Sorry, that was what showed up when I typed in 'gameshield'. It was also the only thing that showed up relating to what LA Noire told me to install.

It would be nice if they explained the DRM in their game instead of making people guess. As far as I can tell from researching it: it's similar to SecuROM, has a one-time activation during installation, and no install limits.

I don't know where they could, really. It is in the readme, but again, you obviously need to buy the game to view that. When you try to start the game, it says nothing and pretends to load for a while before closing.

And you're sure your system meets the requirements?

My system: http://us.gateway.com/gw/en/US/content/model/PT.GCEP2.001
System Requirements: OS: Windows 7 / Windows Vista Service Pack 1 / Windows XP Service Pack 3
Intel CPUs: Core 2.2 GHz to Quad Core 3.2GHz
AMD CPUs: Dual Core 2.4Ghz to Quad Core 3.2Ghz
RAM: 2GB to 8GB
Hard Disk Space: 16GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 512MB to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1536MB or Radeon HD3000 512MB to Radeon HD 6850 1024MB
Sound: 100% DirectX 9 Compatible
I'm no computer whiz but I'm pretty sure I beat those.

that comp should be able to play it then

Strange... anyone know where I can download this gameshield crap? I've narrowed it down to that, as I've already installed microsoft .NET, DX, and social club.
Edit: maybe I need the social club update. Ifeel so stupid.

Steam downloads everything you need automatically. Only suggestion I can think of is to try running Steam as administrator.

If that doesn't work, then check the game-specific forum for technical help.

How would I run steam as an admin? Also, I don't think it did so for this game because I only have one copy of Rockstar Social Club on my computer, and that's the one I installed manually. It did install DX and .NET though.

find you steam.exe (or shortcut), right-click it, select "properties"select the "Compatibility" tab then checkmark the "run this program as an administrator" box then apply it

next time you run Steam you should be running it as an admin


you should only need one copy of Rockstar Social Club on your system

Alright, I figured it out and got it working. Fun game and not a bad port.

You know, it's interesting.
"Requires internet connection and free Steam account to activate."
...then, where does it say Steam software needs to be installed on your computer at all? Why does it require Steam software to be installed and running on the machine after activation? A completely unannounced patch, applied even if you told Steam not to apply it, added a requirement for Steam to be installed and running for play, which was never previously listed as a requirement, and as we saw with the original 1.1 release, there is no technical requirement for Steam to be able to run Skyrim.

I have to call bait and switch on that. There was no requirement listed for Steam needing to be installed and running for play, and the original release did not require it to be running, but a stealth update that you couldn't opt out of now makes it a requirement. And by the time you find out, you've already activated the game and can't resell it.

Look at the top 100 best selling games of all-time. The first PC title on that list is at #22 The Sims @ 16Million copies. Four out of the top six PC games that are in the top 100 all time best selling games are WoW products which is free to download.

The PC market is small. This is proven by amount of sales each platform gets. The PC has more platforms in service than Sony and Microsoft combined and yet cant match the sales of the their console counter parts. Why is that? Why is Skyrim on consoles outselling PC at a clip of 3-1 despite the huge disparity in platforms in service? Maybe "faltering" was a bad word to use, but it damn sure is not growing.


You get rid of mass pirating, fix the DRM issues, and the biggest fix is to accessibility issues.


The vast array of hardware in the market place a developer has to be mindful of when programming a game for PC is astronomical. This limits the PC to getting ports of consoles games as it takes too much to develop PC only games at the profits you can get for making console variants. Sure their are companies who make PC games only but they will never match the selling power a console game has which limits perspective investment in game development for the PC. Add in the PC gaming community howling at companies such as Steam giving PC gamer more access to games and you can see why the market is small.

Yeah, Intel would not have any bias in writing an article praising PC gaming.

@fleeingfish:

OK. I think I see where you are coming from when you think PC sales are crap. You are comparing games that are cross-platform. In the cases where a game is being released on consoles and PC, then yes, their console counterpart is selling better. But I do not think of cross-platform games as the only games that represent the gaming industry. There are countless games, big and small that are PC only. This includes flash games, browser games, games that are gratis or for pay, Free software or proprietary. And believe me, a lot of people pay for games to play on their Iphone or Android, laptop and desktop. Since those are multi-task computers, I group the word PC to encompass them all. PC does not mean "Microsoft Windows", no matter how much Apple wants you to think so, but I digress.

