Steam vs. "Normal" Shop

[HKBvonMoltke]

Hi all you,

I have never purchased anything through stream, and before doing so I would like to ask you all about ur experience with Steam regarding Civ5... Do you think it is worth the few more bucks to get a physical retail version?

Best regards,
HKBM

 

[anandus]

It depends if you want a box with it
The version is all the same (a 'normal' version is no more than a Steam-key and a box).
Personally I'd just get the cheapest.

 

[joncnunn]

If the game has just come out (not been patched yet); then the store version will save the download time (and bandwidth if your ISP is either charging or throttling)

There might also be some bandwidth savings when there's only a few patches so far, but eventually there's likely to be so many changes that steam needs to download all the files anyway.

 

[HKBvonMoltke]

... so the box version I get in the store, does not include a CD?

Best HKBM

 

[kaibayashi]

I buy everything on Steam nowadays. For me the big plus is once I have bought it, if I have nay probs/reinstall my os/lose the dvd or anything like that I can just log onto steam and re-download it.

 

[Ruler]

Steam is pure luxury if you ask from me. Theres somekind of trade thing going on too. You can actually trade games you buy, so who doesnt want that. Im little bit cautious though I havent bought full price games yet, only some cheap ones, as you never know whats going to happen to Steam.

 

[nokmirt]

Hi all you,

I have never purchased anything through stream, and before doing so I would like to ask you all about ur experience with Steam regarding Civ5... Do you think it is worth the few more bucks to get a physical retail version?

Best regards,
HKBM

When CiV came out I bought it retail. Now I purchase everything on line. I can tell you this. I do believe without stupid steam CiV would have been expanded and we would have a dll to play around with by now. Steam is not bad, but it is ******ing the games evolution. The other thing about steam is that lately I cannot play in offline mode, something that is supposed to be there automatically. If my internet goes off for repairs. I cannot play CiV, which irks me to no end. 2K and Firaxis should have waited on working with steam until next version of game.

... so the box version I get in the store, does not include a CD?

Best HKBM

Yes one disc.

 

[Smokeybear]

Hi all you,

I have never purchased anything through stream, and before doing so I would like to ask you all about ur experience with Steam regarding Civ5... Do you think it is worth the few more bucks to get a physical retail version?

Best regards,
HKBM

I'm ambivalent about buying a hardcopy disk vs. just buying/downloading from Steam- I'm kinda oldschool, been buying disks forever... but I'm starting to think there's not a whole lot of point to it, anymore. I do like Steam. I guess if I'm buying a new game that's just come out, I'd go with the DVD in a box. But if the game's been out for a while, and it's already started to appear in Steam sales... then for sure I'm gonna buy a game for 33% off... or 50%... or even 75%, sometimes. I've never seen bargains like that in brick 'n mortar game stores, personally. They don't have any of those in this small-ish town, anyway. And I wouldn't spend $10 for gas to drive to another bigger town to maybe save $5 on a boxed game, that's for sure.

If you have good broadband bandwidth, it's not really worth it to bother with boxed disks, in my opinion. Will Valve croak in the near future? Pffft. They're healthier than Microsoft, in terms of increased product sales/customer growth percentages, via Steam. They've been around since the mid 1990's, and have only been getting steadily stronger, exponentially. The only other game company doing better than them (maybe? not sure anymore) is Blizzard. Those two are the titans of modern PC gaming. So I'm not particularly worried about it.

 

[Selous]

Steam is pure luxury if you ask from me. Theres somekind of trade thing going on too. You can actually trade games you buy, so who doesnt want that. Im little bit cautious though I havent bought full price games yet, only some cheap ones, as you never know whats going to happen to Steam.

game trading on steam? this is news to me

arh... after a quick google, u can only trade games that you have not activated and u can trade in game items like your TF2 hats and the like, hopefully this will be expanded to more games and even activated games in the future (dreaming imo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpLWqZRJNVU

and i like to purchase most of my games on steam, the convienence of all my games on the 1 library and the ability to redownload them is gold

 

[forty2j]

... so the box version I get in the store, does not include a CD?

Best HKBM

Well...

The box comes with a CD-shaped coaster that, were you to insert it into your PC, would offer to install a year+ old version of the game that Steam will ultimately replace before you play your first game.

 

[kaibayashi]

I'm ambivalent about buying a hardcopy disk vs. just buying/downloading from Steam- I'm kinda oldschool, been buying disks forever... but I'm starting to think there's not a whole lot of point to it, anymore. I do like Steam. I guess if I'm buying a new game that's just come out, I'd go with the DVD in a box. But if the game's been out for a while, and it's already started to appear in Steam sales... then for sure I'm gonna buy a game for 33% off... or 50%... or even 75%, sometimes. I've never seen bargains like that in brick 'n mortar game stores, personally. They don't have any of those in this small-ish town, anyway. And I wouldn't spend $10 for gas to drive to another bigger town to maybe save $5 on a boxed game, that's for sure.

