EA tries to buy Valve, Gabe laughs

[Fenixgoon]

Originally Posted by Martimus

EA released DA:O. That angered me so much that I have avoided all EA products since.

FTFY. hated DA:O with a passion. paintstakingly difficult, easy to screw yourself, ridiculous monster mobs, and terrible AI that screwed you even when you tried to command manually

[frozentundra123456]

Originally Posted by Fenixgoon

FTFY. hated DA:O with a passion. paintstakingly difficult, easy to screw yourself, ridiculous monster mobs, and terrible AI that screwed you even when you tried to command manually

Really? I finished the game but I dont remember on what difficulty. I thought it was difficult in spots but not impossibly so. The final boss battle was terribly contrived though.

[jr26]

Ea's interest in valve is steam which would allow them to corner the digitial distribution market. I sincerely hope this never happens.

As far as ea ruining games I can vouch this for the shift series. I have read many comments from slightly mad studios staff on ea controlling the games. Things like forcing the games out before they were even finished to meet deadlines and not allowing proper testing time.

A lot of EA published games may sell well but this doesn't mean they are quality titles. It means marketing did it's job.


Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

[RampantAndroid]

Originally Posted by frozentundra123456

Really? I finished the game but I dont remember on what difficulty. I thought it was difficult in spots but not impossibly so. The final boss battle was terribly contrived though.

Yeah...DAO wasn't hard for me. Health pots and heals were essential, but the game was VERY much doable.

[BladeVenom]

Gabe should buy out EA.

[RampantAndroid]

Originally Posted by BladeVenom

Gabe should buy out EA.

[insert Gabe Newell is fat joke here]

No, he shouldn't. Steam might be OK, but let's look at Valve's games as of late. I mean, where on earth is HL EP3? Look at how TF2 tanked as a fun game. CSGO isn't doing so great and so on.

EA needs to be broken up. So does Activision. And Ubisoft. Gone are the small companies that do awesome stuff....like Bioware.

[smackababy]

Originally Posted by jr26

Ea's interest in valve is steam which would allow them to corner the digitial distribution market. I sincerely hope this never happens.

As far as ea ruining games I can vouch this for the shift series. I have read many comments from slightly mad studios staff on ea controlling the games. Things like forcing the games out before they were even finished to meet deadlines and not allowing proper testing time.

A lot of EA published games may sell well but this doesn't mean they are quality titles. It means marketing did it's job.


Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

You're right! Only Steam should be allowed to have the digital distro market!

Also, I love the EA hate for not disgruntled developers crying when their game is bad. "Oh we were forced by the evil EA to release it at the deadline!" Only in software can a deadline being enforced be no fault of the team creating it.

[Pr0d1gy]

Originally Posted by BladeVenom

Gabe should buy out EA.

Given that Steam could become the Facebook (in size, not uselessness lol) of video game software, he probably will one day.

[gladiatorua]

Originally Posted by smackababy

You're right! Only Steam should be allowed to have the digital distro market!

If the choice is between Valve and EA, then yes.

Originally Posted by BladeVenom

Gabe should buy out EA.

Gabe should buy out THQ. Now.

[Olikan]

Originally Posted by RampantAndroid

No, he shouldn't. Steam might be OK, but let's look at Valve's games as of late. I mean, where on earth is HL EP3? Look at how TF2 tanked as a fun game. CSGO isn't doing so great and so on.

lets see...
GabeN got a seat in gaming hall of fame
dota 2 is the most played game on steam
portal 2 won several awards last year

Source engine 2 is done, and "ricochete 2" is in development

[Jeffg010]

The hate I have for EA started when the NFL gave them exclusive license for Madden. It was a WTF moment for me and that pretty much killed every other football game out there such as NFL 2K series. That is when I opened my eyes to how evil EA is. I did try SWTOR and the hoops I had to jump through on origin to get it installed sucked. Then to top it off that game sucked. Right now I will never buy anther EA game again. Only games I will buy will be off steam.

[SMOGZINN]

Originally Posted by gladiatorua

If the choice is between Valve and EA, then yes.

Don't forget that Microsoft is about to bring it's bull into this china shop.

