Author Topic: Descent on Steam!  (Read 29239 times)

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Offline jr2

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He's going to be in for a shocker when he realizes that all physical media is going to die in the coming years.

Physical media is never going to die, both because non-physical media is a mental construct and because said media is inherently useful.


 

Offline yuezhi

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Of course kiddo, surely you know about 3D printers. :P
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Offline deathfun

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I had to
As for physical media dying, so long as there's a market for distribution of physical copies there won't be a death anywhere in sight.
"No"

 

Offline NGTM-1R

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I know this is an side tangent, but how is Steam a lot better then origin (or hwo can Origin be considered on the same level of starforce?)

In case you missed it upthread, Origin has been documented before as actively monitoring your computer for warez copies of Origin products and/or cracking tools that might be used to remove Origin from the equation. The fact it's not as buggy about this as Starforce and that it doesn't apparently do this all the time is to its credit, but it's still pretty intrusive and dumb in comparison to anything Steam does, and it's still Starforce's modus operandi.
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It was recently demonstrated that VAC actively scans your DNS cache to monitor what domains you've visited, so I'm not sure Valve is that much better when it comes to lines drawn in the sand for user privacy.
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Offline The E

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It was not, however, conclusively proven that identifying information derived from those scans was transmitted.
If I'm just aching this can't go on
I came from chasing dreams to feel alone
There must be changes, miss to feel strong
I really need lifе to touch me
--Evergrey, Where August Mourns

 
I know this is an side tangent, but how is Steam a lot better then origin (or hwo can Origin be considered on the same level of starforce?)

In case you missed it upthread, Origin has been documented before as actively monitoring your computer for warez copies of Origin products and/or cracking tools that might be used to remove Origin from the equation. The fact it's not as buggy about this as Starforce and that it doesn't apparently do this all the time is to its credit, but it's still pretty intrusive and dumb in comparison to anything Steam does, and it's still Starforce's modus operandi.

CT magazine later tested if origin did, and it turned out it did not. All that Origin does is scan for licenses needed to make HTTPS connections, which are found in an particular part of the PC. Every program that uses HTTPS connections is required to do this scan by windows, so your browser does it as well.

  

Offline Nakura

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He's going to be in for a shocker when he realizes that all physical media is going to die in the coming years.

Physical media is never going to die, both because non-physical media is a mental construct and because said media is inherently useful.

I enjoy CDs and VHS tapes as much as the next guy, but they're a dying medium. We've already seen physical PC games die out almost entirely. Even non-Steam games don't even really use the CD anymore, as they either activate on Origin or on Blizzard's Battle.net. Physical CDs and DVDs are also dying out, with things like iTunes, MP3 players, Netflix, etc.

Even console games are going the digital distribution route. Microsoft and Sony are already planning to completely do away with physical media altogether. This is the 21st century and times are changing, for better or worse (I'd say better). The days of rewinding your VHS tape are quickly coming to an end, my friend.

 

Offline The E

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I enjoy CDs and VHS tapes as much as the next guy, but they're a dying medium. We've already seen physical PC games die out almost entirely. Even non-Steam games don't even really use the CD anymore, as they either activate on Origin or on Blizzard's Battle.net. Physical CDs and DVDs are also dying out, with things like iTunes, MP3 players, Netflix, etc.

Even console games are going the digital distribution route. Microsoft and Sony are already planning to completely do away with physical media altogether. This is the 21st century and times are changing, for better or worse (I'd say better). The days of rewinding your VHS tape are quickly coming to an end, my friend.

This only holds true if the network infrastructure can grow with demand. As long as there are rural areas without reliable broadband access, there will be a market for physical media. Right now, the net cannot compete in terms of reliability with DVDs or Blurays when it comes to delivering big content when the customer wants it.

Also note that MP3s and digital downloads require a greater deal of technological ability than CDs, DVDs or Blurays, as those are very simple technologies to explain.
If I'm just aching this can't go on
I came from chasing dreams to feel alone
There must be changes, miss to feel strong
I really need lifе to touch me
--Evergrey, Where August Mourns

 

Offline Dragon

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Don't forget car radios. As long as there are radios with CD drives, the audio CDs aren't going anywhere. Sure, you could play music from the USB stick, but a CD seems much more convenient in this case. Also, DVDs/Bluerays are cheaper and faster to read than the equivalent USB memory sticks, meaning that for carrying a movie around with you, they're generally better. Physical storage/transfer devices aren't going anywhere anytime soon, because if you want to, say, bring a movie to a party at friend's house, it's easier to just bring the DVD instead of messing around with Netflix. Very large quantities of data (on order of terabytes) are also much quicker to move by physical means than through the network. Not to mention physical transfer is more secure. It's much harder to steal an USB stick from a careful courier than it is to intercept a data transmission. While physical media are being relegated to more niche applications lately, they certainly aren't going anywhere.

