Half-Life 2 - official (9/14 Black Mesa Source?!)

[Andy]

I really hope more of the few remaining great independent PC developers jump onto Steam. I'd love to see Irrational Games, Creative Assembly, Illusion Softworks, hell even 3DRealms or id. I'm surprised Troika hasn't signed on for it, considering Valve is open and looking for developers to support with it, and that they were the first to be able to use the Source engine. Though I really hate not having a physical product, I think Steam or something like it is the only way the industry is going to not turn into largely the same model as the record industry, as in like a half dozen insanely huge publishers that own everything, and decide everything. Steam not only solves the publisher problem, but it puts more than 4 times the money in the hands of the developers, directly giving them the resources to produce what ever kind of product that they truly want to. And to me, that is the best thing that can possibly happen in this industry.

[Roufuss]

Don't alot of these developers already have pre existing deals with publishers?

I mean, Lucasarts will put out KOTOR 2, Atari will put out NWN 2, and none of them want to take a cut out of their own profits, and that's just speaking for Troika's two projects... Atari seems to do most of the work publishing Troika's projects as of late, and Id uses activision for the most part.

I think only small companies will ever use Steam, because I really can't imagine someone like Troika getting on it.

I could Irrational Games signing on though, since I think no one has the rights to publish Freedom Force 2 right now, and I don't see anyone chomping at the bit, which is sad.

[Drewbacca]

It will change as people like Valve and Troika and whomever else who decides to use the delivery system start seeing a large increase in profits. Publishers will probably try and counteract this measure by offering their own downloadable software, and politics will play a large role as well. PC devs will be able to do this because they don't have to get someone to manufacture discs for them (if they do it like Steam they won't). But if they're multiplatform like KOTOR they probably won't want to bite the hand that feeds them, so to speak.

Developers will need publishers even with this system. I do see someone like Microsoft doing something like Steam for Xenon. For every single player game you have to have it checked by Microsofts servers for authentications before using it. That would be a hassle, though.

[sethsez]

That'd be more than a hassle, it'd be amazingly stupid. Requiring a console to be online (with broadband) for every single game would kill any chance of success it could possibly have.

[Diff-chan]

Steam might be pretty from the developer's side, but Im not a developer so I care how it is from the fan's side. And from there, its a fucking awful, awful disaster. Like, its such a big disaster it makes baby jesus cry. I dont want to pay $50 for a download. Thats bullshit. I want the actual CD and box and manual. If youre just gonna give me a download then make it $30 or something.

Also, its intrusive and annoying in the worst way. Authenticating software is fucking lame. I didnt give MS a pass with regards to XP so Im not gonna give Valve or any other developer a pass here. Last summer I was stuck at home the entire time without an internet connection. I spent a lot of time installing my old PC games and playing them. What happens to my copy of Half-Life 2 then? It becomes worthless.

[epmode]

after spending several hours trying to get my legitimate copy of pirates to run due to a horrible copy protection scheme, i'm all for online verification. it's the lesser of two evils, as far as i'm concerned.

[NeoZeedeater]

I agree with diff although my need to play Half-Life 2 was greater than my desire to boycott.

I still can't get over the fact that it took literally one hour after I first began installing HL2 before I could play it. That has to be a record wait time for me for an installation without errors.

[Curtis]

Steam's not so bad, but I'm not looking at this as the final produt. It's badly in need of of work and if it's just as fucked up a year from now, then I'll start being angry about it.

It's a fairly new idea. Those take time, ya know. I do agree that the games should go at a lower price, though... But that might actually hurt them in the suit from VU.

[Omni]

I agree with diff although my need to play Half-Life 2 was greater than my desire to boycott.

I still can't get over the fact that it took literally one hour after I first began installing HL2 before I could play it. That has to be a record wait time for me for an installation without errors.

Mine took about 3. Shit was ridiculous.

I was really angry about that.

[Saint of Killers]

I mean, Lucasarts will put out KOTOR 2, Atari will put out NWN 2, and none of them want to take a cut out of their own profits, and that's just speaking for Troika's two projects... Atari seems to do most of the work publishing Troika's projects as of late, and Id uses activision for the most part.

You're confusing Troika with Obsidian.