Ubisoft Giving Away Another Free Game

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To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Ubisoft is giving away a free copy of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell for a limited time. If you have an Ubisoft account all you need to do is log in to get the free game. If you don't have an account, it's free and easy and it makes it easier to get the rest of the free games each month until December.
 
One of the few games I played all the way through without getting bored and chucking it to the side.
 
Modifying the SplinterCell.ini and SplinterCellUser.ini file helps quite a bit in the graphics department. Still not up to snuff with today's games, but it certainly looks better and I can play it at 4k now instead of being limited to 1600x1200.
 
in before something something ubisoft sucks.

Amazing game, one of my favorites!
 
Nope.

Steam or bust.

You couldn't pay me to sign up for another game distribution site. I want everything in one place. No origin, no Ubisoft, no anything, except Steam.

It's annoying as hell that they are trying to use free games and exclusives to coerce people into using alternate services. These people suck.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Nope.

Steam or bust.

You couldn't pay me to sign up for another game distribution site. I want everything in one place. No origin, no Ubisoft, no anything, except Steam.

It's annoying as hell that they are trying to use free games and exclusives to coerce people into using alternate services. These people suck.
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I don't understand. Why must every digitally distributed game have to be on Steam. Like anything else a little competition is a good thing.
 
heatlesssun said:
I don't understand. Why must every digitally distributed game have to be on Steam. Like anything else a little competition is a good thing.
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Competition is great. Put all games on all distributed platforms, and let people choose distribution platforms based on the merits of said platforms rather than on game exclusives.

It just pisses me off to no end to have to have multiple platforms installed, all running their own little update algorithms taking up space, etc. etc. I want everything managed by the same system. One unified interface to launch all games, one unified updater, and one unified store. It's just a mess to have to have different distribution platforms installed.
 
heatlesssun said:
I don't understand. Why must every digitally distributed game have to be on Steam. Like anything else a little competition is a good thing.
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It's the artificial lock-in of games to a single platform that's on trial here.
 
I am fine with options, but they have to be good options. Ubisofts play system is horrible. I have never had a good experience with it. So I don't use it. Gog, steam, these systems work well.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Nope.

Steam or bust.

You couldn't pay me to sign up for another game distribution site. I want everything in one place. No origin, no Ubisoft, no anything, except Steam.

It's annoying as hell that they are trying to use free games and exclusives to coerce people into using alternate services. These people suck.
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oh well, I'll just throw this away then. I was going to give it to you to play this game.

big-pile-of-money-300x245.jpg
 
I have Uplay for some free games I got with video card purchases and now I get more free games. Only game I actually purchased that uses Uplay was Silent Hunter 5 which I bought on Steam for 5 bucks but it links to Uplay to launch the game. SC is a really good game and still have the original disk somewhere but will get this free digital version anyway and play it again.

One of the vid card purchse free games is Splinter Cell Blacklist which I still haven't played but have read it is a decent entry in the franchise. I've played most of the SC games and they rank up their with the Hitman series for quality stealth games.
 
DPI said:
It's the artificial lock-in of games to a single platform that's on trial here.
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I agree. I don't have so much of an issue of there being multiple platforms to choose from, but I do take offense at being forced to use said platform because they hold exclusivity over certain properties that grant no benefit to exclusiveness. Costumes and accessories? Season passes? Any platform should be able to handle that. Same goes for achievements. But Star Wars Battlefront and Mirrors Edge being exclusive to Origin and nothing else (you can't even buy physical copies to play standalone)? So far, I haven't seen anything that makes them only capable of working on their platform.

I really want to play Star Wars Battlefront and Mirrors Edge, but principle is keeping me from bowing down and heeding to EA's requests.
 
VirtualMirage said:
I agree. I don't have so much of an issue of there being multiple platforms to choose from, but I do take offense at being forced to use said platform because they hold exclusivity over certain properties that grant no benefit to exclusiveness. Costumes and accessories? Season passes? Any platform should be able to handle that. Same goes for achievements. But Star Wars Battlefront and Mirrors Edge being exclusive to Origin and nothing else (you can't even buy physical copies to play standalone)? So far, I haven't seen anything that makes them only capable of working on their platform.

