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The Steam Sale Spoils

DoSu Team — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:59:14 +0000

$119.01USD — that’s what I spent during Steam’s holiday sale. For less than the price of two new console games, I bought nineteen PC games, all from Steam. Although I was aware of sales at other stores, I bought nothing from them. Steam demanded my undivided attention; its two week store-wide sale grabbed me, and its daily sales held me tightly. Just as a clumsy analogy reinforcing a simple point, Steam’s sale refused to go unnoticed, and it refused to be forgotten. No other digital distributor’s sales accomplished this; apart from some festively redesigned websites, they were unremarkable.

Impulse could have sold me some games, but for every attractive offer they had (Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals, And Yet It Moves), Steam had the same game at a deeper discount. Impulse had no daily sales, so once I finished comparing deals, I had no reason to revisit them. GamersGate held daily sales, but they were mainly composed of games from Meridian4, 1C Company, and Paradox Interactive — it’s peculiar when their games aren’t discounted. I almost bought King’s Bounty: Armored Princess for $20, but Steam had it for $26 along with the promise of more daily sales, so I decided to wait. Two days later, I bought Armored Princess from Steam for $7.49.

Good Old Games did all right by discounting their catalogue by up to 40%, but I still didn’t buy anything. I was tempted, but their games are always inexpensive. It’s difficult to get excited about 25% off when Sanitarium is already $9.99; if I’d wanted it, I’d probably have already bought it at its regular price.

Despite their dominance, Steam’s holiday sale will benefit the entire industry, including their competitors. Valve — Gabe Newell specifically — likes sharing data, and I have no doubt that statistics from the sale will be shared at D.I.C.E. or GDC, if not sooner. I’d like to know how the sale has affected Steam’s market share; how far does such a massive promotion reach? How many new accounts were made? How many purchases were people’s first since creating their account with their CD-key for Modern Warfare 2, Dawn of War II, or Empire: Total War? How many new accounts were made whose initial action was to send or receive a gift?

Just a few months ago, I examined Impulse, GamersGate and Direct 2 Drive and concluded that, while Direct 2 Drive is altogether unpleasant to buy from, I should do more to support Impulse and GamersGate. The benefits of altruism are blurring, however, as Steam’s service continues to satisfy, and as Impulse and GamersGate’s continues to underwhelm.

tags: 1c company, bearly commentary, dice, direct 2 drive, gabe newell, gamersgate, gdc, gog, good old games, holiday, impulse, king's bounty armored princess, meridian4, paradox interactive, pc, sale, steam, valve

Pandemic Closes; Steam Markethogs; Being Evil Pays

DoSu Team — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:06:36 +0000

Pandemic staff confirm studio’s closure

I don’t understand how EA can shut down a studio mere weeks before they ship a game. The Saboteur looks interesting, but its release is irreparably tainted by this news.

PC Gaming Alive and Thriving, No Slowdowns in Sight

Hooray for that.

Stardock Reveals Impulse, Steam Market Share Estimates

Stardock estimates that Impulse has 10% marketshare against Steam’s 70%, while Direct 2 Drive, GamersGate, and other services split the remaining 20%. 10% for Impulse feels generous, but assuming it’s accurate, I wonder how their marketshare will be fairing now that the Steam-exclusive Modern Warfare 2 has shipped. With MW2, Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress, and Day of Defeat, Valve controls most of the PC’s multiplayer FPS market. Consider supporting the competition, people.

Infinity Ward: Modern Warfare 2 PC already outselling Call of Duty 4

Speak of the devil…

Kotick Sells More Activision Shares, Gains $17 Million

…and his pal Judas.

Call of Duty to get paid-for online services

Such as first-party dedicated servers?

Dragon Age ‘Return to Ostagar’ DLC Announced

I’ve spent over 50 hours playing Dragon Age, and frankly, I can’t wait to throw more money at more content.

Phoenix Wright set to rise on WiiWare in 2010

This sounded really cool until I read that one of the cases from the DS version will be excluded. What gives?

