With very few exceptions, Steam is the only way I've purchased games for a while now and I'm almost to the point where I've even repurchased all of the games I already owned. The ability to not only launch all of my games from one place, but keep them updated and easily restore them all after frequent OS reloads has me totally hooked.
To top it all off, holiday sales. OMG.
Grats on another good year; here's to hoping you're not SkyNet.
Now if only we could get Stardock to see the light and join steam instead of toting their own, far less superior version.
Far less superior? What, you don't like better game management and blazing fast download speeds? Sure, it doesn't have the kind of social integration, achievements and the userbase but they're two different platforms, each with their own strengths. I would never call Impulse inferior. Games for Windows Live on the other hand...
I believe Steam is one of the few factors that keeps PC gaming alive. If it wasn't for its vast user base most developers would have moved to consoles and left PC for strategy titles and MMOs, so I'm glad I can still get good action games via Steam and there are other millions who share my experience.
Steam also helps those of us not lucky enough to live in EU or US, because boxed titles arrive insanely overpriced here and our only hope to buy them on realistic prices is to get them digitally. Though I wouldn't be surprised if this greedy government (Argentina) one day decides to implement a Steam-tax and charge us for buying games online, they have already implemented a Tech-tax that raised the product of technology products (ie: a PS3 costs 800 USD here).
You get better dl speeds with Impulse, Chris? Steam gave me 4.4MB/s down the other day... Impulse has NEVER gotten above 1-1.2.
Either way, I like both. Steam just has more of a pull for me. Maybe because it was my first? Maybe because it's Valve, and they make Half Life? :shrug:
I think Mas0n pretty much hits the nail on the head.
Steam wins because it is about centralization and added convenience for PC gamers. Nobody wants to manually patch games, nobody wants to load optical media when they reinstall their OS, nobody wants to load optical media when they want to load a program of any kind, nobody wants to run to the store to find out the product they want is out of stock. Nobody wants to manually set up play dates. Steam remedies all these things and just makes gaming on PC better.
Though I bought more games over Steam this year than I ever have previously, I still like to purchase games at retail. Something about dat physical disk, man. Feels good.
@Snarkasm, never tried Impulse, I'll give it a try one day but anyway my broadband is 2MBs so I can't get more than that even if the Steam network was capable of giving more.
Though I bought more games over Steam this year than I ever have previously, I still like to purchase games at retail. Something about dat physical disk, man. Feels good.
Here, I'll just do it so you guys don't have to:
You just haven't given it enough of a chance yet. I was once like you, son. I couldn't stand the thought of having my money go to digital media of any-kind. Today, I find myself very disappointed if I can't buy a game on Steam, and Steam availability has influenced a purchasing decision more than once.
I agree that Steam will make me stay on PC for gaming.
It's simple to use, and you don't need to worry about anything, no cd to lose, no patch to look for... The only thing you'll need when you begin to dig into the massive amount of game steam have is a new hard drive, because with all those games installed you'll need more space hah
If you have a steam game and feel the need for a disc to be associated with that title you can always make a back-up of it and burn it to a disc. I do not like the required internet connection some times...quakecon brown out screwed me. My dvd drive plays dvds and cds, I don't even use the disc that comes with games to install I just suck it off steam.
I use Impulse and Steam and I do like Steam better, I don't know how much system resources and such either uses... I figure I got plenty :P
As I see it, Steam actually actively does stuff in the background. I never have to worry about updates. I have to tell Impulse to update SINS.. don't know much more about it though other than it's dead weight as far as I am concerned.
Now if only we could get Stardock to see the light and join steam instead of toting their own, far less superior version.
I wouldn't expect that to happen.
Anyways, as a gamer and consumer, is it not best to have choice? Impulse is doing great, and adding more community features such as achievements, chats, etc. is high on the list to be added.
Anyways, as a gamer and consumer, is it not best to have choice? Impulse is doing great, and adding more community features such as achievements, chats, etc. is high on the list to be added.
