Users of Steam or other direct download games systems - opinions required!

[thor]

As part of a university assignment I have to design a user interface for some sort of software system of my choosing. I've decided to design an interface for a direct download games system - something along the lines of Steam or Xbox Live Arcade.

To aid my design process, I would really appreciate it if people who have used these type of systems could post in here, PM, or even email me with their thoughts and opinions on the system. I'm not looking for loads of replies to this - I would much prefer a handful of replies but with a wealth of information within each one if possible. The more detail the better, everything from installing the software, how it runs, what it looks like, the options available, what's good, what's bad etc

I got a great response to a recent survey I posted on here relating to who uses these systems, and the comments I got are a huge help. I was going to do a similar thing with this but I would rather more open-ended comments, pretty much anything you can think of.

So anyway, if anyone would like to give me their thoughts I would be hugely appreciative.

Thanks!

 

[thor]

I'll give you a nice reasonably long post on Steam this afternoon, as everybody knows I'm Mr. SteamyD , got uni to go to now, so give me a couple of hours

Cheers mate, your thoughts would be most appreciated

 

[thor]

Thanks a lot for all the replies guys! A couple more questions for you all though...

What sort of interface would you like to see in a system of this type? Do you think the small-scale web-like interface, as used by Steam, is appropriate?
Fini, you say you don't like the navigation of the Steam interface - are you able to tell me exactly what you don't like about it and/or what you would prefer?

What would be the first screen you would want to see when you open the client (assuming you've already logged in of course)? Eg, the first screen visible when you load up Steam is "Store" (although it's more of an advert screen for the latest games). Do you think this is appropriate or would you rather see something else? Your list of games for example?

Also, don't feel you need to comment on Steam at all - if you have examples of other systems, good or bad, feel free to share your thoughts.

Thanks again!