240°

Why Steam Trading Cards Should Embarrass Microsoft and Sony

IGN: "Steam’s recently introduced trading card system might just be the most brilliant consumer loyalty program ever devised within the video game industry."

dedicatedtogamers3928d ago

TBH, gaming needs to move AWAY from meta-achievements, not deeper into it. Cards are fun, but they're cancer in multiplayer games. Anyone think that hats actually improved Team Fortress 2? Well, cards are hats....in every game that supports them.

Theo11303928d ago

Un, they just drop on randomly and or If you've played a certain amount of time, so they're not tied to specific achievements like some xbox/ps3 games.

darx3928d ago

I don't think he read the article.

theEx1Le3928d ago

I really dont think you understand how the system works.

yeahokchief3928d ago (Edited 3928d ago )

Article kinda neglects how you get a ton of exclusive free themes and icons via PS Plus.

I wouldn't buy anything for trading cards or any digital nonsense if I get back into pc gaming. Just loads of DotA2.

aliengmr3928d ago

Enticing gamers to play games, its shameful.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 3928d ago
mayberry3928d ago

TBH, PS+ gives out way more free games and content than what this article is stating that steam cards gives out, and I have, I think at least 3 web sites stored in my favorites on my ps3 web browser that have free themes including
Animated themes!

badz1493928d ago

...and you have to pay for Steam games too! what's your point again?

on PS+, they decide what FREE games and discounted items you get on offer but on Steam, they decide discounted items you get on offer. the FREE games part is what makes the PS+ well worth it as Sony has been proven that those free games aren't shit either!

PeaSFor3928d ago (Edited 3928d ago )

the other day i saw that sleeping dogs, saints row3, just cause2, DeusEx, XCOM..etc was discounted on steam...... but that just too bad because thx to PS+ i already cleared them.

papashango3928d ago (Edited 3928d ago )

theres more free to play content on steam then you'll ever get on ps+

lets not even get into the workshop if you don't want ps+ to look even worse.

Corpser3928d ago

@peasfor

I rather pay $5 each for much prettier versions of these games on Steam than getting the barebones ps3 versions for "free"

stragomccloud3928d ago

@peasSFor
It should be noted that you don't own any of the PS+ "free" games. Once you stop paying for PS+, you can't play the games anymore. You are basically renting them for a short period of time. So you really can't compare it. After all, steam games are ludicrously cheap at times. You can buy more games permanently for probably the same price or cheaper than the "free" games on PS+.

Steam is just so much more convenient, and let's play the games with a console controller, and depending on your specs, you can play the games at settings that can make the games look leagues better.

yeahokchief3928d ago

PS Plus > Steam

PS+ sales were cheaper than Steam sales this year for a lot of games and thats not even including the 1,000s of dollars of free ones.

Corpser3928d ago

@yeahokchief

Not even close, let me give you a few prices from this past summer sale

Dishonored $10
Borderlands 2 season pass $10
Tomb Raider $12.49
Tomb Raider Anni/Legend $0.80
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon $6.74

Your turn, name some (any?) games on ps+ sales that are better than steam sale prices

Not to mention you get the best looking version of these games on pc

Ragthorn3928d ago

@Corpser
Yea tell him lol, Steam sales are some of the best deals you can get around, I would buy from other places like gog,greenmangaming, and direct2drive, but I just want all my games in one place, and bought from the same place. Btw I got those games you said there as well lol!

