• Steam is killing the PC gaming market
    317 replies, posted
Maybe if all the other distributors weren't complete shit we'd be more inclined to use them.
I find it funny most don't complain about Steam ruining piracy. I've started to realize that most willing to buy it on Steam (say.. CS:S or Half Life 2 or something.. and most recently Fallout: New Vegas) but other games with EA Manager what ever else there is fall to the hands of pirates. Steam is not only helping stop piracy, but also game stores for PC games. Although piracy always finds a way around things.. so that depends on how you look at it. But it's not like PC stores are gonna carry every version of GTA, or all those stupid train addons I see. What Valve should do.. is make a Valve store. At least I can see them making a good idea out of that.
[QUOTE=JeffAndersen;25996991]I find it funny most don't complain about Steam ruining piracy. I've started to realize that most willing to buy it on Steam (say.. CS:S or Half Life 2 or something.. and most recently Fallout: New Vegas) but other games with EA Manager what ever else there is fall to the hands of pirates. Steam is not only helping stop piracy, but also game stores for PC games. Although piracy always finds a way around things.. so that depends on how you look at it. But it's not like PC stores are gonna carry every version of GTA, or all those stupid train addons I see. What Valve should do.. is make a Valve store. At least I can see them making a good idea out of that.[/QUOTE] Steam is hardly stopping anything. Look at Black Ops, couple hours after it's out, there's a perfectly working copy for pirates out.
[QUOTE=JeffAndersen;25996991]I find it funny most don't complain about Steam ruining piracy. I've started to realize that most willing to buy it on Steam (say.. CS:S or Half Life 2 or something.. and most recently Fallout: New Vegas) but other games with EA Manager what ever else there is fall to the hands of pirates. Steam is not only helping stop piracy, but also game stores for PC games. Although piracy always finds a way around things.. so that depends on how you look at it. But it's not like PC stores are gonna carry every version of GTA, or all those stupid train addons I see. What Valve should do.. is make a Valve store. At least I can see them making a good idea out of that.[/QUOTE] I have no problem with companies trying to stop piracy as long as their method doesn't interfere with legitimate users or pull legal bullshit.
Steam, Google... Nerds are such sycophants.
Vavle should make a console supported entirely by digital Distribution. not now of course because it isn't really working out at the moment (PSP Go lol), but some time during the next two console generations they should consider it.
[QUOTE=Jsm;25994275]UK retailers are killing the PC gaming market, not steam. I dunno about everywhere else in the UK but all of the major stores selling games within about 20 miles of my house have a selection of like 5 PC games, all being the latest most popular releases (not necessarily the games people actually want). I don't think I have purchased a game from a physical shop in years, I get all my games from Amazon and steam now. It is just so much easier (and usually cheaper). [/QUOTE] Yeah even in Game they only have a few old, shitty games. I get all of my games from play.com
[QUOTE=Zezibesh;25997029]Steam is hardly stopping anything. Look at Black Ops, couple hours after it's out, there's a perfectly working copy for pirates out.[/QUOTE] Whether a game is cracked or not is irrelevant - Crackers do it because they like the challenge regardless of if the game is good/popular or not (I too would find it very fun to try and work around extensive protection systems), what really matters is how many people torrent the cracked version instead of buying the game.
Still, if Steam dominates the PC gaming market I'll sure miss those special edition games and pre-order stuff.
The only reason I buy from shops like HMV still is just because I sometimes it's cheaper. Like 44.99 Eur for Black Ops. While 59.99 On steam. But I still prefer steam. Also they should not be whining if they are so upset why don't they increase advertisements on PC games than on xbox.
[QUOTE=Im Crimson;25997196]Whether a game is cracked or not is irrelevant - Crackers do it because they like the challenge regardless of if the game is good/popular or not (I too would find it very fun to try and work around extensive protection systems), what really matters is how many people torrent the cracked version instead of buying the game.[/QUOTE] and even then it's a measure of how fun the actual game is. I could pirate black ops and just play the SP, but then I'd probably buy it to play MP with friends because it looks like a lot of fun
Steam is the best at what it does, i see their point its just how long till they start getting anti-trust probes for being a monopoly like every other buisness in a similar situation does.
[QUOTE=scotland1;25997164]Yeah even in Game they only have a few old, shitty games. I get all of my games from play.com[/QUOTE] Game is actually the store I was alluding to, I have had a £20 gift voucher for nearly a year and I have been trying to spend it for ages. The last game I looked for was ArmA2 OA just after it came out, it was on their site but not in store :(
[QUOTE=Bat-shit;25991647]Valve has have made clever choices, that's why they are running successfully. nothing wrong with that Lol, I remember when I actually went out to get new games. I guess those times are history now, I don't mind really. I like to be able to buy my games through internet as a digital copy[/QUOTE] Not really. I bought Black Ops for 40 euros in a store, where it would be 60 on Steam.
