here we can use MBnet to pay stuff on the internet, it uses Visa and my bank acount, i create a virtual Visa credit card, with a certain amount of money, for ex: 30, then with the data, of the virtual card i can buy things on the internet safely, the card can only be used once and if i buy a 25 thing they only take 25 from my acount, that does not have a visa card.
the system is rather safe, it logs out each time i do something and then i have to put my codes again, and the codes are inputed using a virtual keypad on the site and are encripted.
That's pretty impressive Rogan, I gotta agree with DXR for myself though. I have a 512kbit connection, it sucks, but I almost never manage more then 40KB/s on steam, even with no-one else in the house, and nothing else going on on my box. I can manage 58ish from other decent sources, and 40KB/s rarely stays constantly that high, it frequently drops as low as 5 or 10 for me too. I agree Steam is improving, but Valve are going to have to do more then not break things to convince me that the system that locked me out of a game I actually bought for 24 hours is any good.
In theory steam is good, and I think it has the potential to get there, eventually. But valve have a long way to go. I still think they're getting a bit far into milking the user for too little content with it, instead of offering good value in exchange for physical media.
Also, personally, overall I'd rather download updates from a publisher or developers website and know what I'm installing on my system, know what updates are good and what updates are bad, then have an automated system. Although this is obviously massively up to the individual.
I think the article could have done a lot more still if it had covered a few things that you mention like EA's and Ubisofts online distribution systems(but then, I can understand wanting to keep the article from sprawling), but I understand the motivation behind it now, and I apreciate the reply on that :)
Originally Posted by specofdust To be quite blunt the closest thing I could think of it as being was an extended advert. Of course I don't assume that's what it was intended as, but it really did feel like a product tour. "Here's what they use, and here's what they sell"
QFT
IMO though, steam is a fantastic idea, in a way, but somtimes not being able to launch 2 things at once is very annoying, it also hogs a rediculous amount of resorces for what it does ...
the fact you cant buy with anything but a credit card is a killer for ALOT of people, i think its a really poor idea <_<
If you are behind a proxy connected to dialup, like me :D , then go over to a friends house with cable. Steam and nvidias site are the only places where burst is 1.5mbps and 800k is the slowest it goes with 4mbps cable, guess it depends on the server your on.
I am curious about how your debit cards work in the UK and the rest of europe, mine is a mastercard and steam never gave me crap about it being debit.
I use a Visa Debit card just fine here in the UK. (standard card from my bank, nothing out of the ordinary)
I've never experienced a problem with steam nor a real problem with speeds, Halflife 2 had to be left overnight to finish when it came out, but I only had 512kb adsl at the time, so it was really to be expected. (pre-loading usually solves that now anyway)
I'd never noticed the media section /0\ having a poke now :)
I'll write a 'ten things I hate about Steam' someday ... somewhere. ^_^
One of the problems with DL speeds might not being able to dl from a decent content server. I'm pretty sure there's a content server on my ISP. For reference i dl at 1.2 meg/sec from Fileplanet EU - so Steam doesn't use all my bandwidth - has a good fist at it.
Originally Posted by g3n3tiX I love Steam, but it is for people with broadband, and (sometimes) credit card.
But the credit card part is not neccesarily true : download steam, buy episode one at retail with old fashioned cash, and register the cdkey in your steam account.
That's it, you just have to download
If only it worked with all the games on steam...
Disciples II is listed on Steam (Rise of the Elves and another expansion pack).
I've already bought Disciples II: Gold edition from Game about a year ago (which contained both RotE, and 3 expansion packs).
However, Disciples II Gold does not come with a CD key, thus linking the game with my steam account is impossible (or at least, not very obvious) without re-buying it through steam (not that I've looked too deeply into linking it, just a quick scan through the faqs in the steam website when I saw it had been added to the list of games available on steam).
My mrs bought me Darwinia for £7 the other day. Shrink-wrapped, brand new and off the shelf. I knew it was a good idea to hold out. Mind, I'll be scrabbling for a card come HL2:EP2 :)
Honestly, this article opened my eyes to what Steam was about.
I've never used it myself, I had only heard about it when HL2 was coming out.
So now I know that there are all sorts of mods and alternative games available.
That is enough reason for me to like this article.
Though I do agree that it does sound like a bit of an advertisement.
Once I have a decent computer, broadband, and funds available, I'll probably be using Steam to dl everything available.
Can I call myself a gamer even though I've never played HL?
I sort of skipped everything from Q2 through BF2 or so.
Originally Posted by Ringold On top of that, silent updates upon their release and DLing all the games you'd paid for from it, anywhere, from any computer you game on, is nice. Saves from worrying about silly old 'crusty' 'old-school' CDs and CD-Keys. Otherwise, lose your CD key and you're screwed, or at least have to go through a lot of trouble, and lose your original media without backing it up to your HD means having to get a pirated copy of the media.. Matter of preference.
