Eve Online is the only game that requires Excel to play.

Eve Online is playing Excel!

@Prez

Liar. Eve Online is the only game that requires Excel to play.

I know he's not the most popular guy around but Derek has written a pretty good summary of this whole mess over at Shacknews:

http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?id=21342732

Its long-ass read so light up a cigarette and kick back.

Please don't list anything that links to him - we finally got rid of his tired ass, no one wants to go read what he has to say.

Excel? Awesome!

This comment was edited on Nov 7, 2009, 14:38.

Look at GTA IV! If you buy it via Steam, it requires Steam (natch), GFWL, Rockstar Social Club, and Excel in order to run.

Okay, one of those I made up.

"We don’t believe games should force the user to install a Trojan Horse," referring to Steam. Voodoo Extreme also notes that online retailers GamersGate and Impulse are following suit, with Impulse saying: "The most obvious issue is the forced inclusion of a competitor's store that blocks us from carrying the game."

I think this should be a general rule in the DD industry that if you sell a game that requires forced installation / use of a third-party app then you shouldn't sell the app. Case in point, Dawn of War II. The version from D2D not only requires Steam but also GFWL.

I'll also agree that STEAM support sucks a bag of dicks. While I like the service the support is one aspect they really need to get on top of.

Consumer friendly? Really? Have you ever TRIED getting help from Steam? They make EA look like a heavenly horde of helpful angels...

Even though Steam itself is 5000 times better than EA's digital delivery service I used to download BF2142, I have to say that this is true. Steam's customer service is absolutely abysmal. The last time I tried to get help for an account problem which left me locked out of my own account and unable to play any of my games, it took 48 hours after generating a trouble ticket to get an email response, and then, it was basically a cut and paste of the directions for such problems listed in their FAQ. It took another 24 hours (and 3 responses) to get the issue resolved. That is flatly unacceptable in my book.

I know he's not the most popular guy around but Derek has written a pretty good summary of this whole mess over at Shacknews:

http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?id=21342732

Its long-ass read so light up a cigarette and kick back.

but ultimately they were there first and have thus far created the most consumer friendly digital distribution product

Consumer friendly? Really? Have you ever TRIED getting help from Steam? They make EA look like a heavenly horde of helpful angels...

I have no problem with Steam's success, though I'm still worried about some fucking 'tard buying them and then simply raping all the beneficial terms of service, but the LAST thing I would call them is customer friendly.

Creston

If you had bad performance with Resistance 2 then you definitely need to take your time and tweak it since that is a game that works quite well with the system.

If the game seemed to be any good, I would, but honestly of what I played the game didn't catch my interest at all and seemed to be your typical console shooter. Killzone 2 however I'll end up picking up at some point, when I find a deal for $30 or less, and have time to play it...whereas I wasnt going to bother with it at all with gamepad as a control device.

So really, just like PC shooters...if the mouse control doesn't feel right (sluggish or choppy), I won't play it.

From Kotaku:

UPDATE - Seems Impulse have come out today and also confirmed they won't be stocking the game, for the same reasons.

UPDATE 2 - Digital store Gamersgate have told Kotaku that, like D2D and Impulse, they will also not be stocking Modern Warfare 2, and again, for the same reason.

I can't decide if it's the little guys all being pithy teaming up against the big kid on the block, or a refreshing show of solidarity with a reasonable gripe behind it.

From my understanding the first version of FragFX wasn't very good. The 2nd version is much better. Didnt try the first so I can't compare.

It behaves like a corded optical mouse, the button layout I think is on their website, so wont describe that. They even have a cordless option now (which if I knew was coming I would have got that instead).

So yes the optical mouse performs the functions of the Right Analog stick (mouse 1 is Fire [R1], mouse 2 is alt fire generally [R2]). It can be used as a mouse on the PSN store and web browser as well.

There is also a sensitivity dial on the left controller, so I usually just crank the sensitivity options in-game and then adjust it using the dial on the controller.