Mass Effect 2 gets new box art design

I feel silly for discussing box art, but people have been pretty down on this new Mass Effect 2 cover. Although they still have a planet/moon in the background that seems inappropriately close, I prefer this new cover to the old one. It reminds me of the covers of cheesy Sci-Fi paperbacks — in a good way.

Kane & Lynch 2 “Bowling for Shanghai” Teaser

I’m not ashamed to say that I enjoyed Kane & Lynch. They’re on the right track with the movie by casting Bruce Willis as Kane, and I’m digging the style they’re establishing for Kane & Lynch 2 with these teasers.

tags: activision, bearly noteworthy, bobby kotick, dedicated servers, direct 2 drive, dlc, dragon age, ds, EA, gamersgate, impulse, kane & lynch, layoffs, mass effect 2, modern warfare 2, pandemic, pc, phoenix wright, stardock, steam, the saboteur

What’s Up With Fall ’09?

DoSu Team — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:08:45 +0000

When the PC version of Assassin’s Creed 2 was pushed to 2010, I knew that my fall would not go as I had planned. And I was right — for the PC versions of multiplatform games, this fall has been, and will continue to be, an odd one. Borderlands’ PC release, for example, has been delayed one week for “optimization,” and since Gearbox has said in the past that PC is Borderlands’ lead platform, I think a more likely reason is that 2K wanted to give the console versions a week where they didn’t compete with .torrents of the PC version – a futile act. Still, the promise of add-ons would keep me from playing Borderlands on release day anyway, just as with Fallout 3. Similarly, the purported delay of Modern Warfare 2 PC (though it may only apply to the UK) doesn’t dissuade me from buying it on November 10th as much as its $60 price. There were also rumors leading up to Alpha Protocol’s delay; paying customers, including myself, were not sure of their validity until October 6th, the day it was meant to release. Even then, there was no formal announcement – the game simply didn’t launch, and Sega updated their store to say “Spring 2010.” Were I not confident in Obsidian’s ability to deliver, I’d ask for my money back.

What will I be buying? Brutal Legend is due next week, and barring a critical lashing, I’ll allow my pre-order to fill. I expect that it will come to PC eventually, but I’d prefer to forgo the months of dodging spoilers. Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony launches on October 29th, and I can see myself buying that if I’m not still busy with Brutal Legend. November is my month for PC purchases, with Dragon Age: Origins on the 3rd, and Left 4 Dead 2 on the 17th. Although I didn’t feel the need to boycott, I still wasn’t ecstatic at the announcement of Left 4 Dead 2. It felt too soon, and Valve announcing it during Microsoft’s console-focused press conference was disconcerting. I’ve seen enough that I feel okay about buying another Left 4 Dead, but I may take what I learned last year and wait a month or two – it wasn’t long before a weekend sale had Left 4 Dead for $25.

December is a month of uncertainty; it’s where publishers tend to bury games in which they have little confidence. But it’s also a month of potential, as last year it gave us Persona 4. Moreover, it’s the month of digital distribution sales; Steam’s annual store-wide sale always does well to pad my backlog, and this year I’m hoping Impulse and GamersGate will give them some competition.

tags: alpha protocol, assassins creed 2, borderlands, brutal legend, call of duty, delay, double fine productions, dragon age, gamersgate, gearbox, grand theft auto 4, impulse, left 4 dead, left 4 dead 2, modern warfare 2, obsidian entertainment, pc, persona 4, piracy, sega, steam, the ballad of gay tony, tim schafer, valve

Digital Consumerism: Promoting Rational Choices

DoSu Team — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:42:42 +0000

Choices breed indecision, therefore preventing indecision requires identifying and eliminating our choices. This is our boon, our burden, and our charge as PC gamers. We mull over choices such as which video card, which mouse, how many cores, and how many watts. Digital distribution’s increasing popularity has, despite its merits, introduced the choice of where do I buy? The default choice, for most of us, is Steam. We would be justified, but competition is important for an industry to thrive. We must not surrender our opportunity to choose, and we must not surrender to complacency. To consumers and businesses, complacency is a common enemy. As consumers we should act out of self-interest, but we should be mindful of when supporting competition is in our interest. We must do more than merely acknowledge competition — when it’s deserving, and when it’s to our advantage, we must also support it.

