Steam - Somebody Convince me this is the way to go

Komedy

Komedy

Komedy

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Ok I've been a big gamer for years albiet quite a few of those years were exclusively WoW. Earlier this year I reached the same point as many and tired of the whole MMO format. Now what it did was open my eyes to all the great games I let pass me by.

Now as well as this aspect, the whole Steam thing is new to me and there is one part I'm struggling with, price. Yes I know the deals and offers are good but two recent games that I have bought.

The Witcher 2 - Steam Price £29.99
I Paid £19.99 Local Store

The First Templar - Steam Price £29.99
I Paid £17.85 Online Retailer

So on these two alone I've saved £22 odd. Now what I'm I missing in all this, as I read that there are people that wont even consider it unless its Steam. Take Witcher 2, what disadvantage I'm I at for having paid £10.00 less to receive the boxed copy.

The other day I posted that GOG had The Witcher Enhanced Edition up for £3.00 and some dude scoffed in the thread that it wasnt Steamable and therefore wouldnt touch it. To buy it on Steam on that day was x3 the cost.

Is it me thats Insane ?
 
steam is an awesome platform. you can re-download games as many times as you like and now steam is really safe and secure. The steam network and community are good too, playing with friends ect.
 
Komedy said:
ok so the example of The Witcher Enahanced Version. Why pay 3 Times the price just to have it on Steam ?
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I wouldn't pay 3 times as much, the point of Steam is it's convenient, but i wouldn't pay 3 times as much for a game on Steam when i can get it cheaper somewhere else.
 
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Convenience, community, synchronization, automatic updates, friend chat, saves physical storage space.

I wouldn't buy something that cost 3X the price on Steam though.
 
trigger-happy said:
steam is an awesome platform. you can re-download games as many times as you like and now steam is really safe and secure. The steam network and community are good too, playing with friends ect.
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They also do some great sales. They have at least two sales a week.

Other than price the main reason for me to use them is convenience. I've got all my games ready to go without worrying about finding the right disc. If I want a new game I don't have to wait until the postman delivers it. I can download it and be playing within a matter of hours.
 
Totally understand that you can buy games locally for less, i have bought some of my games in a well known supermarket chain store for less than what steam had to offer, however i have purchased some games through steam that were on a 24 hr deals etc, and the value was astounding.

I think i managed to get Mafia 2 for £5.00.

Steam has other good advantages aswell if you wish to use them, you can track friends game play history etc, which is a little stalkish, but it can sometimes promote healthy competition, not only that you can also use steam like anyother social networking site for real time conversation if needed, so it does have quite a few benefits.

I think you have to treat Steam as you would anything else when you intend to purchase, you shop around for the best deal possible, if steam, for that day, gives you that deal, then you will purchase the said product. Try not to look at steam solely as an online shop (even though it basically is) try and utilise the other benefits that it can offer you.

Regards
 
If I buy a game on Steam it will either be a new release (so pretty much the same price everywhere including Steam) or it will be in one of the many sales they have (pick up decent games for a fraction of their full Steam price). Any other time games tend to be much more expensive on Steam and it's where I can't help but feel that Steam needs some decent competition to bring prices down.

As already said though, once you have a game on Steam, it's all about the convienience and all it's community features amongst other things.
 
I love Steam myself but I never buy new releases on it unless the price is in line with retail, if not I always buy elsewhere and the save the money. My love for Steam is when they do sales, picking up old games or even pretty new ones for miles cheaper than anywhere else even retail.

People also are willing to pay for the convenience which I completely understand after buying sale games, you get them listed in one install under one roof instead of having 15+ game separate installs on your hard drive, desktop short cuts etc.
 
I never pay the overpriced "normal" steam prices. I.e I would never pay a premium for steam. That being said I don't think I have bought a boxed game for over a year. I have probably bought ~ 50 games in that time - always when they are on sale. I buy mostly from steam, it is nice to have all your games in one place, and I do find I neglect my non steam games. I also use direct2drive, gamersgate, EA store etc - whoever has a sale.

If you are starting to get back into pc gaming I suggest bookmarking the savvygamer.co.uk site - it is updated at least daily with any deals that are on. Steam normally has a game on sale on Wednesday for "middweek madness" and usually some games over the weekend. I think the main steam sales ate summer and christmas (there might be a thanksgiving?)
 
LokiS said:
I love Steam myself but I never buy new releases on it unless the price is in line with retail, if not I always buy elsewhere and the save the money. My love for Steam is when they do sales, picking up old games or even pretty new ones for miles cheaper than anywhere else even retail.

People also are willing to pay for the convenience which I completely understand after buying sale games, you get them listed in one install under one roof instead of having 15+ game separate installs on your hard drive, desktop short cuts etc.
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And just being able to drag the steam folder with all your games to another place, Priceless!
 
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Steam sales are the main reason why I buy games now. Alongside convenience, automatic updates, friends.

I use to like buying the physical discs but after buying 5+ games it does start to take up a lot of space for something you're unlikely ever to need again.

Yes you can sell it after you've played it through if you buy the discs but buying when the steam sales/deals are on, it's not a big loss.

I can't have spent more than £120 so far on steam and have more than enough games so far to last me a while (haven't even started playing most of them!).
And when I have finished them, then the games out now, will be cheap then :p But then I'm not someone who cares about buying on release day (with the exception of L4D2 which I bought on preorder :D)
 
Not sure what you're trying to achieve with this thread, OP.

You've basically said the equivalent of: "I can buy a phone that's not an iphone, but other people look down their nose at me because I don't have an iphone, THAT GUY IS CRAZY AMIRITE"
 
Zid_ said:
Not sure what you're trying to achieve with this thread, OP.

You've basically said the equivalent of: "I can buy a phone that's not an iphone, but other people look down their nose at me because I don't have an iphone, THAT GUY IS CRAZY AMIRITE"
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Eh ?
 
I'd rarely buy something brand new on Steam that just came out if the stores were a lot cheaper, but if we're talking like a fiver or so then I'd buy it on Steam purely for the convenience of having all my games in the same place and also the benefits of Steam that other people have mentioned. There's also the deals that Steam do now and again which are superb, I've saved a lot of money using Steam with their sales.

Only major downside for me on Steam that I'm constantly aware of is that they rule it with an iron fist (so to speak).
 
Rarely pay more on Steam for a game and if it is then it tends to be only a couple of quid for the convenience of downloading and redownloading/patching whenever I want.

I tend to stick to Steam deals though, most of which are far better than in-store anyway.
 
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