I guess I won't be buying Civ5 now. Steam sure is saving me a lot of money these days.

So how far along is this Impulse Reactor thing? I recently noticed that the devs of Monday Night Combat are considering a PC version. The availability of a good multiplayer matchmaking service looks to be a big deal for them, and I'm afraid they'll end up putting it on Steamworks if someone doesn't find a better alternative. I don't want to have to take yet another game off my already very short buy list.

Steam seems to be celebrating. Went over to the Steam Powered web site. Does not require Steam to view.

Civ IV Complete is $10 on their weekend deal. Really rubbing it in, aren't they?

Of course, you would be a fool to buy it. The Steam version of Civ IV leaves out things you might want later, including the editor I think. So it's really Civ IV Incomplete that they are offering for $10.

Installing mods on any of their games can turn into a rolling nightmare.

Funny, I've never bought a Steam game full price, always nearly 50% new games within a month of it's release, this always happens so the $$$ hogging you are talking about is nowhere to be seen by me. Valve doesn't control the prices of 3rd party companies, the companies do..

DRM will always be an issue, I believe the craziest being that of UBISOFT|EA. We all can make a huge debate about Wal-Mart since it's conception. It put all the smaller businesses in the area out because of it's prices. Steam has the power to do the same and is doing the same.. win/win in my book...

To all the people saying they won't play it, you'll be missing out on a potentially great game that I'll be wholeheartedly enjoying.

 

Spreading a little FUD, are we?  The "Editor" for Civ4 is your favorite text editor.  It uses xml files and python for nearly everything.  To make maps, use the WorldBuilder which is built into the game.

I can still play Fall From Heaven!  No news on steamworks there, um yet.

How is it any different to Elemental requiring Impulse to be installed and active to play?  Impulse/Steam install an invasive client.  Impulse/Steam is required to authenticate those two games.  Impulse/Steam have "exclusives" with those games.  Impulse/Steam are used as the DRM system.  Impulse/Steam force you to join their communities with all the good/bad that comes with that.  Impulse/Steam MUST be running in the background to receive patches and updates.

A little hypocritical in my opinion.  

Actually, the reason that the Impulse Client doesn't support Steamworks DRM is because Steamworks DRM doesn't work with Impulse, it only works with the Steam Client and was designed this way.  Stardock made no decision in this, Valve constructed Steamworks in this way and as such any game that uses Steamworks DRM requries the Steam Client to be open and running regardless of its place of purchase.  If you were to buy Civilisation V via Impulse, when you double clicked on the game it would simply open the Steam Client.  This of course begs the question why even both using Impulse - it's an un-needed step.  You could simply just open the Steam Client yourself and bypass the Impulse step entirely.  The logical extension of this then is to simply ignore Impulse and buy the game via the Steam client yourself and save yourself some time.  This is why no other Digital Distribution Platform will host games using Steamworks DRM - it's sending your clients directly to Valve for their game. 

Here's an interesting one: has Steam offered support of Stardock's GOO DRM - which doesn't require the use of the Impulse Client - in anyway?  Why not?  Because Steam doesn't support other Digital Distribution platforms, their companies, their technologies or their games.  Period.  Stardock have already said they'd gladly host Steamwork enabled games if the DRM didn't require the installation and running of the Steam Client.  So why doesn't Steam do the same?  Based on the evidence at hand, and the inherint nature of the Steamworks DRM, it's because Valve doesn't want to support their competitors; in fact, they're actively working against them.  They want a monopoly on the market.

I refuse to allow Valve to establish itself as a monopoly where by if you game on the PC you have to go through them regardless of where and how you buy your games.  The number one reason people chose to continue to game on the PC is flexibility, customisation and personal control - to sum it up in one word; choice.  This issue isn't DRM, that's a seperate issue.  I don't give a shit about what Steamworks requires - and frankly I have no problem with a one-time activation - I give a shit about what it means for the industry as a whole, and about what it'll mean in the future.  What do I mean?  I own many titles on Steam, my personal favourites are Killing Floor and Torchlight, and I own two titles on Impulse - I'd own more if it's partners would actually sell their games to me and didn't restrict games based on regional pricing - which Stardock doesn't control.  If it's cheaper to buy a game on Impulse than it is in my local store, then the game is locked (EA are the biggest offenders).  On Steam, however, the game's price is inflated - AU$100.00 for the most recent 'The Sims' game, in stores it's AU$49.99.  If Steam kills off it's competition, I'd have no choice if I wanted to game but to pay.  This is why it's bad for the industry.

I thought you can install stardock games just fine if you buy the physical DVDs from the store without ever touching impulse?  At least I don't recall any online activation, if it does have online activation that would be lame because I always like to think "What if the internet goes away and never comes back" when I'm buying my games to make sure I don't loose access just because something silly like the internet goes away for good.

You can install their games fine without Impulse, you require Impulse to update them though.  However, you don't require Impulse to run the game, so the solution is simply to fire up Impulse when an Update comes out and let it automatically update your game, then close down Impulse and ignore it until the next update.  It's the way Digtial Distribution should be.

Yea I do prefer the way impulse does things over other services like steam and D2D.  I still prefer to buy Physical media, but I guess if i absolutely had to always buy digital products, impulse would probably be the way to go.

So you feel 2K Games is simply entitled to my dollars and my modding time then even though its success comes directly at the expense of what I work on? I'm sorry but are you insane?  

Previously, on the assumption that Civilization V was going to be a normal PC game release, its success would help all strategy games.  Now, its success basically helps solidify Steam's position. I certainly don't want that. So why should I help support that move?

Now, if you think that there being a single store (with no other viable options) to decide what is and isn't going to be available is a good thing then there's nothing to discuss.

Impulse exists because no one else bothered to come up with a credible alternative to Steam.  Without Impulse, the PC would certainly become a a closed platform where Valve gets to take 30%+ cut of every game that comes out because in the long-run, digital distribution is going to dominate.

I always assumed that every publisher would end up with their own e-store.  But if Steam (or anyone for that matter) takes over and the PC becomes effectively a closed platform, then why would anyone want to develop for it given the headaches of making a PC game? Might as well make iPhone games or Xbox games or whatever where at least the platform owner delivers a helluva lot of value.

If you want Valve to be the PC game platform owner, then more power to you. But I doubt most PC game developers feel that way.  I know I certainly don't.  My disappointment isn't with Valve or Steam. They make great products and Steam and Steamworks is a great system.  My disappointment is with Civilization.

 

 

 

Well you are incorrect.  Impulse is only needed if you want to update the game with patches (assuming they aren't available stand alone).  It's certainly not needed to run or play the game.  Only run Impulse when you want to patch your game, ignore it the rest of the time, never have to run it.  Heck, you can uninstall Impulse and delete it from your computer if you want.  Guess what, Elemental or any other game will still run just fine.  Try to do that with Steam. 

From a business perspective I completely understand you decision. I have a feeling he was trying to argue out the difference of Steam and Impulse.

Also I could be wrong but I think battle.net is becoming a digital distribution platform for Blizzard (and perhaps Activision?).

On a side note I probably won't be getting Civ V. I loved the concept of Civ IV but couldn't stand how it handled combat.

It's been confirmed on Civ5's twitter feed that Steam is not required to be online to play Civ5.  

Heck, I have a LOT of Indie games through Steam (because I like to support the Indie scene) which don't even need Steam running.  Just run the exe directly from the steamapps folder.

Steam certainly isn't needed to run or play any of those games.