If you are not sure what to expect from Steam....

I'd strongly advise giving it a go! Portal is a critically acclaimed masterpiece and since it's free you've got nothing to lose.

It will give you a good idea of how Steam integrated games work and answer all your questions and fears you may have about Civ 5.
 
They just want more people to get steam, and slowly sucker them in to buy more games :P

I already have steam, but downloading a whole game off it will take WAY to long, so i won't bother.
 
Well, I bought Civilization IV complete (vanilla Plus 2 expansions) and colonization for 10 euros last weekend.

Best. Buy. Ever.

I won't buy the Extra edition of Civ V, though. I did it with Civ IV and I still have those funny discs that say play and install, and it is the install disk the one you have to insert if you want to play. :D
 
Maeztu said:
Well, I bought Civilization IV complete (vanilla Plus 2 expansions) and colonization for 10 euros last weekend.

Best. Buy. Ever.
Click to expand...

Or so you've been told.

I can buy it off ebay brand new for 7.60USD. I have to add postage cost (8.90USD) but you get the idea.

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people who think they get such wonderful deals on Steam but who don't bother to consider that you can get games just as cheap elsewhere.

If you're prepared to buy games on Steam, I think it goes without saying you don't mind much if there's no manual or the box is scratched or something like that so second-hand is quite a cheap way to go.

Steam just has pretty advertising (ooh shinies!) for its specials. Apparently it works.
 
PieceOfMind said:
I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people who think they get such wonderful deals on Steam but who don't bother to consider that you can get games just as cheap elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Civ 3 complete was selling for £0.75 last week.
 
Portal is a great game that should be played, with a great sense of humor and fantastic atmosphere -- I recommend it even if First-Person games are not normally you're thing. It is also single-player so you should also use it to put steam through it's offline-mode paces as well.
 
Chalks said:
Civ 3 complete was selling for £0.75 last week.
Click to expand...

I can get it for 2.67 USD plus postage, new and sealed, on ebay.

It's a good deal I agree. But my whole point is there are good deals in other places too. It's not like Steam has a monopoly on good prices. It's prices are however probably a tad better on average than physical distribution methods, especially when postage is factored in. Steam's discounts from what I can gather just tend to match closely the real market value of a product.

It seems the risk of using Steam excessively is that you start to think its discounts are pretty much gifts.
 
PieceOfMind said:
I can get it for 2.67 USD plus postage, new and sealed, on ebay.

It's a good deal I agree. But my whole point is there are good deals in other places too. It's not like Steam has a monopoly on good prices. It's prices are however probably a tad better on average than physical distribution methods, especially when postage is factored in. Steam's discounts from what I can gather just tend to match closely the real market value of a product.

It seems the risk of using Steam excessively is that you start to think its discounts are pretty much gifts.
Click to expand...

I've found that the risk of using Steam is that you keep buying stuff. :(

Bioshock was on sale for £2.50 the other day. I didn't really think it looked like my sort of thing but... man. That's like the price of a sandwich.

I'm so weak!
 
Chalks said:
I've found that the risk of using Steam is that you keep buying stuff. :(

Bioshock was on sale for £2.50 the other day. I didn't really think it looked like my sort of thing but... man. That's like the price of a sandwich.

I'm so weak!
Click to expand...

Turn the ads off and stick to the Christmas sale (hopefully they make it a yearly event), but establish a budget before you go in. 'Cause yeah, the constant sales will definitely increase your spend rate. It's as if you walked through your local shop for your hobby every day. You will buy more :crazyeye:.
 
Chalks said:
I've found that the risk of using Steam is that you keep buying stuff. :(

Bioshock was on sale for £2.50 the other day. I didn't really think it looked like my sort of thing but... man. That's like the price of a sandwich.

I'm so weak!
Click to expand...

Indeed, and sort of mirroring what Sareln said, you might as well be inviting a games retailer and its advertisements right into your home.

You can tell someone has a successful marketing strategy when a lot of the people who purchase their products consider the advertisements to be an "advantage" or "benefit" (of Steam). There's nothing wrong IMO with gamer's appreciating the advertising, but it's a win-win situation and oh so delicious for the publisher Valve.

I wonder if people used to (or do still) place any value on the little advertising leaflets publishers put in with boxed copies of games? It's still fairly common practice if I understand correctly.
 
Dang, I hadn't even thought about that (the whole temptation to buy games thing). I have very little free time as it is... I don't need the temptation of cheap games!

But Portal for free? I've heard so much about it... oh, I am so tempted. I'm going to have to download Steam anyway, right?
 
Chalks said:
I've found that the risk of using Steam is that you keep buying stuff. :(

Bioshock was on sale for £2.50 the other day. I didn't really think it looked like my sort of thing but... man. That's like the price of a sandwich.

I'm so weak!
Click to expand...

How many dollar Pounds do you think you have spent on Steam and how many games you got?
 
civ_king said:
How many dollar Pounds do you think you have spent on Steam and how many games you got?
Click to expand...

Ah, well, you see, my Steam purchases are all done through my Paypal account, which mostly contains what I would consider to be "play money". Money I have obtained through online stuff that I would consider to be a hobby. So I figure I can spend it on what ever.

As for game count... it's currently at 105. Although there are loads of indy games on there and I mostly buy stuff when it's on offer.

I have no idea how much money that works out to though ;) I dread to think.
 
failhorse said:
I'm a sucker for a deal. If you haven't checked it out. Look at this:
http://www.steamcalculator.com/
It appears the ave. account has $440 of game value.

Portal is what sucked me into the Source universe. Highly recommend it.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it doesn't take into account buying stuff at discounted prices or even obvious packages. I bought the orange box - but it's got portal priced at $29.99 in there!

My not terribly accurate total is: $1287.21 USD

I'd estimate it's closer to $600-$700, probably less looking at all the stuff I either got for free or at 50% off.
 
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