In response to Airjoe
Supposedly Microsoft is investing big on this.
In response to JordanUl
JordanUl wrote:
[snip] on a T1 [snip]
I don't mind Steam [snip]

I wonder why? -_-

Personally, if I buy a game, I don't want to be forced to download anything in order to play it. I want to install it and jump straight into the singleplayer mode without being forced to download patches first. ESPECIALLY over my connection.

You people with your fast connections can use them all you want, that's great; but those of us with slow connections don't like being forced to do the same. That's OUR time and OUR bandwidth Valve is wasting.

In summary: Steam is evil and must die. =P
I think that the DVD, like most electronic media mediums, will die out. I'll miss it though: I don't want to have to get a new media player =(.
In response to Crispy
You people with your fast connections can use them all you want, that's great; but those of us with slow connections don't like being forced to do the same. That's OUR time and OUR bandwidth Valve is wasting.

Broadband connections have become the standard whining because you don't meet the requirements is kind dumb. Would be like complaining a game isn't released on a floppy disk because you didn't bother to get a CD Drive. Regardless I don't recall my brother having to download too much if anything with his CD version of the game.
In response to Theodis
Theodis wrote:
You people with your fast connections can use them all you want, that's great; but those of us with slow connections don't like being forced to do the same. That's OUR time and OUR bandwidth Valve is wasting.

Broadband connections have become the standard whining because you don't meet the requirements is kind dumb. Would be like complaining a game isn't released on a floppy disk because you didn't bother to get a CD Drive. Regardless I don't recall my brother having to download too much if anything with his CD version of the game.

I dont think you undertstand that at this current time, alot of high speed connections are too expensive for alot of people.

I would like to point out that when CD first came out, and it was kind of expensive, alot of games came out on both CD and floppy.

Enjoy your high speed internet, but dont you dare tell me not to whine, not to be pissed, when I pay $50+ for a PC game, and I already have go go online to get new files for it, esepcially when some of them are 100MB+ in size and would take me 6 damn hours.

Its like Magic Online, boy, was I excited when I bought that, I paid $35.00 for it, and as soon as I installed it, I had to download a 150MB file just to play the game. thats bull crap.
In response to Shades
I dont think you undertstand that at this current time, alot of high speed connections are too expensive for alot of people.

Just like a decent video card to play high end games. Though atleast the connection speed doesn't prevent you from playing entirely it just takes a bit longer to get neccessary files if you need them.

I would like to point out that when CD first came out, and it was kind of expensive, alot of games came out on both CD and floppy.

Yeah but not all games depending on the size some games didn't come on floppy at all. The conversion is still just starting now as not too many games at the moment require 100+MB downloads to play or patch yet. Though pretty soon it'll go from a few to most.

Enjoy your high speed internet, but dont you dare tell me not to whine, not to be pissed, when I pay $50+ for a PC game, and I already have go go online to get new files for it, esepcially when some of them are 100MB+ in size and would take me 6 damn hours.

Well you certainly have the right to be pissed but being angry over it is just as moot as getting angry because a dated computer can't run modern games.

Its like Magic Online, boy, was I excited when I bought that, I paid $35.00 for it, and as soon as I installed it, I had to download a 150MB file just to play the game. thats bull crap.

Well if you bought an online game and you have a dial up connection then you were just asking for it :P. It would be much more understandable if it was a game intended to be played offline.
In response to Theodis
I disagree, some places (like where I live) are high speed internet deadzones. The powers that be have decided that some people aren't even worth giving the option to have high speed internet.
I was so furious I got a headache when evengrounds decides that punkbuster is so important it wont even let me play battlefield 1942 anymore.
Its (censored) rediculous. We pay for the right to play our games, not the right to watch other people play them while those of use doomed to 56k can't even join the game anymore.
And gods forbid I ever try to host a game on byond with 56k. If you get more than 3 playeres all they do is YELL about the lag for hours.

All in all I despise where I live. Sorry for ranting but you know, enough is enough ya know.
In response to Theodis
Theodis wrote:
Broadband connections have become the standard

In the US, perhaps. Us Aussies have a right to be annoyed because what they call "broadband" here is only marginally faster than dial-up. My connection is advertised as 256kbits per second download (I never get that much though) and 64(!)kbits upload. It's better than dial-up, but compared to the kind of connection you can get in some parts of the US, it's terrible.

Broadband connections are only standard in a very few countries (the US being one of them, Australia not). Don't come and tell us to "stop whining" because "broadband is standard". For us, it's not.

And you wonder (sitting there romanticising about the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave [it goes without saying that no other countries are free or brave] and saying how God Loves America [not other countries, just America]) why the rest of the world hates the US...

whining because you don't meet the requirements is kind dumb. Would be like complaining a game isn't released on a floppy disk because you didn't bother to get a CD Drive.

