Anybody here ever use Aspyer's GameAgent???

[AeroBar]

Hello,

I've been looking into downloading games for Mac as I don't want the clutter of discs and boxes.

I was wondering if anybody here has ever used Aspyr's GameAgent?

How does it work? Are the games downloaded direct from Aspyr or is it some kind of file sharing/torrent thing?

Are there any risks in using it? Am I still suffering paranoia after my years as a PC user?

Regards

 

[kaltsasa]

It's run by Digital River. I won't touch it with a 10 foot pole. They are the slimiest of digital distribution houses. You get the pleasure of paying them a hefty fee for an additional 2 years of "download". Not to mention the customer support woes if you are in the large percentage of people who's downloads simply fail. At any other service, no big, re-download. At DR, you're pretty much out of luck.

There's no risks as you're thinking of them, just having to deal with Digital River. I simply won't purchase from companies that use them.

Look to places like MacGameStore and Direct2Drive for a much better digital purchasing experience for the Mac.

 

[AeroBar]

Thanks.

It seems like you only pay for the games themselves. there is no subscription if that is what you mean.

Are those other sites safe to download from? Doesn't MacGameStore use torrents?

Cheers

 

[AeroBar]

Look to places like MacGameStore and Direct2Drive for a much better digital purchasing experience for the Mac.

They have little to none in the way of interesting titles.

Aspyr has titles that interest me, but I want to be sure that the download process is safe.

Has anybody here used it?

 

[txa1265]

It's run by Digital River. I won't touch it with a 10 foot pole. They are the slimiest of digital distribution houses. You get the pleasure of paying them a hefty fee for an additional 2 years of "download". Not to mention the customer support woes if you are in the large percentage of people who's downloads simply fail. At any other service, no big, re-download. At DR, you're pretty much out of luck.

There's no risks as you're thinking of them, just having to deal with Digital River. I simply won't purchase from companies that use them.

Look to places like MacGameStore and Direct2Drive for a much better digital purchasing experience for the Mac.

I have a few games from them, and while I have had no issues ... I completely agree with kaltsasa.

I specifically called the service out when they released their first game Call of Duty Modern Warfare in my review:

The final thing I want to discuss is the DRM scheme if you buy the game online through Aspyr’s GameAgent service. DRM stands for ‘digital rights management’ and is a form of copy protection aimed at preventing piracy. If you buy the retail disk you simply install, enter your serial number and get to playing. Aspyr’s new GameAgent offers online purchase and secure download of select Aspyr games, with Call of Duty 4 being the first. The Mac forums caught fire when the game was released with complaints about download speed, failed downloads, failed installs and so on. This is to be expected for such a highly anticipated game on a new service. Anyone who bought Half-Life 2 through Steam right at release remembers this sort of thing well.

The concern for many users was that they would be chewing through their limited number of activations and downloads. This is because GameAgent uses a DRM system that limits the number of downloads, the time between purchase and download, the number of computers you can install the game on, and the number of activations. In detail, you can install the game on up to two computers, and activate up to ten times. There is no deauthorization method, so when you’re done you’re done. GameAgent offers an optional (i.e. costs additional money) ‘protection plan’ that allows for more downloads over a two-year time period. This system - download-limits, hardware-limits, and activation-limits - is the most … um … limited in the industry: Steam would still download and install a fresh copy of Half-Life 2 for me on my new laptop last week despite having installed and uninstalled it countless times on perhaps a dozen laptops over the last four years. Similarly Direct2Drive and GamersGate allow you to redownload games you bought once you have your account set up. Even EA games, which has similar limits for some things, allowed me to reinstall Crysis again despite having bought it last year and not added download protection.

Am I saying that GameAgent is anti-consumer? Yes. Buying the retail copy will allow you to install and uninstall without limit for all eternity so long as you have compatible hardware. We all know that this game is either already pirated or will be soon enough. Therefore this draconian system punishes one group: those who choose to buy it through GameAgent. That is really unfortunate - especially since shelf space for Mac games is almost non-existent. When I heard about GameAgent I was thrilled - Mac games need no longer be limited to a few online channels, but could be easily grabbed in digital form. Then I discovered that what was offered cost more than the retail copy and had a very short expiration period. Sadly, in this state I have to strongly recommend avoiding GameAgent at all possible costs. Forget convenience, buy from somewhere else.

 

[Yacomo]

I strongly suggest to read their FAQ before buying anything via GameAgent:

http://www.gameagent.com/store/aspyr/ContentTheme/pbPage.GameAgent

Most notably these two sections made me go buy the DVD versions instead:

How many licenses or activations do I get?
The Digital Rights Management (DRM) for all games purchased through GameAgent.com allows for a game to be licensed to 2 computers. Also, for the game purchased, you will be given 10 activations.

