Support NeoGAF

[War Machine]

I purchased Defense Grid off of Direct2Drive, and I was looking at some other games, and some were listed as being DRM free. I could only find that description for indie games, though, because games like Space Rangers 2 and Europa Universalis did not say that they were DRM free. Does D2D add DRM to previously DRM-free games?

 

[NIN90]

blast from the past

 

[Joseph Merrick]

you can gift games on gamersgate btw

 

[Servbot #42]

Btw Stardock's digital service Impulse is nearing a million users and to celebrate they are giving the one millionth Impulse customer a brand new PC that cost like 4000 dollars, more info here.

 

[Mrbob]

Nice write up.

Steam downloads can be limited(crysis)

also Impuls is the closest thing to steam(which is awesome)

This is Crysis Warhead, which is install limited overall. The nice thing is you can play the game without a disc with the retail box (like Red Alert 3).

There is a deauthorization tool available for Warhead, so as long as you uninstall it while you are online you can get one of those five installs back.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

For the life of me I cannot comprehend how anyone could use a service that doesn't allow you to have unlimited downloads and installs. Why would anyone use EA or Capcom when you can use Impulse, Gamersgate, Steam, GoG, etc...? I don't get it? The fact that someone is willing to spend $5.00 to EA for an extra six months is ridiculous. Ok, rant over.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Does anyone actually like Direct2Drive?

I've almost bought from them a couple of times (most recently because they were the first digital distribution service to have CoD: WaW) but I'm always scared away by their very vague FAQ (when it comes to download/re-download and support for mulitple PCs).

I have used it once and although it isn't too bad I don't want to have to contact a company to be able to download my games 1 year from now. That is why GoG, Impulse and Steam are great. D2D is also purely downloads where as Steam is much much more.

 

[A Twisty Fluken]

GoG is utterly fantastic. Easily my favorite of the current batch and what should be the goal state of everyone.

Steam is bloaty and I have issues with the customer service end, and I'd never drop full price given all that could go wrong with the licensing, but the community piece is great and the interface is decent, so even if they opted for a web-based downloader, I'd still want a slim client for messaging and presumably the overlay. Just not all wrapped up in one big old DRMey package.

As for Gametap, I'm very skeptical about their new arrangement. I like the idea, but their windows games support is still 32-bit only, and this downloader they claim to be rolling out is nothing I've seen from the beta testing side of things so I don't know what it's going to end up being. You'd think if they were going to be rolling this out THIS WEEK to the public at large, that they'd have used their beta testing community to test this before it goes into production.

In addition, the in-browser player is pretty absurdly limited, and restricted to IE6, 7, and some versions of firefox I believe, so I wasn't able to get anything rolling whatsoever in Windows 7 x86. (much less 64)

 

[arstal]

GoG is nice, problem is not much I really want on there. They'll get some things eventually.

I think Gamersgate and Impulse are still best of the bunch since they don't add DRM. Also helps that their game selections are closer to what I like.

As for Steam, right above is my opinion as well

 

[brain_stew]

GoG is nice, problem is not much I really want on there. They'll get some things eventually.

I think Gamersgate and Impulse are still best of the bunch since they don't add DRM. Also helps that their game selections are closer to what I like.

As for Steam, right above is my opinion as well

The fact that they've added 3 major publishers within the last fortnight with an even bigger publisher set to be welcomed at GDC tells me that this won't be the case for very long at all. No other service is evn remotely in the same ball park as gog.com. They're service is as close to perfect as I'd have ever expected.

 

[Minsc]

GoG is nice, problem is not much I really want on there. They'll get some things eventually.

Do you just not like old games, own them all already, or have really selective tastes? There's tons of great games on GoG, hard to believe one could not find much to interest them, unless the very nature of the service is the problem.

 

[A Twisty Fluken]

The fact that they've added 3 major publishers within the last fortnight with an even bigger publisher set to be welcomed at GDC tells me that this won't be the case for very long at all. No other service is evn remotely in the same ball park as gog.com. They're service is as close to perfect as I'd have ever expected.

I haven't been paying attention to my email, now that you pointed this out, holy crap, Pro Pinball is up there for $6? FUCKING HUGE.

 

[brain_stew]

I haven't been paying attention to my email, now that you pointed this out, holy crap, Pro Pinball is up there for $6? FUCKING HUGE.

Bought it myself the other day. Worth every penny.

 

[Minsc]

Bought it myself the other day. Worth every penny.

Damn right. Don't give up on it until you've at least activated a time jump to another time. I can't get over how it feels like you're standing in front of a real table for that game.

I've never unlocked any of the other times besides future, I'm just not quite good enough at using the tilt and collecting the crystal shards. But the music is really catchy after a while. I particularly like the song that often plays when you have 2 of the 3 balls needed for a multi-ball locked.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

I don't understand why Blizzard isn't selling their games on Steam, they can't possibly be doing enough DD business to justify staying off the platform. THINK OF THE MONEY

 

[Shard]

I don't understand why Blizzard isn't selling their games on Steam, they can't possibly be doing enough DD business to justify staying off the platform. THINK OF THE MONEY

Blizzard makes enough money to snub whatever DDS they want.