With that said, if you combine all PCs, you will find so many more games available and that sell a crap load more than Sony or Microsoft's consoles. Games don't have to be big budget or even popular in order to be counted as a game. Just look at Bejweled. That series have sold over 75 million copies in only 3 games.

The PC is also a haven for indie game makers such as the makers of Trine, World of Goo, Minecraft, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, etc.

Bought a new car.. satire.

Ahh... theres my new ride. Finally, I have been waiting forever!

Unlocks the car, puts in the key and;

Car display "Updating Steam..."

WTF I didn't know these cars came with Steam?! The dealer should have told me! Gahh...

Car display "Enter serial number for the car you wish to start."

Oh ok wheres the bloody instruction manual... Ahh here it is, ok let's see...

WTF is this supposed to be number "1" or is it capital "I"? I can't tell!!

"Processing.."

Come ooon.. I'm in a hurry here!

"Incorrect serial number."

No [censored] Sherlock. OK let's try this instead...

"Processing.."

[censored] I'm going to be late for work again..

"Car was successfully registered".

Finally! OK let's go!!!!

"Preparing to start the car..."

What?! Just start the bloody car I'm already late for work!!

"Checking for updates..."

No no no NOOO plz let there be no updates!!!

"Downloading patch (57MB)"

O-snap the Internet connection svcks in the garage!

"Estimated download time 1hour and 47minutes.."

I'm done. I better call in sick and hope they buy it. Better that then arriving late for work again

The next day...

I guess the update is done by now so I can get to work.

Puts key in the ignition..

"Car is currently not available. Please try again at another time."

Damn you Valve!!!!

My point being; Only in the gaming industry would it work. Honest paying customers are treated as potential criminals and nobody seems to care. I wonder why that is.

First I would like to get your source on this. Second, it should be pointed out that WoW is a single product, not four different games, contrary to the claim of your source. Third, the so-called "free" product is most likely the trial version of WoW (again, I need your source. Might just be language barriers, but it does sound... odd.).

Are you sure you are not assuming every PC is intended as a gaming platform? You'd be surprised of how many that are not. At least the Intel article was using numbers based on high-end graphics card sales and not just PCs as a whole. I really think you should link the source to those numbers you throw at us.

Yes, if you could get rid of mass pirating, you wouldn't need those clumsy DRM attempts. Just a serial code and a disc check to stop the casuals. As to accessibility issues, I must confess I don't follow you. A lot of old games had autopatching already, and even gave you the choice to not update. It's not really hard to patch manually either. Or did you mean it should be easier to buy games?

Yes, the development cost for PC games is much higher than for consoles due to the myriad of hardware configurations you have to take into consideration. This hasn't stopped development of some top of the line PC exclusives. Just look at CD Project Red. Their debut title did well enough for them to go back and do an overhaul of the game well after the initial sales were over. So, the development costs are not a hindrance to making games to the PC. The sequel got even bigger, so something tells me being PC exclusive didn't really hamper the Witcher franchise.

However, when you make a game for multiple platforms, one of which shares the same basic architecture as the PC, developers would of course cut as many corners and port the game to PC instead of using additional money on a seperate version. If it was a matter of choosing between platforms, your logic might hold. However, it is more a matter of carrying two buckets instead of one, when getting water.

For a lot of people Steam is undoubtedly a very good service. If you're disabled or live far away from any store carrying games, or the polar bears are getting a bit too close to the house, Steam is a godsend. Likewise if you're so busy to get to your local gamestore or you MUST have the game within the hour it's released, Steam will have its appeal as well.

However, I live within half an hour's travel to a good selection of game stores. I prefer a physical copy of my game. Apart from MMOs, I play my games on a permanent off-line rig. That is why Steam is NOT, and I repeat, NOT a good service in my case.

The problem people have is not that they hate Steam in general, as some people try to make it look like. Some of us had bad experiences with Steam and is voicing their frustrations. Some of us don't have a connection, either by setup or situation. Some of us wants to be able to play our favorite games when/if Steam goes belly-up, and are sceptical about the promise of an unlocking patch at such a time. Some of us don't NEED the special offers, community, chat, achievements and whatnot.

There are plenty of reasons not to want Steam. Plenty of legitimate reasons. Some of us even use Steam already. However, we want to be able to choose if we want this, to some, redundant sevice.

Right now my only choice, since I don't want Steam, is to not play Skyrim.

Doesn't DirectX take care of that? If you had to program a game for specific hardware, then older games wouldn't work on new hardware that didn't even exist at the time, no?