I really want to play Star Wars Battlefront and Mirrors Edge, but principle is keeping me from bowing down and heeding to EA's requests.
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But here's the thing, a 3rd party store like Steam isn't free for the developer. Some people have complained mightily about Microsoft taking its cut from the Windows Store. Valve makes almost all of its money these days that way since they aren't bothering to actually make games anymore.
 
heatlesssun said:
But here's the thing, a 3rd party store like Steam isn't free for the developer. Some people have complained mightily about Microsoft taking its cut from the Windows Store. Valve makes almost all of its money these days that way since they aren't bothering to actually make games anymore.
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Anyone who complains that a retailer is taking a percentage of the sale price is an idiot who doesn't understand how retail works.

Microsoft can, and should have a markup on the things they sell in their store, and so should Valve, Amazon and even Walmart, Target and best Buy.

To use a brick and mortar analogy, what if I had to install a piece of software on my computer when I wanted to play games bought at target, and a different piece of software when I wanted to play games I bought at Walmart. They work differently than each other, take up space on my drive, provide analytics to god knows who, etc. etc.

I could say, Alright, I'm going to minimize the damage and only shop at Target from now on, but then some jackass publisher either starts their own chain of stores requiring yet another install on my computer, or signs an exclusivity deal with Walmart requiring me to install their software if I want their game.

It's annoying as all hell. I'm not complaining about Uplay or Origin existing. Competition makes the market a better place. The business of making titles exclusive to one or another of the stores, or requiring the platform be installed and enabled to run the game, even if you bought it somewhere else is - however - horribly obnoxious, and needs to end.
 
Steve said:
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Ubisoft is giving away a free copy of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell for a limited time. If you have an Ubisoft account all you need to do is log in to get the free game. If you don't have an account, it's free and easy and it makes it easier to get the rest of the free games each month until December.
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Well, you still have to log in and claim your game. One day, I hope that one of these game sites, be it Uplay, PS+, Steam, etc. automatically just adds games to your account. Yes, I understand that some people might not want My Little Pony vs. Strawberry Shortcake to appear on their owned games list, if that happens to be the free game of the month, but maybe just have a choice to auto-opt in for every free game. It's not like we have to download them after all.
 
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Zarathustra[H] said:
Anyone who complains that a retailer is taking a percentage of the sale price is an idiot who doesn't understand how retail works.

Microsoft can, and should have a markup on the things they sell in their store, and so should Valve, Amazon and even Walmart, Target and best Buy.

To use a brick and mortar analogy, what if I had to install a piece of software on my computer when I wanted to play games bought at target, and a different piece of software when I wanted to play games I bought at Walmart. They work differently than each other, take up space on my drive, provide analytics to god knows who, etc. etc.

I could say, Alright, I'm going to minimize the damage and only shop at Target from now on, but then some jackass publisher either starts their own chain of stores requiring yet another install on my computer, or signs an exclusivity deal with Walmart requiring me to install their software if I want their game.

It's annoying as all hell. I'm not complaining about Uplay or Origin existing. Competition makes the market a better place. The business of making titles exclusive to one or another of the stores, or requiring the platform be installed and enabled to run the game, even if you bought it somewhere else is - however - horribly obnoxious, and needs to end.
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I don't disagree with anything you're saying directly. However why should a developer be forced to hand over a cut to a 3rd party? Not saying there's anything wrong with that but there are direct economic implications for developers who might not want to depend on a 3rd party and give out a cut of the sales. For someone that will only use Steam you're in effect telling a dev that he MUST give Valve a cut of the sale otherwise you won't buy the game. So indirectly I have to disagree because no matter if it's Valve or Microsoft or whomever because that's kind of the thing so many have complained about with the Windows Store, it becoming the only source for software.

But then this is kind of why single source stores work like the App Store and Google Play. Just one place to go for everything. But then Windows folks don't like that, well not if if's Microsoft that's the source. In any case there's a lot of inconsistency about thoughts on this issue and it does seem that many are willing to hand the keys to the kingdom over to Valve and put everyone else at a disadvantage.
 
