Steam(punk)

[moradrel]

I could resolve to update more in the new year, but it probably won't happen

Comments

[archangelonline]

You know, as more gamers get into things like World of Warcraft, Second Life and so on, the logging onto Steam thing may well just become a "Yeah, and?" issue.

[archangelonline]

Oh, and you need to buy cheaper drinks. :-p

[moradrel]

I suppose you're right - people will think of games as things that must be run by something external, and the stuff on the disc is just the static run components. Rather sad, really.

[pen_pen42]

Recently I've been finding myself burning a CD of patches to keep in the box of PC games I still play. I wiped and reinstalled the OS on my gaming computer a week or so ago, so I'm filled with the pain of all the various problems it entails. :-P

[pen_pen42]

BioShock is only £3.50? Only yesterday I was pondering buying it for just under £10 on Amazon, I think I may have to go with Steam as I don't care about having official physical media for it, I'd rather burn the Steam backups myself so I don't need to apply the patches again if I reinstall.

[pen_pen42]

Dammit, it seems the sale ended on 2nd, and Bioshock is now £13.99.

[moradrel]

I think I managed to snag it with scant hours remaining. :)

#investigates backup function#

I suppose that's useful, but I'm not convinced that the Steam service and the potential to play the games with be usable for me in the event of a Zombie apocalypse, which is of course the ultimate measure of utility.

[pen_pen42]

Perhaps for the best I didn't manage to get it, given I start work again today. :-P Already seem to have lost someone to Gear of War 2. I've played the BioShock demo though, and it's either the full version or Fallout 3 which will be my next game to play - probably over Easter.

Steam touts the idea that you can go to any online computer and download whatever games you have there, but given my compressed backup (not including save games annoyingly, have to do those manually) barely managed to fit onto 4 DVD-Rs, I don't fancy waiting to download it all.

In the event of a Zombie apocalypse I shall activate the offline mode for Steam, but will still be screwed if I ever have to reinstall. I probably should make a mirror image of my drive now just in case really...

*mutters about cloud computing in general and the coming of the end for personal archiving of media*

[calephetos]

I feel much the same way... I will happily dance on the ashes of 2008, quite frankly.

#stomp#

[captain_carrot]

With Bioshock in particular it makes little difference. The physical media version of the game also has to auth against their servers online before you can play it, and in fact when it came out their servers crapped out and the Steam ones didn't... You only have to auth online the first time you try and play it, but the same can be said of Steam. It has that handy 'Run offline' option, that allows you to play anything that has already been authed.

[moradrel]

Oh yes, I remember now: wasn't it the BioShock auth servers that shat a brick on the first day, so all those who had paid good money for it got stuck but leaving those naughty people with cracked versions that could run without authenticating able to play it? I lolled.

[caerwiden]

I bought exactly the same thing the other night, then went back the night after to buy Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and the sale wasn't on anymore.

For some bizarre reason £5.99 still feels like a little too much for me.

[moradrel]

See, I'd be more than happy to turn over £5.99 for an actually piece of physical product, but despite the fact it would offer many, many hours of gaming experience, I still find myself sucking through my teeth at the cost of something so nebulous.

I'll no doubt get over it, however, as my brain reshapes itself around the concept.

[pen_pen42]

I do admit I like having a DVD sized box for a game, and an instruction leaflet - more so than having the disc itself - just to look neat on my shelf.

While I could rant about story of the DRM for Red Alert 3 putting me off buying it, I shall instead stop spamming your journal.

[caerwiden]

Precisely, £5.99 for a box, manual and the game is a bargain, assuming it's a decent game, but for a download?

Not quite so much.

It's odd.