Yet another steam (Digital Distro) thread

[Adlerson]

I've been reading this thread and I see very polarized views. Personally I've been using Steam since its infancy, and rarely ever buy games anywhere else. That said, I understand how Slitherine and Matrix would be hesitant, the combination of having to sell cheaper while getting a flood of new users could very well drown them.
But that said, I'm finding myself in a situation now where Steam would be perfect; I bought Panzer Corps when it first came out, and I've bought every DLC since then. I have the emails with the unlock keys and download links, but it seems the download links no longer work. (I seem to remember something about an extended download service when I first bought the game.)
Anyway, I want to download the game again, to install on my laptop. Yet now I can't. So in THIS sense it would be wonderful to have something like Steam where if I want to install the game on multiple computers, or reinstall it after a change of computers, or what have you, I could do so without having to write to customer support or buy the game again.

My $0.02 on the issue. I can see why the devs are hesitant, but I DO love Steam for the ease of managing my games.

Cheers,
Addy

[VPaulus]

So in THIS sense it would be wonderful to have something like Steam where if I want to install the game on multiple computers, or reinstall it after a change of computers, or what have you, I could do so without having to write to customer support or buy the game again.

I know that they want to implement this feature here in Slitherine.
Anyway you don't have to buy again the game, please write to info@slitherine.co.uk with your order details and they will provide new links for download.
While we don't have that feature active, I suggest you backup the installer file.

[IainMcNeil]

We will hopefully soon have an automated way to download if you have registered your serial but as VPaulus says just ping us a mail and we'll issue a new link.

[Adlerson]

Awesome.

That IS a lot better than having to buy it again, but that said, I'm glad to hear you guys will move towards an automated way of doing this.

[kop101]

http://steamcommunity.com/greenlight/

Steam Greenlight is a new system that enlists the community's help in picking some of the next games to be released on Steam. Developers post information, screenshots, and videos for their game and seek a critical mass of community support in order to get selected for distribution. Steam Greenlight also helps developers get feedback from potential customers and start creating an active community around their game as early in the development process as they like.

can't resist to post

[Rudankort]

can't resist to post

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viewtopic.php?p=334942#p334942

[impar]

Apart from the time when Steam promos hit, ...

Like now.
Just check the internet buzz.

[impar]

http://kotaku.com/5927021/this-is-what- ... ummer-sale

[VPaulus]

Steam sales: How deep discounts really affect your games Exclusive

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/1745 ... ra+News%29

[impar]

Nothing new, really.
Steam is the premiere PC game distribution service for some reason: It is good!

[VPaulus]

Nothing new, really.
Steam is the premiere PC game distribution service for some reason: It is good!

Jesus, impar! You've got this thread under strict surveillance.
Don't make Steam has the Hallelujah of modern PC gaming. While this might not work with all developers/publishers, it's certainly working for some.
I've never liked monopolies, and Steam is becoming bigger. But for now I agree, they seem to be bringing a new breath to PC gaming.

[Chris10]

Jesus, impar! You've got this thread under strict surveillance.
Don't make Steam has the Hallelujah of modern PC gaming. While this might not work with all developers/publishers, it's certainly working for some.
I've never liked monopolies, and Steam is becoming bigger. But for now I agree, they seem to be bringing a new breath to PC gaming.

STEAM is utter crap..yeah I admit..Iam a hater and I have very good reasons
...not so much for the service they offer but for the system itself which basically strips every single person of their ownership rights and makes them vulnerable to blackmail. STEAM is the total surveillance state for gamers...yet few poeple really realize it.
By using STEAM people cede 100% control to somebody else.This never turned out well in human history
No matter how much promises STEAM make or how the contract is set up
Its only a matter of time and once STEAM and others have penetrated the markets enough and enjoy a nearly monopoly of game distribution they sure will start inventing creative fees for hosting peoples games or even more intrusive DRM which people have to agree to and which gives them literally free ticket to run rampant on user PCs or whatever other viciousness way of exploiting people and squeeze more money out of them crosses their mind.

[VPaulus]

Cris, it might happen what you say, but for now you just conjuring.

People keep it civil, soon as we see a Steam hater we will see a Steam lover.

[flakfernrohr]

Power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts in the case of Steam.

[dragos]

I bought Panzer Corps when it first came out, and I've bought every DLC since then. I have the emails with the unlock keys and download links, but it seems the download links no longer work. (I seem to remember something about an extended download service when I first bought the game.)
Anyway, I want to download the game again, to install on my laptop. Yet now I can't.

Why don't you burn the downloads on a dvd or save them on an external hdd for later installs together with a txt file with the keys? It takes 5 minutes and saves the trouble of downloading them again and searching through old emails later.

[impar]

Why don't you burn the downloads on a dvd or save them on an external hdd for later installs together with a txt file with the keys? It takes 5 minutes and saves the trouble of downloading them again and searching through old emails later.