Steam is popular because it is doing it right. It gives us a good selection at a good price, it's DRM is effective enough to keep developers happy and is almost as unobtrusive as DRM can be to keep consumers happy. So far no one else has been able to match that accomplishment. When they do, people will love it as well.

Personally, I don't think any other corporation is going to be able to match it until Steam gets a good bit worse (and I think it will happen.) The problem is that corporate culture is such that they always try to push a little further for a little more profit. If you will accept a twice monthly advertising popup you will accept a weekly one. If you accept weekly ones you will accept a daily one. If you will accept a daily one, we can make you look at one every time you start a game. If you will do that we can make you sit though a short commercial for Pepsi before your game will load....

Valve has been very good at resisting this with Steam, but I'm afraid it is only a matter of time before the accountants take over.

[darkewaffle]

Originally Posted by SMOGZINN

Valve has been very good at resisting this with Steam, but I'm afraid it is only a matter of time before the accountants take over.

You say that as though Valve does anything with Steam not for the money.

[Red Storm]

Originally Posted by SMOGZINN

Valve has been very good at resisting this with Steam, but I'm afraid it is only a matter of time before the accountants take over.

The big difference is that one is a public company enslaved to share holders. The other is a private company and it's run by someone who apparently really enjoys what they do.

[Olikan]

Originally Posted by SMOGZINN

If you will accept a daily one, we can make you look at one every time you start a game. If you will do that we can make you sit though a short commercial for Pepsi before your game will load...

you mean, like the commercial of games and sales promotions that we have now?

[SMOGZINN]

Originally Posted by darkewaffle

You say that as though Valve does anything with Steam not for the money.

Anything Valve does is for the money, but they won't do anything for the money. There is a big difference between the two.

Originally Posted by Red Storm

The big difference is that one is a public company enslaved to share holders. The other is a private company and it's run by someone who apparently really enjoys what they do.

I agree, but Gabe will not run the company forever. Eventually he, or his heirs, will hand the company over to the accountants. And the first thing those accountants are likely to do is say, 'Now that Mister Newell is no longer in charge we are going to start running this company like a real business'. Shortly after I will uninstall Steam.

Originally Posted by Olikan

you mean, like the commercial of games and sales promotions that we have now?

No, what we have now is pretty tame. Valve has been rather respectful of your ability to turn off advertisement and even when you don't Steam is rather sparse with their popups. Now imaging Valve deciding tomorrow that to play any Steam game you have to watch a random 30 second commercial before the game will even start to load. It is fully within their rights to do so, and you would have to just put up with it to play your Steam enabled games (and go look how many games are steam enabled).

[Red Storm]

Originally Posted by SMOGZINN

I agree, but Gabe will not run the company forever. Eventually he, or his heirs, will hand the company over to the accountants. And the first thing those accountants are likely to do is say, 'Now that Mister Newell is no longer in charge we are going to start running this company like a real business'. Shortly after I will uninstall Steam.

I agree, I do worry about the futures of both Valve and Steam after Gabe is gone. Maybe I'll grow out of gaming by that time. Maybe.

[RampantAndroid]

Originally Posted by SMOGZINN

Don't forget that Microsoft is about to bring it's bull into this china shop.

Bull how? It's a generic app store (this is what I assume you mean) - right? Little more than another place to get games I'd think.

[SMOGZINN]

Originally Posted by RampantAndroid

Bull how? It's a generic app store (this is what I assume you mean) - right? Little more than another place to get games I'd think.

And IE is just another web browser, and WMC is just another media player.

The problem is that MS is well known for being anti-competitive. They will bundle it with windows, make it all but uninstallable, and keep it in your face as much as possible by having windows suggest you buy something from it every time a search comes up empty, a program can't be found for an extension, or anywhere else they can find to stick a reference in to it. Having it integrated into the OS is a pretty powerful market advantage.

[CPA]

Originally Posted by RampantAndroid

[insert Gabe Newell is fat joke here]

No, he shouldn't. Steam might be OK, but let's look at Valve's games as of late. I mean, where on earth is HL EP3? Look at how TF2 tanked as a fun game. CSGO isn't doing so great and so on.

