All shit that was due ever since Vivendi bought it. Of all possible endings, the Microsoft one is probably the happier one.

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Well... it's difficult to say what will be of Blizzard since it's spiralling down at ever increased pace since like a decade. Sooner or later it will break.

But it also true that both SC2 and Diablo3 were quite shitty at the beginning, yet they were silently fixed into absolute gems over the years. It just required the games to fade out of the attention of greedy boardroom members. Once the urge to monetize at all costs is removed out of the equation, the good designers are free to do their magic. Maybe that will happen with Diablo4 as well.

Maybe.

I won't buy it until then ofc. :smile:

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Quoting: F.Ultra

Quoting: Mal

Quoting: F.Ultra

Quoting: MalOk. But if it's illegal for Valve why is it legal for Netflix, Disney and all the other national media in Europe?

Netflix doesn't do what Valve was accused of doing, if you buy Netflix in Croatia you can still logon in Norway with the same account, that is why VPN services works for Netflix to get access to different catalogues of media.

It's not a matter of correctness of regulation. Ofc EU Regulation allow it to Netflix. But that because EU Regulation is hypocritical.

There is stuff you can watch in Norway and not in Croatia and viceversa. That is geo-locking, they offer different content in different regions, that you can only consume in those regions. Not to mention that prices are also different. EU can call it whatever they want but it's geo-locking. People in the single market pay differently and obtain different services depending where they live.

Then yes with VPN you can also login in UK and play steam eastern version of the game. The only difference here is that Valve is generally smarter because they serve a smarter audience and it makes it more difficult since you also need other credentials like a valid cc card where Netflix is dumber.

Or are we saying that the whole point in EU is that geo locking is fine only as long as you can easily circumvent it with a plain nord vpn for few bucks at months?

No it is not hypocritical, it is two completely different things. Valve and the listed publishing houses had different prices for the same product inside the EU single market with a geo-lock that meant that it hindered the free movement of services and goods that exists inside the EU single market.

Netflix does no such thing, if you bought your account in Norway you can still access the service in Croatia, or Austria. There is no geo-lock on your account. Yes there is differences in available media depending on where you login to Netflix but that is not Netflix being asshats, that is different IP holders having different rights to media and thus different agreements with Netflix. Aka distribution company X might have the rights to show Y in Norway while company Z have those rights in Croatia and if only one of them have decided to make an agreement with Netflix then ofc Netflix is forbidden from showing that content in one of those areas or Netflix would be found guilty of copyright infringement. And there is draconian law allowing EU to force a single company to have the rights to the entirety of the EU, such things are handled by each local country.

Had Ubisoft had the rights to Mass Effect in Germany and Warner the rights to it in Austria then both could have sold the same game in Steam with different prices and with geo-locking and it would have been legal, but that is not what happened.

Quoting: Craggles086What is wrong with setting a price at a level that is affordable to people in a lower economic block / region.

Something that is available to everyone in the UK or France and Germany is only available to the wealthy in the Baltic states?

I thought the EU was a democracy?

Or am I reading this wrong..

Yep, think I read it wrong. :)

No your thinking is wrong here, not your reading. There exists zero laws in EU against you having different prices in different regions of the EU. If you live here you already know that since there is no EU mandated price for tomatoes across every single member state and every single store. Valve and the game publishers are completely free to sell games cheaper in say the Baltics, what they are not allowed to do is block a person from Germany that bought the game in the Baltics to install his game in Germany.

It's hypocritical man. You're just fixated with explaining to me the law which I already do (and I know is not Netflix fault, at least for the catalog, the different pricing is their fault). And you're ignoring the practical effect, the so called "ideal principle" that is held for a certain economical category but not for another.

It's just a law that prohibits geolocking to Video games IP holders but allows it for music, video and press rights holder benefits.

It defends consumer rights in one case, private interests in another. It's as simple as that.

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Quoting: F.Ultra

Quoting: MalOk. But if it's illegal for Valve why is it legal for Netflix, Disney and all the other national media in Europe?

Netflix doesn't do what Valve was accused of doing, if you buy Netflix in Croatia you can still logon in Norway with the same account, that is why VPN services works for Netflix to get access to different catalogues of media.

It's not a matter of correctness of regulation. Ofc EU Regulation allow it to Netflix. But that because EU Regulation is hypocritical.

There is stuff you can watch in Norway and not in Croatia and viceversa. That is geo-locking, they offer different content in different regions, that you can only consume in those regions. Not to mention that prices are also different. EU can call it whatever they want but it's geo-locking. People in the single market pay differently and obtain different services depending where they live.

Then yes with VPN you can also login in UK and play steam eastern version of the game. The only difference here is that Valve is generally smarter because they serve a smarter audience and it makes it more difficult since you also need other credentials like a valid cc card where Netflix is dumber.

Or are we saying that the whole point in EU is that geo locking is fine only as long as you can easily circumvent it with a plain nord vpn for few bucks at months?

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Ok. But if it's illegal for Valve why is it legal for Netflix, Disney and all the other national media in Europe?

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I'm no game developer, but honestly, if I were one, why should I bind my whole future to the whims and dementia of another company CEO by investing on their engine? It's years already that Unity gives signs of progressive dementia. While Epic throw under the bus all ios developers for a whim of their CEO. Go godot guys. Especially if you're small and have no negotiation weight, you can't bet your dreams like that. It's an industry that's already hard enough. Don't make it harder.

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My first run at the game I died before finishing the dam. I understood to late how the dam machanic worked and ended in a situation where droughts were coming to fast to let me grow the wood necessary for the dam. But the satisfaction on the second run was real.

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Quoting: theflamingchickenMy wife and I were also having a wonderful time playing this together on our Steam Decks. Until this morning when she received an email from Blizzard notifying her that her account is banned with no recourse. I suspect it has something to do with the Steam Deck. I set it up for both of us using Lutris the exact same way. She got banned and I didn't. They didn't offer a reason, except to say she violated their terms without being specific.

It's very upsetting because now I can't even enjoy playing with the constant threat of having my account banned. Is anyone else having this issue with their Steam Deck?

Stop necroing threads from 2012... ah no, wait a minute. Again? :huh:

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I enjoyed the local co op in diablo 3 for the few days I owned a ps. Without that feature on pc I'm not interested into rushing it for that pricetag. I'll just wait a five years or so for when it's more like 15$.

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Man the greed at Pdx. Now even music tracks are pre order bonus?

For them to push that hard people to preorder, we can be sure that there will be no bad surprises on day 0 for this dlc.

You can start writing the "eu4 review bomb" on steam article Liam so you have it ready for the 18th :wink:.

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