I'm still up for the boycott myself. They seriously need to add freeroam already. _Pedro_

Free roam? Did they say they would? Not that the stalker devs are honest or anything.

Does GameSpot have a commercial bias? That is to say, do they overlook indie titles and focus only on top-tier commercial titles?

I just came across a great little turn-based strategy game called Armageddon Empires. Self published by a guy called Vic Davis at an indie company called Cryptic Comet.

A recent review in Games of Windows Magazine gave it a whopping 9/10, which is (if I recall correctly) the same mark they recently gave Portal (!).

However, Armageddon Empires isn't in GameSpot. Not only is there no score or rank or anything, it isn't even there.

So I wonder... does GameSpot have a bias (intentional or otherwise) against self-published titles? Or did they just overlook this game by mistake?

And is there some way for the user community to add games to the GameSpot databases?

I'm just askin' is all.

Dracogen

I do not believe Gamespot has a commercial bias, I think that commercial games are better than indie games almost across the board.

The problem is that consol games don't always translate well to PC.. Mass Effect will though cause Kotor was awesome on PC. It's cool that they are adding some exclusive features for the PC... What I'm really curious about is how modable it's going to be.Madcap08

QFT

then why do they seem to score the same or lower?

Gears of War

PC 9.0 X360 9.6

Dirt

PC 8.3 PS3 8.5

Halo 2

PC 7.0 Xbox 9.4

Halo

PC 9.0 Xbox 9.7

msharki

Because those are all Console to PC ports. Games made exclusively for the PC fare better.

I can see your point why it failed and not only does it look like an admin nightmare, but how it could also be abused. We're looking at try before buy at the moment on www.s2pgaming.co.uk for when we release our games, and a few other indie developers are interested in this too.

[QUOTE="marklar123"][QUOTE="S2PGaming"]

Internet connection for online registration.

No internet? Then telephone registration using an automated or person at the other end of line system where you give a unique 10 digit number, they then give you a 5-10 digit/letter code back in return which you place in the game. This then registers your copy of the game. Each installation of the game requires you to call or use this number every-time it's installed.

This will then monitor how many copies are being installed, if more than 2 then the developer knows that there may be piracy going on and a 3rd code is not given out over the telephone.

Just an idea we've had.

S2PGaming

i'm pretty sure that's what they did with Bioshock. you had to register online or over the phone and you only got so many registration codes. this failed miserably. pirates found ways around it and the legit players had to deal with all the BS with stolen registration codes and the limited registration codes.

there will always be piracy but i think alot of piracy is due to the fact that there is no way for PC gamers to know if they will really like the game. and don't give that line that demo's are for that purpose....cause demos never convey an accurate picture of what the game actually is. gamers need more than an hour of gameplay to know if they game sucks or not. they also need to know if the game will run on their computer.

i personally think most games are way overpriced, and it's not due to piracy...just look at console games where piracy is a fraction of what it is on the PC, yet they charge more for the games. people are sick of being ripped off. people are left with a bad taste in their mouths when they pay $50+ for a game they can't return that is absolute crap. reviews are too subjective. and then there the whole technical aspect of wondering if the game will run on your system.

there is no good answer to this problem. if you make it harder for pirates, it just makes it harder for the legit buyers...and the pirates will ALWAYS find a way around obstacles. the only thing i can think of would be to require demos that are at least 3-5 hours long.

You're website doesn't render properly in Firefox 2.X, my friend.

JUst would like to point out this article http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2008/02/20/gdc_long_live_pc_gaming/ these are from some of the leading guys for the alliance that was recently made between multiple companies for the PC.. As shown they seem quite content with pc gaming.. Now this is of course doesn't mean piracy is a problem because it most definitely is.. What I am trying to point out is it seems at best overblown in many areas.. And another thing I would like to point out is the fact that pc games sell over time, they are not like console games where they have huge spurts then it drops to almost nothing most times.. Starcraft to this day is still selling well for such an old game..

Now the easiest way to lower piracy is odvious.. Use Steam or a system like Steam.. Its the most effective, while at the same time being no where near as infringing as Starforce or Bioshocks copywrite protections.

sSubZerOo

You make some good points about what the PC gaming industry can do about piracy without pissing on its paying customer like us. However, industry can only do so much - the rest is up to us to apply social pressure to pirates. Their desire to fit-in and their consiences may eventually get the better of them.

Regards System Spec and Benchmarks. PCGamer (the magazine not the user), stated earlier in this months mag that system specs and benchmarks are no good for our purchases.

Alot of companies will enable their game to be cut down so far that it barely resembles squares and circles so it will run on Ancient Machine Of Past1BX4500, to make sales.

Benchmarks too lie about capabilities. As quite often companies will use a high detailed video, and some "guff" to represent the load they think it will bear. A prime example was 3dMark 2003. I ran the Max Payne1 benchmark on my old 800mhz P3 and the benchmark stuttered and chundered. I still bought it and it ran on max. so.... I shall put the No demo = No Sale Sig in my Sig!

VRN-KingS-

You have earned your name, King S!!!

ALL HAIL KING S.

[QUOTE="franklinBluth"][QUOTE="Chadcicle"]

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"] Is there really a point to this thread? Of course we all want demos before the game... But the realistic fact there isn't always going to be.. Deal with it, don't buy the game.. Why this thread keeps going on is beyond me.sSubZerOo

yeah this is a bit ridiculous. and another thing, you don't need a demo to tell you what you need to know most of the time. get some reviews, from multiple places. if you have a friend who owns or it or has played it that's good. and if you want to know if your computer can run it you can always check the requirements or go to requirements lab.

I would address your point, but it's been addressed a dozen times in the previos 130 posts. See for yourself, brother Chad. As for checking min reqs, that's B.S. I have one of the fastest mainstream PCs around (not compared to uber-overclockers or SLI 8800 GTs) and yet Crysis runs like crapinsky.

Thus why you read up on benchmarks to Crysis before purchase ;)

What used to make me wonder was how any gamer would NOT insist on a demo. I can't understand how any gamer could post in this thread anything other than 'No Demo? No Sale.' or 'I would prefer a demo, but it isn't necessary'. Yet some people seem annoyed that other gamers are insisting on demos before sales. I wondered 'why would any gamer take such a position'? Then I realized that some people love to argue and get off on going against the grain. Sometimes they even get super bad tattoes of chinese symbols and listen to punk and emo music. Three Cheers for Pre-packaged Originality!

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"] Is there really a point to this thread? Of course we all want demos before the game... But the realistic fact there isn't always going to be.. Deal with it, don't buy the game.. Why this thread keeps going on is beyond me.Chadcicle

yeah this is a bit ridiculous. and another thing, you don't need a demo to tell you what you need to know most of the time. get some reviews, from multiple places. if you have a friend who owns or it or has played it that's good. and if you want to know if your computer can run it you can always check the requirements or go to requirements lab.

I would address your point, but it's been addressed a dozen times in the previos 130 posts. See for yourself, brother Chad. As for checking min reqs, that's B.S. I have one of the fastest mainstream PCs around (not compared to uber-overclockers or SLI 8800 GTs) and yet Crysis runs like crapinsky.