HUGE Lineup on Steam

SteamedApricot · 21-11-2008, 08:16 PM

GTA IV PC, Saint's Row 2, Prince of Persia, and Red Faction are all 'Coming Soon' To steam. A big buisness maker, as steam is a fantastic content distributor and the devs behind it are even better.
My steam ID is 'Gingilla'. Add me.

Pepper Jack · 21-11-2008, 09:41 PM

i don't really know anything about PC gaming, what's steam?

SteamedApricot · 22-11-2008, 08:11 AM

Steam is a community and Content distributor. It is run by ValvE. The guys behind Half Life and Half Life 2 (And all offshoots involving the source engine such as L4D and Team fortress). They were a big starter for digital content distribution, and still are. It's a good community tool.

Pepper Jack · 22-11-2008, 10:27 AM

so what do they do? buy games like GTA 4 and then sell them on? what's the advantage of buying through steam rather than just buying a copy of GTA off the shelves?

Blasterpez · 22-11-2008, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pepper Jack

so what do they do? buy games like GTA 4 and then sell them on? what's the advantage of buying through steam rather than just buying a copy of GTA off the shelves?

pssshhh. cause steam did it.

SteamedApricot · 22-11-2008, 06:43 PM

Well for one thing, you'll probably end up using steam to play it. Also, some back-water games that couldn't make it in a store, like geometry wars, end up there as steam exclusives. Basically, the deal is that Steam gets revenue for making it available for download. They in no way own the game. They merely distribute it. Think of it like this. Steam is a store. The buy games digitally like Walmart or Target buys hard copies. Steam also provides updates like xBox live, and even has a community with most games having voice support.

Pepper Jack · 22-11-2008, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteamedApricot

Well for one thing, you'll probably end up using steam to play it. Also, some back-water games that couldn't make it in a store, like geometry wars, end up there as steam exclusives. Basically, the deal is that Steam gets revenue for making it available for download. They in no way own the game. They merely distribute it. Think of it like this. Steam is a store. The buy games digitally like Walmart or Target buys hard copies. Steam also provides updates like xBox live, and even has a community with most games having voice support.

is the price any less? if not i'd probably just end up buying a hard copy. also what are the download speeds like? because if they are fast and i really wanted a game and could d/l it super fast on release day i'd probably download it rather than going out to try and get a hard copy

Ultramafia · 24-11-2008, 07:58 AM

I wish i was still big into pc gaming. but other than mmo's and a little source every now and then i pretty much prefer my gaming on a console.

rabbitc · 25-11-2008, 03:05 AM

Steam is cool. I used it for a while before I gave up on PC gaming (too expensive)

nufan · 25-11-2008, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pepper Jack

is the price any less? if not i'd probably just end up buying a hard copy. also what are the download speeds like? because if they are fast and i really wanted a game and could d/l it super fast on release day i'd probably download it rather than going out to try and get a hard copy

Its US currency which worked really well here in Canada until our dollar dropped like a brick. They do have good deals but depends on your exchange rate I guess, they usually have 10% off the game if you pre order. Also saved the 12% sales tax that I have to pay in Canada which is nice.

The cool thing is generally when you pre order you can pre load the content, so you have weeks before the game is actually released to download it, then at 12:01am on release day the game is "unlocked" and basically ready to play. Speeds have always been good from Steam for me anyway though.

Although I've only ever purchased Valve games through it, I assume its the same for third party titles as well. However with current exchange rates it costs less for me to just buy the games in store anyway.

But I agree Steam is pretty cool. I remember it got a lot of flack when it was introduced back in the day when I used to play Counter-Strike, they improved it a lot !

Pepper Jack · 25-11-2008, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nufan

Its US currency which worked really well here in Canada until our dollar dropped like a brick. They do have good deals but depends on your exchange rate I guess, they usually have 10% off the game if you pre order. Also saved the 12% sales tax that I have to pay in Canada which is nice.

The cool thing is generally when you pre order you can pre load the content, so you have weeks before the game is actually released to download it, then at 12:01am on release day the game is "unlocked" and basically ready to play. Speeds have always been good from Steam for me anyway though.

Although I've only ever purchased Valve games through it, I assume its the same for third party titles as well. However with current exchange rates it costs less for me to just buy the games in store anyway.

But I agree Steam is pretty cool. I remember it got a lot of flack when it was introduced back in the day when I used to play Counter-Strike, they improved it a lot !

yeah i downloaded it to play counter strike a long time ago but i never got it to work, instead it just broke my crappy old PC. the features you listed sound good, especially the US currency which would benefit me hugely and the early downloads. however i very rarely play PC games so although this is a pretty cool sounding program, it's wasted on me

SteamedApricot · 25-11-2008, 06:37 PM

Well, the value of steam, for me, is adding shortcuts like Guildwars onto my lineup. That way, you can collaborate everything into one program. PC gaming is more expensive then Console gaming, but even though I don't play TF2 as often as I used to, the large lineup still excites me.