PC PC GAMES

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Great article over at EuroGamer about Piracy, real and imagined damages and the a special look at UBI and the damage they have caused by insisting on punishing customers. It looks like customers did vote with their wallets and my assesment of “Driver: SF” and it’s lack of sales wasn’t far from the truth.

Notable quotes:

“Ubisoft told me that their PC game sales are down 90 per cent…”

“[There's] no public data to suggest that DRM works,” says Pachter, “but the fact that more companies are imposing it strongly suggests that they believe it works.”

“Consumers are right to complain about DRM, since it impacts both legitimate and illegitimate users,” reckons Pachter. “The problem is that the companies think it limits piracy, and an industrious and determined hacker can work around DRM, while a normal, legitimate user must deal with a hassle. I’m not sure where to come down on this, as I respect the companies’ right to protect their intellectual property, while acknowledging the legitimate consumer’s complaint about the problems created with DRM.”

“There’s good DRM and what we call bad DRM,” explains Svensson. “There’s a huge breadth of parameters and technologies available, and no one technology is bad – it’s the implementation that can be bad, the communication around the implementation that can be bad. What we try and do – and we haven’t always been successful in this – is never hurt the legitimate user. If the legitimate user is ever going to have a more negative experience than a pirate, you’ve done something wrong.

Of utmost importance, says Svensson, is “being upfront with fans”. And he himself has been on the receiving end of fan backlash before.

“If I were a console evangelist I’d totally play up piracy on the PC,” Ployhar says. “But I have to stop and wonder how in the world they can continue to make that argument when a few years from now most games are likely going to be free-to-play anyway.

 

 

It is real funny to me how even many technology podcasts over the last couple years had “experts” saying that the race is over, stick a fork in it and just accept that the PC as a gaming platform is dead. Things are so much “easier” on the consoles and the market is so much bigger.

The reality is as so often far from the truth. PC gaming is alive and healthy. Thanks in no small part to STEAM and what they accomplished over the last couple years.

“In just five days, our Steam revenue had already surpassed our annual revenue on XBLIG,” he reports. While he prefers not to give exact figures, he estimates his five-day Steam earnings to be over $100,000 — “which, as you can imagine, really impressed us, and has motivated us to make PC games much more of a priority than Xbox.”

Jay seemed frustrated by a lack of confidence in our games platform of choice, but admitted that Blizzard might have benefited from a less crowded marketplace: “It’s unfortunate that the illusion that the PC is dying has been propagating for so long and that people have bought into it. On the other hand I’d say Blizzard has done quite well off of that – the fact that people have the illusion that PC is not a place where you can make money. It’s made it even easier for us to do really well.”

It is weird that it takes a magazine to take up the banner, but they did good!

Razor seems to be up to something big. Purchasing pcgamingisnotdead.com and sazing this:

We have all heard the rhetoric about the demise of PC Gaming – the stories that console gaming will take over all gaming and that PC gamers will be left with shoddy ports of console titles.

The rumors of our untimely demise have been greatly exaggerated. We are more than 300 million PC gamers worldwide and this legion is growing every day. Today there are more PC gamers than all console gamers combined and we have been silent in the face of the closed gaming systems that have been propagated.

We, the PC Gamers, have been here since the beginning and have seen the industry grow to surpass movies and music, and we look forward to an open world where console and PC gamers will stand side by side as gamers in arms.

We are here today to tell you, that on the 26th of August, we will seek to end the silence and bring a new age of openness and innovation to all gaming. Together we shall remind you – that PC Gaming is NOT dead.

GLHF, Razer

Finally it is for sale. The shooter build for the PC, only available for the PC and nothing but the PC! It has a price and a “sort of” date. And what a pleasant surprise, against all trends this one is to be had for $36! A price that has value written all over it.

I have such high hopes for it that I purchased the collectors edition. You ask why? I couldn’t tell you any other reason than the fact that I want them to succeed. I want to support a developer that made the choice to focus on the PC.

