While I personally will not boycott later Bundles that fit my terms (DRM free, cross-platform), I agree 100% with the point you are making Kristian. This weakens the movement the Bundles contributed so much too, and places them on weaker grounds when negotiating with other developers. One thing that stings me about this is that it is also very unfair to past developers who have put so much effort into making their games fit the Humble Bundle rules. It is like I said back during the LIMBO/CrossOver controversy, it just seems so fundamentally unfair to the other game developers that put the effort into releasing fully native ports of their games for some developers to be able to cheat/dodge their way into the benefits that the Bundles offer. This is even worse, as they did not even decouple the games from Steam, let alone port to Mac or Linux. It is not just us who have been hurt and betrayed by this, they have been to, only they have a much better case to complain. I wonder if any of them realize it.

Well hey now they have the option of doing THQ bundle number 2 *now cross platform* and gain even more money!

This bundle is already one of if not already the fastest selling bundle.

Still waiting on Cheeseness to chime in. He should have an interesting perspective...

I fear we have seen the last DRM free cross-platform game released.

Quoting: "Kristian, post: 6851, member: 390"I fear we have seen the last DRM free cross-platform game released.

That I do not agree with. They will always be those. It might just be a little harder to get a hold of them for awhile. Remember, it is not just users that dislike DRM, many developers do as well.

I wouldn't worry too much about them not releasing DRM-free, or cross-platform, bundles anymore.
They will. And it will sell.

What "worries" me is this: no one in his right mind would think the customers they got right now with this Pretentious AAA Bundle (tm) are the same as the usual ones. A quick look at Twitter, IGM, or pretty much any and all indie- or GNU/Linux-centered tells you everyone thinks it's an affront, except for those people who don't give a fuck: Windows-centric/centered users, who don't give a damn about Steam. Or indie gaming. Or the difference between publisher and developer. Or why giving a single cent for this is a spit in the face of all the developers who've been laid off. People who sometimes won't even know that THQ has a hard time.

Way to open up new perspectives: screw all your loyal customers, bring in some new blood who doesnt give a fuck about you, only in for the quick grab of cheap well-known titles.
Stats don't lie: >150.000 bundles sold, closing in to $1M. Average price: $5.50 (rounded down). This didn't have an ice cube chance in hell of happening with a normal bundle: Mac and GNU/Linux would have driven the price higher.
I'd very much like to see
1) How many people gave ALL the money to charity. Even dualbooters I know did it so as to NOT give money to THQ or HIB for this crap. Wrong move, but at least - dare I say - their heart is at the right place
2) How many people used the default setting - typical behaviour of new customers from what I've witnessed.

Kristian raised an interesting point though: much as I winced when GOG announced they'd support Mac and not GNU/Linux, it's not that big a deal: innoextract, make a .sh, and off you go. But THIS could actually hurt everyone. It sets an ugly precedent.

I'm not boycotting them, but I won't support these bundles in any way. Why should I? I'm already not buying any game with DRM, GNU/Linux support being already a must.

Their thinking seems to be that indie developers must follow the HB rules, but big companies don't. Maybe they're just trying to save THQ, the reason is unknown to me.

This might be the fastest selling bundle, but look at it closely. The average paid for 7 AAA titles valued at 190$ is around 5$ even when they've put a 1$ minimum price tag. They're already at 1M, maybe they get to 2 or 3, but will that save THQ? I think this will be a failure.

I am feeling very negative and yet I am giving out the most likes I have ever done. Interesting that. ;)

A good article from ars technica on the subject:
[http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/humble-thq-bundle-threatens-to-ruin-the-brands-reputation/](http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/humble-thq-bundle-threatens-to-ruin-the-brands-reputation/)

Also: [http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-humble-thq-bundle-loses-indie-games-adds-drm-and-is-a-step-backward-for](http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-humble-thq-bundle-loses-indie-games-adds-drm-and-is-a-step-backward-for)

The comments reflect why I do not usually like Penny Arcade though...

Quoting: "Hamish, post: 6855, member: 6"I am feeling very negative and yet I am giving out the most likes I have ever done. Interesting that. ;)

Not strange, there are equally negative feelings in a lot of comments. :-)

“We’re hopefully going to raise a huge amount of money for charity and expose a ton of new customers to the Humble Bundle model. We are debuting more games for Mac and Linux (and Android—and even had an eBook digital debut this year!) and this will just help us continue to do so,”
Expose a ton of WHAT to WHAT? A ton of Steam players looking for another Steam sale in between official ones is more like it. Also, can someone explain me HOW this will HELP them continue to do so? Didn't they just hire a hacker for GNU/Linux ports? Isn't that the definition of "everything's fine on our end and our benefits are sufficient to hire people"? >_>

“We are humbly hopeful that our customers will see this as a good thing instead of a permanent departure from what we have done and will continue to do.”

Am I supposed to laugh or puke? I'm quite unsure right now, what with them trying to trample the Music Bundle, then selling eBooks, then selling DRM'd to the neck AAA games.

I'd gladly insert a facepalm image here. But I'm not sure I'd find one with ENOUGH facepalms in it. And bandwidth ain't cheap.

Hypocrites.

Another article on the subject. I am glad that I am obviously not alone on this one:
[http://www.examiner.com/article/humble-thq-bundle-compromises-humble-indie-bundle-s-values](http://www.examiner.com/article/humble-thq-bundle-compromises-humble-indie-bundle-s-values)

Good articles pointing out the problem very well. They've abused the brand.

A good read too:
[http://blog.wegetsignal.ca/2012/11/29/why-the-humble-thq-bundle-sucks-for-indies/](http://blog.wegetsignal.ca/2012/11/29/why-the-humble-thq-bundle-sucks-for-indies/)

Quoting: "Hyeron, post: 6858, member: 223"“We are humbly hopeful that our customers will see this as a good thing instead of a permanent departure from what we have done and will continue to do.”

We are humbly hopeful that our fans will continue to assume the position...

Okay, this one is a venting post with little substance. But that wording is shite.

Well anyone is free to submit an article here with their constructive views for front page treatment ;).

As I said on reddit though:
"Well maybe it will give them enough money to improve their support...they only tell of game updates via twitter not on their site or blog and that annoys me."

It pains me the only way we get notified about patches is their support twitter which get buried on my twitter as I follow many active tweeters, they don't even blog about patches it's so annoying.

Even a little "latest game updates" box on their main website with a full history of patches would be sufficient. Or an email once a month for game updates etc etc so many things they could do without costing them a penny, it bugs me to no end.

Quoting: "liamdawe, post: 6863, member: 1"Well anyone is free to submit an article here with their constructive views for front page treatment ;).

I am seriously considering amalgamating and cleaning up my posts to do just that.

Well i wouldn't remove anything from your posts just for easier reading people will miss what we are talking about. Feel free to use parts of your posts to do an editorial though :)

*sigh*

Best... comment... ever:

I own them all already, Steam is not the problem. The problem is the point of these bundles for me previously was getting DRM free copies for archiving, same as the point of GOG. This bundle betrays that purpose out of nowhere. Sometimes bitching has a root cause that cannot be flippantly dismissed because it doesn't match your priorities.

[http://www.gog.com/forum/general/humble_thq_bundle_is_live/post112](http://www.gog.com/forum/general/humble_thq_bundle_is_live/post112)

EDIT: Also, according to the thread, the big warning banner was not originally there. I wonder how many people bought the bundle before then under a false pretense...

I saw it a couple minutes after it went up and the banner was there? Some people do lie about these things because of their annoyance so i wouldn't take that as gospel.

Also lol@the picture, just another thing to include for an editorial ;)