Don't get me wrong I love the idea of steam. The software Its self though takes up a lot of system resources and has to be on while I'm playing, meaning that it causes problems with my system (lag, virtual memory shortages, extremely long load times). Therefore if I can get a game without steam having to be used I will.
I don't have any idea what you're talking about. On my system, Steam takes up <30M of memory and next to no CPU time at all - and honestly, if you don't have 30M to spare, you don't have a gaming PC: On a system with 2 or more G of memory, 30M is nothing.
And if it's not for an absolute lack of memory in your system, somethin is seriously misconfigured.
I'm not saying Steam is a mythical pink wonderland where little fairies feed you liquid gaming awesome 24/7, but performance really isn't the problem here.
I found that Steam overcharges for games you can get for cheap at Good Old Games. And Good Old Games has a manual for every game there, I have yet to actually get a manual for any of the games I've purchased off of Steam.
Right click the icon in your games list, and select 'view manual'. If the devs bothered to make one, it's there.
Of course, manuals these days tend to be pretty sparse anyway, especially for games designed for console. Am I the only one who likes looking at the descriptions of units and buildings?
On topic
I used to hate steam, as my shoddy internet connection causes all downloads to take days or even weeks (In one or two cases.), but I've come to love it for the following reasons:
1. The overlay. This is singularly the best reason in my opinion. Chat, surf the web, adjust your microphone, and manage your steam community tab from in game.
2. The community tab. Allows you to join and found groups, schedule games for the group (The time zone difference is automatically compensated for.), and send out announcements. Invaluable for me. Also manage your profile and add friends.
3. The Store. It's pretty cheap, and some of the deals are insane.
4. The auto-patch system. It's just so convenient.
As I say, it's all invaluable for me, being the head of the Escapist PC Gaming group. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.81348#1081992] Which you should totally join, by the way.
The only downside is that the downloads are internet reliant. Playing games isn't dependent on steam having a connection, however, and neither is playing multiplayer valve games like TF2. All it does is stop you chatting and using the community tab. You can still play games using steam without an internet connection, it just starts in offline mode and you can't do anything but launch your games.
Don't get me wrong I love the idea of steam. The software Its self though takes up a lot of system resources and has to be on while I'm playing, meaning that it causes problems with my system (lag, virtual memory shortages, extremely long load times). Therefore if I can get a game without steam having to be used I will.
I don't have any idea what you're talking about. On my system, Steam takes up <30M of memory and next to no CPU time at all - and honestly, if you don't have 30M to spare, you don't have a gaming PC: On a system with 2 or more G of memory, 30M is nothing.
And if it's not for an absolute lack of memory in your system, somethin is seriously misconfigured.
I'm not saying Steam is a mythical pink wonderland where little fairies feed you liquid gaming awesome 24/7, but performance really isn't the problem here.
Don't get me wrong I love the idea of steam. The software Its self though takes up a lot of system resources and has to be on while I'm playing, meaning that it causes problems with my system (lag, virtual memory shortages, extremely long load times). Therefore if I can get a game without steam having to be used I will.
I don't have any idea what you're talking about. On my system, Steam takes up <30M of memory and next to no CPU time at all - and honestly, if you don't have 30M to spare, you don't have a gaming PC: On a system with 2 or more G of memory, 30M is nothing.
And if it's not for an absolute lack of memory in your system, somethin is seriously misconfigured.
I'm not saying Steam is a mythical pink wonderland where little fairies feed you liquid gaming awesome 24/7, but performance really isn't the problem here.
Yeah, I kinda guessed something like that. But this machine might also have problems with current versions of Firefox (which has a memory footprint of ~150M on an average session) or pretty much any newer game. A memory update alone might make a lot of things easier, and it's only 20 bucks or something like that.
best buy is the only ones left and its in an area where there are a lot of rich kids who think macs are extremely complicated and need tech support on them so PC gaming is out of the question in that area.
EDIT: i don't live in the area but best buy are the only guys in town and they are all like the ones i described.
Steam is amazing depending on your country/isp. Up until I got on the AAPT 20 gig cap I couldn't download anything, now I get unlimited from 2-8am, so I can dl games off steam while I sleep. You don't need CD's and as long as you have your Steam info, the games can be used anywhere and downloaded anywhere, there's no danger of losing CD's or damaging them.
Only downside is that I'm sure most people do like the feel of a hard-copy. Ir's great to collect and have with you etc. It's definitely great for games that are old and no longer made, for instance I looked forever for a hard copy PC version of The Orange Box, no where stocked it. That's where steam comes in handy.
Where the hell does all this "Steam is alot cheaper" nonsense come from? A little poking around the internet or even simply the use of GameSpider (http://www.gamespider.co.uk/) can reveal cheaper prices for the physical copy. In general Steam charges retail and will do so even when the rest of the world has accepted it shouldn't be the original retail price anymore. Also there licence regarding WHO owns the game is very unclear, and termination of your account can be on any grounds and they don't need to supply a reason or refund you. Physical copies are better and there are plenty of other ways to work in community besides Steam.
