Calling all steam haters!!

[-Samurai-]

I think I'll keep my physical copies and be able to play them while not being connected to a bandwidth whore, and not have stupid kids try to talk to me like it's the 1990s and they're on AIM, thanks.

 

[Eldarion]

Its digital distribution, last I checked that means if the steam servers go down all those games you "bought" you get locked out of.

Unless they changed it.

 

[PettingZOOPONY]

Its digital distribution, last I checked that means if the steam servers go down all those games you "bought" you get locked out of.

Unless they changed it.

Never been like that you always had offline mode.

 

[Eldarion]

Its digital distribution, last I checked that means if the steam servers go down all those games you "bought" you get locked out of.

Unless they changed it.

Never been like that you always had offline mode.

But you have to log in first right?

I know at least some of the games now require a steam login. I just don't wanna bother.

 

[tombman888]

It's a cheap and large downloading thing that you do not even need to go to if you dislike it.

Unless you bought a disc based game that required Steam for activation. Steam has great deals but other than the deals, I think games are the same price as retail most of the time.

Maybe, but where i live games are WAY cheaper on steam then in retail (well, all the one's i've seen) example: L4D2- retail:$90aus steam:$22aus

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Its digital distribution, last I checked that means if the steam servers go down all those games you "bought" you get locked out of.

Unless they changed it.

Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve, said in a post on the Steam User Forums that "Unless there was some situation I don't understand, we would presumably disable authentication before any event that would preclude the authentication servers from being available." He added, "We've tested disabling authentication, and it works."

From the horse's mouth.

 

[Enigmers]

My Earth & Space Science teacher hates it because, according ti him, it interferes with his other software (for instance, his DVD-burning). I'd take this with a grain of salt, but he is a tech-savvy guy.

From the horse's mouth.

Shhh, don't say things like that or he'll delay Ep. 3 some more!

 

[Sacman]

and the fact that it's a lot more user friendly than managing all of your games separately...

What? Is it hard to put your games on a shelf? I must be missing something here because I have never had my games cause me any sort of managerial problem, they just sit on the shelf nicely and never make a sound.

Perhaps you have haunted games?

I meant separately on my system because let's be honest having a platform that manages updates, downloads, game location and access is very convenient when you have about 200 games... besides it frees up a lot of space in my room since it's about the size of an elevator anyway...

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

My Earth & Space Science teacher hates it because, according ti him, it interferes with his other software (for instance, his DVD-burning). I'd take this with a grain of salt, but he is a tech-savvy guy.

From the horse's mouth.

Shhh, don't say things like that or he'll delay Ep. 3 some more!

No, no, it's finished when it's finished!! There's no delay counter in Gabe's office or anything...

...though the fact the thought even crossed my mind is scary news in itself.

 

[Eldarion]

Its digital distribution, last I checked that means if the steam servers go down all those games you "bought" you get locked out of.

Unless they changed it.

Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve, said in a post on the Steam User Forums that "Unless there was some situation I don't understand, we would presumably disable authentication before any event that would preclude the authentication servers from being available." He added, "We've tested disabling authentication, and it works."

From the horse's mouth.

I know its valve and I don't have any reason to not trust them on that, but I still can't see myself using steam. The principle of the thing bothers me.

I don't hate it, I just like my physical copies more.

 

[alx438]

I am fairly new to steam, but at the moment I don't like it very much only because it is keeping me from playing civ 5. If that problem is fixed any time soon then i probably wont hate it anymore.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I know its valve and I don't have any reason to not trust them on that, but I still can't see myself using steam. The principle of the thing bothers me.

I don't hate it, I just like my physical copies more.

Physical copies are actually awesome. I bought Left 4 Dead on Xbox 360 for the sake of actually having a physical copy, to cherish, and fondle with while falling asleep. (Or something like that.)

Except I have no space left on my DVD shelf anymore! D:

 

[mjc0961]

The only thing Steam ever did to piss me off was that any game I tried to launch that I'd bought from it had no sound. And if I tried to add non-Steam shortcuts into it, they would all crash being launched from there. Eventually though I found out that the feature for in-game chatting didn't seem to get along with something about the whole thing, and once I disabled that, everything was fine.

Yeah, Steam has DRM, but hell, so do my old copies of games that have me enter the CD code whenever I want to install them. And compared to stuff like EA's SecuROM nonsense along with the install limits or the new trend of "You have to be online at all times and if you go offline for any reason whatsoever, you are kicked out and lose all progress even if you were playing in single player mode. Also if our servers are down for any reason you also cannot play" bullshit, Steam's DRM seems quite acceptable.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

People hate Steam? I have yet to encounter such an unfortunate being.

Yeah, thats what I was gonna say

 

[sneakypenguin]

I'd use steam if it was just a website to DL stuff, but I don't want any unnecessary programs running when my ram is so low and its just luck i can even run WoW lvl graphics.

 

[Jamie Doerschuck]

some reason it took me about 2 weeks to download dragon age origins.... no idea what the problem was and ive never experienced it again. apart from that i love steam, $5-10 games that are some of the best old games ever made (KOTOR!!!!!) its a great change to the way video games are sold and distributed. I havent bought a boxed game in years which makes me happy because i hate the big retailers.

Buying from Steam is about the equivalent of buying from Amazon. Just because its solely online doesn't make it a big retailer.

 

[Jamie Doerschuck]

The only complaints I've heard is that their deals are too good to pass up, so people spend more money than they want on games. I would hardly consider that a bad thing about Steam though...more like someone lacks self-control.

$2 Psychonauts! How could I refuse?!

You used to be able to download it for free on GOG and Amazon. Not sure if that still stands..