Full Steam Ahead or just a lot of hot air?
The steam client from Valve Software has been around for a while now. Initially it was used to download updates to valve games such as half-life and then it became an alternative way of buying the games through the client or on the steampowered website. You can also download Mods made by other gamers some for free others were chargeable. The quality of these mods vary but most are excellent. Remember a game called Counter Strike? This started as a Mod and became the most popular online shooter ever.
Now Steam offer games from other games developers. Again the quality varies from the likes of Blood Rayne to top titles like Call of Duty 2.
What are the benefits of using Steam over a store purchase?
1. Instant download - you can download you game from the comfort of your home and be playing in a matter of minutes. Infact Valve games can be "pre-loaded" so you can download the entire game and it becomes playable on the release date (or sometimes earlier).
2. No damaged/lost discs. When I bought Half-life2 the DVD disc was faulty. I tried re-installing several times butit would always fail part way through. I also own half-life 1 but the disc is in storage somewhere. With Steam I just entered my registration code and downloaded HL2 and as I'd already registered HL1 I could download that too.
3. Save storage space. My CD/DVD racks are crammed full of movies and games. Steam downloads take up no storage space (except on your hard drive)
4. Unlimited re-downloads. If your hard drive/PC gets wiped/stolen/damaged you can redownload any games you've purchased through steam as long as you know your login details.
5. Price. New releases are discounted if bought early or pre-ordered. Old games are at white label prices. There are also bundles where buying several related games together gets you a discount. This means you can usually get a good deal.
6. The steam client automatically updates all your games with the latest patches and makes connecting for multiplayer easy to.
7. Save icon clutter. Although you can create a desktop or start menu icon for any game you can choose to launch only from the steam client. This means only one icon is needed (to launch steam)
As with most things it's not all good. Here are some things to think about before using steam.
1. Impossible to resell games. I know that after a while all but the most classic of games I'll no longer play and will just sit collecting dust on my shelf. Every once in a while I'll have aclear out and sell a bunch on ebay or trade-in at my local game store. With Steam games they cannot be passed to anyone else.
2. Long downloads. If you don't have a fast connection some game downloads can take a loooong time. Fortunately for me I have a 16mb connection and games take between 15-45mins to download most games at about 500-600kb/s.
3. Lose steam, lose your games. If your steam client becomes corrupt you will lose access to all your games. This happened to me once, but with the help of Valve I deleted the offending files and a simple re-install got me back in business. Steam have been known to ban users caught tampering with the steam client or games. The hackers are usually trying to gain access to a pre-loaded game before it is released or games they haven’t purchased. If you get banned, kiss your games goodbye.
4. No refunds. If a game you buy in steam is about as much use as a sausage roll at a Bar mitzvah you can’t return it to the store. To be fair Steam does give you a metacritics score for most games and many games let you download a demo. Despite this though, I still have a few stinkers in my collection – impulse buys that I probably would have tried to retun if I had bought in store.
There are more and more games being added all the time, including top titles like Gun and the Call of Duty series. Of course you also get access to Valves own legendary games including Dark Messiah, Half-life 2 and it’s Mods and expansions.
Top marks to Valve for the Steam client – despite the mentioned drawbacks I’d go for a steam download over a store purchase every time.
Now Steam offer games from other games developers. Again the quality varies from the likes of Blood Rayne to top titles like Call of Duty 2.
What are the benefits of using Steam over a store purchase?
1. Instant download - you can download you game from the comfort of your home and be playing in a matter of minutes. Infact Valve games can be "pre-loaded" so you can download the entire game and it becomes playable on the release date (or sometimes earlier).
2. No damaged/lost discs. When I bought Half-life2 the DVD disc was faulty. I tried re-installing several times butit would always fail part way through. I also own half-life 1 but the disc is in storage somewhere. With Steam I just entered my registration code and downloaded HL2 and as I'd already registered HL1 I could download that too.
3. Save storage space. My CD/DVD racks are crammed full of movies and games. Steam downloads take up no storage space (except on your hard drive)
4. Unlimited re-downloads. If your hard drive/PC gets wiped/stolen/damaged you can redownload any games you've purchased through steam as long as you know your login details.
5. Price. New releases are discounted if bought early or pre-ordered. Old games are at white label prices. There are also bundles where buying several related games together gets you a discount. This means you can usually get a good deal.
6. The steam client automatically updates all your games with the latest patches and makes connecting for multiplayer easy to.
7. Save icon clutter. Although you can create a desktop or start menu icon for any game you can choose to launch only from the steam client. This means only one icon is needed (to launch steam)
As with most things it's not all good. Here are some things to think about before using steam.
1. Impossible to resell games. I know that after a while all but the most classic of games I'll no longer play and will just sit collecting dust on my shelf. Every once in a while I'll have aclear out and sell a bunch on ebay or trade-in at my local game store. With Steam games they cannot be passed to anyone else.
2. Long downloads. If you don't have a fast connection some game downloads can take a loooong time. Fortunately for me I have a 16mb connection and games take between 15-45mins to download most games at about 500-600kb/s.
3. Lose steam, lose your games. If your steam client becomes corrupt you will lose access to all your games. This happened to me once, but with the help of Valve I deleted the offending files and a simple re-install got me back in business. Steam have been known to ban users caught tampering with the steam client or games. The hackers are usually trying to gain access to a pre-loaded game before it is released or games they haven’t purchased. If you get banned, kiss your games goodbye.
4. No refunds. If a game you buy in steam is about as much use as a sausage roll at a Bar mitzvah you can’t return it to the store. To be fair Steam does give you a metacritics score for most games and many games let you download a demo. Despite this though, I still have a few stinkers in my collection – impulse buys that I probably would have tried to retun if I had bought in store.
There are more and more games being added all the time, including top titles like Gun and the Call of Duty series. Of course you also get access to Valves own legendary games including Dark Messiah, Half-life 2 and it’s Mods and expansions.
Top marks to Valve for the Steam client – despite the mentioned drawbacks I’d go for a steam download over a store purchase every time.
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posted by KeyPad @ 12:27 PM
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If you didn't pre-order or didn't manage to queue up and grab a Wii on the 8th of December you'll be hard pressed to get one anywhere (except ebay for insanely bloated prices). 
Almost forgot. I am now a dedicated fan of firefox. It rocks big time. When webdesigning it makes you realise how broken IE is. Even with the pending summer release of IE7 Firefox will still be the best browser out there. Combined with Microsoft Anitspam and Decent firewall and Antivirus software my system should be kept running stably so as not to disturbe my gaming.
WoW has not been released in the country I visited but as I found an internet cafe where I could play warcraft:frozen thrown. Later snowboarding was so much fun I didn't even need to imagine I was in SSX tricky.
