Be Excellent To Each Other

From reading and checking out bargains lately, I'm reminded that Direct2Drive has a UK division, which is interesting. Was thinking about doing a cheap test purchase but I'd quite like to know first how their service works exactly (i.e. can you download an install executable, what type of DRM is present and how intrusive is it etc.). I'm sure Lewie can help me out with all things D2D...

Of course, I'm also aware of another download service called Impulse, but so far they don't seem very inticing.


I'm starting to wonder just how many major download services there are nowadays. D2D surely has to be the oldest as I'm sure it's already been around for a gajillion years, predating Steam et al. Any comments or words of wisdom to pass about all these sites?


Thankoos.

Can't offer any advice on stuff like DRM, but another d/l place is here, although I have never actually used them.

http://www.gametap-shop.com/

I've bought a couple of games on impulse - they're good, hassle free, not as ideal as gog but obviously they have a wider selection. Direct2Drive are okay in my experience too, although I had some hassle getting their download manager (a must for games over about a gig - our router is flaking out often enough to make a 4 gig download cutting off at 98% all too possible). The DRM issue depends on the individual game's publisher etc. Fortunately, they both list any customer-harassing measures on the game's information page before you buy, which is all you can realistically ask a distributor to do.

Impulse demands that you install a downloader thing, but you don't need to be logged in to that or have it open to play - it merely downloads the files and puts them in place for you. I don't remember if there's an activation process - I actually pirated the first game I bought from them (this was because I couldn't afford the game at the time, but had every intention of buying it later), then bought it a couple of months later, and I didn't even need to reinstall - it simply updated the files for me, no problems. This may vary per game, though.

Directtwodrive (looks silly like that, doesn't it, marketing blokes? Yes) downloads an installer for each game (or zip file for very old/small games), which you can download via your browser or their download manager (which, though wobbly on my system, is non-intrusive and requires no expertise). You then run (or tell the download manager to run, if you're feeling lazy) the setup programme and install it as you would any other game. Again, it may vary from game to game, but I've had no significant problems.

Oh, I forgot Gamers Gate. I only bought one game from them, and it was a bit of a pain in the arse. I seem to recall having to download a mini-installer, which in turn re-downloaded another installer... don't trust my memory on that one entirely though, so don't dismiss it based on my ravings.

Prices... meh. They vary from brilliant to extortionate on both, but both have regular, often very worthwhile sales and specials. I would rate them as:

GOG > Impulse > Direct (to - stubborn Ed) Drive > Hitler > Gamers Gate > Hitler in a bikini > prolonged genital-sandpaper contact > Steam > Boosh.

Here's my thoughts on the major digital download services:

Steam
Basically the one I would chose to get anything on if pricing is the same across them. Yes, by definition the Steam platform is DRM, but it is give and take. They DRM your games up, but they make it incredibly easy to download them again. They also install whilst downloading (whereas for some you have to download an installer, then go through an installation process separately).

Good:
Lets you back up your games to a disc or wherever (to save redownloading).
Nice unified friends list/social stuff.
Steam achievements.
Lets you register some retail games to add them to your account.
Easy HL2 mod support for some mods. There are a few HL2 mods that you can directly install via steam.
Promotions. Very often have more than one promotion on. I basically never buy a game at full price because their weekend specials are so good.

Bad:
Regional pricing bullshit. Publishers can charge whatever they want in different currencies. THQ, for example, charge $29.99 and £34.99 for the same game.
Additional DRM. Games can have bad DRM in addition to the Steam platform. Bioshock launched with some horrible DRM included, and Riddick has a 3 install limit. They don't always tell you everything about the DRM too.
Mods. Sometimes steam doesn't get on well with mods, particularly for older games.
Regional availability of games varies a lot from region to region too.

Ugly:
Forced patching. Games are often forced to be patched, whilst most of the time this is convenient, not all patches are perfect, and there have been times when being forced to use a newer version has screwed over some users.

