Actually DNF is not cancelled its tied up in legal battles between 2K Games suing 3D relams over the length & $$$ given to which they were taking to put out DNF. 2K Games wants the developers code of the game so that they can finish it and put it out to recoup some profit to the franchise.

Playing:

Borderlands (2nd playthrough and looking forward to the DLC)
Dragon Age (Waiting to get th DLC)
Torchlight (Finished it once)
Trackmania United Forever

Looking forward to:

STALKER: Call of Pripyat
DLC for GTA IV
Bioshock 2
Fallout 3: New Vegas
Max Payne 3
Crysis 2

Specific/ General question at the same time : I bought the Complete Civ IV set from steam. For this game specifically and these sorts of games in general, are you supposed to load the game and all the expensions on at once or are you supposed to play the game through, then add the expansions later. I never know and it's hard to find advice in the install instructions.

Good 2k has been putting out some damn good stuff recently. Borderlands, Bioshock 2. etc.

That's pretty much just semantics at this point though. It's cancelled/on hold/postponed indefinitely whatever. I'd say the chances of the current game resuming development is pretty slim.

You should generally install everything, including expansions, before playing. Expansions tend to act like patches, fixing things in the main game while also adding a bunch of new stuff as well. This is definitely the case with Civ 4.



Pretty much. Yeah sure 2K still owns the rights to the Duke Nukem properties, but DNF is nowhere near close to finished. The 3D Realms guys were extremely lazy and did very little work at all during the last 12 years. It would still take a lot of time and costs to finish DNF and given all the costs already spent, it would be very unlikely that this game would make a profit at all. Sometimes it is better to cut your losses rather than to continue on and rack up more costs.

I gotta say, I'm loving the Games For Windows instant support for 360 control pads. So damn convenient.

The THQ Game Pack is on sale for $50 this week on Steam, it includes:

Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
Frontlines: Fuel of War
Full Spectrum Warrior
Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers
Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights
Red Faction
Red Faction II
Red Faction Guerrilla
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Saints Row 2
Titan Quest
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne
Warhammer: Dawn of War Dark Crusade
Warhammer: Dawn of War Gold Edition
Warhammer: Dawn of War II

Those steam sales have been killing me lately. Luckily, it hasn't been killing my wallet, just my backlog and my need for more free time.

I got Psychonauts a few weeks ago for next to nothing (and loved it), just got Mount & Blade for $5. They had Titan Quest Gold for $5 about a week ago. I didn't get that one, as I still had TQ installed from 2 years ago- but it did prompt me to finally get around to playing it (I'm in Act 3 now).

I got in on their Bioshock2 4-pack deal, so only paid $35 for it. I got the two previous Stalker games for $7 combined during the Christmas sale, and now I got a "loyalty promo" price of the new one for $20 (that's half off the store price).

And that's the tip of the iceberg. Now all I need is time to finish them all.

Do you like Mount & Blade? I can't decide if it's worth the $5 or not.

And why oh why can't they drop their Crysis package again? I want some eye candy for my new computer and Tropico 3 and Civ IV ain't cutting it.

The Freedom Force deal from steam with both of the games for $5 or something was just too good to pass up. I own the original, but Steam makes everything so easy. Going to finally play through Third Reich, after I play through the original again.

I also really want to finally install and play the second RTS Lord of the Rings game and Rise of Nations. I've only owned them both, for probably 2 to 4 years.

I haven't put too much time into yet, but it's interesting. Hitting stuff from a horse is going to take a bit to get used to, and I'd like a little more story in my game- this is basically a sandbox with no ultimate goal other than to make your character and army as powerful as you can.

But, I'll get $5 worth out of it for sure. Besides, it's about the same price as a fast food lunch- and probably just as nutritious.

It sounds like an early Oblivion game?

Just install them all at once.

Ya install them all. Colonization is a bit different than the rest, but I usually launch Beyond the Sword which includes the base CivIV and the Warlords expansions as well.

Thanks for the advice. I still think there should be a little more guidance and instructions regarding how to approach these expansions within the context of playing through the regular game.

