Yea I agree, I didn't know if beamdog had full say for any anti-piracy measures they put in or if it was stipulated in the contract for them to work on the game which would mean it's out of their hands. From looking into the Beamdog client it seems to be very unobtrusive .
Nonetheless I misread the quote, the twitter feed has a few mentions of starcraft as an example and I thought this comment painted Diablo 3's always online measure as a positive. The mentioning of constant updates made me fear this was the route they were going aswell but thankfully not!
17:25, 29. jul.Pre-loading starts late August, we send you the loader, you grab it and run it. It pulls most of the game. Launch day we update.
17:44, 29. jul #bgee will have co-op multiplayer and will work across platforms. iPad can play with Android, Mac and PC. On happy gaming family:-)
17:47, 29. jul .launcher needs Internet to download. To play #bgee on a new computer, grab the client, type in your password and it downloads the game.
Also the Tweet from 29th means that when you have no Internet at home you are doomed. You are not able to download it in an other place and then copy it via an USB stick... because you will have to activate it over the web on the new PC at home. Don't like it...
Also the Tweet from 29th means that when you have no Internet at home you are doomed. You are not able to download it in an other place and then copy it via an USB stick... because you will have to activate it over the web on the new PC at home. Don't like it...
In the last ten years, I haven't come across a single computer (at work, friends, collegues) that wasn't connected to the internet. Any computer that isn't, can usually easily be hooked up to it, unless you want your elderly grandfather to play Baldur's Gate on his ancient rig in the retirement home where they still have record players and black and white TV's. Though really, grandparents playing BG would be awesome. Maybe this DRM is a more serious problem than I thought.
In the last ten years, I haven't come across a single computer (at work, friends, collegues) that wasn't connected to the internet. Any computer that isn't, can usually easily be hooked up to it, unless you want your elderly grandfather to play Baldur's Gate on his ancient rig in the retirement home where they still have record players and black and white TV's. Though really, grandparents playing BG would be awesome. Maybe this DRM is a more serious problem than I thought.
Apparently in Germany we have some areas were we still only have ISDN or Analog Internet Connection. Where is no possibility for DSL. Sure, you could buy me an UMTS-Stick or get a Satellite Connection. But you know... sometimes the people don't "need" Internet at home when they have it at work.. at their parents house.. or when they simply cannot afford the then more expensive contract. But yeah you are right. These people are an extreme minority...
i have literally been stabbed in the street dozens of times because of this project
Yeah, it's getting awkward having to patch Phil up every time he comes into the office. The bandages are getting expensive and we've been through like 5 mops now.
@Tim I feel like the biggest jerk, I'd never thought of that. You made me think: I have a buddy in the military who plays MW3 with me online, but often can't when he's there, because he can't hook up his Xbox. We in America just usually don't think of it because the internet is all around us. Hmm, would you be able to take your rig somewhere that does have internet, like work, school, or a coffee shop (Starbucks springs to mind)?
Personally I have no Problem. But I know several people who have some bit of a problem getting internet at home. And yes, all of them would surely be able to carry their PC to a friend with internet.
But this is not the point. In the past DRM was useless most of the times. The only DRM which seems to be useful for the companies is what Blizzard does with Diablo 3. Always On... but this is in my opinion the most ridiculus form of DRM for a mostly Single Player game ever. So what to do? The Activation thingy from Beamdog will be cracked after some hours from the "evildoers" in the web.. so why bother with it?
I liked the codewheels like with Monkey Island But yeah.. today it would be offered as Java Application within days... I don't really see the benefit of giving the honest buyer a struggle with an activation on each PC when you know that this war is lost already before it began. But this is clearly a different discussion then this topic had in mind
@Tim Mostly I just kept thinking, "What's the big deal? You're downloading it from the internet anyway, what's so bad about activating it at the same time?" I'd say people outside of America (and even some rural parts of America) have a reason to be a little put out.
@paulsifer42 I'd just like to give you another example: both my husband and I are avid gamers. When we go on holiday we like to take some of our favourite games or newest games to play on those evenings when we've got to stay inside and our son is playing in the same room. We like to rent apartments instead of staying at hotels because it's - for us - a more comfortable experience. Now unfortunately those don't come with a WiFi. So we can either play the games we want or, if they all require an internet connection, the MTG TCG. While this only leaves us without an internet connection for 1month or 1 month and a half out of the year, I'm pretty sure we're not the only people who travel to areas without a readily available internet connection.
As you mentioned before, you have a friend in the army. These people, the ones who don't have an internet connection are often dedicated gamers. (Perhaps due to the fact that you can't really look up other people's strategies or search for cheats/mods when you have no internet ).
And another example: In Romania, college housing does provide internet but many of my former colleagues complained that many ports were closed by the admin for "security issues" and they ended up not being able to play a series of games.
Or another example: for the past 2 years they've been doing a huge overhaul of the wiring in this side of town. So we'd have have 2-3 power outages every month (at least that's what we noticed between 4 - 10pm) for 15min-2hours. Unfortunately our ISP would so conveniently forget to reset the switches and we'd hang around making calls before they'd have things back up 4 hours later. Now for working people, 4 - 6 hours is all the free time in the evening. So what do you think we'd get to play: the games we bought and had online authentication or our old games that are undoubtedly flying around the internet for free. You've guessed it. The offline games. And I don't care that I bought something and others haven't and are still playing it. I've got my boxes and my manuals and I'm ok with that. So if BGEE will just require a one-time authentication that's fine and awesome, if not, when my internet's down I'll just play the single player games which are actually single-player and not me and the man behind the curtain.