 

[Baha]

Steam's in-game browser is genius. I hope other services follow suite since it saves you from alt+tabbing for info and is good for killing time while you wait for friends in a lobby or during respawn time.

 

[dionysus]

Gamersgate is by far my favorite now that they are client free and most games are completely DRM free.

I try to give my business to services other than Steam as much as I can.

So far I would say gamersgate > impulse >>>>>> steam as far as the services I use.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

I don't understand why Blizzard isn't selling their games on Steam, they can't possibly be doing enough DD business to justify staying off the platform. THINK OF THE MONEY

Well considering that Blizzard is literally swimming, eating, drinking, peeing, pooing, sweating in $$$ they probably don't care as of right now. However, they do sell WoW on D2D.

 

[A Twisty Fluken]

And as has been noted many times, Blizz is giving battlenet a makeover that will make it a more comprehensive solution.

 

[Servbot #42]

For me i rank the digital download services that i have used like this:

GOG > Steam > Impulse > gamersgate

Having no DRM and a simple way of buying games puts GOG on top every time.

 

[ThaiGrocer]

Valve doesn't really have to patch all games if they were to fail as a company, but it would be a douche bag of a move if they didn't.

 

[brain_stew]

Valve doesn't really have to patch all games if they were to fail as a company, but it would be a douche bag of a move if they didn't.

By the time such an event occurs (if it ever does) people are going to have such a colossal amount invested in the service that I'd be stunned if the EU and the like would let it pass without taking any notice. Heck, as Steam is such a valuable asset, even if Valve did fold, I'd be utterly shocked if there wasn't someone quite happy to purchase the Steam platform.

 

[faceless007]

Well considering that Blizzard is literally swimming, eating, drinking, peeing, pooing, sweating in $$$ they probably don't care as of right now. However, they do sell WoW on D2D.

That word does not mean what you think it means.

 

[Soule]

That word does not mean what you think it means.

Nah you just haven't seen the inner sanctum of Blizz HQ

Spoiler

I cringed a little when I read that, happy someone else pointed it out

...but yeah I'd buy all Blizz games ASAP if they became available on steam.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

For me i rank the digital download services that i have used like this:

GOG > Steam > Impulse > gamersgate

Having no DRM and a simple way of buying games puts GOG on top every time.

this is not acceptable, EN GARDE!

 

[Servbot #42]

this is not acceptable, EN GARDE!

You know in your heart that GOG has the better service, just accept it.

 

[Vorador]

Currently i'm using Steam, Impulse and GoG. My two cents:

Steam has the most services integrated, but the DRM is annoying since i can't play the game without firing up Steam. Plus is somewhat buggy at times, and the pricing in Europe is in most cases absurd.

Impulse is nice, since i don't need to fire up the client to play the games, and DRM is nowhere in sight (for now). But it lacks some of the features of Steam, and for patches Impulse is necessary.

GoG is almost the only legal source of older games, pricing is great and they usually include for optional download some stuff like popular mods for the game, wallpapers, art, etc. Pretty nifty, plus no client needed.

 

[War Machine]

This is a good site to visit to keep up with DD deals.

 

[platypotamus]

This is a good site to visit to keep up with DD deals.

Awesome bump (not sarcastic). I was actually thinking of trying to piece together a site that did this, and now I don't have to.

 

[SRG01]

Important to mention that Direct2Drive titles generally have to be patched via Direct2Drive; I don't know if this extends to mods, though.

This post is kind of old, but it's kind of wrong. The titles that need to be patched seperately from the retail version typically encompass all DD versions. Civ4 was one of these titles and I haven't noticed any recent titles that did this anymore. For example, all of the NWN2 expansions don't need to do this and can be updated through its own updater.

Strangely enough, D2D actually removed some noticeable DRM, since the Storm of Zehir DD install seemed to have removed the CD check. :lol

 

[Slavik81]

To follow up on what SapientWolf said, EA does that. You can only download the game after purchase for like 30 days. If you pay an extra 5.99, they'll allow you to download for up to 2 years. EA store should be avoided at all costs.

Actually, it's 1 year and 5 years.

I know this only because I bought from them because at $16 for Mirror's Edge, they were less than half the Steam price of $40 at the time. Given that, it was cheaper to buy from them and then purchase the Steam version when the 1-year download period expired.

It's not terrible. It has its own download manager which is fairly effective and the download speed was good.

I'd recomend using the EA store if it's significantly cheaper than other options.

 

[VALIS]

I have used it [Direct2Drive] once and although it isn't too bad I don't want to have to contact a company to be able to download my games 1 year from now.

That is completely untrue.

 

[Dark Stalkers]

Is gamersgate slow for anyone else?

 

[rohlfinator]

This is a good site to visit to keep up with DD deals.

Wow, thanks! I was looking for something like this to add to my RSS reader.

Is gamersgate slow for anyone else?

I haven't used it before today, but it's been slow for me. It might just be due to their site upgrade and sales.

