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167 Comments
- billgateslacky, on 10/10/2007, -4/+36Pre-ordered and downloading as I type. No CD/DVDs/Activation codes to worry about loosing.
- tange1, on 10/10/2007, -1/+22Because you can download all of it and it'll just get unlocked as soon as its out. You dont have to run to the store or install it. It'll be ready to go the minute the game is released.
- Vektuz, on 10/10/2007, -2/+21Actually, most of these Non-Steam games work fine w/o steam. You can generally just copy the folder somewhere else if you really want to.
What Steam means, though, is that its always got the latest patch installed w/o you having to worry about it, and if you ever have you hard drive explode or lose it, you can just log onto your same steam account on your new hard drive or computer and all your games will be there waiting for you.
Yeah, if you lose your user name and password AND your secret question/answer AND your email address AND aren't willing to work it out with customer support, I guess you would be out of luck.
PS: The CD version will probably have securom and/or other DRM with it too - its really not any different. Except that now you have to worry about having the disk in the drive all the time, getting scratched, patching yourself, etc. - gamerzworld, on 10/10/2007, -1/+18Direct Links.....
Pre-Load: steam://preload/7670
Pre-Purchase: steam://purchase/451
Copy and paste them into your address bar. - TheBritishGuy1, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17And you can re-download it without the DVD whenever you want to... LEGALLY, I might add.
- gamerzworld, on 10/10/2007, -1/+16Steam is owned by Valve. Also, Steam has been up since 2001 not including the "WON" days. Please try come out from under the rock time from time.
- shuffle2, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17i agree that consoles suck, however your mentality is exactly why publishers (and, in turn, developers) aren't developing many good games for the pc these days. Sure, I "try before i buy" too, but if i like the game, I ***** BUY IT!!!!!!
- nogami, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14Sweet. I was hoping they'd do this. Prepurchasing now!
- WhiteIce89, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13They said themselves that the game is done and that they're working on getting a PC demo out ASAP.
- Frophauser, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14Yeah, but you can't "download" the stuff that comes with the limited edition... That Mr. Bubbles figurine looks awesome!
(Yes, I'm one of those sad geeks who still thinks collectible toys are "awesome" ) - NnyCW, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12More like a service that allows you to download it as many times as you want on as many machines that you want, given that you're not playing on more than one at a time, and also allows you to make DVD-R backups of the data to save you the download time if you wish to.
- novakane, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15AWESOME! So glad I refrained from pre-ordering at the store! Digital delivery is where its at!
- Kachu, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11Steam typically gives you 10% off if you pre-order.
But looks like they aren't doing it for bio-shock - arsenic0, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10You are getting buried because of the whole "WELL WHAT IF THIS HAPPENS!" ..i can make up 50 things that can go wrong with a purchased CD..
Scratches
My house burns down
Somebody robs my house
I lose my cd key
I lose my CD
Theres many reasons that could be fabricated that MAY happen. I probably have dozens of games i bought 5+ years ago that i have since lost the CD keys and or discs for. But i always know where my HL1, HL2, Team Fortress, and CS are..... - treas, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10Steam has an Offline mode that will allow you to log in to steam without a running internet connection and play any of the games you current have installed.
- nogami, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9But what if you decide to play it during a hurricane and the power goes out? And a piece of wood shoots through your computer, impaling the CPU, and a l33t haxor dude decides to r00t your b0x with his C64 while you sleep?
Come on - I could just as easily say "what would happen if your went to install your game and found your CD had been damaged". - xXShadowstormXx, on 10/10/2007, -3/+11Dude, you do know that you can hook up your computer to your HDTV and surround system like the rest of us do, right?
- ReCkLeSsX, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8You'd want to finish the game before you even think about a demo.
- Racerx52, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9Wicked, The trailer for it today in steam was insane.
- arcooke, on 10/10/2007, -14/+20I'm not trying to be a troll here or anything, but don't you guys realize this is exactly the same thing as DRM? You're locked in to using Steam if you want to play the games you've purchased. What happens if your internet connection is down for a week or you switch ISPs and it takes a few days to get back up? What happens if, in 10 years down the road, you get the urge to play BioShock or HL2 and Steam has since gone out of business? What happens if you lose your user name or password? In any of those situations, you won't have access to any of your Steam games that you paid good money for. A hard copy is the way to go. Don't be lazy and pre-order through steam simply to get it faster.. get it at a store, get your lazy asses up out your computer chairs, and pick it up when it's released. It will take no longer than it will for you to download it from Steam the day it comes out.. and I guarantee.. Steam's servers are going to be bogged to hell that day. My $0.02.
- geartype2, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5simple answer? Yes, yes it will.
Could it run better? of course. Wait until the demo comes out in a few days. Until then, just predownload the game(through steam), but not prebuy through steam. This will open up access to the demo when it is released through steam. So you can test it immediatly once the demo comes out. - vawksel, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7you lose your CD/DVD however and you'll be screwed
- KyjL, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Users can write their games to CD/DVD. Right-click on top of the game in your games list.
- Yeknom, on 10/10/2007, -4/+9STEAM FTW!
- Noctem, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Yeah, or you could click the 'Retrieve a lost account' button on the steam login page.
