Steam - There's a sale on

[Ryan]

Have you tried paying via Paypal?

[Billy Brown]

I've just tried that but now it won't go back to the transaction page when I try to update my payment method. It's just saying: "There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance."

[JoeK]

I've just tried that but now it won't go back to the transaction page when I try to update my payment method. It's just saying: "There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance."

Wouldn't worry - it does this from time to time. Leave it an hour or so and it'll sort itself out.

[Yewone]

Wouldn't worry - it does this from time to time. Leave it an hour or so and it'll sort itself out.

Fingers crossed!

[Yewone]

Also noticed during the Steam Sale a few folks were after Ridgeracer unbounded.. Looks like ShopTo are selling the retail version for just under £6.. Not sure if it's steam compatible though.

[Mortis]

As far as I'm aware it's steamworks so well worth a punt at that price.

[earlymodernsteve]

King's Bounty: Armoured Princess on deal of the day, but as per usual it also means the franchise is 75% off. Not played any of them but remember the original getting a lot of love around these parts so I've picked it up for the princely sum of £2.49. Completely forgot about it during the sale so I'm glad it's dropped so soon.

[Billy Brown]

Wouldn't worry - it does this from time to time. Leave it an hour or so and it'll sort itself out.

Thanks. It's been a while now but I'll wait it out and see what happens.

[gospvg]

Thanks for the heads up I'll be picking up those Kings Bounty games

[earlymodernsteve]

Thanks for the heads up I'll be picking up those Kings Bounty games

I've gone for the Indie Gala 7 bundle for Armoured Princess - not too bothered with the other games in it but the money goes to charidee. Will probably get the Crossworlds one as well on Steam because I am weak.

[Mr. Gerbik]

Lately I've seen a lot of people on my friends list playing Darksiders, obviously because the promising sequel is almost upon us. I played up until the first boss on the 360 way back when and got distracted for some reason. I always meant to come back to it but predictably I've since picked up the PC version on Steam during some sale or other and because I recently acquired Darksiders 2 on Green Man Gaming (during one of their regular 25$ off Darksiders 2 CE offers) I decided I had to do as my friendslist does and finish it before the sequel unlocks! (inbetween epic sessions of Divine Divinity and Thief Gold, which I've not been able to put down ever since firing it up to test the newest versions of the fanpatches and mods for the guide in the Thief thread)

Aaanyway, first thing I did was force 8X CSAA through the Nvidia control panel, which may sound like overkill but we're talking about an old-ass 360 game here which runs on any modern-day pocket calculator by now. And at 1080p and with some AA applied it looks REALLY good! The stylised artstyle means the game looks good regardless, but the increased resolution and sharpness really enhances it. Fun game too, so far it's the best Zelda game of this generation - which is really fucking depressing when you think about it, sort it out Nintendo.

[JPR]

Question about Binary Domain, I notice many of my shadows don't actually match up with any light source, is this normal, anything that an be done about it? It looks like they're the correct shadow but in the wrong place, a bit annoying but can live with it if I must.

[moosegrinder]

Lately I've seen a lot of people on my friends list playing Darksiders, obviously because the promising sequel is almost upon us. I played up until the first boss on the 360 way back when and got distracted for some reason. I always meant to come back to it but predictably I've since picked up the PC version on Steam during some sale or other and because I recently acquired Darksiders 2 on Green Man Gaming (during one of their regular 25$ off Darksiders 2 CE offers) I decided I had to do as my friendslist does and finish it before the sequel unlocks! (inbetween epic sessions of Divine Divinity and Thief Gold, which I've not been able to put down ever since firing it up to test the newest versions of the fanpatches and mods for the guide in the Thief thread)

Aaanyway, first thing I did was force 8X CSAA through the Nvidia control panel, which may sound like overkill but we're talking about an old-ass 360 game here which runs on any modern-day pocket calculator by now. And at 1080p and with some AA applied it looks REALLY good! The stylised artstyle means the game looks good regardless, but the increased resolution and sharpness really enhances it. Fun game too, so far it's the best Zelda game of this generation - which is really fucking depressing when you think about it, sort it out Nintendo.

I get negged to death when I say that

[NecroMorrius]

Okami THEN Darksiders! Then the Zelda rehashes.

[moosegrinder]

It's a tough 'un, but Okami is more beautiful,

[Mr. Gerbik]

I get negged to death when I say that

Don't say it outside the Steam thread We all know it's true though.

Okami THEN Darksiders! Then the Zelda rehashes.

Okami is a last gen game so for this gen it's definitely Darksiders. Really looking forward to the Okami HD remake though, looks very good from the trailers. Both Darksiders and Okami prove that Nintendo should just let another dev have a go, as Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword weren't all that.

[mr_woo]

Started playing Mass Effect 1 on the PC (after picking up the lot cheap recently) and really enjoying the experience so far. It's strange going back to the first games more RPG style combat (where your levelling really does make a difference) but the story has me hooked all over again. I always liked the first game the best and so far from the 5 - 6 hours I've played so far that remains the case still.

