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OS Neutral Steam Games
- Thread starter Huntn
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I've been playing the public test of The Talos Principle, which can be best summed up as a combination beta test and demo of the final game (which has been available since mid-December apparently).
It's a first-person puzzle game by the creators of the Serious Sam franchise that was simultaneously released for Windows, Mac and Linux. The Mac port, at least of the test version, is quite good. It runs at a steady 30 fps (which is all you need for these types of games, IMO) on my 2011 MBP at 1680x1050 and the game's recommended settings, which appear to be a mixture of medium and high.
It also has a free companion game called Sigils of Elohim that you can play and apparently receive codes and items to unlock in The Talos Principle. Pretty cool.
The only real significant problem I have with it is the price. $40 is a bit steep, and it was only 10% off during the holiday sale. I'm probably going to wait for it to hit the $20-25 price point before pulling the trigger.
It's a first-person puzzle game by the creators of the Serious Sam franchise that was simultaneously released for Windows, Mac and Linux. The Mac port, at least of the test version, is quite good. It runs at a steady 30 fps (which is all you need for these types of games, IMO) on my 2011 MBP at 1680x1050 and the game's recommended settings, which appear to be a mixture of medium and high.
It also has a free companion game called Sigils of Elohim that you can play and apparently receive codes and items to unlock in The Talos Principle. Pretty cool.
The only real significant problem I have with it is the price. $40 is a bit steep, and it was only 10% off during the holiday sale. I'm probably going to wait for it to hit the $20-25 price point before pulling the trigger.
$40 is not steep; it would have been worth $50 at least. It's not short, it's not old, and it's not a 2-man indie production, so just buy it already. 
Plus there are mods in the Steam workshopnot much now, but I would be surprised if there wasn't some good stuff sooner or later. Really, it's a good value if you like first-person puzzle games. I paid $45 for Portal 2 when it came out and didn't regret that either.
--Eric
Plus there are mods in the Steam workshopnot much now, but I would be surprised if there wasn't some good stuff sooner or later. Really, it's a good value if you like first-person puzzle games. I paid $45 for Portal 2 when it came out and didn't regret that either.--Eric
$40 is not steep; it would have been worth $50 at least. It's not short, it's not old, and it's not a 2-man indie production, so just buy it already.
--Eric
Steam sales and a large backlog of other games have conditioned me not to buy anything on launch any more. If you think the debut price was worth it, great, but I can wait a few months for the next sale.
The Apple App store is expensive in Norway. Last night I tried to buy Sim City 4 which had a price of 18 dollars. During the buying process I received a message saying that there was an update and the transaction was not possible. I looked at the game this morning and saw that Apple had bumped up the price overnight by over 30% to about 25 dollars.
Years ago I created a Steam account. So I retrieved my password and logged on. A saw that Steam had a 75% sale for Sim City, so I picked up the same game for 4 dollars 50 Cents
Screw the App store, it is for the most part an expensive rip off to make Apple as much money has possible. It is no longer a service it is a legal scam, even though Apple has been avoiding paying hundreds of millions of dollars in tax which it should have done to countries in the European Union and other places around the world.
When it comes to my iTune library, I just log onto the main Oslo library's website. I then order the CDs, DVDs that I want. The staff then pick them out. I get a message when they are ready. I wander off down to the library and pick them up where they are waiting for me. Sometimes I even wander up to the nice cafe on the top floor and copy them onto my mac before delivering them back on my way out.
Do I have a conscience for the poor artists. Sure! But everyone from the record companies, Apple and the other streaming services have been ripping them off for years, not to mention the pirates.
Anyway I can highly recommend Steam and it is 1000% legal.
Years ago I created a Steam account. So I retrieved my password and logged on. A saw that Steam had a 75% sale for Sim City, so I picked up the same game for 4 dollars 50 Cents
Screw the App store, it is for the most part an expensive rip off to make Apple as much money has possible. It is no longer a service it is a legal scam, even though Apple has been avoiding paying hundreds of millions of dollars in tax which it should have done to countries in the European Union and other places around the world.