At a time when we grapple with the fact dev mega publishers want to trow things our way we don’t like or care for (UBI, EA) and make choices that benefit some boardroom meeting more than it’s customers. I want to believe that there is a company that is here for the fans. Don’t let me down Tripwire…. PLEASE!!!

I think it’s time someone pointed out how this game has affected everyone.  I’d first like to apologize for bringing this drug into the homes of you all since our last LAN at Karsten’s.  A lot of us, including myself, are losing site of why we play games because of the way this single game has changed our gaming process.  Games are meant to be fun and are supposed to be played with friends to increase the fun of the game, not aggravating and selfish.  Winning and losing go hand in hand, you can’t have one without the other.

Here’s a few examples of how players change and become from playing this game.

It’s time we went back to “playing games” and enjoying them like we should. What’s more fun than a group of friends conversing, laughing, and enjoying themselves to the fullest.  Let’s leave the teen highschool drama to reality tv shows and the actual highschool teens!

Thanks Josh for showing me the comic, and Curlen for the title.

This comic is a work of Ctrl+Alt+Del (www.cad-comic.com), please visit the site by clicking the picture for proper viewing.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:13:02 — 72.1MB)

Our first live stream while recording. So I hope there is not too many references to things you don’t see when you just listen. We pick up from the week before. Talk about hardware and what cool new gadgets there are. But we switch pretty quick to whats important and you will hear us go plenty about PC gaming.

• Hardware talk and why Curlen purchased Intel
• More Nook and Android talk
• Tims Watercooling Update
• BobJr tells you why you should own Magicka
• Mafia 2 a disappointment?
• Neptunes Pride
• Dungeons impressions
• Cool games we want to play this year
• Portal cross-platform play
• Deus-Ex first hands on
• Homefront goodness
• No more CoH Online
• STEAM makes how much money?!
• Starcraft Themepark (if you travel to China)
• Pachter again… and yes for the record I think he is wrong!
• Crysis 2 springs a leak… who let the code out?

E-Book PDF: Open in New Window | Download (73.2MB)

Thanks to IvanDoomer we have a list of cool free stuff you can download via STEAM. Enjoy!

For ATI/AMD (Radeon) graphic card users: install - storefront
- Half-Life 2: Deathmatch [6]
- Half-Life 2: Lost Coast

For Nvidia (GeForce) graphic card users: install - storefront
- Half-Life 2: Deathmatch [6]
- Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
- Portal: First Slice (demo install - storefront)

For all Steam users:
Alien Swarm: install - storefront
America’s Army 3: install - storefront
BattleForge [1][4][7]: install
Between [1][4]: install - storefront
Codename Gordon: install
COIL [1]: install - storefront
Mightier [1]: install - storefront
Moonbase Alpha: install - storefront
Peggle Extreme: install - storefront
Sam & Max: Episode 4: install - storefront
Spacewar: install
TrackMania Nations Forever [2]: install - storefront

Free addons and resources for already purchased games:
Half-Life (high definition models): install - uninstall - comparison - screenshot
RACE 07 (Crowne Plaza Raceway track) [5]: install - storefront

Steam delivered MODs:
Age of Chivalry (requires Source SDK): install - storefront
D.I.P.R.I.P. Warm Up (requires Source SDK): install - storefront
Darkest Hour (requires Red Orchestra): install - storefront
Defence Alliance 2 (requires Killing Floor): install - storefront
Dystopia (requires Source SDK): install - storefront
Eternal Silence (requires Source SDK): install - storefront
INSURGENCY (requires Source SDK): install - storefront
Mare Nostrum (requires Red Orchestra): install - storefront
Pirates, Vikings, and Knights II (requires Source SDK): install - storefront
Smashball (requires Source SDK): install - storefront
Synergy (requires Half-Life 2): install - storefront
Zombie Panic! Source (requires Source SDK): install - storefront

Related stuffs:
BioShock: Breaking the Mold [Art]: download - storefront
Company of Heroes: All Heroes Rise OST [OST]: download - storefront
Company of Heroes: Songs From the Front OST [OST]: download - storefront
GREED: Black Border OST [OST]: download - storefront
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II OST [OST]: download - storefront
Zombie Movie [Mac/Win][Mov]: install - storefront

