I don't think that Steam did the right thing by allowing so many variants to hit the market. The very customers they are trying to attract, are used to buying consoles that only essentially varied by storage (the basic console, not games/controllers/color). Now, they are expecting these same customers to purchase a SteamBox that might have a different HDD, GPU, CPU, case, cooling system, motherboard, power supply, inputs, and gasp...PRICE! So while it might be easier to plug in, and not require you to know how to build a PC, you should still obtain at least some basic PC hardware knowledge to know what you are getting. Besides, you may have to upgrade it at some point, so the argument that they are targeting those that don't want to learn how to build their own PC, and break down the entry into PC gaming is somewhat nullified by the abundance of systems being released by Valve's 3rd party manufacturers, and the fact that you will have to know a few things about GPUs, PSUs, and +12v rails in order to upgrade it.
All I know is, the PC version has some serious issues. The game crashes during cutscenes, and the loading screens stutter and pause. This isn't really a hardware issue either, because I am reading forums in which every user that suffers from this issue has hardware ranging from optimal, to poor, Nvidia, AMD, Intel, 6gb-32gb of ram. Something is seriously wrong with this game, still to this day. Very poorly optimized.
@xgalacticax Well, I would argue that developers value the opinions of their fans and peers more than review sites. Review sites might help sell them more copies, and give them publicity, but I think in the end they value what the fans think more than you realize. After all, if the general public doesn't like their product, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, because they wouldn't sell many units.
Have you noticed that the music in AC IV when you board an enemy ship is eerily similar to the music on MW2's level "The Enemy of My Enemy"? The spec ops mission "Snatch and Grab" is the same level, and you don't get all the chatter from Price. It isn't exact, but there is a good 10 second portion or more that is nearly identical.
I didn't watch the VGX awards, but from the sounds of it, they more or less treated it like a Comedy Central Roast on gamers then an actual awards show. What a shame.
@IanNottinghamX No, they don't track individual sellers. The sales numbers reflect units that have actually left a retailer's stock. Whether or not the individual bought it to resell on Ebay or not, it still counts as one unit leaving the store's inventory.
@malfestus Ad space and review of a product are two entirely different things. Ads are meant to generate knowledge of the existence of a product, whereas reviews are meant to give consumers an idea of what the product is like to use. They have entirely different purposes. You could only suggest that one ties in with the other, but everything comes back to my original argument anyway, credibility.
If a news correspondent is paid to say good things about something that is inherently bad, be it a product or service or whatever the case may be, and they were paid to do so (regardless of their own opinion that may differ) then viewers would find out the truth anyway when learning of a poor service or product once those things are bought by consumers. Then, the viewers turn to another network for their news because one correspondent is untrustworthy. So why would a reviewer do the same thing? One small paycheck from a publisher to basically LIE is not worth the short term benefit because of the long term repercussions. People seem to look past that for some reason, or they just aren't wise enough to see it through.
Besides, AAA games are generally good enough to stand on their own merits without the need for bias generated by ad revenue or "paid reviewers". They are developed by thousands of people, many of which are the most talented people in the business. It is more likely for a paid review to come from a struggling indie developer, or some small studio than it is one of the larger publishers. Nothing ads up I'm afraid. Reviewers are paid to review games, because that is their job. But the source of the paycheck is not different for each review. Each paycheck they get is signed by the same person. And you can take that to the bank.
ZOD777's comments