They can probably afford to buy some lights for their office.

/snark 

Welcome to last year Daz http://www.celephais.net/board/view_thread.php?id=50858&start=34 

 

That page and the new info / shots is a good call, bromide. 

free The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/04/ars-and-gog-two-great-tastes-that-go-great-together/ 

"free The Witcher: Enhanced Edition"

Thanks for the info. Got my copy this morning.

I already had it on Steam, but Steam gives me an icky feeling. 

Free whatever the fuck you already bought once @torrent and friends. 

it still feels shitty piracing games :D 

It's funny how Dead Space 3 ended up with a fairly average response from critics - yet Tomb Raider ended up being game of the year contender. But yet when you look at the gameplay, they're actually very similar games.

I think it's because Dead Space 3 people had high expectations for a tough, gritty survival game, but it ended up being more action-oriented. While TR has much lower expectations of being lame jumping sequences and complicated puzzles that make no sense in the real world but hey it's Tomb Raider, with a pair of tits and short shorts. Which to be honest since the first couple of games really only suits a niche market. TR1's popularity wasn't over it's puzzles anyway. Instead we get an survival-action game.

Both third person shooters with long periods of non-action. Climbing sequences in TR while zero-grav sequences in DS3. An equal amount of simple puzzles - TR usually with fire or weight, DS3 with the force. Slow walk speed, an importance on where you hit the enemy - TR the head, DS3 the limbs. Similar amounts of using cover (yawn) and QTE's (yawn!!!). TR ends up a bit different with the bow and arrow which I stuck with all game long because it was so satisfying to hit fiery head shots, but I always had ammo for the guns. DS3 was far more difficult though, imo. Both have weapon and skill upgrading (what game doesn't lately?).

The layouts were very similar, both a little bit of exploration and backtracking over previous areas, but overall you're always heading for the same destination.

Graphics on par, I loved both tbh. Stories, well sure TR had the better story, it was almost horror the way it started out. Obviously one is island, the other sci-fi. But I'm looking past where they're set.

Anyone else find the two quite similar? Same score from me 8.5/10.

Well time to take a step down... Saints Row 4 next :\ 

 

No, but both good in their own ways. 

Executable files in random torrent downloads, because nothing bad has ever happened doing that. 

I mean sure, third person shooters with survival horror elements, mostly linear level flow with small hub areas along the way, upradable weapons. Puzzles. And gratuitous Uncharted-style QTEs. 

Rick seriously ?
Never had any trouble.
Trusted uploaders, scan tools and some common sense and you are safe.

Now some of the shit we have seen packaged under the guise of DRM though....

I do not understand the thrashing against these convenient DRM free, often portable, versions of the games for paying customers...

Who's bitch are you? 

http://specialreservegames.com/ 

https://www.bluesnews.com/s/180391/arkane-steam-refunds-pc-prey-demo 

Boycott for what reason, exactly? 

PC gamers become a second class citizen. Making someone drop $60 for a chance to play and then having to request a refund as opposed to a demo is silly. I'm not one to boycott game studios but thought I'd clarify.

The funny thing is - if it's been developed on PC then just how much effort would there be required to make a demo? They're idiots. 

I don't know if their stated reasons are the actual ones, but yes making a demo is a lot of effort. 

Most likely the real reason: we aren't anticipating high sales on PC so why bother? 

My thinking here is that the 2 hour time limit of playtime in steam games need to be brought front and center for users.

Let's say you buy Prey. You play the game and decide it's really not for you, but ooops you've played 2.5 hours therefore no refund for you. Steam needs to actively tell players that are approaching the 2 hour cut off so that they may stop playing and get a refund, or continue and accept that the game is worth their time and money.

With something like this in place, all games released on steam technically have a demo in place with no further work required by the developers.

The next step would be to allow everyone to download and play any game for 2 hours without even paying and then being asked for payment when the 2 hour gate is reached. 

Yeah if Steam had a delayed-payment process that way, then that would make for an OK demo approximation -- although for some game types, the first 2 hours of gameplay aren't a great substitute for a slice that is specifically crafted as a demo.

It would really screw over short games though, unless Steam allowed developers to opt out of the delayed-payment model for individual games. 

Steam needs to actively tell players that are approaching the 2 hour cut off so that they may stop playing and get a refund.

That's a good idea.

The next step would be to allow everyone to download and play any game for 2 hours without even paying and then being asked for payment when the 2 hour gate is reached.

I feel a little weird about this one, but I'm not sure why. Maybe this could be an opt-in for devs.

With the abundance of reviewers and 'let's players' on youtube, demos seem almost obsolete. With 10 minutes of research one could determine if a particular game will suit them or not with reasonable accuracy.