I've only tried it with the Killzone 2 demo (worked great, nice and smooth), Punisher No mercy demo (was better than the gamepad, but had issues), Resistance 2 demo (sensitivity sucked, as the crosshair would sometimes jump 2 inches on the screen, and Uncharted 2, where is has worked perfectly. Uncharted 2 demo I used a gamepad and couldnt get a kill to save my life in multiplayer, then bought the FragFX and instantly became one of the top scorers.

Just on the mouse & keyboard vs gamepad topic...Wednesday night I tried playing Resistance 2 on the PS3 (borrowed from a friend) and using the FragFX controller http://www.splitfish.com/ I found the control to be very jerky, and the gameplay to just be kinda boring, not to mention the very linear gameplay. Turned it off after 45min and deleted any content on the system pertaining to it...So no recommendation on Resistance 2 from me (girlfriends brother loved it though).

This just made me want to play Uncharted 2, fired that up (also using the FragFX controller) and the controls are so smooth and gameplay is fun.

Thursday night, fired up Borderlands on PC...even using the the FragFX controller on PS3, there is still no comparison to the ultra smooth and accurate control of a mouse & keyboard controlled FPS on the PC.

I've used the FragFX and I also have a mouse/key emulator for the 360.

Re; The FragFX, its true that some games work better with it than others but you should be able to get acceptable performance out of any PS3 game. You need to sit down and tweak the sensitivity controls on both the FragFX and in the game menu. It also depends on which version of the FragFX you are using, version 1 or 2 (Version 2 is much better) but you can definitely get a good experience with either. If you had bad performance with Resistance 2 then you definitely need to take your time and tweak it since that is a game that works quite well with the system.

There are a few user forums dedicated to the Splitfish where you can get some great tips. Like any other new control scheme you need to have a little discipline to get used to it.

I don't own one so maybe you can clear this up for me, I thought most of those controllers simply remapped the analog stick functions for movement to that controller? I know you can use a USB keyboard/mouse with the PS3 for example but I thought most games except for UT3 lacked support for it. So those companies did some weird workaround involving remapping the analog axis to their device and as a result they were all floaty and off.

I was looking at the FragFX on amazon the other day but if it doesn't compare to a real mouse then I'm not going to bother considering the price.

Just on the mouse & keyboard vs gamepad topic...Wednesday night I tried playing Resistance 2 on the PS3 (borrowed from a friend) and using the FragFX controller http://www.splitfish.com/ I found the control to be very jerky, and the gameplay to just be kinda boring, not to mention the very linear gameplay. Turned it off after 45min and deleted any content on the system pertaining to it...So no recommendation on Resistance 2 from me (girlfriends brother loved it though).

This just made me want to play Uncharted 2, fired that up (also using the FragFX controller) and the controls are so smooth and gameplay is fun.

Thursday night, fired up Borderlands on PC...even using the the FragFX controller on PS3, there is still no comparison to the ultra smooth and accurate control of a mouse & keyboard controlled FPS on the PC.

The day I can't play Call of Duty with a proper mouse & keyboard setup is the day I quit gaming.

I'm glad someone else said it, so I don't have to look like a stodgy old fart.

Well, okay, everyone knows I'm a stodgy old fart, but at least I have company!

Cool I guess, still not enough to sway a purchase out of me personally. Maybe if it was like $20 on a whim or something but Call of Duty titles are almost never discounted beyond something small like $5-10. Hopefully Treyarch does a Call of Duty in Vietnam or something with 32+ player dedicated servers, they do horrible singleplayer campaigns but make great MP maps.

This comment was edited on Nov 6, 2009, 15:27.

Spec-Ops is Coop.

SPECIAL OPS CO-OPERATIVE

An entirely new gameplay mode which supports 2-player co-operative play online that is unique from the single player story campaign.

* Special Ops pits players into a gauntlet of time-trial and objective-based missions.
* Rank-up as players unlock new Special Ops missions, each more difficult.
* Missions include highlights from the single player campaign, fan favorites from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and all new, exclusive missions.

That's cool Dag, your money after all. For me I always loved the huge maps of WaW and big player counts. I thought co-op was removed though in place of Spec-Ops mode or some other nonsense? I don't know, I stopped following the games actual development after they announced the dedicated server BS.