PeaSFor3928d ago

@stragomccloud
im on steam since they launched the service http://steamcommunity.com/p...
and also have PS+ since day one(and member until december 2017 in enticipation for the ps4....thats how much psplus is satisfying for me), and yeah im well aware on how Sony service work, what i said is even if steam offer me nice discounted games, it wont appeal me much as seeing Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee HD, Battlefield3, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception,Just Cause 2, Saints Row 2, Saints Row: The Third, Machinarium, Hard Corp:Uprising, Sideway: New York, Choplifter HD, Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone, Little Big Planet 2, Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One, LittleBigPlanet: Karting, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, Gotham City Imposters, Renegade Ops, The Walking Dead (Ep. 1 & 2), Bloodrayne Betrayal, Outland, Borderlands, Double Dragon Neon, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, NFL Blitz, King of Fighters XIII, PAYDAY: The Heist, Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, Quantum Conundrum, Dungeon Defenders, Gravity Rush, Jet Set Radio, Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, WipEout 2048, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, Bioshock 2, Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Rochard, Anomaly: Warzone Earth, Retro City Rampage, NBA Jam: On Fire, Chronovolt, Mega Man 9 & 10, Darksiders, Foosball 2012, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, Guardians of Middle Earth, Closure, Vanquish, Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, Plants Vs. Zombies, Spec Ops: The Line, Joe Danger 2: The Movie, Tekken VI, The Cave, Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention, Demon’s Souls, Labyrinth Legends, Malicious, SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny, Zombie Tycoon 2, Sleeping Dogs, Knytt Underground, Pinball Arcade, Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward, Germinator, Blaz Blue, Metal Slug: XX for "FREE"(i clear them and voila).....oh and that list was only THIS year content.

so im not hating on steam(far from it since im using it a lot) but the peoples who simply try to resume ps+ by "an embarrassment" versus steam are clearly CLEARLY out of touch with reality and probably never been a user of the service.

LoveOfTheGame3928d ago

^^^
How did you get those games free? I had to pay Sony $50 to get those. Steam has much more for free the PS+.

Side Note: War of the Lions was on PS+? Which means I didn't have to buy it, I hate myself.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 3928d ago
theEx1Le3928d ago

No offense but what has PS+ got to do with this. They are in no way the same at all. The cards are included with a game you buy. Earned through games you play. Your comparison makes no sense.

s45gr323928d ago

While true, the downside is that trading cards are free plus according to IGN not me game developers make money out of these cards with PS Plus the developers don't make money. Second Valve makes money out of this and the gamer makes money. Not a lot but enough to buy kickass indies or dlc content. Is a win win for everyone involved.

Ragthorn3928d ago

@badz149
But the deals I've seen on Steam appeal to me more than the deals on PS+, i just get the free games on PS+. Steam on summer and holiday sales, have community votes and select a few games for the community to vote for to get a large discount for. Dishonored was $10.19 on Steam recently from the community sale, really good deal which is why I picked it up, if I recall PS+ had it for $25 or $26, like 2 months ago. I love PS+, but imho I think Steam is best!

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3928d ago
Stsonic3928d ago

The cards would be a lot better if they actually had there own game.

matrixman923928d ago

i said something similar to this article a few days ago and got disagreed into oblivion....I really dont see why people dont like this route. I have over 100,000 gamerscore and it gets me literally nothing. I have about a dozen platinums and they get me nothing. How cool would it be if achievements or trophies got us something of worth and we could sell them or trade them in for money.

s45gr323928d ago

That's very cool indeed hopefully these trading cards have a mini game of sorts were the winner earns prizes like a free booster pack, $100.00, or a free game.

sypher3928d ago

thats what the whole bid for greatness is meant to be. Using your trophies as currency to bid on items.

matrixman923928d ago

thats a competition though..if u put in loads of work, you could potentially end up getting nothing if someone has more than u. With steam trading cards you are guaranteed to at least get something back.

AceBlazer133928d ago

Bid for greatness is just horrible did u see way bidders bet to win those prizes? Gold trophies in the thousands.

WeAreLegion3928d ago

I wish we could get an actual card game out of this. :/ That's what I want! A massive card game like Magic using all the characters from video games. That would be epic!

s45gr323928d ago

Now that would be awesome

yeahokchief3928d ago

Yep thats what i assumed the steam cards were used for. What do you use the cards for then if there isnt a game?

Seems everyone has been trying to cash in on card games recently between steam, naughty dog, blizzard etc

Show all comments (35)
240°

Microsoft Seemingly Closes Bethesda France

As part of its plans to cut 1,900 jobs, Microsoft has reportedly shut down operations at Bethesda France, letting go roughly 15 people

Read Full Story >>
insider-gaming.com
Hereandthere10h ago

Microsoft should have left them stay 3rd party

GamerRN7h ago

If they are let go, they can be whatever they want. They ARE 3rd party now... 🤦

Barlos5h ago

Yeah, they're also jobless.

peppeaccardo2m ago

"MIcrosoft leaves Bethesda do what they know how to do best" ... close! Oh the irony ....
(Citation from a week old article)

PassNextquestion9h ago(Edited 9h ago)

Bethesda France was made up of roughly 15 people... they couldn't of being doing much

Bethesda France mainly did publishing and marketing within the region

blacktiger7h ago

that's a shame for you to say that, i'm sure Elite loves hearing what you just said.