Direct2drive
A division of IGN, which in turn is a division of Fox Entertainment, which in turn is part of Rupert Murdock's empire. They have a UK and a USA site, which have about 80% the same catalogue, but a lot of games are USA exclusive, and USA pricing is nearly always better. No client, just a web portal with downloads. Some of the games they sell are just serials that you register on Steam (Defence Grid, Saints Row 2, Zeno Clash). I've only used it for these myself, but had no problems.

Good:
Open about DRM. They always tell you exactly what DRM they include.
Pretty good promotions. Right now they have their 5 year anniversary promotion going on, a bunch of games for £5 (or £3/$5 if you live in the USA), and they often have decent pre release offers.
Don't need to run a client to play your games.

Bad:
Games require specific patches from D2D, and they are often delayed compared to other services.
Regional pricing bullshit. Publishers can charge whatever they want in different currencies.
Regional availability of games varies a lot from region to region too.

Ugly:
It's part of IGN.

GamersGate
Used to have a horrible client, but a while back they relaunched, and went clientless. Now you download a small file from them, which you then run, which downloads all the data, and then installs. They are ran by Paradox Interactive, and have a good selection of fairly niche European games that you might not find on other platforms. They have a silly "Blue Coin" system, where each purchase gets you some of a fictional currency, which you can then spend on games.

Good:
Don't need to run a client to play your games.
Games you can't find anywhere else.

Bad:
Regional pricing bullshit. Publishers can charge whatever they want in different currencies.
Regional availability of games varies a lot from region to region too.
Of all of the digital distribution services, I would say it is worst at dropping prices on old games (but they are all bad)

Ugly:
Web site is not that pretty.

Impulse
Stardock's digital distribution has both games and other software, including some nice freebies. They often have excellent weekend specials, and they charge people all over the globe the same price for games (in dollars, converted at the exchange rate when the purchase is made).

Good:
Exclusivity on stardocks games, if you want their games, you have to use impulse.
No DRM inherent in the platform - their is a (fairly nice) client, but you don't need to run it, or even have it installed to play your installed games.
Can register some retail games on the service (I think just Stardock ones)
Special offers every weekend.

Bad:
Some games do have DRM.
Some games are region restricted.

Ugly:
Don't tell you exact price in pounds, could be a little more or less when you go through the checkout.

GOG
CD Projekt's Digital Distribution service specialising in Good Old Games, they have got a lot of quality older games on there, and do a fairly good job of making them all XP/Vista (and I assume windows 7) compatible. They charge everyone the same price in dollars.

Good:
No DRM whatsoever on any games at all ever.
Pretty cheap games.
Special offer every weekend.

Bad:
Not all games are really good. Some are garbage...

Ugly:
Reserve the right to remove a game from your account when they loose the rights to it (happened with a TOCA game), and forced a refund on people. To be fair, I imagine others might do this too, but I think GOG is the only one that has.

Thanks for that Lewie, it's well appreciated.

I'm not sure if D2D are constantly clear on DRM though - was looking at their X-Com stuff (which I assume are the oldest games in their catalogue, not to mention the only DOS-based ones) and while 1-3 are advertised as DRM-free, no similar statement was made on Enforcer and Interceptor, and the complete bundle pack doesn't state it either, probably because of the latter two games. I could not immediately see anything on the pages which gave details regarding any DRM if it exists.

Surprised to hear about GOG removing games due to licensing issues in the past, but then it seems like only two titles to date, neither of which I have any interest in, so it's all good. I mainly target 90's titles of interest and take advantage of decent discounts if any exist, such as the BOGOF deal on Interplay titles recently, which plumped my virtual shelf up a fair bit. On the other hand, knocking a dollar off Simon The Sorcerer won't make that much of a difference after taking currency translation into account - I seemed to knock off little more than 60p or thereabouts. And while they don't impose regional differences in pricing, it seems clear which companies prefer to plump for the higher price tag out of the still-rather-small two available - I still can't get my head around Settlers II Gold Edition being ten bucks when six bucks seems more appropriate for it I feel.

