Dragon Age 2 - What Went Wrong @ RPS

Actually, I was fed this piece of data by Steam supporters who have no end telling how Steam is good and everybody should use it. Which I dont.

What so wrong with steam i'm typically a retail guy because I want the box and manual. But when they have their holiday sales and you can get the games for 5-10 dollars I bought up a ton of games even ones I already owned just so I wouldn't need the discs. I've never had any issues why all the hate?
 
Sales figures deduced from pre ordering and first week after release. Sales figures are not known directly, they are deduced. That is what I wrote.

You wrote "deduced from first week and sales", this confused me. But apropos: if you're going down this route you could take VGChartz (which no one in the industry takes seriously) or NPD, since multiple gaming networks do have an account with NPD (no idea why you wouldn't mention that since it seem pretty important to your theory). The sources Telegraph claims are either from GTA IV's publisher (this happens a lot, as sneak-PR) or one of those experts that bandies about numbers that are rarely right. Even NPD, who do it for a living, are at best guesstimates, and focus only on North America, which is making them increasingly irrelevant (at least they decided to encompass digital download a while back).

Regardless, games that are expected to do bad sometimes do well, and vice versa. Let's take Killzone. Hyped as a "Halo killer" in many previews, it was eaten up once released, for 70% average on Metacritic, but still sold enough to spawn 3 sequels so far. The reviews for Killzone have since matched up more closely with the franchise's popularity, in the 80s to 90s range. The way this went doesn't match up with your theory.

But here's the thing, you're offering a conspiracy theory and I'm asking you "based on what"? Have you heard this from a professional game reviewer? I know a lot of them since, uh, I am one, but no one's ever mentioned this gig to me. Meanwhile, I'm offering you a much simpler explanation: high sales and high reviews tend to coincide because mainstream reviewers have the same tastes and demands as mainstream gamers, the audience they're writing for.
 
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What so wrong with steam i'm typically a retail guy because I want the box and manual. But when they have their holiday sales and you can get the games for 5-10 dollars I bought up a ton of games even ones I already owned just so I wouldn't need the discs. I've never had any issues why all the hate?

For a lot of people we just don't like the idea of one digital service pretty much owning all of PC gaming. Steam is way too big, way too powerful.
 
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For a lot of people we just don't like the idea of one digital service pretty much owning all of PC gaming. Steam is way too big, way too powerful.

I can agree competition is always good for the consumer but I must say steam has never done me wrong. I do have 2 games from impulse drakensang trot and elemental. There service has worked flawlessly as well.
 
I can agree competition is always good for the consumer but I must say steam has never done me wrong. I do have 2 games from impulse drakensang trot and elemental. There service has worked flawlessly as well.

I've used GOG, GamersGate, Impulse, Direct2Drive and Steam. Steam is probably best in insane sales, GamersGate and GOG are friendliest in DRM-freeness. Impulse has always had a bit of a limited stock but that'll change now I guess. D2D is my least favorite but that's mostly because they only care about US customers.

So, uh, there's that? Steam has a competitive disadvantage but there's plenty of options in the market. So use another service if you don't like Steam.
 
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I can agree competition is always good for the consumer but I must say steam has never done me wrong.

It's not really about that (though Steam has done me wrong numerous times, depending on what you mean by that). What it's about is Steam having control over whether a game sells or not... if you need to be on Steam to make a go of it then Valve have defacto control over your game, since they have an approval process. I know of several indie game makers who can't get their games on Steam. It also about cost... if Steam rules the entire platform then those sales are going to get less and less impressive very quickly, because why bother?

It's really not good to have a monopoly EVER, in any situation.
 
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I will say I was not happy when I bought retail games fallout nv and elemental and had to put them on steam and impulse. If I buy retail they shouldn't be tied to download services.
 
I TOTALLY agree with that!!
 
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I strongly agree as well !

Online connections = the new DRM.

By the way, the "Gold" version of the newest Settlers game STILL needs that online connection !
At least that's what's on the package ...
 
