Round 4 of Would you use Steam for Rebirth thread

[angrytigerp]

Also agree with this statement. I can't access any of my Steam games (which don't exist) when I want to.

See here for 'scheduled' inability to access your 'own' games:-

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... p?t=784745

Scheduled server downtimes, during which you can't download new content -- but you are not at all restricted from playing anything already on your computer. Having gone through probably a dozen+ Steam downtimes by now, I'm pretty sure I wasn't just hallucinating playing a Steam game while the servers were offline.

That said, it needs maintenance, too. Next time you're going to tell me that I, and tens of thousands of other users, should unsubscribe from Eve Online because there's a scheduled downtime for an hour every day? Should the tens of millions of subscribed WoW players unsubscribe from their game because it has downtimes? Hell, if anything, by your logic these services deserve even less customer loyalty than Steam, because at least with Steam you're still able to play your games during downtimes. When the EVE server is down, you can't log in or do anything in the game! I deserve all my money back!

[Truelight_Seeker]

On my computer table always there are two original disks X і: Reunion, X і: Terran Conflict. I very much want to see also among them the real original disk X Rebirth! Forgive for God's sake me, but I furiously hate Steam. Bernd my dear friend, take pity on the old space veteran!

[EuRoKa]

Imagine XR had only to be activated once. Does anybody know, whether I'd have access to it, if my steam account would be banned (or maybe there is one of the before mentioned downtimes)? If yes, I wouldn't mind the license/possession issue, since steam would not hear from me again anytime soon! Thx for the answers.

[andrewas]

That would be possible only if Egosoft release a no-steam patch, which seems unlikely. Short of that, rebirth will be bound to a steam account.

[Burneyx]

Well,
today i learned something new (for me).

I have been told about a year ago in the german forum, that Steam games will never enter CBS (german games magazin) where you get for free one or two games every month if you buy CBS.

This is proven wrong.....i bought the CBS Gold Edition today and it contains the game King Arthur, witch is an Steam game and requires an active Steam account to play it.

Now what are the facts of the deal if i try out King Arthur?

Burneyx, no money = Steam, no money......

Sounds like a fair deal, where both sides take no risk.

My motivation to give Steam another try is the chance to get X-Rebirth from CBS (one day)......
Still there will be heavy restrictions for Steam to work on my PC, like no startup entries allowed, no additional ports opened and so on.

greetings

burneyx

[Slashman]

@burneyx

Well you can't really beat free.

If you want to be extra cautious and have a second system that can run the game, you could use it there.

Otherwise Steam uninstalls fairly cleanly and you can use something like CCleaner to get any scraps it may leave over. I know some people didn't want it running on their main system.

I'll be interested to hear how things go.

[strude]

Still there will be heavy restrictions for Steam to work on my PC, like no startup entries allowed, no additional ports opened and so on.

There is an option in the Steam client to disable the client from starting on Windows start up.

[DrATty]

There's a market for games that Steam will not reach any time soon. I don't think it will attract much of the market that buys retail either.
Game is now in administration, perhaps never to return, and yet most games were bought in stores last year. My mother bought a fair few games for my nephew from Game. She refuses to buy them online. She doesn't see the value, and won't hand over the £50 or so that each game costs in case the cash goes elsewhere. My nephew can't afford to buy games himself, especially now there's no second-hand market. I wonder just how much of the money spent on gaming is spent by older people with a distrust of anything digital; spent by non-gamers even. She spent more on games than I did in the last few years. I bought the SuperBox through Steam because I knew the game, and it was cheap. My poor Web connection made the experience a dreadful one. These are just 2 of my stories.
There are huge markets in the developing world that are becoming interested in gaming. Their infrastructure is worse than mine. In consequence, I think that developers will back away from online distribution, and probably even online registration. Online DRM will go too, certainly in the forms we see now. Shareholders will see too much potential profit being lost, and it's all about profit.
I don't think console gaming will follow PC gaming. People buy consoles for portable, instant-on play. Tying players to Web connections, 'scheduled downtime' and adding complicated hoops to jump through won't be popular. I don't know, but I would guess, that a larger proportion of console owners lack the skills necessary to carry out complicated troubleshooting than PC gamers. Consoles need to be easy to use.
I must admit to being bored by gaming on the whole. If you have half a dozen games, one from each genre, you've got the lot. I see little innovation. An FPS is an FPS. If someone wants me to buy a game, it needs to do something different, and definitely not put artificial hurdles in my way. I have 2 Steam games sitting on my bookshelf. I really can't be bothered with them.
Time will tell. Digital downloads, the need for good internet connections and DRM will live or die depending the attitude, ability and infrastructure of the global market (don't bother packing your Steam games if you move country), not the tens of millions who have Steam accounts. I suspect those that can't or won't use Steam and its ilk are in the majority.

