Yes and yes, as well as the assurance that I have the media indefinitely, should unforeseen circumstances arise where Steam shuts down, the ability to install it at the speed of my CD drive and not my internet connection, the ability to choose from patches to install rather than it being automatically updated (how many patches have we seen over the years that have screwed the game up worse), and the list goes on.
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Valve: Online Sales to Overtake Retail Soon
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Yes and yes, as well as the assurance that I have the media indefinitely, should unforeseen circumstances arise where Steam shuts down, the ability to install it at the speed of my CD drive and not my internet connection, the ability to choose from patches to install rather than it being automatically updated (how many patches have we seen over the years that have screwed the game up worse), and the list goes on.
I would except that if Steam does go under, that they will release patches that will make the games work as standalone. Auto-patching is fine with me, but then again I have yet to be hit by any Steam auto-patches that has actually screwed a game up.
Ever since the rocky first 12 months of Steam (and it was a rough going at first), I've had no complaints. I'll complain about the hypothetical situations once they become reality, but so far Valve have really done an excellent job and gained my trust.
Oh, and I don't care about packaging and physical CDs. Hell, I these days I don't even buy normal applications on CD if I can help it. Office 2008 and Final Cut Studio 2 upgrade are the last two physical applications I've bought in years, everything else has been purchased via download.
That said, I understand that there are people who do like collecting the boxes and CD cases and such. I'm not one of those people but I get it.
That said, I understand that there are people who do like collecting the boxes and CD cases and such. I'm not one of those people but I get it.
Gorankar
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Steam has already explained how they would handle the situation if they went under. Essentially they would release software and prolly keys that would allow you to activate and run your games sans Steam's existence. Backing up Steam games is as easy as right clicking on the game in Steam and clicking backup. Thus allowing you to have a cd/dvd backup and reinstall at the speed of your cd/dvd drive. For SP games you only need to go on line once to decrypt. After that you can use off line mode to play. You can also tell Steam to not automatically update your games.
If your preference is hard media only, that's your preference, I'm fine with that. But if you are going to give us reasons why you dislike Steam perhaps you should be sure what you are saying is at least somewhat close to correct.
Same here. I'm all for digital distribution but even I take the time waiting for the game to download as a tradeoff. 25GB in an hour? Yeah, if you are actually pulling down that much I'd like some as well.
At least what Steam does is preferable to Blizzard's download service, which is all Torrent based at this point and slow as hell. Downloading Starcraft and Warcraft 3 took forever.
Fortunately there will always be a place for physical copies. Even if digital distribution takes off as the dominant way to get games, I don't think hard copies are ever going away.
It's not Steam. It's digital distribution in general. I have no problem as long as you can choose. When they talk about making it the only way, then I get pissed.
SamuraiInBlack
Supreme [H]ardness
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Steam makes sense for me to do. I honestly do not have the shelfspace for game boxes for every PC title I truly want, and updating them would be a pain in the ass for me to do everytime a new patch is released for one of them. Having a nice, simple all in one setup where I could access all of them from, and get updates for them everytime I log in makes it VERY convenient.
And in the event that my system gets hosed, well, I'm going to be reinstalling all of them anyway. What in the hell is the difference between wearing the hell out of my DVD burner drive for all these games that I have to install one at a time, and THEN I have to hunt down all the latest patches, and install THOSE as well, so I'm still taking time to download stuff for it anyway, and the days of 3 meg patches are all but completely gone, in case anyone hasn't noticed. And worse? If its a game that uses maps, I'd have to hunt down all my favorite map packs AGAIN, and download THOSE too!
So why bother with all that when I can just run one application and have all of that taken care of while I'm asleep, and by the time I get home from work I'll have at least a couple if not most of them done already?
As far as ownership goes...pffft. Read the EULA's sometime. In some of them you're flat out told that you own -nothing- in regards to the software except the right to play it. One of them a long time ago, I forget which one though, I read it in full. (I got bored on the toilet, what can I say?) It stated that basically they retain the right to send someone to your house and have you uninstall their software at any time, for any reason, and if you refuse to, the person they send will just do it themselves AND they take the disc back with them. I don't know if that was part of the EULA or some law that allows them to do that, or if there is some kind of legal paperwork that grants them the right. But I DO remember seeing that. I highly doubt it's ever happened, I don't think they have any legal ground to do such things. But I know that's what I had seen, and I thought I was reading the results of some EULA writer wanting to get fired for having the most mind-numbing job in the world..