Also regarding the problem with carrying discs around, a no-disc patch will solve that problem. Oh the developers don't like it, but theres nothing they can do about it, and you're not doing anything immoral. You've paid for the game, damn well no-cd patch it. All a CD does alot of the time is validate the game on start-up, sometimes holds movies which you can also rip to the hard drive.
If the disc does become damaged beyond repair for some reason, either have a back-up before hand and burn the ISO onto a new disc, or torrent it. As long as you've paid for it. Again not a legal right, it's a morality thing.
Steam is okay for the occaisonal offer, especially on Valves games.
Enjoy.
Edit: I say DEVELOPERS don't like it, but more often than not it's not the people who made the game who are against it, it's the executives and legal departments, with their heads firmly up their own arses, trying to squeeze you for every penny and restrict everything you do.
Luckily I've had no need to torrent any of my games, they're all in mint condition still.
Steam downloads force updates in such a way so as to make games unplayable while they are being downloaded, tends to break if your offline and links games to a single account, meaning that if the account is lost your games are lost.
Boxed games on the PC are much like boxed games on the PS3, you got a game disc, put it in your computer, install and play.
As you can clearly see, I was absent when god decided to make everyone a steam fanboy. It is a shit system and I wouldn't reccommend it to anyone who didn't have a kickass internet connection (if you, like me, are Australian, this is a NO).
Downloads tend to do that. Xbox has a system similar to that, they call it the "marketplace".
Personally I, have only just received a ps3 therefor I don't know the PSN sytem well enough to have an oppinion on it.
Both systems ahve their pros and cons, being biased towards one system isn't usually a good way to express your oppinion logically.
Don't take this as me being an asshole just stating what I think.
If the disc does become damaged beyond repair for some reason, either have a back-up before hand and burn the ISO onto a new disc, or torrent it. As long as you've paid for it. Again not a legal right, it's a morality thing.
Discs are breakable, scratchable, and generally destroyable, whereas the data that Steam has for your games is, at least to my knowledge, indestructable. Plus, finding stores that sell a good variety of games and not just the trendy bullshit is near impossible.
If you know how to actually handle disks (return to case do not touch underside) they'll survive forever. Steam can shut down, steam can ban you, steam's DRM can fuck your system. Steam is hackable, and on steam you have no rights. Oh they banned you for no reason and you're suing? TOS violation *****. and they can easily find some obscure BS to justify it and you're out of games and stuck with lawyer fees. If steam were like GOG then it'd be fine.
I know how to handle a disc, I'm not a dumbass, but as the old adage says "Shit happens." Maybe the case falls onto the ground and you accidently step on, maybe you roll over it with your chair, maybe a relative improperly handles the disc, maybe you drop it. Murphy's Law says "What can go wrong, will." Always remember that.
General responce to a bunch of the people who've quotes my "I don't like steam and here's why" post. It's very long, so sorry.
Ururu117 said:
Dys said:
Steam downloads force updates in such a way so as to make games unplayable while they are being downloaded, tends to break if your offline and links games to a single account, meaning that if the account is lost your games are lost.
Boxed games on the PC are much like boxed games on the PS3, you got a game disc, put it in your computer, install and play.
As you can clearly see, I was absent when god decided to make everyone a steam fanboy. It is a shit system and I wouldn't reccommend it to anyone who didn't have a kickass internet connection (if you, like me, are Australian, this is a NO).
They are unplayable in the same way that games being updated through any other system is unplayable. You know, modifying files, etc.
They don't break if you play in offline mode, unless your computer is somehow nondeterministic in strange and interesting ways, in which case, you are quite fucked in other regards too!
And as for the account bollocks, they have so much account recovery shit put in, this is essentially impossible without a brain injury.
Actually, steam installs increments as they are downloaded, this is a retarded system as it means you cannot play the game between an update starting to download and finishing. It's particularly painful for those of us shitty Australian connections, other platforms approach updates in a far less retarded way.
The offline mode regularly decides not to work, you can't install games while offline (even if you have the cdkey) which, while you may not see an issue with it, at lan partys is a monstrous hurdle, passing around a few cds is not.
It's actually rather easy to lose a steam account, if you don't use it for a while and move jobs (thus changing email) it is nigh impossible to retreive games you've bought digitially.
Goldeneye1989 said:
Except when you decide to turn off forced updates in the properties, or maybe your in a part of Australia that is still working on the telegraph.
For some reason far beyond my understanding, this option is reset with every platform update (and I don't think I need to mention how infamously often the steam platform is updated). It's rather annoying and has potential to end up eating peoples downloads if they forget to recheck it.
kingcom said:
Dys said:
Steam downloads force updates in such a way so as to make games unplayable while they are being downloaded, tends to break if your offline and links games to a single account, meaning that if the account is lost your games are lost.
Boxed games on the PC are much like boxed games on the PS3, you got a game disc, put it in your computer, install and play.
