- 0 Members.
- 23 Guests.
Watch out: Valve has introduced regional restrictions to some gift purchases from Steam
Previously they stated, that any game (gift) which was bought in Steam Store will not have any regional restrictions to add to the library and play (it is well known that CD keys usually have various restrictions on activation and playing). Actually steam support still claims that gifts will not be region locked, but it is not true, there were several solid confirmations that restrictions exist.
Right now you should be aware of following gifts.
Max payne 3 Pre order 1 (CIS) – sub id 14524 The gift has following parameter in its cdr record:
onlyallowrunincountries = AM AZ BY GE KZ KG MD RU TJ TM UZ UA LV LT EE
which means it can not be runned outside CIS countries
Max payne 3 Pre order 1 (RU) – sub id 14623 with parameter
onlyallowrunincountries = RU
which means that it will be playable only inside Russia.
Also note, that there is another gift with the same name (Max payne 3 Pre order 1 (RU)), but different subscription id ([4] 14100). It is not locked, but Max Payne 1 & 2 form this gift will contain russian language pack ONLY. It was available to purchase in Russia till 12 of May. From this moment only restricted version (sub 14524) is available for Russians.
Other region locked gifts:
- Confrontation Russian (sub id 13915) (playable only in Russia)
- Ridge Racer Unbounded (RU) (sub id 13946) (playable only in Russia and CIS countries)
- The Witcher 2 (RU) (sub id 13944) (playable only in Russia and CIS countries). Note, that there is another gift with the same name and different sub id without any restrictions. It was available to buy in Russia and CIS till 27 of March.
Source: reddit
NOT cool Valve/publishers.
Steam adding remote game installs (over browser or mobile device)
Here’s official Steam Support article. And a shot from official forums beta thread:
No pre-loading? Not a problem anymore. Queue up your game at work and play when you get home. Same goes for being out of town for lets say future Steam holiday sales.
Here’s a screenshot of the remote installation progress:
Steam is coming to Linux!
Michael Larabel (of Phoronix) met with Valve today; tweets “steam is coming to Linux…”:
And another quote here:
@michaellarabel
#valve does have Linux games coming plus other very positive Linux plans… I’ll briefly post some screenshots and such tonight.
And even more info here.
Valve updates Steam’s account policy, you can now access your games while banned!
I can’t believe they finally did it. A lot of gamers were questioning why it wasn’t possible to access games in offline mode in Steam while an account was suspended or banned, but the real news is that you already can, Valve just never told anyone.
What’s more? Your games aren’t limited to offline mode.
While Valve doesn’t have a lot of legal lingo surrounding the use of their digital distribution service, they do make it known in the subscriber agreement consent form…
“Valve may terminate your Account or a particular Subscription for any conduct or activity that Valve believes is illegal, constitutes a Cheat, or which otherwise negatively affects the enjoyment of Steam by other Subscribers.”
One user put that clause to the test and was banned, however, he later found out that he wasn’t completely blocked out of accessing his games because of a recent policy update in Steam for account access, which has now been deemed as "account locking" instead of "account banning". According to a Steam volunteer moderator, he makes it clear that…
“Steam support stopped disabling Steam accounts a bit more than two months ago. This has been replaced with "account locking": you still have access to your games, but some restrictions are applied to your account (no trading, no cd key activation, no purchase allowed, etc.).”
He provides proof of this with screenshots of an account being banned but still having access to games in offline or online mode:
This means that gamers who have been banned either for fraudulent or nefarious purposes with the intent to use their Steam account for other activities other than gaming like an upstanding member of the interactive entertainment community, can still access the games they paid for.
There are simply restrictions added to the account but the content you paid for is content you still have access to.
Valve actually offers quite a bit of leeway in using their service, so getting banned is not something that’s particularly easy to do so long as you follow the rules. There are, however, some rare exceptions where tertiary license agreements are put into place for Steam games, particularly, EA’s games on Steam, where an EA EULA for a [now absent] product on Steam basically outlines the same sort of restrictions you would find on Origin. Of course, since it’s Steam, there’s no worries about "losing entitlements" or having third-party software scan your PC for you.
