AvP PC version requires Steam account to run???

[Alucard]

I picked up my reserve copy of AvP today at my local Gamestop without a hick up but am headed in tomorrow to pick up my reserve copy for the PS3 tomorrow since they don't get them in till then.

I'm currently loading it now. It's weird I had to enter the cd key via Steam. It's been awhile since I've purchased a PC game but I don't remember having two a second party to install and play a game.

Don't get me wrong I like Steam but I've only used it to Team Fortress 2.

I dunno its jst weird.

Going to start in on the Alien and Predator campaign first then the Marine. It's been ages since I've played AvP 2.

 

[Chibibar]

I don't think it is too odd. A lot of Cryptic games require their own "loader" that requires to play. Some microsoft game requires window lives.

 

[Alucard]

Okay as I said I don't ever remember doing this before when getting a game for the PC.
I've been a PC player since the middle to late 90's so this is kind of strange. Plus you have to have internet connection to register the game.

I just missed the good old days of just buying the game and punching in the cd key and you were done.

The last game I think I remember getting for the PC was the Fallout 3 collector's edition and that was what last year?

 

[Chibibar]

Okay as I said I don't ever remember doing this before when getting a game for the PC.
I've been a PC player since the middle to late 90's so this is kind of strange. Plus you have to have internet connection to register the game.

I just missed the good old days of just buying the game and punching in the cd key and you were done.

The last game I think I remember getting for the PC was the Fallout 3 collector's edition and that was what last year?

Yea. you can thank big brother and DRM for that. I think a lot of games require internet activation and some requires it just to play SINGLE player mode

 

[Alucard]

No wonder I moved to console gaming after getting a PS3 last year. I love and am partial to the PC but just with crap like this. fuck that.

 

[Chibibar]

So... here is a question. Did AvP join up with Steam? I know that Microsoft game (like fallout) installs live. Cryptic game usually install their "installer" software.

 

[Frank]

There are a few Steam games like that not from Valve. Dawn of War 2 immediately springs to mind.

 

[Alucard]

Any help here would be recommended. Apparently Steam has a Cloud thing now?
I meet above the recommended system specs for the game but every time I tried
playing it that Cloud thing said about not finding the files or something about saving it
so I clicked play anyway and it hasn't popped up. Is Steam retarted or something?

 

[AshburnerX]

The Steam Cloud is a part of Steam that keeps track of your settings and saves for your game, so you can access them from any PC in the world. You didn't have anything associated with that game yet, so it was telling you it would be keeping track of it from now on.

 

[Alucard]

Ahh okay thanks. Just reloaded it and now its fine. Ughh I so did not miss being a PC gamer.

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

There are a few Steam games like that not from Valve. Dawn of War 2 immediately springs to mind.

SIN episodes was my first experience with Steam. Although that game also used the source engine. They also did the episodes thing kind of unreliably, I think. I haven't seen anything since the first.

 

[Kovac]

I purchased Bioshock 2 over steam and found that I had to authenticate the CD key twice. That's pretty much three layers of authentication right there. If I had known that to be the case I would have saved myself some hassle and purchased the console version instead.

I have bought plenty of games from steam before and none of them had this crap.

 

[@Li3n]

Considering the quality of the port Bioshock 2 is probably better on the consoles. Too bad consoles are watering down traditionally PC genres.

But the key thing sounds retarded... can't you just put it in the game and have the programs check it on their own?

 

[Dusty668]

From Penny Arcade:

Right from the install, though, Bioshock 2 deals in subversive, incredibly sophisticated humor. A glance at my task manager reveals that, while running, the game is protected by three forms of Digital Rights Management simultaneously. One is expected, two is an affront; three must surely be considered avant-garde.

