What Would PC Gaming Look Like Without Valve?

[fix-the-spade]

The same to me - I don't use Steam and I've never played a Valve game.
I know - I am a heathen.

MaxTheReaper, I have one extra copy of Half Life 2 and Half Life 2 Episode one (and EVERYONE I know personally already has both), would you like them (you filthy heathen)?

 

[fix-the-spade]

Oh sure, ship them right over from the UK.
Or I could save you hundreds of ...Euros... and buy them myself.
Perhaps I will!

but I guess I appreciate the offer and stuff

Pah, spend money!? I'm not being that kind.
It's a feature on Steam if you buy a package that contains games you already own. https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4502-TPJL-2656
There is no shpping costs, they're digital copies.

 

[hopeneverdies]

It would be more difficult to buy games electronically.

 

[Medic Heavy]

If Valve soft ware wasn't ever founded then i would probably be playing my PS3/360 all day. Valve soft ware's pretty much the only thing keeping me back from playing on a console...also Relic's pretty awesome to.

and there would be no portal so I could`nt listen to still alive on my ipod.

Yeah...I'm listening to it right now.

Ensemble Studios

One can only wish.

*wipes tear*

Something I'd like to point out.. Half-Life 2 is a completely single player game

Counter-Strike: Source was HL2's multiplayer. It came with HL2 in the same box. Later they released HL2: Deatmatch too.

Also Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the very first mods on Steam "Half Life CTF" or something of that manner.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

Slightly more expensive but that's it. HLF2 was average at best in my view, CS:S was confused & awful and their physics engine is nothing compared to Havok & Physx. Although I would miss left 4 dead.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure HL2 et al uses Havok [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havok_(software)#Use].

 

[300lb. Samoan]

Halo would have lives and military assault rifles.
Call of Duty would have lazer beams and swords.
TIME PARADOX

 

[YuheJi]

I would prefer a downloading service that offered games digitally at a reasonable price, instead of the ones that Valve offers.

Sorry, but their prices mean that I do not purchase from them, as well with no guarantee that I get a return from a crappy game...well that's just another reason to stay away.

What? If you buy games from Steam, look at the weekend deals. Right now, Steam has to keep the prices of non-indie games for the most part (besides said weekend deals) because of pressure from retailers (obviously digital copies are cheaper, so Steam could easily put retailers out of business if it were allowed to set its own prices).
Valve gets around that through short-term deals, that have boosted the sales of games that were previously thought to be dead, or have gotten people interested in indie game companies. For example, DoW II was recently 25% off last weekend, which effectively put it well below retail value. I bought Left 4 Dead at half off which means I got it for well less than how much it costs even now. Bioshock was a mere $5 during the winter sale. And chances are, you weren't going to buy that "crappy game" at a retailer anyways. You can look it up online while on Steam, and perhaps download a demo if it exists. So I think you're missing the advantages that Steam brings.

 

[oktalist]

FPSes would probably be more brown.

 

[Thediscoducky]

A world without Valve would be a far bleaker one indeed. But, as I look back, I guess it's not a bad thing. Sure, Portal was the best puzzle game of all time (after Tetris , duh) but without Portal, maybe I wouldn't have to suffer through 2 Companion Cube jokes a week and a "The Cake Is A Lie" joke every other day.

 

[Da_Schwartz]

Probably the same as the millions of other gamers pc's out there that don't use valve.

 

[Xbowhyena]

I think we mean Blizzard, not Valve here. I could care less about FPSs.

 

[A random person]

]Very corporate and scary. More so, I guess.

I am glad such world doesn't exist.

This.

 

[pha kin su pah]

Blizzard would have taken Valves place, and not been corrupted into an MMO and an alliance with Activision. RTS's and RPGs would see major innovation regularly.

With less of the hyper competitive and rather ill mannered people brought in by Counterstrike, PC gaming would be a much lower issue, meaning DRM would likely never become much of an issue. Products like Spore would have more effort put into them rather than relying on hype from overzealous PC elitists.

The PC elititsts would probably not have started up as there is no-one there to blow smoke up their asses and make them think their way is any better.

I think it would be a major improvement.

This, diluted in a little water.

 

[l33ticarus]

Without Valve... We would not have portal... Thank god those kids got recruited in ... Best game ever...

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

The same to me - I don't use Steam and I've never played a Valve game.
I know - I am a heathen.

Max! Shame on you!

 

[PersianLlama]

games like World of Goo and Audiosurf would be doomed into obscurity.

Iphone applications, Wiiware.

PC gamers would probably more inclined to buy those games. On steam, the update message and demos allow people to hear about the game and try it before buying it. I wouldn't have bought either of those games without Steam.

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

I would prefer a downloading service that offered games digitally at a reasonable price, instead of the ones that Valve offers.

Sorry, but their prices mean that I do not purchase from them, as well with no guarantee that I get a return from a crappy game...well that's just another reason to stay away.

What? If you buy games from Steam, look at the weekend deals. Right now, Steam has to keep the prices of non-indie games for the most part (besides said weekend deals) because of pressure from retailers (obviously digital copies are cheaper, so Steam could easily put retailers out of business if it were allowed to set its own prices).
Valve gets around that through short-term deals, that have boosted the sales of games that were previously thought to be dead, or have gotten people interested in indie game companies. For example, DoW II was recently 25% off last weekend, which effectively put it well below retail value. I bought Left 4 Dead at half off which means I got it for well less than how much it costs even now. Bioshock was a mere $5 during the winter sale. And chances are, you weren't going to buy that "crappy game" at a retailer anyways. You can look it up online while on Steam, and perhaps download a demo if it exists. So I think you're missing the advantages that Steam brings.

Sorry, I'm not a "sale" kind of guy. I don't like watching everywhere for the "best deals". I want my software to be reasonably priced all of the time. If Steam adjusted their prices to be more inline with making a markup over cost, they would force companies to lower their physical copies to compete, or include more actual value to make it worthwhile.

I'm sorry if I don't want to have to pay attention to Steam all the time just to get a good deal on a game that I may have chance at liking...It's far too random for my liking.