I have to admit I have lost a lot of respect for Valve over the Episode 3 debacle. We are now in year 3 waiting for what amounts to a 6 hour expansion pack. I don't expect to see Episode 3 this year and when it finally does come (maybe 2011) it is going to look incredibly dated and will last around 5 - 6 hours.

You can find save game files here :-

save game files

However the way GTA 4 handles save games means you have to do a hell of a lot of fiddling about. You can't just copy a save game to your save game folder and use it. Ohhhhhhhh no that would be too simple and useful. It seems that Rockstar wanted to gimp the PC version in every which way it could so save games are linked to your GFWL account. In order to use other people's save games you have to disabled GFWL in GTA 4, thankfully there is a mod that does this called "xliveless". So before you can use these save game files you will need to install "xliveless" which you can get here :-

Xliveless

Unfortunately installing xliveless will disabled multiplayer so when you want to play online you have to uninstall xliveless which will render your save game useless and when you want to use your save game you will have to reinstall xliveless and that will disable MP (seriously I swear I am NOT making this up). I have to be honest with you, it just isn't worth all the crap you have to go through to use other people's save games.

I think the pre-order stuff is getting out of hand now, I don't have a problem with them offering inducements such as discounts and "free posters". However now they are with holding game content from people unless they pre-order the game. No I don't think those that pre-order the game should get extra game content (which is what the armour in Mass Effect 2 amounts too). But then there is sod all I can do about it, we live in a capitalist world and the consumer has the last say. If you want to stop this "pre-order content" then you know what to do, don't pre-order your games and the idea will soon die a death.

You obviously missed the memo on this game, the producer of Force Unleashed said this :-

The PC being the gaming platform that it is, someone with a $4,000 high-end system would definitely be able to play the Euphoria, the DMM and really technical elements of the game. But someone with a low-end PC would have a watered down experience, they would have to turn all the settings down and it wouldn't be the same game.

"On the other hand if we made that game for as many people as possible, because we are trying to make mass market games, something that everybody can enjoy, well then it's not taking advantage of what those $4,000 systems can do. So one way or the other depending on how you build that lead PC SKU, it's not going to be for the same amount of people, it's going to be not as good or only for a select few people. No matter where you pick that bar somebody's out of luck.LucasArts producer Cameron Suey

At least that is what they said as to why the PC initially didn't get Force Unleashed, for some reason a year later they changed their mind :P . So there you go if your PC didn't cost you $4,000 you can't play it. Naturally the real reason is the fact this is a crap, cheap and nasty port that was probably knocked out over the weekend to try and rip a few PC gamers off and thankfully by and large it failed to even do that.

There is a reason why GameSpot gave the PC version a 5 out of 10 :-

GameSpot Review

I have to say for the most part Mass Effect was an extremely well done port on the PC. I have been playing it for the past couple of days on my quad + GTX260 and get a constant 60fps. The only time there is the odd bit of stuttering is in the Citadel levels where it can drop to 40fps but it is still playable and I believe still massively better than the x360 version.

The main problems I have with the game are all gameplay related, such as short storyline (only 4 - 5 main missions), the elevator waits (which I believe they have dealt with) and driving around in that bloody Mako. I wish we could get some information on what the planet side game play is like (are we gonna have to spend ages waddling around in another Mako like vehicle). However all will be revealed soon enough I guess.

I wouldn't believe half the bull Rockstar comes out with, as for GTA 4 "ageing well" the game looks like arse now and it will carry on looking like arse. Just like the previous generation of GTA always looked bloody awful compared to pretty much every game on the market.

The console version is NOT all settings on low, I believe the console version is :-

Xbox 360 settings
Resolution = 1280 x 720 @ 30 fps

Texture Quality = Medium

Reflection Resolution = Medium

Water Quality = Medium

Shadow Quality = High

Render Quality = Low

View Distance = 21

Detail Distance = 10

Vehicle Density = 33

Shadow Density = does not exist on the Xbox 360

Definition = off

Vsync = off

Even if you set the game to those settings you will still get an inferior experience to the consoles since the consoles have a greater driver spawning distance and the shooting mechanics include bullet spread/recoil whereas the PC version had bullet spread/recoil taken out. But hey from what I hear none of this matters it seems Rockstar can actually serve a turd up on the PC and some sections of the PC gaming community will knight them for it.

I'm glad it's not on Steam, yet. This is a lot better than having a Steam-exclusive game like MW2. I think ME2 might just be a resellable game since the DRM has been toned down.giant11

No one here is talking about having it a "steam exclusive" people just want it to be available for purchase from steam just like Mass Effect is available for purchase from steam. I prefer to buy my games from steam and the inability to buy a game from where I want to buy it heavily reduces the chances of me actually buying the product.

Now fair enough you obviously don't like steam and that is up to you. However there are 15 million people that DO like steam and it seems ridiculous that EA are trying to make steam customers use the EA store to get this game. I will wait for it to come to steam and if it doesn't hell that is another lost sale for them. I won't die if I don't play Mass Effect 2 but I hope they consider the impact not having it on steam will do to their bottom line and sales figures.

Well this isn't really insider information but I did notice that Star Trek Online is now available for pre-purchase on steam. I even contemplated placing an order and had my credit card poised for a new battering.

Then I saw the PRICE ......... £49.99 ($80.40 in dollars), I have never paid £50 for a game on the PC in my life and I am not about to start now. I don't care what the "Digital Deluxe Edition" has. Even if the Deluxe Edition had a special mission where you found Kathryn Janeway and Seven of Nine in a naked embrace and they begged you to holocam it, I still wouldn't pay 50 quid for it.

There was no indication on the page as to whether there would be a monthly fee either, that was another thing that put me off. I will play a wait and see game but it seems to me as if they will price gouge this game as much as they can.

I imagine it will appear at some point on steam. However you have to remember that EA are trying to push their own download service too. So it doesn't really make sense for them to allow a competing service access to their products straight away. I am personally going to wait till it does come on steam, I am a patient guy and hopefully by the time it does come to steam it might be at a "reasonable" price.

lol i max it out and get 50 fps in the bench.. i see no problems with this game whys it such a bad port some say worse than crysis.. i get like 10-20 fps less in that game

somegtalover

The benchmark in GTA 4 is a complete and utter load of cobblers, I get close to 50fps in the benchmark but in the actual game the figure is more like sub 20-30fps. Oh and what do you mean by "you max it out" ? Are you trying to tell us that you have every setting in GTA 4 on it's highest including view and detail distance and you still get 50fps ? That is quite some achievement when you consider to actually max GTA 4 out you need a graphics card with 2gbs of Vram. I have a Q6600 + GTX260 and there is no way in hell you are getting 50fps in game on max settings.