[.Volsung.]

Gibb_Geralt said:

I'll support ANY developer that can be stuffed making good PC ports. So i say, do support THQ, if you like your pc and it's ability to play games. ›››

But more importantly, I like that they release proper PC games, like Company of Heroes and Dawn of War. You'll never see those games for consoles.

I hope they will drop the GfWL and mandatory online bullshit though. I don't think DoW Retribution comes with GfWL thankfully.

[Chromie92]

.Volsung. said:

Well, apparently they do, according to Chromie. So let's pretend it's true. ›››

No need to pretend.

THQ in default with Wells Fargo over $50 million credit facility

THQ vice president resigns amidst company's financial woes.

THQ stock plummets 50 percent

[Costin Moroianu]

Quote

I'll support ANY developer that can be stuffed making good PC ports. So i say, do support THQ, if you like your pc and it's ability to play games.

Support a company that has consistently used fucking GWFL and Steam for PC? They can fuck off for all I care. I have NOT forgotten the Dawn of War 2 mess.

Quote

Get out of here. THQ are one of the few publishers who put consistently out quality titles, insinuating that they give their devs much leeway, and they take care of their PC ports. SR3 and Metro2033 have amazing PC ports.

Darksiders 1 and 2 along with Space Marine do not have good ports however.

[.Volsung.]

I just hope Relic will survive THQ's fall. Really. If THQ really can't make it, then I hope they find an even better publisher.

Oh and hopefully that the South Park game will see the light of day.

[Gibb_Geralt]

Costin Moroianu said:

Support a company that has consistently used fucking GWFL and Steam for PC? They can fuck off for all I care. I have NOT forgotten the Dawn of War 2 mess.

›››

Never dealt with GFWL in THQ games. And Steam is the reason PC gaming is still alive, so Steamworks games give me no qualms.

Steam is essentially the Xbox live or PSN for PC. Except it's 100 times better than those two "stores". Steam is a fantastic PC gaming hub, and it's FAR better than the old forms of DRM we used to have. It's pretty much the best you can have, outside of no DRM at all.

[Chromie92]

Costin Moroianu said:

Support a company that has consistently used fucking GWFL and Steam for PC? They can fuck off for all I care. I have NOT forgotten the Dawn of War 2 mess.

Well it Relic's decision to both use and finally drop GFWL not THQ. THQ just required some form of DRM which frankly I've come to expect.

[.Volsung.]

Gibb_Geralt said:

Never dealt with GFWL in THQ games. And Steam is the reason PC gaming is still alive ›››

I wouldn't go that far. PC gaming will be kept alive by people who like (graphical) adventures, RTS's and computer RPG's. Oh and FPS's.

You know what else keeps PC gaming alive? DRM-free games, and modding.

Gibb_Geralt said:

Steam is a fantastic PC gaming hub, and it's FAR better than the old forms of DRM we used to have. ›››

Better than a simple CD-key verification or CD check? Never.

I don't know what "old" forms of DRM you're talking about. If you mean Securom, then yes, it's better, but that is not "old".

[Mister Mida]

I would buy it gladly if it wasn't chained to Steam. And besides that, honestly I don't care for any of those games or anything else THQ ever put out.

Gibb_Geralt said:

And Steam is the reason PC gaming is still alive, ... ›››

Anything to back that up?

[Pangaea]

The more Steam manage to monopolise the market, the worse it is for the gaming world. They're seriously bad news, and I find it sad so many are jumping on the bandwagon instead of taking a firm stand against all forms of DRM and their crummy (often non-existant) support.

[Lurtz_Of_Orthanc]

What is *with* all the steam backlash? Steam sales are frequent and never disappointing, and the steam platform is an excellent place where I can access all my games from one interface, and connect with a network of other gamers who share my tastes - as much or as little as I choose. For people who care about achievements (occasionally me), it provides that functionality as well. For people who want an easy tool to take and collect screenshots (a feature I use every time I play a game, almost), steam also includes that functionality. And it's refreshing knowing that even if the worst should happen and my computer is fried, I can always just install steam on a new machine and have all my games ready to install (instead of having to store and juggle cd's).