Profchaos9h ago(Edited 9h ago)

Bethesda France focused on publishing and marketing in the region. And 15 people lost their jobs as part of the closure.

I wonder if this is part of Microsoft's strategy to abandoned physical media or possibly gamepass advertising makes their roles redundant you don't need to market a game as hard when the majority of players get the game as part of a sub which already promoted upcoming games

Tacoboto9h ago

It's France too, there's a high likelihood only 1-2 people on the team even had an Xbox.

Profchaos9h ago

Possibly guven all the leaks we know the Xbox brand is really struggling in the region.

Yi-Long6h ago

Well, if your consoles and games are barely found in any stores any more, of course you're gonna struggle finding consumers ...

XiNatsuDragnel8h ago

Tbh Microsoft I think Bethesda being 3rd party same with Activision would probably more competitive than thus scenario imo

Profchaos6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

I think it would have been better for all parties really especially gamers

TheColbertinator7h ago

The recently purchased Activision French offices might take over all the licensing and marketing for Microsoft in France from now on.

Show all comments (16)
120°

Sony Could Increase Your Game's Difficulty If It Sees You Complain About It

Sony has recently published a new patent that wants to dynamically handle the games' difficulty and gameplay based on the player's emotions.

jznrpg11h ago

This is something I might use. Sometimes I play some good games but they don’t have difficulty option and are a little too easy.

Profchaos10h ago

Souls games will be like that players struggling make it harder

PassNextquestion9h ago(Edited 9h ago)

I think if used correctly it could work well

jambola6h ago

cool idea
cool idea for horror games especially
the way it's explained here sounds like it could never be forced hopefully, so that's ok with me

Show all comments (7)
280°

Xbox's Preservation Step Sets A Much-Needed Example, Especially For Nintendo

Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"

purple10111d ago

Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”

Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever

Nice one ☝️

Zeref10d ago

It's better than what Nintendo and Playstation is doing. It might not be perfect but at least they are TRYING. Unlike the others.

DarXyde10d ago

Trying? Take off the blinders for a moment, mate.

1. A failure to preserve games is just that: a failure to preserve games. Don't try to sugarcoat it: NO ONE is doing it properly. Better than awful is nothing to write home about.

2. At the time of this comment, isn't it the case that you need an internet connection to play Xbox games even if you buy physical discs that are hardly in circulation anymore? I don't have a Series X and I can't verify, but I think that is correct. I'm fairly certain you can at least play PS5 games at version 1.0 (not much of a win really when many games require day one patches). I think Microsoft's all digital, licensing approach is by far more aggressive than anyone else's. They really try to push you to game pass where you lose your entire library by umm.... Skipping a month of payments.

I don't think anyone is doing it right whatsoever. Don't get me started on Nintendo, who goes after anyone looking to preserve their games better than they ever would with extreme litigation.

Don't be a simp for any of these companies. Get it together.

PhillyDonJawn10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

@DarX never speak on Xbox again. You lost all credibility with your internet connection comment. Smh you have 0 clue and misinformed yet speaking on something you don't no squat about.

Einhander197210d ago

What has Sony done exactly? You guys keep deflecting to Sony but I am not actually seeing any results, and ai am certain nothing that you can come up with even comes close to what Microsoft has done and what they have tried and failed to do, like tie all your disks to your account on xbone.

Microsoft removed their whole indie section when they moved to the xbone because they were going to only allow games on the service that came from a publisher, id@xbox started after xbone launched and it only exists because Sony embraced indie and Microsoft was forced to cancel their plans and reverse course.

And every single game that was part of games for windows live including disk games (I have gta 4 on disk that won't work) so hundreds of games that use that DRM no longer work unless the company themselves patched it out which of course very few did.

MrBaskerville10d ago

Not trying. Tried. they killed of the backcomp program years ago. They set something up again, but sounds like it's more of an attempt to save the current library on whatever they are planning next. With luck they save everything and more, but let's see. I could see them killing off parts of the OG xbox and 360 libraries. Can't imagine that they would allow us to play Forza 5-7 in the future.

