What's the point of Steam?

Easy access to my games, no need to hunt out CDs to play!

I would buy all my games on Steam if i could :)
 
iTek said:
Steam is overpriced and a nuisance I feel...
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Steam is free :p

I think Steam is brilliant, I always have it open. I launch non-Steam games from it so that I can keep connected to friends.

The in-game messenger is really handy, I may be playing one game but my mate are playing another, they drop me a message and I can go join them.
 
Steam has some very good sales, which are always worth grabbing. Furthermore, they have automatic updating and licence management, which makes for convenience... especially with some of EA's games. Can make online games better, because you can instantly join in a friend's game. Also, the in-game web browser is nice.

There are obviously downsides as well - the prices can be insane (like £40 still for MW2), and increased overhead. Personally, I don't mind paying a small premium for steam games, but more than about a fiver is a deal breaker IMO.
 
I like steam, although I do like having games on my shelves to show off. I have a bad habit of leaving discs out and some have gotten so scratched I can't play them anymore so steam is great for that.

Then again I do like reading the manuals when I am catching the bus home.
 
For those who keep banging on about the pricing on Steam, go and complain somewhere else.

Steam is a premium service which has to be funded somehow.

Some people prefer to do their food shopping at Harrods. Some may say they do it because the expense is worth the additional service they receive which they enjoy.

You dont see people with banners outside saying "lower your prices to those of Farmfoods".

For me, Steam is worth EVERY Penny, even on new releases which I never buy at retail, allways on Steam and have done for a few years.
 
I cant imagine anyone saying GFWL provides a better service than steam. Is GFWL Direct.

* There are a LOT fewer countries supported by GFWL than Steam, and when you buy a game and bind it's key to an account GFWL thinks is in an unsupported country, you can't play that game online - and you can't get the game off that account.

* lots of people have problems with GFWL upgrades: sometimes when playing a game, GFWL tells you it needs to be upgraded, and tries to upgrade it within the game. This often fails, especially if the GFWL client itself needs upgrading as well as the game. You often have to close the game down, manually start the GFWL client outside the game, and go through the upgrade process there, sometimes more than once, trying the game again to see if it has worked.

* and of course, the biggie: the selection of games available on GFWL is a joke compared to steam, and the sales are nowhere near as often or as good.
 
Gimpymoo said:
For those who keep banging on about the pricing on Steam, go and complain somewhere else.

Steam is a premium service which has to be funded somehow.

Some people prefer to do their food shopping at Harrods. Some may say they do it because the expense is worth the additional service they receive which they enjoy.

You dont see people with banners outside saying "lower your prices to those of Farmfoods".

For me, Steam is worth EVERY Penny, even on new releases which I never buy at retail, allways on Steam and have done for a few years.
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Well said.

To me the convenience of having all my games on Steam justifies the price. When I buy in the sales I get a great deal, but I'm more than happy to pay the price for a game on release if I want it new.
 
I like steam mostly because I buy games on weekends and I don't want to wait until Tuesday for the game to get here

also like it because the sales are awesome and I don't have as many discs lying around which I have to put in the drive every time I want to play a game
 
Why can't play, amazon, hmv offer a digital download service? That way they can undercut steam so in theory steam will have to lower their price as well.
 
Oxy said:
Why can't play, amazon, hmv offer a digital download service? That way they can undercut steam so in theory steam will have to lower their price as well.
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I don't know if that will happen. Other Digital e-tailers such as Direct2Drive.co.uk have been about for some 6 years now, although slowly becoming more and more popular, Steam still leads the field and has not tried to actively compete with D2D's pricing (which is normally a little cheaper and more comparable to high street/retailer prices)

I guess Amazon or HMV with their marketing punch and current pricing may give Steam a lot more competition than D2D does, but as others have said, steam is more of a complete gamer package rather than just a retail outlet.. and I think thats what make it as good as what it is.
 
NathanT said:
I don't know if that will happen. Other Digital e-tailers such as Direct2Drive.co.uk have been about for some 6 years now, although slowly becoming more and more popular, Steam still leads the field and has not tried to actively compete with D2D's pricing (which is normally a little cheaper and more comparable to high street/retailer prices)

I guess Amazon or HMV with their marketing punch and current pricing may give Steam a lot more competition than D2D does, but as others have said, steam is more of a complete gamer package rather than just a retail outlet.. and I think thats what make it as good as what it is.
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oh yeh thats true.

If I was Amazon I would buy Xfire, clone steam, then sell my games digitally or make my DVD disks work on my new steam clone.
 
Oxy said:
Why can't play, amazon, hmv offer a digital download service? That way they can undercut steam so in theory steam will have to lower their price as well.
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God i hope not.

Steam is available forever, no screwing you around and i don't particularly want every seller and his sister company setting up there own digital service. Not only am i perfectly happy with only having 1 program for it all and don't want to have to install 5 or 6 different ones which are completely seperate (screwing with the social aspect of Steam) but they are bound to do things there own way. Look at EA, with there purchased downloads expiring at some point unless you pay extra to extend it and the fact it won't update automatically like Steam.

Plus Steam is the only DDS that games are actually integrated with. And some of them are done fully integrated so you'd be getting games sold through an Amazon DDS to be activated in Steam DDS...
 
For me steam does command a premium over retail copy's of the game. Having unlimited backup of your games is price less. ASk amazon and the others to send you a free game disk when you lose your disk. fat chance.
 
Evilsod said:
God i hope not.

Steam is available forever, no screwing you around and i don't particularly want every seller and his sister company setting up there own digital service. Not only am i perfectly happy with only having 1 program for it all and don't want to have to install 5 or 6 different ones which are completely seperate (screwing with the social aspect of Steam) but they are bound to do things there own way. Look at EA, with there purchased downloads expiring at some point unless you pay extra to extend it and the fact it won't update automatically like Steam.

Plus Steam is the only DDS that games are actually integrated with. And some of them are done fully integrated so you'd be getting games sold through an Amazon DDS to be activated in Steam DDS...
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My idea would increase competition and drive down pricing. Unless they price fix.

Steam is only good during sales, and sometimes the sales only bring the price down to the DVD price on amazon/play anyway.

I like the concept of steam but it can be pricey, combine that with my mega slow internet, I look to buy DVD's over steam when I can.
 
Id love everything to be available on steam, i like all my games in one place, ive got 110 games in steam now thanks to all the sales and bundles, my daughter can play them all on her pc too.
 
I never buy games from steam, unless in one of the awesome sales.

But I do love the automatic updating feature. I remember the days of pre cs 1.6. Patches took ages to come out, with steam they can pop one out anytime.

Downloading the patches took hours, manual installs and then finding servers that had also updated - was a right mess about.
 
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