When most of the games offered at those savings are crap games, No.

That's basically it. The entire concept of online authentication for a single player, non-online game offends me on a philosophical level. (and I've heard some people say you can't stay "offline" with Steam forever - it wants a recheck now and then. Plus, you need to be online to install in the first place - not so good for people without connections - the kind of people who buy single-player offline games from brick-and-mortar stores.)

Mind you, this is from someone who uses Steam and thinks it's a great service - for what it does. Doesn't mean I think they walk on water and that everything they do is perfect.

(For example, I'm not a fan of the idea of automatic updates. Again, multiplayer online games need to be on the same version # to work. But single player games there are frequently reasons for you to want to update to a specific patch version, not just "the latest". In fact, Oblivion and Fallout 3 were games that I did this with. I still have all the patches saved for when I do reinstalls.)



You mean "ridiculously awesome", right?




You can't stop the hardcoe pirates. Which means the real test for any DRM is whether it inconveniences legal users more than the pirates. If it does, then your DRM scheme has failed. (see: Ubisoft's always-online DRM. Which, by the way, was cracked in under a week.)

Yeah, you need *some* DRM, because experience has shown that lazy people will grab anything "free" ( :banghead: cough, hack). But even a lesser DRM scheme will deter them. And, as I said, nothing's going to stop the hardcoe. So rigging up draconian DRM systems just pisses off the legitimate customers. Well, and pleases the shareholders & money men who don't understand a thing about the market, but need to be reassured that you're doing something about piracy.

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I would gladly take a disc check (or heck, even a good old-fashioned "hunt for word X on page Y" manual search) over online silliness. It'd be less of an inconvenience.

I'm not saying more people don't like it. It just needs to be an option so people that don't like it, don't have to use it.

now you're just grasping for straws. It's not the game they were compensated with that matters it's the customer service they provided.

Like i said even if you don't like steam eventually you are going to have to use it or another service like it. developers are migrating more and more to digital distributors because it's a more secure way to make sure their games are obtained legally.

Eventually video games will become like music CD's, digital.

Oh dear lord in heaven, how many of these threads must we endure?!

You do realize that you can still buy music CD, right? They haven't gone completely digital, & they don't make me login to some worthless software to play them.

they exist but people aren't buying them, that is why a whole bunch of CD stores went out of business and are continuing to go out of business. go to your local mall and count how many purely music stores there are. I bet it wont be many if any at all.

It's much easier to just sit at your comp than go to the store.

Probably a lot of them, until game developers realize that not everyone likes Steam & makes it an option, as opposed to mandatory.

there is a poll around here that suggests differently...

Found it again
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1107858-tesv-and-steam/

And Steam isn't going on my 'Puters

I normally don't go to a purely music store to buy my music, but I still go buy it in disc form. I have never bought any music in digital format. I still don't have to login to a worthless program to listen to my music.

what game developers have realized is the best way to make people actually buy their product from them instead of pirate it or buy it used is to use a program like this. One that authenticates you have a real purchased copy every time you go to play. One that makes sure you can have your game on any computer you want any time you want.


It's the best choice of distribution for the developer and the consumer.

"I dont want it because i don't like it" is still not a good reason as to why the developers shouldn't make you use this type of authentication. What exactly about steam is the problem?

Publishers letting their customers choose? never going to happen.

Yes, but if you buy the CD at Amazon, you have to log in to the website to buy it. Or at least provide enough information that you could have created an account.

Well, with the Steam Activation, you go on once after have installed the game, activate it, then you can disconnect your computer from the Internet for the rest of your life and still be able to play New Vegas. You do not have to have Steam running, you do not have to be logged into Steam and you do not have to periodically connect or reactivate.

You can choose to buy the game or not buy the game, but Steam Activation is Required Once to play it if you do buy it.

but "I wont get the game because of the service I would be forced to use" ought to be a valid reason to at least take a second look.

Then there is a PS3 and Xbox 360 version that doesn't make you use steam. It's not like steam is something you have to pay more for to play new vegas. It's a minor inconvenience at best, not a detriment to quality of life.

"I shouldn't have to take one or two extra steps to authenticate my copy because it's slightly inconvenient to me" is what most of the non steam arguments come off as.

I can completely understand the hard copy argument because it just feels "safer" to have one, but even if they didn't use steam then it would be a windows live game and that program is much worse than steam could ever be.

Eactly if you guys aren't frugal switch to console gaming.

no mod potential & I can't use gamepads because I have a condition that leaves one hand basically useless, It's easier & less painful for me to use a mouse & kb with my good hand

& my last console is a PS1



Right now I wish it was a "LIVE" game (as it was implemented in in FO3)

I haven't played a game on a console since the PS1. I stopped playing on a console well before the PS2 came out.
The whole " they use steam to stop piracy" argument is just crap. The game will be pirated within the first week of release. They aren't stopping anything by forcing Steam on us.

Steam DRM is the best thing so far about this game, for me.

One of the best things I like is Steam Cloud, which stores your saves and settings on Valve's servers, so you don't have to worry about losing them.

I have never had to worry about my saved games or settings without Steam.

Never had to adjust settings again even after a complete uninstall and reinstall?

why should Bethesda soft have to cater to you? No other type of consumers are as spoiled and greedy as gamers (maybe drug addicts). If even the smallest thing is not the way we like it we go into this outburst of saying how unjust things are even when it has nothing to do with the quality of the games we play nor is it a detriment to the ability to play said games.

The sales end up on every game in the Steam store at some point or another. Are you really going to make the claim that every single game in the Steam store is crap?



Still there are millions of people out there who are happy to sign into iTunes so what exactly is your problem?

All you are saying is "I dont like Steam because I dont like it". You just seem bitter towards Steam beyond rational reasoning. Are you against any form of DRM? Did you get VAC banned in the past?

I guess The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a bad game, because I got the GOTY Deluxe edition for $9. And I guess BioShock, Deus Ex, KOTOR, HL, HL2, and Morrowind svck too.

Edit: Wat.

Oh, auto censor.

At the mall, yes. But out on the town? I know one. Granted he sells movies as well but his main venue is CD's and, believe it or not, LP records. Yes, the huge black vinyl plates that where the main form of music distribution until the polarisation of tapes and CD's

I know this wasn't to me but I'd like to respond
for me when I buy music I find it satisfying to get something tactile, some I can touch, feel



I don't want steamworks because...

1 ) I only have dial-up as an option
2 ) I don't allow my SP games (basically all my games) to have a presence on the net, including locking it to an online account
3 ) Steamworks offers nothing that I want
4 ) I can see nothing wrong with offering a choice like Beth has done up to this point

this is my conundrum because I want to support Obsidian/Beth but not through steam