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Steam: Savior or Slayer of PC Gaming?

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lanux128:
a number of gamers might have noticed the recent fallout between two major players in PC gaming, Valve and EA. this article examines some aspects of it.


• http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/steam_savior_or_slayer_pc_gaming

Renegade:
Interesting take on things there. But I didn't really get much out of it. Steam has never worked for me; their payment system is too rigid. If you want to see an excellent payment system, check out the Vivid.com system. FYI - it's NSFW - Vivid is one (if not the) of the largest companies in adult entertainment. But seriously -- their payment system is intelligent. They detect your browser language (not from your IP address, which is completely idiotic [can we say "Google"?]) and then choose a default currency for you based on your IP address (which is the most logical as there is no other way to do that). Got to hand it to pron... they understand that getting money is better than not getting money -- something that is sorely missed in the rest of the online ecommerce world. :(

CodeBoy:
I have only ever used steam for football manager and it seems to work well enough on that, but it does have some glitches which are rather frustrating at times. But then what doesn't?

wraith808:
To paraphrase a quote from the article for my own purposes:

{I} want a simpler, more unified experience. The verdict is in: {I} like using Steam. Why? Cause it's easy, it's lightweight, and it can work on multiple platforms. PC is an incredibly broad term, with just about everyone owning and operating a personal computing device of some sort.

Also, I like not having physical media, and being able to get the game again whenever I want.

Renegade:
To paraphrase a quote from the article for my own purposes:

{I} want a simpler, more unified experience. The verdict is in: {I} like using Steam. Why? Cause it's easy, it's lightweight, and it can work on multiple platforms. PC is an incredibly broad term, with just about everyone owning and operating a personal computing device of some sort.

Also, I like not having physical media, and being able to get the game again whenever I want.
-wraith808 (August 05, 2011, 07:29 AM)
--- End quote ---

+1

It's a compelling argument.

I buy from one web site fairly regularly (SnowCovered.com). They keep a record of all my purchases and I can go back and download any of them at any time.

Doesn't sound impressive until I say that I have purchases dating back to 2004 that I can download...

How many sites keep records and downloads that long? Most won't let you download again after 24 hours or 30 days (and some inbetween as well). Want to download a purchase from iTunes? Ooops... Sorry. Please buy that again. (Wasn't happy when I went back to download a purchase and found that out.)

The simple fact that I can go back and get a download again is a very compelling reason for me, and goes a long way in buying my loyalty.

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