 

Offline Mongoose

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I know I'm buying DVDs/Blu-Rays until the bitter end.  My brother's been using a friend's Netflix account to watch a show, and even though we have a great ISP, the damn thing buffers incessantly.

 

Offline General Battuta

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Something's ****ed with your ISP. They may be throttling Netflix on purpose.

 

Offline BloodEagle

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Physical media is never going to die, both because non-physical media is a mental construct and because said media is inherently useful.

I enjoy CDs and VHS tapes as much as the next guy, but they're a dying medium. We've already seen physical PC games die out almost entirely. Even non-Steam games don't even really use the CD anymore, as they either activate on Origin or on Blizzard's Battle.net. Physical CDs and DVDs are also dying out, with things like iTunes, MP3 players, Netflix, etc.

Even console games are going the digital distribution route. Microsoft and Sony are already planning to completely do away with physical media altogether. This is the 21st century and times are changing, for better or worse (I'd say better). The days of rewinding your VHS tape are quickly coming to an end, my friend.

• There are a number of PC games that still use DVDs for the initial version.  I have one from the tail-end of 2011 sitting on my bookshelf right now, and I'm not even going to bother looking for newer titles because it's a certainty that they exist.

• Microsoft and Sony are about to learn a hard lesson about bandwidth caps, which are becoming a bit of a heated issue at the moment.  Their codecs for streaming game footage, for instance, are horrible, and their customers are going to (if they aren't already) be pissed when they start getting an extra fifty dollars tacked on to their monthly bill.  As this becomes more and more of a problem, I have no doubt that they'll start requiring developers to include a base percentage of the content on-disc.

This only holds true if the network infrastructure can grow with demand. As long as there are rural areas without reliable broadband access, there will be a market for physical media. Right now, the net cannot compete in terms of reliability with DVDs or Blurays when it comes to delivering big content when the customer wants it.
• This.

• Yes, 'physical media' is being used less and less as a method of transfer, but they're never going to "die in the coming years."  As I said before, they are too inherently useful to ever die out.  Hell, storage tape is still used.

Seriously?  No one is going to say anything about the 'mental construct' bit?  I'm disappointed in all of you.

 

Offline karajorma

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It was not, however, conclusively proven that identifying information derived from those scans was transmitted.

Let me ask though, what happens to your Steam account and all your games if VAC does decide you're cheating? For that matter, what if you get banned for any other reason?
« Last Edit: February 19, 2014, 12:36:15 pm by karajorma »
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Offline AdmiralRalwood

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It was not, however, conclusively proven that identifying information derived from those scans was transmitted.

Let me ask though, what happens to your Steam account and all your games if VAC does decide you're cheating?
Absolutely nothing; all VAC does is say you can no longer join multiplayer servers running VAC. There are usually at least as many non-VAC servers as there are VAC servers in a given, popular game.
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It was not, however, conclusively proven that identifying information derived from those scans was transmitted.

As though that makes it acceptable! NGTM didn't mention any proof that Origin was doing anything with their monitoring data, so why is it a prerequisite for condemning Valve? The onus of proof here is clearly on the company gathering your data to show that they're not abusing it.
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.

 

Offline General Battuta

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They already explained what was happening there, it was something that seemed pretty well justified.

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1y70ej/valve_vac_and_trust/

 

Offline Dragon

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OK, I've never expected that one. I guess I'm gonna give it to Valve, I would've never thought that it's even possible. Just what kind of person pays to cheat at the game? It's one thing to use simple hacks to spoil peoples' fun, but paying for it? It's a bloody game, and it's not like it's gonna be usable in a serious tournament, anyway (they probably have more strict anti-cheats than VAC).

 

Offline Mongoose

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Something's ****ed with your ISP. They may be throttling Netflix on purpose.
Could be, or the Blu-ray player he was using was choking on it.  Either way, unlike Valve, I don't trust major media publishers as far as I can throw them, so I'm not willing to put any stock in paying for access to old TV shows that can be removed without notice.

OK, I've never expected that one. I guess I'm gonna give it to Valve, I would've never thought that it's even possible. Just what kind of person pays to cheat at the game? It's one thing to use simple hacks to spoil peoples' fun, but paying for it? It's a bloody game, and it's not like it's gonna be usable in a serious tournament, anyway (they probably have more strict anti-cheats than VAC).
Shockingly enough, many people are idiots.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2014, 03:07:27 pm by Mongoose »

 

Offline An4ximandros

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Physical will never die! It will just become a collector's item.