Stardock Investigates Non-Intrusive Solution to DRM

[JonnyDough]

I would like to rate lopopo's post above up more than one. Can I do that? Darn.

 

[theubersmurf]

[citation][nom]bf2gameplaya[/nom]Keep in mind:1) Steam must run, on-line or off-line2) Many Steam games *have* DRM such as SecuROM, in addition to the DRM requirement of Steam itself.3) Stardock's Impulse does not need to run, on line or offline.4) You don't (always) need Impulse to auto/updateOf course Steam does oodles more than Impulse, but fundamentally Stardock's methodology is better for gamers in terms of transparency and ease of use.[/citation]

According to what I read this morning, the updating of the software through impulse was their version of "DRM". They do intend to validate, in a less intrusive way, the purchase of the game, but not make it painful to play.

It's funny, to weigh in a bit on the Steam issue, usually the games I play are on steam, primarily because I don't have to stick in a disk, or resort to alcohol and virtual drive applications (I don't pirate, I've tried using alcohol and virtual drives, but didn't feel entirely comfortable with that). I have an always on internet connection, and really steam updating when booted, and throwing a couple of ads at me seems like par for the course. In fact, I buy a good number of games through them. Valve is a business, on some level, and advertising and providing a download client for their and other developers games makes for a reasonable method of creating revenue. I like it. On the rare occasion that I have needed to run steam in offline mode, the offline games have run perfectly.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]hairycat101[/nom]STEAM... Very good non-intrusive way to make sure the games played are not stolen. I even like not having to fumble with finding the darn disks so that I can play my games. I like the fact that it helps keep my games patched (if I want it to) and that the games that I have registared to it can be re-downloaded if I reformat my computer. Steam rocks. [/citation]
I haven't used steam in many years, but the last time I did my experience was so bad I decided never to try it again. I missed the teamfortress experience just because I couldn't get it any other way. Steams concept is good, but valve isn't the perfect choice for running anything like it.

 

[evilshuriken]

Steam works pretty well, it's true that it's not perfect but I honestly don't see why so many people hate the service to much.

On steam I can chat with my friends(text or voice) and invite them to join an online game I'm playing, I don't ever have to use any disks(so I can't loose them or have them get damaged over time), all my games are updated automatically and even the steam service is constantly improved with new features.

I can create a backup archive of all my steam games for quickly restoring my games after formatting my OS drive.

Way back when steam first started up, there was definitely some growing pains, but right now it's a truly top notch service.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

As I said, I decided long ago (halflife 2) that I wouldn't ever install steam again. So perhaps you're right, and it works.

But.... I'm playing world of warcraft, just like everyone else really, and I can download the game directly on wow-europe.com if I would need to. Or I could save myself the bandwidth and use my cds. It works without valve's spyware-like "Surveilence & Tapping Enviroment Automated Mashine" that happends to have a user friendly software download system built in.
And when I bought civ4 - colonization earlier this month eurogamer didn't need me to install steam either. Simply downloading two files and using the emailed serial was enough. How hard can it be?

 

[hairycat101]

neiroatopelcc, what did Steam do to you that was so bad? I like a few others, here, haven't had any bad issues with them. Yes, Steam needs to run in order to run apps bought through Steam or certain games that require it. But it just adds another icon in my lower right hand task area. It doesn't negatively affect the gemas being played and it does come with some handy features. So what did they do to you? Did they insult your mother? Kick you in a bad place? =)

 

[neiroatopelcc]

I don't exactly remember what it did really. I just remember having a really hard time with it for serveral months before I reinstalled windows and sold the game. My memory is conservative, so I just remember it was bad, not exactly how it was. Those details aren't important to me since I'll never experience them again.

 

[hairycat101]

So... are you certain that the issue was with Steam and not something else? You re-installed windows... Just seems odd to bash something without specifics.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]hairycat101[/nom]So... are you certain that the issue was with Steam and not something else? You re-installed windows... Just seems odd to bash something without specifics. [/citation]
Yes I most definetly am. I'm not saying you have to believe me, but I most definetly am sure steam was the problem. But it's a bit like the time I totalled my opel. I definetly remember I fel asleep some time prior to the corner, but I don't really remember what happened other than the car was toast afterwards.