In the end, it just made me realize that you are paying for a priveledge to use something that isn't even yours, and even if you paid for it, the company could care less and will have the final word on what you get to do with their stuff. So why even be concerned with ownership of something you technically don't have a right to?
And as far as requiring net access screwing other people over: Yeah, it does suck for people who don't have net access. But to be honest, if you don't care for the internet, why do you even have a computer? Almost nothing can be done without net access anymore. And if you're talking about it here....on an INTERNET FORUM....isn't it kind of a moot point?
As far as selling PC games to others? Yeah...I did that once with Battlefield 2142. Guess what? I have a mint condition copy of the game and the box that won't work because the previous owner already registered all the stuff for it, so now I can't ever ever EVER use it. Ever. Why in the hell would you be that much of a dick to someone else? Have you ever considered that some of these games do in fact phone home to see if the CD key has changed hands and flags it if its coming from a computer or IP address it doesn't recognize? Seriously, you bought the game, and now you get to keep everything with it. If you're going to keep everything with it, you may as well just use Steam anyway, so that only you and yourself can get to play them.
And if you're waiting on a game to go lower in price, keep an eye on deals for these titles on launch day and maybe even the launch day weekend. Then just keep an eye out for it in additional to your usual deal-cruising. Your local B&M may have it at a good price. I remember my friend picking up the NWN Diamond Edition (Or was it Platinum? whichever one was the later release with everything in it) for ten bucks less over the previous edition of it. It scanned up that way and he went for it. Recently I picked up Orange Box for 20 bucks, not using Steam. It just pays to keep an eye out for a sale, be it on steam or on a shelf.
And in the event that my system gets hosed, well, I'm going to be reinstalling all of them anyway. What in the hell is the difference between wearing the hell out of my DVD burner drive for all these games that I have to install one at a time, and THEN I have to hunt down all the latest patches, and install THOSE as well, so I'm still taking time to download stuff for it anyway, and the days of 3 meg patches are all but completely gone, in case anyone hasn't noticed. And worse? If its a game that uses maps, I'd have to hunt down all my favorite map packs AGAIN, and download THOSE too!
So why bother with all that when I can just run one application and have all of that taken care of while I'm asleep, and by the time I get home from work I'll have at least a couple if not most of them done already?
As far as ownership goes...pffft. Read the EULA's sometime. In some of them you're flat out told that you own -nothing- in regards to the software except the right to play it. One of them a long time ago, I forget which one though, I read it in full. (I got bored on the toilet, what can I say?) It stated that basically they retain the right to send someone to your house and have you uninstall their software at any time, for any reason, and if you refuse to, the person they send will just do it themselves AND they take the disc back with them. I don't know if that was part of the EULA or some law that allows them to do that, or if there is some kind of legal paperwork that grants them the right. But I DO remember seeing that. I highly doubt it's ever happened, I don't think they have any legal ground to do such things. But I know that's what I had seen, and I thought I was reading the results of some EULA writer wanting to get fired for having the most mind-numbing job in the world..
In the end, it just made me realize that you are paying for a priveledge to use something that isn't even yours, and even if you paid for it, the company could care less and will have the final word on what you get to do with their stuff. So why even be concerned with ownership of something you technically don't have a right to?
And as far as requiring net access screwing other people over: Yeah, it does suck for people who don't have net access. But to be honest, if you don't care for the internet, why do you even have a computer? Almost nothing can be done without net access anymore. And if you're talking about it here....on an INTERNET FORUM....isn't it kind of a moot point?
As far as selling PC games to others? Yeah...I did that once with Battlefield 2142. Guess what? I have a mint condition copy of the game and the box that won't work because the previous owner already registered all the stuff for it, so now I can't ever ever EVER use it. Ever. Why in the hell would you be that much of a dick to someone else? Have you ever considered that some of these games do in fact phone home to see if the CD key has changed hands and flags it if its coming from a computer or IP address it doesn't recognize? Seriously, you bought the game, and now you get to keep everything with it. If you're going to keep everything with it, you may as well just use Steam anyway, so that only you and yourself can get to play them.
