Penny Arcade's Greenhouse
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 - 3:18pm
I didn't see this posted yet--PA's digital distribution tool for their upcoming video game is up & running. They're asking people to head there & download an uncompressed podcast to help stress test the servers. Get crackin'!
"Come, amigo, throw away your mind." --Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano
It's running slow for me. Why didn't they just use Steam?
I never minded piracy. Anyone who minds about piracy is full of sh*t. Anyone who pirates your game wasn't going to buy it anyway! -Warren Spector
Probably the same reason why we all don't buy a Xbox 360, or Playstation 3, etc. Money, control, competition, etc.
Steam is Windows-only, greenhouse is NOT OS exclusive, I am happy to find out. Awesome that Penny Arcade Adventures is coming to OS X AND Linux! Purchase confirmed!
We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all.
Interview in Wired.
Looks like the Windows, Linux and Mac version will all be released at the same time plus you can use your key on any OS.
Also sounds like they want to push out some small independent games, something I don't see happening (for cost reasons) on Steam.
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But hey, a lot of the things they do don't make great business sense and they work out. Best of luck to them.
I never minded piracy. Anyone who minds about piracy is full of sh*t. Anyone who pirates your game wasn't going to buy it anyway! -Warren Spector
Yeah, choice is good. I'd hate to have steam get all the power over digital distribution - which they are still on their way to doing....
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Given how badly Introversion/Defcon pissed me off by requiring a new key on OSX, I can't say this is anything but a good thing.
Mystic Violet wrote:
I thought the most interesting part of the Wired interview was at the very end, where they discussed retail options for the new PA game with Gamestop:
Wow. What do you even say about that?
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I believe "Just, what assholes."
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I think it's a safe bet that the PA guys don't need the retail channel at all. Think about who their core audience is for their game.
They'll be fine with digital distribution.
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PSN: Thin_J
I don't imagine master craftsmen leaping away from completed projects and shouting "Done, motherf*ckers! - 1Dgaf
That's ridiculous. If you were to list games that don't need a store presence, games created for audiences of a popular online comic would be somewhere near the top.
Xbox Live: StaatsM
If there's any lingering question about digital distribution's role in the future, one need only look at GameStop's panic (this, and then with Sony over Warhawk) to put the questions at rest. GameStop's reading some writing on the wall and they are clearly not liking it.
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I'm not so sure - you can't sell back your DD'd games like you can at gamestop, and that's essentially what gamestop has become. Still, it's sad and pathetic how they reacted here, and it's kind of a smoking gun to their general douchebaggery that should hopefully go more widely publicized.
As for Greenhouse itself - at first my reaction was kind of negative in the "Oh great, yet ANOTHER DD service" sense, but it made a lot more sense given the need for platform agnosticity (agnosticness?). Question: I understand the want to promote the service, but is there any other reason why the game wouldn't be available on greenhouse AND Steam? Not that it's a huge pain to navigate to another site, it just makes me warm inside to see steam's library expand.
EDIT: Nevermind.
Makes sense.
Morrolan wrote:
XBLA / Steam: Dysplastic
People outside the industry really tend to underestimate the power and the influence retailers have. They've been the driving force behind a number of decsions such as the switch to DVD boxes, and they're the main reason for digitally distributed games costing as much as their retail versions despite the lack of box, disc and paper manual. There probably are some publishers who wouldn't mind selling let's say the Steam version of a new game for 40 or 45 bucks instead of 50. But if you want to go follow route, big retail chain XYZ will quickly tell you that they're going to order only 25,000 units instead of 40,000 since you're hurting their sales. For smaller companies like Hothead and PA it might be easier to say "well, too bad" since they have a specific online target audience anyway - a company like EA or Activision surely does not want to risk any shelf space though since retail still is the one access to the mass market.
Well, I guess that means Ron Gilbert's Deathspank will be sold through Greenhouse as well since it's being made by Hothead.
They said in the interview that it would be on Greenhouse first, but that eventually they want it on as many platforms as they can. So probably.
Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto
As someone that has just one device that runs any form of Windows with any regularity (my 360), I'm very glad to see them treating Linux and Mac OS X, both of which I do use regularly, as first-class citizens, with both the game itself and this new distribution channel. If this encourages indie developers to produce Linux versions of their games, as well as making it easy for me to give those developers money, then I might just become a bit of a PC gamer again after all.
Xbox Live: pneuman
I think this new store makes sense for a couple of reasons
1) People generally trust/know the PA guy's taste, so when things show up on their store you know it's not complete crap. But we'll see how this turns out
2) PA will promote games on their store, which is a huge boon for independent games
3) It's platform agnostic and web based, so there's no proprietary client
4) It sounds like with their all-OSes key that they're going to be competitive on DRM issues, which is good all around
5) With the marketing clout of PA, it could become a real competitor to Steam, which is always a good thing
So if it works out it's great, because then Steam has some competition
"Rita, do you know why Phish broke up? It's because hippies are dirty, poor-ass loser stanks. Just ignore them and they'll go away." - Wonderella
Trust me, there's competition coming.
Gamertag: RiverRatMatt Xfire: lockandloadgwj
Halo3 Profile: RiverRatMatt
Hmmm. Fixed the hidden message and changed icon...
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more DD the better. I have no strong hate for Gamespot, although I do think they make their employees life harder than it needs to be. But I won't be sorry to see them go. I don't understand the whole point of pre-order from gamespot. I can go into Best Buy or Frys and get any game on Day 1 without pre ordering. Yet Gamespot only carries like 5 non claimed copies and trys to tell me that if I don't pre order it i'll never get it. It's like they live in this world where they have no competition.
Well now with DD they have to bury their head even more in the sand because there will be infinite number of copies to sell and I won't even have to leave my house or deal with their under paid and jaded staff.
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What, do you have some mastermind plan in the works that will be the end of Valve's little client?
"I recommend against throwing your kids when you're high, regardless of how high you are. You should, however, be very drunk." ~ The Fly
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Not exactly. We're building a cross-platform... gurg..... eh... *snap*
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Sorry, NDAs and all, can't pull back the curtain yet.
Gamertag: RiverRatMatt Xfire: lockandloadgwj
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I'm all for DD as well--I've never even been inside a Gamestop store, and I've only been into an EB once, several years ago. Even if I'm buying physical game media, I order online. There are several Gamestops in my city, even one in my neighborhood, but I'm a busy person & don't have time to hang around a game store when I can just have what I want delivered to me. That's valuable time that could be spent in my back yard drinking delicious beer and eating succulent barbecue.
Damn, I'm ready for spring weather. That last thought just keeps coming up, no matter what I'm talking about.
"Come, amigo, throw away your mind." --Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano
Not really worth it's own thread, but the Stardock guy on GFW just said "We make twice as much money of digital downloads as we do from retail sales".
I mean, I knew that they had a higher margin, but TWICE as much is kind of crazy. It almost makes me feel like I'm stealing money from a developer by buying a game at retail.
New mantra: Support your developers. Buy digitally.
Morrolan wrote:
XBLA / Steam: Dysplastic