Sinful Update Preview for Sins of a Solar Empire

[Spooky]

From their official site (http://www.sinsofasolarempire.comh)

Next Tuesday we'll be releasing the v1.05 update for Sins of a Solar Empire that should address many of the multiplayer issues some players have reported. This is a minor patch, however; more substantial updates will arrive with version 1.1.

v1.05 Changes:
* Fixed bug deallocating particle pool memory.
* Fixed cargo ship related crash caused when loading a saved game.
* Increased the maximum length of map description text. If the text is too long, it will no longer crash the game.
* AI missions no longer continue if a human player has taken over for them.
* AI controlled units will no longer still have AI-control if a human player has taken over for them.
* Fixed crash when attempting to toggle the autocast state for an uncontrollable ship/planet module.
* Fixed capturable resource mines from being considered damageable.
* Fixed sync error in multiplayer games caused by cannon autocast targeting.
* Fixed squad owner infocards to gracefully handle large numbers of squads (100+).
* Fixed crash if you run out of video memory when loading textures.
* Planet asteroid setup now uses TotalMaxResourcesAsteroids parameter again.
* Added two new maps: Melting Point and Ancient Gifts.
* ICO accounts will now be forced to logout if you attempt to login with the same account.
* Malice changed to fix CPU issues in the late game due to previous implementation of the ability. Malice now accumulates damage on affected targets and then spreads that damage when the buff expires, rather than spreading damage as soon as damage is applied. Its duration, cooldown and AM cost have all been reduced to reflect this. Malice is now target capped as well at 8/16/24 targets.
* Fixed bug in galaxy generator related to vertical planet offsets when planets are too close together.
* New default texture quality settings set.
This game was released with no copy protection and yet has sold more than 100,000 copies in its first month. Does this mean Secure-ROM and its clones are unnecessary to ensure sales?

[Lima Beans]

Its an outlier.

[Itchyeyes]

I'm as big of a proponent of Sins as the next guy and have been pushing the game since the beta, but is this really front page news? It's not even a major patch.

[Telefrog]

When you have a dedicated niche fanbase, you can get away with saying "meh" to piracy.

[Crimson]

No, it just means that people who like this type of game are more likely to buy it.

[Varsity]

This game was released with no copy protection and yet has sold more than 100,000 copies in its first month. Does this mean Secure-ROM and its clones are unnecessary to ensure sales?

Why don't people listen to the Stardock CEO before asking these questions?

[Serapth]

Why don't people listen to the Stardock CEO before asking these questions?


Our games sell well for three reasons. First, they're good games which is a pre-requisite. But there's lots of great games that don't sell well.

The other two reasons are:

Our games work on a very wide variety of hardware configurations.
Our games target genres with the largest customer bases per cost to produce for.



12345.54321

[Smoof]

When you have a dedicated niche fanbase, you can get away with saying "meh" to piracy.

Not really. Sins is the first Stardock game and the first 4X game I've ever picked-up on the recommendations of various people. As well, I wanted to support a company who doesn't want to support DRM bullshit.

[Disgustipated]

This just reminds me that I really, really need to pick this game up.

[cp#]

This just reminds me that I really, really need to pick this game up.

Ditto. It looks incredible, and I need a new RTS to play in anticipation of SC2 which better come out this year

[Qoz]

Well - who knows how much it would have sold, if they had DRM?
I bet even more.
Because when you have a fanbase, they will overlook the minor annoyance of the DRM, to play the title they have been waiting for.

It happend with Bioshock - a game with a very hard DRM attached to it. Noone complained in the forums when the game was out, and I bet only very few people actually chose to NOT buy it, because of DRM. It just such a cool thing to say on forums, but I'm almost certain that people buy anyway when it's released. Unless the game is not so anticipated for the buyer - then off course DRM can decide. But ALL my friends who moan about DRM buy the game anyway.

[Jack9]

Noone complained in the forums when the game was out, and I bet only very few people actually chose to NOT buy it, because of DRM.


Are you really saying that about Bioshock? REALLY?
Thousands of individuals (if not more) complained about the DRM. The complaints spanned EVERY forum (including this one) about how the game would not run, would crash, or would run badly in part or because of the DRM. How many of those complaints were legitimate? I cannot say and have to give it the benefit of the doubt. However, I know *I* didn't buy it because of the DRM and well...all but 1 fellow gamer from my work didn't buy it either. YMMV

[Rarely Operable Brain]

Will people still buy games they really want even with DRM affixed to them? Yes, probably so.

But I know I felt a little bit better about buying Sins BECAUSE it didn't have DRM. Honestly, I think I would have bought the game on that principle alone, but I was already interested in the game, so it was a win/win situation for me.

And as it turns out, it's a really good game. :cool:

[ÜberJumper]

And as it turns out, it's a really good game.

It's not actually a very good game. But then that's just my opinion. :-)

I've played it maybe 10 times since I bought it, and I'm a huge fan of RTS games.

This game was released with no copy protection and yet has sold more than 100,000 copies in its first month. Does this mean Secure-ROM and its clones are unnecessary to ensure sales?

Game get pirated when people want to play them. Complex RTS games aren't everyone's cup of tea.

Yes, copy protection sucks when it prevents legitimate consumers from using a product they've purchased, but when it comes to attempting to prevent people from pirating games, it's a neccesity.

If you have no DRM, when you get a popular game with no DRM ( Example: Company of Heroes 1.0), that happens to be really really good (CoH = game of the year) you get hundreds of thousands of people casually pirating it for their friends because they can simply install it for them, and then they can play without a DVD/CD in the drive. That "casual" piracy sucks, and it's exactly what Copy Protection is designed to prevent.

[Rarely Operable Brain]

It's not actually a very good game. But then that's just my opinion. :-)

I've played it maybe 10 times since I bought it, and I'm a huge fan of RTS games.


To each their own. :cool:

I'm actually NOT a big RTS fan, which may be why I like it. Sins and the Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War series are the only ones I've played with any regularity. I recognize that there are probably many good/great RTS games out there, but most just aren't for me.

[Grey]

Mhm too bad. I would rather see some graphical improvements for lighting and textures.

[Matthias]

Well - who knows how much it would have sold, if they had DRM?
I bet even more.
Because when you have a fanbase, they will overlook the minor annoyance of the DRM, to play the title they have been waiting for.

It happend with Bioshock - a game with a very hard DRM attached to it. Noone complained in the forums when the game was out, and I bet only very few people actually chose to NOT buy it, because of DRM. It just such a cool thing to say on forums, but I'm almost certain that people buy anyway when it's released. Unless the game is not so anticipated for the buyer - then off course DRM can decide. But ALL my friends who moan about DRM buy the game anyway.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't, to be quite honest.

A couple guys in my dorm picked up a copy, and soon after, it had been directly pirated by around 20 people. We all loved the game so much, that we decided we wanted to play together over summer, which will require internet (in the dorm, we just have a closed LAN game). To do this, we each need to pick up a legit copy of the game, and most of us have been more than happy to do so, because we're all geeks, and realize that the company has generously taken this open stance towards piracy for this exact reason. We all want to encourage it.

I know I for one would not have even considered purchasing the game had I not had a chance to try it on my laptop for free- I keep a very small XP partition on my mac, and don't have a lot of space for games, so I'd want to know it's worth it without spending money. I know that the guy who lent me his copy is doing the same for his friends back home, and they will all likely buy the game as well. Grassroots has worked extremely well in this case.