That and an insanely level of overclocking to the CPU, GPU and RAM, along with 24 or 48 hours Prime 95 torture test and 3DMark®06 just to make sure the machine is rock solid... 😁

But what I was really trying to say is, after about 2 or 3 years, any recent PC (at that time) should handle the game at insane levels of resolution and eyecandy (AA + AF...).

The big problem is, these STEAM games will probably keep "steaming" for a long time, as I'm not aware of any game under those conditions that was "awarded" with a patch to remove the need for online activation/authentication/updating/permission to go the toilet, and so on... 🙁

According to this thread: http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/ … 65009207831/p/2

You can add -nointro to the BioShock shortcut to get rid of the intros.

Wish I knew this before playing BioShock since every single damn time I had to see those stupid ads.

njaydg wrote:

But what I was really trying to say is, after about 2 or 3 years, any recent PC (at that time) should handle the game at insane levels of resolution and eyecandy (AA + AF...).

Assuming those quad core CPU's don't come with Intel Extreme graphics......

The big problem is, these STEAM games will probably keep "steaming" for a long time, as I'm not aware of any game under those conditions that was "awarded" with a patch to remove the need for online activation/authentication/updating/permission to go the toilet, and so on... 🙁

Well that's because Valve hasn't gone bankrupt yet. When it does according to them and all of the fanboys you'll get your patch.

I'm sure it must be be pretty cheap dedicating all those resources over the years to making sure that the latest patch/update for all the different games on STEAM doesn't break the no authentication patch they have ready and waiting for when Valve goes down.

DosFreak, don't get me wrong... I'm not waiting for Valve to go bankrupt. 🤣 Au contraire, I just don't plan to be their customer (even though I really enjoy some of their games) while they treat people the way they do. In other words, I'm an old fashioned gamer, so I prefer stuff like serial keys and non-aggressive protection schemes (remember Starforce? 😳 ) that get eventually either cracked or a patch released by the company to remove CD check (like ID and Doom 3).

People say "but you only pay for a licence to play the game, you don't own it". And I say "I spend my hard earned money to play a game and at the same time protect my investment (CD/DVD)". 😉

What happens if your CD's/DVD's get corrupted over time while being stored on a safe environment? Do you get a refund or a new CD/DVD? No, you almost have to pay the full price for it, again. Where are the customer's rights being protected in that situation? 😮

I'm sure it must be be pretty cheap dedicating all those resources over the years to making sure that the latest patch/update for all the different games on STEAM doesn't break the no authentication patch they have ready and waiting for when Valve goes down.

I do agree that all that investment doesn't probably come cheap, and Valve must spend tons of money on that. The question is: for how long will they be having enough profit to keep going...? (rhetorical question)

The funny thing with Steam is the fact that most gamers aren't aware of what Steam can do to them, or what it really is. I talk to "young gamers" a lot (20-25 years), and they just fire up their CS or whatever, and play. I guess it's just us "old farts" complaining about the level of control and restriction that Steam (or online activation, like in BioShock) can put on us. Young gamers perceive copy protection schemes, even restrictive ones, as "normal" IMHO. They don't care if they have to verify their copy over the net. They don't care about Valve keeping track of which game has been played by whom.

I believe that Valve will keep Steam running as long as they can afford to, even if it wouldn't create any money (which i doubt - they are making loads of money with ads alone, i believe). I mean, they have created the de-facto standard in PC online gaming, whether we like it, or not. The platform is very well done from a technical viewpoint, and it works quite well most of the time. If they can keep it up long enough, there will be no real competitors. The only competition i can see would be MS with their XBL extended to PC's, but it seems that will take a while to become reality.

I don't like Steam very much, but i think Valve's business decision to create something like that platform based on the success of CS was genius. They saw the signs (Online gaming getting more and more important), and they acted accordingly. MS did the same with XBox Live, and that system is even more genius, with all the bells and whistles like achievements, system-wide score lists, and so on. It's fascinating how online gaming has evolved since the Doom/Quake days.

Beta 2 of the SM2 patch has been released:
http://bioshocksm2.blogspot.com/

njaydg wrote:

That and an insanely level of overclocking to the CPU, GPU and RAM, along with 24 or 48 hours Prime 95 torture test and 3DMark®06 just to make sure the machine is rock solid... 😁

But what I was really trying to say is, after about 2 or 3 years, any recent PC (at that time) should handle the game at insane levels of resolution and eyecandy (AA + AF...).

I play at 1920x1200 with my Q6600 / 8800GTX / 2gigs of ram. Near perfect frames, with some minor drops. No need for AA, because you can't even see aliasing at such a resolution.

That's probably true, avatar_58!

However, as technology leaps forward, the hardware/software requirements also keep climbing up the hill to ridiculous new levels...

And for instance, in your case you still have slight drops, so there's still room for improvement, and the industry will follow that path. But who knows what new display technologies await us and the effects they'll have on the way we "perceive" resolutions and filtering methods... Only time will tell. 😉