I’ve invested a lot of money in my Steam library, and it would be convenient if Steam were all I ever had to use. Still, there are times when I would benefit from choosing an alternative service. For example, there was recently a special on Impulse where pre-purchasing Red Faction: Guerrilla for $39.99 would get me Red Faction and Red Faction II for free, but I didn’t buy it because I suspected it would also come to Steam. And it did, several weeks later. Waiting made sense to me at the time, but I was being irrational — I knew better. I knew Red Faction wouldn’t have Steam Achievements; I knew it would be the same price either way; I knew my download and install would have been fast and automatic; and I knew that I wouldn’t have needed CD keys. Playing an Impulse game doesn’t even require the client to be running — I can’t say the same about Steam. Moreover, the Steam Community game overlay works in Impulse games if they’re added to the My Games list. In retrospect, I should have bought Red Faction from Impulse. Why didn’t I? Because of complacency; I’ve used Steam exclusively for so long that, even when it would be to my advantage, I don’t buy elsewhere.

GamersGate also offered the Red Faction: Guerrilla special, but compared to Steam and Impulse, it’s an inferior service. I liken buying games from GamersGate to buying games at retail: I have to deal with CD keys, game installation isn’t automatic, and games almost always have copy protection — but I make an exception when the price is right. When I can buy a physical copy of Mirror’s Edge from Amazon for $7.80 with free shipping, or a digital copy of King’s Bounty: The Legend from GamersGate for $9.99, I can justify the inconvenience. No amount of savings, however, are worth some inconveniences.

I have a bias against Direct 2 Drive to begin with, as it’s a property of News Corporation. I’m further disconcerted by the conflict of interest created by its affiliation with IGN Entertainment. Despite its prominence, I’ve avoided the service for years; it shouldn’t surprise me that I regret spending $5 on The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena during Direct 2 Drive’s 5 year anniversary sale. The game works, that’s not my problem. My problem is that I was forced to buy it under an assumption: I couldn’t find any information on Riddick’s web page about copy protection. I knew there had to be some, but I couldn’t find it. I still can’t. Direct 2 Drive is similar to GamersGate as far as the process of buying, downloading, and installing games, but GamersGate wins because it is candid about a game’s copy protection. It was only once I had downloaded and extracted Riddick’s 7GB of setup files that I spotted TAGES executable among them. How would someone who isn’t savvy ever know to look? After this experience, I can’t abide using Direct 2 Drive.

But I can always abide using unique services such as Good Old Games (GOG) and GameTap. These are two services whose business models take them out of direct competition with those I’ve discussed previously. Good Old Games is a specialty service where every game is old or classic, and costs $5.99 or $9.99. GOG games have no copy protection and are guaranteed to be compatible with Windows XP and Vista, and they often come with extras such as guides, soundtracks, and wallpapers. Meanwhile, for $9.99 per month (33% off if paid annually), my GameTap subscription gets me unlimited access to over 1000 games from all genres, and from many platforms including Genesis (Sonic, Shining Force), Neo Geo (Metal Slug, King of Fighters), Dreamcast (Chu Chu Rocket), Sega Saturn (Panzer Dragoon), and of course PC. My subscription also affords me sub-accounts for my friends and family; up to two of us can play simultaneously. While extensive, the freshness of GameTap’s library is left to the mercy of publishers; games are typically about two years old before they’re added. Another caveat is that 64-bit OS compatibility isn’t guaranteed, but that should be changing soon. Still, I believe GameTap’s value is incontrovertible, and I have nothing negative to say about GOG.

Indeed, as PC gamers, we have an embarrassment of choices, but we should not be frustrated with them or take them for granted. Instead, we should revel in them — we should experiment, and we should strive to be conscientious consumers with the hope that our industry will take note and better itself.

tags: bearly commentary, cd projekt, choices, consumerism, direct 2 drive, gamersgate, gametap, genesis, gog, good old games, ign, impulse, king's bounty the legend, neo geo, news corporation, paradox interactive, pc, red faction guerrilla, stardock, steam, the chronicles of riddick assault on dark athena, valve