Steam vs PC?

[MGlBlaze]

Steam is a constant backup for your games no matter where you are or what computer you're using. They also offer absolutely great deals for the games you want. Steam is really the way to go for PC games.

Pretty much this. I mean, there are some people who would argue that Steam robs you of trade-in value, but...

Really, how many people actually sell their PC games? For that matter how many compitent PC gamers would buy a PC game second hand? It's the whole CD key thing. It works fine for consoles, though.

Steam is a great system, though, and Valve isn't letting their near-complete lack of any real competition get to them, so everything about it sits very comfortably.

Do you hack?

If not, Steam all the way.

If you do, shame on you, and use Steam anyway. That way you'll get what you justly deserve.

This is awesome. Here, have a cookie. xD

 

[shadow skill]

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.

copy and paste the steam folder to another drive??? Seriously.. not that hard man.

And that still means all of my steam games can only be on one drive which means that I effectively lose a given amount of space equivalent to the size of the steam folder at a minimum when I get a new disk instead of being able to utilize all of the new hard drive's space. Not to mention I either have to uninstall and then reinstall Steam to the new disk or install a second instance to the new disk....It's not that hard to figure out why copy-pasting the steam folder does not solve the problem.

yep. cus people want their games sprinkled evenly over 15 partitions. Keeping all your stuff in the same place just isn't good enough. And Hard drives are like $100 Australian for 1tb. Hard drive storage really isn't a problem. And Copy pasting works fine. I've done it a thousand times.

I should lose money (by losing space on the drive since I would have to copy the old files over instead of simply plugging the drive in.) because Valve doesn't know how to let people do what they have been able to do without issue for decades now? Not to mention the fact that this little problem prevented me from putting my games on an external drive so that I could easily play my games on my secondary machine when I had one because it would be less than convenient to maintain. Of course I don't have that kind of problem with any of the other programs I have ever used. It's also nice to have the option of keeping my operating system and data files separate just in case I have a problem or want to use more than one operating system. (I have Vista installed alongside Windows 7 as I am trying it out.)

 

[maninahat]

Initially, I hated Steam for adding lots of hassle, and for expecting me to have a solid internet connection before allowing me to play games which I had paid good money for. But Since then, I have to admit I have enjoyed its advantages over the initial teething difficulties.
UPSIDES:
You no longer need disks,
you can get great deals,
you can automatically get patches and updates for games,
They can introduce you to independant/obscure games you would have never come across before (like FullPIPE).
DOWNSIDES:
Not every game is for sale on there
Updates and loading times can take a while,
You need internet
more passwords and login details to remember

 

[Volafortis]

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.

>obviously has never dealt with SecuROM.

Outside of a few major companies (such as Blizzard), you can get almost anything on Steam, and Steam offers great deals, and is an excellent game client in general.

 

[shadow skill]

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.

>obviously has never dealt with SecuROM.

Outside of a few major companies (such as Blizzard), you can get almost anything on Steam, and Steam offers great deals, and is an excellent game client in general.

Some stuff sold on Steam still have Securom though.

 

[nikosuave]

Not gonna lie Steam is probably the best thing to happen to PC gaming since the mouse.

 

[Scrythe]

Steam constantly has some kind of deal going on. I've purchased tons of games off Steam, and most were somewhere between 50-75% off.

GFWL doesn't do that, to my knowledge, and I have no idea how Direct2Drive works, but I do know that they encrypt the game exe's so you can't use mods or trainers.

 

[mooncalf]

Steam has ALOT of caveats of which people will rant about here. My personal fav being the prospect that someday Steam might change/disappear and take all the money I spent on it with it...

But for now I happily use it, it's how I got alot of games at VERY reasonable (bargain) prices and when I moved overseas, I didn't pack any of my game disks, steam was enough to get me started in my new home.

 

[wwjdftw]

Actually, games ON Steam but not made BY Valve are independent of Steam once they are downloaded, ie, you don't need Steam to run them (you can just go click the little exe in its particular file). Making it essentially DRM-free.

Most STEAM games come with whatever manuals the game provider provides, which is usually an HTML version of the box manual.

This is just a little silly.

Ever visited Good Old Games? It really is a fantastic little site that goes beyond any other digital distribution site to try and please their customers. For example older games sold via STEAM work on a buyer beware premise, not guaranteed to work on newer systems nor do they generally come with anything beyond the game itself. GOG on the other hand has their own installer which they've implemented for every game in their catalogue, tweaking the games so that they'll work on newer systems. Customer support is also fantastic and most if not all games in their library come with extras, not simply manual's and wallpapers, but often entire soundtracks and the like. No DRM of any sort either, once you've downloaded the game it comes in a simple exe file you're free to do as you wish with, nothing more, nothing less.

It really is a great website. Saying it's superior to STEAM as far as distributing older games go isn't the least bit silly, it's common sense.

Give it a try!

I really do think im missing something...

 

[wordsmith]

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.

Yes, I do. I have never used paypal before though.

