Valve Comments on the Future of PC Gaming

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pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,804
46
91
Originally posted by: GundamSonicZeroX
Originally posted by: Modeps
Originally posted by: videogames101
Digital Only allows for games to be used on ANY computer, at least the way steam does it. You can be on any computer with internet access, and because all games you buy are linked to your account, download them and play. Steam is an amazing distrobution utility that is the future, because it's so much better then boxed....

Right, but how can I sell Audiosurf now? I hate that game and bought it for $10.

How can you hate that game? Bad taste in music, perhaps?

:confused: you provide the music....
the game is crap though.
 

Maximilian

Lifer
Feb 8, 2004
12,604
15
81
Originally posted by: skyofavalon
Valve are hands down the single most overrated gaming company.They basicaly do what EA does with Madden,yet they dont get the heat that EA does.

EA is 10 times the company Valve is.Sure EA has its blunders,but they are responsible for some of the best games of the past 20 years.Whats Valve come out with, 2 games ? Everything else they released are just mods or updates of mods.

You sicken me, its idiots like you that fund the game butchering machine that is EA. Valves high quality FUN games are worth a thousand of EA's cheap knock off's of once reputable franchises.

Valve has the following:

1. Good well supported games
2. FUN games <-- remember what fun is? no thats right you wont since your an EA fan its a foreign concept
3. Games with an interesting storyline

EA has the following:

1. Garbage support, wheres our c&c TFD patch?? Why dont the soviet movies work? Why does it crash whenever the screen goes to the top of the map?? Bullshit! These are solveable freakin problems. Thats just 1 obscure example of a ton i could mention.

2. Crap games which are no damn fun, or have limited fun and get boring after a week or a month, they have nothing long lasting.

3. Any good games they have are products they have bought from other developers due to their lack of developing skill. Any subsequent titles released under these bought franchises (if any) suck and get worse as more are relased.

EA is a horrible fucking company. Theyve RUINED some of the best franchises of the past 20 years. Simcity is bullcrap now, the c&c series is the same (it could have easily rivalled a blizzard game in storyline and possibly gameplay if westwood didnt sell out), theme park is gone, it was miles ahead of rollercoaster tycoon back in the day. EA sucks.
 

pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
14,948
9,840
136
Have to say I'm starting to think that Steam is a pile of malodorous donkey droppings. Up till recently I could at least play single player games without having to connect to the net by selecting 'start in offline mode' but now its taken to telling me that 'this operation cannot be completed in offline mode'. Don't understand why its decided to do this.

As if that weren't annoying enough, I recently made my first Steam purchase and I'm not impressed. Bought HL2 Episode2. Took 7 hours to download (on my so-called broadband connection). So much for the idea that 'you can install it on any machine you use' - um, yeah, if you are prepared to spend 7 hours downloading it each time, as opposed to just taking the disk with you and installing it in 10 minutes.

But what's really irritating me is the wretched thing won't actually run, it just hangs on the load screen (furiously chundering the hard drive), requiring a hard reboot. HL2 and episode 1, that I got on disk, run (though only if I connect to the net now), but this crappy steam version won't run at all.

Now off to google for solutions to these two time-wasting issues.

Hmmm, searching steam's own forums reveals 3 or 4 people with the exact same problem all asking for solutions and not getting any.
Ha, found a solution, for benefit of anyone else googling for same issue will put it here, putting -sw on end of shortcut to run the thing makes it start in a window, then you can change it back to full screen after its past the sticking bit.

Hmm, still won't let me run in offline mode - it seems to think there is an update pending on the games when there aren't, they are 100% ready. Steam is clearly one more thing that can go wrong and cause you grief. Stupid, stupid system.
 

NaOH

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2006
5,015
0
0
I've been using steam since CS1.6 to now. For the first time, I actually bought a game from steam (which was available in stores) because tax isn't added on on top of the 49.99. I've had no problems, and my copy of COD4 has been running fine (love how it updates). I also own the orange box and that runs good as well.

I don't know why others are running into problems, but they aren't as widespread as the bugs and crap EA puts out periodically (BF2142......*shudders*)
 

hotdogchef

Member
Mar 1, 2008
26
0
66
Originally posted by: fierydemise

2) Prices on Steam don't fall as fast, it would be acceptable if prices on Steam started lower considering that digital distribution lowers costs for publishers.

Yea, it should be $10 less for no box and CD

I'm really impatient and hate to wait a few hours to download a game after a reformat, etc. I have only bought HL2 and CSS on Steam which seem nice though.

Also, maybe I didnt read some agreement thing but are all games you buy available to download unlimited times 10 years from now?
 

BenSkywalker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
9,140
67
91
While the thread has moved direction a bit, I do take a bit of exception to some of Newell's fairly ignorant(par for his course) comments. One of course is his waxing poetic about the beauty that is his swimming pool of cash... errr.... Steam. Uh, how is this much different then Live!? Maybe he is just the, by far, poorest salesman on the face of the Earth, that is possible, but he certainly didn't give me anything in that article. Perhaps speaking in tongues at play?

