Impulse Momentum Grows
Wednesday, September 9, 2009 by Frogboy | Discussion: PC Gaming
A year ago if someone would have told me that Impulse would have become nearly as popular as it has I wouldn’t have believed it. The growth of digital distribution has been explosive across the board.
Impulse Phase IV, launched today, is a major overhaul for the popular digital distribution platform in more ways than one.
First, there is the client itself. While some users have requested more visual options (like darker backgrounds and such which are in the works), the big change with the Impulse client is performance.
A year ago, developer Stardock had to have a “fast load” option in order for the pokey client to load at a reasonable level. It did this by having part of itself launch on start-up which was objected to (rightly so) by many users. Fast-forward a year and Impulse loads quickly and uses very little memory. Even when web controls are used, the amount of memory used is still far less than many commonly used programs as the screenshot above makes apparent.
In addition, a year ago Impulse’s content included basically Stardock’s plus a handful of indies. Now, a year later pretty much every major player in the PC game market is on Impulse. This week EA’s flagship titles go up and most new games arrive on Impulse at the same time as anywhere else with its prices being typically lower and its download speeds being higher than elsewhere.
A year after launch, Impulse now boasts most of the top games at launch day and supports applications and utilities as well.
The original Impulse store was…painful. The new one allows per category featuring.
The new store catalog is quick to browse
Now, that isn’t to say that Impulse represents perfection. There are still several things that need to be added in my view to Impulse:
1. For Gamers. Ready to Play needs to get out there as soon as possible. Users who go to http://readytoplay.stardock.com and sign on for the beta which will start getting out there in the next few days. However, Stardock does not intend to bundle Ready to Play with the Impulse client at this time in order to keep the base download size of the package as small as possible.
2. Community Features. These remain an area Stardock will need to focus more on if it hopes to see it be more competitive with entrenched players like Steam. That is, groups, clans, developer support features, third-party support for Achievements, rankings, and match making are all things Impulse needs to improve on. Still, Phase IV of Impulse sets up a good foundation to get there.
Impulse’s Common Virtual Platform (CVP) supports achievements, rankings, and match-making but it isn’t expected to be made available to third-party developers until this Winter. Since it’s .NET based, developers can support it with virtually no code changes to their games. But it’s not out yet for third parties so it’s academic.
3. Catalog. Catalog. Catalog. While Impulse has done a good job in catching up to other players in this space in terms of getting new third-party content, there’s a huge back catalog that Stardock needs to get onto Impulse to make it compelling.
Right now, Impulse’s biggest advantages remain very “bread and butter” (i.e. boring): Stuff on it tends to be cheaper, its download speeds higher, and you don’t have to have it running to play your game.
The last part above is going to be a defining feature. While Impulse tries to componentized itself (with a separate tray application and Ready to Play) other players are increasingly putting more and more into a single ubiquitous client. Both strategies have their advantages and disadvantages and it will be interesting to see how that plays out.
Of course, the real winner in all this have been the gamers. Anyone who has purchased a game in one of the “weekend sales” online can attest to the importance of competition.
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Reply #2 Wednesday, September 9, 2009 7:35 PM
While some users have requested more visual options (like darker backgrounds and such which are in the works)
Is the big breaker for me (a loyal stardock customer) at the moment... the Explore page appears to have 3 seperate themes, the games page is hard to read because light grey does not mesh well with pure white, and the information bar at the bottom appears to be in size 4 font on my larger monitor.
I'm not certain I'd be able to navigate without blinding myself in some of the pages.
As a company priding itself in it's skinning over their game creation (as you've previously stated), I would've expected you to create something more friendly to the eyes. Even ImpulseDriven.net does not share the same theme, neither does JoeUser.
It's slightly disapointing in my eyes...
Reply #3 Wednesday, September 9, 2009 8:03 PM
The UI and mainpage could use a bit more tweaking, but I think with time most people will adapt to the new layout. It's nice to see Impulse is moving forward (which hopefully will force Steam to do likewise).
Reply #4 Wednesday, September 9, 2009 8:38 PM
I have to say Impulse's download speed is one of the things that really sells me on it. I have Steam too, since some games are Steam only (like all Valve's stuff of course) but it is real pokey. At best it tends to go 600-700k/sec and that is usually only late at night. Often it goes 300k/sec or less, and during peak times (like a free game weekend) it'll go below 100. Impulse? 1.2mb/sec solid, which is the limitation of my Internet connection.
This really starts to matter when you are talking games that are 4+GB. I pays for the fast net, I like something that uses it.
Reply #5 Wednesday, September 9, 2009 10:36 PM
This really starts to matter when you are talking games that are 4+GB. I pays for the fast net, I like something that uses it.
Same here. Plus the fact that impulse doesn't need to run is great!!!
Any chance to have a link or some such in games for ready2play when it launches? It should be featured in the games area so more users know to download it! Would like to see voice chat and achievements forthcoming, this is your biggest disadvantage to steam other than back catalogue.
Reply #6 Wednesday, September 9, 2009 11:12 PM
Just wanted to chime in here.
I'm a gamer from way back, pnp, 4x/CRPG etc. And I've got an 8 year old that's showing REAL promise as a game designer (we unschool, which is a flavor of homeschooling that's kind of like Montessori on steroids) who's really latched on to my collection of old 4X turn based games.
