Downloaded first and last game with Steam-give me a DVD please

[TheKub]

Actually I do not see ebooks being as popular. Many people have issues with eyes hurting after looking at a screen for a while, and the reliancy on batteries when before reading didn't.

I can certainly see that for traditional screen devices, but this is mostly a non-issue on e-ink devices (again not talking from personal experience but from friends/family). One heavy e-ink user has to charge their device once every 4-6 weeks. The benefits they tout is get a book essentially where ever they are in a few min and the ability to take many dozens of books where ever they want without the bulk.

The biggest cons I hear is in most cases ebook version is the same price as a physical book and they can't or have limited sharing ability that doesn't exist with the physical version. I suspect that this will change over time (at least from the price standpoint) eboks are still pretty new.

 

[Artista]

Oh my. ^_^ I do enjoy the occasional newb who comes onto this forum and rants about how much Steam sucks.

This doesn't really tell us anything. How fast is your DSL? Even if it's 12mb/s (1.5MB/s), DE:HR will still take a solid couple hours or so to download.

No, I'm pretty sure it's your machine. Newly-downloaded games typically go through a first-time setup that involve installing DirectX and some other libraries, but that never takes a half hour to do; not even close. Either you're exaggerating, or something's seriously wrong with your computer.

The advertisements/promo pop-ups that Steam gives you can be disabled completely.

If you're talking about the news ticker in DE:HR that gives you updates about new DLC, that has absolutely nothing to do with Steam. It's the game developers who decided to put that there. And how is that intrusive in any way?

To take screenshots in Steam games, use F12. Regular PrntScrn does not work in some 3D-accelerated applications for certain technical reasons. (No, this isn't Steam's fault either.)

I've been a Steam user for ~5 years, and have 400-500 games on it. Most of them I keep installed.

Helluva lot more convenient than discs. Auto-patching, auto-repairing, download anywhere, and no physical junk to worry about. (Trust me, giving me more junk to put on my shelf is not good.)

Considering how Steam's user-base is steadily growing by the millions, yeah, it will probably stay around for a long time.

How much PC gaming do you do, OP? I'm assuming not much, since you're new to Steam.

And why do you type "Steam" in all-caps? It's plain ol' Steam. Not "STEAM".

I have found that you can change the default install location. This may or may not cause problems and could be the issue behind my first prerun slow setup in DeusX:HR.

To answer your questions:

I thought Steam was supposed to be STEAM. My mistake.

My DSL connection is supposed to be 3.5Mbps downstream and I think ~512 or ~1.5Mbps upstream. I ran several test at random websites that test the speed and my average speed down stream is 3Mbps.

It did take 30 minutes for Dx:HR to "prepare to run" per the steam application countdown in the application. Not sure what to call it but it did it only once the first time I launched Dx:HR.

My machine is brand new so honestly it cannot be the hardware (unless it is a a technical thing related to where I installed) The basic build: Ivy bridge i5, 16Gb RAM, 128Gb SSD boot drive/main drive, a 1Tb 7200 RPM secondary/backup/storage internal harddrive (Installed Steam here), Radeon 6950 2Gb video card, etc.

Yes! Finally someone knows the ticker that is in Dx:HR I was talking about. Ok, so the developers put it in. My mistake. Thought it was Steam.

I used to PC game a lot but not so much lately. I do/ bought all my games (physical media) used off Amazon and other Internet sites. (guess this is going away like the horse and buggy)

In regards to the advertisements:

You mention in reference to the advertising "How intrusive is that anyway?" I see your point, and you are correct, it isn't that intrusive. Yet flip the coin. Why do you and others feel that way? Did you come up with that on your own or have you been influenced to think that way?

I think we (The world people.) as a society are not more tolerant of advertisements as much as we have been shaped to accept it. We have been molded and accepted advertisements as the "norm" because the marketing departments of all the companies that push advertisments into new markets and all areas allowed by consumers. Advertisements on our TV's, phones, in car GPS, websites, street signs, our clothes, etc.

We allow it by voting with our dollars. It isn't all bad and yes targeted marketing can actually offer us something at a great price that we really like. (Like DVD movie previews) Then again how much of it is "SPAM"?

Think about it. Is it harmless or has society just rolled over on it? Companies have created entire cartoon show's just to get your kid to want a certain toy. During that program they advertise not only the toy but also high sugar cereal and other stuff that will make them obese. Remember "candy cigarettes"?

Drug companies push commercials on TV and cable and tell people to try powerful antipsychotic medication for mild depression, just to increase profits.

