Steam ?s

[Karl Agathon]

Basically am in the same position you're OP. For me though, im coming back to PC gaming after roughly a decade. The PC gaming marketplace has definitly changed since then. I find myself in a strange, but welcoming new world. I do so so miss the days of Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament though. That was my golden age.

 

[Sulaco]

I have been using steam since november 2004.

As is anyone who bought Half Life 2 new...

 

[Northern Lawn]

and what if it would not have been buggy? just a free score for you? or maybe you would have "bought it later" when you deemed it cheap enough to actually pay for it?

How do you know that? I pirated Far Cry back in the day and ended up buying that game on steam. I played it 5 times, but yeah it was a steam sale.

I bought human revolution and only played it 4 hours... no refund on crap games or good games that I don't care for. If you don't offer refund on your product, and you don't offer a demo screw the Devs that take your money.

I wonder what costs a Dev more money, piracy or making crap games but as for Rage, I would never have bought that game when the users at Meta are giving it a 3.2 and the critics give it a 85. Games like that are always crap but I'm bored and waiting for BattleField 3... which I will buy of course I just wish it was on steam.

 

[toyota]

you proved my point. you pirate a game and then if you like it maybe you will buy it on sale later. that's not how it should work. you have no right to play the game at release and get the same enjoyment as others paying and then decide down the the road that you might buy it because its cheap then.

I can somewhat understand if someone really tries a game, likes it and the buys it right there on the spot but that is not usually how it goes and you know it. if it sucks and you only play ten minutes then so be it but plenty of pirates will play the whole game and then decide it is not worth paying for which is BS. if you are actually worried about a game not being good then wait and read reviews, especially from users, like most normal people.

also that "demo" excuse does not fly. with or without an official demo people will steal games and always have. people like you think you can just do whatever you feel like and are somehow entitled to play the game now and then decide if you will maybe pay for it later.

 

[Northern Lawn]

you proved my point. you pirate a game and then if you like it maybe you will buy it on sale later. that's not how it should work. you have no right to play the game at release and get the same enjoyment as others paying and then decide down the the road that you might buy it because its cheap then.

So what. So what if I don't have some moral right, for every argument you make against piracy an equally good argument can be made for it. DRM, limited installs, can't borrow games out anymore. Now a days, you buy a game and you don't even own it.. They even took the bittorents scene that was invented for file sharing and now use it to sell songs, movie streaming and games on steam. they should be thanking the pirates for the inspiration.

I can somewhat understand if someone really tries a game, likes it and the buys it right there on the spot but that is not usually how it goes and you know it.

Yeah that's ridiculous.

also that "demo" excuse does not fly. with or without an official demo people will steal games and always have. people like you think you can just do whatever you feel like and are somehow entitled to play the game now and then decide if you will maybe pay for it later.

Hey, it used to be us bad guys would tape a song on the radio, I used to have cassette tapes full of top ten songs that I would get off the radio announcers voice and everything.

Then video taping favourite tv shows..

Then downloading music from napster... then albums and high speed came along Then entire discographies in flac

and all through this time it's perfectly legal where I live (Canada) and all these industries have continued to thrive. No evidence whatsoever they have lost a dime. Everyone with a brain knows that 99% of stuff people download is either for archive (thinking they will use it later) or just because they can.

Piracy leads innovation imo, you wouldn't have iTunes, Steam, Netflix, or tv on demand without those industries trying to compete with pirates if not being outright inspired by them.

 

[s1njin]

one caveat, unless you use steamtool, you have to install your games on the drive that you have Steam installed on. Can run into issues, if you run out of space.

Did not know this. I have all my games on a seperate HD - but I installed Steam w/ the default locations. Gonna have to give this a shot - massive tip thank you. :thumbsup:

 

[Joemonkey]

Ditto. I was never a pirate for the $$ it was a convenience thing. Steam is more convenient then pirating. I love it. I love the sales.

Pretty much the same thing for me. Shortly after L4D came out they had the "Valve complete pack" that included L4D for $100. I jumped on that and never looked back.

 

[SpunkyJones]

After awhile, I'd say that Steam just becomes a rather nice convenience. I never have to worry about where my disc goes or even about patching my own games. The Steam sales are also terribly addicting.

This. As to the sales, I just added Portal 2 last night, I have about 20+ games in my backlog at least. DAM YOU STEAM!!

 

[BrightCandle]

Steam can be a great service but its worth mentioning it has its faults. The one that is a real problem is that Steam think they are above the law when it comes to being a reseller. If a game doesn't work at all for you, is unplayable or problematic they will not offer a refund, in any circumstances. They have been known to cave on very particular issues like From Dust's DRM but otherwise if you have a problem you will simply loose your money despite the game failing to run.

You need to do your research about the quality of the game technically before you buy it on Steam to make sure you will not be suffering any permanent problems that make the game unplayable. This is where torrents come in, this is one of the ways Steam forces you to pirate the game before you buy it as you can't ensure it will work without running the real code.

 

[imaheadcase]

But guys, ORIGIN IS THE FUTURE! /sarcasm

Anyway, no one added the best part of steam. Cloud use to back up game settings, and achievements!

 

[Northern Lawn]

Anyway, no one added the best part of steam. Cloud use to back up game settings, and achievements!

And it keeps credit card info FOREVER... very nice of them.

 

[imaheadcase]

And it keeps credit card info FOREVER... very nice of them.

So? Most places do that. Welcome to the future.

 

[s1njin]

Does Steam take PayPal?

 

[Dryfter]

I read that, but came away w/ more questions than answers. Like, how many of the blockbusters are available via Steam? Will BFBC3 and Skyrim be on it for example? Also, I read a blurb on the bottom that said for games that require a active connection to Steam, should something ever happen to Steam they make no warranty for any of the games you bought (and would hence fail to run).

Seems like it patches games automatically - which is nice.

Not sure if anyone answered this, but as of right now, BF3 will only be released by EA "Origins". Last I knew anyway.

Hopefully a few months after release it'll be on steam, but I'm gonna doubt it.

 

[MiataNC]

Does Steam take PayPal?

Yes.

 

[Barfo]

Not sure if anyone answered this, but as of right now, BF3 will only be released by EA "Origins". Last I knew anyway.

Hopefully a few months after release it'll be on steam, but I'm gonna doubt it.

He's talking about Bad Company 3

 

[s1njin]

Quote: Originally Posted by s1njin View Post Does Steam take PayPal? Yes. __________________ Treat every relationship as a medium of growth not an excuse to get lazy. A confident man doesn’t waste time lamenting his failures. He drives forward to the next success.

Than in that case I won't give them my CC - great !

 

[s1njin]

Okay, color me a fan. I bought my first Steam game 2 days ago. Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY. Downloaded the whole game in about 22 mins (gotta love FIOS). Started it up, it patched Direct X and put some C++ code on my system, and away we go.

Previously I had bought the standalone Batman non-game of the year. I could not get it to run at all. Wouldn't even start. Steam version works wonderfully. I am now a fan, and enjoying my new game.

 

[Elcs]

Steam is great and I rarely have troubles. If I do have troubles, it's often a trouble that retail copies have also had.

Regarding patches, I find that most developers are good and you'll find that a patch has downloaded for a game before you are even aware there is supposed to be one.

Steam new product launches can be a nightmare, or during BIG sales. Often the new release will release many hours after the countdown has ended and there's a huge surge of people going in for the purchase and download which can take many attempts to initiate due to such traffic.

The client is still quite... archaic but does it's job well enough.

I own too many games on Steam to be classed as sane