Just to be clear I AM NOT A SUPPORTR OF STEAM, but you missed the part http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/SquealOfDeath/IMG_20111125_202929.jpg.

It says, "NOTICE: Product offered subject to your acceptance of the Steam Subscriber Agreement ("SSA"). You must activate this product via the Internet by registering for a Steam account and accepting SSA. Please see http://www.steampowered.com/agreement to view the SSA prior to purchase. If you do not agree with the provisions of the SSA you should return this game unopened to your retailer in accordance with their return policy."

I wasn't happy about it, but knew about steam ahead of time. it wasn't obvious but it was there in the fine print.

that said This was posted over at /.

Valve's Gabe Newell On Piracy: It's Not a Pricing Problem
Posted by Soulskill on Friday November 25, @06:41PM
from the not-in-fact-all-about-the-benjamins dept.
New submitter silentbrad writes with a followup to our discussion this morning about Ubisoft's claims of overwhelming game piracy. An article at IGN quotes a different point of view from Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve: "In general, we think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the U.S. release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable. Most DRM solutions diminish the value of the product by either directly restricting a customers use or by creating uncertainty." The quote was taken from an interview at The Cambridge Student Online, in which Newell speaks to a few other subjects, such as creating games for multiple platforms and e-sports.



my .0200001 USD, those that like steam should use it.
but it shouldn't be forced on those of us that have paid for the disks.

Perhaps Mr Newell can explain why he feels Steam is different. I see Steam as very restrictive and it holds more uncertainty than any other DRM scheme I know of.

All I want is a disc that I can put into a 100% offline PC that allows me to both install and play the game, the last Bethesda made title that did this was Fallout 3. Yet I cannot spend any amount of my hard earned money to get any of the Bethesda titles since then this way, however the pirates out there can get exactly the product I want for free. So I agree that the issue is one of service, please Bethesda offer me the service so that I can give you my money.

Because they sell so many graphics cards to people, don't they? Did you even read it? They explained the data very clearly - discreet DX10 capable video cards were all their stats counted for PC unit sales. It wouldn't have mattered if the PC had an Intel or AMD chip or even a Mac. They were going by the number of cards sold.

It would be awfully hard to argue that people buy separate DX10 capable graphics cards to do their checkbook balancing on.

And let me just turn the tables a bit.

"Yeah, Valve would not have any bias in trumpeting that they have 40 million users."

See how that works? Valve arguing that them having 40 million users means all those people love them to death makes as much sense as Microsoft trumpeting their 97% market share and claiming that they're that popular because people love them. In both cases, people had little choice in the matter. PCs are sold at retail with Windows installed. PC games these days are being sold at retail with Steamworks integration. Valve is a monopoly in the same abusive position as Microsoft is with Windows. Neither one is actually doing any GOOD for the market.

Tell me about... I got a limited broadband of five gigabytes a month, that's jack [censored]. I currently have a patch for Team Fortress 2 that's about 1.9 gigabytes. Haven't been online with Steam for over two months because of it. Not to mention the Half-Life 2 patch I need, and the Portal patch. I think the total size of those patches combined are around 4.9 gigabytes.

And the highest download rate I've ever had was about 350 kb/s. It takes for-[censored]-ever to download those patches.

As a drifter who totes his pc around everywhere he goes, it is not uncommon for me to lose or damage a game I have purchased. I, as a consumer, have a legal right to make as many [u]personal[/u backups as I wish. If I get caught distributing them, that's my own stupidity. However, with everyone and their mother throwing more and more DRM on their games, it really discourages me from going out and buying a new game as opposed to playing an older game I already have.

With digital platforms such as origins and steam, I can buy my game and download it should I never need to, eliminating the need for backups. You have no idea how frustrated I was when my car was broken in to and my box of games was stolen. I went to my backup's only to find the error message of "This is not the original disc". I try to call the company, and their only response is "I guess you'll have to go buy the game again."

It's methods like THAT that will push people to finding new methods of obtaining their beloved game they spent their hard earned dollars for. But as I stated, having backups is no longer a real necessity thanks to digital platforms.

Now, if there was only a universal platform that hosted the games with no legal contracts, no catchs, no lawyers; simply buy the game either through a local outlet or online, enter the product code, and done. It's registered to your account. A combined Origin/Steam/Impulse etc etc for EVERY game possible. I'd love to buy a copy of Cutthroats: Terror on the High Seas if anyone had it, but there are no digital platforms selling it.