I got to admit, I miss having the CD-ROM's of Red Alert 2. The install process was one-of-a-kind, and presented to the player, err, umm, the Commander, in a mission briefing style. The digital versions do not offer this experience, and the package copy ( The Decade Collection) as well.

I was installing some of my older CD-ROM based games last week on my third HDD. When I put in Warcraft 3 I was stunned to hear music in the installer. I had forgotten about these kind of experiences. I think Halo CE had music in the installer too.

Yes. Those are some of the best experiences for owning the physical boxed versions of PC versions of video games compared to owning digital PC versions of video games.

It's a truly amazing benefit of playing the physical boxed versions of PC versions of video games on PC. It's pure art to me and should be preserved for eternity on the PC versions of video games. Agreed?

I still have the physical boxed version of Command & Conquer Tiberiun Sun, the physical boxed version of Command & Conquer Tiberiun Sun's expansion pack Firestorm, the physical boxed version of Command & Conquer Red Alert 2, and the physical boxed version of Command & Conquer Red Alert 2's expansion pack Yuri's Revenge.

It's the most amazing thing ever to put the CD-ROM disc of Command & Conquer Tiberiun Sun and Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 inside my DVD-ROM and click instal and watch it install and hearing that music and seeing those screenshots.

You will never get that enjoyment and experience installing the digital versions of PC versions of video games ever.

Softnerd, if Bethesda rolled out their own online DRM/digital download client over their future games, then those games would also be permanently off my purchase list.
I don't buy soft copy versions of PC games.
I don't download illegal soft copy versions of PC games.

* JeniSkunk brandishes her original release boxed copy of MYST, like a shield.

I buy proper physical copies of PC games, with NO online component to their installers.

Jenifur Charne

I saw Morrowind GOTY in GAME brand new today with steamworks on it.

I have been waiting to get my hands on a boxed version of that game for quite a while, i lost my original, the Anthology just doesn't do it for me.

If Steamworks didn't exist that boxed version of Morrowind would not have been there because Bethesda would have had no incentive to burn more copies

I still have my pre-Steam version of Morrowind

I would have got Id's Doom 3 BFG edition if Steam wasn't a requirement

I also still have my pre-Steam physical boxed version of the PC version of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition (GotY).

Also I don't know what country GAME is in but I live in the USA and people here keep telling me that GameStop still sells the physical boxed version of the PC version of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with no Steam Works on it at all crippknottick told me this.

Although the GameStop's near where I live don't sell the physical boxed version any more there are GameStop's around the USA that still do sell.

GAME is British

The problem with Britain is that our game stores don't sell many PC games so Steam is a godsend

Bottom line: have Steam optional!

IMHO I think Steam the reason why though.

I have heard some say "Why buy it on disc when you go through Steam anyway?"

that creates the illusion that more want to get their games via DD

I am really surprised. I never expected you to try to top this:

"you need Steam to run PC games."

Not that you succeeded. That one was a true gem of totally unsupported and flat out wrong that can probably never be matched. This latest is not quite up to that standard, although the premise that gamesas's incentive to produce physical copies is somehow enhanced by including Steamworks on them is equally inane.

Just for fun, do you suppose you could make an effort to pretend to support that?

Steam has extended the life of Morrowind, there is no way to deny that, Morrowind is one of the most popular games on steam. Bethesda obviously saw that there is still money to be made from Morrowind and decided to burn another batch.

It's not rocket science, it's Business.

Steam has nothing to do with Morrowind′s popularity and continous sales. Morrowind has to do with Morrowind′s popularity and continous sales..

LOL. So is there some way to prove that? I'm quite capable of doubting it. Hard copy Morrowind would sell on discount racks in stores just as well and probably better without Steamworks. Digital download Morrowind sells on all the other services just as well as it does on Steam. All putting Steamworks on it does is force people who buy it elsewhere to put themselves in position for Valve to add them to their 'look how many customers we have' propaganda.

If you are going to be a Valve shill you should really at least try to make sense.

If Morrowind was not on Steam Bethesda would have stopped profiting off it ages ago.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/22320/

So how does restating your unsupported premise strengthen your argument? Steam is one distribution point. It isn't the only distribution point (thankfully).

Is the link supposed to prove something? Or is Valve paying their shills by the click just for bringing people to their sites?