Another, Gabe man- your 15million users beats out the current console market? Guy, put down the crack pipe, seriously, it will kill you sooner or later.

Oh yeah, Gabe. I paid $50 for HL2 at launch, bought the retail version because I am not an idiot. So my son wants to play it on his off line rig. It won't work. Why is that Gabe? My console games work when I don't have them connected. If your system is so great Gabe, why won't the game I paid for run? I didn't even use your crooked system to buy it. Talk about the -BY FAR- least user friendly DRM ever created- Steam is it.
 

Pia

Golden Member
Feb 28, 2008
1,563
0
0
Ben, to be fair, isn't EA's new limited-install DRM (as well as Bioshock DRM which was the same before the recent tweak on their auth servers) strictly worse than Steam? At least Steam *tries* to offer some upsides compared to normal retail purchases, instead of pure negative.

Meh. This crap gets to me. Maybe I'll start just picking up the titles I want, and at the first whiff of intentional incompatibility with existing software or hardware that is not printed on the box, or a network server's refusal to let me play, I'll take them back. That's a powerful message when it trickles back to the importers and from there to the publishers, one that cannot be explained away with piracy or any other excuse. Survival of the fittest in retail 101: either the product works, or it makes zero money.
 

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,756
600
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People do hate on steam for it being a DRM system. Its a legit gripe. That said, its not like traditional CD is any better.
"Insert scratched up disk or get fucked."
"You reinstalled windows to many times, please rebuy our game."
"Sorry about hosing your windows install with that DRM trojan that was covertly installed with your game."

Frankly, in the fucked up ultra paranoid copy protection mess that is PC Gaming I find steam the least annoying of the methods. At least it couples some value with its protection, in the form of easy updates and a friends system. Thats mor then I can say for other crap out there.
 

BenSkywalker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
9,140
67
91
Ben, to be fair, isn't EA's new limited-install DRM (as well as Bioshock DRM which was the same before the recent tweak on their auth servers) strictly worse than Steam? At least Steam *tries* to offer some upsides compared to normal retail purchases, instead of pure negative.

I'd have to look at that one. As of this point I wouldn't consider buying a Valve or EA game for the PC, quite frankly I don't know why anyone would. EA was mainly due to bugs, that pissed me off before their DRM apparently managed to go toe to toe with Valve's.

People do hate on steam for it being a DRM system. Its a legit gripe. That said, its not like traditional CD is any better.
"Insert scratched up disk or get fucked."

I have never understood this, how do people's game CDs get scratched? Unless you are a very young child, what exactly is the problem? You put the CD in the drive, put it back in its case- where the hell is it getting scratched? I found my old OEM copy of Win95 the other day in a box of old software- disk is still pristine(and anyone that knows Win95 knows that mofo saw some use ;) ). I don't know, maybe it's just me, but it seems you would pretty much need to try and scratch a game.

Frankly, in the fucked up ultra paranoid copy protection mess that is PC Gaming I find steam the least annoying of the methods.

I actually prefer not dealing with it. I bought OrangeBox a little while ago, have had absolutely no problem with DRM whatsoever.


Of course, that was for the PS3. Steam sucks way too hard for me to pay for anything they try to kind of rent me.
 

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
31,953
50,449
136
Originally posted by: videogames101
Originally posted by: tk149
Valve has a good point about constant updating and instant distribution, but I think this has a downside as well: games will be released prematurely, because the developers "can always fix it later."

I don't like Steam because:



2. You can't resell games without selling the whole Steam account. What if I just want to sell one game? Seriously, this is just stupid.


2. Well, steam is still fixing things. i'm sure they can fix this.



I don't see them ever fixing #2 , no money in it for them......
 

tk149

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2002
7,253
1
0
Originally posted by: KMFJD
Originally posted by: videogames101
Originally posted by: tk149
Valve has a good point about constant updating and instant distribution, but I think this has a downside as well: games will be released prematurely, because the developers "can always fix it later."

I don't like Steam because:



2. You can't resell games without selling the whole Steam account. What if I just want to sell one game? Seriously, this is just stupid.

2. Well, steam is still fixing things. i'm sure they can fix this.



I don't see them ever fixing #2 , no money in it for them......
People have complained about this since Steam first started. How many years has Steam been around? They haven't "fixed" it because they don't consider it broken. It's a money-maker for them.
 

videogames101

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2005
6,783
27
91
Originally posted by: tk149
Originally posted by: KMFJD
Originally posted by: videogames101
Originally posted by: tk149
Valve has a good point about constant updating and instant distribution, but I think this has a downside as well: games will be released prematurely, because the developers "can always fix it later."

I don't like Steam because:



2. You can't resell games without selling the whole Steam account. What if I just want to sell one game? Seriously, this is just stupid.

2. Well, steam is still fixing things. i'm sure they can fix this.



I don't see them ever fixing #2 , no money in it for them......
People have complained about this since Steam first started. How many years has Steam been around? They haven't "fixed" it because they don't consider it broken. It's a money-maker for them.

I disagree.