Valve

[MeMeMeMe]

And I think you missed the mark with reason hate EA, they don't hate them because they try and make money they hate them because of the way they do it (a reputation built over years).

To elaborate a little the main points:
- Excessive Micro-charges, e.g. Disc locked content, Day One DLC, additional charge for multiplayer in second hand games
- Treating their customers like criminals e.g. DRM, if you dont use your origin account within 2 years you lose all your games (its deleted), a game ban results in a ban on your account (bye bye games)
- Buying out quality studios and gutting them e.g. Bullfrog, Westwood studios, Pandemic, Zynga

Yes, and let's compare each of these points in turn to Valve's:

- Continual support for games with free DLC, look at how many updates TF and L4D1/2 series got. Edit: valve also has the steamplay program, where if you buy a mac or windows version of a game in this program, you get the other for free. I expect with Linux being developed, they'll do the same with that.

- Steam is a form of DRM, but it's DRM done right, because it actually adds value. All the community features, the in-game overlay, automatic patching, ease of transporting your games from one pc to another or surviving windows reinstalls, etc.

- Where EA buys out quality studios then works them into the ground then discards them, Valve has actively supported indie games and smaller studios, both in marketing (sales making people aware of titles they never would have known about or considered buying), and as a publisher (providing a distribution platform that allows devs to get most of the profit for the games).

There are plenty of good reasons why people might like Valve over EA, and it comes down to the radically different philosophy these companies have that underlie every decision they make.

 

[MeMeMeMe]

The fact still remains, that the 3570k is a very popular and widely used processor, and the HD6850 was one of the most popular cards of its generation. Put two of them together and Steam doesn't work, lol.

Given how popular both those two components are, it must be the case that there are many, many other steam users who also have those two components. If they didn't work together with steam, there would be massive widespread outcry about this. It's got to be a problem at your end. That doens't mean it's your fault, maybe it's just that there's something about your setup - hardware combination, software combination, whatever, that is causing a hickup.

Have you started a thread to explore the issue and seek help?

 

[MeMeMeMe]

So far, at least for me, Valve have only done two things wrong. No Half-Life 3, and the adverts that pop up when I exit a game.

That last one: you can stop it happening. I believe the thing to click is:
Steam menu -> Settings -> Interface Tab, and uncheck "Notify me about...." (last checkbox at the bottom of the tab)

 

[Amnesia]

I suppose if I bitch about valve then the op will say "this post I can agree with, why can't more people be impartial".

 

[Dave****]

I hate steam, it burns.

 

[FartInferno]

Let's see why EA/Activision get so much hate shall we, compared to Valve;

Pros

+ Steam, and it's features

+ Okayish games, never really made a bad one

+ Steam sales

+ Seem to respect the PC platform


Cons
- Steam is a broken mess, that they refuse to fix, even though it's what gives them their billions of $

- All their IPs are gimmicks, except Half Life

- Never make any games, have a huge studio, yet are clearly lazy

- Way too many blind fanboys

- **** customer support

Valve eventually produces solid games which keeps all of us happy & in the interim holds our attention by selling us other peoples games at occasionally silly prices. In that sense they can pretty much do no wrong.

Where I think people are way too soft on Valve is with regards the Steam client; it really needs overhauling, one example is the way it handles the library is ****. why can't it auto sort into genre's? Only recently has it allowed you to select an install path, there are other niggles but considering the client is my only complaint shows Valve are playing the game pretty well.

 

[robgmun]

I'll always love Valve for HL2 and it's episodes. It's so unbelievably polished and by the end of the second episode you genuinely felt something for most of the characters. The only reason i don't like them is the lengh of time it's taken to get HL3 out

 

[AndyT]

I suppose if I bitch about valve then the op will say "this post I can agree with, why can't more people be impartial".

Great input, thanks for that. I'm not bitching, merely pointing out that you aren't allowed to say anything about Valve without people literally falling over each other to defend them. Daft really.

 

[Shamikebab]

Great input, thanks for that. I'm not bitching, merely pointing out that you aren't allowed to say anything about Valve without people literally falling over each other to defend them. Daft really.

You aren't allowed to say daft things about them without people telling you you're being daft.

 

[Beasty]

Valve are a bit less pure than they use to be but still favourable to some companies out there I suppose, I barely use steam or even play games these days but on the whole it is a good tool, just hate the pop up messages upon logon!

 

[linwelin]

The only reason why i tend to shy away from Origin is because of how much they charge for a game (i know you can buy elsewhere but its not the point) and is the exact reason why i love Steam, because of how cheap they sell games around holiday times + there daily deals.

 

[DampCat]

That last one: you can stop it happening. I believe the thing to click is:
Steam menu -> Settings -> Interface Tab, and uncheck "Notify me about...." (last checkbox at the bottom of the tab)

Huh, useful, thanks. I actually dont mind the post-game adverts, its often made me realise there is a sale on something.

Probably best to get rid of it because of that

 

[chriscubed]

I hate steam, it burns.

No it doesn't. It scalds.

