Direct2Drive - the way digital content should be

[nitromullet]

ImpulseDriven and GOG.com is how it should be done.

Agreed, but gog.com doesn't carry new games (obviously). I'm not familiar with Impulse. What makes them better?

 

[Skott]

Personally, I have only gotten one game from Steam and one from D2D. I found Steam a little easier to use but D2D isn't bad either. I bought Mount & Blade from D2D for $5. Best $5 I ever made in a game. I'm old school about gaming. I still prefer to go out, or order online, and buy a disk. in the end though no matter what the preferred method is I think its good we have choices other than Steam. Competition is good for the consumer. Helps keep companies from getting too greedy. Just my two coppers on the subject.

 

[Gothgar]

ib nod2dinthenearfuture

 

[Malak]

Agreed, but gog.com doesn't carry new games (obviously). I'm not familiar with Impulse. What makes them better?

Impulse is done by Stardock. Can do a lot of similar things like Steam, and has access to more than just games. But as far as I know, only does Stardock stuff. Steam is a multi-brand digital publisher, which is a major advantage for them.

 

[photi]

Sorry I love Steam. Makes everything super convenient since every game is bound to my account. Downloading at 30 MB/s =) MW2 in 3 min

ha! wouldn't 30MB/s be nice!

i was hesitant about steam at first, but after i have used steam it is now my preferred method of purchasing a game, even if the hardcopy were right in front of me.

a little less control for a lot more convenience.

there are definitely more intrusive apps out there.

 

[Raduque]

Impulse is done by Stardock. Can do a lot of similar things like Steam, and has access to more than just games. But as far as I know, only does Stardock stuff. Steam is a multi-brand digital publisher, which is a major advantage for them.

I bought The Witcher EE Directs Cut Ultra Mega from Impulse, so it's not just Stardock stuff.

 

[tviceman]

Impulse is done by Stardock. Can do a lot of similar things like Steam, and has access to more than just games. But as far as I know, only does Stardock stuff. Steam is a multi-brand digital publisher, which is a major advantage for them.

I've resisted the urge to comment/argue with much of what you've said in this thread, but I honestly think you are either so dead set in your opinions that you've not kept up with the changes in the digital storefronts or that you are really, really misinformed. Between "if something happens to steam you can't log in to play games" to "other services doing what steam was doing a decade ago" and now to saying stardock only sells stardock games, it's quite obvious you don't really know exactly what you're talking about. Your obtrusive arguments are invalid as well, as far as I'm concerned.

You don't prefer steam, that is understood. But beyond that, you're arguments are either laced with fallacies or are misinformed.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I prefer STEAM 100times over D2D.

..offline mode anyone?

 

[Coldkilla]

D2D ripped me off. I purchased two copies of a game (The newer Medieval Total War game) for my brother and me -- they never registered the second game, making me pay $100 for one game. They refused to refund my money and deemed a $10 credit sufficed for my "inconvenience".

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

The one time I tried dealing with d2d they gave me a huge run around trying to order one game (warhammer online). Atleast they didn't take any money from me in the end, but I had enough of a bother with them that I'll never look at them again.

 

[jonks]

D2D has always been good to me. Pretty straight foward. You buy the game, you download the game, you play the game. Great frequent sales & specials, I can re-download the game any time so I don't have to keep a local copy. No complaints here.

 

[BladeVenom]

Agreed, but gog.com doesn't carry new games (obviously). I'm not familiar with Impulse. What makes them better?

No DRM. A game disc works right out of the box. You don't have to go online and finish downloading the game.

 

[Chiropteran]

Doing something different for MW2 doesn't mean they're changing their business practices.

change
  /tʃeɪndʒ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [cheynj] Show IPA verb, changed, chang⋅ing, noun
–verb (used with object)
1. to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone: to change one's name; to change one's opinion; to change the course of history

What universe do you live in where doing something different isn't a change?

 

[Malak]

I've resisted the urge to comment/argue with much of what you've said in this thread, but I honestly think you are either so dead set in your opinions that you've not kept up with the changes in the digital storefronts or that you are really, really misinformed. Between "if something happens to steam you can't log in to play games" to "other services doing what steam was doing a decade ago" and now to saying stardock only sells stardock games, it's quite obvious you don't really know exactly what you're talking about. Your obtrusive arguments are invalid as well, as far as I'm concerned.

You don't prefer steam, that is understood. But beyond that, you're arguments are either laced with fallacies or are misinformed.

