The 8 Best and 7 Worst Things About Steam
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The 8 Best and 7 Worst Things About Steam
Steam takes everything that is good and pure in this life and manages to distil it into a single incredible application via VG247.com/MMO-champion.com THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY
via thenerdstash.com One of the best things about steam is its Early Access program. Early Access allows players to dive into new games before they are fully completed. As a bonus, these players get to take ownership of game's development, by sending feedback to the game’s developers, helping squash bugs and suggest improvements. Early Access lets you see, first-hand, the potentially of hot new games, and most importantly, you’ll be giving the developer’s money early on to keep them going. It’s not like pre-ordering a game, but more like taking part in beta testing (or in some cases alpha testing). Early Access can be fantastic for games that would otherwise never be built. For small companies looking to release their first game, it’s not always possible for them to produce upfront the thousands or even millions of dollars necessary to develop their game from start to finish and then recoup those costs later when the game is released. Early Access allows those developers to get some money back before the game is finished while also getting QA support.
via polygon.com But there’s a dark side to Early Access, one that Steam would rather you not think too hard about. The idea with Early Access is to give developers your money early to help them complete their game. The problem is, once they have your money, some unscrupulous developers may just decide it’s no longer worth their time to finish and just call it quits, leaving you with a half-baked game and no hope of it ever being done. For the discerning gamer, there are ways of spotting these bad apples. Every game has a section on their store page that shows how often the developer updates, and more often than not what their plans are for the future. If the store shows, the game has been updated regularly since its creation then it’s safe to say they’re probably going to see it through to the end.
via Lifehacker.com Every gamer knows that for a brand new, blockbuster release from an AAA studio they’ll be handing over $60 to $80 of their hard-earned cash. Every gamer also knows that if they’re willing to wait a bit, they might eventually pick up that same title for a lot less. If you’re hell bent on owning a physical copy from a brick and mortar store, you might have to wait years for that price to drop. On Steam, prices can drop way, way sooner, usually mere months after release. And let’s never forget the best thing about Steam: SALES! You’re never more than a few months away from the Summer Sale or the Winter Sale, and in between publishers will discount games independently so that they can be bought on the cheap. Indie publishers will often have a sale for their game’s initial release, and again for special events, in addition to weekend sales that happen regularly. There’s a dark side to this too, but we’ll get to that later.
via The New Yorker I know that nowadays being completely without the internet is like being without power or water - something increasingly rare and possibly fatal. But most also know their internet connection isn't nearly as reliable as power or water, and sometimes it goes down. Or sometimes you’re on a laptop, and you don’t have the wifi password. Or you’re in the wilds of Africa or Antarctica, and you just can't seem to get a signal. Or maybe you’re on the moon. Not all games will require you to have an internet connection to play, and Steam does have an offline mode that will allow you to play most games, but you’ll still need an internet connection to download the game in the first place. No interwebs, no game. I hear wifi is coming to the moon in 2025 though, so maybe this isn’t such a sore spot after all.
via GameConnect.net Steam’s big. How big? Well, according to Steamspy as of the time of this writing, there are 14,381 games currently available on Steam. To put that into perspective, Xbox Marketplace has a pathetic total under 5,000. Playstation Store has a similar offering. Even competitors like the Humble Store ranks in the thousands. Steam is the only core gaming platform to break ten thousand games. Steam has more games than there are species of mammals or birds on Earth. If Steam games were miles, they would be wider than the planet. There are more Steam games than I have had failed relationships! Not by many though. I’m catching up to you, Steam!
via Geekenstein.com Steam does indeed have one of the largest libraries of games the world has ever seen, but it doesn’t have all of them. There are a few stalwart holdouts that are trying to turn back the new world order, and that really blows. It’s not the worst thing about being a PC gamer (that’ll come later in this list), but it does make you feel a lot like the kid that’s left out in the rain. Staring through a dazzling window at that one, shining title you long for but can never play. I’m lookin’ at you, Horizon Zero Dawn. I take solace in the fact that, historically, console locked titles have eventually found their way to Steam, and many more games are being made with PC in mind. Steam’s hegemony cannot and will not be stopped.
via gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com
via Kotaku Steam has a huge selection, and its massive sales mean I can get tons of games for less than the price of my lunch. I’ve already told you how this is awesome, now let me tell you how this is terrible. I have a mountain of games I have never played because I bought them on sale and then promptly forgot about them when a new game came along and caught my eye. At the rate I am purchasing games, I will die before I ever get to complete them all. Think about that for a moment and then dwell in this cozy pit of despair with me. It is my fervent hope that I will one day be uploaded into an immortal robot body so I can play through all the games I’ve bought on Steam but never got around to.
via fastforwardbroadband.com I have never been able to download faster than a game I’ve purchased off Steam. From the time I click “buy” to the time I have an installed game ready to play takes less than the time it takes for me to cook dinner. Admittedly, me cooking dinner involves a lengthy visit from the fire department, but that’s beside the point. Steam has server farms all over the world, and regularly keeps track of which ISPs deliver their products the fastest. The next time you’re in the market for a new ISP, the very first place you should go is the Steam Download Stats page to see which provider gives the best download speeds. Not only that, but Steam handles all updates, and everything is fully customizable. You don’t want to update until you’re asleep? You can do that. Sleep at 5:30 AM? Steam can handle that. Actually, an immortal vampire that never sleeps but is occasionally out at dusk to hunt for the blood of the living? That’s in an upcoming update; Valve is very courteous to undead users.
via IGN Steam does a lot of things extremely well. With Steam, you can download nearly any game out there and be playing in minutes. Steam is so good at what it does that Valve thought they could do a few more things that were typically the realm of consoles, like the Steam Controller and Steam Link that allows you to play Steam games on your TV. The results of Steam’s foray into your living room have been decidedly mixed. The Steam Controller has some interesting features, such as touchpads replacing the classic directional pads, but by and large, people still prefer the mouse and keyboard for most games (and something like the Xbox or PS4 controller for everything else). The Steam Link is likewise a neat idea, but in practice, a wireless connection to play games on your TV just adds a massive headache, and if you already have a cord long enough to reach your TV you might as well just skip the Link altogether. Maybe one-day Steam will take over your living room, but I suspect that will be due to the death of cable TV rather than Steam peripherals.
via Polygon
via Vamers.com
via SteamPowered.com
via Senshudo.com You’d think it’d be a simple thing to start releasing demo versions on an entirely online platform, but mention demo downloads to developers and they look at you like you’ve grown a third head.
via Steamgifts.com via Gizmodo