Steam Appreciation thread

[Lucid]

Really? What don't you like about it?


Valve hasn't been bought because it's not for sale. Don't get me wrong I don't like greedy publishers spoiling games (Lucas Arts springs to mind ) but Valve would be independent regardless of Steams existence.

It's pointless and a big memory hog.

It's only there for showing off your e-penis.
And it's already like Myspace and Youtube, I'm getting requests and friend invites from people I've never even heard of!

Group chats are even more pointless, nobody even really talks about anything... it's spam until somebody finds something intelligible to say.

 

[Apocalypse89]

Valve hasn't been bought because it's not for sale. Don't get me wrong I don't like greedy publishers spoiling games (Lucas Arts springs to mind ) but Valve would be independent regardless of Steams existence.

Although the direct reason for Valve's independence is the fact that they're a private company, they need to stay self-sufficient in order to maintain that independence. That's what Steam is for.

 

[Operational]

It's pointless and a big memory hog.

It's only there for showing off your e-penis.
And it's already like Myspace and Youtube, I'm getting requests and friend invites from people I've never even heard of!

Group chats are even more pointless, nobody even really talks about anything... it's spam until somebody finds something intelligible to say.

Depends how you use it I suppose. My friend list is made up of actual friends who I want to play with, I use the Steam Community to find their games and chat in-between matches - it's great.

Although the direct reason for Valve's independence is the fact that they're a private company, they need to stay self-sufficient in order to maintain that independence. That's what Steam is for.

They deal with EA without it affecting their independence. Steam does help smaller developers stay independent but Valve is large enough so that they can't be pushed around by EA. A perfect example is Knights of the Old Republic, from what I understand when Bioware were making the first one they could basically tell LucasArts to get lost. When the second one was being made by Obsidian, a smaller developer, they were pushed around by LucasArts into releasing something that wasn't finished and the game suffered for it.

 

[Crispy]

You really should email Valve with your suggestions. Unless you have already?

Sent them an email, no response yet.

 

[Kyorisu]

I hate steam because of crappy region locking on Valves own games.

"This game is not available in your region."

Thank god I found a way to get around that one or I'd be extremely pissed.

 

[contentdog]

steam = pure win

"steam is equal to or greater THAN the word"
"CHECK IT AGAIN"

Steam is probably the greatest thing i have ever found on the internet...steam support has never failed to fix any problems with my games...and almost every game on there is awesome...

I have 1, and ONLY 1 problem with steam, and its not really valves fault. my problem is...

Metacritic...they fail...epicly. They would be okish i guess but they obviously have never heard of "Friends". They always give co-op games terrible scores because the online co-op sucks. 3 words...skype or vent. You could even use in game chat if you REALLY wanted to...I recently bought borderlands on steam along with the DLC and it only got an 82 metascore...anyone who owns the game and has friends would agree that its closer to a 96-98.

/rant

 

[barbarbarbarbar]

Lol , the official Valve suck up thread.Good show lads.

 

[Acepilotf14]

Valve you're awesome.

I'm not being a suck-up or anything.

Can I get a poster signed by Gabe please?

 

[15357]

I hate Steam, mainly because it makes me download stuff at 800kb/s instead of the 6 ~ 8mb/s I'm used to.

 

[Lumikola]

My download speed is an average of about 100kb/s... So you aren't in a bad situation at all. Generally I like Steam as it makes playing and over all the installing of games easier.

 

[15357]

The problem is, when you're used to god awesome download speeds, you begin to expect it.

 

[StarBob]

Steam is basically one of the few saving graces of PC gaming. It didn't start download-direct games but it definitely perfected it. The use of a low impact client that manages games is the key. There are a few things that still need improving, but Steam is basically the only way I get PC games.

 

[TwwIX]

I stopped purchasing retail copies of games when they discontinued putting them in cardboard boxes.
I loved those bulky yet artsy packages. My first ever purchase of a PC game was Half Life's GOTY Edition along with a copy of Jagged Alliance 2. I collected quite a few of them over the years and most of them are still in mint condition. I rarely buy retail games these days. The great thing about Steam is the constant deals that it offers and the collection of older and indie games it has. It's simple and easily accessible. Most of the other digital distribution clients out there are over bloated and buggy. I don't have to worry about Valve installing unnecessary and harmful crap on my computer. The fact that they're continuously expanding its features, such as social networking, makes it far superior than the alternatives.

 

[Acepilotf14]

I'm withdrawing my 'valve is awesome' comment in light of this latest update.

 

[kineaesth]

I'm withdrawing my 'valve is awesome' comment in light of this latest update.

Thank you.

Gosh it just makes me so mad

 

[Apocalypse89]

I actually like the new update.

Are there any major problems I'm not seeing?

 

[T-6000]

I love steam.

A lot of people give it flak, for reasons I can't comprehend. Maybe they're just daft. Maybe they just enjoy complaining. But I love steam.

So, post about how great steam is. I suppose you can post your dislike of steam too, but you're going to be flamed furiously if you do.

I'll be honest, at first I didn't like Steam. But it's improved and I've come to like it. Not only is it now more Stable than what it use to be, but also Steamworks titles have numerous advantages over that pitiful for an excuse Xbox live's reject brother called "Games for Windows Live", such as Achievements, stat tracking, Steam Cloud, and reasonable DRM.

