eh, we'll agree to disagree. Although I do have to admit I firmly believe your stance on Valve would be different if they were up and coming, or struggling in some degree. I have to admit that I feel like you hate on things sometimes based solely on their popularity or success.
Well, I don't think you have any evidence to support that stance. I support companies and franchises I appreciate. I'm a huge
Dead Space fan even though I fucking hate EA, and the series is immensely popular. I've picked up lots of AAA titles in the last number of years, many of which I enjoyed just fine. I like Impulse and Stardock better than Valve and Steam because of what the company and product offer by comparison to the competition, but I still don't love digital distribution the way a lot of people do and have said so. I didn't like what Valve was doing when Steam was first announced, I was generally standoffish about it from the beginning. I did like the original
Half-life, but I think
Portal is one of the most overrated games of all time, and while I was mildly amused by
Left 4 Dead and
Half-life 2, I didn't love either one and got bored with them very quickly. If you compare
The Darkness with
Half-life 2, it should be plainly obvious which has the stronger narrative, the better overall story, better characters, more emotion. That has nothing to do with the popularity of either, just the substance of what they are (and of course my own opinion). When all Valve had done was
Half-life, I still didn't think they deserved quite all the praise they got, but I had no ill will. It was a fun game, good for them, they supported the mod community and it was all good times. I was eager as anyone to see where they would go. When I heard about Steam, I was instantly skeptical and mistrustful. That only continued to grow through their business practices and shoddy service, and I feel absolutely justified in my view of them. My gripes with Steam are well documented, both the ideological ones and the tangible ones directly related to my use of the service, and I view their other practices as I do based on my own personal sense of what should or shouldn't be done.
I wasn't trying to start an argument. It was a simple statement of my feelings. I don't think those people deserve nearly the recognition and money they've received. Just my own view on the matter based on nothing more than a company repelling me. I used to be a humongous fan of Blizzard, and that didn't even change after
World of Warcraft despite my disappointment that the next installment of the series would be subscription-based. But the way they're going now? They're beginning to repel me. I don't like the decisions they're making. Epic too a bit. I've played their games since the beginning, and their success wasn't something that repelled me until it began to change their actions as a company.
Anyway, not trying to get all defensive here, just trying to explain. I don't think your view of me is fair. You've said the above-quoted before and I never understood why, nor do I now. Many of my favorite things are somewhat under the radar because a lot of what I like happens to be less popular with others, but that's no reason to accuse me of somehow being incapable of objectivity.