When it comes to my iTune library, I just log onto the main Oslo library's website. I then order the CDs, DVDs that I want. The staff then pick them out. I get a message when they are ready. I wander off down to the library and pick them up where they are waiting for me. Sometimes I even wander up to the nice cafe on the top floor and copy them onto my mac before delivering them back on my way out.
Do I have a conscience for the poor artists. Sure! But everyone from the record companies, Apple and the other streaming services have been ripping them off for years, not to mention the pirates.
Anyway I can highly recommend Steam and it is 1000% legal.
Your rant would be justified if it wasn't for one major detail: Apple doesn't set the prices, the developers do.
I didn't know that. Though I suspect that Apple has quite a big say when it comes to what prices to charge.
For the game developers it is great that there are other platforms such as Valve, to choose from.
Right now the dollar is rising dramatically against many major currencies. Apple and those who sell in US dollars need to keep an eye on the prices they charge in the European market. I understand that prices have had to rise, though I think the over 30% rise last night annoyed me, especially when I tried to buy it at the old price that was stated on the app when I clicked on it to buy it.
Sure Apple is a premium product and offers a trustworthy service. But as prices rise people will look for alternatives, such as Steam. And if it is legally cheaper to buy the same product then why not?
I would also like to add that in many cases it is actually cheaper to buy a physical CD from somewhere like Amazon, then to buy the same album on iTunes.
I don't think more than a small minority of App Store users would actively do this. The App Store is convenient and easy to use, and that is enough for most people.
I haven't beaten it yet, but I'm a good way through. From what I've seen, the vast majority of puzzles are all logic based affairs, with a few thrown in that require timing and patience to get through without getting hurt or dying, but aren't as split second critical as they were in the first.
I'd say you'll probably like it.
Applications do go on sale in the app store for temporary periods of time. It seems to be up to the developers as to what the price adjustment will be, and for how long it will remain in effect.
The only area where the App Store falls behind Steam in that regard is that the discounts aren't advertised. Steam puts up a green icon indicating what percentage off the game (or application) is; the App Store just shows a price, and you'd have to go to the product's page to see the developer mention that there's a temporary discount in the description.
I have mixed feelings about Steam's sales, though. Sure, I buy a good number of games through them and appreciate the opportunity to save money (or rather, "save" money, because I've probably spent more than I normally would have, and now have dozens of games that I have yet to play), but I don't like some of the things that it has done to the community. In visiting the Steam discussion forums for various games, I've run across countless posts of people whining about the price, demanding that the game be put on sale... and then when the game does go on sale, they whine about the percentage not being higher. We're not talking a $60 game, either; these games are usually $15-20.
I also worry about the developers. I have an abundance of games at this point, but not an abundance of time; with my gaming backlog, I could probably not buy another game for 2-3 years and I'd still have new games to occupy me. As such, I have no problem waiting until a game is on sale for just a few dollars before I buy it, further contributing to my backlog. It sounds like a lot of other gamers are finding themselves in similar situations. Steam's sales occur predictably twice a year, so even if there's a newer game that I want closer to the front of my queue, I know that the years-long wait need not be necessary: wait a few months to a year and the game will likely be on sale. Are the developers making less money because people are getting into that trend, and refusing to buy anything that costs more than just a few dollars?
That's a very spot-on question. I believe they do make less money, but in a positive way. What I mean is, if many people get into that trend (or, if the majority of people do that) this will push companies to sell lower. I'd also bet that this will affect more the top-priced games, that they really cost too much anyway. Games that start on more reasonable price ranges should have more constant sales over time.
I believe Apple should push more towards this trend (in cooperation with the game publishers) as this would make the app store way more attractive. As things are now, games sold on app store tend to have many disadvantages (some of them won't have the online option implemented while the steam version of the same game does because of app-store restrictions, there are too many old games left at the same price they had when they were released etc).
Some games are overpriced, but a lot of larger titles are probably priced accordingly. I don't want to see games become a "race to the bottom" type of field. A game doesn't need to have ultra-fancy graphics or a huge production budget to be good, but I worry that the field of quality games will dry up or stagnate if everyone expects to get by only paying $5 for each game.