If Impulse does anything besides Stardock stuff, I didn't know about it. The only games/software I've gotten through Impulse have all been Stardock stuff. I didn't notice anything that wasn't Stardock, which is why I said that. All my arguements against Steam are true and factual, backed up by my own experience. They have made improvements since launch, but that doesn't mean there aren't still issues with it. I dislike Steam because all the advantages it has over other options are meaningless to me and it has issues. My other options don't have those issues and work exactly like I expect them to.

 

[nitromullet]

No DRM. A game disc works right out of the box. You don't have to go online and finish downloading the game.

I see that they have Dragon Age http://www.impulsedriven.com/dragonagece and they have this note:

EA ACCOUNT, REGISTRATION WITH ENCLOSED SERIAL CODE, INTERNET CONNECTION AND ACCEPTANCE OF END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY AND TO ACCESS ONLINE FEATURES AND/OR SERVICES. EA ONLINE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.EA.COM.

...so, are saying that Impulse doesn't have any additional DRM than what the disc version has?

 

[Fox5]

Impulse handles more than just Stardock stuff. Take a look through their game store, there's quite a bit, though most aren't big name stuff.
Oh, I don't know if Impulse is used in integration with any other games, but it certainly can be, but so far I think only stardock published games have integrated with it.

 

[zerocool84]

change
  /tʃeɪndʒ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [cheynj] Show IPA verb, changed, chang⋅ing, noun
–verb (used with object)
1. to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone: to change one's name; to change one's opinion; to change the course of history

What universe do you live in where doing something different isn't a change?

Cus they sell other games that need Steam or use other forms of Securom. It's like they took the most popular game and singled it out to use it as an example of how cool they are and are fighting the man when they are the ones helping fund the man.

 

[nitromullet]

Cus they sell other games that need Steam or use other forms of Securom. It's like they took the most popular game and singled it out to use it as an example of how cool they are and are fighting the man when they are the ones helping fund the man.

Steam sells Securom games as well. I know Far Cry 2 is a Securom game, and it's on Steam with Securom in addition to the Steam DRM.

I think the main issue with MW2 is that it uses Steamworks regardless of how it is distributed - Steam, D2D, or even physical copy. I was not aware at the time I started this thread that D2D sold other Steamworks games.

btw... does MW2 at least use Steam Cloud for saved games?

 

[jonks]

D2D has always been good to me. Pretty straight foward. You buy the game, you download the game, you play the game. Great frequent sales & specials, I can re-download the game any time so I don't have to keep a local copy. No complaints here.

Figures I'd post the above and then have a complaint. I was on my D2D cart page after I added Dragon Age to the cart. I was thinking about buying, but wasn't sure I wanted it yet. I then went up to the D2D search bar, keyed in a search and hit enter on my keyboard. For some reason this resulted in a purchase of my cart. I immediately emailed their support and explained, told them I had a browser error resulting in an inadvertant purchase. They refused to refund me since it was an EA game which they have a policy of not refunding for. I wrote back and at some length explain the situation again, and told them it was kinda dumb to screw me over and lose a customer for life for a browser error when I hadn't downloaded or looked at the activation code, and I could shop at steam or impulse or anywhere else. They advertise "the best online support" in the industry so I told them to prove it. So they gave me a $10 credit. Eh, I'm not happy but not dying either. Frankly the only reason I'm not incredibly pissed is because I was going to buy DA anyway at some point, probably for $30 or less, or was going to get a GotY edition for $50 with all the released DLC sometime down the road. So I ended up with DA for $40, which isn't horrible and I was definitely going to buy it anyway sometime. Good thing I hadn't added some crap game to my cart.

Anyway, beware how easy it is to make a purchase on D2D, there's no hoops to jump through, you go to your cart, and the next click makes the purchase. Amazon has you jump through about 3 or 4 screens (shipping address, billing address, which CC you want to use, shipping method, then final confirmation!) I'll bet that helps Amazon cuts down on accidental purchases.

 

[skace]

It's annoying if your account gets banned for whatever reason.

We hear this argument every Steam thread. But who the fuck are all these people getting banned from Steam? I realize it's still a valid argument, but it certainly isn't commonplace. Since Steam was first created, neither me nor any of the people I play games with have been banned, not once. Making this a "scary possibility" that is "rumored about in angry web posts" and nothing more.

 

[Fox5]

We hear this argument every Steam thread. But who the fuck are all these people getting banned from Steam? I realize it's still a valid argument, but it certainly isn't commonplace. Since Steam was first created, neither me nor any of the people I play games with have been banned, not once. Making this a "scary possibility" that is "rumored about in angry web posts" and nothing more.

