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Steam gets Civilized

Published on 25th October 2006 by Ryan Garside

One of the most addictive games of all time, Civilization, will soon be available through Steam.

The ever growing phenomenon that is Steam, has recently announced a deal with 2k Games, that will see the digital distribution software deliver four more top-notch titles from one of the gaming gods: Sid Meier.

According to Gamesindustry you will be able to download both Civilization III and the brilliant (I'm still playing it) Civilization IV. You'll also be able to get your hands on (in the digital sense anyway) Shattered Union and the swashbuckling Sid Meier's Pirates.

No doubt in triumphant mood Gabe Newell released this statement:

"With titles from legendary designer Sid Meier and 2K's world renowned developer, Firaxis Games, 2K is one of today's foremost publishers. Through this initial agreement with 2K, Steam's game library expands to include four great strategy games. We look forward to delivering more from 2K in the future."

Apparently Steam already has somewhere in the region of 10 million customers. That number will only rise as Steam incorporates smash hit titles from other major developers. Before you know it we'll be buying all of our games from Steam, won't we?

These games will be available to download later this week, as of yet there is no news on what price they will be.

Is Steam's growth beneficial to gamers? Let us know in the forums.

16 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

Cthippo 25th October 2006, 10:53

This is a good thing! ;)
The digital distribution model is by far the future and I'm glad to see more publishers embracing it. I would prefer it if Valve spin off Steam as an independent service and seperated the sales and game server functions, but I think this will happen in time.

Veles 25th October 2006, 11:08

Love steam, it's fantastic, much better than other digital distribution software I've used like EA dowloader, so more games is never a bad thing IMO.

LoveJoy 25th October 2006, 12:03

I think that valve should publish more games in CD/DVD so you can buy them from stores. Still as Cthippo said, it's the future. I don't have anyting agains it, but i dont have internet bank account so it's littlebit tricky to get some games.

Veles 25th October 2006, 12:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoveJoy
I think that valve should publish more games in CD/DVD so you can buy them from stores. Still as Cthippo said, it's the future. I don't have anyting agains it, but i dont have internet bank account so it's littlebit tricky to get some games.

What I like about steam is that it uses USA prices, so for us brits it's alot cheaper to buy some games off steam even after tax since the price is cheaper and theres no shipping and handling costs. £20 for HL2: Ep1? I think not.

Most of Valve's games you can get on CD/DVD anyway, even stuff like DoD: S and CS: S (although you'd be hard pushed to find that in a shop that isn't online).

What annoys me is that you have to use a credit card to pay, but if they add stuff like Maestro support then the price would probably change to US price + tax + ROB for the UK.

crayfish 25th October 2006, 12:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Veles
£20 for HL2: Ep1? I think not.

I've not bought it yet coz I've been waiting to see if any shops discount it.

I think I'll leave it until Christmas and if it's not cheap in the sales, I'll go with Steam.

I do love Steam though. If it weren't for Steam I wouldn't have GTi Racing and Xpand Rally :o

Salazaar 25th October 2006, 12:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Veles
What I like about steam is that it uses USA prices.

Damn right, £7 for Defcon! You really can't argue with prices like that.

perplekks45 25th October 2006, 13:15

Agree: Steam is the future. But why the hell does HL2 still cost 60$? How old is it? 2 years? 3 years? Wooha, forgot that there's CS:S, DoD:S and whatthef00k:S in the package... haven't those been for free for ages?
And yea it's nice to just download a game and be ready to play... but if it's a game everybody wants... hello 20k! I'm not talking about whether they should lower their prices as you don't get a box or stuff, just the game, not even on a CD/DVD. Still having retail prices... :|

BioSniper 25th October 2006, 16:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salazaar
Damn right, £7 for Defcon! You really can't argue with prices like that.

I was just about to bring up the Defcon price. I pre-ordered and after tax it was about £4, barginous ;)

Veles 25th October 2006, 18:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by aon`aTv.gsus666
Agree: Steam is the future. But why the hell does HL2 still cost 60$? How old is it? 2 years? 3 years? Wooha, forgot that there's CS:S, DoD:S and whatthef00k:S in the package... haven't those been for free for ages?

nope you still need to pay for DoD: S and CS: S. That is one of the problems with steam, there isn't really much of a discount sometimes, although with the big half-life packages you can save huge amounts of money, that is if you want everything.

I got HL2: GotY edition for £18, that got me HL2, HL1: S and CS: S and HL2: DM for cheaper that it would've been on steam. That $60 deal is still damn good for what you get saying it's just over £35.

The source versions of DoD and CS have never been free AFAIK, apart from betas and free weekends that is.

Warrior_Rocker 25th October 2006, 20:07

True, now you can download an entire game, legal pay less in distribution costs since there is no physical product. Have it downloaded in an hour or so which is about how long it takes to buy it in the store and rush home to install it. Better than that it automatically updates itself. Better than that there is no disk to lose or get scratched. And if your pc gets wiped out. You can download it all again. It has taken a while but steam is getting better little by little.

J-Mag 25th October 2006, 21:57

Only problem with digital distribution is that you can't sell you old copies if you are bored with them.

speedfreek 25th October 2006, 22:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by crayfish
I do love Steam though. If it weren't for Steam I wouldn't have GTi Racing and Xpand Rally :o

Speaking of those 2 are they worth it or only if you have a steering wheel?

The only complaint I have with steam is when you get the huge list of games you have to look through, if they would let you sort them how you wanted then I would be happy. The automatic updates thing I have learned to like over time too, havent gotten an update that broke a game for months.

Warrior_Rocker 25th October 2006, 22:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Mag
Only problem with digital distribution is that you can't sell you old copies if you are bored with them.

Is that really a problem though. You could always give your login details to someone else. Also I am never comfortable buying a game with a serial that someone else has previously owned. Tricky buisness.

crayfish 25th October 2006, 22:13

They're quite playable on a pad. Xpand Rally has a sim mode and an arcade mode, which affects the handling. GTi Racing is arcadey and easily playable on keys. Both are good with a wheel though.

thecrownles 26th October 2006, 00:06

I think Steam is a really good distribution model, but they should really make it into a separate company and make sure to keep the client light so that if you want to use it for just Civ IV or something like that it won't be too cluttered. Props to valve for starting that new distribution model ;)

xrain 27th October 2006, 05:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by aon`aTv.gsus666
Agree: Steam is the future. But why the hell does HL2 still cost 60$? How old is it? 2 years? 3 years? Wooha, forgot that there's CS:S, DoD:S and whatthef00k:S in the package... haven't those been for free for ages?

Hl2 is $30, DoD:S is $20 CS:S is $20, They have never been free (legally anyways) :P But that $60 pack includes hl2, hl2:E1, cs:s, DoD:s, hl2:dm and hl:s
so yea...

I'm just happy they have Phsyconauts...