fire_storm Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 Hopefully Obama can keep his promise and improve our connections speeds and spread it through areas that don't have access. Some of the top tech countries are already making available to everyone gigabit connections and 10 mbps on wireless by 2010. Plus they are way cheaper there than in the US. The US is far behind. You also have to realize that most of those country's with super fast internet connections are also are very small and more densely populated then the USA which makes it cheaper and easier to spread high speed internet to everyone. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
InCrYsIs Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 I absolutely have no interest in this. It takes all the fun out of it and all the control. I say it will fail miserably. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
baz000ka j0e Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 I signed up for the beta, even though I think this is going to fail for many reasons Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayMeow Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 I absolutely have no interest in this. It takes all the fun out of it and all the control. I say it will fail miserably. If you find "fun" in opening up a package, inserting a CD and sitting thru an install, then it's quite likely that you're not playing the right games. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waco Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 If you find "fun" in opening up a package, inserting a CD and sitting thru an install, then it's quite likely that you're not playing the right games. He does like Crysis... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fogel Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 yeah, because the servers were probably located in the basement, and they were the only ones utilizing them. Let's wait to see what happens when you have hundreds to thousands of people trying to play games, sometimes from servers thousands of miles away. Will need to support a whole heck load more than that. Just StarCraft 1 had anywhere from 5 - 8 million people playing at any given time. Granted that was worldwide but it was also more than 10yrs ago when computers weren't as common. I think the service has potential if they can beat the technical hurdle but even if they do, it won't eliminate PCs and Consoles. That's just a marketing ploy. It will be exactly what everyone is comparing it to ...Steam. Does everyone use Steam? Obviously not. It will be a nice option for those who prefer this kind of service. Nothing more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psycho_terror Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 when my PC gets old, i can sell it and buy a new one. same with games i get tired of. i don't want to sink a load of money into this service and leave myself with no tangible products (or nothing at all if it goes belly up). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verran Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 I think a lot of the posts here are evidence of people thinking like myself and wanting to buy a tangible product. I'm not saying things like this will never take off, but I think there's a major hurdle to overcome here still. Price. It's like MP3s, and why I've never bought them and probably won't in the foreseeable future. A full album of MP3s doesn't save me that much over buying a real CD. And it's not like ripping them is incredibly difficult. And that's ignoring all the terrible DRM stuff that's only now starting to clear up. It's great for the distributor who saves tons of money on digital distribution, but until I (the customer) can see the savings too, where's my motivation? For me, an extra $2 an album or $6-8 a game is worth it to have a hard copy, manual, etc. You might consider me a 'collector' in that way. If these types of services want to convert the skeptics like me, I think they're going to have to show a real value over the alternative. Occasionally they do, but in general I still see Steam games going for roughly the same price as hard copies. In my most recent case, IIRC I got my copy of X3:TC (which didn't physically distribute in the US at all) brand new from the UK for about $3-4 more than it would have cost to buy through Steam. That $3-4 was well worth it, IMO. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
InCrYsIs Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 (edited) If you find "fun" in opening up a package, inserting a CD and sitting thru an install, then it's quite likely that you're not playing the right games. I like tangible things. Games with packages and discs. I never buy games where I have to download them. Always like getting a retail package. I find it fun to go to the store and buy a game and look at other games that might interest me. Wow Verran and I agree. Edited March 25, 2009 by InCrYsIs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayMeow Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 I think a lot of the posts here are evidence of people thinking like myself and wanting to buy a tangible product. I'm not saying things like this will never take off, but I think there's a major hurdle to overcome here still. Price. It's like MP3s, and why I've never bought them and probably won't in the foreseeable future. A full album of MP3s doesn't save me that much over buying a real CD. And it's not like ripping them is incredibly difficult. And that's ignoring all the terrible DRM stuff that's only now starting to clear up. It's great for the distributor who saves tons of money on digital distribution, but until I (the customer) can see the savings too, where's my motivation? For me, an extra $2 an album or $6-8 a game is worth it to have a hard copy, manual, etc. You might consider me a 'collector' in that way. If these types of services want to convert the skeptics like me, I think they're going to have to show a real value over the alternative. Occasionally they do, but in general I still see Steam games going for roughly the same price as hard copies. In my most recent case, IIRC I got my copy of X3:TC (which didn't physically distribute in the US at all) brand new from the UK for about $3-4 more than it would have cost to buy through Steam. That $3-4 was well worth it, IMO. The major hurdle, IMO, is network latency. If the experience is flawless, then the rest of it will work itself out. You're in the minority whether you like it or not...but I think you already know that. As for the pricing issue, one benefit of Steam to me is that even if the price on Steam is exactly the same as in retail, Steam is tax free, while retail is not. But asides from that, as you've probably noticed, Steam often has sales. Every weekend they have its "Weekend Deals", which has offered anywhere from 10% to 75% off. Then it has other sales every now and then, like its current Ubisoft week, or the Indie games sale. Valve is able to offer sales more often than retailers just by the nature of its service. I've read a lot of interesting articles offering some insight into Steam and other digital services, and trust me, there are huge benefits to all parties involved. Even furthermore, Steam offers a tool for extremely easy post-release updating and patching. Sure, any developer could offer this on their own, but they often don't. It's kind of nice logging into Steam and having your games auto-patched (assuming you have it set to do so). No having to download a separate patch. No having to launch the game to trigger a patch. Steam is more than just a digital distribution service. But this isn't about Steam, this is about OnLive, and I agree OnLive has huge hurdles to overcome. But people's philosophies of how they acquire games, isn't a major one, IMO, because most people are already used to such digital means of acquisition. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fire_storm Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 I like tangible things. Games with packages and discs. I never buy games where I have to download them. Always like getting a retail package. I find it fun to go to the store and buy a game and look at other games that might interest me. Wow Verran and I agree. I have to agree with you there. I like to have a physical copy of the game weather it be on DVD or on my hard drive but I don't like the idea of having to download it from some server every time I need to install it on a computer. I don't mind steams download polices but what worries me is companies like EA which only allow you to download the games you bought for 6 months (unless you pay extra to get the extended download service which makes it so that you can only download the game for I think 5 years after you bought it plus there is a lifetime download limit) and after your download time has expired you have to re-buy the game again which is a total ripoff and a scam to take your money. I understand that downloads are they way of the future and its a better way of distributing it but I just hope when companies switch to downloads only they don't implement polices like EA does by putting download limits and having to pay extra fees to use software you paid for a couple months after you bought it from them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
redtigerdragon Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 Interesting article: http://www.pcworld.com/article/161930/gdc_...be_a_bust.html/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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