 

[dionysus]

Gamersgate is normally pretty fast for me. Even Steam chugs pretty bad when they have successful deals or big releases.

As time goes on I am beginning to appreciate clientless DD. If there was some type of gamer addon for aim or messenger that would show what game you were currently in, that would take care of any benefit of clients in my opinion.

 

[Gully State]

I agree with the sentiment that GOG has nailed it the best. Other than Valve titles, I really have a hard time trusting STEAM as other publishers still insist on having their own set of DRM on top of STEAM's which is annoying. IE- in Dawn of War 2, I not only have to get a STEAM account, but setup a GFW Live account to play online.

 

[Diomedeskun]

I love GOG and Steam has had some great deals, but I've never tried any others. Direct 2 Drive looks like it has some good deals for the next few days on Take2 games (Bioshock for $10 and all XCOM games for $7.50 sounds nice), but it seems to have a shoddy reputation going by the thread. Have people really had bad experiences with them, or are they OK?

 

[graywolf323]

the one time I used GamersGate I had a very bad experience between the download taking forever, and then the serial wouldn't be recognized even after they tried to reset it

so I'm sticking with Steam, Impulse, and GOG

 

[Stop It]

I love GOG and Steam has had some great deals, but I've never tried any others. Direct 2 Drive looks like it has some good deals for the next few days on Take2 games (Bioshock for $10 and all XCOM games for $7.50 sounds nice), but it seems to have a shoddy reputation going by the thread. Have people really had bad experiences with them, or are they OK?

Well, I bought Bioshock from D2D US, even though I am in the UK and the price for D2D UK was much higher.

Yes, there's DRM, but for Bioshock at least theres no more than the retail/Steam version used, and the activation limit is the same, so no complaints here. (This is coming from someone with 30ish games bought via Steam also).

 

[brain_stew]

Well, I bought Bioshock from D2D US, even though I am in the UK and the price for D2D UK was much higher.

Yes, there's DRM, but for Bioshock at least theres no more than the retail/Steam version used, and the activation limit is the same, so no complaints here. (This is coming from someone with 30ish games bought via Steam also).

Exact same experience here. I honestly don't understand why they have a separate UK store, you'd have to be crazy to use it.

 

[bigmit3737]

At the moment I have used Steam GOG and Impulse.

So far I really like GOG.
Impulse seems pretty good as well.

I like Steam for their own games, but not a fan of the 3rd party drm.

 

[epmode]

Required client aside, I *love* how quickly Steam installs a game. It's pretty much ready to go as soon as the download is finished. GOG/Gamersgate/everything else have extensive install times for bigger games.

 

[TheExodu5]

I like Steam for their own games, but not a fan of the 3rd party drm.

This is basically completely up to the publisher, and has nothing to do with Steam itself.

Steam has even proven advantageous in the case of recent EA games. EA removes all 3rd party DRM from their games on Steam.

Required client aside, I *love* how quickly Steam installs a game. It's pretty much ready to go as soon as the download is finished. GOG/Gamersgate/everything else have extensive install times for bigger games.

Steam, I'd say is the best for speed. Really fast downloads, instant installs, and automatic patching make it a great service.

There are downsides though:

1) Sometimes a patch can be released for retail copies, yet be slightly delayed for the Steam version. The most apparent case of this was with Sacred 2, where the patch was delayed for about 2 weeks, so you couldn't even play online.

2) Some games cannot be modded. This is a fairly rare occurence, but it's been the case with San Andreas (though you could download a cracked EXE). It might be the case with Fallout 3...I'm not sure. Basically, anything that requires injecting something into the EXE will not work, since the Steam EXE's are encrypted.

3) Need to be logged into Steam...Offline mode has been known to be glitchy. Once you put yourself in to Offline mode, it's fine, but if you were last online, and your net goes out, sometimes it will refuse to boot into Offline mode.

4) Game is not available. I haven't had this happen to me for a long time...but it has occasionally been a problem in the past.


I'd say overall Impulse has the best setup in terms of DRM. Although I don't mind having the Steam client (in fact, I love having all my games in one easy-to-access list), it is an issue for some. Impulse lacks a bit of the speed of Steam though, and manual updates can (though rarely) be a chore. I don't think Impulse has a backup option, which is a downside.

GamersGate is nice, but I wouldn't want to have many games on it. It lacks a client...and web browsing tends to be significantly slower to access your games list. It lacks a backup option as well, meaning it can be a huge pain to re-download games after formatting. The painfully slow download speeds don't help either. I see this as a service still in it's infancy though, so I'm sure we'll see some substantial upgrades in the future.

----------

I think once Steam Cloud gets up and running, it's going to be really hard to pull away. It really will depend on how well they implement it though...if it only works for a few select games, then its usefulness will be limited.

Oh, and the backup feature on Steam is awesome. It may take a ridiculous amount of time to back up stuff, but it's not too big of an issue since you can basically just do it overnight. It makes re-installing games over a format incredibly easy, since there's no need to manage individual game folders.