Can I switch to a new machine and still have my games?
With all standard orders, installs are permitted on 2 machines, with 10 activations available between those 2 machines. Unfortunately, you cannot deauthorize a machine once the game has been activated and move it to another machine.

 

[kaltsasa]

I'm not sure why Aspyr chose to tether themselves to Digital River rather than distributing through the established digital distribution points like Direct2Drive and MacGameStore. Maybe they get a bigger cut, I'm not sure.

Hell, I'd even take GameTree over them, as terrible as the site is at least I can still request a re-download of a game at any point.

 

[AeroBar]

While I was waiting to hear about how the downloads work (I also contacted Aspyr themselves), I downloaded the application.

AAAGGGHHHH!!!

My Mac does not meet the minimum requirements for THE FORCE UNLEASHED!!!

I'M SO DEVASTATED!!!

I was sure it did, as I had checked against the information on a few different websites - but those sites didn't have all the information>

 

[AeroBar]

Yacomo, what is an "activation"?

Is it the amount of times you re-install?

 

[AeroBar]

Also, some of the games (the application also determines the compatibility for other Aspyr games, not just the downloads) are PowerPC, and I have Intel Dual Core.

It does not say it will not work, but "it is not determined" whether it does or not? Can some PowerPC games work on an Intel Mac?

And also, is GameAgent still only selling to North America or is it international yet?

 

[AeroBar]

Has Valve made any announcement on an actual release date for Steam for Mac?

 

[Yacomo]

Yacomo, what is an "activation"?

Is it the amount of times you re-install?

Yes, this is correct.

In other words: Buy your second new computer or install the game for the eleventh time and you need to purchase a new license for your game.

As an added bonus, this mechanism also makes it pretty much impossible to resell your game.

Edit: PowerPC games 'should' work on your Intel Mac since it comes with a compatibility layer (Rosetta); I recently finished Neverwinter Nights which is a PowerPC game, but ran flawlessly on my MacBook Pro. Of course nobody will give you a guarantee that every game will work - better check on this or other forums first before buying games which might not run on your machine.

 

[txa1265]

PowerPC games are very 'hit or miss' in terms of Rosetta performance (Rosetta is the PowerPC emulation engine for Intel Macs). Some like NWN are excellent, but others like Stubbs the Zombie are awful ...

Also The Force Unleashed is an unoptimized pig of a mediocre port of a average console game.

 

[AeroBar]

Yes, this is correct.
PowerPC games 'should' work on your Intel Mac since it comes with a compatibility layer (Rosetta); I recently finished Neverwinter Nights which is a PowerPC game, but ran flawlessly on my MacBook Pro. Of course nobody will give you a guarantee that every game will work - better check on this or other forums first before buying games which might not run on your machine.

Cheers.

Thanks everyone.

 

[AeroBar]

Also The Force Unleashed is an unoptimized pig of a mediocre port of a average console game.

Looks great to me.

 

[txa1265]

Looks great to me.

I have played it on Mac & PC, and the performance is not so great, the install takes ~30GB, and the entirety of the game was clearly designed for console. I honestly prefer my PSP version ... or my kids' Wii version. Yeah, I'm a Star Wars fan

 

[AeroBar]

I have played it on Mac & PC, and the performance is not so great, the install takes ~30GB, and the entirety of the game was clearly designed for console. I honestly prefer my PSP version ... or my kids' Wii version. Yeah, I'm a Star Wars fan

I've played a few minutes of all versions, except the PC, and they all look the same.

 

[txa1265]

I've played a few minutes of all versions, except the PC, and they all look the same.

The PC/Mac/X360/PS3 all uses the full physics engine which makes a difference in the spectacular over-the-top effects.

In terms of the game itself, yeah, all the same. Not saying it is bad, but given how much more powerful the PC is than the PS3, it should have performed and looked better. The story is OK, certainly not in my Top 10 Star Wars games ... but it is still decent fun.

 

[AeroBar]

The PC/Mac/X360/PS3 all uses the full physics engine which makes a difference in the spectacular over-the-top effects.

In terms of the game itself, yeah, all the same. Not saying it is bad, but given how much more powerful the PC is than the PS3, it should have performed and looked better. The story is OK, certainly not in my Top 10 Star Wars games ... but it is still decent fun.

That is a change from "pig" and "average"!!!

 

[txa1265]

That is a change from "pig" and "average"!!!

Well - I still think it is a resource pig ... biggest install I have *ever* done on Mac/PC, and the visuals are not spectacular.

It is a fun game because you get 'big boom' physics, but it is not remotely 'thoughtful' or subtle, and I would really call it an average (same as 'decent' and 'ok') experience.