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Pheace: Who on earth would think Microsoft would start delivering Steam de-facto with Windows? That makes no sense whatsoever.
I meant it as Steam already getting such a critical mass (mainly userbase) that all Windows games would be delivered on it first and foremost. Not necessarily OS maker endorsing it.
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kavazovangel: ... that is coming with Windows 8. I've noticed that some around here talk that, for example, EA ditching Steam is a really bad thing for the gamers.
It's good that publishers are looking for alternatives to Steam. Steam has achieved a quasi-monopoly, with all disadvantages that that entails for the customers. Having meaningful competitors to Steam is a good thing because it means that Steam may need to make its terms of service more customer friendly eventually.

A publisher like EA trying to find a more direct route to its customers is _probably_ a bad thing though, since EA is unlikely to do anything with that opportunity expect trying to exert more control over its customers.
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kavazovangel: I wonder if a developer totally ditches Steam / Origin / GOG / GG / whatever, and just allows you to purchase stuff with your email address, without you to be forced into making any additonal accounts, or giving third parties your billing info, would you prefer that over the other services like Steam / GG / GOG / Origin / and similar?
I would certainly prefer it over Steam or Origin. I probably wouldn't prefer it over GOG and GG, since GOG and GG are pretty consumer friendly already, and it's convenient to have all games in one place (or two).
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kavazovangel: Yey, many +++++ for that. Buy games only when you'd play them!
Less money from me to publishers then, as I wouldn't make impulse purchases anymore. If I had bought GOG games the same way, I'd probably have bought only Baldur's Gate 1 from here so far.

I must admit I was close to buying Bioshock from Steam when it was on sale, but now I'm glad I didn't. It is not like it is going anywhere (for now), the price is only coming down in the long run, and I don't have to fret whether the game can still be activated when I actually want to play it. Who knows, maybe I will buy an enhanced Bioshock remake five years from now from Windows Store.
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timppu: but maybe in the long run "normal" Windows games will become obsolete the same way like DOS games became when the publishers finally ditched it in favor of Win32/DirectX.
That's really hard to say. As beautiful as I think the Metro design language can be, it cannot be considered much useful for heavy applications like Visual Studio, Photoshop, Office, and similar.

Maybe in the distant future, but right now WinRT is not that powerful to begin with.
My experience with Xboxlive is no I won't ,or i will use a point card. One time I lost my xboxlive service for week or two and spent way too much time jumping through all these hoops just to remove a credit card from my account.
Given how it seems to be surfacing that Microsoft is far less impregnable than they'll have you believe... I don't really want my credit card details built into, say windows. This xbox thing is getting silly now, with Microsoft keeping it under hat how many people have been hacked by blaming it all on 'Phishing Scams.' Whilst I don't doubt that a lot of it is phishing scams, but there's more to it than that and they're being very aloof about it.
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OmegaX: I buy games from a lot of different stores like GOG, Steam, GamersGate, D2D (RIP), and Amazon but I won't be buying from the Windows store and I doubt any major publisher will be dumb enough to ditch other stores to sell exclusively on it.
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timppu: Why wouldn't you buy anything from the Windows Store?

The interesting part is that apparently Windows Store will be the only possible way to deliver Metro apps and games, even if they are freeware. So at least for them, either you use Windows Store, or can forget about publishing it to Windows devices (AFAIK). Sure, "normal" PC games and apps can still be delivered by other methods, but maybe in the long run "normal" Windows games will become obsolete the same way like DOS games became when the publishers finally ditched it in favor of Win32/DirectX.

It's not really different what Apple is doing with their exclusive app store. All the companies publishing games and apps for IPads and IPhones don't seem to care about ditching other (non-existent) stores, as long as they get big sales.

EA is a different story because they are already trying to push their own delivery system, they will not abandon it without a fight. And maybe Half-life 3 will be Steam exclusive as well, at least at first.
If I wanted a OS brand store for all my applications and games (Hint: I don't) I'd have bought a f-ing Mac. With portable devices like smartphones and tablets I let them get away with it because they aren't as versatile as a PC. I'd hate if MS forces its own AppStore on PC users and we let them do it.
Post edited January 16, 2012 by OmegaX
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Foxhack: I live in Mexico. I have a Mexican IP address.

I have a US Credit Card.

They think I'm trying to rip them off. I'm not.
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Titanium: Having a local backup option is out of the question?
I don't have a bank account in Mexico because they're a total ripoff. Plus they make me wait a month or two to get a card.
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serpantino: Given how it seems to be surfacing that Microsoft is far less impregnable than they'll have you believe... I don't really want my credit card details built into, say windows. This xbox thing is getting silly now, with Microsoft keeping it under hat how many people have been hacked by blaming it all on 'Phishing Scams.' Whilst I don't doubt that a lot of it is phishing scams, but there's more to it than that and they're being very aloof about it.
I got hacked myself, by someone who spent all my points and apparently really likes FIFA 12, a game that I don't own. Now, once I contacted Microsoft about it directly, the lady on the phone was actually extremely helpful, helped me re-acquire the account and got their investigations team on it in a couple of days. I had no access for about a day when they took control, but at the end of it, they not only restored all my points, they gave me the equivalent of 3 months Live service for free.

They KNOW it's going on, it happened with the last Madden game as well. I'm not sure what the actualy correlation is between EA games and hackers, but it seems extremely odd.
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LiquidOxygen80: snip
EA's sport games have a lot of tradable DLC's so basicly they are using your account to buy the DLC then trading it to another account to sell for $$$
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Pheace: Who on earth would think Microsoft would start delivering Steam de-facto with Windows? That makes no sense whatsoever.
Honestly, if they would ditch the DRM and only take back games on a game by game basis I could totally see Steam being such a service.

Of course you probably mean bundled with the OS, which is indeed ridiculous. But Steam does have some nice features if you ignore what dickheads Valve are.
I don't really have any objection to a Windows app store. But I won't be using it, if only because it's tied to Windows 8, which I don't need. If they ported it to Windows 7 I might take a peak.
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LiquidOxygen80: snip
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wodmarach: EA's sport games have a lot of tradable DLC's so basicly they are using your account to buy the DLC then trading it to another account to sell for $$$
That makes sense.
Nope, not touching it even with a stick.
I'm pretty sure the Windows store will have an integrated experience with XBox Live (you can now, for example, buy XBox Live games on their store website and download them when you get home). So I'll bet you'll have friends lists and all that available if you want. Technically MS has a pretty easy set up for Live and I'd imagine Windows Store will be similar.
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Pheace: Who on earth would think Microsoft would start delivering Steam de-facto with Windows? That makes no sense whatsoever.
Integrated common experience. You buy a Win Phone 7 you get an app store. You buy Win 8 you get an app store. You use a XBox 360 you get an app store. They look the same, they act the same, your Zune service/library plays the same. They'll have voice commands and, in the case of XBox and Windows with camera/Kinect take physical gesture commands.

I'm not saying it's the best thing since sliced bread or anything, but this seems to be the direction they've been heading for some time now.
Post edited January 16, 2012 by orcishgamer