Impulse is coming!

[Lighthalzen]

Very cool idea indeed Mr. Frog :D

[Andrew Lyle Global Moderator]

I love the GUI, and think it is very Vista (Y)(Y)

great job, and I want to see this things potential on the market

[theyarecomingforyou]

Impulse doesn't care where you got the game. As long as your account has a particular piece of software associated with it, you can re-download it via Impulse regardless of where you bought it.

For example, imagine if you bought Unreal Tournament from Steam. You could, assuming Epic signed on for this, download and update Unreal Tournmanet via Impulse.

This sounds absolutely brilliant, but I want to know how this works in practice. With Steam you pay for the games and part of that cost goes to Valve to maintain the bandwidth necessary - however, if you can download a game with Impulse that you bought on Steam I don't see how the finances work for providing the bandwidth. Also, is it going to be like Steam where you can redownload the entire game as many times as you want and on any computer you're signed into?

If it works like Steam but does more, like has been suggested, then this sounds like a killer app. But with Steam soon to store saved game data online through Steam Cloud this won't be able to replace that. I guess we'll find out soon enough when it's released.

[+Mystic MVC]

Sounds great Neobond! I love how innovative this site is always implenmenting and trying out new things. Can't wait to see the final product.

[Lasker]

Frogboy, do you consider a Mac version of Impulse? with mac games? I don't know if it possible, because Steam does not exist in the Mac Platform and a client optimized for Mac will be awesome.

[Frogboy Administrators]

This sounds absolutely brilliant, but I want to know how this works in practice. With Steam you pay for the games and part of that cost goes to Valve to maintain the bandwidth necessary - however, if you can download a game with Impulse that you bought on Steam I don't see how the finances work for providing the bandwidth. Also, is it going to be like Steam where you can redownload the entire game as many times as you want and on any computer you're signed into?

If it works like Steam but does more, like has been suggested, then this sounds like a killer app. But with Steam soon to store saved game data online through Steam Cloud this won't be able to replace that. I guess we'll find out soon enough when it's released.

Bandwidth is trivial. As Gabe at Valve once said, bandwidth costs about 6 cents per user and that was some years. ago.

Steam Cloud is pretty cool but right now it's just an idea and only supports saved games and preferences. Virtual Drives are just that - Virtual Drives. Apps will be able to access them just like another hard drive.

One other thing, and I could be wrong on this but I am pretty sure I'm not is that to make use of Steamworks and SteamCloud you have to actually have Steam installed on your computer and running. I.e. the Steam client is what is providing all the platform features. I am not sure how you guys feel about that but I wouldn't want to have to have some 40+ megabyte app running in order to get full use out of my game or app. The Impulse platform features are server-side. In other words, you don't even have to have Impulse installed to make use of them.

[zerologic]

Exciting news

I'm just trying to get my mind around how this could change my computing experience.

[Sam Symons Veteran]

This is gunna be sweet :)

Will there be any features, for say, putting together 'packs' of applications?

If you have multiple computers, you can perhaps group applications together specifically for that PC, and redownload them all in one go, overnight or something, saving having to go through each PC and downloading each app seperately.

[afuchi]

I want it!

[Hawkeye666]

It sounds very much like it is overlapping with what Steam does, which strikes me as the biggest problem. However, it sounds like a really good idea and I look forward to trying it out. I suppose in my ideal world I'd like to see Valve buy Stardock and merge Impulse with Steam to create THE definite application / user experience, though I'm not sure how much Stardock would actually like that - no offense intended.

As a user of both Impluse, for my Stardock programs, and Steam, I can tell you I would be far more likely to port everything to Impluse than to put it all in Steam. I really find Steam to be counter-intuitive in the UI department. Whereas; Stardock has an understanding of UI that far exceeds most software companies. That is why I have been a very happy and loyal Stardock customer for almost ten years now. I think it will be a decade in February.

I love the concept of this expansion of the Impulse engine and very much look forward to seeing if this idea will take off or not. As a very active software tester and beta fanatic I usually rebuild my main PC at least two or three times year and this could make my life so much easier.

[azz0r_wugg]

Stardock is bigger than Valve?

Why does that sound like a huge load of crap.

[spaceelf]

Stardock is bigger than Valve?

Why does that sound like a huge load of crap.

Because you don't want to believe it, apparently.

Why that is, the world may never know. I doubt you have any data on the total worth of either company.

[spaceelf]

As to Impulse, I'm excited to see it. Stardock Central is old school UI wise (heck, so is Steam.)