That comparison simple doesn't apply. Firstly, you pay *once* for a CD or DVD drive. Internet is paid monthly, and high-speed internet is simply too expensive; especially in Australia.

Secondly (and more importantly), the game would work anyway. It's not like my computer can't read the CD, or render the graphics, or play the sound, or hold the data in memory or on its hard drive; which is essentially all the game needs to be able to do to run. The game doesn't need to connect to the internet and automatically download patches. I can understand the desire to patch multiplayer games, but if I don't want my singleplayer game to be patched then I shouldn't have to have it patched.

Regardless I don't recall my brother having to download too much if anything with his CD version of the game.

Glad to hear it.
In response to Crispy
Theodis wrote:
Broadband connections have become the standard

And you wonder (sitting there romanticising about the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave [it goes without saying that no other countries are free or brave] and saying how God Loves America [not other countries, just America]) why the rest of the world hates the US...

Got all that out of my statment :P?

That comparison simple doesn't apply. Firstly, you pay *once* for a CD or DVD drive. Internet is paid monthly, and high-speed internet is simply too expensive; especially in Australia.

How does the comparision not hold because of that? Both are simply an expense that you need to properly enjoy more recent things. If you buy a top of the line video card you're probably going to spending half a years worth of a DSL connection if not more. The price of equipment needed to run modern games tends to be quite hefty if you want to play them at the best quality.

Secondly (and more importantly), the game would work anyway. It's not like my computer can't read the CD, or render the graphics, or play the sound, or hold the data in memory or on its hard drive; which is essentially all the game needs to be able to do to run. The game doesn't need to connect to the internet and automatically download patches.

No but it does need to connect to verify that you legally own the game. Copy protection is still a large issue as Kujila proves.
In response to Crispy
Theodis wrote:
Broadband connections are only standard in a very few countries (the US being one of them, Australia not). Don't come and tell us to "stop whining" because "broadband is standard". For us, it's not.

And you wonder (sitting there romanticising about the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave [it goes without saying that no other countries are free or brave] and saying how God Loves America [not other countries, just America]) why the rest of the world hates the US...

oh, so its the USA's fault that you dont have high speed internet, or that it costs so much, or you just hate them because they have something you dont? Whine on. Whine on.

You've got a problem with your own government and free enterprise system, and the americans have nothing to do with that. Do you think they are somehow preventing you from enjoying a good connection, and that the coca cola you drink somehow just isnt as good as the stuff they get?

Gosh, maybe the USA buggered up and forgot about ALBERTA and the fact that our provincial government is working to provide all Albertans with DSL+. Maybe they forgot to prevent SINGAPORE from achieving that. Oops. I shouldnt say that out loud, those can-do yankees might come and take away my modem. BAH!

[url]http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/ 2004-01-19-broadband_x.htm[/url]
In response to Crispy
Crispy wrote:
Theodis wrote:
Broadband connections have become the standard

In the US, perhaps. Us Aussies have a right to be annoyed because what they call "broadband" here is only marginally faster than dial-up. My connection is advertised as 256kbits per second download (I never get that much though) and 64(!)kbits upload. It's better than dial-up, but compared to the kind of connection you can get in some parts of the US, it's terrible.

Broadband connections are only standard in a very few countries (the US being one of them, Australia not). Don't come and tell us to "stop whining" because "broadband is standard". For us, it's not.

And you wonder (sitting there romanticising about the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave [it goes without saying that no other countries are free or brave] and saying how God Loves America [not other countries, just America]) why the rest of the world hates the US...

whining because you don't meet the requirements is kind dumb. Would be like complaining a game isn't released on a floppy disk because you didn't bother to get a CD Drive.

That comparison simple doesn't apply. Firstly, you pay *once* for a CD or DVD drive. Internet is paid monthly, and high-speed internet is simply too expensive; especially in Australia.

Secondly (and more importantly), the game would work anyway. It's not like my computer can't read the CD, or render the graphics, or play the sound, or hold the data in memory or on its hard drive; which is essentially all the game needs to be able to do to run. The game doesn't need to connect to the internet and automatically download patches. I can understand the desire to patch multiplayer games, but if I don't want my singleplayer game to be patched then I shouldn't have to have it patched.

Regardless I don't recall my brother having to download too much if anything with his CD version of the game.

Glad to hear it.

I have Broadband and it i've been able to download at speeds of over 700 kb/s, your using probably ADSL which uses phone lines and not special cables that cable uses. Most people i know have either adsl or cable. And i live in Australia.
In response to ThreeFingerPete
ThreeFingerPete wrote:
oh, so its the USA's fault that you dont have high speed internet, or that it costs so much, or you just hate them because they have something you dont? Whine on. Whine on.