If you have good broadband bandwidth, it's not really worth it to bother with boxed disks, in my opinion. Will Valve croak in the near future? Pffft. They're healthier than Microsoft, in terms of increased product sales/customer growth percentages, via Steam. They've been around since the mid 1990's, and have only been getting steadily stronger, exponentially. The only other game company doing better than them (maybe? not sure anymore) is Blizzard. Those two are the titans of modern PC gaming. So I'm not particularly worried about it.

Well...

The box comes with a CD-shaped coaster that, were you to insert it into your PC, would offer to install a year+ old version of the game that Steam will ultimately replace before you play your first game.

This and this. The other downside of buying hardcopies is boxes and boxes of old games you don't want. Ofcourse you might be able to sell them, aslong as they haven't been activated online. I'd rather just buy the steam version and save the hassle, don't need a box to look at or clutter the place up!

 

[Hustapha Thool]

The optical drive is dead, it is going the way of the dodo, the floppy and eight track tapes. If you look at small top-line custom computers being sold now, the optical drive space is being optioned for another HDD or SSD. Paper, boxes, who the heck wants to store all that stuff, it is eventually just trash.

A year ago, I would have said that I "love" books and would never leave them for an electronic reader, well, I ended up getting an e-reader and my book collection has been whittled down to large books with images. I do not have to shelve and find a space for books, they are all stored in the reader itself, or retrievable online if I throw the reader into a lake. The experience is just so much more convenient.

I feel the same way about Steam , it is really is a nice product to use. All my games are there, no matter what computer I am using, I do not have to search or load a disk, discover the key is lost or worry about the disk being damaged. I have never had any issues using Steam.

Last but not least, Steam has some really good deals in the $5 to $10 dollar range.

 

[OrsonM]

My awesome experience with Steam:

- Oh man, the Sims 3 expansions half off!!, don't mind if I do!
- What do you mean I need to have the game installed through steam, can't Steam recognize it?
- It can't huh?, If want the savings I have to buy it through steam first... I see.
- www.amazon.com it is then!, 50% off as well and no turn of the century business practices!!*


*well a few turn of the century business practices, but a few centuries away from Steam's practices in some parts.

 

[Tarkin1980]

Since pretty much every game is cheaper on a physical medium than in the steam store, I really don't see any reason to give steam my money. Especially since you get it in your steam library anyway. In the case of Civ5 I purchased my physical copy on release day for about 30 euro. It was 50 euro on steam.

 

[anandus]

Since pretty much every game is cheaper on a physical medium than in the steam store, I really don't see any reason to give steam my money. Especially since you get it in your steam library anyway. In the case of Civ5 I purchased my physical copy on release day for about 30 euro. It was 50 euro on steam.

Yeah, that's rule number one for Steam:
If it's a Steamworks game, buy it from the cheapest place as it will work in Steam anyway.
Here is a list of games which you can buy reatil and which work in Steam

A new game on Steam is almost always more expensive then the shops.
It's an additional 'laziness fee' for people not bothered to get it elsewhere. (Well, that's how I look at it).

Basically, unless it's a Steam sale (of which there are many), you're better off buying it elsewhere.

But, to be honest, per year I only buy 2 or 3 games 'new' and I buy a tenfold in Steam itself during sales.
The sales are Steam's big plus.

 

[Scarpa]

I love Steam for the sales. I almost never buy new games anyway due to the insane price points, so I used to wait about a year until they started showing up used at Gamestop or got marked down. Now I just wait for the super Steam sales when I'm interested in a game. Got all the DLC Civs yesterday for $11, for instance.

 

[Vladesch]

Will Valve croak in the near future? Pffft. They're healthier than Microsoft, in terms of increased product sales/customer growth percentages, via Steam. They've been around since the mid 1990's, and have only been getting steadily stronger, exponentially.

People thought it unthinkable that Lehman brothers and GM would go broke too.
Fortunately there are other reasons you don't have to worry.

 

[Xiao Xiong]

Steam does a really good job of keeping games up to date. I only buy games online, and generally, with very few exceptions, I only buy games once they are on sale.

The very few exceptions would be the rare times I'm interested enough in a game that I want to participate in the beta. In that case sometimes if you pre-purchase online you get added to the beta. Mostly I don't care about that, but that's the ONLY situation where I would be willing to pay full rate for the game.

 

[Smokeybear]

People thought it unthinkable that Lehman brothers and GM would go broke too.
Fortunately there are other reasons you don't have to worry.

Any business entity or government can potentially go out of business :shrug:

If I had to bet between any of the top-end wallstreet banks or Valve not crapping out in the next ten years, I'll stick with Valve.

 

[OrsonM]

People thought it unthinkable that Lehman brothers and GM would go broke too.
Fortunately there are other reasons you don't have to worry.

Whenever Steam starts, lets say, selling stocks through their website (Stock weekend madness, 75% off), then panic.