[Grall]

Virtually all industries seem to have an expiration date attached to them, the PC is now feeling the squeeze from mobile devices, as are portable games consoles. The CD industry is caving in on itself, the DVD movie industry is in steady decline (although not freefall yet). Before that, VHS tapes, video discs, audio cassettes and vinyl records became obsolete (some nostalgic stragglers keeping the latter breathing still, admittedly).

Heck, even the porn industry, which everyone expected to be like cockroaches, unkillable by anything short of all-out nuclear war (and maybe not even that), is dwindling fast.

So I can't honestly sit here and say that steam will be here forever and whatnot, because I can't. Fundamentally, steam is a PC service and if the PC platform as a format dies, then steam will die too. But valve is one of the most successful companies, I don't think Gabe - who seems to be as savvy as they come when it comes to the gaming business - and the rest of the guys at Valve will just roll over and watch their creation perish. They'll want to stick around for sure!

So they'll be here, at least for the foreseeable future. In another 20 years though, just finding a computer that can run this software will be hard as hell I'll imagine so it probably doesn't matter if the steam authentication and download servers are still online or not.

And there's always game backups and offline mode if they're not.

[Davros]

Originally Posted by Grall

Virtually all industries seem to have an expiration date attached to them,

Of course but with a dvd game being able to play it in future is 100% in my hands with steam its in valve's hands.
So to make yourself steam going bust proof, you switch to offline mode then backup your steam folder
then if you were to copy that to an offline pc your games would work ?

[poopypoo]

Originally Posted by homerdog

I guess it's different in those weird foreign countries you guys hail from , but in the US Steam is price competitive with brick and mortar.

Homer, thats patently false. I've come to appreciate Steam occasionally, but the only thing it saves you money on are the occasional Indie discount (because download-only titles dont depreciate quickly). As it happens, my wife bought stupid DA2 on EA's hk site prelaunch, paid less than $40 for it, and got it a half day before Steam users, to boot.

That said, one look at Bioware's DLC pricing and near-total lack of effort, and you know that EA's motives wrt in-game purchases has nothing to do with bringing more value to the consumer. Im quite sure this is all about milk money.

[homerdog]

Originally Posted by poopypoo

Homer, thats patently false. I've come to appreciate Steam occasionally, but the only thing it saves you money on are the occasional Indie discount (because download-only titles dont depreciate quickly). As it happens, my wife bought stupid DA2 on EA's hk site prelaunch, paid less than $40 for it, and got it a half day before Steam users, to boot.

It's not false. I'm sure EA was giving a discount to get their DD service going, but in most cases Steam price = retail price.

[bigtabs]

Well if you count retail price as being recommended retail price then that's true in my experience.

[homerdog]

Yes it's true that retailers often have things on sale. As does Steam.

The pricing discrepancies that some of you see between Steam and retail are unfortunate, but the fault lies entirely with the publishers.

[bigtabs]

Originally Posted by homerdog

Yes it's true that retailers often have things on sale. As does Steam.

..but not until way after the release date. If I want to pick up a new game, going to Steam is a bad idea. I can get that brand new game for a lot cheaper elsewhere, consistently, with free international shipping.. 100% of the time. It's not a sale! It's the regular price at these stores!

The only time Steam is good for me for new games is with exclusives, and they are usually the indie games that only sell for 10-20 euros, and often are small enough to be a bit silly on a DVD.

I'm not bashing Steam. It's a great service with tons going for it. It's just that digital downloads are in serious need of a price war before they become the de facto standard. I have no problem paying an extra 5 euros for the convenience, but 20+?

Bring on the DD price war - if it ever happens. I haven't much hope in EA for that, but it's a start.

[poopypoo]

Well said, bt. I also have nothing against steam. It simply hasn't brought us the lower prices that are hopefully coming. Even cheap games have basically gotten more expensive (to an extent, i dont begrduge them that) during the Steam era. I do enjoy their sales tho. Steam is at its best when it does something like sell every X engine game for $60. Their pubs get good money for the one new title and we get a convenient trip down memory lane...

[Davros]

Speaking of dd rivalries can you beleive this :
Even the most hardcore GameStop devotees found it hard to support the retailer earlier this week, when it was discovered the company had ordered employees open up copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution for the PC prior to sale, removing the coupon for OnLive, a streaming game service that will soon be in direct competition with GameStop's own streaming service. According to the retailer, publisher Square Enix included the coupons without consulting GameStop, and the company could not suffer promoting the competition through the sale of Human Revolution.

http://kotaku.com/5834879/gamestop-a...-50-gift-cards