Wires & Waves
New Metal Member
- Feb 4, 2006
- 2,258
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- 0
Gamers Thread
- Thread starter Jimmy... Dead.
- Start date
As someone already pointed out, games like CS and TF2 do not run on centralized persistent servers. They just run on servers run by other users. WoW runs on giant server clusters hosted by Blizzard that need constant maintenance. Blizzard is also actively involved in the game by having personnel available in-game (such as support people and the GMs) and by periodically expanding the world with new content to keep long-time players interested.
I agree that the current subscription fee is kind of high, but that there is one at all really is not that strange given the amount of resources they have to spend on running and maintaining it.
Krigloch the Furious
Pants full of poo
What content are you talking about then? The vast majority of Steam content consists of actual retail products which cost money and are infact pretty damn expensive for what you actually get. Considering it costs Valve a fraction of what it costs them to distribute physical copies and you as a customer get less since you have no box or booklet or anything and end up with a software product that is directly dependant on a third-party service in order for you to actually be able to access, install and use it.
Steam is nothing more than a content-delivery platform used by Valve and other companies to sell their games online. It's not really comparable in any way that I can see with subscription based MMORPG games.
Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what you mean.
Valerie
¯\(ã)/¯
- Aug 29, 2005
- 6,765
- 4
- 38
It was pointed out earlier that Blizzard charged a subscription fee because of server maintenance and bandwith, etc, right? Well Valve has all of their content (games, game files, videos, other media and shit) hosted on servers, which people buy and download. Not to mention when they update one of their games, tens to hundreds of thousands of people are downloading it at the same time. I'm just saying that Valve has to deal with maintenance and other crap too, so they could charge but they don't.
Oh well, it was just a curious inquirey in the first place, no need for a huge discussion.
Valve does already charge by making everything on Steam as expensive as it is and taking all of the cash they make on that instead of having most of it go to publishers and retailers. Vivendi (Valve's publisher) was actually so annoyed with Steam that they sued Valve over it because they were losing out on lots of money. And Steam products are not priced at the retail cost minus the cost of the publisher/retailer, they just cost exactly the same (or even slightly more). Not to mention the money they make on other developers that use Steam to distribute their games on it. Valve is literally raking in the money with Steam already.
And in the end, bandwidth is cheap nowadays and Steam is really nothing more than a glorified file server. It's not the most complex thing in the world to run or maintain. WoW has to deal with giant server clusters that run and maintain persistent game data for literally millions of players and actively monitor and develop new content for that world.
And in the end, bandwidth is cheap nowadays and Steam is really nothing more than a glorified file server. It's not the most complex thing in the world to run or maintain. WoW has to deal with giant server clusters that run and maintain persistent game data for literally millions of players and actively monitor and develop new content for that world.
Crimson_713
Piratey Doom!
All the talk about WoW, Valve, Steam...
My computer's a piece of shit, I don't have the luxury of online gaming. I'm forced to settle with the consoles I already have: Ps2, SNES, n64, and GBA.
I'm really hoping that I can get an Xbox360 for Christmas this year, because I want Guitar Hero III, and the 360 version is SO much better than ps2. Shit, nearly anything on 360 is better than ps2 at this point. Sony's shot themselves in the foot hardcore.
My computer's a piece of shit, I don't have the luxury of online gaming. I'm forced to settle with the consoles I already have: Ps2, SNES, n64, and GBA.
I'm really hoping that I can get an Xbox360 for Christmas this year, because I want Guitar Hero III, and the 360 version is SO much better than ps2. Shit, nearly anything on 360 is better than ps2 at this point. Sony's shot themselves in the foot hardcore.
Vilden
From the holy kingdom of Harmonia
That's not very suprising considering that 360 several times more powerful then the PS2? Why not compare it to PS3 instead, seams more fair imo. :>
PanzerKunt
Black Metal Jihad
GH3 on PS2 is the worst out of the 5 versions. I got the 360 edition because I got two GH2 guitars already (and now the les paul faggotar). I beat the game yesterday after struggling with Raining Blood for a couple days :s
Oh, and the PS3 guitar is said to lag, so go for the 360 version.
Oh, and the PS3 guitar is said to lag, so go for the 360 version.
Zephyrus
Tyrants and Slaves
PanzerKunt
Black Metal Jihad
Fuck "christmas", i don't wanna waste money on other people and i dont want other people to waste money on me. Except family.
DarkBliss
...And okra for all
Not the point of Oblivion. The main quest is boring and kind of easy. Try all the side quests, or, if you're feeling really adventurous, download the lair of the lich king mod, which is nigh on impossible. Assuming you're on PC as you should be.
The expansion(s) are quite fun too.
The expansion(s) are quite fun too.
DarkBliss
...And okra for all
I've been playing Tekken games for playsation 2. I just really hate nina because she's a bitch and the people who made the game had to intentionally make her superior to all the other characters just because she's a female, she kicks your ass and than says something really cocky everytime and sometimes even get distracted by her tits. I eventually get annoyed and end up wanting to fuck a video game character.
Mort Divine
Shrine Maiden of the In-Crowd
Ender Rises
Wass sappening?
Nikki
Member
Death Aflame
voice of dissent
- Feb 1, 2004
- 2,504
- 2
- 38
- 38
I beat Mass Effect and it is, in my opinion, easily game of the year. That being said, I don't have a Wii so I haven't and probably won't get a chance to play SMG or MP3 anytime soon. However, out of the stuff I have played on both ps3 and 360 it is easily the best either has on offer this year. BioWare are master storytellers, plain and simple, and they have just proven it for the billionth time with ME. Highly recommended.