Steam - I'm pleased to see it's sorted itself out these days and proven to be a safe service to use. I remember being put right off it for many years originally after reading about the horror stories concerning HL2 activation/usage during its launch era, that and it took me a long time to feel comfortable about the idea of paying for downloads with strings attached. I also assumed they'd have no games of interest I liked, anything from the 90's, or offer bargain-bin prices at all. I'm comfortable with the fact it doesn't tie your account or purchases to your specific rig (I can only hope MS similarly act less bitchy regarding XBL accounts soonish - yes, I read Squirminator's story) and doesn't impose install limits. I've recently taking a liking to pouncing on glorious discount deals whenever they do them - they have their moments when they absolutely run rings around GOG (flogging the complete Unreal collection for just under a tenner vs buying each game for $10 a piece + miss out on the latest opus?) and their moments when they don't (non-competitive prices for MDK1+2 when compared to GOG). There are some deals that just make you want to go ahead with the transaction purely out of principle - coughing up three squid and five pennies for the complete HL1 Anthology being my proudest Steam moment to date.
However, I still don't see myself using the service very often - I certainly don't intend on building up a massive collection of random titles, and I always prefer to get games and bundles for peanuts (but then who doesn't?). I also have no real interest in most modern day titles (especially grey, moody FPSers that require a thousand gigabytes of RAM, squillion terabyes of disk space, and a full-on water cooler inside your rig to ensure it doesn't pathetically combust in flames from trying to handle those gloriously detailed blades of grass on the battlefield, MAN!) so I guess I'll end up saving quite a lot of dosh in the long run.



I should point out that there are some publishers/developers who run their own digital stores too. Blizzard offer digital downloads of Starcraft, Warcraft III and Diablo 2 (but curiously not Diablo 1 or Warcraft 1+2, which they don't even sell physically anymore by the looks of it) - in fact, you can even use their download backup service for no charge by getting a Battle.net account and registering the CD-keys from your old physical copies (if they haven't already been used or blacklisted that is) in exchange for a new, different serial key and a full download of the title you registered to said account - bear in mind though that they force you to use their own downloading tool, and presumably grabs the data from some unique protocol as well (no net-sniffers could detect HTTP links being called) but otherwise it simply does the job it's asked and nothing else. You can even backup the installer folders to a DVD afterwards if you wish. Having said all this though, I still feel uncomfortable with the way Blizzard depict themselves to me as being this massive dark overlord, living in a mountain of gold, who runs everything their way and obsesses over serials, protection and extorting large amounts of money from obsessive WoW players to levels of ridiculousness. But that's just me.

3D Realms - in the midst of reducing their workload dramatically earlier this year - rejigged their online store to sell downloads for all of the games they haven't already made freeware, and downloads only (they've pretty much ditched physical games and merch for good by the looks of things). Don't expect anything lavish or special though - Mr Joe Siegler (who compiled the new installers) used what little time he had left in his employment with the company to make plain Inno Setup installers that install the game data and a copy of DOSBox into a plain directory, plus desktop/start menu shortcuts and a preconfigured DOSBox config. There's no robust/permanent redownload function - the only real backup feature available comes from paying an additional small charge for RegNow's Extended Download Service (for it is RN who 3DR use to make the transactions and store the games), which even then only extends your download rights by a year (Siegler's official advice: "Backup to CD"). Nearly every game is at a fixed price of $5.99 (I guess to match GOG's Apogee prices) - with only two titles going for $10 (for no valid reason at all as far as I can see). Suffice to say, I've only bought two titles from it to date (Death Rally and Rise Of The Triad), the first as a test purchase and the second because it was said to have added a lot more stuff (dubbed the Ultimate ROTT or thereabouts) compared to the two previous times I bought the game off them. Definitely disappointing compared to the other services on offer, but considering the forced rushjob this got started under, you can't blame them really.

Midway Arcade - this is a site that used to be the official webpage for the Arcade Treasures compilations, and which now serves as a download service to download their old arcade titles (well, Atari Games and Bally Midway ones) for a small fee, and often in bundles. What's the emulation like I hear you ask? Well I'm fucked if I know, because their store only supports people in the U.S. and Canada. And worse, it's been like this for eons. Useless cuntbubble wankers.


Aaaaaaaand I'll sign off.