 

[dakaiez]

The fact still remains, that the 3570k is a very popular and widely used processor, and the HD6850 was one of the most popular cards of its generation. Put two of them together and Steam doesn't work, lol.

Didn't work with a FX-4100 with a 6850 either, and that sounds like its an issue on my end indeed, but reformatting a PC, fresh install of windows on it and boom, back to the same. Hardly any user error there, especially as my computer is clean and bloatware free, is maintained thoroughly and never has a single thing on it I don't want there.

Yes and the fact still remains that people with the same or similar setups have no problems at all. I've been using Steam since the day it came out, if i could get all my games on there i would due to the ease of use. I don't love Valve but they have kept my love for gaming with their system, sales and to be honest with the best client out there.

I have gone through 4-5 systems since 2003 and not one computer has had an issue with Steam. I have also specced and built plenty of pc's for friends/family and again not one of them have had any issues.

I can understand you being frustrated though as you are one of the very few that have problems while others are enjoying problem free gaming.

 

[Omaeka]

Given how popular both those two components are, it must be the case that there are many, many other steam users who also have those two components. If they didn't work together with steam, there would be massive widespread outcry about this. It's got to be a problem at your end. That doens't mean it's your fault, maybe it's just that there's something about your setup - hardware combination, software combination, whatever, that is causing a hickup.

Have you started a thread to explore the issue and seek help?

I know it isn't my fault but what could the problem possibly be? Graphics cards never cause this kind of issue, motherboard and processor would, but I've been through an AM3+ with an FX4100 and it was the same, now on a Z77 3570k it's the same. The three formats I've done have been the same, it's literally; format > Windows 7 silky smooth install from disc > install drivers > install Steam > install a game > try it, fine > come back tommorow and problem starts up again. What can be done about that? :/

Funnily enough though it just went through perfectly, it became unresponsive for about 2 seconds but logged in. It sometimes does that, but most of the time it's a good 2 minute wait minimum until it becomes responsive and goes through.

Yes and the fact still remains that people with the same or similar setups have no problems at all. I've been using Steam since the day it came out, if i could get all my games on there i would due to the ease of use. I don't love Valve but they have kept my love for gaming with their system, sales and to be honest with the best client out there.

I have gone through 4-5 systems since 2003 and not one computer has had an issue with Steam. I have also specced and built plenty of pc's for friends/family and again not one of them have had any issues.

I can understand you being frustrated though as you are one of the very few that have problems while others are enjoying problem free gaming.

I like Valve, they're decent, and Steam is good too, but what could this possibly be on my end? The only other issues I've had was Crysis and that was fixed by a motherboard swap, Steam just won't fix no matter what I try.


http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2855932

 

[Confused]

I know it isn't my fault but what could the problem possibly be? Graphics cards never cause this kind of issue, motherboard and processor would, but I've been through an AM3+ with an FX4100 and it was the same, now on a Z77 3570k it's the same. The three formats I've done have been the same, it's literally; format > Windows 7 silky smooth install from disc > install drivers > install Steam > install a game > try it, fine > come back tommorow and problem starts up again. What can be done about that? :/

Funnily enough though it just went through perfectly, it became unresponsive for about 2 seconds but logged in. It sometimes does that, but most of the time it's a good 2 minute wait minimum until it becomes responsive and goes through.



I like Valve, they're decent, and Steam is good too, but what could this possibly be on my end? The only other issues I've had was Crysis and that was fixed by a motherboard swap, Steam just won't fix no matter what I try.


http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2855932

Any common components from these builds? RAM? Hard Drive? Installation media? Optical drive? Power supply? SATA cables?

Any one of those being the same could introduce something into your system that causes issues across multiple OS installations.

 

[Omaeka]

Any common components from these builds? RAM? Hard Drive? Installation media? Optical drive? Power supply? SATA cables?

Any one of those being the same could introduce something into your system that causes issues across multiple OS installations.

By multiple OS installations do you mean formatting not fixing or multiple formats and reinstalls causing problems? I've had the issue with Steam every since I started using it.

The only decent conclusions I've seen is Steam updating the clientregistry.blob which can take a while on a slow connection, but would only really take above a few minutes on a 56k modem.

Net:

Hardware:

Me:

 

[Woden]

It's the case badge. Messes up Steam every time.

 

[Narj]

Any common components from these builds? RAM? Hard Drive? Installation media? Optical drive? Power supply? SATA cables?

Any one of those being the same could introduce something into your system that causes issues across multiple OS installations.

I'd be pulling things one at a time, including the graphics card to try onboard video if you have it. Is the system otherwise stable? Done memory tests etc?

 

[dakaiez]

I like Valve, they're decent, and Steam is good too, but what could this possibly be on my end? The only other issues I've had was Crysis and that was fixed by a motherboard swap, Steam just won't fix no matter what I try.


http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2855932

I have no idea mate, i'd love to help but it could be anything considering you've had it over multiple computers. You haven't used the same hard drive on all of them have you?

It's weird the only problem i had was when my hard drive with Steam on it died and i had to RMA it had to clear all the registry etc so i could reinstall it.