Alot of people over at the Games for Windows forums love to bash Steam when they get a chance and try their best to state 'reasons' why "Games for Windows Live" is better than Steam. And I roar with laughter. Games for Windows not only severely lacks Steam's features, but it's also buggy, a pain to get working everytime I have to reformat my PC (It's a snap to get Steam and my Games for it working again after every reformat and new Windows install), and lacks so many titles even Microsoft Games puts out very few titles. GFWL is a Microsoft product, and even Microsoft puts few of their own titles for it? It's like Valve avoiding putting their own games on Steam. Does that even make any sense? When GFWL first came out, I actually liked it and supported it. But it seems like every new version keeps getting buggier and Microsoft has put little effort to not only improve it but to also get even their own titles for it. Why isn't Gears of War 2 for Games for Windows Live? Or Gears of War 3?! Why did they skip out on bringing Fable 2 to it? And what about Alan Wake? Why did it skip GFWL? It's sad when even Microsoft don't have much confidence in GFWL anymore. And to add insult to injury, they are part of the PC gaming Alliance. Today I read that Bethesda will be using Steamworks for Fallout New Vegas instead of GFWL. A sign of developers abandoning GFWL perhaps? Microsoft announced that they will start selling non GFWL and even non GFW titles on their Games on Demand service for GFWL. But unless Microsoft shapes up and starts putting their XBox 360 'exclusive' titles for GFWL (and maybe make the interface less buggy and less of a hassle to get working) I doubt this move will increase the popularity of GFWL much.

Sorry about the long rant in regards to Games for Windows Live, I'm just so disappointed in Microsoft's 'commitment' to the PC. Thank god for Valve!

 

[Robbo]

What the hell is 'Games for Windows Live' I've never heard of it.

It may just be me but with steams new facelift it's become buggy and slow as. Some night it just wont open and thus I cant get into any of my games. I like the idea and 'for the most' the way it's been implemented but if your going to force people to use it to play games they have paid for I want to be absolutely bullet proof

 

[Barnz]

Games for Windows Live is the worst thing ever made by Microsoft. Yes, it's worse than their Office mascots.

 

[T-6000]

Games for Windows Live is the worst thing ever made by Microsoft. Yes, it's worse than their Office mascots.

If only Microsoft would have placed some *real* effort behind Games for Windows Live, it would have been a pretty good platform and a good source of competition for Steam. At first I liked Games for Windows Live (even though I thought it was ridiculous for them to incorporate Gold subscription into GFWL, especially when Steam offered Multiplayer for free), but now I just shake my head in grief. Microsoft has really given GFWL the backseat treatment, with a severe lack of polish (and trying to make it too much like a carbon Copy of Xbox Live) and a severe lack of Microsoft Games titles Microsoft seems bent on making XBox 360 exclusive. Releasing non GFWL and even non GFW titled games won't bring in many additional customers. GFWL really needs more exclusive titles, more polish, and more features that Steam (or any other digital distribution plaform) doesn't have. Humorously, GFWL fanboys have stated that GFWL lacks quality because of the removal of the Gold Subscriptions. In fact, some have said that Microsoft should charge $100
a year for GFWL gold subscription. Oh boy, did I roar with laughter when I heard this silly statement.

Steamworks titles just has so many advantages over GFWL titles at the moment. You have reasonable DRM, Steamsloud, stat tracking, achievements, easy to use and polished interface, and you don't need a CD in the drive. Despite all these advantages, GFWL fanboys still continue to claim that Steam is garbage compared to GFWL. *facedpalm*

 

[Adabiviak]

Steam is that 'swiss army knife' application that doesn't suck. It does a lot of things, all of which (that I've used anyway) work well. Many 'swiss army knife' applications do suck because they sacrifice quality for quantity. Also, many of the complaints about Steam seem to be people's expectations of what it should do, and not how well it does the things it does.

 

[T-6000]

It looks like with this year's E3 some people at the games for windows site are realizing that Microsoft really doesn't care much for PC Gaming. In fact, one poster there made a very good point in his post:
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"There is very little reason for the average pc gaming schmoe to come to Gamesforwindows.com as it is. Now the company is trying to pull people in to buy games from GoD that can already be bought elsewhere for cheaper prices and/or with less hassle? It's not like im trying to muster up some BS to bash Microsoft. Im pointing out what they are trying to do, and why its going to fail so hard. There is 0 incentive for someone to buy these games over GoD. Insert LIVE features with Achievements and you have a serious selling point. Stop looking through your fanboy kaleidoscopes like little children, admiring the pretty color patterns, close your mouth's and wipe the drool off your faces.Try to view things from a practical standpoint. How many know of this new turn of events for the GoD service other than those that already come to this site and pledged their alegence to Bill Gates? You're not pulling in new customers by offering Non Live titles to the GoD service. It's debateable if you will even make enough sales to turn a profit for hosting these games that few will buy. How many people actually currently buy games off the GoD service? Make a poll. This is obviously a panic move to try and generate sales for the service. Most will agree with this. Few will play it off as the service becoming more flexible. But doesnt that mean the same thing anyway? If it has to become more flexible then it must be doing something wrong to spur this change. Im not hating on Games for Windows. I like the brand personally, and I think there is a lot of potential for LIVE on PC. But MS clearly needs someone else running its Games for Windows division. Because the guy thats currently in charge is running around like a chiken with its head cut off."
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He has a very good point about Microsoft adding in a bunch of non-live games into their Windows Games on Demand service as being a panic move and a desperate attempt to get more people into GFWL, and the people running GFWL are acting like a chicken running around with it's head cut off. If this keeps up, they might as well just pull the damn plug on the whole thing. What the GFWL Team and Microsoft should do is polish up the interface, put in more features, and bring in more GFWL titles including Microsoft's own titles (and stop with the XBox 360 Exclusive garbage!). In other words, they should take a look at Valve and Steam and see why they are so successful on the PC.