With that said, I do like what they've done and really wish they could have done more.

shinoff218310d ago

Zeref

So killing off physical media is trying what exactly. Ms don't really give a fk if you think they do your kidding yourself.

Profchaos10d ago

They are not trying this team is established for forward compatability the team is. It interested in preserving Xbox or 360 games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 10d ago
isarai11d ago

Is that why Hellblade 2 is digital only?

Zeref10d ago

Just because it's digital only doesn't mean you can't preserve it. Just put it on an external and you have the exact same functionality of what a disc does.

MrNinosan10d ago

Guess you're trolling, but if you actually think that's how it works, I'd recommend buying some braincells.

mkis00710d ago (Edited 10d ago )

Volitile vs nonvolitile data. A disc will not corrupt either. A drive can be corrupted.

Einhander197211d ago

This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.

No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.

Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.

11d ago Replies(3)
Einhander197211d ago

Anyone remember xblig which Microsoft removed their whole 360 indie section removing hundreds of games from people?

11d ago
11d ago
Zeref10d ago

Do you know you can put your games on an external and preserve them that way? There are no benefits to discs. ZERO. Idk why some of you are still obsessed with them.

DarXyde10d ago

Because games like Persona 5 exist. It's STILL V1.00. On Playstation, that's a win because 1.00 is installed on the disc—no need to download anything.

If a game does not require any updates, it's all on the disc.

Extremely low bar in the modern era, of course. It's not much of a win by any stretch.

But for now, physical media does have a purpose, at least on Playstation.

Einhander197210d ago

That is factually not how game licensing works, try plugging your hard drive into someone else xbox, It's not going to work, and it won't work if the licensing servers ever go down.

Einhander197210d ago

Anyone remember games for windows live.

I have around a dozen games, some on Steam itself that will not work because Microsoft shut off the licensing servers.

BehindTheRows10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

I do. I STILL have games (Gears of War being the big one) I cannot access because Games for Windows LIVE is total garbage and no one has held Microsoft accountable.

Zeref10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership.

Chevalier10d ago

"You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership."

Damn how many times do people got to explain your idiocy to you? You can take a copy of Persona 5 like someone used as an example and play that game on ANY console WITHOUT logging in which means I can lend the game to a friend without internet and they can play my game. Can you lend your hard drive to anyone without logging in for them to play? NOPE. That is a huge difference and if you think otherwise then sorry you're an idiot.

Tacoboto10d ago

"No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft."

Ubisoft is literally erasing games people bought from their libraries... My PS1-3 discs are useless on modern hardware. Nintendo's re-published and resold almost their entire Wii U library, and the eShop is completely dead with no BC mechanism in the Switch software. Microsoft publishes everything they make today day one on Steam and Xbox/Windows. Sony only brings to PC the titles they think you might want some years later and Nintendo won't even design a functional long-lasting joystick.

You're absolutely trolling and not serious if you think Microsoft today is the worst offender.

shinoff218310d ago

Yay steam

Not everyone fks with computers though. The disc is still the best way as a console player. Period.

Tacoboto10d ago

How do Sony and Nintendo feel about these discs from 2001-2013?

Don't be stupid, you know Xbox is the best at this today.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 10d ago
Hofstaderman11d ago

Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?

crazyCoconuts10d ago

Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.

Xeofate10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

That is not their plan, their plan is to transfer users accounts to the cloud.

Phil Spencer himself said as much a few months back, plans could have changed but I think people are reading way too much into one statement where Phil said he would allow Epic on xbox because he wants to be able to sell xbox games directly on other platforms. Aka, instead of selling Sea of Thives through PSN he wants to have an xbox store to sell his games on PlayStation without giving PlayStation any money.

Again, it's extremely unlikely that Phil plans to put PC on xbox and licensing would prevent them from just giving out other publishers games purchased on xbox copies of thier games on PC, Microsoft does not own their games.

crazyCoconuts9d ago

The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point

FinalFantasyFanatic10d ago

I would love that, I'd buy up some of the Xbox games if they could run on PC, like the Rare Replay, Lost Odyssey and Dead or Alive Ultimate, probably a pipe dream though.

Show all comments (43)