And if you're waiting on a game to go lower in price, keep an eye on deals for these titles on launch day and maybe even the launch day weekend. Then just keep an eye out for it in additional to your usual deal-cruising. Your local B&M may have it at a good price. I remember my friend picking up the NWN Diamond Edition (Or was it Platinum? whichever one was the later release with everything in it) for ten bucks less over the previous edition of it. It scanned up that way and he went for it. Recently I picked up Orange Box for 20 bucks, not using Steam. It just pays to keep an eye out for a sale, be it on steam or on a shelf.
Maybe I am not giving up something per say but I feel like the price should go down because there is no space to rent, advertising to pay, salaries to pay, packaging to design and print, etc. I know that servers and bandwidth and programmers cost money too. I just think that Valve should be making a significantly higher amount of profit by selling the game directly versus in a retail store like Walmart.
/game point
- It is cheaper to host software online than to produce it for retail
- Unlike China, we are in a service-based economy--the fact that Steam is overtaking retail proves this--stop fighting it
- If you really want the game, and Steam is the only option, then you will buy it on Steam
- There is no money to be made by allowing multiple user access to a single title--through piracy or otherwise
In short, profit to gain using Steam > revenue lost avoiding retail.
The deal-breaker is bandwidth issues, which is largely a US problem. Obviously that's a big market, but the cost savings in avoiding the retail channel would be more pronounced internationally.
So keep retail for the 'Merican grognards (if you must) and let the rest of us stay home and take advantage of cheaper downloads.
This is only if the market will support those ideas. I suspect that anybody who does any significant amount of downloading will cancel their subscriptions and take their business somewhere else. Your concern only matters if everyone starts metering internet usage, but competition being what it is ("HEY, our DSL/FIOS/whatever package has unlimited downloading unlike like those crummy cable guys!"), I don't think it'll happen.
1. Actually You do. Valve your software is tied into you account. In fact they don't care what computer your playing it (though rightfully only one at a time). If Valve ever crumbles one of the restrictions in distributing on steam is being able to unlock your self from steam in which they will make sure by proxy that a unlocker is made available.
2. You can gift games (though not the ones on you installed games).
5. Cheaper depends, actually outside a few deal days most of the time its the same price, second usually stores bottom out at a price with the exception of really high sale games then they are removed from the shelf. As someone mentioned they got Prey for 10 bucks.
6. True but honestly most games I pre-install in advance, so I don't have to go to the store and boom its up and running.
Other Pluses.
1. Packaged collections of some of the biggest games from some of the biggest developers.
2. No disc needed to play.
3. No discs to lose over the years and be able to un install it.
4. Reload your PC? Well instead of having to go through one by one on each program you can just click on all of your games go to sleep and by morning they are done.
5. Not want to wait? Want a hard copy? Well they give you the ability to create a backup disc (which will include all updates, maps, and saves you have at that point).
Gorankar
[H]F Junkie
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Actually the backup method natively available in Steam does not do that. Though "Steam Cloud" is supposed to change that soon. It backs up the game itself. No saves, mods or extra maps. There is a method for backing all of that up as well, but it requires a little more work.
For all of Valve's games, and many others available through Steam the below method does save just about every thing.
Copy your "steamapps" folder to a dvd or removable drive. (Removable drive for me, since I have well over 100 gigs worth of games, maps, and mods)
After you reinstall Win or change computers, or whatever, you install Steam same as always.
Login, let steam update it self and make sure the "Don't save account credentials on this computer" is unchecked in Steam's settings.
DO NOT begin to download any games.
Completely shut down Steam.
Navigate to your "steam" folder and drop your previously backed up "steamapps" folder in there.
Restart Steam, and you are done. Usually you do have to redo your graphics/sound settings and key binds, but that is it.
Some non Valve games keep their saves in your Windows user folder or elsewhere, for those games you will need to copy and replace that folder as well to backup your saves. But all mods, patches, maps, etc will be there for those games as well even if you forget or forgo that.
Team Obi Juan
Your Local Postmaster
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Prices ain't coming down, their costs are. They don't pass THAT buck on to consumers, they make damn sure. Only if it costs more to make something does the consumer feel it. No way in hell will the price come down if it suddenly becomes cheaper to make.