== notes ==
[1] mistakenly listed as a demo on storefront
[2] already included on TrackMania United
[3] deployed and deprected, but continues working
[4] mistakenly named as a demo on “My games” list
[5] will install addon on your title and a demo to run feature standalone
[6] does not include Source SDK tool (required to run some MODs)
[7] offered by Play4Free license / micropayment
[8] storefront not available in some contries
[Mac/Win] operating system compatibility*
[Art/OST/Mov] content type (Artbook/Original Soundtrack/Movie)**

So using the LivesStream while recording the podcast last night worked better than expected. You can actually listen to the Podcast recording unedited already by clicking on the stream on the right. the podcast version via Itunes should be available this week as well. As I got more comfortable I added content to the video that related to what we talked about. It was great to look at the pictures of the water cooling rig that Tim build while he was telling us about it.

You are welcome to join us in the chat channel during recording Sunday evening 9pm EST. It was great yesterday to have some questions and feedback from the chat channel and I think we will build this up. See you all next Sunday!

The PC market is hale, hearty and healthy according to Paradox Interactive’s CEO, Fredrik Wester, who rubbished some of the claims made by the media and analysts against the PC platform today.

‘In 2001 everyone said that the hardcore games market was dying,’ Wester said at the Paradox Interactive Convention in New York. ‘That same year though, we launched Europa Universalis – a hardcore grand strategy game and new franchise – and sold 250k.’

Wester said that he’d seen many such ideas spread across the industry in the last decade and that few had turned out to be true.

‘In 2003 the rumour was that the PC games market was dying and that retailers didn’t have any shelf space for us anymore. Our revenue has gone up more than 1000 per cent since then, however.’

‘More recently, in 2006, the industry thought that there were too many publishers and that things were too crowded. That was the year we expanded to five new countries!’

Wester said that Paradox had learned not to pay much attention to such ideas and that the Swedish publisher was now expanding into MMOs and free to play games – despite the fact that many said that genre too was overcrowded.

Original Article can be found here!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:46:06 — 68.2MB)

The week of this recording saw snow chaos in GA. Little did we know that we would have a lot of time to work on projects at home that week. or if you are Curlen play some of your 40 games you purchased during the STEAM sale

We talked about all sorts of stuff and did go quite deep into… what would we like to see this year. Here is a rough list of topics:

• WOW looks very different
• DODA
• Battlefield Vietnam inpressions
• Curlen has too many games
• Wired tells us what we should look forward to
• Our weekly LOL talk
• Some 3D talk
• Cureln loves Bulldozer (AMD future)
• Tablets
• CES gear
• Pros and Cons of a Cool Keyboard (Josh still looking for keys)
• Assassin’s Creed 2 DLC
• Warhammer 40k expansion
• Weird patents

First of all, I am not a pro player or high level player, but what I am is a player that really enjoys this game. So I can (with help!) put down a very basic guide that will fast track you from level 1 to around level 15 or so. From then on, you have to “understand” the game yourself. (Guide for only 5v5). Also English is my 2nd language, so don’t hate my grammar. (Kommie: Oh I hate!)

This is something of a work in progress, but PLEASE GO AHEAD AND POST A COMMENT!

