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Direct2Drive - the way digital content should be

Absolutely. I was PISSED when I bought a game from them that ended up being a Steam game. There's a reason why I bought it on D2D and not Steam.
 
While not directly related to the discussion, I bought several games from them during their recent $5 sales. It was my first dealing with D2D and I was very impressed.
 
PhatoseAlpha said:
In other news, K-mart does not sell Wal-mart gift cards.

Amazing, is it not?
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Yes, D2D has an interest in not supporting Steam because they are competitors, but my main point was that I like D2D because you buy the game, download, and install. Once the game is validated, you don't need to log into another app to play you games. One of the big advantages of digital distribution is the fact that you don't have to pop a disk on every time you want to play your game. IMO, Steam has just replaced that nuisance with having to run Steam and looking at their ads every time you want to play a game.
 
I don't particularly agree or disagree with them, but they're making a horrible business decision for many reasons.

A) Steam already has a massive install base. It's likely that anyone who plays AAA PC games has either already used Steam or at least knows what steam is.

B) The overwhelmingly vast majority of D2D customers are also likely past Steam customers as well. Those that have avoided steam on purpose are not likely to purchase Modern Warfare 2 and even if bought are unlikely to become exclusive Steam customers.

C) D2D can absolutely 100% get away with selling keys to Modern Warfare 2, thus directing the customer to enter the key into steam and download MW2 via Steam only, saving on HUGE amounts of bandwidth.

D) Even if Modern Warfare 2 was offered as a download through D2D, they're still going to save on bandwidth. Most future reinstallations of the game will be directly from Steam, and smart users will realize that steam's 1 click install is easier/faster than d2d's download file, go through installation process, and then having to delete the download files manually. Having used both services many times, I can speak for certain that d2d's available download bandwidth is weak relative to Steam. I have never gotten over 750 kbps on d2d, and it's not uncommon for me to hit 1.8 - 2.0 mbps on steam.

E) D2D sells other steam-required games. Why did they sell those games, not MW2, and continue to sell the other games?

Steam hands down is currently a much better store/service/delivery method than any other digital store. Developers are taking advantage of steam's free tools and automated services which make their job easier and more seamless for the customer. D2D does not offer anything like this. Instead of complaining about how developers choose to build their games, d2d would be better off trying to improve it's own service. In the meantime, d2d is losing out on quite a few sales.
 
tviceman said:
Steam hands down is currently a much better store/service/delivery method than any other digital store.
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I think this is debatable. If you compare it to other obtrusive services, like Games for Windows Live, yes I agree. However, some of us prefer the digital distribution provider to stay out of our lives after the purchase.
 
I don't find D2D better nor worse than Steam, in my book they're pretty much the same, and with Steam it still comes down to "download, install and play", the only thing that can happen and does happen sometimes is that there's pre-requisite software to be installed when your first launch your Steam-purchased games, for instance being "Step 1 of 3" where it's going to install Visual C++ 2005 or GameSpy, which you can un-install afterwards anyway, I don't see what's wrong with that.
 
shingletingle said:
Doesn't D2D have some sort of install limit on ALL games it sells?
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Not that I'm aware of. I did have an install limit issue with NWN2 (securom), but I shot them an email and they took care of it. Yes, it is a pain, but AFAIK D2D distributes games with the same DRM as their physical counterparts, whereas Steam adds an additional layer.

Honestly, the way all digital distribution providers work is generally not very transparent. Neither is DRM on the physical copy for that matter...
 
nitromullet said:
I think this is debatable. If you compare it to other obtrusive services, like Games for Windows Live, yes I agree. However, some of us prefer the digital distribution provider to stay out of our lives after the purchase.
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But most people prefer 1 click installations, auto-updating, achievements & stats, and the ability to save a game on one computer and continue from another. It's a matter-of-fact. If Steam sucked and was hated as much today as when it was first introduced, d2d or some other digital download service would be THE #1 digital store. Which brings me back to my original point - instead of improving their service, d2d is only driving potential customers away that would've paid them for MW2, which in turn would've used steam's bandwidth to download the game.

I hated steam when it first came out and was completely against the idea that it represented - but not anymore. And, in fact, from what various developers have said, Steam is the best online digital distribution front to work with for a variety of reasons.
 
D2D is such hypocrites. If they truly believed the "no 3rd part software" garbage, they wouldn't sell anything with SecuROM or the other one everybody hates (not StarForce).

Not only that, but they sell other Steam games, too.
 
tviceman said:
But most people prefer 1 click installations, auto-updating, achievements & stats, and the ability to save a game on one computer and continue from another. It's a matter-of-fact. If Steam sucked and was hated as much today as when it was first introduced, d2d or some other digital download service would be THE #1 digital store. Which brings me back to my original point - instead of improving their service, d2d is only driving potential customers away that would've paid them for MW2, which in turn would've used steam's bandwidth to download the game.

I hated steam when it first came out and was completely against the idea that it represented - but not anymore. And, in fact, from what various developers have said, Steam is the best online digital distribution front to work with for a variety of reasons.
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Steam Cloud is cool. I will definitely admit that. I also have (and use) a Steam account.

I guess my main beef with MW2 (and I was not aware D2D sold other steam apps) is that if I buy a game from D2D or another digital distribution provider, I shouldn't ALSO have to use Steam. I also don't think we should have to deal with securerom, tages, etc if we already have other DRM provided by the distributor.
 
nitromullet said:
Steam Cloud is cool. I will definitely admit that. I also have (and use) a Steam account.

I guess my main beef with MW2 (and I was not aware D2D sold other steam apps) is that if I buy a game from D2D or another digital distribution provider, I shouldn't ALSO have to use Steam. I also don't think we should have to deal with securerom, tages, etc if we already have other DRM provided by the distributor.
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I agree with all this but at the same time I also understand the developers point of view as well.
 
good, hopefully a nice fight between the digital distro peeps will help restore some of the consumer rights that have been thoroughly walked over by them.
 
nitromullet said:
Nice, very nice. I am in 100% agreement with them.

http://www.direct2drive.com/8687/product/Buy-Call-of-Duty:-Modern-Warfare-2-Download
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I like D2D, but this is very much a "If you don't do things the way I want you to, I'm going to take my ball and go home" scenario. Whether D2D likes it or not, Steam has a great MP infrastructure in place, and I wish more games like Borderlands took advantage of it. I have never had any interest in MW2, and still don't but if I did, the Steam integration would be a plus for me, not a minus.
 
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