[Aver]

Lurtz_Of_Orthanc said:

and the steam platform is an excellent place where I can access all my games from one interface, ›››

Well, we just miss times when Windows was the only interface that you needed. ;]

[slimgrin]

Pangaea said:

The more Steam manage to monopolise the market, the worse it is for the gaming world. They're seriously bad news, and I find it sad so many are jumping on the bandwagon instead of taking a firm stand against all forms of DRM and their crummy (often non-existant) support. ›››

It's either that or skip releases like DX:HR, SKyrim, Mark of the Ninja. Or, well, pirate those games. That's why I've caved, but to each his own. I admire those with the willpower to take a stance and miss out on those games.

[Pangaea]

I've no problem with that, because there are tons of great old-ish games to play, and you don't need to infest your computer with DRM and spyware to play them. I'm in a small minority with such a stance, which is unfortunate, but I simply don't want that filth in my computer. If companies release shteam-only games, then they lose me as a customer, it's that simple. When I can give up Football Manager, I can give up anything. I could of course pirate them if I wanted, but I'm not doing that. There's not a lack of good games to play that are DRM-free, so I choose to play them instead.

[Mister Mida]

It's honestly not that hard to give up games you do want to play, at leasts not for me. I was bent on playing Skyrim and LotR: War in the North, but because of Steam I decided not to. I honestly don't feel like I'm missing anything, same goes for some indies I thought were interesting yet bound to Steam. It gives me time to look into titles I otherwise wouldn't bother with. Add to that, devs who use Kickstarter usually provide DRM-free copies if you pledge, or if you ask them to.

And if every publisher binds their games to some dumbass digital distribution DRM-client to act as jailor, I'll just make my own games. It might take some time, but I'll be busy at least.

[.Volsung.]

Pangaea said:

(...) and you don't need to infest your computer with DRM and spyware (...) ›››

Windows itself is full of DRM and spyware. Online activation, restricted number of installations and users, gathering of system and application information, usage of personal information, etc.

Since the games you play are probably compatible, have you thought about using a different system? A distribution of GNU/Linux perhaps? You can play many DX9 games flawlessly with Crossover or simply Wine/PlayOnLinux, and there's native DOSBox for "Linux".

[Pangaea]

Very true Volsung, and I have tried. Believe me, I have tried. Still have dualboot on the desktop, but think the Linux Mint distro has gotten botched now as it didn't launch last time I tried. However, I ran into so many problems for the most ridiculously small things, and had to spend the day browsing the internet just trying to find a solution. There were usually as many solutions as hits, and few of them worked. I got mighty frustrated very fast, and eventually just gave up on the whole thing. Even games in Linux packages (or whatever they are called, I forget) like Warzone 2100 didn't work properly. IIRC, the sound was gone, impossible to retrieve, and it crashed frequently.

I wish I could make the full transition, I really do, but I've tried so many times and have just given up right now. It has proven to be too frustrating an exercise, when all I want to do is fire up the game, or for that matter just install and fire up an application.

Hell, at times it was just completely elementary stuff like getting additional disks to auto-load. Quite often the computer would just freeze too, and I had no idea how to fix that, so had to restart instead of the windows trick of Ctrl alt delete.

Maybe people will make suggestions on how to solve these things now, and maybe Mint works better now than version 7 or whatever I had last, but don't think I want to go down that path again, not now anyhow. As problematic as Windows is in terms of privacy, spyware, phoning home and whatnot, I actually saw the upsides to Windows by using Linux. That's crazy, but it's my experience. Steam on the other hand is something I don't at all need to play games, so I stay well clear of it and always will. The idea of such a gate-keeper-ish container application disgusts me, and that's not even touching on the application's workings at all, the corporation's practices, or the future of gaming if these guys get de facto monopoly.

Based on my experience (and I'm not a total mug with computers), I'd certainly say that the biggest problem for "Linux", still, is the steep learning curve and user friendliness.

[Chromie92]

w/e