People have come up with technology that is supposed to prevent us from watching "commercials" and other advertisments. Then the some of the companies try to prevent that and call it "illegal" as they try and force it on us.

What next, will we see funeral homes advertise in the ICU when our family member is on deaths door?

Yet we buy the products and encourage the process.

Lastly of all the products we buy why is it that when it come to software and related products we basically accept being beta testers on what is supposed to be a finished product?

Would we accept that level of error and technical difficulties from the cars we buy, or the products that are supposed to keep us and our kids safe or from our home builders or our shoes and clothes or that gas grill on the back porch, etc?

Just a philisophical /society view point discussion, not a rant.

Anyway I will save the rest of this argument for a future paper in my business ethics class! :biggrin:

 

[biostud]

Steam download+ install will take less time compared to shipping + install or going to a store + install. If the game needs to run a lot of patches, it would also need those patches without steam, and the fault is not steam but the developer.

 

[Texashiker]

I didn't think about it but guess I should have expected a couple of a$$holes to call names and/or make disparaging remarks. If you politely disagree that's fine. We all have different opinions, that is the way it is and that is fine as well. (No need to call names.)

Steam is to gaming, what sliced bread is to sandwiches.

If you intend on using your PC as a gaming platform, you are going to have to get used to steam, and that is all there is to it.

You can complain all you want, but its not going to help the situation.

Steam is here to stay, so get used to it.

 

[Emultra]

I download at up to 10MB/s so it's pretty swell. Obviously not everyone has 100Mbit uncapped connections. Hopefully one day it'll be as ubiquitous as electricity.

 

[Naeeldar]

That is interesting, have to drop me a link of it if you find it.

Still don't see it as popular as the digital media has become. I personally do not like the ebook stuff either, I would rather have a book in hand and read it via paper/binding.

I think your underestimating it quite a bit. I read about 60 books a year minimum and I've got literally the first generation kindle (i'll probably update this year to a new one). Quite frankly I don't buy physical books anymore as long as the price is the same as the paper book. It's nice to be able to take it out on the beach and/or carry around all my books at the exact same time. now that the publishers and apple will have to settle for price fixing we also may see ebooks drop in prices like they did originally (used to be 9.99 for brand new books this was huge since i used to pay $17-$20 for release day hardcovers).

US citizens are all about conveience and the fact that I can have a book in seconds on release day is huge. As soon as the pricing issue gets fixed you'll see media jump. I was reading the other day that amazon is already selling more ebooks than physical books in some countries already. 2-3 years and ebooks will be the number 1 seller everywhere.

 

[JTsyo]

Is the "boo hoo" comment really needed?

It isn't free they build the cost of the service into the product you are buying.

then why do games on steam cost the same or less as other sources?

 

[lupi]

The second worst thing about steam is the crappy downloading. Happy to reinstall lfd1/2 anytime I want from the cd.

 

[gladiatorua]

then why do games on steam cost the same or less as other sources?

Because digital distribution costs less than physical. Significantly.
In some cases retailers throw their weight around to make publisher price the games on the same level as physical copies. Or restrict distribution in some way.

 

[biostud]

then why do games on steam cost the same or less as other sources?

They don't. Only sales are cheaper than other places. If it's a new game, it's cheaper for me to buy it on a disc than online (stupid $:€ 1 to 1 conversion)

 

[SMOGZINN]

You had a bad experience with Steam, I'm glad you are going to give it another chance. It really is a good service.

I'm an old timer, I started playing video games back when my OS was still called MSDOS and the killer hardware was a Math Co-processor. I had an entire large bookshelf filled with diskettes, CDs, and DVDs. I have sold or trashed all but a few of them, all because of Steam.

Do you use STEAM or other digital media for games, etc.

Yes, now exclusively.

Do you use physical media and collect?

I use to, but I've decided that it is no longer necessarily a good thing. The important part of digital media is the digital not the media. I don't own a copy of a game, I only have the right to play it, so why should I store a physical manifestation of something that is inherently ephemeral? I think this is the the big lesson of the new millennium, that knowledge is not a thing, it is not uniquely identifiable, and it exists only in an ephemeral state, and is only useful when used.

Any way, as I said, I had that entire shelving unit full of games. Most of which, if I could get to work at all (you try getting a 20 year old 5.25 diskette to work!) required a lot of time and effort to get the right emulators/patches/work around installed and working. So holding onto those physical media did me no good, in fact was a bit harmful as I had to expend space and effort in to maintain them. (How many times did I carefully pack all those boxes and move them to my new place? How many hours did I spend dusting them?)

