Few observations after a long break from gaming

[Fire&Blood]

So in 2009 main rig died, didn't game on the back up comp and finally this March, I built a rig decent enough to play new titles. None of my friends game on the PC so I was oblivious to the happenings in the industry the entire time.


-Games are a lot cheaper now, few by default. Since the new build, I got some included with hardware and got discounts on all of them but still, compared to old times, I "only" spent $200 on catching up for all of this: BF3, Supreme Commander: FA, Max Payne 3, both Crysis, Rage, Witcher 2, Civ5. Metro 2033 and Spec Ops: The Line. I still have a huge backlog but it looks to be cheap to catch up.


-Piracy is aggressive now. Even talk about pirating stuff used to get censored, I see many forums where torrent stuff is freely discussed. There even are youtube step by step videos on how to download games.
As I remember it, you had to go to the darkest corners of the web and wait for releases, nowadays the access is easy and releases sometimes show up before the official ones.


-Quality is rarer than ever. Doesn't really apply to the few PC exclusive titles but the majority of ports is definitely guilty. Bland endings, storyline/setting copies, unimaginative gameplay, rushed/derailed sequels and cut scene infestations.


-Graphics got better with 2011 titles. I don't think much changed since Crysis until last year's games. Witcher 2, Max Payne 3 and BF3 impressed me the most. Granted there are a many examples of great games where photo-realism doesn't matter, my favorite one is Limbo but many games wouldn't work as well as they do with lesser graphics. BF3, for example, I never even saw a trailer before playing. It impressed me with the visuals and helped immerse, wouldn't have been as good otherwise.

-Gaming hardware is more accessible than before. Granted, it's no powerhouse (i5-2400, M4 SSD, 8GB RAM and a used 5770) but $700 got me a whole new rig good enough to play anything. That budget would have allowed for an equivalent PC 5 years ago.

 

[KaOTiK]

Welcome back to the fold, perfect time to partake in the Steam Summer Sale too

All your points are right, one of the best looking games to come out in awhile though imo is Metro 2033 (great game to boot imo)

 

[surfsatwerk]

buy stuff no more posting

 

[Ganeedi]

Welcome back!

The biggest change to me recently has been the emergence of many excellent quality indie titles.

It seems the innovation in the field is coming from small developers, though it may have been this way all along...

 

[shortylickens]

Quality in the big titles is shit, but indie games are better than ever. I recommend spending time on Steam looking around a bit.

 

[Axon]

-Piracy is aggressive now. Even talk about pirating stuff used to get censored, I see many forums where torrent stuff is freely discussed. There even are youtube step by step videos on how to download games.
As I remember it, you had to go to the darkest corners of the web and wait for releases, nowadays the access is easy and releases sometimes show up before the official ones.

Uhhh...negative. ::shifty eyes::

 

[Dkcode]

Aye the PC gaming scene has definitely gone more underground.

Did you check out Dragon Age: Origins? One the of best single player AAA games I have played next to Witcher 2 in the past few years.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

We ain't no strangers to love. You know the rules, and
soo do I....

 

[turn_pike]

I think compared to 2008 or 2009 today's pc gaming landscape is far brighter and more variegated. We have gems everywhere and they are no longer hidden. Indie games are the rage these days. As a result we get awesome games for cheap. Even AAA titles are enriched by it (via mods and plain competition).

We can focus on the hordes of MW fps clones or we can enjoy the likes of :
- Bastion (narration galore and music extraordinaire)
- Amnesia (horror game done right )
- Grimrock (triumphant return of grid based dungeon crawl)
- Grand strategy games from Paradox Interactive ( complexity yay )
- Limbo, Journey, Botanicula, Trine 2, Bindings of Isaac, SpaceChem, Universe Sandbox etc etc etc

Personally I think 2011 and 2012 have been awesome.

 

[thejunglegod]

Hmm, I don't know why you put in that Piracy bit in. No one cares about Piracy unless and until you are actively involved in it.

Anyways, my long break in gaming is usually a 1 to 2 day gap, so I really don't know how I can survive without gaming for that long. Good that you are on the wagon again and know that games are getting cheaper price-wise. My 2 cents: Please refrain from piracy.