• 1. 1. There are 3 “lanes” or paths to the opponent base, each lane has 3 turrets and 1 inhibitor. There is also a river cutting though the middle of the map.
     2. Turret deals quite a lot of damage and have high amount of health.
     3. Turret will attack you if you are in their range. However it will attack your minions first if your minions get in range of the turret before you. If you attack an opponent champion, the turret will attack you no matter if there are friendly minions or not.
     4. There are also neutral monsters on the field that give you bonus attack power, mana regen, etc. The big red worm thing is called Baron Nashor. Killing it will give your team a good attack bluff. It’s in the middle of the upper part of the river. Killing the Dragon will give gold and it’s in the middle of the lower part of the river. Both have a lot of health so its not a good idea to attack them by yourself. Also there are two others that give a mana & cool-down buff on your abilities, and another two that give damage-over-time & slow down. These last ones are spread out in the “jungle”, one of each on each side.
     5. You always want to have “last hit” / kill on the minions so that you get more gold.
  2. Goal – The goal of the game is to get to the opponent team base and destroy their nexus while at the same time stopping them from doing the same to your nexus.
  3. Attacks – There are three types of “attack”
     1. True (Pure) damage: Caused by ignites and some Champion abilities. Nothing mitigates this type of attack (Though there are some spells and items that can block it).
     2. Physical damage: Normal standard attack and some champion abilities. You need to build ARMOR to counter physical damage
     3. Magic damage: Some champions do standard attacks as magical, and a lot of champion abilities are magic based. You need to build MAGIC RESIST to counter magic damage
  4. Leveling:
     1. You the “player”, is called a summoner. The level cap for summoners is 30. Summoner pick a champion to play for every game and champion starts at level 1.
     2. The higher your summoner level is, the more “bonuses” you can have on your champion.
     3. The Higher you Champion Level is, the more stats (HP, Mana) & abilities you get (There are four, including one that is an ultimate type that you get at 6th and twice more though your 18 levels) which do more damage as you pick the abilities again and again.
  1. Runes: You can buy runes only with IP which you earn by playing the game. Runes can add small little help such as health, magic resist, armor, attack damage, attack speed, etc…

  (continue reading…)

Happy New Year everybody! On Sunday we will record the important 1st Anniversary edition. We will celebrate by giving a bunch of stuff away.  When you participate you need to make sure that the name you give us matches up with your steam name, otherwise we don’t know who to send the prize to.

Thanks again for being a part of the community. By Gamers For Gamers. If you have something to say; you have a home here. I hope that you will make plenty of use of your opportunity to share with fellow gamers. Don’t forget the forums, be a part and hang with some great folks!

Also a BIG thanks to all of you who took part last year. We had some great reviews for PC games from a regular PC gamer guys perspective. While we all have different tastes I take the word of my friends and their opinion much more serious than a “gaming” publication that needs to make money and with that somewhat please their sponsors.

We can also celebrate some news as we usher in 2011. Looks like UBI saw the error of their way and let common sense win. About time you grew some balls and made a common sense choice. Maybe we will come back.

Also thanks to my friends. I love you guys and this is giving me such a great place to spend time with you. Thanks to (in no particular order) Tim, Wil, Josh, Curlen, Kommie, and Simon – you all helped make this a great place not just for us but to the guys that share our passion.

Last but not least I need to mention my wife. Because a man can’t have a better mate than I have. Thanks Karen for taking good care of me and the guys. Thanks for cleaning up behind us, making us Coffee and goodies. Thanks for letting me have friends and a hobby. Non of it is as important as you!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:21:50 — 27.8MB)

Well… so here we are. Almost a year ago we posted our first podcast. This however, is not the anniversary edition you have been waiting for. That one will take place next week. So call in your well wishes and I make sure they make it into the podcast. It’s as easy as calling (657) 201-7272. So go ahead, and do it! Your chance for a free game will increase quite a bit!

This podcast… some LOL stories, some Cataclysm excitement and some invitations to play with us Oh and I gave some stuff away while recording this. Enjoy!

Hi everyone,

Kommie and I will be hosting the first weekly PCPC Games night and will continue for every Saturday. We want you to join our TeamSpeak channel and have fun. Get to know all the podcasters and other community members. We are nothing without you. I will be making 1 game as feature game of the week, but you dont have to play that game to join us. I am sure we will always have someone down for whatever you want to play and 100% sure there will be a group of LoL there as well.

What: PCPC Games Night #1
Time: 9pm est
Where: Teamspeak pcpcgames channel
Feature Game of the Week: Starcraft 2 Custom Mod: Spacebattle

All the information about this game mod can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMp2JN-IAOU

This would also be a good time to get a group for Borderlands together. Borderlands is a blast especially Multiplayer!

This is S to the imon Simon, peace out. (if you know where is this from, you are an instant winner!)