I am not being paid a thing, look at the Metascore, look at the user reviews.

Look at the fact that Bethesda can still profit off 10+ year old games.

Valve are not the evil megacorp you are making them out to be. To be honest, i agree that they are not a very good company when it comes to catering to their fans, but Steam is a great service, Steam came as a digital distrobution platform long before people started slapping the requirement on their games you know.

I took the time to actually look at the GAME website and see just which release of Morrowind GOTY they had up for grabs.
The version of Morrowind GOTY, available in GAME, is the single DVD release of Morrowind GOTY from The Elder Scrolls Anthology set. This version of Morrowind GOTY has STEAM codes available for Morrowind, Tribunal, and Bloodmoon.
GAME, is one of the international bland names EB Games trades as.

Link: http://www.game.co.uk/en/the-elder-scrolls-iii-morrowind-game-of-the-year-edition-240254

Jenifur Charne

Not the one i saw in-store

I don't disagree that STEAM is a great service.
As a digital distribution system, it paved the way for what works on PC.
Where the problem lies is in game devs signing off on exclusivity agreements, pushed by VALVe, so that the sole way their single player offline games are sold, is a STEAM only versions, on both physical disc and soft copy digital download.

Forcing PC gamers to be assimilated by the Borg STEAM Collective, in order to install and/or play the physical PC release of a game, is the Wrong Way to do things.
Giving PC gamers the choice to not have to be assimilated, in order to install and/or play the physical PC release of a game, is Right Way to do things.
That, more than anything else is the real issue.

DRM systems being trojaned onto users systems is a secondary issue. Something which Governments and lawmakers need to address.

Jenifur Charne

I know that the pic is of the Ubisoft CD release of Morrowind GOTY, but to the right of the pic and below, is what format this release of Morrowind is on. PC DVD, with STEAM keys available. That release is the one from the Anthology.

Jenifur Charne

I completley agree with all of this.

Ubisoft did Morrowind? I think I remember seeing a Tribunal advertisemant in the installer for Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield.

Yeah, they can. That has a whole lot to do with the game in question. You still have not supported your strange premise that somehow putting Steam on it has anything to do with it still selling.

Steam was created as a DRM system. It was trojaned onto Half-Life 2. Claiming that it 'came as' anything else is just false.

I am just going to ignore you, you seem to be pulling "facts" out of nowhere.

"Steam's development began at an uncertain date prior to 2002. Working titles included "Grid" and "Gazelle".It was revealed to the public on March 22, 2002 at the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Developers_Conference, and was presented purely as a distribution network.To demonstrate the ease of integrating Steam to a game, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relic_Entertainment created a special version of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_Creatures. However, the game was ultimately not released on Steam."

"The Steam client was first made available for download in 2002 during the beta period for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Strike 1.6. At that time, its primary function was streamlining the patch process common in online computer games. Installation and use of **Steam was mandatory for Counter-Strike 1.6 beta testers, but Steam remained an optional component. 80,000–300,000 gamers tested the system when it was in its beta period. The system and website choked under the strain of thousands of users simultaneously attempting to play the latest version of Counter-Strike. In 2004, the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Opponent_Network was shut down and replaced by Steam. The online features of games which required World Opponent Network ceased to work unless they were converted to Steam."

**This is undertsandable due to the fact it was for a Beta.

Do some research before you start accusing.

It's not a Trojan, it's a distribution software that some people (understandably) Don't like.

I am not supporting DRM of any kind, i am just sick of these moronic complaints that Steam is a virus when it blatantly is not.

I'm actually pulling facts out of a box. The box contains the original installation disks for Half-Life 2. The first time I installed it, way back in the day, I was greeted by the 'Steam account' requirement (yes kiddies, I bought the very first on-line authentication DRM game ever produced, full pop, still has the $54.99 sticker on it...the last dime VALVe ever got from me is somewhere in that price) and given the same litany of 'benefits' you jabber on about today...how I could play my game anywhere I wanted, how I didn't have to keep track of the disks, how Steam would keep my game up to date on patches and such...and a very sincere 'personal word' from the creators of this fine piece of software explaining how this was all necessary in order for them to be able to provide such fine products in a world rife with pirates and evil publishers who wanted to screw gamers and developers like VALVe alike. All very 'you and us against the world'.

As it turns out they were more interested in joining the evil publishers than anything else.