Gaming News

Stone Deaf 4evr

I've only used steam in passing to pick up a few games from a humble bundle that would work on my ancient laptop, but would I be right in saying that its gone from a prestigious service to some sort of wild west, allowing any and all kinds of rubbish to be sold without so much as a passing glance at quality or content?

purely viewed from the outside, and I accept that bad news always gets more traction - it would seem that they're focused on making money at all costs, and protecting the developers and consumers is low on the list of priorities. Its only when a controversy like the CS:GO lottery sites blow up, that any semblance of action happens.

J Mysterio

It seems to me that there is more upside than downside insofar as they allow indie developers to get their feet off the ground and focus on making games.

At the end of the day, the consumer is free to spend their money as they see fit.

Im also glad that companies like DH have been disparaged on Steam and it has been unmoderated to a degree.

The punters buy what they want and say what they want. Its a wonderful service.

Maximus Alexander

While I do feel there needs to be some level of quality control or minimum standard on the Steam storefront to protect consumers from some of the outrageously awful ****e that gets through, I'm also in favour of removing the barriers to entry for small developers. So really, I'm kinda conflicted.

Ultimately I think the trivial annoyance of having to wade through a bit of sh*t is made up for by some of the gems that have come through.

Shiminay

It used to be that you could trust that a game on Steam would 1) work and 2) not be some sort of gods-awful shovelware. That is no longer the case. At all.

Dyr

Caveat emptor and an ounce of cop on lads, **** games were around long before steam.

EoinHef

Hence why Steam introduced the refund policy though,id like to see it expaned to say 4hrs of play but at least if the game does not work you can easily get a refund.

A little bit of curation would go a long way on steam id agree but thats the nature of open platforms and i would hate to see that change.

degrassinoel

Bambi wrote: »

Caveat emptor and an ounce of cop on lads, **** games were around long before steam.

there are bad games and then there's shovelware

Green light is more like brown light for a lot of the stuff there. It's like anything thing else in life if it can be exploited by chancers then it will be.

dreamers75

EoinHef wrote: »

Hence why Steam introduced the refund policy though,id like to see it expaned to say 4hrs of play but at least if the game does not work you can easily get a refund.

A little bit of curation would go a long way on steam id agree but thats the nature of open platforms and i would hate to see that change.

Disagree some games can be completed in less than that, i find 2 hours is fine.

dunworth1

dreamers75 wrote:

Disagree some games can be completed in less than that, i find 2 hours is fine.

I believe that the refund time policy is reduced for shorter games

dreamers75

dunworth1 wrote: »

I believe that the refund time policy is reduced for shorter games

Did not know that only refunded one game and it was because I found it cheaper elsewhere.

I stand by my purchases.

johnny_ultimate

Don't think there is a restriction on refunds for short games, came up with Firewatch earlier this year: http://kotaku.com/firewatch-developer-offers-classy-response-to-steam-ref-1759195334

The impact on short, narrative-focused games is a definite downside of an otherwise generous and positive system. And sadly extending it any further would catch more games in the net.

EoinHef

dreamers75 wrote: »

Disagree some games can be completed in less than that, i find 2 hours is fine.

In the case of shorter games id be happy for it to be 2hrs but in the majority of cases id prefer 4hrs. I understand 2hrs is there to try stop abuse but it feels a little bit tight to me.

Maximus Alexander

I'd be of the view that there shouldn't really be any expectation that you can return a game just because you have decided you don't like it. It's up to the buyer to be smart about their purchases. Obviously if it's horribly broken or just won't work at all then you should get a refund, and 2 hours is enough time to figure that out imo.

EoinHef

I wouldnt return a game because i didnt like it,but some problems with games are not apparent in the first two hours,which is the reason id like 4hrs. But people would no doubt abuse that so were stuck with 2hrs.

Varik

SAG-AFTRA looking for more money again, they've a new set of proposed terms for lower budget games out.

Don't see many indies on sub 250k budgets that they've set for this deal going for it.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/282663/Voice_actors_union_demands_better_working_conditions_in_new_lowbudget_contract.php

Robert ninja

Steam add full support for Dualshock 4 [Archive]

I found linux to have native DS4 support but only for basic setup. It didn't use touchpad. This could be very cool. And for windows I won't need 3rd party software outside of steam. I just wish Valve would release these drivers independent of the steam client... for their own controller too while they're at it.

GOW4 possibly may have used stolen art assets - Microsoft to investigate [Archive]

gizmo

Robert ninja wrote: »

GOW4 possibly may have used stolen art assets - Microsoft to investigate [Archive]

Interested in the legal specifics of this actually. The artist in question appears to be a freelancer who is doing work for the Mexican campaign for GoW4 at the behest of MS. Does that mean the latter are liable if she's done for plagiarism?

degrassinoel

something red this way comes

https://twitter.com/RockstarGames/status/787639249864630273/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

guessing it's a sequel, hoping it's a RDR port for pc

Gunmonkey

Isnt Red Dead Revolver coming out on PSN or such soon?

martyos121

A Redemption remake would do me just fine for now, never played Revolver though so I wouldn't mind that either. I think they'll remaster one or both of those and announce a new one to arrive late next year. That's what I hope for anyway.

MilesMorales1

It is but it seems strange they'd go to an effort for a rerelease thats not even a remaster.

Notorious

Gunmonkey wrote: »

Isnt Red Dead Revolver coming out on PSN or such soon?

It's out already. Think I saw it for €15 on the PS Store. God that'd be a massive letdown.

Sieghardt

I would bet it's some kind of VR thing, maybe a VR version or Revolver or VR mode for redemption, doubt it's a proper new game

Gunmonkey

Sieghardt wrote: »

I would bet it's some kind of VR thing, maybe a VR version or Revolver or VR mode for redemption, doubt it's a proper new game

VR....Red....Virtual Boy port confirmed!

gizmo

Word on the grapevine is United Front Games, the studio best known for Sleeping Dogs, have laid off their staff and are shutting their doors. Their Early Access title SMASH+GRAB has also been pulled from sale.

ironictoaster

gizmo wrote: »

Word on the grapevine is United Front Games, the studio best known for Sleeping Dogs, have laid off their staff and are shutting their doors. Their Early Access title SMASH+GRAB has also been pulled from sale.

Disappointing. They really did mess up releasing that sleeping dogs MMO spinoff rather than a sequel. Sleeping dogs was one my favourite games last generation. Highly underrated imo.

SeantheMan

ironictoaster wrote: »

Disappointing. They really did mess up releasing that sleeping dogs MMO spinoff rather than a sequel. Sleeping dogs was one my favourite games last generation. Highly underrated imo.

I'm not sure it was underrated. I think most people who played it really liked it.

Has a 77 on OpenCritic with many strong reviews. I loved it too.
I only played through the whole thing again recently and it still holds up. I enjoyed the story as crazy as it was, and the action and shootouts were great....better than GTA in my opinion (the shootouts and movement...not the game...well..better than GTA4 for me...I didn't enjoy that one).

gizmo

ironictoaster wrote: »

Disappointing. They really did mess up releasing that sleeping dogs MMO spinoff rather than a sequel. Sleeping dogs was one my favourite games last generation. Highly underrated imo.

"They" in this case would have been Square Enix though. If that's the direction the publisher wanted to take the series in then there's little an independent studio like UFG can do about it unfortunately.

Still no official confirmation as of this morning but pretty much all the major outlets are running with the story. I'm guessing we'll hear more info today.

Varik

Voices actors are striking starting Friday October 21st, not sure if they're starting to strike then or if it's a 1 day strike.