EA needs to be broken up. So does Activision. And Ubisoft. Gone are the small companies that do awesome stuff....like Bioware.

TF2 is still an awesome, fun game. In fact, I've been playing almost daily. Just get on a good server.

[darkewaffle]

Originally Posted by SMOGZINN

And IE is just another web browser, and WMC is just another media player.

The problem is that MS is well known for being anti-competitive.

Selling an operating system without a web browser is like selling a car without tires. I've bought into very little of the 'anti competitive' shill over the years and, while big, they've also been treated extremely unfairly by regulating agencies. No other company in the industry has been subject to the same scrutiny or held to the same absurd standards.

[Red Storm]

Originally Posted by darkewaffle

Selling an operating system without a web browser is like selling a car without tires. I've bought into very little of the 'anti competitive' shill over the years and, while big, they've also been treated extremely unfairly by regulating agencies. No other company in the industry has been subject to the same scrutiny or held to the same absurd standards.

Look at it this way. Microsoft's decisions with Windows RT removed the possibility of Steam ever coming to the platform because of the mandatory cuts they demand from sales. Sure it's not on x86 Windows, but this is a first step towards a more closed eco system that Microsoft seems to be going after. Instead of being stupid and not doing anything and just wait for the day when Microsoft surprises everyone, they're thinking ahead of Windows 8.

[SMOGZINN]

Originally Posted by darkewaffle

Selling an operating system without a web browser is like selling a car without tires.I've bought into very little of the 'anti competitive' shill over the years and, while big, they've also been treated extremely unfairly by regulating agencies. No other company in the industry has been subject to the same scrutiny or held to the same absurd standards.

You can have your opinion and I can have mine, but the fact remained that for many years IE was a woefully terrible web browser and there were a number of far superior browsers out there yet IE was the #1 used browser the world over for a really long time. The only explanation to that is anti-competitive behavior. MS made it easy to use IE and hard to use anything else and it was done intentionally.

So, sure selling a OS with out a web browser is is like selling a car with out tires. But MS's analogy car came with square tires and they welded the lug-nuts on then demanded that roads be designed around square tires.

[darkewaffle]

Originally Posted by Red Storm

Look at it this way. Microsoft's decisions with Windows RT removed the possibility of Steam ever coming to the platform because of the mandatory cuts they demand from sales. Sure it's not on x86 Windows, but this is a first step towards a more closed eco system that Microsoft seems to be going after.

Why would it remove the possibility? A profitable margin is a profitable margin, and I highly doubt Valve's are so slim that they couldn't afford to pay it if they wanted to access to that audience.

However long before that ever happens Valve would have to make Steam function on ARM and find some ARM games to sell and then find some way to convince customers to download their little, special app store from the 'big' app store. Short of bringing/building Steam exclusive games on ARM, I don't think they could gain much traction. Even if they did so, the ARM audience isn't looking for "deep" games generally, they want time-killers and goofy one-offs which are already widely available through the existing channels.

Further, it would opens the entire can of worms of competing with the Apple app store and Google Play as well. I think Steam has no place on ARM devices because ARM devices are already entrenched in the "app store" model which is essentially what Steam is, they've pre-emptively displaced it.

[smackababy]

Originally Posted by SMOGZINN

You can have your opinion and I can have mine, but the fact remained that for many years IE was a woefully terrible web browser and there were a number of far superior browsers out there yet IE was the #1 used browser the world over for a really long time. The only explanation to that is anti-competitive behavior. MS made it easy to use IE and hard to use anything else and it was done intentionally.

So, sure selling a OS with out a web browser is is like selling a car with out tires. But MS's analogy car came with square tires and they welded the lug-nuts on then demanded that roads be designed around square tires.

Except, MS's browser were stock, regular tires. The other browsers are performance tires. And the reason IE was so big was because people didn't care what "functions" their web browser had except that it viewed web pages. For the majority of web users, IE functioned damn near perfectly. The only reason the other browsers are taking off is because of advertising and injunctions against MS. Facebook works the same on IE as it does on Chrome, Firefox, etc.