily a reason for brink being a steam required title but it goes to show that on the large if we wish to continue enjoying games from the industry then we will have to bear the regulation it is imposing on us. if you wish to turn your qualm into a crusade after this then i suggest you bark up bethesda’s tree.

i realize i often talk out of my a** because i am only putting forth the impression received from reading popular media. possibly a mistake on my part but no more a mistake than getting caught up in a thread which has long run its course or spiraled out of control.

on second thought, i do feel bad that to enjoy this type of entertainment that we have to “bear the regulation”. it’s nature is close to that of regulating drugs =/

(Apples) #58

[QUOTE=sereNADE;224412]show some backbone. if steam is required then you won’t play. a respectable ultimatum yet you sadly cheapen it with further posting. you want sd to sympathize with the realities of your situation so try to sympathize with the realities of their business situation and cultural trends regarding “piracy”. it’s a huge clusterf*ck of politicizing and “investment securing” where offices higher than the developers will probably be calling the shots. read just about any gaming website and you might come to develop a picture of how aggrivating and downright silly the industry’s fight against piracy is. not saying this is necessarily a reason for brink being a steam required title but it goes to show that on the large if we wish to continue enjoying games from the industry then we will have to bear the regulation it is imposing on us. if you wish to turn your qualm into a crusade after this then i suggest you bark up bethesda’s tree.

i realize i often talk out of my a** because i am only putting forth the impression received from reading popular media. possibly a mistake on my part but no more a mistake than getting caught up in a thread which has long run its course or spiraled out of control.

on second thought, i do feel bad that to enjoy this type of entertainment that we have to “bear the regulation”. it’s nature is close to that of regulating drugs =/[/QUOTE]

Piracy is just another nonsense, its just like the peer 2 peer crusades that some governments try to enforce nowadays, the industry is raising its price since ages, producing more and more “cheap” games or port it to multiplatform to reduce the cost, release some crappy feature to attract every single nerd on the planet with one game, making said game to be as spicy and special as water… All to one purpose, making more monies. Price are raising while quality is dropping badly lately, and entertaining titles are rare, thats why we are concerned about another “downgrade” some of us feel here.

We are here for the reason that we enjoyed previous SD games (so in advance for those who will spam: please cut the crap about brink not being W:ET or ETQW, we all know that you know…), by that and speaking personaly here, they achieved the hard goal to make games as fastpaced as quake series with a different teamplay approach, which is to me the core of SD games. What I’ve seen so far with Brink is that they slowed down the speed, removed many tactical options such as choosing respawn point, made some buff ala BFheroes/wow/wolfailstein and the list goes on. Steam is another choice to ensure a massive distribution for the cheapest price, once again for what? To please their consumers? NO, to make more profit, plain and simple.

To sum it up no I wont adapt to the industry “standards” as they are super low nowadays, and yes I’ll prolly boycott the game if its steam only, I wont try to convince no one to not buy the game, it would be silly and unefficient, I just do what I want to do, and if X amount of people asking for an option without steam arent heard, well they can also choose to play other games too.

Oh and ETQW has not steam right? how many pirated copies around? (relatively cuz you have to divide by the number of sells to be able to compare but still), I admit I dont have any numbers to put on that, but I truely doubt that even 2% of the ETQW players have pirated copies and are able to play online with the legit ones. Steam is not for some friendlist features (many games have them hardcoded nowadays), it is not against the piracy or the hackers (as VAC = PB = POS anyway…), it is not to increase the mass of sells cuz as I’ve stated around the less consumer niche you aim for, the less consumer you will get, it seems to me than it’s a for one reason only : to raise the margin from lowering the cost of the distribution (ie: make more monies, to put it simple).

last but not least, saying I wont play the game never forced me to stop posting here. So if I want to moan more I can till i’m proved wrong or banned.

Peace

(sereNADE) #59

sorry i posted some crap but now you are responsible for the best post in the thread =]

some people understand their distate for steam outweighs their appreciation for, fun times had with, and any other hopeful expections for SD’s games.

(Apples) #60

[QUOTE=sereNADE;224422]sorry i posted some crap but now you are responsible for the best post in the thread =]

some people understand their distate for steam outweighs their appreciation for, fun times had with, and any other hopeful expections for SD’s games.[/QUOTE]

No harm intended sereNADE, and after reviewing I may be wrong at least on the point of the steam distribution as if I understood well a hardcopy will be available, so using Steam does not discard the cost of a classical distribution. Still I guess Steam is crystalizing what I’m thinking about games nowadays -> take the games that sell the most , copy/paste what you want, add some watered down feature of your own to please the noodles -> release, and thats mostly why I’m a bit angry at the moment, well, its the mass consumption society we live in anyway, and I wont be able to change that, I still have some kind of liberty of choice which I’ll use :wink:

Peace