Fred DM

this i'll buy. :)

i voted 'no'. i've actually come to like Steam, but i still prefer my games Steam-less, if possible. i accept Steam games only in 2 cases: when they're Steamworks-based (meaning they need Steam to run and are not available without Steam) and when they're on sale (below Euro 10,-). i never buy new games on Steam if they are also available in non-Steam retail form. now, i'll tell you this: if you absolutely, desperately need some form of DRM beyond a CD-Key/unlimited online activation, then go for Steam before you adopt any other DRM solution (like SecuROM limited activations, GameLauncher, StarForce, etc.). also, go for Steam before you adopt that dreaded Games for Windows Live scheme. tl;dr: out of all DRM solutions, Steam is the most acceptable, but leave your games Steam (and DRM) free, if possible.

because i'm not actually American, you know. ;) i see no reason to demand my own country in this game. what the hell for? :confused: more American forces, on the other hand, would make sense, especially considering that the war in Afghanistan (which the Takistan operation is based on) has seen an unprecedented involvement of Special Ops units, which are, as of now, underrepresented in OA. what i don't understand is why everybody seem hell-bent on wanting the armed forces of the country they happen to live in represented in the game, even if it wouldn't make much sense in terms of mass appeal and in terms of some minimal scenario realism. i currently see the same thing going on with Civilization 5: Polish gamers demand Poland in the expansion, the Spanish are still angry because Spain wasn't included, and the Turks praise the fact that the Ottoman Empire has been included. why do people feel so strongly about the country they just happen to have been born in? :confused:

how come people always want the armies of 'their' country in the game? :confused: i swear, it's like every Brit wants British troops (they got 'em now), every Aussie wants the ADF, every Turk wants Turkish military, etc. this game isn't your personal fulfiller of nationalist wishful thinking. :j: i'd prefer additions that actually suit the scenario and complement the existing content, for example a SOCOM pack that would include the Night Stalkers (including Special Ops versions of the existing transport choppers), Rangers, Special Forces and the SEALs.

you know, i re-install older games all the time (currently playing Baldur's Gate 2, a number of LucasArts adventures, Broken Sword 2 etc.) and they all still work without problems. question is, will it be the same with today's games 5 or even 10 years down the line? i'm talking Anno 1404, Far Cry 2, Bioshock, Mass Effect, etc. i simply do not like having to deal with restrictions concerning my purchase. since i have no experience with Sprocket and Impulse i looked into it, and the fact that they won't tell you how many activations you have had me worried.

i asked the same question a while back and a member of BIS replied that they're using Impulse DRM. the one thing that bothers me about that is the fact that online activations are apparently limited in number and Impulse does not state how many you have. instead they claim you won't have problems getting new activations if you need them, but will be denied additionals activations if you're need of them is excessive. they neither state how many activations they consider excessive nor how many you're allotted at any given time. also this means your product (BAF in this case) is dependent on both the Sprocket service (if bought there) and Impulse. what happens if Impulse goes down?

dude, i don't have a credit card either (and don't want one). just make a PayPal account. with the exception of British online stores, almost everyone accepts PayPal as a method of international payment. this includes Steam and Sprocket, both of which are selling the BAF DLC. ;) in case you're not familiar with PayPal: you simply transfer the desired amount you'd like to spend from your own bank account to the PayPal bank account in your country. 1-2 days later the money shows up in your online PayPal account, ready to be spent. for private customers, it's essentially free to use. ;)

OK, i believe you. :) unfortunately, we will never find out. :( ArmA 2 has an edge over MW2, though: it has a much longer life span. this is the kind of game that sits on your hard disc drive for years, and people will keep playing and buying as long as new content is made available. :) i'd love to see a second expansion pack like OA, perhaps even entirely disconnected from the present-day ArmAversum, for example in the Vietnam War. ;)

yeah, because the MW2 mappacks were free because the game sold some 20 million, right? ;) once a game has sold that many copies, the company knows they can pretty much get away with anything. you have a bigger chance of getting stuff for free from smaller companies. that's why you got the soundtrack for free with every copy of Risen but have to buy the MW2 soundtrack. that's why you got additional free content with The Witcher but have to pay for every little piece of Dragon Age DLC. the list goes on.

thanks for answering. :) i know that BAF is all new content ;) . that's why i'm willing to purchase it. as for DLC being taken out of the game and sold separately, it's more likely than you might think; just look at Eidos (Kane & Lynch 2), 2K Games (Bioshock 2, Mafia 2) or Capcom (Resident Evil 5), their games even ship with the DLC already on the disc but to be purchased separately... :( thankfully, BIS are doing it the right way. thank you as well.

i'm looking to buy the BAF DLC, but i have a few questions first and i'd appreciate it if someone took the time to answer them; - is the content, mainly the new campaign and the single missions, generally on the level of OA/ArmA 2 in terms of quality? in other words, do they work as intended, are no mission stopping bugs present (like we had in ArmA 1), and are they fun to play? - i normally don't buy DLC so i have little experience with digital purchases. where is the best place to purchase BAF for the German retail edition of OA? i'd figure Sprocket, but i don't know the service. - how exactly does the DRM work? upon purchasing you get a CD-key and need to activate the DLC online upon installation? is there an install limit, a limit as to how many times you can use the CD-key? can you redownload the DLC anytime? that's a lot of questions, i know. :o i usually don't buy into the DLC practice as i think it promotes splitting up game content in order to sell individually what should either be free or have shipped with the original game, but i'm willing to make an exception here because i like BIS games and think BAF offers acceptable value for money. but i'm not willing to put up with hidden DRM like Bioware DLC introduces (DLC is tied to an online account, in order to play with your purchased DLC you need to be logged in and online at all times, essentially an UbiSoft Game Launcher kind of thing - screw that).

dude, it's not unheard of for companies to offer their DLC on disc in stores. Rockstar did it with Episodes of Liberty City, Bethesda with Knights of the Nine as well as the Fallout 3 expansion packs. Gearbox is currently doing the same with the Borderlands DLC. ;)

lol wut? :confused:

Maruk already posted the DLC will be available on Steam and Sprocket, as well as other, not yet announced places. ;)

quality of content, next to pricing, is an important factor, but not the only one. there's also the issue of DRM introduced through DLC. again, EA/Bioware serve as a negative example: in order to use your newly bought official Dragon Age/Mass Effect DLC, it has to be tied to your Bioware-account, which in turn requires you to maintain an online connection. in effect, this is the same kind of DRM that UbiSoft's GameLauncher practices. a constant internet connection is required to play. the only difference between EAs version of this DRM and UbiSoft's is the fact that the EA games work without this DRM so long as no official DLC is involved. as for BIS DLC, it remains to be seen what kind of DRM will be employed. Maruk hinted at very mild DRM if any at all, but particulars have not been disclosed yet.