Will FO:NV require an active internet connection to play and will even the disc based versions actually be download or Steam versions?

All PC copies will require a one time internet activation with Steam.

You do need to activate offline mode after installation otherwise you can't play legally while offline It's also mod compatible

No it will not. This is not how Steam works. You need only connect once to activate/download, then again once every two weeks or so to refresh your login if you choose to use Offline Mode. If you lose login for whatever reason while in online mode Steam will simply retry the connection until it can, your game will go uninterrupted.

Retail copies will install from the disk, however once activated on Steam you may at any time, for any reason, on any computer, download it again. The DVD is useful only as a way to speed up installation should you format your machine. Steam will, as time progresses, download various patches before it allows you to play, once such patches are released. You can, if you want, use the DVD as a coaster while popping the key into Steam and you won't in any way ruin your copy of the game.

I don't mind activating and downloading patches via Steam, but the reason I buy DVD copies is so that I don't tie my internet connection up (and bust my bandwidth allowance) for three days downloading a game. We're not all on 500gb fibre lines.

If you live in Australia it is now cheaper to buy a boxed copy anyway than to buy off steam so buy from a store and save your monthly allowance.

I still haven't needed to login once since I upgraded my offline gaming machine to the newest Steam version and shut it offline afterwards. Just saying.

Perfectly reasonable. ^_^

I was about to say that two week thing was wrong because I played Empire offline for about a month with no issues. Maybe this is a new thing though ?

though offline mode doesn't seem to work on all games so it can be a useless feature

Actually it is an old thing. The previous client wanted to automatically check for updates after two or three weeks, even when you were in offline mode. The new one stays quiet.

I've noticed that too. I sure as hell ain't sending in a support ticket, I'm perfectly content with Steam not following that old restriction.

...What the hell? why would you need to go online? Can someone explain the reasons behind the need for it? (Seriously confused, consoles don't have it, I haven't had to do it with any other PC games.

Think of it as the equivalent of PSN and XBox Live, Steam only keeps track of your friends and achievements while you are online. If you shut it to offline mode, you can still play the game, but lack the former features.

It's a form of copy protection. Essentially, your unique copy is registered to your PC and if in the immediate future someone tries to use that copy on another machine the copy protection will not allow it to run unless that machine is associated with your Steam account as well.

I don't know where the two week thing comes from. I've never had any problem running Steam games when my internet was down, and a few years ago I went about a month with no connection and had no problem. My internet service went down last weekend for a few days and Steam automatically went into offline mode and let me play Civ5 all I wanted. Seems like a pretty easy system to live with to me.

I have not encountered that. I've run steam in offline mode on my laptop for more than six months at this point and it hasn't asked to refresh anything. I can find no information on any sort of "refresh your login after a few weeks" in steam's official documentation either.

Who the hell isn't constantly connected the the internet anyway? And the only thing steam will be downloading is the patches for the game.

No, it's not registered to your PC in any way. It's registered to your Steam account. That's an important difference.

You can install the game on as many computers as you want, but you have to be able to log into your Steam account to activate the game because the license is tied to your account. You can only log into your Steam account from one computer at a time, so if you want to log onto your Steam account from another computer you have to log off on all other computers to do it. I'm not sure if just going to offline mode would work or not, but disconnecting from the internet would.

[quote name='DivineCrusader' date='07 October 2010 - 07:06 PM' timestamp='1286496415' post='16459664']
Who the hell isn't constantly connected the the internet anyway? And the only thing steam will be downloading is the patches for the game.
[/quote

I for 1 am not as I am in the merchant marines and internet is not an option 200 miles out from shore, also I believe the DLC that comes from a pre-order should come on a disk with the game requiring that disk to be in the console to have the DLC content not require me to go on xbox live or ps3 online just to be able to have my DLC available to me, one of my biggest [censored]es about DLC for oblivion, couldn't play it originally when I downloaded it because I wasn't connected to live at that moment or time, I think if I buy something I own it, I can do what I want with it after that as long as I am not selling it to someone else.