I don't think his point was that America is to blame for us not having standard high speed internet, it was that Americans seem to hold their standards as the only ones that matter (Personally I don't really agree or disagree with that).
In response to Crispy
I really don't understand why you went into an anti-American rant there for a second, since it was uncalled for and not needed in this discussion. However, you can run steam in offline mode and play Half-Life 2 that way, without downloading a single thing. Ta-dah!
In response to Theodis
Theodis wrote:
Got all that out of my statment :P?

Okay, so I extrapolated a bit. =P But I stand by it; it's the general attitude that I'm complaining about. The "it's standard for me so it must be standard for you" attitude, which I get a lot.

How does the comparision not hold because of that? Both are simply an expense that you need to properly enjoy more recent things. If you buy a top of the line video card you're probably going to spending half a years worth of a DSL connection if not more. The price of equipment needed to run modern games tends to be quite hefty if you want to play them at the best quality.

I don't want to play them at the best quality. I just want to *play* them. I don't care if it only runs at 640x480 with all the bells and whistles turned off; that's good enough for me.

No but it does need to connect to verify that you legally own the game. Copy protection is still a large issue as Kujila proves.

That's not a technical requirement, though, that's one that Valve has imposed. And I bet it can still be cracked pretty easily. Copy protection is simply a minor inconvenience for pirates; it never works.
In response to ThreeFingerPete
ThreeFingerPete wrote:
oh, so its the USA's fault that you dont have high speed internet, or that it costs so much, or you just hate them because they have something you dont? Whine on. Whine on.

No, no, you've got the wrong end of the stick entirely. DarkView is correct in his interpretation.

You've got a problem with your own government and free enterprise system, and the americans have nothing to do with that. Do you think they are somehow preventing you from enjoying a good connection, and that the coca cola you drink somehow just isnt as good as the stuff they get?

Firstly, I don't drink coke, I think it tastes terrible whatever country it's from. =P And secondly, no, I don't think that at all.

Gosh, maybe the USA buggered up and forgot about ALBERTA and the fact that our provincial government is working to provide all Albertans with DSL+. Maybe they forgot to prevent SINGAPORE from achieving that. Oops. I shouldnt say that out loud, those can-do yankees might come and take away my modem. BAH!

Um, what does that have to do with anything I said?
In response to Critical
Critical wrote:
I have Broadband and it i've been able to download at speeds of over 700 kb/s, your using probably ADSL which uses phone lines and not special cables that cable uses. Most people i know have either adsl or cable. And i live in Australia.

I have cable, but the state of competition in my area is so lacklustre (read: virtually non-existent) that the company that provides it caps our speed to a criminally low amount - and gets away with it. There are hundreds of megabits of bandwidth being wasted; the fiber optic cables they use are capable of pumping through much more data than they are at the moment. They stream high definition digital TV across them, and people who have hacked their set top boxes to stream it onto their computers (I have the wrong kind of STB, unfortunately :-() say that they can watch 4-5 channels at once and it doesn't get laggy. I'd really like to have those other 3 channels' worth of bandwidth going towards my internet connection, but nope, I can't.

It wouldn't cost them much extra to do that, either... *grumble* *grumble* Stupid cable provider...
In response to DarkView
DarkView wrote:
I don't think his point was that America is to blame for us not having standard high speed internet, it was that Americans seem to hold their standards as the only ones that matter

You're right, that's exactly what I meant. Sorry if I misled anyone.
In response to Kusanagi
Kusanagi wrote:
I really don't understand why you went into an anti-American rant there for a second, since it was uncalled for and not needed in this discussion.

I've explained my reasons above, and I stand by what I said. Of course you're free to disagree with me.

However, you can run steam in offline mode and play Half-Life 2 that way, without downloading a single thing. Ta-dah!

Thanks, I didn't know about that. But I still don't like it. =P
In response to Crispy
The broadband in the US doesn't even compare to what's available in Japan and Korea.
In response to Crispy
I don't want to play them at the best quality. I just want to *play* them. I don't care if it only runs at 640x480 with all the bells and whistles turned off; that's good enough for me.

You can still play it just takes longer to start in the same way you'd experiance more loading time if you're running a game off a CD Drive because you can't afford a harddrive big enough to store the whole game on.

That's not a technical requirement, though, that's one that Valve has imposed. And I bet it can still be cracked pretty easily. Copy protection is simply a minor inconvenience for pirates; it never works.

Well security cameras won't stop everyone from shoplifting so why bother? The protection doesn't prevent piracy altogether but reduces it.
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