Steam or Retail?

Before moving to SE Asia, I would've said Steam but now that I'm at the mercy of a rather unreliable internet connection, I'd say avoid it. I have a 1Mbps connection yet I cannot get Steam to work reliably which means that there's no guarantee that I'll be able to play any of the games I bought of Steam reliably.

The other big drawback of games bought off steam is that 3rd party mods don't work with most Steam games.

Retail, your DVD copy of the game will not lose it's internet connection, it will not go out of buisness, it will not be corrupted by your computer, a virus, a hacker, it will not stop halfway through a download, it won't stop offering your game because of copyright issues, or licensing or buisness agreements. I refuse to buy a game that is only avaialble on-line, that is an automatic no-go for me.jsgx3

the ability to burn your games to a disc might invalidate all of that.

Retail, your DVD copy of the game will not lose it's internet connection, it will not go out of buisness, it will not be corrupted by your computer, a virus, a hacker, it will not stop halfway through a download, it won't stop offering your game because of copyright issues, or licensing or buisness agreements. I refuse to buy a game that is only avaialble on-line, that is an automatic no-go for me.jsgx3

Are games usually cheaper? What is the main advantage? Not having to put in a CD each time you play?grim1813

Sometimes they have sales but most of the time they are at the same price of retail and rare cases more expensive(COD4 for example). Main advantage is you can download your game at anytime, auto patches, ability to back up your downloads(kinda negates the retail is better for hard copy arguement)., steam community, and contary to popular belief there is infact an offline mode with steam so you can play your single player games without having to connect to the internet.

Steam

its 99% reliable, and for that 1% there is always a solution on the Steam forums

You dont need to worry about scratching/losing disks.

I admit; I missed having physical copies of games, but Steam is just nice...you open it up, and all your games are in a nice little list. The fact that they have extremely good prices also helps.

The only downside is that sometimes it can take a while to download a game (remedied by doing it before you go to sleep, just leave it on) and it takes 30 seconds to login sometimes (a minor inconvenience).

Steam FTW!

I will probibly never buy anything off steam for 3 reasons:

1. I'm a collector so I like watching my boxes.

2. Steam games cost as much as real CD version.

3. Having the DVDs will reduce alot of problems in the futer like when
you have to format or lose hard drive.Adam3k3

[QUOTE="Adam3k3"] I will probibly never buy anything off steam for 3 reasons:

1. I'm a collector so I like watching my boxes.

2. Steam games cost as much as real CD version.

3. Having the DVDs will reduce alot of problems in the futer like when
you have to format or lose hard drive.foxhound_fox

I can buy a new or used copy of the game I want half the price on Amazon or ebay, plus I can enter the serial into my steam acount and have both steam and real DVD version but I do see your points.

[QUOTE="foxhound_fox"][QUOTE="Adam3k3"] I will probibly never buy anything off steam for 3 reasons:

1. I'm a collector so I like watching my boxes.

2. Steam games cost as much as real CD version.

3. Having the DVDs will reduce alot of problems in the futer like when
you have to format or lose hard drive.Adam3k3

I can buy a new or used copy of the game I want half the price on Amazon or ebay, plus I can enter the serial into my steam acount and have both steam and real DVD version but I do see your points.

...

Buying a used PC game... What?

Go retail unless you don't have choice. I have a friend that bought Company of Heroes from there and everytime there is a patch he has to download the game again or download a huge patch plus he has to wait. Retail is the best option. Deihmos

I had to do that with my retail version. :?

Steam

its 99% reliable, and for that 1% there is always a solution on the Steam forums

mrbojangles25

Don't know about these number but let me give you my anecdotal evidence. I have a few games installed from Steam on my PC. I moved to Thailand last summer, got set up in a place to live and got a 1Mbps ADSL line installed. Everything was up and running but Steam would not launch at all. It would just flash on the desktop briefly, hang and disappear yet still be listed as running in the background apps. I couldn't even get to my game menu to switch over to allow start up in offline mode. I went to port forwarding, did all that I needed to do with the router settings, but the results were the same. I hopped on the Steam forums, read the FAQ, checked to make sure that I had none of the possible conflicts that were listed (I didn't).

Posted to Steam and didn't hear a thing back in over a month.

Posted again and again and again and never once got anything but an automated response directing me to the FAQ I'd already read.

Uninstalled and reinstalled Steam. Same result.

Finally, about 3-4 months back, Steam revamped their forums, so I sent in my issue again. I got a response almost immediately, telling me to read the FAQ. I wrote back saying I'd not only read the FAQ, but also taken the following steps. I then laid out all that I'd done regarding firewalls (don't use them), router settings, anti-spyware/anti-virus programs, uninstalls/ reinstalls. Got a response telling me to do all the things I'd just explained that I'd already done.

After about 15 emails back and forth, in which they demanded I purchase Spyware doctor and the Ultimate Troubleshooter or they wouldn't continue to respond, their final solution was to reinstall Windows and start over from scratch.

The hell with Steam. I use Gamersgate and I've used D2D as well and they aren't constantly downloading retardedly huge "updates" to the download service. Nor do they demand that I be online to verify my game every time I want to play it. Nor do games I've purcahsed from those services blow up in my face when I try to install patches or 3rd party mods.

Avoid Steam.

[QUOTE="Adam3k3"]

[QUOTE="foxhound_fox"][QUOTE="Adam3k3"] I will probibly never buy anything off steam for 3 reasons:

1. I'm a collector so I like watching my boxes.

2. Steam games cost as much as real CD version.

3. Having the DVDs will reduce alot of problems in the futer like when
you have to format or lose hard drive.SSCyborg

I can buy a new or used copy of the game I want half the price on Amazon or ebay, plus I can enter the serial into my steam acount and have both steam and real DVD version but I do see your points.