 

[Fire&Blood]

Hmm, I don't know why you put in that Piracy bit in. No one cares about Piracy unless and until you are actively involved in it.

Anyways, my long break in gaming is usually a 1 to 2 day gap, so I really don't know how I can survive without gaming for that long. Good that you are on the wagon again and know that games are getting cheaper price-wise. My 2 cents: Please refrain from piracy.

I put it in because I was furious about an issue with Uplay not letting me play my damn game. While looking for a solution I found a lot more than I bargained for and it stung to see it out there, taunting legit users, disguised as some sort of noble rebellion to evil publishers but it's quite the opposite while my gf spent $50 or $60 for it and I endured a frustrating experience trying to get it to work. Turns out it was my fw but it's still bad I had to go through it. Since I got into gaming, I bought somewhere between 200-300 games and pirated exactly 1 title, RTL Ski Jumping 2005, a game I bought once as well as the prequels/sequels when I lived in Europe and the only legal method for obtaining it again would involve a round trip to Europe to get it yet odds are I would still leave empty handed.

Yeah, 15 years ago I never thought I could go without gaming for so long but real life will do that to people. Also, I used to work in health care for a while and the thought of what sitting at the comp for extended periods and sleepless nights do the human body in the long term is still with me.

 

[thejunglegod]

Also, I used to work in health care for a while and the thought of what sitting at the comp for extended periods and sleepless nights do the human body in the long term is still with me.

Be precise. What exactly happens if you sit in front of the comp for too long? Other than a stiff back and fcked up eyes.

 

[Aikouka]

Hmm digital distribution is definitely a bit bigger in the PC scene than it was about 3 years ago. Steam had a decent following back then, but with some publishers (such as THQ) releasing all games as Steamworks games (rather than just Valve), you get more people on the service.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

While looking for a solution I found a lot more than I bargained for and it stung to see it out there, taunting legit users, disguised as some sort of noble rebellion to evil publishers but it's quite the opposite while my gf spent $50 or $60 for it and I endured a frustrating experience trying to get it to work. Turns out it was my fw but it's still bad I had to go through it.

lol So you imagined a hacker war was causing your issue but then you found out you hadn't updated your FW in years....nice.

Look man, I've said it a thousand times in a hundred places, if the game companies gave even a tiny little shit about piracy they would go after the cheaters in online games. Those are the same guys that steal games and anything else they can download that isn't tied down.

Please spare us the I've never pirated anything routine, too. Anyone under 40 has downloaded something or another that they probably weren't supposed to.

 

[Jeffg010]

I was all Xbox with rock band as my main game but steam deals has changed that for me. If there was no steam I would have never tried some of the games out there. I'm currently enjoying Grimrock.

 

[mindcycle]

I put it in because I was furious about an issue with Uplay not letting me play my damn game. While looking for a solution I found a lot more than I bargained for and it stung to see it out there, taunting legit users, disguised as some sort of noble rebellion to evil publishers but it's quite the opposite while my gf spent $50 or $60 for it and I endured a frustrating experience trying to get it to work. Turns out it was my fw but it's still bad I had to go through it. Since I got into gaming, I bought somewhere between 200-300 games and pirated exactly 1 title, RTL Ski Jumping 2005, a game I bought once as well as the prequels/sequels when I lived in Europe and the only legal method for obtaining it again would involve a round trip to Europe to get it yet odds are I would still leave empty handed.

I hope the conclusion you came to was to stop buying Ubisoft games. Their "always online" DRM is by far the worst out there right now, and arguably, the worst most restrictive DRM yet. Vote with your wallet.

 

[Fire&Blood]

lol So you imagined a hacker war was causing your issue but then you found out you hadn't updated your FW in years....nice.

Look man, I've said it a thousand times in a hundred places, if the game companies gave even a tiny little shit about piracy they would go after the cheaters in online games. Those are the same guys that steal games and anything else they can download that isn't tied down.

Please spare us the I've never pirated anything routine, too. Anyone under 40 has downloaded something or another that they probably weren't supposed to.

