Direct2drive or Steam, which do you prefer?

In this one there is no win win situation.

I do not use steam because steam as an elaborate connectivity scheme that makes me impossible for me to use it.

I use 2d2 because i am able to connect to the dran thing with their donwload manager and the download speeds are good.

On the patch side of things it all depends on the developper and "when" they decide to provide either steam or d2d with a patch. I got a game on d2d and it patches with the regular downloadable from anywhere patch so it is not a problem....it also really depends on how the game was made. So the patch issue can become an issue with either steam or d2d, so no one wins on this.

Steam as cheaper prices. Steam as older games than d2d.

D2D , you basically get an image that is on the dvd as if you had bought it retail, so u can easily back it up to your own dvd. not that simple with steam.

Some D2D content is associated with your pc's id so if you reinstall windows , your pc's id will change and you will not be able to use the product...that happened to me with game guide they sold to me.

Overall i like D2D better but again...retail is the way to go for mainstream game...

D2D , you basically get an image that is on the dvd as if you had bought it retail, so u can easily back it up to your own dvd. not that simple with steam.kokonut1971

[QUOTE="kokonut1971"]D2D , you basically get an image that is on the dvd as if you had bought it retail, so u can easily back it up to your own dvd. not that simple with steam.Hewkii

[QUOTE="Hewkii"][QUOTE="kokonut1971"]D2D , you basically get an image that is on the dvd as if you had bought it retail, so u can easily back it up to your own dvd. not that simple with steam.VMan

I used to love Steam, but for some weird reason they changed the currency to Euro even though Norway, where im from, isnt part of the EU. So that means the games are suddenly much more expensive considering the NOK vs USD vs Euro rate. Almost the same or more than retail. So i guess im going back to mailorder or store now. Direct2drive is OKrobertlie

Yeah I've heard steam isn't so great for foriegners price wise. One thing to consider though is that a lot of European countries put some tax on online retail (VAC I believe i the main one?). I remember a lot of the EU people were complaining about the price of EVE online because it was like 15 Euros a month, so buying timecards were much more cost effective (even if CCP got a lot less of the money / month). I think this probably is the reason the price of DDS isn't so attractive to some people these days...

[QUOTE="robertlie"]I used to love Steam, but for some weird reason they changed the currency to Euro even though Norway, where im from, isnt part of the EU. So that means the games are suddenly much more expensive considering the NOK vs USD vs Euro rate. Almost the same or more than retail. So i guess im going back to mailorder or store now. Direct2drive is OKRotinaj32

Yeah I've heard steam isn't so great for foriegners price wise. One thing to consider though is that a lot of European countries put some tax on online retail (VAC I believe i the main one?). I remember a lot of the EU people were complaining about the price of EVE online because it was like 15 Euros a month, so buying timecards were much more cost effective (even if CCP got a lot less of the money / month). I think this probably is the reason the price of DDS isn't so attractive to some people these days...

I have been using Steam ever since HL2 and have been been buying all my games through steam if possible. Steam just makes my life easier. And I like the fact that I can install my games on any computer and have all my settings follow me and I have friends all over so the community functionality really makes it easy connecting with them and setting up matches and what not.

Steam, no doubt.

STEAM

I hate D2D. You have to download the stuff from Fileplanet and if you don't have a sub there you get crap speeds. Steam FTW.EndersAres

I don't really lean toward either, whoever has the best deal. It's nice to be able to message friends while playing said game on Steam but it has it's draw backs. It takes more memory if you run said game on Steam.

Steam.

Steam, there is an easy manager.

I enjoy Steam's ease of use, but I don't like it when their servers get swamped and it takes me forever to dl a game.

Steam is better than D2D

I have been using Steam for quite some time now (since when HL2 came out). The biggest thing I didn't like about Steam is not having the choice where to put the games on the hard drive. It also doesn't allow downloading the actual game files to install yourself, it only downloads and installs the actual game itself.

I experimented a bit by buying a download game from EA and Eidos. EA was ok (Mass Effect), a download manager was required to download the game. There was a choice where to put the download itself and then of course when installing from that download, you could install the game where ever you wanted. When the downloadable content and patch came out for that game, it was no problem getting it.

Then I bought one from Eidos (TR Underworld). This experience has not been good. No download manager is required. Just download the game files where ever you want and then install the game. The problem came up when the recent patch was released. Well the Eidos site doesn't even mention patches for their download games at all (for any game). So a bit of trying to figure out where a patch could be turned out to be quite troublesome. To start, when I clicked on to buy the game, I got tranferred to Trymedia to pay. Then I got an email from gamesplanet.com with the links and code. Then my credit card gets billed from Metaboli FR. Too damn many hands to deal with. I email Eidos about info on the patch. They send some automated response that they don't have anything to do with it (and it's their game!) and to contact Trymedia. I contact Trymedia and their response was they never heard of me. I contact gamesplanet and get another automated response with a link to their website. I do see some patches there but none for Underworld yet.

Bottom line, I'll never buy another download game from Eidos. Terrible customer support, too many hands involved, and the site for their download games is not user friendly at all with the work that needs to be done to keep one of their download version games current.

EA wasn't bad based on the limited experience from that one game purchase.

I don't have any experience with D2D and don't think I'm going to mess with them.

From my experience I have to say that Steam is the best still. At least everything is right there with no one else to deal with. Game patches that come out are done automatically and in a timely manner (Steam already has the Underworld patch and I still don't).MikeO32989

Steam owns everyone :D

Valve lover :P