Shattered Horizon Free Weekend, 50% Off

[Lint of Death]

The astronaut combat game, Shattered Horizon, is now free on Steam for most of the weekend (check your "Not Installed" games). Until Monday, it's also only $10. Anyone else getting in on the free playtime? Does anyone already own the game? How is it?

[J Arcane]

I own it.

It's wicked cool.

If you are at all a space nerd, this game will make you squee your pants.

[Panthera]

Needs Vista and DX10. Not a chance.

[J Arcane]

Needs Vista and DX10. Not a chance.
Needs Windows 7 and DX10. Who the hell still uses Vista at this point?

[Panthera]

Needs Windows 7 and DX10. Who the hell still uses Vista at this point?

Same bloated compatibility issues, snappier interface.

[Karak]

Needs Vista and DX10. Not a chance.

Shakes head. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK
Ah well. Back to STO.

[J Arcane]

Same bloated compatibility issues, snappier interface.
The only compatibility issues I've had with Windows 7 were because of AMD64, not Windows. Hell, I've found quite a few games I can run unmodified on 7 with the compatibility options on, that I couldn't even run on XP.

[BrassGecko]

Pretty neat stuff, once steam downloaded an update and I could join a server. I'm still undecided, mostly because I've got so many other games competing for my time.

[Hotcod]

How far can you redact the settings? my card can deal with dx10 but it was one of the first to do so and don't really have the grunt to take advantage of it

[J Arcane]

I run it on a HD 4670 and I can run at full settings on 1680x1050, and while it's not the hottest framerate, it keeps around 30fps.

[Spectre-7]

How far can you redact the settings?

G2y8Sx4B2Sk

[Heretic Machine]

Needs Vista and DX10. Not a chance.

Yep, that's what I said when I saw it. I was ready to give it a shot too.

[Xerxes]

I still have two gift copies. :/

[Spectre-7]

Played a bit tonight. Had to turn the settings down a bit to get it playable, and having had a good look at what it's got going on visually, I get the feeling that it should perform better than it does.

Still, fun game and I'm really enjoying the six-degrees of freedom. The limited weapon selection was a good design choice, and the core combat works very well. I wish I had a better feel for the grenade range, though.

I still have two gift copies. :/

Gift copies you say?

[BLeeP]

I am enjoying this game a great deal. Think I might have to pick it up, so hit me at Katslover for any games!

[Hawkzombie]

I still have two gift copies. :/

Indeed...gift copies you say? :p

[H.Bogard]

I still have two gift copies. :/

Have I ever told you how sexy you are?

[roboninja]

I still have two gift copies. :/

Xerxes, my man, there's this thing called "giving"... :D

[BrassGecko]

Thought I'd point out that the four pack is also half price, for just $7.50 per person!

[Hotcod]

G2y8Sx4B2Sk

You know having looked it up it dose not mean remotely what I thought it meant. I must hunt down who ever taught me that word and have, well, words with them.

[Doogie2K]

Downloaded it and gave it a go this morning, and had a good bit of fun. The truer use of a third dimension -- not just the limited "hey there's a guard tower over here, watch for a sniper" sense that most shooters do -- broke my brain at first, but I started to get the hang of it after about a half-hour. Dunno how often I'd play it, and I need to watch my money, having already bought Chaos Rising, Sacred 2, and another controller this month, but next time it goes on sale, I may snag it.

[Doogie2K]

So I broke down and bought it.

It won't be an everyday game, but as an occasional timekiller or change of pace, it's pretty cool. My last round, I actually led in kills, captures, and overall score, which was my signal to hang 'em up and go back to studying, lest I later leave on a sour note.

[Slack3r78]

It shocks me that people still run XP and act like that's a good thing.

[Doogie2K]

It shocks me that people still run XP and act like that's a good thing.

Yeah, really. Unless your computer's allergic to 7 like mine, you should really be using it. I'm only using Vista because I have to; I can't not have my DX10 games.

[torrefaction]

Yeah, really. Unless your computer's allergic to 7 like mine, you should really be using it. I'm only using Vista because I have to; I can't not have my DX10 games.

Yeah, but at least you run Vista, which is a FAR better OS than it ever got credit for. Drivers were the only real problem.

[Doogie2K]

Yeah, but at least you run Vista, which is a FAR better OS than it ever got credit for. Drivers were the only real problem.

I recall there being a lot of problems for early adopters, but I've never had any issues in over a year of running mostly Vista.

[Slack3r78]

I recall there being a lot of problems for early adopters
The vast majority of which were driver issues.

[Panthera]

It shocks me that people still run XP and act like that's a good thing.

There are a thousand times more programs and devices that won't run on Vista/7 but will on XP than the other way around. And despite 7's hyped leanness, XP is still the faster OS. When it comes down to it, features be damned; I want the OS that will run my stuff.

edit: To be more clear, there are extremely few games coming out today that do not support XP. Shattered Horizon is one of about three, one of which (Halo 2) can be patched to work on XP anyway. On the other hand, there are many older games which unsurprisingly could not anticipate the future and simply do not work at all on Vista/7. Furthermore, many legacy devices, such as the sheer awesomeness of the VT Controller, are simply unsupported. As I enjoy games both old and new, my choice is clear.

[Slack3r78]

There are a thousand times more programs and devices that won't run on Vista/7 but will on XP than the other way around. And despite 7's hyped leanness, XP is still the faster OS. When it comes down to it, features be damned; I want the OS that will run my stuff.

Funny thing, I can only think of a handful of apps I've come across that won't run on NT6+ and most of them are business-related. It's such a hilariously overstated problem, especially when it's 2010 and virtualization is commonplace.

