Advantage and/or disadvantage of purchasing the : Fallout: New Vegas

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 4:14 pm

I bought Oblivion over direct download and regretted it. I missed not having a physical box and disk. Also, patches and DLC were always delayed for the DD version because they had to be tweaked to work with it's copy protection. I don't know if Steam has similar delays, but I'd much prefer the boxed edition.

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 10:12 pm

1: "too many trees as it is"... :facepalm:

2: Consider it bandwidth costs.

3: "the planet can svck my 12 gauge"... You live on this planet. :facepalm:

4: That filing cabinet still takes up space.

1- Prove me wrong.
2- At the end of the day I have less product for the same amount of money. I'll consider it getting gypped.
3- This planet has been killing people left and right with hurricanes, floods, heat waves, earthquakes, blizzards, tsunamis, etc. I think it's time someone fought back.
4- This is true. Most people already have a filing cabinet though, and the space taken up by a game put in that cabinet surely won't be noticed nor missed.

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:19 pm

There's two reasons: The printed manual, and being able to install without downloading anything. Since the game is steamworks enabled, you gain nothing else by buying retail.

Well, that and not supporting digital distribution of games too, that's a pretty big advantage if you ask me, and just for that, I fully intend to get the retail version.

One benefit of digital distribution I appreciate is not having to have all those game boxes, manuals, and disks taking up space in my home. Another good thing is that digital distribution reduces the amount of paper and other materials that go into a physical product - better for the planet.

If you're going to use that reasoning as an argument for digital distribution than you might as well stop driving your car or using other paper products, for that matter, you should stop playing games too, since playing video games takes power, power that could come from power plants that damage the environment by operating. If you're so worried about the environment that even game boxes are a problem, then why stop there?

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 4:58 pm

i dont game on the PC too much but i prefer to have a physical copy of the game i buy.

» Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:34 am

There's two reasons: The printed manual, and being able to install without downloading anything. Since the game is steamworks enabled, you gain nothing else by buying retail.

You know... I still have the original Baldur's Gate 2 box, the Torment Box, and the Fallout 1 box (that opened sideways). :lol:

I would still have my Fallout Spiral bound manual too if it weren't for that hurricane.

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 1:11 pm

and being able to install without downloading anything.

Which to me, is huge. I don't consider downloads of even 1GB to be something I like to do, let alone 5-8gb+. Maybe if we had a decent broadband system in this country....

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:52 pm

Maybe you would like to explain what you are talking about? Steam is not going to just go belly up and instantaneously stop play ability for every game ever bought through them.

Steam servers went offline for a while overnight. I noticed an announcement on the Steam forums last night that the servers would be down for service for a few hours starting at 4am Pacific time. I put Steam into offline mode before I went to bed so it wouldn't slow me down from playing some Dead Rising 2 this morning (not that I needed to do that, Steam will allow offline login if it can't connect to the servers). The servers seem to be back up now, ahead of their anticipated schedule. EDIT: Nevermind, that downtime is scheduled for Monday morning, not today.

On topic: I'll be buying retail (hopefully the CE) because:
I like to have the physical manual for a game that I'll be playing a lot of/playing for a long time (not that I need it, just nice to have);
Having the disk allows me to easily reinstall the pre-patch version in the case that a patch messes something up;
I'll still have all the advantages of Steam for the same price, so it's like you get the physical media for free.

For games that I'll play for a few weeks and then forget, I often buy them on Steam.

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:20 pm

retail boxed version instead of Steam? Not much of a manual comes with games anymore. The only thing I can think of would be if Steam went [censored] up. Then a down load fix would allow one to use the disk. Or is that being paranoid?

Retail box it shall be.

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 3:40 pm

1- Prove me wrong.
2- At the end of the day I have less product for the same amount of money. I'll consider it getting gypped.
3- This planet has been killing people left and right with hurricanes, floods, heat waves, earthquakes, blizzards, tsunamis, etc. I think it's time someone fought back.
4- This is true. Most people already have a filing cabinet though, and the space taken up by a game put in that cabinet surely won't be noticed nor missed.

1: http://www.natureproducts.net/RFFF/images/forest_3.jpg
2: It's packaging fer cryin' out loud.
3: Screwing up the planet will make the planet "kill" even more, when it's thrown so far outta whack. It already is. More wildly fluctuating climatic temperatures, rising sea levels, more and more intense storms, longer droughts... Sticking one's head into an ostrich hole and claiming it isn't doesn't make it so.
4; Now multiply that space by many games.

» Tue Oct 19, 2010 2:34 am

3: Screwing up the planet will make the planet "kill" even more.

The planet was broke when I found it ...

;)

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:48 am

I prefer to have the physical copy in my hands and to be able to read the manual while curled up in my recliner. Might sound old fashioned, but then when it comes to some things, then I prefer the older approach.

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:44 pm

If our computers broke and couldnt use steam, we couldn't play the game anyway?

No reason not to go for steam. In fact, you can play sooner with Steam. It will pre-load the day before, and activate right at midnight (+ or - a few hours perhaps, depending on what time zone their activations work with) and start playing right away!

With the store bought you have to drive over, wait in line, head home, then start installing. Depending on the travel distance, whether you go to a midnight release or not, and your install time (could take an hour) you will save several hours with the Steam version.

I think they have PDFs of the manual available on steam once its out, if not sooner. I'm pretty sure they released the Fallout 3 manual before the game even came out.

If your computer breaks, you can get it fixed or buy a new one. But if the game is downloaded to the computer, you can't use it anymore and you have to buy a new one. If your XBox breaks, just take the disk to another XBox and continue to play. Duh.

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:46 pm

If your computer breaks, you can get it fixed or buy a new one. But if the game is downloaded to the computer, you can't use it anymore and you have to buy a new one. If your XBox breaks, just take the disk to another XBox and continue to play. Duh.

No, you don't have to buy a new game. You log onto your Steam account on your new/fixed computer, and simply re-download the game. For free. Steam lets you download the game as many times as you want, on as many computers as you want. Duh.

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:21 pm

if i had a computer i would download it from steam for safenes but nothing can beat holding the disc in your hand, its like a gun if you have a gun in a game its cool but if you are holding a gun in real life its awsome

» Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:47 pm

1: http://www.natureproducts.net/RFFF/images/forest_3.jpg
2: It's packaging fer cryin' out loud.
3: Screwing up the planet will make the planet "kill" even more, when it's thrown so far outta whack. It already is. More wildly fluctuating climatic temperatures, rising sea levels, more and more intense storms, longer droughts... Sticking one's head into an ostrich hole and claiming it isn't doesn't make it so.
4; Now multiply that space by many games.

1- One picture of an empty forest doesn't mean anything. Context?
2- It's less product. You spend your money on access to Steam's servers. I'll spend mine on the pretty packaging.
3- It was a joke. There is no need to go Dennis Quaid on me.
4- If you need more than that stop buying games or start buying more space.