What's the point of Steam?

i oftem lose DVDs & CD-Keys so having it all tied to an account is aplus for me. Proper Steam-powered games are worth the little extra too - can hop into games with friends easier etc, whereas games just "On" steam dont have as many features. But mostly its just easier.
 
Well without getting into another "running around in circles" pricing argument on Steam, biggest appeal for it for me is the convenience. I'll be moving around a lot in the near future and having games on my hard drive is just spot on for me. Saying that I only ever once bought something full price on there, usually just wait around for deals.
 
Just say you open a new game shop you pay out for the setup cost.
Then you the have the day to day running cost rent, rates, wages etc.
Then you buy your stock you put it out at a price that you can just about make some money.
now how would you feel if steam came along and under cut you.

I have to sell stock at a loss because of this in my business.
 
fatus said:
Just say you open a new game shop you pay out for the setup cost.
Then you the have the day to day running cost rent, rates, wages etc.
Then you buy your stock you put it out at a price that you can just about make some money.
now how would you feel if steam came along and under cut you.

I have to sell stock at a loss because of this in my business.
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If you're trying to make an analogy for why Steam is bad then that's terrible or I may be confused and you're trying to say that it would be bad if Steam undercut shops on new releases?
 
also, for people who have multiple PC's or who travel a lot, it means they don't need to lug hundreds of DVD's and their manuals around with them all the time.

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for example, i have 34 games in my steam account and if i wanted to take them all with me to another country, i'd not need a single physical item, whereas if all those games were in a single DVD-case each, it'd take up a whopping Twelve thousand, Two hundred and nine Cubic Centimeters!
 
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I don't buy new games on Steam due to the rip off pricing, can get the games up to 10/15 pounds cheaper from popular retail sites, but the sales they do are awesome 8(
 
fatus said:
Just say you open a new game shop you pay out for the setup cost.
Then you the have the day to day running cost rent, rates, wages etc.
Then you buy your stock you put it out at a price that you can just about make some money.
now how would you feel if steam came along and under cut you.

I have to sell stock at a loss because of this in my business.
Click to expand...

:confused:
 
iTek said:
Steam is overpriced and a nuisance I feel, however I can see it offering advantages to those who are unable to get to the shops or who want to get the newest titles as soon as possible.

Right this minute I'm installing COD MW2 which I have just been and purchased from Arg0s for £24.99 steam are charging £39.99 for the same title, its only taking me 15 minutes to install and not several hours to download.
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In the other side of things though - It may have taken 15 minutes to install - but it probably took 1/2 days to deliver or a trip to the shops (However long that may be for you)

Also COD isn't a fair example - Call of Duty 4 is still way overpriced for how long it's been around.
 
I like the community aspect to steam. Not just forums, and chat. But even just having the ability to play games with people on a whim. Me and my friends on MSN do this often, Sit chatting, and then

"Oh wow, I fancy playing Dawn of war! Up for it?"
"Yeah okay!"

And we both log into Steam and download the game and play! I mean its possible to
walk out the door, into town, into the shop, Both purchase a copy and go back home and then play.

But you tell me, Which is the easier and more convenient option!?
 
Marky said:
In the other side of things though - It may have taken 15 minutes to install - but it probably took 1/2 days to deliver or a trip to the shops (However long that may be for you)

Also COD isn't a fair example - Call of Duty 4 is still way overpriced for how long it's been around.
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It took me 10 minutes to drive into town, which costs about £2 in petrol, I then paid 60 pence for parking got my game and came home, all done within 20/25 minutes.

Still a huge saving and much faster then downloading, I agree about Modern Warfare prices with steam, they are overpriced but like I said for my example, steam is cack!
 
Steam sales are great and have purchased most of my games during sales. I look at Steam as an achive now which in 5yrs time I can just go back and enjoy
 
'Wes said:
Convenience mostly.
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Same. Install all your games while you are afk. Automatic updates so you dont have to constantly check for patches. New features like Steam Cloud meaning all your saves are saved on the Steam servers. Plus, the sales are sometimes really good. Don't buy my games anywhere else anymore.

That THQ deal was very impressive - you would never get a deal like that in the shops.
 
iTek said:
It took me 10 minutes to drive into town, which costs about £2 in petrol, I then paid 60 pence for parking got my game and came home, all done within 20/25 minutes.

Still a huge saving and much faster then downloading, I agree about Modern Warfare prices with steam, they are overpriced but like I said for my example, steam is cack!
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No you're just ignorant.

Publishers control steam prices and I believe, the level of discount during sales. Retail stores like HMV and GAME get all whiny if Digital Distribution undercuts them in regular pricing so the industry more or less always determines the Steam price to be higher to keep the retailers happy, given that you can't digitally distribute console games, it pays to keep the retailers happy.

MW is a stupid example. We know activision are greedy ****s and since MW2 is activated on steam, it makes no difference. Besides, MW2 was pre-loaded so it was downloaded and installed before you even got that copy which trumps the whole time scale.
 
If it's true about publishers keeping prices high to keep retailers happy that is ridiculous, sales lost from high street retail to Steam still end up in the publisher's pocket. It's not Steam's fault that they've discovered a more viable business than HMV or whoever.
 
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