Making sure you are not running hacked versions with the "SOOPER ANTI PIRATE THINK OF THE CHILLEN STUFF" turned off. Although if it was turned off it would actually run faster and better, but hey, who am I right? This is just like when I bought Psychonauts to play when I couldn't connect online, and then I couldn't play it since I couldn't connect to Steam, until I found the switch in Steam once I was back online to allow the game to play without being online.

Now for Cryptic, that's a whole different ball of wax, their games are all MMORPG's as far as I know. They have to have all the players playing the same version at the same time so commands from one player do the same stuff to/for everyone around. Plus you are also logging into the shards/worlds/servers that allow the shared experience with other gamers, totally different reason. Steam loging is primarily for authentication & secondarily updates, Cryptic loader is for updates & gameplay equally.

 

[Alucard]

Okay thanks for the help guys. I'm just not that used to Steam yet. It seems like a good system though.
I'm just surpised and annoyed that most games now require internet connection to register your game. First
game I went through it that was the first Bioshock and its damn limited install limit to protect from piracy.

 

[@Li3n]

You know, it never made sense to me that limited installs where against piracy... frankly i think it was more against renting and lending the game to friends...

 

[bhamv3]

Which game companies see as a form of piracy. Hey, a lost sale is a lost sale, right?

 

[Dusty668]

Got another pair of games for you to skip or use the pirate version.

Via Slashdot lead to this article on PC Gamer:

When we heard of Ubisoft's plan to require an internet connection for all their future PC games, we hoped they'd abort it or scale it back in the face of the outrage and astonishment it caused. They haven't, and it's here. Details are below.

We've just received Assassin's Creed 2 and Settlers VII for review, and verified with Ubisoft that the DRM is the same as the boxed product. If you get disconnected while playing, you're booted out of the game. All your progress since the last checkpoint or savegame is lost, and your only options are to quit to Windows or wait until you're reconnected.

The game first starts the Ubisoft Game Launcher, which checks for updates. If you try to launch the game when you're not online, you hit an error message right away. So I tried a different test: start the game while online, play a little, then unplug my net cable. This is the same as what happens if your net connection drops momentarily, your router is rebooted, or the game loses its connection to Ubisoft's 'Master servers'. The game stopped, and I was dumped back to a menu screen - all my progress since it last autosaved was lost.

So they are single player online games. Greeeeeat, thank you for saving me the money for trying these out Ubi!

 

[Seraphyn]

So I'll bet that the pirated versions of those game will just run smooth without ever needing the internet. They still don't get how this works? The legit version has to be equal or better then the pirated version, else, as a customer, you're just getting screwed.

 

[Chibibar]

Got another pair of games for you to skip or use the pirate version.

Via Slashdot lead to this article on PC Gamer:

When we heard of Ubisoft's plan to require an internet connection for all their future PC games, we hoped they'd abort it or scale it back in the face of the outrage and astonishment it caused. They haven't, and it's here. Details are below.

We've just received Assassin's Creed 2 and Settlers VII for review, and verified with Ubisoft that the DRM is the same as the boxed product. If you get disconnected while playing, you're booted out of the game. All your progress since the last checkpoint or savegame is lost, and your only options are to quit to Windows or wait until you're reconnected.

The game first starts the Ubisoft Game Launcher, which checks for updates. If you try to launch the game when you're not online, you hit an error message right away. So I tried a different test: start the game while online, play a little, then unplug my net cable. This is the same as what happens if your net connection drops momentarily, your router is rebooted, or the game loses its connection to Ubisoft's 'Master servers'. The game stopped, and I was dumped back to a menu screen - all my progress since it last autosaved was lost.

So they are single player online games. Greeeeeat, thank you for saving me the money for trying these out Ubi!

Now that is just plain stupid. Not everyone has dedicated internet (yea I know right??)

 

[@Li3n]

So I'll bet that the pirated versions of those game will just run smooth without ever needing the internet. They still don't get how this works? The legit version has to be equal or better then the pirated version, else, as a customer, you're just getting screwed.

I'm starting to think they like doing that to the customer...