I must admit that I'm really sad they just gave up on exploring random planets on foot/via the Mako in the sequels. Sure the Mako exploration could have been handled better, especially in the handling of the Mako itself, but I must admit I just love roaming around random landscapes discovering little things and getting into random firefights. They could have made big improvements with that and instead just removed it. I can understand why but it still makes me a bit sad.

As for the port well I'm certainly enjoying it using m/k. It's even stranger seeing the game run at such a great framerate as I remember the first game having some framerate problems didnt it ?

Also, quick question for Mass Effect veterans. I've only ever played as a soldier before but am now playing as a Vanguard (female Shepherd for a change). Can you not use sniper rifles or assault rifles in this class ? Just says 'Untrained' for them so I'm guessing that's to do with the class itself.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

As for the port well I'm certainly enjoying it using m/k. It's even stranger seeing the game run at such a great framerate as I remember the first game having some framerate problems didnt it ?

Yeah, the 360 version ran like an absolute dog. ME2 ran a lot better with the optimisations they threw at the engine - it looked better too.

[routeburn]

King's Bounty: Armoured Princess on deal of the day, but as per usual it also means the franchise is 75% off. Not played any of them but remember the original getting a lot of love around these parts so I've picked it up for the princely sum of £2.49. Completely forgot about it during the sale so I'm glad it's dropped so soon.

The King's Bounty series is very very good. I had some stability problems with the first one (The Legend) when I played it on release, however I believe this was pretty much solved with Armoured Princess (and also as video drivers etc. evolved, or perhaps I just changed hardware, but the first one seems stable for me these days). Armoured Princess is a good sequel to The Legend, and I know nothing about Crossworlds but it seems to get good reports.

It's basically a bit of a fantasy RPG back story driving your tour around a beautifully drawn overworld, with monster battles consisting of a sort of Card Game-based, turn-based, tactical hex-grid battle. You build a small army by buying/recruiting new monsters, wizards, archers, knights etc. and can play so many of these at a time. Your enemy has a given pool of creatures/characters themselves. You take it in turns to move around a battleground casting spells, hitting each other very hard with big swords etc. It's actually very fun, and there's a bit of strategy involved in putting together your army. It can also be very tough if you're not prepared for a given battle.

It's a beautiful, and very fun, set of games. I'd personally go for the bundle of all three at US$8.75.

[mr_woo]

Remember, for anyone thats wanting to get Kings Bounty Armoured Princess by itself you can get the Indie Royale bundle which includes that and others for a PAYG price though for $7 or more you get 7 games and a few more specials to be revealed next week.

http://www.indiegala.com/

Yeah, the 360 version ran like an absolute dog. ME2 ran a lot better with the optimisations they threw at the engine - it looked better too.

Ah ok I thought that was the case as I remember loving the first game on 360 but not being impressed by its performance with the sequels getting major improvements.

[gospvg]

I've gone for the Indie Gala 7 bundle for Armoured Princess - not too bothered with the other games in it but the money goes to charidee. Will probably get the Crossworlds one as well on Steam because I am weak.

Yes I got AP with the same bundle. Annoyingly the collection for £7.49 does not let you gift the extra copy of AP. So I went for the other two individually purchased.

Once I'm done with Terraria I'll start on the The Legend.

[stefcha]

I've gone for the Indie Gala 7 bundle for Armoured Princess - not too bothered with the other games in it but the money goes to charidee. Will probably get the Crossworlds one as well on Steam because I am weak.

Was wondering about Crossworlds myself, seems pretty light on content but one thing it does do is provide a better version of the AP campaign apparently. So even though I've no real need for it having not even played AP yet, I bought. Played through a fair bit of Legend a few years back, hopefully I can use the saves with the Steam version or I'm starting that again!

[BrerLappin]

Lately I've seen a lot of people on my friends list playing Darksiders, obviously because the promising sequel is almost upon us. I played up until the first boss on the 360 way back when and got distracted for some reason. I always meant to come back to it but predictably I've since picked up the PC version on Steam during some sale or other and because I recently acquired Darksiders 2 on Green Man Gaming (during one of their regular 25$ off Darksiders 2 CE offers) I decided I had to do as my friendslist does and finish it before the sequel unlocks! (inbetween epic sessions of Divine Divinity and Thief Gold, which I've not been able to put down ever since firing it up to test the newest versions of the fanpatches and mods for the guide in the Thief thread)

Aaanyway, first thing I did was force 8X CSAA through the Nvidia control panel, which may sound like overkill but we're talking about an old-ass 360 game here which runs on any modern-day pocket calculator by now. And at 1080p and with some AA applied it looks REALLY good! The stylised artstyle means the game looks good regardless, but the increased resolution and sharpness really enhances it. Fun game too, so far it's the best Zelda game of this generation - which is really fucking depressing when you think about it, sort it out Nintendo.

Darksiders

I fucking love that game, but it does have weird FPS dips i found. It's not your average console port that'll run at crazy resolutions with tons of AA and not take a hit, i did find it a bit taxing, but then again,t hat was on my old 4870 i think, before i jumped ship for team Nvidia. Must give it a bash before DS2 coems out. Oh and you do know thats Bennett from Commando voicing Samael, right??

