EA tries to buy Valve, Gabe laughs

[darkewaffle]

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.

You see anti-competitive, I see customer apathy. And lack of alternatives.

Which are kind of related. When your options are to pay for something better or get a sidegrade at most out of a free alternative, are you really that interested or compelled to switch? Further, internet usage was not nearly as heavy years ago. The less people use something, the less they're inclined to care. Back then browsers didn't have the "killer apps" they've had recently in MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. which I think really intensified their usage since they were the primary interface for those social activities until smartphones joined the fray.

But there have never been a number of even acceptable alternatives until the last few years at most; Firefox wasn't released until 2004 and Chrome wasn't released until 2008, and both most definitely needed some time to mature to see mass adoption. Safari wasn't available on Windows until 2007. Internet Explorer stagnated on v6 from 01-06, true, but with v7 on 2006 and especially with v8 in 09 it was once again a competitive browser. v9 has only improved on that and is my second browser behind Opera, v10 I have no experience with yet.

Opera's been around forever but was trialware until 2000 and adware until 2005 so that kept interest away from it. Mosaic was discontinued in 1997. Netscape was competitive (both in features and market share) for a while in the 90s but development stalled after AOL bought out it's parent company. Mozilla was viable, I used that for a while (to evade IE parental controls as a kid lol) but it really didn't offer the end user a better experience, it was just different.

Long story short, there weren't objectively better options for a long time and I don't think it was until the social media explosion that people cared what browser they had.

[BladeVenom]

Originally Posted by darkewaffle

You see anti-competitive, I see customer apathy. And lack of alternatives.

The law and the courts also saw anti-competitive behavior.

[Pr0d1gy]

Originally Posted by smackababy

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.

Not too long ago IE had a huge problem with Spyware and the other browsers were just a safer alternative. I used Firefox for years for that very reason.

[Sa7aN]

Originally Posted by Fanatical Meat

I don't think EA could afford steam, I'd bet steam could afford to buy EA soon or with some investor cash.
Gabe is a Mac Daddy, I have an odd feeling there may be a "steam" Linux or steam OS some day.

linux steam you say?

boom... steam linux beta
http://store.steampowered.com/news/9289/

[RampantAndroid]

Originally Posted by BladeVenom

The law and the courts also saw anti-competitive behavior.

I assume you mean EU courts...because the US courts didn't rule on this. At which point, Apple is as guilty with Safari.

[darkewaffle]

Originally Posted by BladeVenom

The law and the courts also saw anti-competitive behavior.

"Anti-competitive behavior" in the shape of big money bags.

And like Rampant said. I wouldn't have a problem with the ruling provided it was equally enforced across all platforms, but it's not.

[SMOGZINN]

Originally Posted by Sa7aN

linux steam you say?

boom... steam linux beta
http://store.steampowered.com/news/9289/

I can't follow the link at work. Can someone tell me, is this just the already announced Steam client for Linux or is this an announcement of Valve creating their own Linux Distro with gaming in mind?

[Red Storm]

Steam client for Linux.

[SMOGZINN]

Originally Posted by Red Storm

Steam client for Linux.

Oh, well. I was getting excited for a moment there.

[Arg Clin]

EA ruined Bioware and does not have the best interest of their customers in mind.

Bioware (recent) history:

Pre EA:
Baldurs Gate (epic)
KOTOR (epic)
DA:O (epic!!!)
ME1 (epic)

Post EA:
ME2 (meh)
DA2 (epic failure)
SWTOR (haven't tried it - MMORPG is not a suitable media for serious story telling - it just isn't, no matter how wonderful a cashcow it can be for the dev.)
ME3 (good game, but the ending was an epic failure)

To me it seems EA started ruining Bioware form day one.

Some observations on EA tactics:

1) Dumb down games to reach the broadest audience. Games looking for quality content in RPG games have very few places else to go, so we'll settle for much less than optimal. Because we have to.

2) Capitalize short term on franchise value. DA:O gave huge value to the DA brand - DA2 tapped into it, and EA sold a rushed game at undeserved high preorder volume. DAIII might actually be decent, because so much goodwill vanished over DA2 so it will need to stand on its own. Tick-tock.

3) Focus on cash cow style games. Single player story driven RPG's are good for a few playthoughs at best. DLCs are hard to push, because the story is more or less complete by the main game. DLC's offer odds and ends for the devoted at best. Instead EA goes for multiplayer, even where is has no place (ME3). New maps should (in theory anyway) provide as buying incentive for DLC content. Same can be said for SWTOR - Bioware should not be wasting their time with MMORPG.

I have no objection against an ambition to make a profit. That's what makes the world go around. But it should be done in a haromny with the cusotmers - I want to be wanting to give them my money, because I get quality content back. EA fails miseably at understanding that.

I hope EA never comes near steam.

[spaceman]

sry man me2 was epic