Yep. Even if you had pre-loaded HL2, certain key files had to be, and my memory is hazy on this, either downloaded or decrypted after authenticating with Steam’s servers. Valve grossly underestimated the server load of all those simultaneous connections, and the servers were crushed into oblivion.

Uplay, Origin, and B.net are company stores for Ubisoft, EA, and Activision Blizzard respectively. They bypassed (or in Blizzard’s case, never sold on) Steam to sell directly to customers. Even then, Ubi will sell on Steam, then force you into Uplay as an updater/launcher anyway. GoG Galaxy is a CD Projekt division,…

Still got that Sony Fuck You Money stink. 

You really think Console War Bullshit started harming PC gamers with Destiny 2? Bless your heart. We just got Microsoft to stop fucking us over after Rise of the Tomb Raider, and only 94% of PC gamers are Microsoft customers.

Valve never paid for a Steam exclusive. If games were Steam “exclusives”, it was only because the publisher decided they didn’t need to list on any other online stores. Epic is paying handsomely for their exclusives.

Borderlands 3 is a bit of a mixed bag because it’s the 4th, technically 5th, installment in the Borderlands series and all the previous entries are on Steam. It may only be a timed exclusive, but that just still feels a bit odd. The same goes for The Walking Dead. The previous three seasons and the spinoffs were all…

Here’s Epic’s mission statement as I, a gamer and not a publisher or studio, have received it:

Riiiiiiiight. Lemme compare my Google anti-Epic check to my George Soros anti-Trump check and see who’s paying me more.

I think Bioware is very sensitive to individuals being singled out after some random artists were targeted on social media by the brigade against Mass Effect: Andromeda. While I still think it was necessary for Jason to name members of Anthem’s leadership, I can understand why Bioware’s reaction was more defensive…

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time slapping a Barbarian

If anything, Randy may have negotiated Take Two and Epic down to six months, as all of Epic’s other hostages are being held for a full year.

Vs. “$50 on Epic Store, $60 on Steam, and let customers make their own choices”, instead of this literal doublethink that “deprival is competition”.

Yeah, I’ve seen this fish before in non-e sports.

The Corsair Game Launcher Launcher is just epic.

Shea represents the American MLS clubs. For Canada, Maxime Crépeau.

It’s not all posh hyphenated surnames. I’m thinking of how “Harry Arter” is alliterative when said in the right accent.

The “devil’s advocate” take...

I once followed a Chrysler Sebring where every badge on the trunk had to be 15º off level, as though one side of the trunk lid was sticking up as it went down an assembly line. It had dealer plates.

I think that’s just being a Finnish baritone.