Stardock Launches Impulse Digital Distribution

[Intruder]

Stardock launches their new digital distribution program today.
http://www.impulsedriven.com/

Games on the service for sale include Sins of a Solar Empire, The Political Machine 2008, and the new Penny Arcade game, On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One.

Stardock has been in the digital distribution business for longer than most, what do you all think of the new program?

[Deepsleeper]

Steam, Greenwhatever, XBLA and Stardock?

Penny Arcade Episodes is a -slut-.

[flinxz]

"Doesn’t need to be on-line to play single player games."

That is a big deal for some.

[drakkarim]

what do you all think of the new program?

depends on what sale rights i have to what i download. if its some retarded XX days and then you're SOL like on steam, then they can kiss my ass just like steam can.

if i have completely ownership and resale rights for anything i download and buy, then i hope they bury steam like the pile it is.

[Shadowstorm]

More competition is good.

[Intruder]

I even believe I read that you can get full refunds if the programs do not work on your machine. Impulse checks to see if you uninstall it and then will refund you if I read correctly. Also, anything you buy on there is yours forever.

[drakkarim]

I even believe I read that you can get full refunds if the programs do not work on your machine. Impulse checks to see if you uninstall it and then will refund you if I read correctly. Also, anything you buy on there is yours forever.

definitely already puts them leagues ahead of any other online distributor, for me. the question is can i still sell what i download, or send to another user of impulse, for say an agreed upon credit paid for by the purchaser. that i can then use on their store at least.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

The competition between this and Steam will be good for PC gamers. Stardock has put out some great titles, and I look forward to seeing what they have in store for the future.

I predict that the haters will arrive soon. :rolleyes:

[Hydroeric]

So far, this is slick. It detected my previous Stardock Central info without a hitch. Interface seems slick. Much more info for updates. Setup: My Games, My Office, and My Tools on the 'Dock' which is basically a built in Quick Launch bar. So far works great.

Recommended (after 10 minutes)...

[Crono]

Competition is good but I think they will always be 2nd place to Valve. So far there are only 2 games I would be remotely interested in: Sins of a Solar Empire and Dungeon Lords. But I don't have the time for a 6 hour RTS match, and Dungeon Lords... but after checking Dungeon Lord's metacritic page, I decided against that. So far, nothing notable outside of the interface which is very sleek.

Overall I guess I will reserve my judgement till another month or 2 pass.

[Grey]

So far, this is slick. It detected my previous Stardock Central info without a hitch. Interface seems slick. Much more info for updates. Setup: My Games, My Office, and My Tools on the 'Dock' which is basically a built in Quick Launch bar. So far works great.

Recommended (after 10 minutes)...

In comparison with Steam

- takes less RAM (~5MB)
- is way slower (Java based?)
- has no startup/command line options for the shortcuts (didn't try it but since you simply drag existing shortcuts into it they can be configurated maybe)

I'll look deeper into it tomorrow, but it seems this tool isn't very deep yet.

[Satertek]

They've also got Epic on board now with the Unreal games (minus 2K4, oddly).

[Hydroeric]

In comparison with Steam

- takes less RAM (~5MB)
- is way slower (Java based?)
- has no startup/command line options for the shortcuts (didn't try it but since you simply drag existing shortcuts into it they can be configurated maybe)

I'll look deeper into it tomorrow, but it seems this tool isn't very deep yet.

I am seeing similar memory usage between Steam and Impulse
Steam ~ 25meg
Impulse ~ 20meg

Also it seems quick to respond though I am leaving it open from the dock. I believe it is written in Windows Presentation Framework. I seem to recall an article that Stardock was partnered with Microsoft in developing applications using that platform.

Can't find any way to change startup/command line options. Only Remove, Rename. But I was able to make a shortcut outside the interface with command line options and drag it in no problem.

Also, I can't recommend Gal Civ 2 more. It is a fantastic game for fans of the 4X genre.

[Satertek]

In comparison with Steam

- takes less RAM (~5MB)
- is way slower (Java based?)
- has no startup/command line options for the shortcuts (didn't try it but since you simply drag existing shortcuts into it they can be configurated maybe)

I think you meant much faster? Steam is the one that runs on Java and is very very sluggish. And I'm also showing 5MB RAM used.

For shortcuts, you can just start them normally like any game you installed from discs. Impulse has no specific copy protection like Steam, it's left to the publishers. (You don't have to have Impulse running to start a game)

[Varsity]

Huh? Steam has nothing to do with Java. It's native C++.

[Grey]

I think you meant much faster? Steam is the one that runs on Java and is very very sluggish. And I'm also showing 5MB RAM used.

I meant the opposite to fast which is slow... I think.

I got slight load times and HDD queries when switching through the different tabs. Steam only has a slow start and runs fine after that.

