STEAM

...yah maybe I guess. Though Impulse basically does that already.

Simply allow [Pepsi] to be sold via [Coke's distibution network]. Would instantly access a wider market and sell a lot more!

Kestrel, that response was GOLD.

Let me sum that up Kestrel:

Let's gimp the sales of our product in order to (maybe) spread our unrelated distribution platform = GOLD.

I know I am in the minrity, but I actually like impulse better. I prefer thwe contol I have with impulse. It is nice to play games without launching impulse. I also love the fact that I choose the directory that I want to install files to. And, I like that with impulse I can load SINS onto my notebook and my comp and have a mini-lan party at my house without everyone having the game on their steam account.

P.S. I really try not to sound like a fan boy on her, but sometimes telling your side still makes you sound that way. I swear I am not a fan boy, I don't buy stardock games that I don't like to support them against an evil EA, I support what games (apps in the case of impulse) are good. That being said Impulse friends leaves a lot to be desired and no integrated chat will be a killer for demigod.

Quoting DatonKallandor,

reply 5

Let me sum that up Kestrel:

Let's gimp the sales of our product in order to (maybe) spread our unrelated distribution platform = GOLD.

Why would Stardock use Steam, seriously?

What business model teaches you to pay your direct competitor to distribute a product you are being paid to distribute?

All Steam has going for it over Impulse is that it is established. Every other aspect, with the exception of social networking, as Trigeminal points out, is superior on the Impulse platform. And the nice thing is that Impulse is fairly modular. You can incorporate social networking apiece once you have it polished.

Steam is bloated, inefficient, and old. It has grown used to owning the market place, and gotten fat and lazy as a result. Don't get me wrong, I use it and will for many years, as long as the games are on it. But what we are seeing is the digital distribution model taking hold and smart, efficient systems being put into play that owe nothing to Valve and present benefits in comparison to it.

Unless Steam does some serious innovation PDQ they will be displaced as the premier digital distribution within 5 years.

So back to Demigod. Would it have more sales if it were on Steam? Maybe. Or maybe it will be the game that takes Steam down a notch and shows Impulse as a DDN to be reckoned with. Either way, GPG knew exactly what they were buying into with Stardock, and it wasn't Steam.

Quoting Ke5trel,

reply 7

So back to Demigod. Would it have more sales if it were on Steam? Maybe. Or maybe it will be the game that takes Steam down a notch and shows Impulse as a DDN to be reckoned with. Either way, GPG knew exactly what they were buying into with Stardock, and it wasn't Steam.

And Stardock knew what they were buying into when they decided to fund gpg for a major release on their newly created digital distribution.

DatonKallandor, you are correct in a way, stardock made a business decision to promote both demigod and thus impulse. Is it the right decision? Well, it certainly makes a lot more sense than being a publisher and paying anotyher publisher to distibute your game for you. Kinda sounds like a broken model. Just because steam did it right first doesn't mean they are the only ones who can do it or that someone else might not even do better.

As much as steam is suck, almost everybody these days own it and see it every day and if demigod will be in steam much more people will see it and it probably sales much more. Impuls is realy better but its new and not many poeple own it now.

You can compere this fight to WoW Vs all other MMO's. even if its old (WoW), no body leaves it and not even looking at the competitions, even if some of them are better. I know, its not the perfect comparison but you see my point.

Plus I'm sure that as soon as Impuls will realy threat Steam it will get updates so people wont leave it.

To beat such fight you must have a realy supirior replecment, good timing and a lot of luck and I'm not sure Impuls will have all this by the time Demigod release.

BTW, Pelron post was hilarious. (and quite true )

You can compare this fight to WoW Vs all other MMO's. even if its old (WoW), nobody leaves it and not even looking at the competitions, even if some of them are better. I know, its not the perfect comparison but you see my point.

Well, at this point it's arguable that there are any better MMOs than WoW. It is old, but it is also an order of magnitude more polished than anything anyone else has released. And most importantly, Blizzard is not resting on their laurels. WotLK brings a whole new level to the game. Recent attempts to come in by WAR and AoC show that MMOs are almost impossible to make right for release. We knew that for WoW, but at the time it was so novel that we were patient. These days no one is going to stick around for the 6 months it takes for devs to figure out how to fix their online experience - they'll just go back to the MMO they know works...

Steam on the other hand, needs to be completely stripped down and rebuilt if it is going to compete. Valve isn't stupid, I'm sure they see the writing on the wall, but in a way they are crippled by their success - it will be a painstaking process to shift all of their assets and customers to a new and efficient system. I'm sure they will do it eventually, but it will be interesting to see if they manage before they lose market dominance.

Meantime if I want to play a game other than TF2 I make sure I've closed Steam because it will drag my performance right down. My computer is 3 months old, and a beast, so I'm pretty sure that isn't the problem.

Impulse is being positioned to take advantage of Steam's age. It doesn't need to run while you play the game, which is huge. It allows user options and interfaces that Steam can't. It allows developer options and interfaces that Steam can't. Finally, you see Impulse working to get games and genres Steam has largely ignored. Indies, strategy, vintage titles...(If Stardock gets a bit of capital they should invest in GoG.com or buy it outright.) If Impulse plays its cards right it won't just displace Steam but also XBox Live.