[Slashman]

I suspect those that can't or won't use Steam and its ilk are in the majority.

I suspect that those who can get a physical box without much trouble(either because there is a store nearby or because they can easily order a game from a retailer and have it shipped without much additional expense), are likely to buy a physical box.

Having the box tied to Steam or Impulse probably isn't that big a factor to people who just like buying a physical box when they pre-order or shop for games.

If I had a decent retail store on my island I'd buy physical boxes for some games. Steam or not isn't the reason I'd want a retail box. The great stuff people got in The Witcher 2 box would be an incentive to me to buy it over a digital copy.

People buy boxes because boxes were the only way to get games up until a few years ago. People got used to boxes. There was no choice or alternative to boxes until Steam and other digital retailers came into being.

People get used to something and don't want it to change or don't want the 'trouble' of adjusting. That's human nature.

I highly doubt most people sit down and go: 'I'm looking at my choices of digital or retail and I'm not buying digital because it's Big Brother DRM that wants to control my brainwaves.'

People are used to going to to the store and picking up boxes or ordering them and having them delivered. They won't change the pattern until something happens to make them need to use an alternative.

[thetack]

my boxes are covered by insurance and would be replaced , digital has no insurance and technacly no legal rights.
i dont neceseraly want boxed, i will download and burn a disk but thats the importent thing burn a disk and never having to download again, i am more than happy to download (but cant at home due to crap internet) what i dont want is steam.
i have bought a lot of digital stuff from matrix and dont have a problem with them, my problem is with steam and not the acount binding im happy to acount bind to Bernd just not steam
how can i put this that dosnt seem confusing


download - ok as long as its ego
online activation - ok as long as its ego
account binding -ok as long as its ego
drm ok - as long as its not call up to play

steam no, impulse no, ubisoft no ego yes
i think thats clear

[David Howland]

Most of that sounds clear and a half way reasonable position to me, thetack!
Problem is, it is not going to affect the ES/Steam launch of XR. I am sure ES are contractually obliged to release this game exclusively Steam and Mac.
ES may even be part owned by Steam in which case this obligation is likely to be permanent!

[EmperorJon]

Egosoft are not part owned by Steam, David. That's not how it works. They don't buy out the developers. That's like saying Egosoft is part owned by every store that ever sold an X game.

[David Howland]

And how do you EmperorJon, know, that none of the management or owners of Steam, own any share or shares in ES?
No, I was not suggesting that ES were a cooperative society, I do recognise that ES are a 'proper' business, at least for the time being?

[Jumee]

No offense to Egosoft but I really doubt that Steam would see any need to buy it out, its not like Egosoft is a multi-billion making giant or a company that has produced mass-successful titles

Also, steam does not own games it sells (well except for Valve games obviously), so they can not force Egosoft to release XR as a steam-only game

edit: just making it clear - Egosoft has made amazing games - but they had little commercial success (relative to things like ME/CoD/etc)

[EmperorJon]

In that case it would be part owned by them as a shareholder rather than the company.

[Stars_InTheirEyes]

I'd use steam because I've never had a problem with it.

[NUKLEAR-SLUG]

And how do you EmperorJon, know, that none of the management or owners of Steam, own any share or shares in ES?

Valve already have what practically amounts to a cash printing machine. What possible interest could they have with wanting to own a small developer like Egosoft?

[Slashman]

And how do you EmperorJon, know, that none of the management or owners of Steam, own any share or shares in ES?

Valve already have what practically amounts to a cash printing machine. What possible interest could they have with wanting to own a small developer like Egosoft?

Egosoft is the beginning of the world domination push. Steam will use it's position as a maker of niche space sim games to enthrall the masses...

[rusky]

And how do you EmperorJon, know, that none of the management or owners of Steam, own any share or shares in ES?
No, I was not suggesting that ES were a cooperative society, I do recognise that ES are a 'proper' business, at least for the time being?

And how do you know that they do ?

This is just like the debate over whether God exists, ie. pointless since neither side can put out any facts.

[EmperorJon]

However in that case the absence of God is a fact for them to use... anyway, that's getting OT.