The idea that running a decade old OS that was mediocre at its high-point makes the most sense to avoid compatibility issues most people will never actually see just strikes me as total absurdity.

On the other hand, there are many older games which unsurprisingly could not anticipate the future and simply do not work at all on Vista/7.
Name some. I can't think of the last game I couldn't get working, and I routinely play stuff going back to the 80s. The only time I've had issues were on W7 on my netbook where the Intel 945 drivers didn't provide proper acceleration support.

[Panthera]

Seriously? "Name some"? I'm guaranteeing you it's more than three. I don't game on Vista/7, so I don't know them off the top of my head, but I do know I keep running into mentions of games that simply will not work on the platform. The number grows vastly larger if you include ones that need extensive workarounds. Stuff going back to the 80's usually has no problem - it's early Windows applications that are the tricky ones.

I'm not most people. Compatibility is important to me. When the day comes that XP support is not standard for PC gaming, I will make 7 my primary OS and probably dual boot. Until then, it's simple math, and I have no reason to switch.

[Panthera]

Here's a (far from complete) list: http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List#Games_3

[H.Bogard]

Seriously? "Name some"? I'm guaranteeing you it's more than three.

I don't know them off the top of my head, but I do know I keep running into mentions of games that simply will not work on the platform.


I don't think that you can run into a debate armed with just that. A little googling is the least you could've done to back up your argument.

I haven't had a single issue with any game yet on Win 7, and I run a fuck tonne of classic arcade games and emulators.

[Panthera]

I don't think that you can run into a debate armed with just that. A little googling is the least you could've done to back up your argument.

Brilliant idea.

[Slack3r78]

Seriously? "Name some"? I'm guaranteeing you it's more than three.
It's relevant because the vast majority of people that bitch and whine about how incompatible NT6+ is haven't ever personally encountered a problem.

I'm not most people. Compatibility is important to me. When the day comes that XP support is not standard for PC gaming, I will make 7 my primary OS and probably dual boot. Until then, it's simple math, and I have no reason to switch.
The simple math tells me I've yet to run into a game that I can't play because of Vista/7.

Here's a (far from complete) list: http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List#Games_3

And did you bother to actually read that list and see where most of those entries have reports of the same titles working fine in NT6+ operating systems?

[Panthera]

The simple math tells me I've yet to run into a game that I can't play because of Vista/7.

Show me where I said otherwise. Vista/7 is a perfectly viable operating system for gaming.


And did you bother to actually read that list and see where most of those entries have reports of the same titles working fine in NT6+ operating systems?

If by 'most' you mean 'a handful' yes.

[Cit Phil Cit]

It shocks me that people still run XP and act like that's a good thing.

I can't believe someone thinks dropping $150 bucks for an operating system for games, is a reasonable thing to do.

Unless of course, you are one of those people who don't have to pay for it.

[Doogie2K]

...or who get student discounts
...or who pre-ordered it for half that price.

[Hotcod]

or get it preinstalled on a new computer or the cheaper upgrade option

[Slack3r78]

Show me where I said otherwise. Vista/7 is a perfectly viable operating system for gaming.
Yet you've complained about compatibility without really being able to qualify the how beyond the vaguest of terms.

If by 'most' you mean 'a handful' yes.
It's 10 or 15 out of a list of 30ish titles that haven problems. A good percentage of those, if you take the time to read the descriptions, are driver-related, which was a known issue with Vista at launch.

This is of course ignoring the fact that even if you accept the non-working titles at face value, they're completely dwarfed in number by the number of titles that work perfectly fine. I still see the compatibility thing as totally nonsensical and generally put forth by people that have never bothered putting it to the test.

[Slack3r78]

I can't believe someone thinks dropping $150 bucks for an operating system for games, is a reasonable thing to do.

Unless of course, you are one of those people who don't have to pay for it.

What these two gentleman say:

...or who get student discounts
...or who pre-ordered it for half that price.

or get it preinstalled on a new computer or the cheaper upgrade option

Or people who are gainfully employed and don't find $100 to be an outrageous expense after using the same OS for almost a decade. Backhanded suggestions of piracy are always nice, though.

[Doogie2K]

Or people who are gainfully employed and don't find $100 to be an outrageous expense after using the same OS for almost a decade. Backhanded suggestions of piracy are always nice, though.

To be fair, he was probably actually referring to MSDN. I have a couple of friends -- a programmer and an IT guy -- who get their OS through that.

[Panthera]

Yet you've complained about compatibility without really being able to qualify the how beyond the vaguest of terms.

"Doesn't work" isn't clear?

This is of course ignoring the fact that even if you accept the non-working titles at face value, they're completely dwarfed in number by the number of titles that work perfectly fine.

That wasn't even nearly a complete list, and your numbers are still wrong. It was just a few that had been mentioned on some obscure wiki that I found after a bit of googling. It doesn't matter that the number of working titles is higher than the number of non-working titles. Until you show that there are more titles that work for Windows 6.1 than for Windows 5.1 it doesn't matter to me.

I seriously don't understand why you're having trouble getting this. Are you really that defensive about your choice of OS? The OS exists to support the things you do with it. If one OS does more than the other, than to me that is the primary criteria. As if being a 'decade old' means a damn thing.

[Spectre-7]

I seriously don't understand why you're having trouble getting this. Are you really that defensive about your choice of OS?

Yes, he is. It's a crusade, and one that he inserted into an otherwise unrelated thread. If I were you, I wouldn't bother debating it with him, as it's clearly not going anywhere.

@Slack3r78 -- If you'd really like to change folks' minds about upgrading to Win7, you might start with the benefits, and skip the needless belittling altogether. All that does is make people defensive, at which point you're never going to convince anyone.