Alas, retail copies will also need to be activated on Steam.

I'm very disappointed with you Bethesda, truly I am. I'm very fond of your games, buying collectors' editions. I was always pleased to see you didn't go down the road of the other game companies and was happy to point out that you were better than the rest.

I don't think steam is terrible, but I'd rather not use it unless games are on sale in the region of €2-3. With single player games this is just unnecessary. Is this driven by greed? Looking at the money lost on second hand sales?
Maybe you should reconsider this. I like to keep my Bethesda games in a proud place on my shelf. The games have a very long life with your open modding engines. At least for PC.

I am extremely dismayed by this news and will reconsider my trust in Bethesda and there are plenty of DRM-free alternatives who I'd be honoured to support, like participants in the recent Humble Indie Bundle.

Well that's extremely disappointing, Bethesda was one of the few company remaining not using DRM (only basic CD-check) and now they sundely decide to use Steam :shakehead: :shakehead:


I suppose there is no hope that Bethesda will do like Sega announce they will do with Alpha Protocol (another Obsidian game) and release in some month a patch removing the DRM.

I wouldn't mind Steam so much, or any other DRM for that matter, if at least there was hope of it being removed by a patch some time after the initial release... but seeing how 7+ years old games still have DRM on Steam I doubt it will ever happen. :shakehead:



Honestly I would have preferred, at least with Securom there would have been hope of it being removed via a patch. (Like what happened with Farcry 2)

Dude, I was not comparing the two DRM systems, I was making a point that just because a restriction is easy to comply with does not mean it is a fair restriction.

This is why Alpha Protocol has the best DRM system I have seen yet, in my opinion. You have to activate online, yes, but they have promised to patch the requirement out within 2 years, and almost as important you can deauthorize a computer from any PC, meaning you never have to worry about running out of authorizations.

If Steam had a similar system of patching out the requirement someday, say when the GotY edition releases, I would stop complaining. It doesn't though, no Steam game has ever patched out the Steam requirement while SecuROM, TAGES and Uniloc have.

Fallout New Vegas is going to be released as a Steam game??

"Steam...least intrusive xperience..." [censored]!

I′ve had nothing but inconviniences and annoyances from using that "client", so i guess that′ll save me a few bob, cause i wont be buying that game then!

I do care about the developers, which is why I buy my games new. There is a difference between wanting people to do this and FORCING people to do this however, and I care much more about consumer rights than I do Bethesda, who even with a massive resale market on consoles still make tons of money off these games.

Also used sales fund new sales... people are more inclined to buy a new game for $50 on release day if they know they can sell it someday and get some money back. If game companies successfully eradicate used sales then preorders and day-one purchases of new console games will plummet, I assure you. They need to stop obsessing over used sales and just make good games that customers want to buy as soon as possible, end of story. You don't see the movie and music industries flipping out about used sales and you certainly don't see car companies doing it... they know used car sales fund new car sales.

Is it even possible/legal to resale a PC game? Here in England stores do not sell pre-owned PC games. (they do sell pre-owned xbox360 and ps3 games though)

I would like it if they gave us an option on install to choose whether or not to use steam. Obviously if you opted not to use steam you couldn't have achievements etc. but at least then it wouldn't be tied to an account.

Easy to comply with by some, your right not fair. But by almost all? I don't see whats bad about that...

Yes. In Denmark there are several stores doing just that. I buy most of my games 2.hand, as i′m reluctant to pay something in the region of 500DKR (55￡) for any game.

Yep. And (yes, looking back through the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia) I honestly think I'd prefer any of those to a required internet activation for a single player, non-online, bought in a brick-and-mortar store, game.

I have to say that I found Bioware's recent attempts at resale-proofing their games (Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2's "free" DLC, but only with a new copy) to be an interesting and creative approach to the issue.

And why should they ?

Do publisher and writers gets any revenue when you resell a book ?
Do publisher and artists gets any revenue when you resell an audio CD ? or movie director get anything when you resell a DVD or a Blu-Ray ?


No, then why should it be any different for software developers ? Especially if we are talking about retail version.

I still have some

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj125/Gizmojunk/Curse-1.jpg

PC games being resold used to be as common as console games... I remember when Gamestop had a huge PC section and a massive used PC games section. It was awesome. Actually one of the reasons Gamestop ignored the PC for the most part now is that they cannot get resale dollars from the platform, and when console games go the same way, a Steam-like tying of games to accounts like Xbox Live, Gamestop will be up a creek without a paddle.

When I purchased half-life 2, Steam updated the game without my consent and I lost audio...rendering the game unplayable. So it would seem that there is a reason not to have it, and Steam is less than great.

Would you like to buy some oil I'm holding in the Gulf of Mexico? It's Grrreat...there's no reason not to

I do NOT like Steam and don't use it. Pity...I was looking forward to this game. Not now though. When I first heard that they weren't going to use GfWL I was extremely pleased, and even congratulated Obsidian.

That'll teach me.

I really don't understand the hate. Steam is the best option. They're including DRM, and you're not going to change their mind. Wouldn't you rather get something out of it? The could just use Starforce or some server crap like Ubisoft or whatever else there is. At least you get everything Steamworks offers. I mean geez, what else are they supposed to do? Just a CD-check? Obviously gamesas wasn't happy with how that worked out before.

It is not "hate". And Steam is not the "best option". Best option for what?
DRM? No. Already been worked around.
"Achievements'? I guess that means something for the console generation.
"Manage" my games? I can decide on which folder I want to install, thank you.
Best option for annoying the customer? Absolutely.

This seems to be more ranting than anything Steam is what they are using and it will probably be the future of PC gaming. I don't think it's that bad once you're into using it anyway not like you have to do a lot of work.

If a game service exists, people will complain about it. Even if you throw it's server onto a lake and it walks on water.

Why not a simple disc-check? Steam will not stop any piracy, so what is the difference?

Well stated. You can't please anyone.

...or everyone?

I remember a floppy game I had. Came with a colour chart I had to use to find two colours at the coordinates shown on the screen