Sometimes I'll watch if it's a game I haven't played before, to see what it's about. Tournaments are fun, especially the League of Legend games, since I know a bit more about the game and the scene. There are also times when I'll have a stream - someone that I'm following just because I like...whatever: their perspective, communication, etc - playing in the background as I draw or design. I've always liked having music, or some environmental noise, on while I work.

There are games that I can't watch because it's annoying not being able to grab the controls. It can also be annoying watching someone play a game that you've already "mastered", but then with Twitch, you can actually chime in and say "Hey, look behind that building" or "Just do this instead of what you're doing, it's easier." Streamers will sometimes poll the chat for what to do, or what to play next. I don't know. I find the whole thing pretty fascinating.

Nice!

I never got into Sonic games, mostly because I always felt like I wasn't any good at them, or I was playing them completely wrong. A lot of the same frustration that Jack and Rich express in the video, actually. They weren't hard games, like Mega Man was hard. Sonic games just felt really unfairly torturous.

The only recent Sonic game I remember playing was Sonic Unleashed on the 360. I didn't mind the werehog stuff as much as a lot of people apparently did, even though it was completely out of place. The daytime stages were near perfect, however, and if they could do (or have done?) something solely like this in an arcade style game, I'd play that.

I tried the demo. Now my monitor is permanently tinted yellow and my computer gets tired easily.

...Allows owners of the game a free Steam copy. Thought they were handing out Steam codes to everyone for a second there ;)!

The article states that the Granting Tool works with retail discs. Will it work with non-Steam digital copies? Some people commenting are saying you have to have the disc in the drive when using the tool.

Most retail disc games (all, that I'm aware of...) come with a CD key for registration. I would assume if the tool requires the disc, it would then verify the CD Key, as a two-step proof of ownership. Just glad they moved away from SecuRom!

Excellent point. Another something to think about (or speculate over, as the case may be): Concerning the implementation of DRM, do you think most companies are worried about losing profits, or annoyed that someone is getting something for nothing? Put another way, if all the people that pirate games (or any digital content) lived on some remote island with amazing satellite broadband, but TSA level shipping restrictions, would anyone really care if their product was pirated? Would digital piracy even be an issue at that point?

My point is that pirates will pirate, they won't purchase. As long as they don't sell what they pirate, and the people that purchase content legitimately continue to do so, what harm does piracy do? Transformers 4 grossed $300M worldwide in its first three days. I'll take a presumptuous guess and say that it was pirated at least 100,000 times, which is likely a low figure. If someone steals something from a stockpile of infinite supply, what does it matter if a handful consistently go missing?

I'll amend my hyperbolic statement, and say instead that pirates don't want to purchase. I wasn't thinking so much of the people that dabble in blue moon piracy, as DRM isn't built for these people. Netflix streaming service hasn't offered much in the way of new content in years, and I'll bet that most of those pirates that "converted" are really just ripping Netflix discs as they come in the mail.

Free to Play is an excellent solution to piracy (maybe the only pure solution, as it is essentially legalized piracy), although it doesn't always seem applicable. How would Wolfenstein: New Order work as a Free to Play game? And this is what I was vaguely and sloppily coming around to: Could there be more room to innovate in the Free to Play model? Do you think we might see a big game, like Uncharted 4 or Half-Life 3, released in some F2P hybrid?

I've heard good things about the original Oldboy. I haven't seen either, though. All consumed with Guardians of the Galaxy coming out this Friday, which, I read on the internet somewhere, will be better than both Oldboys combined.

Say that Gabe sends out a memo to Team Half-Life, stating that he wants the third iteration to be Free to Play. Half Life is a universe serious in tone, and you don't want to throw gimmicks at it to monetize it, and no way in hell will there be ad placement. Beyond the typical Free to Play structures we've seen, how could you go about monetizing a "free" experience, without cheating the player or the story? I apologize if I just keep repeating the same thing in different words. It's fascinating to think about it, and each time I post a comment I feel like I'm close to progressing the conversation with an actual idea, but then I get trapped in my head, thinking about what I'm thinking about, and that turns into a desire for cinnamon rolls, and then I lose the thought.

I'll have something later, I promise!

There is a place here called Ginger Browns and they make amazing cinnamon rolls. Not gooey, or overly cinnamony, but dense and rich and chewy and you pretty much die after eating one. It's ridiculous.

I was messing around with this a few months ago, and found it to be functional, but lacking. I'm sure they've made some improvements since then. Too comfortable in my bed to check it out right now, though...

You've been working hard! There was an option to join the Steam Music user group early on, and they were granting early beta access that way. I was hoping it would be a viable solution to iTunes, which I usually love, but seems to be lacking in support on "the bastard platform" (i.e. Windows). WinAmp would be my next choice, but it's in corporate-buyout limbo. It still works, but man is it in need of a good designer.

Has Valve said that they would integrate music purchasing through a third party service?

I'm glad they're adding this since this will help flesh out the Steam OS a bit more. However I can't really see myself using this much. I primarily listen to music through Spotify (laptop or iPod) or I use my iPod plugged into a speaker to listen to the music I own.

I have iTunes but I only ever load it up when I need to sync my iPod to it.

I think it's less about having their own console, and more about getting out from under Windows, which is more or less where everything is going.