Pricewatch!

A few peeps have asked me what I find so bad about the Origin platform, yet why use Steam? Here's my answer….Steam actually seems to be useful and helpful. In the month I inflicted Origin onto my old PC, all it ever did was give me grief. To this day, I hold it accountable for destroying an otherwise perfect computer. Oh, and it did take me about 3 yrs to come around to the idea that Steam might be good. Heck, most of the time I still use the offline feature while playing.

Yeah, I do see where you're coming from about Steam adding value that Origin does not. You just need to adjust your expectations so that you perceive being able to play ME3 and DA3 as "added value."

My thoughts on ME3….well, they're here on the forums somewhere, and they all end the same, with me demanding my money back. If the newest DA really does require the Origin platform, getting my money back won't be an issue this time =p. Fortunately, I've got about 12 games that I've not gotten to yet, so I'm all good!

EA is like an abusive boyfriend. It may give you flowers every once in a while, but it's still going to abuse you and call you stupid for questioning it. At some point you've just got to walk away.

Then it's also probably best to delete their number and stop bringing them up in discussion.

Frayed Knights is on Steam for 10 bucks. If you've not played the game yet, and you like old school turn based games, GO GET IT! If you're not careful, rats will get you in the nom nom end!

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Frayed Knights is on Steam for 10 bucks. If you've not played the game yet, and you like old school turn based games, GO GET IT! If you're not careful, rats will get you in the nom nom end!

I need to get back to that one. I think I stopped playing when I went away for a couple of weeks and never picked it back up, but it was pretty good.

I rather like the Origin platform, and EA doesn't bother me, so woot I guess. I spent a lot of money on all the Sims 2 when it came out, so I'll take it.

Originally Posted by joxer
The problem is noone apart from EA knows what Origin exactly does while running in the background.

I'm the first person to call it malware, I'm the first person to spit on their annoying splashscreen advertisments, still it's normally installed on my machine and runs on windows startup. But if it does scan files on your machine as some suggest, honestly, I wouldn't be more happier if those poor sods in EA took some time to enjoy my porn collection.

Anyone that knows the slightest bit about programming can tell you exactly what Origin does while running within a few minutes.

As for the scanning of files/registry keys and the like. The screenshots making their way around Reddit are complete BS and mainly just point to the fact that the person that took them knows practically nothing about programming. The information posted is pretty much identical to what you'd see in any launcher program that handles multiple installs.

In terms of "protecting yourself" for those that may get their programs by..umm.. other means, scanning the registry wouldn't do much of anything for tracking purposes of that specific thing as most cracked/stolen games do not add the registry keys that are normally used in a standard install (unless they're just checking recently ran files..but that won't tell you much either). It would need to scan every file (or perhaps every exe) on your HDD one at a time and that could take hours on an average, recent system. They'd get more useful data just scanning your recent internet searches or purchases which doesn't even require a file to be installed on your computer.

People really like to make mountains out of molehills because they just really don't understand the systems behind what they're bitching about. Sort of reminds me of the morons that are anti-vaccination.

Originally Posted by HordeQ
Sort of reminds me of the morons that are anti-vaccination.

Not quite, since those morons are actually killing people and diverting funding from necessary medical research to prove, repeatedly, that vaccines are safe, while people who complain about EA… buy their games anyway?

What things like this do, when you get past the sensationalism, is raise broader questions of consumer rights in the digital age, ownership of personal data, transparency of what is done with that data… but this isn't the right place to get into that.

Back on topic, I've seen this game Unrest pop up in a few places recently with a small discount. I'm not sure it's the sort of thing I'm in the mood for these days, but the concept looks intriguing. Anyone tried it yet?

Back on topic…

Warlock II for $10 at the Humble Bundle store.

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p…led_storefront

Which is better, Warlock: Master of the Arcane or Warlock II? …I've had the first one for a while now but have yet to play it.

Originally Posted by Drithius
Which is better, Warlock: Master of the Arcane or Warlock II? …I've had the first one for a while now but have yet to play it.

Warlock 2 is the better game, though the difference is not huge. Try the first one, and if you like it, then consider getting Warlock 2.

Originally Posted by Drithius
Which is better, Warlock: Master of the Arcane or Warlock II? …I've had the first one for a while now but have yet to play it.

I'd say Warlock 2 is better, mainly because it has a different feel to it. The first one felt like a bit of a stripped down Civ-clone. Hardly bad, but a bit generic. With the split worlds and journey aspect, the new one feels more like its own game, if that makes any sense.

Warlock 2 hands down imo. The first one just felt like a very stripped down Civ. Warlock 2 takes the shard idea from Eador without the long dragging campaign and it works quite well.

Not a game but still.
-20% on almost everything in Bethesda store. Oh that doesn't mean some items are not on sale, that means some items are discounted even more!

We're interested only in Fallout stuff, right?
http://store.bethsoft.com/brands/fallout.html

I bought ages ago some of those and they rock: 101 sneakers, 101 hoodie, BoS hoodie. Just so you know if you do buy, you won't get some crap stuff.

A word of warning though, if you live outside of NA continent, prepare to pay a fortune for shipment. Bethesda works with some ultraexpensive international shipping company.
Yes I know, Bioware store uses a cheaper int. shipment company, but have you seen prices in Bio store lately? It's like their clothes are woven with gold!
In any case, you've got three more days to place an order.

Originally Posted by Drithius
Which is better, Warlock: Master of the Arcane or Warlock II? …I've had the first one for a while now but have yet to play it.

This should give you a good idea if you'll like it or not …

Originally Posted by greywolf00
Warlock 2 hands down imo. The first one just felt like a very stripped down Civ. Warlock 2 takes the shard idea from Eador without the long dragging campaign and it works quite well.

I just noticed that there is a game mode in Warlock 2 that basically let's you play Warlock 1 but with all the improvements from Warlock 2. No "Armageddon" mode though, as far as I can tell. So yes, now Warlock 2 is hands down the better game, even if you don't like the "shard hopping" idea (I like it, but some don't). Also, I started delving into mods, and Warlock 2 has better mod support. I still think you can tell if Warlock 2's gameplay is for you by playing Warlock 1 though. While there are some improvements (like better balance in general & a system that encourages smart city placement, instead of the expansion-rush of Warlock 1), which do make a large difference, if you don't like the core gameplay of Warlock 1, then Warlock 2 won't impress you either.

Trine 1 and 2 80% off on gog. Recommended

Got me deponia, a new beginning, the dark eye etc. I hope I can stomach the negatives of the later… The sequel memoria is much better they say

Edit. I'm getting spoiled with these prices. 6 dollar sounds an awfully lot now

Along with the humble bundle from earlier this week I posted about you can also buy all Square Enix games on sale this week on The Humble Store.