@neleothesze Yeah, the always online thing for a first person game I think pisses us all off, because it's a real pain. Just a couple of weekends ago we were staying at my in-laws who have a small band-width, so if anyone else was on the internet (we're talking, even a browser open), my always online games would lag and kick me like crazy. So, I've always gotten that.
What I was mostly confused about was why people were up-in-arms about the authentication. For the most part people who have problems will have them because there's not a physical copy, not so much because there is authenticating. But there are those who would like to download the game in one place with internet, to a place without.
Comments
Nonetheless I misread the quote, the twitter feed has a few mentions of starcraft as an example and I thought this comment painted Diablo 3's always online measure as a positive. The mentioning of constant updates made me fear this was the route they were going aswell but thankfully not!
What we want to do is provide a great game and offer ongoing support and hope our users reward us. Simple, game makers to game players.
7 hrs ago :
Quote from Cam: I want to make a salad from the organs of the original BG programming team.
My response: I want to travel back in time and c**kpunch them right when they thought the Gui system was a good idea.
Too many hours looking at old UI stuff and trying to sort between the garbage and what is used in the game.
6 hrs ago :
The old UI doesn't want to submit to our revisions. It will, but it is still putting up a fight.
2 hrs ago :
Every time I worked on a new engine, by the end I'd say 'never again.' Working with old #bgee code makes me rethink that.
Sam Hulick, 1 hr ago :
For those who have been asking, #BGEE music snippets are coming in a little over three weeks. I have a specific date marked.
Can't wait to hear what Sam has put together! I'm sure it'll be great stuff.
15:56, 27. jul
We did some work on the journal system. It is better. We still want to do a bit more, as it could be even better
Promising :O)
17:25, 29. jul.Pre-loading starts late August, we send you the loader, you grab it and run it. It pulls most of the game. Launch day we update.
17:44, 29. jul #bgee will have co-op multiplayer and will work across platforms. iPad can play with Android, Mac and PC. On happy gaming family:-)
17:47, 29. jul .launcher needs Internet to download. To play #bgee on a new computer, grab the client, type in your password and it downloads the game.
Correct, the Wild Mage kit is a player option.
Thats a "frakkin" good news :-)
Though really, grandparents playing BG would be awesome. Maybe this DRM is a more serious problem than I thought.
I heard she's good with bandages and such.
I feel like the biggest jerk, I'd never thought of that. You made me think: I have a buddy in the military who plays MW3 with me online, but often can't when he's there, because he can't hook up his Xbox. We in America just usually don't think of it because the internet is all around us. Hmm, would you be able to take your rig somewhere that does have internet, like work, school, or a coffee shop (Starbucks springs to mind)?
But this is not the point. In the past DRM was useless most of the times. The only DRM which seems to be useful for the companies is what Blizzard does with Diablo 3. Always On... but this is in my opinion the most ridiculus form of DRM for a mostly Single Player game ever. So what to do? The Activation thingy from Beamdog will be cracked after some hours from the "evildoers" in the web.. so why bother with it?
I liked the codewheels like with Monkey Island
Mostly I just kept thinking, "What's the big deal? You're downloading it from the internet anyway, what's so bad about activating it at the same time?" I'd say people outside of America (and even some rural parts of America) have a reason to be a little put out.
As you mentioned before, you have a friend in the army. These people, the ones who don't have an internet connection are often dedicated gamers. (Perhaps due to the fact that you can't really look up other people's strategies or search for cheats/mods when you have no internet
And another example: In Romania, college housing does provide internet but many of my former colleagues complained that many ports were closed by the admin for "security issues" and they ended up not being able to play a series of games.
Or another example: for the past 2 years they've been doing a huge overhaul of the wiring in this side of town. So we'd have have 2-3 power outages every month (at least that's what we noticed between 4 - 10pm) for 15min-2hours. Unfortunately our ISP would so conveniently forget to reset the switches and we'd hang around making calls before they'd have things back up 4 hours later.
Now for working people, 4 - 6 hours is all the free time in the evening. So what do you think we'd get to play: the games we bought and had online authentication or our old games that are undoubtedly flying around the internet for free.
You've guessed it. The offline games. And I don't care that I bought something and others haven't and are still playing it. I've got my boxes and my manuals and I'm ok with that. So if BGEE will just require a one-time authentication that's fine and awesome, if not, when my internet's down I'll just play the single player games which are actually single-player and not me and the man behind the curtain.
Yeah, the always online thing for a first person game I think pisses us all off, because it's a real pain. Just a couple of weekends ago we were staying at my in-laws who have a small band-width, so if anyone else was on the internet (we're talking, even a browser open), my always online games would lag and kick me like crazy. So, I've always gotten that.
What I was mostly confused about was why people were up-in-arms about the authentication. For the most part people who have problems will have them because there's not a physical copy, not so much because there is authenticating. But there are those who would like to download the game in one place with internet, to a place without.
o - Yes
o - No
I have three targets for each platform (too much time at EA/Bioware). I have a high projection, optimistic and survival requirement.
Trent Oster 21:33, 4. aug
#bgee pre-orders are strong. I have a target I'd like to hit and we have a way to go before we hit it.