You misunderstood. My firewall is up to date, it just blocked Uplay from verifying with the Ubisoft server without prompt thus preventing me from playing. I eventually figured it out and manually fixed that but you can't seriously claim Uplay is a good thing.

I hope the conclusion you came to was to stop buying Ubisoft games. Their "always online" DRM is by far the worst out there right now, and arguably, the worst most restrictive DRM yet. Vote with your wallet.

I hope I'll have the resolve to do that in the future, hoepfully with enough others to make a point to Ubi and all the others. The problem is, they hold hostage Ip that so many have fond memories of. How can I resist Splinter Cell when I have awesome memories of playing the first 3 titles int he series.

Be precise. What exactly happens if you sit in front of the comp for too long? Other than a stiff back and fcked up eyes.

It's not directly related to gaming but gaming for prolonged times and lack of physical activity hurts in the long run.

I'm still "healthy" but looking at my fasting lipids results and blood sugar tests from checkups, the numbers climbed a lot less the more I was doing stuff outdoors.

 

[Azeroth101]

Hmm, I don't know why you put in that Piracy bit in. No one cares about Piracy unless and until you are actively involved in it.

Anyways, my long break in gaming is usually a 1 to 2 day gap, so I really don't know how I can survive without gaming for that long. Good that you are on the wagon again and know that games are getting cheaper price-wise. My 2 cents: Please refrain from piracy.

I know I'm not alone in aggravation when you buy a game through a retailer and it doesn't work at launch, when the pirates have figured it out 2 days before it was released.

(For me, this was Skyrim. I bought it at a local EA Games so I wouldn't have to download it from Steam, but they try to make you download it anyways. After downloading it all night, I come to find out that you can manually make it install from the disc with a couple simple commands. Once I got past that, Skyrim refused to launch, I ended up looking up what the pirates had done to fix theirs, and it fixed my legit copy >.<...).

DRM keeps making it easier to pirate, and harder to purchase these game, and it's getting ridiculous.

 

[OptimumSlinky]

Two cents:

Getting into PC gaming is easier than ever. I came back in only two years ago after playing almost exclusively on my Xbox 360, and now I am to the point that I will probably skip the next Xbox (really depends on Halo 4 and what 343i brings to the table this fall). With assets like Steam available for free, it makes no sense to pay for Xbox Live anymore. PC tech has gotten dirt cheap, and because games are made to run primarily on consoles, most system requirements are a joke for any decent system built within the last two years.

The only thing that still irks me nonstop is the always-on DRM. It's draconian, and it makes me irate that many don't have an "offline" mode. That and the having to make a bloody account for every damn publisher to whore your info out. If we could get a grip on those two things and maybe add a way where you could "trade" back Steam games for Steam Store credit, I'd never look back at consoles again.

 

[thejunglegod]

I hope the conclusion you came to was to stop buying Ubisoft games. Their "always online" DRM is by far the worst out there right now, and arguably, the worst most restrictive DRM yet. Vote with your wallet.

I hate to mention D3 but what the Hell - D3.

 

[krnmastersgt]

I just wish more game devs would approach "piracy" with an approach similar to what Terraria ended up taking. You can't fight pirates firstly, if a human mind could conceive a usable security system than another mind could easily find a way to dupe, crack, or just remove it from the game itself. They don't seem to understand this and spend more time on anti-piracy measures than just developing the damn title.

Back to my point, wish more games were like Terraria. They didn't bother with anti-piracy measures and the game was easy enough to pirate but most of the people I knew didn't since it was cheap enough that having an official copy + supporting the devs was worth it. Why bother charging $60 for a game with ridiculous amounts of DRM and lackluster content when you can buy an awesome unique game for $10 (I got it for $5, Steam sales ftw). As shortylickens said, the big titles have been in serious decline, instead of re-inventing games they just remake them with shinier graphics and people still flock to them unfortunately. The indie scene is starting to become quite a bit bigger though so at least the game industry is still somewhat made up of gamers and not just investors wanting companies to churn out crap for money.

 

[Edge1]

Steam has eliminated any piracy urges I may have had. My Steam catalog is becoming rather daunting - in a good way. My typical price point: $7.50 or less. But I did pick up 2 copies of Fallout NV Ultimate for $9.99 yesterday.