Steam, Direct2Drive, or DVD?

[Marthos]

Hope that if and when TES 5 comes out I can buy it on DVD and not need steam or anything else to play it.

 

Call me old fashioned but I like to hand over my cash and walk out of the shop with whatever I've bought, Its that " yeah, thats mine now and I can go home and put it on whichever of my computers I want" peace of mind thing for me. :thumbsup:

[Zephyr102]

Hmm, shame I can't pick multiple options. I bought FO3 and Oblivion (GOTY for both) as well as the Orange Box in stores, but went thru Steam for Left 4 Dead 2 and Audiosurf. It depends on the game and the available deals, tho I may end up using Steam more often as my tower of game cases begins to teeter precariously. XD

 

Steam also came in handy after I rebuilt my computer from scratch; just cued up the downloads and went to bed, and by morning I had half my games back.

[RammaJamma]

While I do love buying new dvd's, ripping apart the plastic, smelling the manual, and painfully type the keycode to unlock the game, I bought grand theft auto 4 on steam the other day and I have to say I'm really happy about it. A lot easier to deal with. Well, except with my crap internet which downloads at 150 kb's a second (don't ask me the official connection rate, that's just what it will actually download at) and then my house got struck by lightning halfway through the download and my modem died, plus my laptop kept shutting itself down, anyways, steam is definitely a good deal. Plus not to forget there amazing deals on games, my brother always makes the joke about there is probably an "every game ever made for $90" on steam somewhere.

[Sinophile]

I see a lot of people bashing online downloads, especially D2D ; I personally strongly prefer D2D over physical purchases. The again, I always end up losing most of my discs. D2D is simply more convenient than going to a retail store. I find most retail stores annoying, as they are usually staffed with fat emo chicks and high school kids who don't know jack about anything except the release date of the next Final Fantasy. The last game I bought at a store was Sid Meier's Railroads, because the chick working the cashier was really hot.

[rhs88]

I prefer to go into the store and buy my physical copy of the game. This is more so I can see the money leaving my hands and my small hoard (read: pile of pennies) than for dislike of download. I also like that I can smell that "new game" smell, and can read the manual during the install.

 

I do have a few qualms against steam though. I see that it is a useful way to get games fairly easily, but I have to wonder what will happen once steam kicks the bucket. I don't foresee Steam going under anytime soon, but I don't want to lose access to my games because they no longer have their server up. If I am completely wrong on this observation please correct me. I only occasionally play Steam games (must have me some TF2 and Portal) so I am not to sure how that mojo works.

 

As for D2D, I just prefer transferring cash from hand to hand instead of credit card info over the net. Call me paranoid, but I was brought up not to give out any personal info on the net.

[DeadMansFist849]

I would really rather have the disk, mostly because of the reinstalling issues and I just like having a physical copy of the game.

[gunnars2]

in my personal opinion, Steam saved PC gaming, just look at it, open steam up and all these offers 50% off huge packs of games and a ton more, costs less than dvd, you dont have to worry about loosing a disk or a CD key (unless you get hacked, wich only happens if your stupid) pluss it has steamworks, achivements and ofc you can chat with your friends, ive never had problems with it.

[Vindekarr]

I have recently started buying almost exclusively on DVD.

 

The beauty of Steam and other extremely strong competition means that stores have to lift their game (no pun intended) to encourage people to actualy buy the dvd in the first place. My local EB used to pirce a new pc title at about $100 AUD. Now that's $70 to keep pace with steam-and thats for a top-of-the-line AAA game. Even less for controversial, old, second hand or criticaly disliked games.

 

On the whole it's kept me coming back-a collector's edition is an extra 5-10 bucks and comes in a gleaming metal case you can display in your collection, and they're moatly steam activated anyway. As a collector, I preffer to buy them the old school way, that and I like an excuse to get out of the house.

[RedVexHK]

I liked the look of Mass Effect but decided I wasn't going to buy it cause I had to play some guy named Shepard...I am a girl I play a girl in RL I expect to play a girl in games too...so I didn't get it... then I find out when Mass Effect 2 is out that OMG!!! you CAN play a female char... so I go buy Mass Effect2 with the intent to also buy Mass effect 1.. and again.. OMG!@!!! a 2 yr old game... I can go almost anywhere around here and even find a game as old as Starcraft or Diablo2 and other even older games.... but Mass Effect 1 ???? NO ONE HAS IT!!!!! Soooo...... today I put down $13.53 taxes and fees included to get a D2D copy right off the EA site. normally I buy DVD copies and mostly will.... but when you just CAN'T find a single store that carries a 2 yr old game..... what else can you do?

[Amoramor]

I prefer to buy the dvd-version. It's easier for me to reinstall if I have problems with the game.