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Comment by heifetz | Hacker News Reader

you can also download the movie directly from the movie website, DRM free, so it's not tied to Steam.

http://buy.indiegamethemovie.com/

Since both the Steam version and the DRM free version are $9.99, I'm a little confused on why one would buy the Steam version. I understand the rationale for things like games, where you have friends on Steam or you want your games to automatically update when a patch is released, but I don't understand what would make Steam a viable movie platform in this particular instance.

Anyone care to provide some insight on this? What is an argument in this case for why the Steam version would be advantageous over the non-DRM version? I'm not seeing it.

I assume Steam will let you view it on any computer where Steam is installed and you are logged in.

no drm , you can do that anyway.

Steam makes it so you don't have to plan ahead and make backups.

But you'd still have to wait for it to download, just like with games.

Sure, you can (presumably) download it from both places any time after purchase. With steam, all you have to remember is your steam ID and password.

Now where did I put my humble bundle key again?

(of course humble bundle gives you website and steam keys, so it's an unfair comparison. My point is that if buying one copy of this film doesn't give you the ability to download it on the other service, there is something to be said for the ease of finding the download URL)

I give all of those confirmation emails a special label in GMail.

Your friends can see you are watching it, plus it's easy to gift to your friends/add to your own wishlist. Same reasons I add my Humble Bundle games to steam, really.

I add all my games to Steam. The Steam overlay works well with most modern non-steam games, so I can still chat with my friends on Steam.

People use Steam and will hear about the movie that way. This is a way of selling the movie more, not providing a technically different or better option.

Maybe so that you can delete it locally and download it again through Steam (though I could be wrong). In the era of smaller SSDs, I find this very helpful.

Does the steam version have DRM or are they both DRM free? Steam doesn't imply DRM, just DRM friendly.

They are both DRM free. You can find the mp4 in your Steam directory.

The most important aspect to me is that I don't have to care about where I put the serial, the files or what sites I should download from if I want to reinstall in the future. Also Steam handles "directx and the like dependencies". Movies would be great too because I could just re-download it on another computer, at a friend's home if I want to watch it with him/her, etc. No more storage devices to walk around with.

Edit: forget about all I wrote before, I do it for the hats.

Can someone verify that the Steam version is DRM'd?

Does it play inside a Steam window and is the UI any good?

The FAQ seems [1] to answer this, though I don't know if the UI is any good. Personally, I want to watch it on my large screen TV through WD TV Live, not on my tiny laptop screen, which seems to imply that the direct non-DRM download (mp4) is the way to go.

Steam

- The film is on Steam for pre-order here.

- In order to work on the Steam platform, the film will be delivered through a self-contained application (emphasis mine) from which you can watch the film in 1080P HD.

- You will download the film application like any other game on Steam.

- You can watch it on your computer or connect it from your computer to a television.

- The Indie Game: The Movie application may have some interactive extras, subtitles and achievements (to be confirmed as we're working on that functionality).

- Like other game applications on Steam, it will have DRM.

[1] http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/faq/

It comes as an Adobe Air app which launches full screen from Steam & plays the movie. UI is "meh", but not unpleasant.

But you also get a DRM free Mp4 in the "%Steam%/Common/Indie Game the Movie" folder :)

Thanks very much, I will buy it then. I have no interest in anything DRMd, it has been nothing but trouble. MP4 is the way to go for paying customers, since that's what the non-paying customers get after all.

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