As you can clearly see, I was absent when god decided to make everyone a steam fanboy. It is a shit system and I wouldn't reccommend it to anyone who didn't have a kickass internet connection (if you, like me, are Australian, this is a NO).
Actually other australians have zero problems with steam connection and in fact get the best speeds through steam than any other program. You need average internet at best.
how many times have you forgotten the password to your email account and been permanently locked out id hazard a guess at nearly zero
besides if your credit card is tied to the account it is possible to retrieve your account with that
as for the australia thing steams fine provided your not with a terrible service provider
telstra and node both offer unlimited steam downloads and most others have enough bandwidth provided that you should get enough games
as for the unplayable download for games this has happened to me 2 times ever there has been 2 times where when ive gone to play a game that had already been fully downloaded that i couldnt play because of an update
the only real problem is that when it update day for the heavy hitters like Team fortress and L4D there can be issues with other downloads but otherwise it works great
not having to have a pile of game boxes is also awesome
also for reference i have a 1500 internet connection which means it is 150kbps which means yes games take a while to be downloaded but unless your planning on buying every game on there and downloading them all for play ASAP im sure youll be able to play what youve already got while you download your next one
its a shame you just missed all the massive sales they had on the games mass effect was like 5US at one point i think
I've once lost all of my games through steam. The black box came with my graphics card, and as I already had all the games I made a seperate account for my mates to use. The email address no longer exists and as such I have no access to that account.
I'll skim past the rant about how telstra are a terrible ISP and that nobody should use them and point out that most ISPs do not give unlimited steam downloads, and a lot of plans throttle internet speeds to unusable points after 5gb or so. Those living with parents can have a lot of problems with steam because of this, as it happens I'm on a 90gb ADSL2 plan so it isn't much of an issue in my household, it was a few years ago and it is worth warning people of. Just because you as an enthusiast have a good connection doesn't mean that most people do (they don't).
brumby said:
Dys said:
Steam downloads force updates in such a way so as to make games unplayable while they are being downloaded, tends to break if your offline and links games to a single account, meaning that if the account is lost your games are lost.
Boxed games on the PC are much like boxed games on the PS3, you got a game disc, put it in your computer, install and play.
As you can clearly see, I was absent when god decided to make everyone a steam fanboy. It is a shit system and I wouldn't reccommend it to anyone who didn't have a kickass internet connection (if you, like me, are Australian, this is a NO).
But then again, Here in Australia we pay $100 for a new released game in store. Thats $91 US dollars! On steam new releases are normally under $50 US dollars ($54 Australian). So I get my games for almost half price, but I pay a buttload to my Internet Service Provider.
And if steam is updating while your playing a multiplayer game, God hates you and your doing something wrong.
Steam is awesome, except for all the impulse buying your going to do. Every week there's up to 75% off on a game I don't have and now i've ended up with half a dozen games I either haven't played much or even downloaded at all. I Picked up Shattered Horizon ($5), Torchlight ($5) and GTA4 ($7.50) over the holiday sales and I've only played Torchlight .
I'll concede that the prices aren't bad, especially compared to Australian retail, however I find impulse is slightly cheaper. I do still buy games on steam, it isn't a complete deal breaker for me and it is usually cheaper than boxed, however given the choice between the two I'll always choose boxed or impulse (unless cost is a factor). There are of course benifets to using digital vs hardcopies, I just find that (especially for less enthusiastic users) it's not worth it.
Music Mole said:
Dys said:
Steam downloads force updates in such a way so as to make games unplayable while they are being downloaded, tends to break if your offline and links games to a single account, meaning that if the account is lost your games are lost.
Boxed games on the PC are much like boxed games on the PS3, you got a game disc, put it in your computer, install and play.
As you can clearly see, I was absent when god decided to make everyone a steam fanboy. It is a shit system and I wouldn't reccommend it to anyone who didn't have a kickass internet connection (if you, like me, are Australian, this is a NO).
Downloads tend to do that. Xbox has a system similar to that, they call it the "marketplace".
Personally I, have only just received a ps3 therefor I don't know the PSN sytem well enough to have an oppinion on it.
Both systems ahve their pros and cons, being biased towards one system isn't usually a good way to express your oppinion logically.
Don't take this as me being an asshole just stating what I think.
Hard as I might try to take that post as you being an asshole, it's far to courteous and lacks caps locks completely so.../tangent
I don't really see the similarities, my problem with steam updates was that it updates in increments, which means it will begin installing as soon as the update starts downloading. There is no way to undo these partially installed updates and for those on gustapo internet plans (which are very, very common in Australia) it is a real pain, especially when it updates singleplayer games that you didn't want to update (I complain about the option to disable updates not working somewhere above in the wall of text)
I don't have a credit card so I really can't buy things off Steam. It would be nice if they let people buy point cards for Steam that could be used to buy games.
Do you have a bank account? I don't have a credit card either, so I use Paypal. It's not great, to be honest, but I prefer Paypal over going to the store.
The only thing I don't like is how you cannot choose which drive your games go to. Part of the reason I bought a new hdd is because of this "feature" of Steam.
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