Steam

[Assassin]

I've been using Steam for quite some time now and I've seen it grow. In the past it only had a few games on it, mainly Half-Life based. Now it has all kinds of games, also older ones from different companies like Eidos. There's also a lot of casual, shorter games you'd see on Xbox live arcade. The newer games even have achievements like the Xbox 360 has. I'm not very familiar with Xbox live but I've noticed a lot of similarities between the two. Do you guys think this will be the future of gaming? Perhaps not Steam based but do you think maybe some other third party will start something that covers all PC games and make it all easily accesible like it is with Steam now, with the program updating the games when needed, with a community, achievements, etc.? The only thing Steam needs to change right now is support for people already owning older games. For example I bought Deus Ex a few years back, but I can't add it to Steam now withour having to buy the game again. They should find a way for Steam to recognize older games you already own so you won't have to buy them again for them to be supported.

I've been wondering about this for a while, now also because people in the US will be able to buy movies on their PS3 and Xbox360. Will we ultimately have one device with all our media on it? Will Steam, or something like Steam, put all PC games together into one big community? Maybe even a single program that also covers movies and music (iTunes?) in the far future? Where do you guys see this heading? What will the future of multimedia be like?

 

[Orby]

I have heard that there is a way to add Older games to steam but it just means you would not have the steam UI and friends lists, which is really kind of pointless then.

I also have the same problem where i have many games that i cant add into steam and it would require me to purchase them again.
Also their "packs" of games are a good idea unless you already own one of them, then you are just buying it again which is wasting peoples money.

I'm not a great fan of Steam, i see it has some good ideas but, the idea of having to download all your games if you ever move to another computer or do a fresh install seems pointless and wasteful of bandwidth and time, ok if you have a fast connection and alot of time maybe it is fine.
I just feel better holding the actual media than having it a "download" that might not always be there.. and if steam was to ever disappear we would loose our paid for games, so really we just rent the games from steam..

and to close.. are buying games from steam that much cheaper than just going out and getting the store ones where you actually own the media?? maybe a few £ more maybe its worth it..

 

[Trebor]

I've got HL2 and its episodes all in boxed versions and was also given the Orange Box. I can give away HL2 and HL2 EP1 if anyone is interested . Orby, there is a way that you can backup games on Steam so you don't have to download them again. Right click on a game in your Steam games browser and choose backup game files. A menu should appear giving you the choice of what games you want to backup though this doesn't seem to work for mods yet . I quite like Steam, especially the new features they put in it (friends and community pages) and it's alot more easier to have your games fully up to date. I also heard recently that Valve are going to let you know whether you have outdated drivers for your graphics card and if so Steam will download the necessary drivers for you.

To answer Assasins question I don't know if we'll get something that will satisfy all our media needs. Some would argue that we already have them (360, PS3, PSP even). To me it seems there is too much competition out there for everyone to settle on one product alone.

 

[Assassin]

I like the idea of having all of my games just one click away. At first I preferred buying the actual games in a box as well, but I'm starting to think what's the point as most of those won't run from CD in a few years anyway? For example I have Duke Nukem 3D on CD. Before I can actually play it properly I have to download DOSBox and set that up and in the case of Earthworm Jim 1 and 2, I can't get those to run anymore at all. So my point is, what's the point of owning them if they don't work? In cases like that it might be better having them in a list like Steam, not having to worry about downloading additional stuff to get the game to work.

I just found a list of games that can be added by entering their CD Keys:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-WUSF-3601
There's not a lot, if you think about how many games Steam supports right now. I really think they should improve on this, I want to play The Longest Journey (which Steam also supports but I already have it original on CD and it's one of those games I can't get to run properly no matter what I do). I did find out I could add my Prey key though.

 

[Orby]

Yes I have heard about the "backup" option in Steam, but I have never used it, I dont know if it would backup the configs as well ?? would be good if it does.

Normally I just copy the whole steam folder off to a network share/external drive and then format/reinstall and then install steam and just overwrite the installed one with the copy i made. Has worked well so far

Not sure I like the idea of steam probing around to see if my drivers are current or not.. also if it then forces you to update them that would be bad.. so as long as they keep it optional or just a notice not making you update that feature is not too bad.

Actually after reading my post back I thought it was kind of stupid of me, as my current gaming machine has no cd/dvdrom so I guess I have no choice at the moment

*EDIT*
just to add, now I am having problems signing into steam it made me think... they hold my games.. how can I play then ?!
I guess there must be a way to manually make shortcuts to the .exe and such.. but it's just something that bothers me..

 

[InsaneNutter]

I think Steam is a really good idea, I always find it a pain to find cd’s, enter a serial number (or several serial numbers for games with expansions) install the game, download patches... then if I want to install it on my laptop for a lan game I have to go through the whole thing again. With Steam all you need to do is sign in and click download, come back later and the game is installed without the hastel of any cd’s, serial numbers, and patches. I like how soon it will upload your saves to Valves servers so no matter where you sign in you have access to your saves thats a really good feature I think.

However despite me thinking Steam is a good idea I think it has it down falls too, although it might seem unlikely but what happens if Valve ever go bust? Again this is unlikely but if anyone has read the news about MSN Music lately they have closed the service down and after September the servers which handle the DRM are been taken offline meaning all the people who legitimately purchased music won’t be able to access it anymore if they upgrade their computers. I would be annoyed if for whatever reason Steam didn’t exist anymore and I couldn’t access any of the games I’ve purchased.

I do think something like Steam is the future of PC gaming, I love having one friend list for every game I play on Xbox Live and being able to download trailers and arcade games from the market place, with Steam on the PC i can do this for any games I own on Steam too.

I agree with Assassin though, there are a lot of games I have purchased many years ago I would like to add to Steam, however I can’t as it only accepts the serial numbers from certain games... I don’t feel I should have to buy the game again just to use it with Steam.

 

[daarkside]

for me as an mp gamer it IS the future ofc, i buy a game for ONE reason, the cdkey
i dont need the dvd, i dont need the case or a nice fancy booklet

i used my dvds once each, to create an image
images are handy and starts and load faster then ususal cds//dvd AND they are easier to "switch"

 

[Gekkeloko]

for me as an mp gamer it IS the future ofc, i buy a game for ONE reason, the cdkey
i dont need the dvd, i dont need the case or a nice fancy booklet

i used my dvds once each, to create an image
images are handy and starts and load faster then ususal cds//dvd AND they are easier to "switch"

making an image out of the game also insures you that your CD/DVD won't be scratched because it never leaves the jewelcase after installation.
And yes, i think steam will hold a good future , gaming-wise.
I've been using it since it went live ( for counter-strike back then) .
And still using it since it holds some really nice game-offers every now and then.

 

[Robbaz]

I love steam it's a lovely way to skip cd/dvds and ckeys that you allways lose. The community side is geting better and achivements is nice. When one morning saw eve-online i was like BULLSHIT! Ohh sweet! Eve-online and UT3 is the only none valve games i bought over steam.

 

[Safinn]

Steam has become really big now. I dont play Steam games yet.