To set the record straight on this once you have activated a game on steam using the cd key in the box you never ever have to do it again even if you use different computers. I myself have just recently moved from a AMD athlon xp 3200+ with a radeon 9550 to an an Athlon X2 3800+ with a radeon x1900 gt and upon installing my steam account had HL2 and cs source among other things I did not have to enter a CD key when installing it.
Ok, Second there was this guy I forgot his name and I am to lazy to look back at the posts, but he said that steam is a rip off because using their delivery system downloads a game directly to you without giving you an instruction manual. Now anyone who has bought Valve games from a retail store like me would know that the only instruction manual that comes in the box is a single slip of paper showing you the controls. I should also add I bought both HL2 and HL2 episode 1 and they both came with this one slip of paper instruction manual, and also the HL2 episode 1 box looks like Valve and its partners payed $1 for each box, 25 cents for the disc, and another dime on the instruction manual. Now that isn't increasing production costs very much is it?
Steam = Great if you have a fast connection
Buying direct from stores = Good if you like the box and its cheap
Athlon XP 1800+ = Perfecto! (I have one :D)
Well, I have to agree that it a feature article on Steam can easily be mistaken (or not) for an advertisement for Steam but I have to say that either way I appreciate the article. Some of those games from smaller developers are often the most fun for a small price but very hard to find. Also, ordering them from another country (i.e. the USA) can up the cost quite a bit. I was quite surprised at the number of games Steam carries (incl Strategy First's line). I'm impressed and might sign on.
I've never tried Darwina but it just looks like the kind of fun game where graphics are just good enough to suggest more but quickly get surpassed by what you imagine them to be - like the images you get in your mind from an old time radio show or reading a book. (And don't those disks look like Stargates?)
My game system: Athlon XP-M 2500+ @ 2.2, 2GB ddr400, 6600GT OC. Plays Guild Wars with everything on high. I can't play FPS (motion sickness) & can't stand RTS (clickfest). "Crusty"? Who cares - it still does everything I need.
I've played Darwinia, and it ROCKS ! Totally different from other games.
From the same developer there is also Uplink, which is a hacking game, very very nice also.
One thing I absolutely hate about steam is its offline mode.. It never works. I recently found myself without internet, and all i wanted to do to waste some time was play a bit of hl2, even though its a freaking single player game it wouldn't let me play unless i had the net... What is with that? Its stupid. I know there is an option somewhere to check, but its a pain to find AND if resets after every damn update!
Other than that.... I have to say it seems to be working. I think the games are a bit overpriced, but tbh, those guys at valve are always working on game updates other things that nearly all other companies can just ignore if they want to.
offline mode works like this - you log in, set it to offline mode, steam checks with the Internet your games are kosher - and sets something up somewhere
you disconnect from the Internet and can play your games
offline mode is made for 56k'ers or people who pay for the time they use
Originally Posted by yahooadam offline mode works like this - you log in, set it to offline mode, steam checks with the Internet your games are kosher - and sets something up somewhere
you disconnect from the Internet and can play your games
offline mode is made for 56k'ers or people who pay for the time they use
OK, games that always try to "phone home" before I can play them offline really annoy me. I usually set my firewall to block them. Perhaps Steam is NOT for me after all. :(
Originally Posted by Tyinsar OK, games that always try to "phone home" before I can play them offline really annoy me. I usually set my firewall to block them. Perhaps Steam is NOT for me after all. :(
steam reports back a lot of things when you play, and you agree to it when you sign up
however none of the data is identifiable (i believe) and thus you don't really have anything to worry about
still, it's the principle of the thing that bothers me. I'm ok with a one time activation but there are a few old games I still like to play (a friend & I still play Birth of the Federation occasionally). If these old games used that model I'd be out of luck. Steam's not likely to go away any time soon but, as I said, it's the principle.
Comments 26 to 50 of 52
Replythe system is rather safe, it logs out each time i do something and then i have to put my codes again, and the codes are inputed using a virtual keypad on the site and are encripted.
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/4263/snag0000ef7.jpg
Works pretty well here... with 8meg.
IIRC the chap who invented bittorrent was/is on their payroll.
In theory steam is good, and I think it has the potential to get there, eventually. But valve have a long way to go. I still think they're getting a bit far into milking the user for too little content with it, instead of offering good value in exchange for physical media.
Also, personally, overall I'd rather download updates from a publisher or developers website and know what I'm installing on my system, know what updates are good and what updates are bad, then have an automated system. Although this is obviously massively up to the individual.