Civilization V in the fall

Could someone please teach me a little about DRM in PC gaming? I see on Amazon that people are KILLING Crysis because of EA's DRM issues. Are these really such a big deal? Do you still run into these when you buy a game off Steam? Am I allowed to install and uninstall on the same computer as much as I like, but just not onto a bunch of different computers? I guess I need some information about all of this. Thank you.

I tried to search for details on Crysis' copy protection scheme and it looks like there's some differences in what the original game did and what Warhead does.

I believe the original game just used your standard disc check + CD-Key. For Warhead -

"The DRM system implemented for the Crysis Warhead changes copy protection from being key-disc based, which requires authentication every time you play the game by requiring a disc in the drive (this was the system we used in the original Crysis), to a one-time online authentication. This system allows you to play your game without requiring the game disc in the drive on any of five different machines.

Please note: this DRM solution is for the Crysis Warhead disc only. Because of the online nature of Crysis Wars, and because we want to encourage easy-to-start LAN play, you are only required an authentication upon installation. If you want to play online on our servers, you will authenticate via Gamespy as you normally would."


Personally, I thought the complaints about this stuff was a bit overblown. Generally games these days do one of those two things - cd check and cd-key for install, or this online activation thing.

Pretty much all the DRM complaints thus far on Amazon are overblown. People like to bitch and moan. Some of the ones that prevent resale are lame, though, but I have no personal experience with those.

There is a lot of bad DRM out there. Starforce, which isn't used anymore, was actually pretty bad malware that would mess your with system's hardware and cause a lot of problems. Some newer DRMs have limited install options. Bioshock, for example, would only allow you to install the game three times and then the disc effectively becomes a coaster. Assassin's Creed 2 comes out next month for PC, and it uses a new kind of DRM that will require you to have a constant internet connection while playing even single player. Not only that but the save files won't be stored on your PC itself but rather on Ubisoft's website, and you will be required to create and keep an account there.

Thank you all for the information. I guess it's not such a big deal. I'm thinking Steam is a better choice for buying these games to sort of circumvent the DMR issue. Is that correct or are there bad DMR games on Steam as well?

This is correct. Steam fixes a lot of headaches. *


*- but not all of them.

Unfortunately, games that are sold on Steam don't magically covert all their DRM and multiplayer to use Steam instead.

For example, games that use Games for Windows LIVE, still use it if you've bought it on Steam. Games that use their own inferior (compared to Steam) multiplayer, still use it even if you bought it on Steam (I'm looking at you, Borderlands). Games that require key codes, still require them with Steam (although, Steam has a handy cut and paste window that pops up, when the registration doesn't happen automatically. Games that have install limitations may still have them when bought through Steam. And so on...

Try to be as informed as you can before you buy. Check for any disclaimers on the game page in Steam, and click the link for the forums for that game- there will usually be a complaint thread if there's trouble with 3rd party DRM.

also, RE: Amazon reviews. Those have been a problem for a while now for any game rumored to have any sort of DRM. A bunch of people who never played the game, and who are frequently misinformed about the exact nature of the DRM, post one star reviews saying only "don't buy this game it has evil DRM"

I thought it might be nice to have that $20 wireless adapter for the 360 wireless controller so that I could use one of my 360 controller to play PC games. I now discover that apparently they stopped making the adapter for individual sale and they're charging a fortune anywhere that still has them. Now I'm trying to decide between buying a 360 controller + adapter for $49.99 and getting a wired 360 controller for $29. If I needed another 360 controller, that would be a no brainer, but since I don't I'm not sure what to do. Damn, I wish MS still sold the adapter by itself.

vs

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.31881

Pretty sure it's a knock off, but appears to work just fine.

Or you could buy the PC set and resell the 360 controller on ebay.

Oh and:

Microsoft has Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC) for $12.49.
Note, you will need to install Games for Windows Client and have a Windows Live ID account (Similar to Steam client).

http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-us...ges/sales.aspx

You can also purchase with Microsoft Points (Yeah the same ones on Xbox Live 360... 1000pts = $12.50) if you so please.