Valve’s head honcho, Gabe Newell, recently spoke out against these sort of practices that EA is using for Origin, saying that as the service stands right now it’s just not up to par to where it should be for consumers and gamers, and it’s just not doing anything super-well at the moment. It’s kind of hard to argue against that point.
At least gamers who went off the deep end and managed to get banned can still play their games and access the content on both Steam and Origin. So, in that regards, it’s a win-win situation for gamers no matter which digital distribution service you use.
However Steam’s official support representative has stated that:
“Games registered to suspended accounts will no longer be accessible; even in offline mode."
Of course, the support didn’t clarify if this applies retroactively for suspended accounts or the distinction between a suspended account or a locked account, so we’re awaiting official word from Valve on the matter.
Source: Cinemablend
Steam soon to introduce used game selling and new refund policy!
YES! Finally Valve Software has decided that soon all Steam users will be able to sell or give away their own “used” games off their Steam accounts. Here is what Gabe Newell said:
“We are happy to announce that soon (May 1st) all Steam users who bought at least one game using Steam will be able to give away or resell their own Steam games to their friends. All of the funds gathered from their sales will either directly show on their credit card balance or Steam Wallet, so right now you don’t have to worry about buying a shitty game as you can simply sell it to someone else.” – Gabe Newell said.
Additionally Newell mentioned the new, improved refund policy:
“We really like how Google Play (former Android Market) handles refunds so we’re about to introduce a similar refund policy. You’ll have 12 hours to return any game whether you played it, liked it or hated it. Simple as that.”
Here are some leaked screenshots of the upcoming feature:
Valve nukes Steam Box, working on new UI
The beginning of the week brought reports that Valve was working on something called “Steam Box,” a list of hardware specs and associated software that manufacturers would turn around and build to sell under Valve’s certified label. Much like PC gamers would see their favorite titles branded by Nvidia or AMD, these rigs would feature the Steam Box logo, indicating that they were good to go when it comes to playing PC games offered on Steam.
The idea, it seemed, was to take the console approach and provide a set list of hardware that developers could rely on from multiple manufacturers. There’s no indication that Valve was looking to create a single console to compete with the current and next-generation crops, but rather to have a standardized PC platform that lasts for up to four years at the most. There’s even talk that the Alienware X51 rig was built based on an early Steam Box spec.
According to a November 2 tweet by Valve employee Greg Coomer, a hand-built prototype consisted of a quad-core Intel i7 CPU, 8 GB of RAM, and a Zotac Z68 mini-ITX motherboard with an on-board Nvidia mobile GPU. According to Zotac’s website, the Z68-ITX WiFi Supreme supports socket LGA1155 2nd generation Intel Core processors and features the Intel Z68 Express chipset, Nvidia’s GeForce GT 430 GPU with 1 GB of DDR3 VRAM, 802.11n and Ethernet connectivity and more.
Coomer said his prototype ran Portal 2 FAST.
Still, regardless what seems to be going on with Steam Box, Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi claims the company is currently focused on prepping and shipping the Steam Big Picture Mode UI. He even admitted that Valve is building boxes to test the new Steam interface only. This new UI will reportedly make the online gaming service easier to use for people who want to play Steam games on a PC that’s connected to their TV.
“We’re also doing a bunch of different experiments with biometric feedback and stuff like that, which we’ve talked about a fair amount,” he admitted. “All of that is stuff that we’re working on, but it’s a long way from Valve shipping any sort of hardware.”
Yet hardware is not out of the question, as even Valve bossman Gabe Newell recently said that Valve will sell hardware if it becomes a necessity to keep the doors open.