Play your games now, and enjoy them. Before you know it you will look around and realize that you can't remember the last time you saw a working DVD-ROM drive.

Why do you use STEAM?

Because it does what it does well. It gives me access to a large database of games, it offers them to me at a competitive cost, and it makes it easy for me to access them. I've never had any problem with steam that was not created by me.

Do you think STEAM/online game delivery will STAY AROUND?

This is not in doubt. If steam dies it will only be because a competitor managed to be even better at digital distribution, or because the entire concept of 'selling' information has been shown to be a bad idea. (Or because society itself has imploded!)

 

[dlock13]

I feel like this thread is a view into the past when Steam first started rolling out and same with eBooks.

You guys confuse me so much if you think Steam or eBooks are terrible. >_<

 

[cmdrdredd]

That is interesting, have to drop me a link of it if you find it.

Still don't see it as popular as the digital media has become. I personally do not like the ebook stuff either, I would rather have a book in hand and read it via paper/binding.

Not me because the ebook readers have footnotes you can click and a dictionary if a word is foreign to you (a lot of european english is strange to me) and you want the meaning. Lots of things can be done in ebooks that paper can't.

 

[Ferzerp]

That is interesting, have to drop me a link of it if you find it.

Still don't see it as popular as the digital media has become. I personally do not like the ebook stuff either, I would rather have a book in hand and read it via paper/binding.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4988/amazon-fourthgeneration-kindle-review/2

This is the previous gen. I have issue that the review has such poor quality pictures, but eh.

They also call it ideal as a secondary kindle, but I have 100% replaced my kindle DX with this one due to the samll convenient size.

 

[pontifex]

Actually I do not see ebooks being as popular. Many people have issues with eyes hurting after looking at a screen for a while, and the reliancy on batteries when before reading didn't.

I think its a great alternative for people who wish it, but I don't see this over running the physical books like games, movies and music is turning to.

if you get that e-ink like the kindle uses, then i don't see how that could hurt your eyes. if you're looking at a backlit screen, then yeah.

I love my kindle. Didn't think i would at first but it's great.


Also, get used to using steam. even if you get a game on physical media it still may require steam to play it.

 

[jhansman]

Ah, gamers. Such a tempestuous bunch...

Overnight downloads and updates are the key to inner peace. Now, breathe.

 

[uallas5]

Only problem I've ever had with Steam was after not using for quite a while I couldn't remember my username (it's an old defunct email address) and spent 1/2 an hour going in circles trying to find it. The "lost your username" links kept circling back on themselves and I finally got through it by correctly guessing it.

I don't know if it was mentioned before, but i definitely like how some games will synch your saved games online on their servers. Useful for me as i bop between my gaming computer and an Alienware laptop.

I see popup adds for other games coming out or on sale sometimes, i don't mind them at all, especially the sale ones.

All in all i like the service and the convenience it provides.

 

[diesbudt]

Only problem I've ever had with Steam was after not using for quite a while I couldn't remember my username (it's an old defunct email address) and spent 1/2 an hour going in circles trying to find it. The "lost your username" links kept circling back on themselves and I finally got through it by correctly guessing it.

I don't know if it was mentioned before, but i definitely like how some games will synch your saved games online on their servers. Useful for me as i bop between my gaming computer and an Alienware laptop.

I see popup adds for other games coming out or on sale sometimes, i don't mind them at all, especially the sale ones.

All in all i like the service and the convenience it provides.

That is what sold me on steam.

Playign SKyrim on my laptop (60ish horus in game)

Finally bought a desktop when I got a good career job. And felt like playign skyrim on a real machine, sadly I was upset I would have to start over. But it was OK.

Downloaded it from steam, installed it. Opened the game up... and there were all my saves usable on this computer also. O.O

 

[Schfifty Five]

Forgive the slight rant. :biggrin:

I was on the forum last night and noted the daily deal on steam for Deus X: Human Revolution. I bought it and almost instantly realized it was a mistake.

First it took forever to download even with fast DSL.

Then I tried to start the game and it tells me it will take thirty minutes to "prepare" the game to launch! WTF!? (I have a new gaming rig so its not my machine!)

Even at the low 75% price off it is so inconvenient. (Like installing a new WIndows build and having to install the ~200 downloads and patches. Very time intensive.) Plus all the news, advertising and other stuff they hand you. I thought of Steam as infestware / useless back in the day of Half-life and I guess they haven't gotten much better.

Used games from Amazon and other places make it almost painless and not much more expensive to get a good used PC game.

Make mine DVD. (next time and forever)

Edit: Given the issues that people face with STEAM:

Do you use STEAM or other digital media for games, etc.

