Steam - love or hate?

Dislike, though I used to love their sales.

They blocked people in Japan to buy civ5 from them, so that another company can sell a translated version of civ5 with a doubled price. What's especially nasty in this case is that this thing was done after some people translated many texts into Japanese. Thank you Steam for supporting nasty business!

usi said:

Dislike, though I used to love their sales.

They blocked people in Japan to buy civ5 from them, so that another company can sell a translated version of civ5 with a doubled price. What's especially nasty in this case is that this thing was done after some people translated many texts into Japanese. Thank you Steam for supporting nasty business!

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Steam is a distributor. This will be 2K causing this.

Ah, sorry for misunderstanding.
Now I dislike 2K for doing that then.

I personally like steam (took some growing on me), no cd's, copy always available on internet, two pc in offline mode can play over LAN against each other.

usi said:

They blocked people in Japan to buy civ5 from them, so that another company can sell a translated version of civ5 with a doubled price. What's especially nasty in this case is that this thing was done after some people translated many texts into Japanese. Thank you Steam for supporting nasty business!

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I wonder what happens if you buy a US retail version and try to install it. Will Steam prevent you from connecting just because you are in Japan? I doubt it but I'm not certain.

How's this for irony:

Civ 5 got me on Steam, grudgingly at first, but I warmed up to it once I saw it was a pretty robust service. I've downloaded a few demos, used some of the networking features, watched a lot of vids for Portal 2 and other games, etc.

Yesterday, I launch Steam to play Civ5, and then before I open Civ, I see the ad for TF2 at 50% off. I watch some TF2 vids for an hour and hilarity ensues. In the end, I fork over $10 to Valve for TF2, which I'm now looking forward to playing more than Civ 5.

Well played, Valve. Well played.

Steam is OK with me. I've been using it for nearly 2 years now. It has it's down sides, but then again everything does. I have lots of friends on line and the community/chat overlay works well with the games. Heck, some time ago I even added Civ IV as a non-Steam game in order to have the chat & overlay available while playing it. I also like the fact that I can play any game I've purchased through Steam on any computer that will run it without bringing disks back and forth or transferring saves on a USB.

SuperJay said:

How's this for irony:

Civ 5 got me on Steam, grudgingly at first, but I warmed up to it once I saw it was a pretty robust service. I've downloaded a few demos, used some of the networking features, watched a lot of vids for Portal 2 and other games, etc.

Yesterday, I launch Steam to play Civ5, and then before I open Civ, I see the ad for TF2 at 50% off. I watch some TF2 vids for an hour and hilarity ensues. In the end, I fork over $10 to Valve for TF2, which I'm now looking forward to playing more than Civ 5.

Well played, Valve. Well played.

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Some of their sales get me too. "Woah hey $10 (or $5 or $4) for all that... heck I can't pass that up!"

On some weird occasions you'll find the retailers will sell some old games for less than the publisher will sell them for on Steam (Sid's Pirates for a while, maybe even now is a good example), but more often than not Steam's bargain bin like deals are pretty good, at times insanely good deals.

duxup said:

Some of their sales get me too. "Woah hey $10 (or $5 or $4) for all that... heck I can't pass that up!"

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Right, exactly. I don't even play online MP shooters much at all these days, but TF2 looked fun, and for $10, what's to lose really? I'm sure I'll get my ten bucks worth of fun out of that.

I just think it's kind of sad and ironic that I came to Steam b/c of Civ5, and now I'm more interested in other Steam games than I am in the one that got me on-board in the first place.

DaviddesJ said:

I wonder what happens if you buy a US retail version and try to install it. Will Steam prevent you from connecting just because you are in Japan? I doubt it but I'm not certain.

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I'm now in the US, so my game runs fine, but I am worried about what would happen if I go back to Japan later on for a vacation.

usi said:

I'm now in the US, so my game runs fine, but I am worried about what would happen if I go back to Japan later on for a vacation.

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I'd like to say you'll be fine, but it sounds like from what you said elsewhere that 2K is legally obliged to let this other distributor sell Civ5 in Japan exclusively. You did buy the US version of Civ5, right? In which case there probably won't be a problem as this other distributor won't have a claim on distributing the US version of Civ5 which is technically a different piece of software.

usi said:

I'm now in the US, so my game runs fine, but I am worried about what would happen if I go back to Japan later on for a vacation.