I tried the new dawn demo on my PC, shockingly, it runs almost acceptably on a GTX560ti (it was designed to be run on SLI'ed 670s, i think), so pretty imrpessive all things considered

[Mortis]

Lately I've seen a lot of people on my friends list playing Darksiders, obviously because the promising sequel is almost upon us. I played up until the first boss on the 360 way back when and got distracted for some reason. I always meant to come back to it but predictably I've since picked up the PC version on Steam during some sale or other and because I recently acquired Darksiders 2 on Green Man Gaming (during one of their regular 25$ off Darksiders 2 CE offers) I decided I had to do as my friendslist does and finish it before the sequel unlocks! (inbetween epic sessions of Divine Divinity and Thief Gold, which I've not been able to put down ever since firing it up to test the newest versions of the fanpatches and mods for the guide in the Thief thread)

Aaanyway, first thing I did was force 8X CSAA through the Nvidia control panel, which may sound like overkill but we're talking about an old-ass 360 game here which runs on any modern-day pocket calculator by now. And at 1080p and with some AA applied it looks REALLY good! The stylised artstyle means the game looks good regardless, but the increased resolution and sharpness really enhances it. Fun game too, so far it's the best Zelda game of this generation - which is really fucking depressing when you think about it, sort it out Nintendo.

I decided a replay was in order as the last time I ran through it was on the shockingly poorly optimized PS3 version. Well that and the sequel looks amazing - I'd also tried to explain to a mat that has it on his steam pile of shame why he needs to get into it. He'd only bought it 'cos it was cheap but hasn't booted it ever as he played the demo and wasn't to fussed. As demos go I always remember thinking it was a poor God of War clone at the time - no one was more shocked than me when all of a sudden after the first hour or so I found myself in a Zelda style game which just happened to have a deep combat system as well.

It actually ruined the latest Zelda for me 'cos while playing the poor motion control swordfights and having that "I've played this before" feeling I thought damn Darksiders really was miles better than this.

[BrerLappin]

Anyone wanting more info on DS2, one of the devs from vigil games has been answering questions over on gaf

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=482752&page=16

and that should probably have gone in the darksiders thread i guess

[Mr. Gerbik]

Oh and you do know thats Bennett from Commando voicing Samael, right??

MIND. BLOWN. No, I didn't! Makes the game even better tbh.

It actually ruined the latest Zelda for me 'cos while playing the poor motion control swordfights and having that "I've played this before" feeling I thought damn Darksiders really was miles better than this.

Exactly what I thought, 'so this how Zelda would be with a decent combat system and without lazily regurgitating the same old shit that was done miles better in the older games'. Don't tell scottcr I said that though.

[Blu3Flame]

Oh ffs UBI, can their DRM get any worse.

http://www.eurogamer...y-vulnerability

http://www.rockpaper...isoft-pc-games/

Short version: Uninstall the uPlay browser extensions immediately.

[kanedaa]

Big thanks to dood for sorting out the Borderlands 2 multi-buy deal. For anyone who missed out, GMG (if they get it sorted*) are offering the PC DVD version for £19.99 from now until noon tomorrow. It's steamworks afaik, so providing they deliver on time (they state "delivered for release" even on the free 2nd class option) you should be playing the same day as those who get it through steam.

http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/gb/en/pc/promo/borderland-2-deals/

*at the time of posting the promo price isn't showing but it's definitely a deal. They're doing PC DVD offers each day at the moment, to promote the new physical copy side of their shop.

[Mortis]

Also Greenman are doing a 25% off Darksiders 2 Limited edition with the code DEATH-FLIES-TOYOU http://www.greenmang...imited-edition/ making it £26.21 and it's steamworks.

[Sprite Machine]

Oh ffs UBI, can their DRM get any worse.

http://www.eurogamer...y-vulnerability

http://www.rockpaper...isoft-pc-games/

Short version: Uninstall the uPlay browser extensions immediately.

Frankly, I think Steam is ubiquitous enough to demand that publishers remove their crap DRM and "added-value" software from their games before they be allowed to sell them through Steam.

Forget security exploits, even when they're working properly, they are a pain in the arse from the consumer's point of view. You buy a game from the store, you expect to click "play" and play it. You don't expect to click "play" and then be shown another program where you have to create an account and then click on something else to start your game, and then copy and paste your serial key into it to activate so that the new program knows that you've bought it. One portal inside another. Steam isn't selling the game, it's selling a key and the files and allowing the other program to authorise it. You could be cynical and say these publishers are selling adverts to get you into their own systems. It's a mess.

And what about when Steam's Big Picture Mode is released? Controller-compatible menu, controller-compatible game... but what's this? You have to use the mouse to select the game from the UPlay menu? Fail.

Sort it out, Valve. Refuse to sell any games that have publisher's own DRM. The consoles manage it, because there's no other choice for those platforms. You have the power!