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Catshade: • GOO Streaming. Developer can store certain core data on the Impulse
Cloud that the game requires to run each time. Data is treated as a virtual drive.
Is...is the third option similar to Ubisoft's DRM? Sure, it's optional, but wow... O_o

Perfect, just what we all wanted. :|
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Aliasalpha: I can't shake the feeling that I'm the only person alive who actually LIKES GFWL
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bansama: I like it too. Far more than SteamWorks in fact. Although Microsoft make it very hard to like here considering they really don't want to support it in Japan at all. Still, asides from not being able to buy anything on it (even though they actually specifically sell GFWL points here I found the other day), it's never given me any significant problems.
As for this new Reactor thing? To be honest I don't see what the big deal will be, it's not like Impulse enjoy selling games outside NA anyhow, so how's it going to do anything for any region in which supported games are not sold?

That's a very good point. If Impulse doesn't start gaining the ability to sell outside of the North American market, how big can this really be? The biggest PC gaming audience is in Europe...if you can't sell there, you're starting off behind the eight ball.
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Crassmaster: That's a very good point. If Impulse doesn't start gaining the ability to sell outside of the North American market, how big can this really be? The biggest PC gaming audience is in Europe...if you can't sell there, you're starting off behind the eight ball.

Stardock only seem to care about the US. They not only get the best deals for the US but they tend to treat European customer service like a bad smell. Impulse::Reactor might take off in the few that hate steam in the US. In Europe Stardock will be lucky to get 1% of the market.
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Crassmaster: That's a very good point. If Impulse doesn't start gaining the ability to sell outside of the North American market, how big can this really be? The biggest PC gaming audience is in Europe...if you can't sell there, you're starting off behind the eight ball.
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Delixe: Stardock only seem to care about the US. They not only get the best deals for the US but they tend to treat European customer service like a bad smell. Impulse::Reactor might take off in the few that hate steam in the US. In Europe Stardock will be lucky to get 1% of the market.

It's their lack of market share in Europe, coupled with the fact that they are consistently running sales on a particular game 2nd or 3rd after competitors, that really makes me call their claims at being the #2 digital distributor in to serious question.
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Crassmaster: It's their lack of market share in Europe, coupled with the fact that they are consistently running sales on a particular game 2nd or 3rd after competitors, that really makes me call their claims at being the #2 digital distributor in to serious question.

I don't know about market share, but I once compared different DD websites' hit statistics through Alexa: Here's the rough result: Steam >>>>>> Direct2Drive >>> Gamersgate = GOG > Impulse.
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Catshade: I don't know about market share, but I once compared different DD websites' hit statistics through Alexa: Here's the rough result: Steam >>>>>> Direct2Drive >>> Gamersgate = GOG > Impulse.

Won't GOG, D2D, and GG get a disproportionate amount of hits since those are browser-only stores? The Impulse client doesn't actually connect to the impulsedriven.com main page.
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Crassmaster: It's their lack of market share in Europe, coupled with the fact that they are consistently running sales on a particular game 2nd or 3rd after competitors, that really makes me call their claims at being the #2 digital distributor in to serious question.

Despite what people would have you think Impulse is nowhere near #2.Gamersgate, D2D and even GOG rank above Impulse. Simple fact is Stardock only care about the US. Therefore the whole market is leaving them behind.
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Catshade: I don't know about market share, but I once compared different DD websites' hit statistics through Alexa: Here's the rough result: Steam >>>>>> Direct2Drive >>> Gamersgate = GOG > Impulse.
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melchiz: Won't GOG, D2D, and GG get a disproportionate amount of hits since those are browser-only stores? The Impulse client doesn't actually connect to the impulsedriven.com main page.

That depends. Catshade didn't elaborate on which exact sites they checked. Seeing as GamersGate have two domains, Direct2Drive have 3 domains, and Impulse/Stardock have at least 2 domains that sell directly over the Internet and Alexa tracks each of these independently.
But I expect that if you add up all the traffic for each service to their related sites, Impulse/Stardock is still going to be far lower than that of GamersGate/D2D. And this isn't even considering sales. This is considering the number of people simply visiting the sites regardless of whether they purchase or not (in fact, it's fairly safe to say that the majority of visits to any site are not going to result in a sale).
So if Stardock/Impulse are getting significantly lower traffic to their sites compared to the other services, it's safe to say they're getting significantly less purchases regardless of whether those purchases are going through their client or their websites.
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bansama: That depends. Catshade didn't elaborate on which exact sites they checked. Seeing as GamersGate have two domains, Direct2Drive have 3 domains, and Impulse/Stardock have at least 2 domains that sell directly over the Internet and Alexa tracks each of these independently.

Ah yeah... I only compared the .com sites; Forgot that GG and D2D have different sites for their UK/EU store.
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Delixe: Despite what people would have you think Impulse is nowhere near #2.Gamersgate, D2D and even GOG rank above Impulse. Simple fact is Stardock only care about the US. Therefore the whole market is leaving them behind.

I don't know how anyone can claim "facts" when no sales figures have been released. Steam is a safe bet for #1 because it has so many users, has been popular for so many years, and appears to have a strong following on the web. Of course, none of us can prove that Steam is #1. Speculation as to Steam's rank in the digital distribution world is fairly reliable, but the #2 position is more difficult to determine, let alone assert that any rankings, sans sales data, are factual.
None of my American gamer friends know of Gamersgate. While very few know of GOG, a larger portion know of D2D and Impulse. None of these observations are meaningful, however.
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melchiz: I don't know how anyone can claim "facts" when no sales figures have been released. Steam is a safe bet for #1 because it has so many users, has been popular for so many years, and appears to have a strong following on the web. Of course, none of us can prove that Steam is #1. Speculation as to Steam's rank in the digital distribution world is fairly reliable, but the #2 position is more difficult to determine, let alone assert that any rankings, sans sales data, are factual.
None of my American gamer friends know of Gamersgate. While very few know of GOG, a larger portion know of D2D and Impulse. None of these observations are meaningful, however.

Impulse has a smaller catalog, it is regionally restricted, it has worse sales on average that its competitors and it is younger (as Impulse at least, I'm not counting the old Stardock digital store for its apps). I think it's a fair assumption that the claim that it took 2nd place in digital distribution sales is BS.
For anyone that cares: http://frogboy.impulsedriven.net/article/378254/ImpulseReactor_FAQ
Post edited March 17, 2010 by OmegaX
I think,i'm the only one,who didn't buy game from GamersGate.