I am seeing similar memory usage between Steam and Impulse
Steam ~ 25meg
Impulse ~ 20meg

Appearantly Impulse has a way higher range of RAM usage. Now its up to 60MB after a little browsing. Steam doesn't exceed 35MB after clicking through the shop and some community pages.



So far I can't see anything usefull for me. It might be sweet if you're using the stardock tools for windows anyway, but I'm fine with samurize currently.

[Itchyeyes]

I'm pretty impressed. Nice, slick interface. Automatically recognized which Stardock games I had bought and which were installed on my computer, as well as which ones had updates available for them. All in all, it's way better than its predecessor Stardock Central. My only real gripe is that I wish they would have rolled it out as an upgrade through Stardock Central, pretty minor complaint though.

Also, I wouldn't worry too much about the RAM usage. Impulse is not meant to be constantly running in your system tray the way STEAM is. It doesn't have any community features that are "always on" nor do games require authentication from Impulse to run the way STEAM does. It's a content delivery system only. The only time you should really have it running is when you're shopping for/downloading content.

[PathMaster]

How long until we have a third party program that will interface with a couple different digital distribution platforms?

[LordFu]

So good, so far. It's easier on they eyes than SDC, certainly. The layout is more intuitive. Etc.

Hopefully, they'll have better third-party support now. I prefer their terms and conditions to Steam's.

I picked up Space Rangers 2: Reboot, which launched with Impulse, yesterday.

[drakkarim]

How long until we have a third party program that will interface with a couple different digital distribution platforms?

probably never, will get sued out of business in no time. otherwise it would imply the different platforms would have to fix prices to be the same between all of them (maybe they are already, don't know).

[Kryopsis]

So you guys are comparing a program that launched today to a program that launched several years ago? Remember, when Steam first launched everyone utterly hated it. It took years for Steam to become the platform we know and love.

[Varsity]

Appearantly Impulse has a way higher range of RAM usage. Now its up to 60MB after a little browsing. Steam doesn't exceed 35MB after clicking through the shop and some community pages.

That's all to do with the fact that Internet Explorer is running inside them. It'd be very tricky to get a true picture of memory usage, and also kind of irrelevant since you don't need Impulse running to launch its games.

[Grey]

That's all to do with the fact that Internet Explorer is running inside them. It'd be very tricky to get a true picture of memory usage, and also kind of irrelevant since you don't need Impulse running to launch its games.

I didn't judge the RAM usage. It was just something that I noticed.


Also what is the use of such a tool if it doesn't run? I mean I use steam for the reason of the community features and something I can use as some game center. For digital distribution only such a tool is a little bit overpowered. When there are already features called "community" - why should't I use them then? I don't get your point when saying "it doesn't have to run" - I don't need a tool to be installed to run my third party games anyway.

@Kryopsis

Thats just not logical. It has to be compared to a established system since it claims to be something similar. If it doesn't have something equal, better or even other features there is no reason to use it.
It is natural that the list of games isn't huge at the start, thats nothing to complain about, but for the features of the program itself it should be reach steam or other tools.

As I said I barely see any use of it since I don't have other stardock products (where it would fit in well I guess) installed and find it rather longsome to use this one now instead of my basic quicklaunch bar.

[Intruder]

This was just the initial roll out of the program. In the coming weeks and months they are adding more community tools, friends notifications, multiplayer syncing within Impulse, Achievements, etc... they even have built in blogging tools I believe. Yea, so for right now it is a content delivery system, but soon it should turn into more. I am looking forward to the multiplayer aspect. Click on your friend, and select your game and it automatically hooks you up together, or finds you a server on which to play.

[zrikz]

This was just the initial roll out of the program. In the coming weeks and months they are adding more community tools, friends notifications, multiplayer syncing within Impulse, Achievements, etc... they even have built in blogging tools I believe. Yea, so for right now it is a content delivery system, but soon it should turn into more. I am looking forward to the multiplayer aspect. Click on your friend, and select your game and it automatically hooks you up together, or finds you a server on which to play.

Doesn't steam have most of this already as well, minus the blogging? The thing that is nice about steam is I already have a friends list going, and if I really want to, I can use it to launch non steam games and still chat / talk to people in game through steam.

Pretty sure right now I can right click on a friend and join his game, but I could be wrong. I guess I applaud stardocks efforts, but I have so many games on steam already, it seems like it would be a pain to have two programs running so I can have the friends lists of both up.

Only problem I have with steam is you cant sell your games to other people, but meh.. I have most of my games installed on both the laptop and desktop so I can't complain.

[Intruder]

Yea Steam does all that already, this is just an alternative service. Competition is always a good thing. Hopefully it will force both companies to step up their game.