It doesn't have any of the fees or complicated rules that a credit card comes with. You make a free account and connect your bank account to it. Then you withdraw however much you want from the bank account to stay in your Paypal account until you spend it. It's pretty simple, but the big problem with it is that it takes a few days each time you decide to withdraw money from your bank account to put in your Paypal account, and you can't actually pay for something unless the money is already in Paypal.

I think Steam purchases are worth that setback, but of course it's up to you.

This was what I used to do, then I found out something BRILLIANT.

with £0.00 in the account, you can still use it on Steam. It takes the money straight out of your bank account, ignoring the waiting period. I leave my Paypal account empty now, it pulls money from your bank account into your paypal account so you can cover the cost. There's no penalties or anything for using it this way either.

 

[Soulkiller3]

New games are not cheap on steam but if you waita thew months there do a 75%-90% off deals on them.

I love steam no more cds, get to download and play on any pc, get to play offline. Download speeds have always been good for me, cheap old games you cant fine in the shop.

I get the feeling alot of people posting hear have never even used steam or just hate valve. I love the buddy system, say am bord and a mate convos me, "jump on server uin game xxx" takes two clicks in the convo to get in the same server in same game as them

As for the person who is getting picky for rthe 30megabites it uses when he has 8 gig, omg go to a doc and sort out that OCD you have becouse it bad!

 

[2intolerant]

***MUST READ***

I can't believe every last moronic, naive, immature, inexperienced and just idiotic person on this thread telling people that "Steam rules. Here's the skinny.........

Yes, Steam is convenient and WHO REALLY CARES about CDs scratching or losing them. This only happens to careless goofs. Besides, after a few years people just don't play the games anymore.

This is the only valid and memorable reason given by dumbasses like the "Steam Whore" who is really just a misleading whore.

Steam has a major dealbreaker that I am looking into filing a lawsuit against them for and trying to find a lawyer with integrity. This is simply that once you buy a Steam game...........IT'S YOURS FOR LIFE. You can never re-sell as the key is stuck to your account and your name. You can never buy a used game that is Steam powered. This is a clear violation of a consumer's rights to re-sell his/her own stuff.

So unless you have to buy a game because it's only available via steam then look to buy somewhere else.

I bought Fear 2 on Ebay and struggled for a week and dozens of emails to beg them to change the key from the seller's account to mine and they said they would NEVER DO THAT AGAIN. Lesson learned. Avoid Steam when possible.

Don't listen to all these fools who support Steam. Convenience and 'new' game pricing is not worth the unfairness of being forbidden to sell a game you no longer want or buying a used one. Violates "Fair Use Act".

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

good luck, PC games are not sold in stores anymore. your best find would be a diner dash or build a lot game....

GAME in the UK carries a very good selection of PC games. You get all the new high profile releases and a good stock of older/used games.
I still recommend Steam though. It easy to use, you get some fantastic deals and you can create backup copies of the games you buy off it.

 

[Silent_marauder]

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.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. The implementation of a system like this would save me a lot of space.

I don't have a credit card either, but the 7-11's in my town have credit card gift cards which is how I buy all my games on steam. Only downside is the odd 1-2 dollars left on a card. But with all the deals steam has I usually end up buying some obscure indie game with it.

 

[shadow skill]

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.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. The implementation of a system like this would save me a lot of space.

I don't have a credit card either, but the 7-11's in my town have credit card gift cards which is how I buy all my games on steam. Only downside is the odd 1-2 dollars left on a card. But with all the deals steam has I usually end up buying some obscure indie game with it.

You can still use Paypal if you have a bank account. Use your bank account for paypal and use that for Steam purchases. Or you can use a debit card like I do.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

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.

I would have downloaded about half of the Steam servers if they implemented this a year ago.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Digital distribution is always the best solution when you want to decide whether buy the hard copy or not. Think about it, DVD's tend to break and you can always lose the box. With digital distribution, however, you can uninstall and reinstall a game at will without the need of a DVD.

There's one disadvantage I can think of and that is your account getting hacked. Even if this happens, you can always get in contact with Steam Customer Support and get your account "reinstated")

Oh, there's also forgetting your account name/password or both. Even in this case, I'm pretty sure customer support can help.

 

[wordsmith]

Digital distribution is always the best solution when you want to decide whether buy the hard copy or not. Think about it, DVD's tend to break and you can always lose the box. With digital distribution, however, you can uninstall and reinstall a game at will without the need of a DVD.

There's one disadvantage I can think of and that is your account getting hacked. Even if this happens, you can always get in contact with Steam Customer Support and get your account "reinstated")

Oh, there's also forgetting your account name/password or both. Even in this case, I'm pretty sure customer support can help.

No, if you forget both your username and password then the only thing that can help is a liberal application of a 2x4 to the side of the head, whilst the person applying it shouts "HOW... COULD... YOU... BE... SO... STUPID?!?!?"

 

[.Warheart]

I hate Steam, it's slow, it's ridiculously expensive and the downloads are very slow.
VAC is also crap, it does absolutely nothing. Support is crap, and the platform itself is hogging perfomance (on a high end pc). So overall, I don't like Steam..