Say you start using some mods or addons to play steam games online. They get picked up as a hack (and may rightfully be so), but the server you're playing on allows them, yet has punkbuster (or the steam equivalent?) activated. You're now banned across all games?

 

[nitromullet]

We hear this argument every Steam thread. But who the fuck are all these people getting banned from Steam? I realize it's still a valid argument, but it certainly isn't commonplace. Since Steam was first created, neither me nor any of the people I play games with have been banned, not once. Making this a "scary possibility" that is "rumored about in angry web posts" and nothing more.

Mine got banned for buying a Steam game on ebay that turned out to have been purchased with stolen cc info from Valve. My mistake, I admit that, but they killed my whole account which had been active for 5 years prior to the issue with a history of valid purchases. Only after complaining to the Washinton State Attorney General's Office (and 6 months) did Valve finally unlock my account.

By all means I think Valve has the right to protect itself from fraud, but they do have the ability to disable access on an individual game basis. So I fail to see why they should deny access to your entire account because of an issue with a single game.

As it worked out in my situation, Valve took from me $100s worth of games because of fraud that I didn't even commit. The fact of the matter is that ebay is still a legal place to buy and sell goods, and as a consumer I feel I have the right to shop based on price at all legal online stores. Should goods I purchased turn out to have been obtained fraudulently, I see that I should not be allowed to keep the goods and that it should be my own responsibility to recoup any losses incurred. However, I don't feel it is right for a company to also essentially mete out punishment to its customers for getting defrauded by removing access to goods previously purchased.

Say you buy some parts for your car on ebay that turn out to have been stolen from the manufacturer, does the car maker have the right to take your car? Of course not, why is software any different?

 

[tviceman]

Mine got banned for buying a Steam game on ebay that turned out to have been purchased with stolen cc info from Valve. My mistake, I admit that, but they killed my whole account which had been active for 5 years prior to the issue with a history of valid purchases. Only after complaining to the Washinton State Attorney General's Office (and 6 months) did Valve finally unlock my account.

What you did was bone headed, but it is a CRAZY notion that Valve can, at any time, take away every game someone has from Steam. This type of situation just happened with the xbox 360 two weeks ago, though. People modded their xbox's, violating the EULA, and then microsoft bricked their hardware. Their saves, online purchases, everything GONE. This type of situation is not exclusive to Steam.

Say you buy some parts for your car on ebay that turn out to have been stolen from the manufacturer, does the car maker have the right to take your car? Of course not, why is software any different?

Perhaps not, but the police certainly may. And you also suddenly find yourself in the middle of an investigation involving the purchase of stolen parts (or in your case, stolen credit cards).

But make no mistake - had you done this with direct2drive, then would've likely killed your account as well; not allowing you to download/redownload any past purchases.

 

[KMFJD]

I prefer STEAM 100times over D2D.

..offline mode anyone?

offline mode? D2D doesn't need you to have internet connection unless the game itself requires online authentication

 

[jdjbuffalo]

What you did was bone headed, but it is a CRAZY notion that Valve can, at any time, take away every game someone has from Steam. This type of situation just happened with the xbox 360 two weeks ago, though. People modded their xbox's, violating the EULA, and then microsoft bricked their hardware. Their saves, online purchases, everything GONE. This type of situation is not exclusive to Steam.



Perhaps not, but the police certainly may. And you also suddenly find yourself in the middle of an investigation involving the purchase of stolen parts (or in your case, stolen credit cards).

But make no mistake - had you done this with direct2drive, then would've likely killed your account as well; not allowing you to download/redownload any past purchases.

This is where the law needs to catch up to the digital reality. The law is always behind when it comes to new and emerging ways of doing things. We need laws saying that your whole account can't get banned because of something wrong with one bad game. The same goes for bans issued in games. It should be limited to at most that one game, it should never go beyond that (unfortunately the XBOX and the MW2 saga shows that Microsoft has a different philosophy).

Also, I would like to point out one correction to your post tviceman. Microsoft didn't brick the hardware. If they had done this then they would have broken the law since the hardware is clearly, under the law, the user's property. We have yet to get clear laws/rulings on how to handle software. Unfortunately, software as it stands today is much more in favor of the corporations and will remain so until people start demanding the same rights they have for hardware.

I don't like the close system and lack of modifications that are allowed on the consoles and it's one of the main reasons I've stayed away. I prefer PC gaming and the openness of the platform.