I haven't even looked at the feature lists and stuff much cause I'd rather install it and see, but I am sure I'll love it.

[Sam]

According to Wikipedia, VALVe have a higher revenue and employee count than Stardock.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

Precisely.

Impulse doesn't care where you got the game. As long as your account has a particular piece of software associated with it, you can re-download it via Impulse regardless of where you bought it.

For example, imagine if you bought Unreal Tournament from Steam. You could, assuming Epic signed on for this, download and update Unreal Tournmanet via Impulse.

That's because Impulse is designed first and foremost to be a platform and not a store.

Now you have me interested :D

So how would applications and games you already own be associated with Impulse?

For example I have a lot of games created by Epic, from Jazz Jackrabbit to Unreal 3. I?m guessing with newer games like Unreal 3 I could register my CD key with Impulse and download the game like that? but what about games that don?t use CD keys? How would these be associated with Impulse?

[HawkMan]

According to Wikipedia, VALVe have a higher revenue and employee count than Stardock.

I could use Wikipedia to prove anything :p

[spaceelf]

Especially after you edit it ;)

Since Wiki only has old numbers for Valve and imprecise numbers for Stardock, I'd say it doesn't say anything at all, assuming the numbers are even correct. And revenue is only a part of total worth.

[mycoolkim]

Hmm sounds really promising, i cant wait for release, this will save me so much time so i can go out and have fun while Impulse does all the work.

[Frogboy Administrators]

According to Wikipedia, VALVe have a higher revenue and employee count than Stardock.

I can't speak to what someone puts on Wikipedia for them.

[Mascrin]

Stardock is bigger than Valve?

Why does that sound like a huge load of crap.

From Answers.com:

Contact Information

Valve Corporation

10500 NE 8th St., Ste 1000

Bellevue, WA 98004

WA Tel. 425-889-9642

Fax 425-827-4843

Type: Private

On the web: http://www.valvesoftware.com

Employees: 50

Valve Corporation publishes PC and console action games in which blood is the primary liquid in question. Its titles include Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress Classic, Team Fortress 2, and Day of Defeat. Valve also licenses its Source game engine and Steam broadband platform (for the delivery and management of digital content), as well as providing gaming content to a network of CyberCaf?s. Founded in 1996, the company started off with a bang by publishing the highly-successful Half-Life in 1998.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending 2007:

Sales: $10.5M

Officers:

Managing Director: Gabe Newell

COO: Scott Lynch

Director Marketing: Doug Lombardi

Competitors:

Activision

Electronic Arts

Vivendi Games

[Frogboy Administrators]

Now you have me interested :D

So how would applications and games you already own be associated with Impulse?

For example I have a lot of games created by Epic, from Jazz Jackrabbit to Unreal 3. I?m guessing with newer games like Unreal 3 I could register my CD key with Impulse and download the game like that? but what about games that don?t use CD keys? How would these be associated with Impulse?

It would depend on the publisher. Ideally, you'd be able to update all of them with Impulse as long as they have serial #s. Games without CD keys you would probably be out of luck thoug:( :(

[Popcorned1]

You mentioned in your first post that a lot of the software would be free, what would be the point in downloading Impulse to then download my free applications?

And No, it wouldn't nice having everything tied to a single account. Why the hell would it. Another account to put all my details into. This reminds me of Windows market place which hasn't exactly sky rocked into success.

Please try and sell this to me Frogboy, because I'm really struggling to understand what the hell you're trying to do..

[Frogboy Administrators]

You mentioned in your first post that a lot of the software would be free, what would be the point in downloading Impulse to then download my free applications?

And No, it wouldn't nice having everything tied to a single account. Why the hell would it. Another account to put all my details into. This reminds me of Windows market place which hasn't exactly sky rocked into success.

Please try and sell this to me Frogboy, because I'm really struggling to understand what the hell you're trying to do..

If someone doesn't see the value of being able to just press a button and get all their stuff downloaded at once when they set up a new computer then it's not the thing for you really.

The other features like having a common mulitplayer platform, being able to get updates on your software, and of course the ability to purchase games and appliations easily are also pretty key features too. But speaking for myself, as I dig around for CDs, download links, serials, etc. I like the ability to just press a button.

I am not sure why you think Windows market place sounds like Impulse. They have almost nothing in common.

[Angelic Marge]

I thought you were going to tell us about a new Impulse fragrance :laugh:

[Aperture]

Until I see cold hard, believable evidence that Stardock trumps VALVe in terms of Revenue p/y then I call bull****.

However, and more on-topic - this software seems like a good idea, for us lazy people :)