I think that Apple missed the boat on games. In my mind, Steam did for games what the iTunes Music Store did for digital music. Sure, you can get your games (or your songs) from elsewhere, but once you've accumulated enough from one store and have a program that automatically handles your purchases for you, it's a bit of a hassle to use something else.
The only way I could see Apple possibly turning things around in the gaming sector would be if they revamp the Apple TV to have the capabilities of a serious gaming console. Given that the graphical processing in their ARM chipsets is already rather impressive and that they have the whole controller licensing scheme going, this seems like an obvious direction to take. Bonus points with the potential to take away from Steam if the games were available on the OS X side, as well (unlikely, given that Apple TV is ARM and Macs are x86). Alas, gaming beyond iOS isn't a priority for Apple... and even then, gaming on iOS doesn't seem to be a major priority.
I wouldn't want to see this becoming a race to the bottom either, but Apple should really care more about the issue, than they do now. At least if they want to be even remotely competitive to the other stores. If there's a game on Steam for 30 euros, while the same game on app-store (mind, sometimes with less features too) offered at 50 euros, I wouldn't expect anyone to prefer buy it from the latter. I agree, though, that they have missed the boat. If they really want to make a serious jump on the games wagon, there are obviously other more important things to fix first (e.g. hardware).
This could be done relatively easy. They already have the h/w and the s/w to do it, they have a well-established developer base, iOS, Metal. But, yes, this would be on a different context, pretty far from computer gaming.
Good to hear, I'll have to buy it then.
I picked up the first Risen over the holiday being unfamiliar with the series. While it's a bit of a mixed bag, things like combat and animations are pretty clunky, the open world is worthwhile in itself if you're into that aspect of RPGs. It was also $2 bucks on the gog sale so I can't really be disappointed with it at that price.
Elite Dangerous and No Man's Sky coming later this year, seem to be getting the buzz for that kind of flight exploration/combat type game.
I agree with anybody who says Apple should be like steam and have limited time offers. I know I would buy a lot more from the iTunes Store if they did that. That's how steam steals all my money....
Just downloaded Kings of Kung Fu. It's still in development and very affordable. For the price it's great and it could turn out to be one of the best beat em ups ever.
And I got NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Ultimate Ninja STORM 3 Full Burst. Yes that is an actual title It's like watching an anime movie. I can't even believe my eyes when I see the action.
And I got NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Ultimate Ninja STORM 3 Full Burst. Yes that is an actual title
It's like watching an anime movie. I can't even believe my eyes when I see the action.
Apple have no influence on pricing at all.
In terms of how pricing works the only difference is Apple base the prices using international exchange rate. Steam allows for manual pricing in different places.
Apple believe using the direct exchange rate figures from US $ means everyone get the same price (so Europeans don't get charged more than the US for example). Once you set the US price the rest of the world automatically gets placed in a pricing band.
Valve believe that you can set it all yourself so you can do things like make games in Russia cost less than in Europe because the economy in Russia means people won't want to pay as much for games, this allows you to charge what the nations economy will stand.
Both ways have their advantages and disadvantages.
Based on Steam & MAS I know sometimes games are cheaper on one service or the other. It's harder to perhaps notice flash sales on the MAS than Steam but they happen very frequently if you keep a look out.
They have always had this since the beginning of the store. I know at any time there is at least one Feral or Asypr etc game on deal often more. There was even an All Feral games discount week last year where the AppStore had a banner in the gaming area and all Feral games sold had some kind of discount!
I can't see how you could get anyone to say making less money was a positive
Some games might have a higher price (usually on the latest consoles) however they cost more and more to make due to the complex technology and vast budgets needed. When I started on Mac games just over a decade ago my first game was less than 100MB installed and the source code and assets were perhaps 300MB in total.
The game we have in development right now is over *50GB* installed and the source and unpacked data game on a multiple TB drive! Now numbers don't mean much but it's a simple way of saying it costs a hell of a lot of time and technology to get games working compared to a decade ago.
Anyway the prices of games has dropped it's an inconvenient truth but it's true!
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2010/10/an-inconvenient-truth-game-prices-have-come-down-with-time/
I have 6 games on steam. I buy pretty much all my games there. I don't have many games on steam but i love what it has to offer.