Why Do People Still Buy Games From STEAM??

[Liquidfox]

I normally only buy off Steam when there's offers on, like Bioshock for £3.49 and L4D for £13.99

 

[physichull]

Just a quick question for this although it may be covered in the Empire Total War thread, is it really fair that you need the internet (Steam) to play EmpireTotal War whether you bought the disk or not? I don't think so. It is unfair to anybody who does not have the internet or is often disconnected for whatever reason (away from home) that you cannot play your games offline, despite having bought the disk.

 

[Roeg1]

also.

don't know how many of you realise this.

steam is portable. you can just drop it on an external hard drive, then run steam.exe from the new pc (it'll install a few basic steam things), then you can play instantly after logging in

tell me more, please

 

[Littlenose]

I haven't bought many games on steam, but I do take advantage of their weekend offers sometimes. I like the convenience of the system they use

I would like to be able to sell on my games once i've finished them, but understand that it would be taking business away from them, so I equate the deal I got (eg, 75% off weekend) with the fact that I will be the sole user of that license.

The printed manual is annoying, but i can't remember the last time I got a game from a store with a decent manual.

[edit] - oh, and the steam "cloud" will be great once up and running properly... keeping your save games on the central server to use on any machine... saves doing the same level twice on world of goo (laptop and desktop machines)

 

[IdburnU]

I think Steam is a great service and is really useful for the multiplayer aspects of games in particular, but I still always buy the retail release. There is still a segment (me included) that prefers to have a physical game, box and manual in hand over just a name and password that SHOULD get you the same access. When everything works, Steam is great, but in the end you are still at their mercy to play a game you bought and paid for. In the event of a catastrophe I can still hide in my bunker and play my retail games on a generator.

Plus, for those that like big Collectors Editions and such, Steam is pretty much useless. I'm not afraid to say I love shiny boxes, fancy logos and artwork and glossy manuals that I will never use sitting on my shelf.

 

[eekfek]

That is one thing against the Steam download model IMO, lack of a printed manual. Fancy downloading Falcon 4.0 off steam then printing the 200 page manual?

hehe, i would simply buy said game from a shop ... there will always be exceptions like this but on the whole most games dont require manuals ... sadly the days of Microprose type simulations are few and far between, can you remember the Gunship or Grand prix manuals that you could beat baby seals to death with !!!? ahhh good times

 

[uv]

or is often disconnected for whatever reason (away from home) that you cannot play your games offline

That's a redundant point, as Steam can be set to offline mode once a game has been auth'd.

If someone doesn't have enough internet access to authenticate the game in the first place (ie >14k), then they're in the minority:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=8

Adults under 70 years of age who had a degree or equivalent qualification were most likely to have access to the Internet in their home, at 93 per cent.

 

[FrenchTart]

That's a redundant point, as Steam can be set to offline mode once a game has been auth'd.

If someone doesn't have enough internet access to authenticate the game in the first place (ie >14k), then they're in the minority:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=8

Agreed for the most part. There must be a fair percentage of the UK that don't have degrees, though.

 

[Garyj881]

Here's a scenario for you.

Get home from work one Friday afternoon and just been payed

A new game comes out and what looked like a boring weekend is now looking quite promising.

Now I could order this game online and save said 15-20% and then have to wait until Tuesday next week for it to arrive or open up steam click that "buy" button knowing you have paid more and also feeling peace of mind that you can't lose the disc or serial.

I do a bit of both (e-tailer & steam) and yes some times pay more but I know with in a few hours I'll be playing away.

 

[uv]

Agreed for the most part. There must be a fair percentage of the UK that don't have degrees, though.

True, but Jimmy Bob from the estate, who dropped out of primary school

a) isn't going to be able to afford £40 for E:TW
b) won't be able to play E:TW without losing every time

I dare say I'm not thick, and I struggle with games like Total War

*edit*
in case anyone thinks I'm on a high horse - I don't have a degree either

 

[Revolution6000]

Pre-order the game and you would have got it on the day of release, or even the Thursday.

 

[bledd]

tell me more, please

close steame
explorer..
c:\program files\

copy Steam to

X:\Steam\ (or whereever)

plug hard drive X into another pc, double click X:\Steam\steam.exe



it'll install itself and you can just run it from there. simple

 

[Knubje]

close steame
explorer..
c:\program files\

copy Steam to

X:\Steam\ (or whereever)

plug hard drive X into another pc, double click X:\Steam\steam.exe



it'll install itself and you can just run it from there. simple

Been doing a copy of my steam folder for aages, such a winner idea. Beats redownloading all your gubbins again!

 

[uv]

Same here - my Steam folder just sits on my D:\
New install - run d:\games\steam\steam.exe

Job done

 

[Ogs]

I just hate how you can buy a game, find that its a technical cluster bar steward, and you cant get a refund. So youve just paid good money for a game that doesnt work and cant play, brilliant !

 

[FrenchTart]

True, but Jimmy Bob from the estate, who dropped out of primary school

a) isn't going to be able to afford £40 for E:TW
b) won't be able to play E:TW without losing every time

I dare say I'm not thick, and I struggle with games like Total War

*edit*
in case anyone thinks I'm on a high horse - I don't have a degree either

Rofl

 

[uv]

I just hate how you can buy a game, find that its a technical cluster bar steward, and you cant get a refund. So youve just paid good money for a game that doesnt work and cant play, brilliant !

What games, specifically? We may be able to help

I know that the Steam version of Q3:Arena doesn't display correctly due to the Steam overlay messing around with OpenGL, and a fair few people on the Steam forums have managed to get a refund for it..

 

[FrenchTart]

What games, specifically? We may be able to help

I know that the Steam version of Q3:Arena doesn't display correctly due to the Steam overlay messing around with OpenGL, and a fair few people on the Steam forums have managed to get a refund for it..

Ah, I didn't know this. I was thinking of buying Steam Q3 just for the ease of having it integrated with Steam and not having to sort through my 7-10 year old Q3 folder files when I wanted to play

 

[Psypher5]

steam makes me buy games ill only play a lot.

its easy (if i format, itll take a while to dl everything but then theres no patching etc, once its done its done) or i could back it all up or steal a mates files

i like being able to click, then play. not click be told i have to have a disk in, put disk in, cant read disk, try 4 more times for it to recognise etc etc.

the whole steam "thing", friend etc, makes it ace for joining in games and what have you.

And support the good devs

obviously if a game is cheaper retail ill prolly do that, but for instance i got empire special units edition for 24quid, typed in my key and away we go.

Some of the weekend deals are stonkers also!

 

[uv]

I was thinking of buying Steam Q3 just for the ease of having it integrated with Steam

Same here, but I tried the demo after reading through the forum. Granted, this was back on my 9600GT, and it may have been an nvidia driver issue - I'll check when I get home to see if the issue is still prevalent.