How is this applicable to Impulse? Well, he was recently exposed to Empire: Total War at a friends house, and wanted to get a copy for his iMac. After talking to him about what he liked about it and a lot of research into the title in question, the use of (and problems with) Steam were a deal breaker for us. Now I've been following Elemental for years as I'm a MAJOR MOM fan, and the huge advantages that Elemental brings to the table if you've got a budding game designer on your hands were compelling, but the philosophical and practical differences between Steam and Impulse were a telling arguement in the choice of where we should spend our money.
So as a result, you've got a new pre-order for Elemental, and Impulse and it's concept and guiding philosophy were a big part of why. We also bought Sins and Gal Civ II 
.
Basically you've got great core principles here at stardock and as online community builders (my wife and I own/run community based sites like ikeafans.com etc) we strongly agree with your focus and are willing to show our support with our wallet 
.
Looking forward to participating in the beta.
James and Susan
Reply #7 Wednesday, September 9, 2009 11:15 PM
Impulse works great for me, even better with the new version.
I'm pleased to hear the background colour issue is being sorted.
Reply #8 Wednesday, September 9, 2009 11:31 PM
Um...was that Pun on purpose?
Seriously, Impulse momentum grows?
The Physics defintion of "Impulse" is a "Change in Momentum"
so...yea...
Reply #9 Wednesday, September 9, 2009 11:45 PM
I'm pleased to hear the background colour issue is being sorted.
Yeah really love the new rapid loading!!!
Reply #10 Thursday, September 10, 2009 12:24 AM
I hope Mass Effect 1 ie sale 
, and later Mass Effect 2 and any and all Bioware games make onto Impulse... I would be soo happy! But dude Im loving the update and can't wait for whats next to come for Impulse! 
Reply #12 Thursday, September 10, 2009 6:08 AM
I have a point 4 for Impulse/Stardock.
You really need to kick publishers about these region restrictions. I live in Europe and most of your offers are invalid for me. This is breaking my motivation to use Impulse as much as I would like.
When I see Anno 1404 on impulse at a reduced price for the US, it is highly unlikely that I will buy it here in Norway for tripple the price.
Reply #13 Thursday, September 10, 2009 6:24 AM
I hope to buy all my games from impulse in the future 
Download speeds are faster than steam and impulse takes up less ram. And things are typically cheaper too (stardock magizine helps me know when there's a sale on too 
)! What's not to like?
I hope Ready to Play is a huge success. I hope I get into the beta (I have no idea how people will be picked, or if it will be anyone who signs up gets in)
Reply #14 Thursday, September 10, 2009 6:59 AM
Nice, hope we get Mass Effect without activation limits / SecuRom.
Reply #15 Thursday, September 10, 2009 8:05 AM
My concern is Impulse may grow too fast iin userbase, which may negate that speed advantage. Good problem for Stardock to have, and one they'd be able to solve.
Impulse looks REALLY nice now, and of all the client-based stuff, I think it's the best one of there now. Steam still has a better overall catalog, but I think that will change with time also. Stardock moved up from Mr.Pibb to Cheerwine to Valve's Coke, and I think being the Pepsi is now reachable.
One request though- can you get Paradox to let you sell their backtitles on bundle- like selling the two Victoria titles as one?
Reply #17 Thursday, September 10, 2009 8:50 AM
This week EA’s flagship titles go up
Nice, hope we get Mass Effect without activation limits / SecuRom.
That would definately get me to finally buy Mass Effect. (the DRM thing being the sole reason I haven't till now)
Impulse's many other conveniences are just icing on the cake.
Reply #18 Friday, September 11, 2009 6:06 PM
Too bad so many publishers choose to limit the availability of their titles to North America. I'm an avid user and buyer from Europe, so I won't be enjoying Spore, for example, on Impulse.
On the other hand, it's only to be expected when the US prices are so much better than what we get here, that Impulse borders on being a real-world exploit if I could buy any game I wanted from Impulse.
Reply #19 Friday, September 11, 2009 8:36 PM
I new Impulse would take off. People want digital distribution , it just makes sense on too many levels and the demand is through the roof while game distributors try to clamp down on their end customers.
But my advice for Stardock with Impulse is that you've got the quantity, don't lose the focus on quality. - I'm thinking about DRM and region coding.
Reply #20 Friday, September 11, 2009 11:29 PM
But my advice for Stardock with Impulse is that you've got the quantity, don't lose the focus on quality. - I'm thinking about DRM and region coding.
Both of which are something the game publisher, and NOT Stardock, have any control over. All they can do is make suggestions.
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Reply #1 Wednesday, September 9, 2009 7:33 PM
While there's more info on the Impulse website/client, I haven't found it as easy to navigate or find information. Also, it seems like the centered website looks much smaller when viewed inside of Impulse, whereas when viewing the site in a browser seems to take up much more of the screen's real estate (in a good way). While I liked the old site a bit better, you guys are headed in a good direction!
That's sweet to know EA is on-board.
Any chance Sega's Sports Interactive might be jumping on there, too? I'd love to play Football Manager 2010, but it's STEAM-only right now.