I think the article could have done a lot more still if it had covered a few things that you mention like EA's and Ubisofts online distribution systems(but then, I can understand wanting to keep the article from sprawling), but I understand the motivation behind it now, and I apreciate the reply on that :)
IMO though, steam is a fantastic idea, in a way, but somtimes not being able to launch 2 things at once is very annoying, it also hogs a rediculous amount of resorces for what it does ...
the fact you cant buy with anything but a credit card is a killer for ALOT of people, i think its a really poor idea <_<
I am curious about how your debit cards work in the UK and the rest of europe, mine is a mastercard and steam never gave me crap about it being debit.
I've never experienced a problem with steam nor a real problem with speeds, Halflife 2 had to be left overnight to finish when it came out, but I only had 512kb adsl at the time, so it was really to be expected. (pre-loading usually solves that now anyway)
I'd never noticed the media section /0\ having a poke now :)
One of the problems with DL speeds might not being able to dl from a decent content server. I'm pretty sure there's a content server on my ISP. For reference i dl at 1.2 meg/sec from Fileplanet EU - so Steam doesn't use all my bandwidth - has a good fist at it.
here it goes more like 20KB/s medium 50KB/s peak and most of the time it is under 10KB/s, i download other things at normaly 400Kb/s.
uve never thought steam was slow, your firewalls may cause problems though, most people i know download reasonably fast
If only it worked with all the games on steam...
Disciples II is listed on Steam (Rise of the Elves and another expansion pack).
I've already bought Disciples II: Gold edition from Game about a year ago (which contained both RotE, and 3 expansion packs).
However, Disciples II Gold does not come with a CD key, thus linking the game with my steam account is impossible (or at least, not very obvious) without re-buying it through steam (not that I've looked too deeply into linking it, just a quick scan through the faqs in the steam website when I saw it had been added to the list of games available on steam).
I've never used it myself, I had only heard about it when HL2 was coming out.
So now I know that there are all sorts of mods and alternative games available.
That is enough reason for me to like this article.
Though I do agree that it does sound like a bit of an advertisement.
Once I have a decent computer, broadband, and funds available, I'll probably be using Steam to dl everything available.
Can I call myself a gamer even though I've never played HL?
I sort of skipped everything from Q2 through BF2 or so.
To set the record straight on this once you have activated a game on steam using the cd key in the box you never ever have to do it again even if you use different computers. I myself have just recently moved from a AMD athlon xp 3200+ with a radeon 9550 to an an Athlon X2 3800+ with a radeon x1900 gt and upon installing my steam account had HL2 and cs source among other things I did not have to enter a CD key when installing it.
Ok, Second there was this guy I forgot his name and I am to lazy to look back at the posts, but he said that steam is a rip off because using their delivery system downloads a game directly to you without giving you an instruction manual. Now anyone who has bought Valve games from a retail store like me would know that the only instruction manual that comes in the box is a single slip of paper showing you the controls. I should also add I bought both HL2 and HL2 episode 1 and they both came with this one slip of paper instruction manual, and also the HL2 episode 1 box looks like Valve and its partners payed $1 for each box, 25 cents for the disc, and another dime on the instruction manual. Now that isn't increasing production costs very much is it?
Steam = Great if you have a fast connection
Buying direct from stores = Good if you like the box and its cheap
Athlon XP 1800+ = Perfecto! (I have one :D)
I've never tried Darwina but it just looks like the kind of fun game where graphics are just good enough to suggest more but quickly get surpassed by what you imagine them to be - like the images you get in your mind from an old time radio show or reading a book. (And don't those disks look like Stargates?)
My game system: Athlon XP-M 2500+ @ 2.2, 2GB ddr400, 6600GT OC. Plays Guild Wars with everything on high. I can't play FPS (motion sickness) & can't stand RTS (clickfest). "Crusty"? Who cares - it still does everything I need.
From the same developer there is also Uplink, which is a hacking game, very very nice also.
You can download the Uplink demo here.
It's interesting to see how steam has evolved with the release of new games.
Didn't know the "low-priority steam.exe" thingie, tried it, gained a few fps. But CSS crashed :'(
My (new) laptop PC :
Dell (hasn't exploded yet) inspiron 6400. Core Duo T2500 @ 2 Ghz, 2 Gb RAM, mobility x1400 128mb+128shared, 100gb 5200rpm Seagate Momentus.
15.4 inch 1680*1050 Truelife screen. Pretty well with CSS.
the one thing that dissapointed me was how short it was, i found that to be the biggest killer of the game
Other than that.... I have to say it seems to be working. I think the games are a bit overpriced, but tbh, those guys at valve are always working on game updates other things that nearly all other companies can just ignore if they want to.
you disconnect from the Internet and can play your games
offline mode is made for 56k'ers or people who pay for the time they use
you need to do that each time you want to play?
its just a way for 56k'ers to pay, and not have to be connected to the internet, as far as i know
however none of the data is identifiable (i believe) and thus you don't really have anything to worry about
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