You know what I want? I want to be able to buy a game from any outlet I choose, but have the developers all agree to make them all steam aware. Make whatever deal they have to make to get that done and make it happen. If I love Steam, I love the interface, I love what it provides me as a gamer, why should I not be able to plug every title I play into it.
I understand the business complexities, but its going to eventually be like the itunes store is to music downloads, and as Wal-Mart is to just about everything else. You just need to be on that shelf, sure, you might prefer to distribute other ways, but if consumers are demanding Steam by an overwhelming margin, you just kind of have to cave and put it on Steam's shelf.
Personally, I'm at a point where I really don't want your game unless its Steam enabled.
I really wish there could be an open backend for connecting friends and achievements from all of these different channels (Steam, Impulse, Xbox, PS3, etc.). It would be a really stupid move for any of the vendors ('why would you want to play anything but us') but it would be wonderful for consumers.
Comments
To top it all off, holiday sales. OMG.
Grats on another good year; here's to hoping you're not SkyNet.
Far less superior? What, you don't like better game management and blazing fast download speeds? Sure, it doesn't have the kind of social integration, achievements and the userbase but they're two different platforms, each with their own strengths. I would never call Impulse inferior. Games for Windows Live on the other hand...
Steam also helps those of us not lucky enough to live in EU or US, because boxed titles arrive insanely overpriced here and our only hope to buy them on realistic prices is to get them digitally. Though I wouldn't be surprised if this greedy government (Argentina) one day decides to implement a Steam-tax and charge us for buying games online, they have already implemented a Tech-tax that raised the product of technology products (ie: a PS3 costs 800 USD here).
Either way, I like both. Steam just has more of a pull for me. Maybe because it was my first? Maybe because it's Valve, and they make Half Life? :shrug:
That's one of the weirdest tax ever !
Steam wins because it is about centralization and added convenience for PC gamers. Nobody wants to manually patch games, nobody wants to load optical media when they reinstall their OS, nobody wants to load optical media when they want to load a program of any kind, nobody wants to run to the store to find out the product they want is out of stock. Nobody wants to manually set up play dates. Steam remedies all these things and just makes gaming on PC better.
Here, I'll just do it so you guys don't have to:
@GooD, yeah a PS3 costs 800usd here, check out the newspaper: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1202148
It says: "tendrá un costo de $3099",
4 Argentinean Peso = 1 USD
3099 AR$ = 806 USD
You just haven't given it enough of a chance yet. I was once like you, son. I couldn't stand the thought of having my money go to digital media of any-kind. Today, I find myself very disappointed if I can't buy a game on Steam, and Steam availability has influenced a purchasing decision more than once.
It's simple to use, and you don't need to worry about anything, no cd to lose, no patch to look for... The only thing you'll need when you begin to dig into the massive amount of game steam have is a new hard drive, because with all those games installed you'll need more space hah
@Cris : that sucks
Indeed, I don't know any of the numbers off the top of my head but Impulse always seems quite a bit faster for me. Different locations maybe?
As I see it, Steam actually actively does stuff in the background. I never have to worry about updates. I have to tell Impulse to update SINS.. don't know much more about it though other than it's dead weight as far as I am concerned.
I always look on Steam for my games, wish Blizzard was on it too!!
I wouldn't expect that to happen.
Anyways, as a gamer and consumer, is it not best to have choice? Impulse is doing great, and adding more community features such as achievements, chats, etc. is high on the list to be added.
You know what I want? I want to be able to buy a game from any outlet I choose, but have the developers all agree to make them all steam aware. Make whatever deal they have to make to get that done and make it happen. If I love Steam, I love the interface, I love what it provides me as a gamer, why should I not be able to plug every title I play into it.
I understand the business complexities, but its going to eventually be like the itunes store is to music downloads, and as Wal-Mart is to just about everything else. You just need to be on that shelf, sure, you might prefer to distribute other ways, but if consumers are demanding Steam by an overwhelming margin, you just kind of have to cave and put it on Steam's shelf.
Personally, I'm at a point where I really don't want your game unless its Steam enabled.
Never going to happen though.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/45100/