Do you use physical media and collect?

Why do you use STEAM?

Do you think STEAM/online game delivery will STAY AROUND?

Thoughts?

Edit: If you have a different opinion, that is fine, you may like Steam and that is fine. I respect different opinions. If you do, no need to call me (or anyone) names or make rude remarks towards me. If you do I will report the post and ask a moderator to review the matter. Thank you.

1) Your DSL is not as fast as you think it is. The 1.5mbit/sec connection you have may have been fast about 10 years ago, but the standard today is around 10mbit/sec (even that is slow compared to other countries).

2) It did not take 30 min to prep the game on your "new rig". You are clearly exaggerating for the sake of adding fuel to your rant.

3) If you do happen to have a decent DSL connection and are still getting a bad d/l speed, you should try changing servers in the settings on steam. Works wonders for many people.

4) You should be able to back up your downloads so you don't have to re d/l the main files.

Learn to rant better pl0x.

 

[Chiropteran]

fast DSL.

Fast DSL, is that like fast dialup?

Then I tried to start the game and it tells me it will take thirty minutes to "prepare" the game to launch! WTF!? (I have a new gaming rig so its not my machine!)

What makes you think you can skip this step if you buy a DVD copy of the game? In some cases it's even worse with physical media- you install the game from DVD, takes 15 minutes, then before you can play you need to download an "update" which is basically the entire game at it's current version, and then it installs the update, and then *maybe* you can play after that.

 

[The_Golden_Man]

This thread is fail.

 

[Iron Wolf]

Fast DSL, is that like fast dialup?



What makes you think you can skip this step if you buy a DVD copy of the game? In some cases it's even worse with physical media- you install the game from DVD, takes 15 minutes, then before you can play you need to download an "update" which is basically the entire game at it's current version, and then it installs the update, and then *maybe* you can play after that.

I just built a new computer, and due to a faulty backup I had to redownload my Steam games. I installed from disk when I could (to avoid pissing Cox off too badly, but they still called me), and the worst example was Shogun 2. 15GB install from disk, then 15 more GB due to patches, DLC, and the expansion. Sheesh.

All my games are on Steam now. I don't even bother with older titles. Some of my favorites I have repurchased during Steam sales and don't even have them installed just so I have access to them if I want them in the future. I do like to buy deluxe hardcopy CEs, but only for the extras and only if they are Steam titles anyway.

I'm not sure where people got the idea the e-books are not popular. As of last year, they were outselling print books at Amazon by a 105-to-100 margin. I like collecting hardcopy books, but I plan to get an e-reader soon.

 

[Northern Lawn]

I have no problems with Steam. I have a 12.5Mbit (1.5MB/sec) cable connection, and Steam are mostly downloading at my top speed.

Honestly I have no other complaints other than the fact that you cannot choose where to install your game. However, one can always use Steam mover to move a game to another drive.

Also, when you have downloaded your game you can make a backup so you don't need to download it again when reinstalling.

Yeah I fricken love steam. I wish I had the same service for movies and music... hey now there is a great business idea.

 

[Artista]

1) Your DSL is not as fast as you think it is. The 1.5mbit/sec connection you have may have been fast about 10 years ago, but the standard today is around 10mbit/sec (even that is slow compared to other countries).

2) It did not take 30 min to prep the game on your "new rig". You are clearly exaggerating for the sake of adding fuel to your rant.

3) If you do happen to have a decent DSL connection and are still getting a bad d/l speed, you should try changing servers in the settings on steam. Works wonders for many people.

4) You should be able to back up your downloads so you don't have to re d/l the main files.

Learn to rant better pl0x.

Ranting is cheaper than therapy!

Seriously when I first launched the game, and his happened only the first time, the Steam application said 30 minutes to prepare. I think in actuality (went to do other stuff) was more like in the area of ~18-22 minutes to prepare for launch. I have no idea what it was doing during that time, applying patches or something?

My connection is supposed to be 3.5Mbps downstream and when I tested it was ~3Mbps. I need cable back.

I love the DeusX:HR game so far and yes physical media (mostly) is going the way of the Dodo, if Internet infrastructure can support it. (Digital download)

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I personally love Steam. All my games are accessed via the Steam UI, games are usually supercheap and it's easy. I don't have the fastest download speeds, but really, it's never more than about 2 hours. I just chillout, watch a movie with the wife or play with my daughter till it's ready. I was actually bummed that I couldn't get GW2 on Steam and same for BF3 since they released Origin. I'm not liking that I have to have several clients with games coming from different places. Let Steam rule them all I say.