...

Buying a used PC game... What?

Is there something wrong with buying used games or am I missing something?

[QUOTE="jsgx3"]Retail, your DVD copy of the game will not lose it's internet connection, it will not go out of buisness, it will not be corrupted by your computer, a virus, a hacker, it will not stop halfway through a download, it won't stop offering your game because of copyright issues, or licensing or buisness agreements. I refuse to buy a game that is only avaialble on-line, that is an automatic no-go for me.foxhound_fox

I'm sure your confidence in Steam 'never' shutting down is music to their ears. But I can assure you that they can go under, any buisness can. They could even decide to shut their doors tomorrow for no reason whatsoever. Then where are you? As for backing up the game, I don't need to do that if I buy it retail for essentially the same price now do I? It's already backed up, and I don't have to buy a disk to do so, I bought it when I bought the game retail. As for them never stopping to offer a game, that is not the same as saying it can't happen, because it can. They have a good deal right now, but this is not to say it can't happen. I have tried steam like actions before, and I don't care for them for all the reasons I've noted. I try to limit my sending of credit card info as much as possible. As for the games stopping when losing the connection being the connections fault, that is faulty logic. If I had a game that did not require and internet connection I woyuld not have the problem, so it is by definition steams fault if my game stops because it requires a connection based on being bought from them.

STEAM by a very long mile. No more worries about cd keys and scratched disks, convenience of having the games when you want them, great system for developers to use in their games for connectivity...ala SteamWorks, best communnity features available in gaming, autoupdates, great catalogue of games, ability to play games offline as well.

With trends showing a major decrease in PC retail, services like Steam are the future of the platform, keep an eye out for Stardock's new distro system as well that's launching very soon.

Retail. Ive always been a fan of the tangable product.

Plus about 99% of the time its cheaper to buy retail than on steam if you shop around.

Online retail > Steam > store retail.JP_Russell

Uh. What's the big difference between online and store other than actually hauling your ass over to the store instead of clicking a button?

[QUOTE="JP_Russell"]Online retail > Steam > store retail.artur79

Uh. What's the big difference between online and store other than actually hauling your ass over to the store instead of clicking a button?

Well, there's that, and there's the fact that you can't count on a store (here) having the PC game or all the PC games you're looking for. Besides, some games at Amazon have deals where if you buy $25 or more in other video games (or maybe it's just other items of any kind, can't remember) along with them, shipping is free, so it's even cheaper than going to the store what with the cost of gas.

[QUOTE="artur79"]

[QUOTE="JP_Russell"]Online retail > Steam > store retail.JP_Russell

Uh. What's the big difference between online and store other than actually hauling your ass over to the store instead of clicking a button?

Well, there's that, and there's the fact that you can't count on a store (here) having the PC game or all the PC games you're looking for. Besides, some games at Amazon have deals where if you buy $25 or more in other video games (or maybe it's just other items of any kind, can't remember) along with them, shipping is free, so it's even cheaper than going to the store what with the cost of gas.

Oh, if you can't get games at a store, then I understand why you feel online is better. I just could not figure out why Steam is so much better than a store, since you seem to prefer a hard copy of a game (bought online).

[QUOTE="JP_Russell"][QUOTE="artur79"]

[QUOTE="JP_Russell"]Online retail > Steam > store retail.artur79

Uh. What's the big difference between online and store other than actually hauling your ass over to the store instead of clicking a button?

Well, there's that, and there's the fact that you can't count on a store (here) having the PC game or all the PC games you're looking for. Besides, some games at Amazon have deals where if you buy $25 or more in other video games (or maybe it's just other items of any kind, can't remember) along with them, shipping is free, so it's even cheaper than going to the store what with the cost of gas.

Oh, if you can't get games at a store, then I understand why you feel online is better. I just could not figure out why Steam is so much better than a store, since you seem to prefer a hard copy of a game (bought online).

Well, I have to admit, driving anywhere just to buy one, maybe two games when I have the option to get them without doing so... It's not very appealing. I can usually wait a few days for shipping (God knows I have enough games to keep me occupied).

I used to prefer picking up the game at a retail store to buying online by default. Buying music and what not online cured me of the need to have a physical disc, case, etc that I can touch. Besides, I've come to like the lack of clutter from not having a lot of CD cases, game boxes and the like lying around.

I often buy from the Steam, or D2D. There are some others out there, but some of the alternatives don't give you the option to download whenever you want like you can with the both of them. EA's store charges extra to download a game after a certain period of time, IIRC. I've had hard drives die, and it's easy enough to download a large portion of my game collection again.

There's not a lot of stores that are open at the hours I can go buy games. Walmart is open 24 hours a day, but has an extremely limited selection. Steam and D2D are often far more convenient if I don't want to have to wait on an order from Amazon.com. I admite I'm a bit impatient.

Valve started early with digital distribution. Although Steam's launch was riddled with problems and failure, those issues were overcome in the first year. It's important to realize what Steam is, and not look too closely at the small problems it causes for some people...

The comfort and convienience of buying content and having it instantly at home is pretty revolutionary.

Steam's even better than most other distribution systems because it lets you download the games again whenever you like, since they're tied to your account.

Everything's trending toward this -- look at iTunes and Netflix, they're letting you rent and buy movies and download them. And they're making huge profits on it.

My recommendation - buy on Steam. Clicking a button to download a game is much nicer than digging for a CD.