Risen 2 - Using Steamworks

[Gorath]

no steam for me either. Their price is retarted high.
To bad, but i cant support deepsilver this way.

Let me guess, all retail and online shops selling PC games in the NL suddenly closed down?

 

[Gorath]

… I hate this. I should reserve the right to sell my game if i dont like it. This copy protection stops that doesnt it?

AFAIK, yes.

Yes, you can't resell - and Gamestop also can't buy used games and sell them with 200% margin instead of sealed games.

As a customer the decision path is simple:
Deduct the resale value from the price you would have been willing to buy at. For example if you would have bought for 40€ and the resale value is 20 EUR, wait until the game becomes available for 20€. Then resale value no longer matters because you still have the other 20€ available for other purchases.

 

[Gorath]

Now I read somewhere that Steam games can be resold if you bought them boxed. So what's really going on, does anybody know the definite truth?

 

[JDR13]

Now I read somewhere that Steam games can be resold if you bought them boxed. So what's really going on, does anybody know the definite truth?

I don't see how, because you still have to register the DVD key to your steam account.

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

I read the recOmmendation to register a new steam account for each such game. Then you just sell the account details with the game.

 

[SlamDunk]

no steam for me either. Their price is retarted high.

You don't seem to fully understand…

You can buy the game for a whole lot cheaper somewhere else but you're required to use Steam for the game to work.

I have not been buying games from Steam for years because of the high prices. When Mafia 2 (a Steamworks game) was released, I bought a DVD copy of it for almost half the price from a UK retailer.

 

[DArtagnan]

Yes, you can't resell - and Gamestop also can't buy used games and sell them with 200% margin instead of sealed games.

As a customer the decision path is simple:
Deduct the resale value from the price you would have been willing to buy at. For example if you would have bought for 40€ and the resale value is 20 EUR, wait until the game becomes available for 20€. Then resale value no longer matters because you still have the other 20€ available for other purchases.

Ehm, except if you could sell it again after buying it cheap - you'd potentially regain your investment.

I'm not particularly interested in resale value myself - because it's never about money with me. But I can certainly sympathise with that point of view.

 

[Drithius]

I read the recOmmendation to register a new steam account for each such game. Then you just sell the account details with the game.

God, that would be tedious! And it sort of defeats one of the nice benefits of Steam - being able to peruse and install from your entire digital library at any given moment. No need to remember the account; ie., "was the login ghanburighannewvegas or ghanfallout?"

I don't buy many games these days and, of those I do, I tend to wait on reviews or have a compelling reason to support the studio. So, reselling games doesn't happen often. In fact, the last time I did sell a game out of disgust was with Hellgate London... and I'm thankful I had the option then!

 

[Eisberg]

I have no problem with the Steam platform. Well, I do - but I can live with it. What I can't live with, is the Steam EU pricing. For some reason, they can't offer a "UK" alternative like other distributors. Not sure what the obstacle is, as I assume it's fully legal.

If I can buy Risen 2 somewhere else and then use Steam as the client - I can deal with it. Not happy about it, as I hate clunky software and things running in the background that I shouldn't be needing.

If I can only buy through Steam - then I'll have to pass on giving them my support.

It won't be a digital distribution only. The game will be available in physical form, and also at other various digital download services.

 

[Eisberg]

… I hate this. I should reserve the right to sell my game if i dont like it. This copy protection stops that doesnt it?

When you activate the game, just create a new account for that game only. Just create another free email address from somewhere and use that when you create an account for just Risen 2.

 

[Eisberg]

I guess it is a question of trust. I like to be in a control. Using Steam, I am not.
*I* want to decide what runs and when, *I* want to decide what I want updated or not, *I* want to decide where something should be installed…

I hate using third-party software if I don't need to. Give me GOG any day: no DRM, no download client, no nothing.








This.

Well for Non Steamworks games you can move the games folder where ever you want. There is even software out there to make it even easier. You can control what you want updated and what you do not want, just disable the automatic update feature. Since Steam has been released, I had no problems running the game when I want to, with or with out an internet connection. I currently have a laptop that only gets connected to the internet maybe once every 4 months, and I play all my games in offline mode.

 

[booboo]

I have had occasional issues playing games beacuse of the way Steam manages offline mode - and that from a system I was forced to install for a non-networked game I bought at a retail outlet. No thank you. I have it and I use it reluctantly, but I'm certainly not happy about it. For me it serves absolutely no purpose beyond DRM enforcement - I don't use Steam Cloud, I seldom buy digital downloads and I don't play games online. So all the putative "feature" of Steam mean nothing to me. All I get is the need to run a client to play a game - hardly a useful feature.

 

[Paul]

Steam became amazing. It is my universal game launcher actually - even games that I have on discs or bought elsewhere (GOG, D2D, Gamersgate..) I am launching via steam.

Why?

1) Ingame overlay - friends, webbrowser, all ingame

2) Screenshots anytime anywhere with instant upload to cloud. No fussing with imageshack

3) It works reliably and is quick and, well, flawless. For me, at least.

Steam does not have monopoly, but even if it did - guess what, people made Valve successfull because Valve provides services and games that tens of millions of people WANT to use. Success deserves to be rewarded!