VirtualMirage said:
I agree. I don't have so much of an issue of there being multiple platforms to choose from, but I do take offense at being forced to use said platform because they hold exclusivity over certain properties that grant no benefit to exclusiveness. Costumes and accessories? Season passes? Any platform should be able to handle that. Same goes for achievements. But Star Wars Battlefront and Mirrors Edge being exclusive to Origin and nothing else (you can't even buy physical copies to play standalone)? So far, I haven't seen anything that makes them only capable of working on their platform.

I really want to play Star Wars Battlefront and Mirrors Edge, but principle is keeping me from bowing down and heeding to EA's requests.
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Yep. Who in their right mind wants a dozen different publisher launchers? Steam at least seems to be keep evolving slowly, adding community features, multi-room streaming, family sharing, etc. Everyone else - Origin, uPlay, GOG & Galaxy, Rockstar Social Club, Battle.net, Epic Games Launcher, Windows Store, a few others I'm forgetting, and now Bethesda Launcher (ugh) are more or less just static game downloaders & launchers.

I understand why every publisher suddenly wants their own game downloader and storefront - and in turn to keep their titles exclusive and off of competing services, but the fact does not create in me as a consumer a sense of obligation or shared burden. I want all my shit in one place as much as possible, so I don't have to remember which game is where, or tolerate a gaggle of Origin's & UPlay's & others sitting resident in the tasktray, each with their own bugs and idiosyncrasies, each doing their own autoupdate bullshit.
 
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DPI said:
I understand why every publisher suddenly wants their own game downloader and storefront - and in turn to keep their titles exclusive and off of competing services,
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And as you've indicated many times with the Windows Store, avoid giving a 3rd party a cut of every sale. Meh, it's not that big of a deal. I use Steam, Origin, Uplay and the Windows Store. Pin the games I'm playing to Start.
 
I refuse to play any game that doesn't run on my iron. Thus I refuse to play this game
 
VirtualMirage said:
I agree. I don't have so much of an issue of there being multiple platforms to choose from, but I do take offense at being forced to use said platform because they hold exclusivity over certain properties that grant no benefit to exclusiveness. Costumes and accessories? Season passes? Any platform should be able to handle that. Same goes for achievements. But Star Wars Battlefront and Mirrors Edge being exclusive to Origin and nothing else (you can't even buy physical copies to play standalone)? So far, I haven't seen anything that makes them only capable of working on their platform.

I really want to play Star Wars Battlefront and Mirrors Edge, but principle is keeping me from bowing down and heeding to EA's requests.
Click to expand...

You can thank Valve for new EA games not being on Steam. When Valve changed their DLC policies and EA was unable to comply with them due to prior agreements made Valve pulled a couple EA games. At that point EA made everything Origin exclusive. I don't blame Valve for wanting to force studios to sell their DLC through Steam, but that's still the trigger that made EA peace out.
 
Derangel said:
You can thank Valve for new EA games not being on Steam. When Valve changed their DLC policies and EA was unable to comply with them due to prior agreements made Valve pulled a couple EA games. At that point EA made everything Origin exclusive. I don't blame Valve for wanting to force studios to sell their DLC through Steam, but that's still the trigger that made EA peace out.
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Yeah, EA has yet to release anything I want to play anyway, so it hasn't been a huge loss :p
 
sweet game.

here's an oddity: back in the day, the original splinter cell featured extremely smooth antialiasing that the 2nd and 3rd games did not (in many ways, the highest settings in splinter cell 2 and 3 look worse than splinter cell 1). i wonder if this is why the first game is being offered...
 
here's another oddity. splinter cell 3 in particular used the same voice actor for all english voices other than the main character. this wouldn't be so bad, or even unusual, if this guy hadn't used the same exact 'strangely enthusiastic' voice for all of the characters.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I should add, in a very long time. Back int he day EA had some decent titles, but since the 90's they've released mostly junk.
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Most of their games I look at and go "eh". Battlefront is super fun to play...For about an hour. A lot of the Bioware games under EA had my attention but I'm not even sure if I'm all that interested in the next Mass Effect right now. 3 left such a bad taste in my mouth that I don't know if I want to go back to that franchise.
 
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