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Don't worry, you can't get back to Japan anyway. Anyone using Steam is automatically placed on the no fly list. You'd have to take a boat to get back there.

Steam is awesome.

Back in the day I preferred to buy physical copies. I had physical copies for Civ 4 and all the expansions. However anytime I had to format or got a new PC, it was a lengthy process of finding all my disks then a lengthy install and patching process. Essentially it took longer to install Civ 4 than to play a game.

Last time I went on a CD search it took me half an afternoon to find one. Turns out it was still in the drive of my old PC. Digital distribution??? Yes please!

I saw a special on Civ 4 and all the expansions on Steam one weekend and I bought it even though I already owned it. Next time I needed to reinstall it was a simple right click and install. Even with the download it takes less time for me (and I don't need to babysit the process).

I don't even play online either. Only single player.

If you want to see the future, go to the "PC Games" section of your favorite electronics store. You're lucky to find a shelf way in the back, at least for stores near me.

SuperJay said:

How's this for irony:

Civ 5 got me on Steam, grudgingly at first, but I warmed up to it once I saw it was a pretty robust service. I've downloaded a few demos, used some of the networking features, watched a lot of vids for Portal 2 and other games, etc.

Yesterday, I launch Steam to play Civ5, and then before I open Civ, I see the ad for TF2 at 50% off. I watch some TF2 vids for an hour and hilarity ensues. In the end, I fork over $10 to Valve for TF2, which I'm now looking forward to playing more than Civ 5.

Well played, Valve. Well played.

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If you haven't already, you are welcome to join the CFC Steam group, there are a bunch of us who play TF2 regularly and several of us are in the same clan. Feel free to add me (my nick is CnB| a Maniacal ๖ۣۜEskimo, most of the announcements for the CFC group were posted by me, just click my name and add me) and I will be happy to help you learn how to play TF2.
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/CFCforums

On my computer, Steam is installed, but I don't particually use it. I don't think I'll ever open it unless there's some new DLC. I didn't have issues, heck, it was the fastest install I had in my life (game and steam combined), but its really just taking up space on my computer that I could have better used.

Stumbled onto this thread as I wait for Steam to sort itself out and allow me to play the new version of ciV that I purchased from a shop two days ago.

First run into Steam when I tried to install Railroad Tycoon II onto my Laptop as I am now travelling Europe in a motor home and my Desktop PC is now in storage and my laptop is my new media center. Found the new Windows 7 was not compatible and the only way to get my Railroad Tycoon II fix was to buy it AGAIN from Steam. A little annoying as I look at the CD in my hand and the constant irritation of Steam telling me the bleeding obvious that I was offline was a real annoyance.

I am not a fan of DRM, as I agree it only seems to annoy the poor bod that do things by the book, Like the FACT ad's that I have to sit through to get to the point where I can watch the film I actually purchased to watch.

Still not been able to get ciV started yet...... seems the Steam server that will allow me to use the game either on or offline is not responding....

Still I'm only a law abiding game player that is sited in a campsite and only has a lowly GPRS internet connection to play with (Seems OK to browse the forums though) and it has only been an hour that I have been trying to start up ciV so I can play the game. I don't really care on or offline, but at least let me play the bloody game that I have spent my hard earned money on.

At the moment, I HATE STEAM

PS. I cannot believe that after two years lurking and enjoying the CiV Fanatics forums this ended up being my first post

Thanks Senethro for thoughts and duxup for important information!

Omega124 said:

On my computer, Steam is installed, but I don't particually use it. I don't think I'll ever open it unless there's some new DLC. I didn't have issues, heck, it was the fastest install I had in my life (game and steam combined), but its really just taking up space on my computer that I could have better used.

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Is <100mb really that much of a loss? Just curious. My father still has a laptop from 2004 and it has only a 15GB hard drive.

Love steam as long as i can get a boxed copy. Aussies often get stupid $US prices (Fallout vegas $89.95US!!!!!). Our internet sucks down here too.

Yeah, I've noticed that for ANZACs the best way is to shop around at different stores and websites for the best price.