I don't think stores would be losing out as much as they claim to do if they could just stock up on some more PC games, rather than just stick to the top-10 and expect to make money off PC gamers by just that. Since Valve switched to "local currency" games aren't really cheaper in Europe on Steam than in stores, but what good is that with such a limited selection? My local Game store consists of 90% console games, and it's been like that even since before Steam got good (anyone who used it back around 2004 and earlier remembers what a piece of shit it was), so I really think the retailers have themselves to blame to an extent.
[QUOTE=Ninjarooster;25996795]If any company is going to have a monopoly, I'd like it to be Valve. They seem to treat us right.[/QUOTE] New Half-Life 2 Episode 1 collectors edition with THREE special hats!
well, the reason I prefer steam store over retail is not because of the price, but because it's tons easier and faster and you never have to worry about the stock
[QUOTE=AtomiC0l;25993209]Are you dumb? [b]Steam[/b] didn't make the game. [b]Steam[/b] doesn't know anything about the mechanics of the game. [b]Rockstar[/b] made the game. [b]Rockstar[/b] knows about the mechanics of the game and may be able to help you with it.[/QUOTE] [b]Steam[/b] isn't a company. [b]Steam[/b] is a service. [b]Valve[/b] is a company. [b]Valve[/b] runs Steam.
The only thing I hate about steam are the crashes and the LOL VAC BANS ARE ALWAYS RIGHT.
[QUOTE=Hmn30;25998528]The only thing I hate about steam are the crashes and the LOL VAC BANS ARE ALWAYS RIGHT.[/QUOTE] but VAC bans have little to do with steam and they are right
GTA 4 for $7.50 on christmas, maybe retailers should notice that.
Steam is great until for whatever reason you lose internet connection and all those $50 games go down the drain because steam is a bitch to play offline.
[QUOTE=Zezibesh;25995798]With a hard copy you can use it regardless if the publisher changes it's licensing terms.[/QUOTE] You could also just pirate it and use your CD-Keys if you bought it on Steam. Both are illegal.
Do you guys not honestly realize how bad this is? Steam is already fucking people up the ass, imagine how much they're going to when they're the only place left that sells PC games. And before you decide to be an idiot and blindly defend steam, have a look at this: [IMG]http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r160/Elspin/steam.jpg[/IMG] Steam is quite openly banning people who get hacked, and telling them "We won't unban your account because we care about our customers". However, they are also quite comfortable telling you exactly how to buy the game on another account even if you're aware that you're cheating. Lovely. I love the developers at Valve, and their games are some of my favourite ever. But the company is honestly just fucked. It is not good to have one company with this fucked up policy controlling your ability to play online.
its because anyone could claim they got hacked.
[QUOTE=Elspin;25999133]Do you guys not honestly realize how bad this is? Steam is already fucking people up the ass, imagine how much they're going to when they're the only place left that sells PC games. And before you decide to be an idiot and blindly defend steam, have a look at this: [img_thumb]http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r160/Elspin/steam.jpg[/img_thumb] Steam is quite openly banning people who get hacked, and telling them "We won't unban your account because we care about our customers". However, they are also quite comfortable telling you exactly how to buy the game on another account even if you're aware that you're cheating. Lovely. I love the developers at Valve, and their games are some of my favourite ever. But the company is honestly just fucked. It is not good to have one company with this fucked up policy controlling your ability to play online.[/QUOTE] They don't tell people the reason because it could help the hack creators to debug their hacks. And the permanent ban is just to make them buy the game again.
[QUOTE=Nohj;25999191]its because anyone could claim they got hacked.[/QUOTE] Yeah, they could, but in the case above it was by a german IP address who had daisychained about 9 hacked steam accounts and deleted all the friends on the account to be replaced with all the accounts he had stolen. Please explain to me how that does not warrant a return of account, and unbanning. [editline]11th November 2010[/editline] [QUOTE=Wizard of Ass;25999340]They don't tell people the reason because it could help the hack creators to debug their hacks. And the permanent ban is just to make them buy the game again.[/QUOTE] Are you serious? That's the point. They are intentionally giving you a permanent ban for everything and anything, even if it's not your fault, to make you buy the game again.
My only real problem with steam is the offline play. You have to sign in online in order to play offline, which means you can't play your games if you can't connect to the internet.
[QUOTE=Elspin;25999347] Are you serious? That's the point. They are intentionally giving you a permanent ban for everything and anything, even if it's not your fault, to make you buy the game again.[/QUOTE] Thats todays business.
[QUOTE=Wizard of Ass;25999515]Thats todays business.[/QUOTE] Your username is incredibly appropriate, though there's nothing magic about what you're ok with companies doing to your ass. Honestly, if you just let a company continue fucking you like this, it will only get worse. You're supposed to stop using a company when it does this, not just say "D'oh well"
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