- Akira, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I use to hate steam for that exact same reason awhile ago back when half life 2 came out. Now I think it is a really good idea. I don't have to carry cds or dvds with my games on them. On any computer that I install steam, I can play my games. Also, the idea that you can prepurchase a game such as Bioshock means I don't have to go out and try to find a copy. I just start playing. As for them going out of business I cannot see that happening soon as with the massive amounts of games developed by companies other than Valve just means steam is getting more and more popular.
- sathias, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4You can backup any of your games to DVD and then reinstall them at a later date, without an internet connection.
- Ranneko, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Ah, the distributed backup approach.
- sillyg00se, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Why has my download been at 0% for the past 20 minutes -_______-
- jer.williams, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I believe they've said 1pm PST. There's a countdown timer on Steam.
- msarge, on 10/10/2007, -4/+8Dood, you can buy old Valve games on Steam? No way!
- claco, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4When Steam came out, I bashed it like the rest. Now that time has passed, I love it. Not only do I have all the patches when they hit, but trying out new games is great for me. I was never interested in CoD/CoD:UA/CoD2. But now that I get can them on Steam, on the cheap in a pack, I downloaded them and had a blast. Same goes for the Id catalog now on Steam. As their selection grows bigger, the more happy I am that I can get my games from one spot without going to the store, or waiting for Amazon.
I guess I'll be preinstalling Bioshock tonight. Anyone got the SysReqs handy? - Guspaz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Valve has repeatedly said that if, for whatever reason, they decide that they can't operate Steam anymore (go out of business, shut down steam, whatever), that they will disable all authentication (DRM), allowing anybody to play purchased games without connecting. They say that they've already tested this.
- relaxeder, on 04/17/2009, -0/+4Try this: Close Steam, navigate to your Program Files>Steam folder and delete your ClientRegistry.blob file. Restart Steam and see if that works.
Each time you make a purchase, Steam randomly assigns a Valve content server to feed your download to your machine. Sometimes you'll get a real ***** one and you'll be stuck downloading your game at 60kbps, or sometimes you'll get luckier and be somewhere around ~150. Deleting your ClientRegistry.blob file and continuing your download will yield different results, so you should do that and keep hovering your cursor over your system tray until you get a download rate your happier with (Don't worry, your download won't start over). - blatzkowitz, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6I have pre-ordered multiple games before from Steam. There are a couple reasons why you would like to pre-order a game from them. Normally you will get the game at a discount price. Also, you can download the game files (encrypted) to your computer meaning that release day comes, you can begin play within minutes of the release. You can still play steam games without an internet connection (offline mode). You also shouldn't be worried about Valve going out of business any time soon.
- ChickenSangwich, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I love the idea of Steam, just no the price. Am I the only one who thinks that Steam games should be discounted, however small (~10%), due to reduced production/distribution costs? I love the idea of digital distribution, but why should I pay the same price when I get no printed manual, hard media, etc.?
- msarge, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6I need to try the demo too see if it runs. I hope it does... it looks so good.
- Yeknom, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Or if you really want to play it the moment you get it and still have the tangible disk, you can always pre--load it and go to the store, pick it up, and validate the cd-key. That way you can install it later if you do not trust the ever so awesome steam.
- relaxeder, on 04/17/2009, -0/+4I remember that Gabe Newell once said something along the lines that Valve would be able to issue a final update through Steam to render it no longer necessary for playing their titles, if they ever went out of business way down the road or discontinued it for whatever reason.
Although I think they said that way back when Steam was a little sprout, and things are looking pretty bright for their digital content distribution platform right now. - hamish, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4sorry, but toys r us only had the 360 version...
- vhold, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3A very likely scenario is that there are some last minute bugs they intend to have a patch available for on release day, and they don't want to ship a demo until they are dealt with.
It's also possible they are worried that working code could be used to compromise the leaked copies and end up a negative day pirated game. - kodek, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3They've tried when HL2 was released for preloading. It didn't happen. I doubt it'll happen now, as they have even less time.
- borninda818, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3You buy now in order to download before the release. Basically you get to play before the people waiting in line at the local store do. Also you do it from the comfort of your home while posting on digg and listening to music. Steam is a good system, I've always been happy with it.
- malacai, on 10/10/2007, -4/+7Through Steam you can also just "pre-download" and NOT order until you are ready.
I only recently re-discovered Steam after it's initial launch (with the id software library announcement) and I was surprised to find that all of my old games were available for download (HL, HL2, CS, etc.) - Noceous, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3If any game is worth the gamble of buying before trying, this is it.
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/bioshock - KyjL, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Your point is partially valid. It's still pretty easy to get around that whole "not physical copy" bit.
- Guspaz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Your videocard is the limiting factor. It'll probably run, but it won't look spectacular.
I suggest waiting for the PC demo and using that to test your performance. - nogami, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3How so? It worked flawlessly for me preloading/unlocking HL2. There were some patches that came out afterwards, but didn't change the fact that that I was playing the game about 5 minutes after midnight on release day (the time it took to decrypt the game data).
- Noctem, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4How about learning how Steam actually works (Like, installing it and discovering all its features) _before_ arguing what you perceive to be its negatives? The only semi-valid point you've made so far is "What if in 10 years Steam/Valve is out of business?".
- Rfriaz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3You can register games with Steam right? I suggest you get the game from the store, and register it with steam. You will then have a hard copy, and a Steam copy :-)
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