The future of PC gaming - 2009 edition

[DrSpike]

Yeah but at some point you'll have enough porn to be able to slow down a bit.

[Nikolai]

Why on Earth would you use an isp who has download limits? We got rid of that abdomination right after broadband came into play...

[DrSpike]

In the UK very early on there were no limits. But then someone figured out that 99% of the bandwidth was hogged by 1% of the users who downloaded from IRC etc all day and night. We've had limits here for a while now.

Mine is a limit on peak time downloads though - something like 20GB a month. Overnight it's unrestricted.

[Nikolai]

Because, Nikolai, they all have download limits...

You are very mistaken if you think you can have unlimited bandwidth. Go download 300GB in one month and then let me know what your ISP says when they call you.

No, you are mistaken if you think so. We have no limit on downloads over here.

Last month btw, a quick estimate tells me I have at least downloaded somewhere in the 200s, possibly close to or more than 300 GB, last month. HD quality takes space, as you know. Then you have the regular use of web-tv, various video and music streaming, surfing. Not to speak of my uploads...

[DrSpike]

That's an awful lot of porn for a good Christian boy.

[Nikolai]

Well, my provider's limits are obviously higher than 300 GB, if they exist. I doubt it, firstly I know of a few who should probably have got a warning then, and secondly why should one have a such low limit as 300 GB on a 10 Mbit line, as I have? It's not difficult to get a higher speed on your internet, not in the cities at least.

[Nikolai]

Move to Norway.

[Standup]

Well, my provider's limits are obviously higher than 300 GB, if they exist. I doubt it, firstly I know of a few who should probably have got a warning then, and secondly why should one have a such low limit as 300 GB on a 10 Mbit line, as I have? It's not difficult to get a higher speed on your internet, not in the cities at least.

Very different in the UK. A couple of ISPs offer 'unlimited downloads' but throttle back your connection if you go over a certain amount which then makes it impractical. There was some press coverage about this as the Advertising Standards allowed adverts which mention unlimited downloads but aren't. Apparently they're just more than your average user would download in a month. For many people I know its not the bandwidth that's the problem and looking at a couple of ISPs a 15Gb limit seems about standard. Many offer only 5GB but they're slightly cheaper.

[DarkCloud]

I wish the limit where I live was lower; the internet slows to a sluggish speed between 6-9 PM when everyone seems to get home from work and start "torrenting" files or watching internet TV.

All I use the internet for is browsing pages and Skype phone calls, so it annoys the heck out of me when heavy users whine about limits on their GB transfers.

[DarkCloud]

I wish the limit where I live was lower; the internet slows to a sluggish speed between 6-9 PM when everyone seems to get home from work and start "torrenting" files or watching internet TV.

All I use the internet for is browsing pages and Skype phone calls, so it annoys the heck out of me when heavy users whine about limits on their GB transfers.

[DrSpike]

I didn't have a "limit" on my ISP until this year, but there's always been limits. I got phone calls from ISPs warning me of going over "reasonable usage criteria" which is buried somewhere in the ToS.

Tell me your ISP and I'll google the ToS and I guarantee they'll have the same clause. They all have limits, some just don't disclose them.

It was Nikolai who said he had no limits. As I posted I have quite a tight limit of around 20GB for peak time downloads.

There are also catch-all clauses around reasonable use, like those you've experienced.

[Nikolai]

I wish the limit where I live was lower; the internet slows to a sluggish speed between 6-9 PM when everyone seems to get home from work and start "torrenting" files or watching internet TV.

All I use the internet for is browsing pages and Skype phone calls, so it annoys the heck out of me when heavy users whine about limits on their GB transfers.

That is a question of infrastructure, not people over-using the internet. "Heavy use", as you call it, has come to stay.

[lord of the mark]

This has absolutely nothing to do with what I was talking about.

Impulse is supposed to, and usually does, have a patching mechanism through the client. It's just buggy and broken. Games, especially with expansion packs (Sins: Entrenchment) get confused. You can't patch the expansion without patching the core game, and it won't let you patch the core game due to an "error" so you need to uninstall it then re-download it. Then re-download the expansion.

Hence "IIUC"

In any case, Brad posts regularly to Qto3 and seems to be pretty responsive.

[El_Cid]

http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22629

"Sega and Creative Assembly’s Empire: Total War has become the first PC title to hit the number one spot in the UK charts since Football Manager 2008 (also published by Sega) in October 2007. "

Wow - 2007, poor PC! or no maybe i mean good PC?!(that E:TW has hit number 1 in uk charts). It will be interesting to see how it fares in the usa+european charts, it should do well.

[DrSpike]

Nice - it's been a while since there's been a good game in an established franchise in a genre the PC still leads on. There will be more, e.g. when Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2 finally arrive.