I actually haven't heard great things about XFX in recent years. They used to be good, but it seems like their quality has declined. Many of their cards actually have rather mediocre reviews on newegg.
HIS and EVGA have easily been the most impressive I've seen. I'll probably stick to HIS for AMD cards and EVGA for Nvidia cards most of the time. I've heard Sapphire, MSi, Gigabyte, and ASUS are very good as well, but I've never owned one of their cards. I may be through with XFX. It seems like the warranty is the best thing they have going for them, and I'm beginning to question the value of that. I don't keep video cards for several years, especially if I'm not impressed with it. More like 1.5 to 2 years on average.
No. It's not a bad card. It's just not a sensational card like the HIS. The XFX runs a bit hot and has a loud fan, but no serious issues. It's powerful, especially in CF.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/08/battlefield-3-not-coming-to-steam-ea-provides-good-reason.ars BF3 isn't coming to Steam. EA apparently wants this game to fail on the PC.
If they can make more money from the game without steam I'm sure they'll do it. Anything that doesn't make them a buck load isn't worth their time it seems.
Except this move won't make them money. The game will flop. No Steam = no sale for the vast majority of PC gamers. The only non-Steam games I buy these days are from Blizzard. And EA is no Blizzard. Probably an intentional move on EA's part so that when the game doesn't sell on PC they can go back to making the PC an afterthought. It's hard developing for the PC. It's a more tech savvy, more informed, and more intelligent crowd that doesn't buy just any crap you pump out.
It's no mystery; they want people to buy it off their own digital download service. People who pre-order it now from EA get the Alpha/Beta to play on now.
It's a stupid move regardless of their reasoning. If it's not on Steam, I won't be buying it. And there are millions of others like me. They're going to alienate 99% of the PC gaming market to push a service no one cares about. Either that or they want this to fail on the PC. The PC is a tough market with high standards.
since when was steam such a deal breaker? Steam has done nothing for me but give me great prices (plus great online hosting I guess... if I used it, I don't play online games) is Steam really that much of a deal breaker for you? I thought most PC gamers had a multitude of download services for this very reason. I don't have any recent EA games, but I HATE dealing with GFWL from WITHIN Steam, it's just dumb and wreaks of DRM. This is neither a good OR bad thing IMHO. Sure I'd rather it JUST be on Steam (in fact I'd rather it be on it's own...), but with EA's d/l service we know THAT's not happening. I'm not passing on a good game cuz I can't chat with a friend (who's NOT on Origin) in game. I'm sure it'll be open to 3rd party team speak and such... plus I'm sure being on Origin will NOT be optional anyway
Steam has been little more than a cheap 'rental' method for me. You don't own the game so it's just a rental. Others can offer that as well so. Perhaps I've only been a full on steam user this year so... maybe you feel like you owe them your consumerism? Steam does nothing for old games, it either works or it doesn't and more often than not (when referring to 'old' games) it does not without patch. Steam does nothing for me other than give me these 5 yr old games like STALKER for 3 bucks. If Gamefly rented pc games it'd be a MUCH better deal, as far as I'm concerned. Now I'll say, even though I don't use it, Steam may do it's online thing pretty well... but I'm sure so does EA's Origin, I mean it's not like this is Dead Space it's a AAA title, their money maker! They WON'T desert it. Again what does Steam offer that another DL service doesn't?
I ordered BF3 on Origin because I got it for $48 total (plus I played the BF Alpha on Origin and was given a free copy of Dead Space 2 on Origin for participation in the Alpha). However, I do not think that this will convert me to primarily playing on Origin. I'm sticking with Steam for everything else. Hopefully they don't pull this crap with Mass Effect 3. I'm irritated that they are pushing this Origin bullshit, but I think I would have to be nuts to pass on the Alpha, a copy of Dead Space 2, and 25% off the limited edition of BF3 because I don't want to make an Origin account. EA has admittedly managed to twist my arm a bit because I want BF3 so much, but I'm even less interested in Origin long-term now that they've tried to strongarm BF fans into using their service. I'd probably still buy a few titles from my favorite EA-produced franchises (I would NOT pass on a sequel to Mirror's Edge, for example), but I'd be willing to pass on most EA titles if they were Origin exclusive.
I'm not sure what I'll do. I doubt I'll be getting this game at release. If I do it will probably be through Best Buy.
The odd thing about this Origin/ Steam battle is that it seems like EA would benefit a lot more by trying to gain ground with BF3 over the Modern Warfare games rather than try to overthrow Steam, which certainly won't happen. I think they are picking the wrong battle here. Not only is it irritating to gamers, but it may also hurt the jerks at EA who decided to do this.