I did that, kept the installation files and txt with code keys.
But when you compare this method with Steam method of opening Steam and installing the game plus all the DLC, it is rather antiquate. Have a similar problem with Total War DLCs, if not for Steam keeping track of whichTW DLCs I bought, I would be lost. Its just convenient.
And lets not forget the community aspect. I didnt play much of PzC MP but wen I played I was using Steam chat to talk with the other plyer.

[dragos]

Maybe I'm old fashioned, I bought the vanilla PzC with box and printed manual (collector edition). I prefer to own my games and enjoy them totally unrestricted by anything such as internet connection or being logged in to some site in order to play. For older games I'm searching ebay to buy the old boxed editions instead of downloading from gog. I feel their sentimental value deserves a physical collectible item

[VPaulus]

Maybe I'm old fashioned, I bought the vanilla PzC with box and printed manual (collector edition). I prefer to own my games and enjoy them totally unrestricted by anything such as internet connection or being logged in to some site in order to play. For older games I'm searching ebay to buy the old boxed editions instead of downloading from gog. I feel their sentimental value deserves a physical collectible item

I see ypur point but in the case of GOG, remember that some of their versions run better in modern PCs than the original disc ones. Besides having the last patch they are also tweaked in some cases to run with modern Windows.

[jaggy]

Maybe I'm old fashioned, I bought the vanilla PzC with box and printed manual (collector edition). I prefer to own my games and enjoy them totally unrestricted by anything such as internet connection or being logged in to some site in order to play. For older games I'm searching ebay to buy the old boxed editions instead of downloading from gog. I feel their sentimental value deserves a physical collectible item

Same here, dragos. I do not like games where you have to log-in or need online activation.

[MrsWargamer]

Ahh Steam threads, they are like peanuts

Fact Steam likely could move maaaaaaaany more purchases than Matrix Games/Slitherine ever will, even if they sell at seemingly insulting prices.

Fact, I love my Civ V to death, but it won't run BEFORE my system connects to the net and initiates Steam first. Which means I am either at home or another online location or I am not playing my legally purchased game (which I got in both cases as physical disks in a store both base game and expansion). It's annoying as hell, but the number of times I desperately need to play Civ V at my mother's place (offline) is incredibly small bordering on not worth mention.

Fact 1.1 of the above, I am almost always on a net supplying location when I am playing any of my games. So really, crying about a need to be online really loses a lot of value. I can even play Civ V at Tim Horton's if I feel like carrying my laptop around that badly.

Fact, I buy almost all my real wargames as Matrix Games/Slitherine purchases simply because they sell them as complete program requiring only a serial to install as many times as I bloody well feel like it on as many machines as I damn well want. Which means, if I really felt like it, my son can play on his machine vs me on my machine with a single purchase. Granted, the day my son WANTS to play a wargame with me, I am likely going to celebrate and buy all my friends a game as a way to celebrate.

Fact, people that worship something being sold to them in a case with jacket art and with a reduced size manual (to fit in the case) and a company silk screened disc feeling it is worth the 10 extra bucks and makes it more valuable for it, NEED HELP. I'd rather make my own one of a kind jacket art and get my own case (worth about 5 cents these days) and even burn my own disc image (pathetically easy to do in 2012 even if not in 1995) on a blank disc (worth about 20 cents). I also like that the file can be burned to a flash drive and in two locations on a primary computer hard drive and one several back up discs as well as a laptop and stored even on tablets as it is all really just what it is, data. You could even store the data online with most service providers as they offer data storage.

I am pondering getting Panzer Command Ostfront today as I see it is on sale for peanuts. So cheap as to be hard to resist. And as a download only, as I'd need to be mentally challenged to think I needed it sent to me as a physical item. It's 3d but it is also turn based, that makes me interested. I am curious to see how it stacks up against Actung Panzer Operation Star. And the price is sooo not too much today. Even 'I' can justify getting it (and I have too many games already).

I would likely get more games on Steam if I had no choice. I like that they offer low prices, only a liar would say otherwise.
But I DO have a choice, and it is called Matrix Games/Slitherine. The thing is, I would love to see Matrix Games/Slitherine making as much money as they can, and I truly believe they could via Steam. But I would be sad to know I couldn't enjoy playing my games offline, and be able to install as I see fit. Thus, I consider Steam a great 'alternative purchase method' but certainly not the best method that exists. The best is as I likely have made plain, the way Matrix Games/Slitherine already does it.

And if they are happy with their sales volumes and profit levels who am I too tell them otherwise

I've walked away from a few games of recent years, simply because the game simply wasn't soooooo great I was willing to suck it up and suffer the DRM method insisted on by the publishers (who's name started in Battle, and ends in Front). Combat Mission looks good enough to want, buuuuuuut not so good I am willing to encourage their idiotic solution to people stealing from them. That and mr Tiller's method sucks as well. But the market has soooo many games, and we don't really need to feel pressured eh. I can live without a few of them. And I do. EA this bird is for you, I don't care to purchase any of your games regardless of how they are marketed including Steam or a method I prefer.

I am also old fashioned. I prefer my games look like a board game, and use hexes and turns. But I am open to creative methods of marketing.