EA is doing a little less at the moment, and people are raising a stink about it.

"Over spammed" "crap posts"... Your hyperbole won't win you any arguments. 

I agree, it's getting VERY annoying.

I wish people could get it into their heads that you can like Steam and Impulse equally. You don't have to choose sides or become a martyr to the cause of your choice.

Steam or Impulse....it doesn`t make a big difference. Both programs force you to log on, even if you just want to update your game. In this term Impulse might be a bit better, because you don`t have to log on just to play offline.

I would prefer if I had a CHOICE to use the services, but I haven`t. If I want to play game X I must use them. That`s the point I hate. Why don`t they just offer things as a real service. For example: I want to update my game. I can log on and do the automatic update or on the other hand I search the update on the net and download it without any registering.

There ist also the question about your data they are collecting.

As I said above. Impulse might be a bit better in this conerns, but its just the lesser of two evils.

I`m not going to buy more games where you have to use such Software.

Lets see.... you are whining about digital download services.... ye right for some people this is a godsend and I want as MANY as possible of em out there, even if it's just one game per service. Postal orders is 5x and heading to a store which is 50km at least away is 10x more unreable in terms of availability for me. Concerning longterm service, I must say I don't care really I don't usually touch 3+ year old games that much. Of course there are games like WC3 and D2 which I tend to pull out every now and then and for some reason I just crack them anyways since I can't be arsed using CDs. Most of these games I have backuped onto HDs instead of CDs so I can just unpack or use a virtual drive to install em. Physical media sucks and is way more unreliable than digital services (considering there's always pirate releases to get incase you do somehow lose your cds and you can pretty much get them with a clear conscience then).

So Steam or Impulse? As a enduser why care.... you have no say anyways anymore, sure if you were 1 out of a 100 guys you might have a say but we are talking 100 000s of people here now, YOU ARE USELESS I REPEAT USELESS. As long as the majority is happy that will be the case. Looking at Steam yes the offline mode sucks, concerning availability hmm I must say I have never actually had a problem with steam itself if my Internet dies and I can't play a game bohohohoho there's other things in this world you can do. The only time I hate not being able to play something is if it's multiplayer and I have scheduled to group up with some guys... oh wait I need a internet connection for that.

Thirdly let's take a quick look at the DRM on Impulse and Steam. Both require you to log on to buy, download and update, no difference. If you are a small developer you wouldn't care which service you use, preferably you'd put your game on every damned service out there. But here comes the thing if you are a big developer and you're concerned about piracy and you know people are expecting your next title like crazy (hint: DoW2 and Empire) then why on earth would you use Impulse? The DRM on steam is perfect for a big release title, the majority of the users are forced to update their games so the pirates get fucked on each update if they ever want to play with a guy who has bought the game not to mention CA fixed my unit unlocker in Empire Total War already

Conclusion (You don't matter):

Small Developer - Get my game out on every service and try to get as many buyers as possible.

Large Developer - Put my game on the bigger userbase with the better DRM and we know people will buy our hit no matter where it is put.

One last thing, Steam UI vs Impulse UI both ingame and outside so far steam wins 100 to 1, I really despise the store and gamelist ui for Impulse compared to steam.

You don't have to be connected to Impulse to play a game once it's already downloaded. 

Better DRM? Compared to Impulse you mean? Or in general? People getting caught in Relic's forum playing pirated versions were funny to read. They were playing pirated versions a week prior to release ignoring Steamworks. Also, Impulse doesnt' force me to install the client before I can install my game, neither obligues me to start it to be able to play the game. I only requiere it for patches (so if I don't want pathces for some unbelievable reason, I'd never need to install it). So as user I find that method quite better for a product that will be pirated no matter what (more chances the more hyped it has been) and which the usual DRM methods (that in the end never work) are nothing but a pain in the ass (some more than others) for the legit user. So while big publishers/developers focus only about increasing their revenue without caring about their legit users, the mentioned legit users may grow something and look for alternatives (in distribution clients and games). Eveything has a limit and only the brainwashing technices of big publishers and media can prevent/delay that.

I don't mind it, you can't just have steam or impulse, you need competition.

I've tried both and like both, and to be honest if I don't like something I just don't use it, unless it's the only place I can get it (re: water supply, for example can't be chosen.)

I use both. No big deal. Their both fine, except for the Empire Total war fiasco, what a mess steam made with that.

steam is better...i wish demigod was on steam

It's not a Steam vs. Impulse discussion.

The issue is whether it makes sense for the media to proclaim an age of anything when all of these services combined are getting less than a million people actually using them to play games per day. 

To those of us who have already seen the light of digital distribution, these services are great. But for the other 90% who have not yet seen the light, the leaders are going to be determined by them.

99%?

As long as somebody forces me to do anything (connected to the internet to play) I will refuse to use it.

When it comes to be connnected top the internet to buy and download that's normal you are using a digital download service after all.

The minute I am far from an internet connection I can no longer play for something I have paid for. I cannot accept such a thing. And I refuse to accept such a thing. To the point of not buying said product.

I do like competition however so the more out there the better. However I will still only use the ones that will affect me the least.

So I do hope Impulse gets head to head versus Steam and I hope Steam will be forced to adapt to the competition.