What the hell is wrong with PC games these days

[Hitmen]

I just bought my first PC game in quite a while, and the experience was absolutely atrocious. The game I bought was Bulletstorm, it looked pretty cool and I wanted to shoot things in a game that wasn't call of duty rehash #47. I bought the game through Steam which I thought meant it would use steam for all of its online stuff. Apparently Microsoft has been attempting to smear its xbox live feces all over PC games these days too, but I basically just wanted to play the single player game for now so I didn't really care or want to deal with it. When you start the game it tells you that you need to sign in to play online, and I told it to go away because I didn't want to play online. Apparently whoever writes their messages is retarded because it won't let you play at all unless you sign in, and just kicks you back to the log in screen. Now I have to create an account for yet another stupid service, but whatever, I paid for the game and want to play it. Now I have an account and want to sign in, but no! I can't sign in because games for windows live is not up to date. It downloads the update and tells me to restart the game. You can't restart the fucking game because you can't even get to the main menu without being logged in. There is no natural or obvious way to close the game, alt+f4 didn't even work, so I used the task manager to kill the process. After the game was closed the games for windows live update stuff popped up, and I say it can update, and now it is installing some more stupid shit on my computer. Really, you don't need to install a system service so I can sign in to your third party piece of garbage online service so I can play a fucking single player game.

I haven't even played the game yet because I was so angry I had to find somewhere to complain about it. I've basically been held hostage by WoW for about 6 years so I didn't realize how much everything has turned to absolute shit in the mean time. I keep hearing about ridiculous DRM breaking stuff, is this shit really so common in PC games these days? It is completely unfathomable to me that a developer would release a product in this state. What would someone who doesn't know shit about computers do when it tries to update and they can't get out of the game?

[deadly7]

I haven't even played the game yet because I was so angry I had to find somewhere to complain about it. I've basically been held hostage by WoW for about 6 years so I didn't realize how much everything has turned to absolute shit in the mean time. I keep hearing about ridiculous DRM breaking stuff, is this shit really so common in PC games these days? It is completely unfathomable to me that a developer would release a product in this state. What would someone who doesn't know shit about computers do when it tries to update and they can't get out of the game?

Yes, all games are like this. They call tech support, complain, get $50 off their next purchase, and keep the company's pockets filled.

This is why I don't buy or play most video games anymore.

[iago]

Like.

I was so angry I had to find somewhere to complain about it.

TO THE INTERNET!

[Furious]

Like.

I was so angry I had to find somewhere to complain about it.

TO THE INTERNET!

Owned by iago.

[Sidoh]

Yeah, that's really frustrating.  I think at least part of the problem is many current PC games were created as an afterthought.  The console game did well, so they ported it to PC.  Alternatively, they developed it in parallel with a console game.

I think this screws with things significantly.  Game studios that have nothing to do with console games seem to create PC games of much higher quality.  Take Blizzard, for example.  High quality shit.  Not to say it doesn't have its problems, but it has a very "refined" feel to it that console-to-PC ports lack entirely (think: Bioshock, Mass Effect, etc.)

In short, I agree.  I hate shit like Steam and Live.  I want to punch the asshole who thought it'd be a good idea.

[Joe]

You know, when he described "I need to create an account with your service to play the game offline", I thought SC2. But at least it doesn't depend on Micro$oft stuff.

[Sidoh]

You know, when he described "I need to create an account with your service to play the game offline", I thought SC2. But at least it doesn't depend on Micro$oft stuff.

That occurred to me, but I think it's excusable since Blizzard probably did it right (or at least "more right" than EA/MS...)

[iago]

Games suck these days. Too many stupid bits. Until they get their retardedness under control, I'm going to stick with old/indy/opensource games.

[Chavo]

I've had an equal amount of frustration with indy companies, especially when they work with Steam.  Still, I prefer the internet-connection-and-account requirements to rootkits on my PC :).

[Hitmen]

In short, I agree.  I hate shit like Steam and Live.  I want to punch the asshole who thought it'd be a good idea.

Steam is minimally intrusive compared to live, and at least offers a decent service as a convenient way to buy games. Also Joe, RealID sucks, and is stupid, and should probably die in some kind of fire. I'm pretty sure I made a thread complaining about that too!

Games suck these days. Too many stupid bits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCud8H7z7vU&feature=player_detailpage#t=33s

[Sidoh]

I'll admit that it's been a while since I last used steam... Crysis, I think?  I pretty much gave up on it after that experience, though.

[AntiVirus]

Wait... there are games outside of WoW? :O

[Furious]

Wait... there are games outside of WoW? :O

I haven't touched WoW in weeks.  This expansion was a big let down :(

[Blaze]

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/synopsis.jsp?Certificate=30650

This game will probably be cool, plus it's got the best game theme song ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-y0MdPXslo

[rabbit]

EVE!

Lot's of fun, but it's hard.