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"….Steam supporters who have no end telling how Steam is good and everybody should use it".

Funny…I thought you introduced Steam to the thread.

Funny how? I introduced Steam to the thread and what? The cause behind it should be obvious: I falsely thought that Steam had 70pc of the PC market in relation to preordering volumes, I dont see how it is funny.

Mind to take on your time to explain?
 
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You wrote "deduced from first week and sales", this confused me.

What do you mean?

Your post quoting mine:
http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1061061040&postcount=34

Originally Posted by ChienAboyeur View Post
Reviewers align their notation on the sales figures deduced from pre-ordering and first week

What? Reviewers do not have access to pre-order or first week sales numbers. The review scores from mainstream sites correlate with mainstream success because they're both targeted at the same audience. Your theory is a bit too conspiracy theory for me. Any foundation?

I did not write what you say I wrote. That is indeed confusing.

It was based on a conspiracy theory on the ground reviewers had no access to preorder estimates.
Once this was lifted...
 
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I will say I was not happy when I bought retail games fallout nv and elemental and had to put them on steam and impulse. If I buy retail they shouldn't be tied to download services.

Apparently, in the game industry, many do not get that players buying a retail version does it to get a non online digital distribution. People are not prevented from buying directly from online distribution.
 
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What do you mean?

I mean you phrased it confusingly but it is resolved now. Moving on, can you tell me what you're basing this on or not? I hope your reply is not "It was based on a conspiracy theory on the ground reviewers had no access to preorder estimates" because that sentence just doesn't make any sense.

I will say I was not happy when I bought retail games fallout nv and elemental and had to put them on steam and impulse. If I buy retail they shouldn't be tied to download services.

This is no different from many common DRM software, with perhaps the added annoyance of having to make an account. But heck, compared to Ubisoft DRM, Steam's got a light touch. Even compared to EA Live really.
 
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I mean you phrased it confusingly but it is resolved now. Moving on, can you tell me what you're basing this on or not? I hope your reply is not "It was based on a conspiracy theory on the ground reviewers had no access to preorder estimates" because that sentence just doesn't make any sense.

Actually, I stated your point, that it had to be something like a conspiracy theory because reviewers do not have access to pre order numbers.

As this point is lifted…
 
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I mean you phrased it confusingly but it is resolved now. Moving on, can you tell me what you're basing this on or not? I hope your reply is not "It was based on a conspiracy theory on the ground reviewers had no access to preorder estimates" because that sentence just doesn't make any sense.



This is no different from many common DRM software, with perhaps the added annoyance of having to make an account. But heck, compared to Ubisoft DRM, Steam's got a light touch. Even compared to EA Live really.

Yes and in fairness f:nv states very clearly on the box that it requires steam. Elemental is much more vague only stating that you must agree to the enclosed license agreement and that you need online activation for updates.

It is unfortunate though that it has come to this. Also as more and more steam like clients pop up I really don't want to have 10 different digital distribution clients Installed on my pc.
 
Yes and in fairness f:nv states very clearly on the box that it requires steam. Elemental is much more vague only stating that you must agree to the enclosed license agreement and that you need online activation for updates.

Elemental was more vague for a reason, you only have to activate the game to update it. Of course since the game was launched broken it pretty much requires activation.
 
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Technically, you have to register it and have Impulse running to get the updates. It isn't really an 'activation' as the game itself is not gated through Impulse. Which is a fairly important distinction as the big difference is that you only need Impulse for the patches (and, obviously, install of any DD games purchased), you can go so far as to uninstall Impulse and keep playing as long as you like. Not something you can do with Steam's system where access to the game is constantly gated through the Steam app.
 
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I will probably NOT buy any future games which require Steam for the retail boxed version to work. I have nothing against Steam and use them for digital downloads, but I object to being forced to run Steam to play a game I bought in a store.
 
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Is there any was to un-associate a retail game to sell it?(from steam)
 
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