On top of that, Lombardi didn’t actually refuse to say that Valve isn’t working on a hardware platform. Instead, he agreed that there’s definitely nothing coming any time soon, nothing at GDC or E3. Like Newell said, there’s a possibility that maybe some day Valve will make hardware, but Lombardi made it clear that (a) Valve partnering with hardware manufacturers and/or (b) Valve building its own hardware will not be happening anytime soon. End of story.
As for the prototype seen back in November, Lombardi said that Coomer is one of the guys leading the Big Picture effort. “The idea is that you can take Steam to any display,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is say, ‘here’s a box that we’re going to use for testing that’s common for Big Picture mode and get performance at a base level.’”
“We’re always putting boxes together,” he added. “Going all the way back to the Half-Life 1 days, we built special boxes to test our software render… it’s just part of development.”
Sound like he just nuked any speculation that Coomer’s rig was a Steam Box prototype
.
Source: Tom’s Hardware m.tomshardware.com/news/Valve-Steam-Box-Zotac-Alienware-Big-Picture,14959.html#xtor=RSS-993
Gabe is more than fine… financially
Forbes editors have decided to estimate Gabe Newell’s fortune recently. As you realize there’s a list with the richest people in the world on which Gabe turned out to be… 854. This may sound not that great right? But as it turns out, if he wanted to sell his shares to someone else, he would be richer by $ 1.5 billion.
Just imagine how much does he earn by month… congrats Gabe I guess? Now make your service (Steam) better…
Valve patents for controller
Loading ... |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Valve said to be working on ‘Steam Box’ gaming console with partners, could announce at GDC
Recently there’s been chatter that Valve — the company behind the massively popular gaming service Steam — has been considering getting into the hardware business. Specifically, there have been rumors that the company has been toying with the idea of creating a proper set-top console which could potentially pose a threat to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Valve co-founder Gabe Newell even recently told Penny Arcade: “Well, if we have to sell hardware we will.”
Alan Wake PC makes money back in 48 hours… thanks to Steam
Remedy is very pleased with the performance of the PC version of Alan Wake. It turns out that they made back the money they invested on the PC version of Alan Wake in just 48 hours.
“I wanted to chime in here. We are very happy with the sales and hitting #1 on Steam at launch was nothing short of amazing,” Aki ‘AJ’ Järvilehto, Remedy’s executive vice president wrote on the developer’s forum.
“We recouped our development and marketing expenses during the first 48 hours. And yes, we’re certainly very excited about PC.”
Mikko Rautalahti, who is the game’s writer was plased as well and said: “We’re pretty happy with how things have been going this far.”
Source: GamingBolt
Also, learn Ubisoft, just learn and shut up.
Latest on Sun, 07:48 pm
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns45Mr2D6jQ
: 
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=632kyLysP6c#t=36s
: 
: 
: im just frustrated that they keep selling old games on everything digital now, making them HD and shit, there is no progress at all in gaming
: oh well got that on steam anyways already... so no good?
: it's just stupid wolf3d in browser
: FUCK THAT SHIT: Sorry, your IP address shows you are coming from a country that requires us to block access to this particular site. Click here (www.bethsoft.com) to check out our other games.
: http://wolfenstein.bethsoft.com/
: FEAR 3 75% discount (£3.25) in GameFly Activate in Steam. Steam price: 36,99€ http://www.gamefly.co.uk/
: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stainlessgames/carmageddon-reincarnation
: 
: 
: 
: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=68460456
: ᶘ ᵒᴥᵒᶅ
: Thanks Tommy. And Stranded. Both questions answered flawless. :)
: the site is logging, click on the green arrows below
: hey, maybe it is one of these : http://www.deals4downloads.com /////// http://isthereanydeal.com/
: (Too bad the chatbox is not logging. So many good pictures get posted when I'm not checking the page for a few days.)
: Guys, do you know that site's address, which had all the dails for "today"? It listed all the games (discounted) from every online store. I can't remember it's name, and even ~10 minutes of Google didn't help me.
: i love the price of games in australia lol
: 
: 
Loading ...Cool shirts and shit