Edit: FWIW I respect Valve tremendously, love their games and continue to use Steam, as does Frogboy, apparently

Quoting Ke5trel,

reply 10

Meantime if I want to play a game other than TF2 I make sure I've closed Steam because it will drag my performance right down. My computer is 3 months old, and a beast, so I'm pretty sure that isn't the problem.

And I'm pretty sure it is a problem on your end. Steam doesn't have any noticeable impact on my system.

Quoting DatonKallandor,

reply 11

And I'm pretty sure it is a problem on your end. Steam doesn't have any noticeable impact on my system.

lol ok. Maybe I should have sprung for a Dell

Quoting Ke5trel,

reply 10

Meantime if I want to play a game other than TF2 I make sure I've closed Steam because it will drag my performance right down. My computer is 3 months old, and a beast, so I'm pretty sure that isn't the problem.

Steam doesn't effect my performance at all...

Steam has recently changed to £ in Britain. Price discrimination once again.

So long as this distribution stays in dollars, I will be perfectly happy to make use of whatever stardock wants. I'm fed up of paying more than the US for the exact same product.

When people start localising products to the UK seperately, and adding the "u" in colour, I will be willing to pay more. Until then it just pisses me off.

You do know that the dollar to pound switch has actually caused britons to get mostly better prices on steam right? It's the dollar to euro conversion (for countries that don't even use the euro - € does not equal European contient, Valve) that has people actually shafted on price.

Well, prices have gone up slightly for £ users I believe, but things are likely to get a lot worse as the international market balances itself out a little.

Ok, let´s have a quick look at Impulse vs. Steam:

Loading time: Steam is faster than Impulse (I´ve deactivated this "fast start" thing, because I don´t like entries in the autorun which slows down the booting) -> for Steam

Games in the shop: I´ve got 445 games in the Steam shop (don´t know if this is the right number) and 31 pages on impulse (assuming every page fits 5 games = 155 games) -> for Steam

The loading time in the shop is faster in Steam -> for Steam

After browsing a little around in Impulse and in Steam, Impulse needs 38MB Ram and Steam 28MB -> for Steam

The price thing is now for the european users bad on steam, because they are now unable to pay in dollars -> for Impulse

So 4:1 for Steam. I´m using both, Steam for CounterStrike and Impulse for Demigod, so not really a fanboy here.

Quoting Nokthra,

reply 17

Ok, let´s have a quick look at Impulse vs. Steam:

Loading time: Steam is faster than Impulse (I´ve deactivated this "fast start" thing, because I don´t like entries in the autorun which slows down the booting) -> for Steam

Games in the shop: I´ve got 445 games in the Steam shop (don´t know if this is the right number) and 31 pages on impulse (assuming every page fits 5 games = 155 games) -> for Steam

The loading time in the shop is faster in Steam -> for Steam

After browsing a little around in Impulse and in Steam, Impulse needs 38MB Ram and Steam 28MB -> for Steam

The price thing is now for the european users bad on steam, because they are now unable to pay in dollars -> for Impulse

So 4:1 for Steam. I´m using both, Steam for CounterStrike and Impulse for Demigod, so not really a fanboy here.

Can launch games without first loading steam -> for impulse

Great community features such as friends and voice chat -> for steam

Also I have fast start disabled and impulse loads WAY faster for me so that should be dropped off.

Let's see:

Impulse loads a lot faster than Steam.

Impulse is a lot less obnoxious to use than Steam.

It's a lot snappier and slicker than Steam.

Why doesn't Valve sell their games on Impulse? Same reason Stardock doesn't sell their games on Steam.

I still like Steam better... It starts and works faster for ME then Impulse, additionally the SLICK ness as you call it makes me want to puke even more (Vista anyone?) Additionally I have had 0 problems RECIENTLY with Steam... and I did BETA when it initially launched... so I KNOW the problems Steam has had and WORKED THROUGH and still like it better!

Steam has a fantastic overlay. Impulse needs to rip it off. *shrugs*

I never cared about overlays until steam made such a good one.

Eh, I love complaining...

Impulse: Runs great. I launch most games I have through it.

Steam: Crashes on startup. I can't run anything with it.

for Impulse.

Stardock: Of the two times I contacted them through email, (Once to report a very minor bug, once to ask a billing question) I recieved prompt, and above all, accurate responses.

Valve: Of the three emails I sent asking for help with the crash, I recieved three emails all reading that they were very glad my problem was solved.

for Stardock (Impulse). Far as I'm concerned.

L4D on the 360 wasn't bad though.

I don't see why it wouldn't work on Steam. Games for Windows Live games are available on Steam.

i think at this point they need to get sales back so they should use steam

so here's the thing:

steam and impulse are not mutually exclusive on a computer or on a user basis. you can use both with no negative consequences. it is free to download the client software and free to create and maintain an account on Impulse. if a player knows about Demigod and wants to buy it there is almost no obstacle for them buying it through Impulse.

adding the game to Steam would have no benefit besides a marketting benefit. that marketting might be worth quite alot actually, but negating the value of getting the Impulse platform on more computers might make that marketting benefit not so good after all.

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