 

[Tuco]

Exactly what problems did TAGES cause? I'm just curious because I honestly don't recall any issues.

This:

It could not be removed and even if you found a way to remove it chances are that you could also remove parts of your windows/system folder .

I'm sorry but I find DRMs fucking with my S.O. way more annoying than an online check at the first startup.

Also, I'm already a very happy Steam customer, with something like 130 games on my account, and I have no problem with it. On the contrary. I found its services for Steamworks-based games, like cloud saving etc, extremely useful.

I don't care about resell value neither, as I NEVER resell my games.
Also, there's virtually no market on PC for used games, considering how damn fast the software drops in price and value.
Today you can usually buy a full budget game for half the money two months later, for 10 dollars 6 months later, etc.
I can't really see the point in losing a game from my collection for 5 fucking bucks.

 

[Eisberg]

Steam became amazing. It is my universal game launcher actually - even games that I have on discs or bought elsewhere (GOG, D2D, Gamersgate..) I am launching via steam.

Why?

1) Ingame overlay - friends, webbrowser, all ingame

2) Screenshots anytime anywhere with instant upload to cloud. No fussing with imageshack

3) It works reliably and is quick and, well, flawless. For me, at least.

Steam does not have monopoly, but even if it did - guess what, people made Valve successfull because Valve provides services and games that tens of millions of people WANT to use. Success deserves to be rewarded!

Yeah, I would like to hear people justification for calling Steam a monopoly? Less then half of the game on Steam are Steamworks, and even then a large percentage of those games are only Steamworks DRM for Steam bought games, but use different DRM for Physical and other digital distrubuters bought games. I wouldn't doubt there are more securom game out there then there are Steamworks. And as far as sales, what are they supposed to do, not take any more customers or sell any more games till the other digital distributors catch up? Is it really their fault that they have the better overall value then the other digital distributors? Steam hasn't done anything that is anti competitive to gain the ground they have now, they have what they have because they earned it and started at the right time.

Steamworks is more then a DRM, it has all kinds of features that actually add value for the customer, and it even adds value for the publisher or developer. "Steamworks provides means of games to integrate with the Steam client, including networking and player authentication tools for both server and peer-to-peer multiplayer games, matchmaking services, support for Steam community friends and groups, Steam statistics and achievements, integrated voice communications, and Steam Cloud support; the API also provides for anti-cheating devices and digital copy management." (Wiki) And if a developer/publisher doesn't want to sell the game on Steam, but still wants to use Steamworks it is still free for them to use, with no charges from Valve at all, they just don't get any kind of presence on the Steam Store, but they still get all the benefits of Steamworks.

DRM is a reality, and I highly doubt it is going anywhere. So when it comes to DRM, I would rather support a DRM that actually adds value to the customer and to the developer/publisher.

 

[Gokyabgu]

I don't think you can realistically compare steam to starforce.

There is some extreme overreacting going on in this thread.

I'm not against Steam or any other digital purchase service (if that's any measure I have more than 60 games in my gog.com account), what I'm against is Steam presented to us as "the only way" to play a game.

And Steam Client is not as system resource friendly as some of our forum members believe it seems. Just search the internet for the "Duke Nukem Forever long loading times" problem.

 

[Eisberg]

I'm not against Steam or any other digital purchase service (if that's any measure I have more than 60 games in my gog.com account), what I'm against is Steam presented to us as "the only way" to play a game.

And Steam Client is not as system resource friendly as some of our forum members believe it seems. Just search the internet for the "Duke Nukem Forever long loading times" problem.

Long load times have nothing to do with Steam for Duke Nukem Forever. Xbox360 version has it, so does the pirated versions, and it is only for Dual Core PC systems. It is an absolute fact that Steam uses very little resources, basically negligible.

Also, please tell us what you mean by Steam is "The only way" to play a game?

 

[MysterD]

Long load times have nothing to do with Steam for Duke Nukem Forever. Xbox360 version has it, so does the pirated versions, and it is only for Dual Core PC systems. It is an absolute fact that Steam uses very little resources, basically negligible.

Also, please tell us what you mean by Steam is "The only way" to play a game?

I think what he means is that no matter what version you buy of Risen 2, whether it be retail or digital anywhere, Risen 2 still requires Steam.

 

[Eisberg]

I think what he means is that no matter what version you buy of Risen 2, whether it be retail or digital anywhere, Risen 2 still requires Steam.

How is that any different then say using Securom, Tages, ect? Can't play games that utilize those DRMS without having them run. Steam is by far less intrusive then the rest of the DRM schemes out there. And in light of The Witcher 2, it looks like Securom actually decreases performance of a computer when it is running. Steam uses 22mb ram, and there has been no reports of it causing performance issues on games.

 

[curious]

witcher 2 activation blew
dragon age 2 activation took nearly a week through impulse

never had a starting problem with a steam game

fallout 3 on GFWL was much less stable than New Vegas on steam for me.

Steam is hardly errorless though as after purchasing Drakensang River of Time and its addon and installing and deleting them twice I still haven't gotten them to run.
Maybe they secretly know I never finished the first game...