Replying to "Foo":
Monopoly in Valve and Steam
1. Monopoly cause a single entity controls development,
publishing and distribution.
2. Monopoly cause until now Steam games are all Steam
dependant meaning if a Game has Steam then he is not
available without it.
3. Monopoly cause Valve is now releasing third party
games using it and replacing all at once the publisher,
distributor and retailer.
4. Monopoly cause Valve is advertising and wanting others
to use Steam, and at least until now Steam doesn't seam
to coexist with any other distribution system.
My main worry is seeing Steam unable to coexist in competition
with other systems... look at Retail... Steam is not competing
with Retail but rather using it, talking advantage of it and
INFECTING it damaging the Retail market and Retail customers.
Valve aggressive way of forcing Steam
1. Decided that PC Gamers that don't have net access can't
play single-player games which was the first ever anyone
in the industry made mandatory for no apparent reason that
is incredibly agressive in my book.
2. Steam has to be present in every single version available
which includes even Retail PC Games, and Retail should be
kept independent and in competition and not having Steam.
3. Complete disregard for requests by customers and acting
in a absolutely arrogant way, which for me is also very
agressive.
Lets clarify... when I criticize Steam it is only cause of
its presence in Retail
Steam in Retail is not a distribution system cause Retail
is the distribution system.
Steam in Retail only means:
. Retail games having product activation
. Retail games needing the creation of an account
. Retail games needing net access to install and play even
single-player ones
This is very important, I'm not talking about Steam as a
online distribution system, but rather Steam in Retail, the
presence of Steam in a Retail packaged box PC Game version.
I do agree and think it is very positive the PC Game market
having the online distribution available so more choice is
present for PC Gamers but not the way Valve is doing with
Steam cause what Valve is doing with Steam is wrong and is
including in a Retail PC Game Steam which is damaging the
Retail customers like myself.
Steam yes but only as a online delivery system and what I
ask is for games to be also available in the traditional
Retail packaged box with no product activation or need for
net access to install and play single-player game.
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Replying to "dzjepp":
The facts are very clear, internet access is required to
install and play a single-player game with Steam like HL2
This is not something you can argue about. It is a fact.
For you to install and play Half-Life 2 Retail version you
need to have a internet access in the PC you use to play
games.
As for what kind of internet access?
For me it is deceiving to say you can have a dial-up cause
One think Steam does is when you first install the game and
do the product activation it immediately does a check for
online updates and it only lets you play the game if you
fully patch the game... so for what I know the current
patches for Half-Life 2 can be up to many megas. Suppose
it is 100mbs, it means if you have dial-up pay-by-the-
minute you have to pay for at least 8 hours of internet
access and have your phone line occupied for straing 8
hours!
8 hours only to start a single-player Retail game you
just bought?! Is this acceptable? for God sake! NO!
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Replying to "jester":
I only play single-player mode and I guess most in this forum
only play multi-player so that is why nobody understands the
issue of Steam... obviously multi-player gamers will never have
any issues with Steam... but try and not be so selfish and
think about other PC Gamers also
Please get out of your multi-player "world" for once and thing
about the others
Don't look at PC Gaming as multi-player only
Include everyone!
Don't exclude PC Gamers
PC Games is losing gamers so don't exclude those PC Gamers
that play mostly single-player games and btw this is a forum
dedicated to id and the last 3 games from id are all mainly
single-player games (fortunately)
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Again replying to "Foo":
In part I've replied about why I felt Valve is so aggressive
as for not caring... come on... they don't give a damn about
all the PC Gamers that don't have internet access in the PC
they use to play games.
You guys are all so focus in multiplayer and don't realize
there are many many PC Gamers out there that simply don't
have access to fast internet and only play single-player.
So yes Valve does care and doesn't give a damn about PC
Gamers like myself
As for dial-up being enough for Steam in Retail I've already
replied to "dzjepp" and for me it is not
For me it is not acceptable to have to:
. Pay many hours of dial-up internet access to install a single
player game I just bought
. Wait many hours for a single-player game download patches
just cause the Retail game I bought makes me.
. Have my phone line busy for many hours just cause I am
downloading a patch i didn't ask for.
For me dial-up is not at all recommended or capable for
Retail games with steam and that is why I ask for Steam not
to be present in Retail
Fortunately only Valve is using these abusive Steam in Retail
and nobody else but this discussion started cause of a game
that is not being developed by Valve but will still have steam
I'm only fighting so the future PC Game market will not be
Steam centric and also cause I simply want to play Half-Life 2
don't you respect my simple will to want to buy and play HL2?
And btw these is the list of current Retail PC Games I can't
buy and play cause they have Steam
Half-Life 2
Counter-Strike Source
Half-Life 1 Anthology
Counter-Strike 1 Anthology
And soon I will unfortunately have to add Sin Episodes to the
list.
As for the lose of sales Valve is getting from customers like
me...
Don't you get it? Valve predicted this all along and they
simply don't care? Why?
Why they don't care about PC Gamers like me with no internet
access in the PC they use for gaming? cause Steam will give
them power and control over those that don't mind to use
Steam
Steam is an investment for the future.
Steam system will give Valve power and with power will come
more money.
For Valve, PC Gamers like me are expendable cause what they
want is the power Steam gives them even if with fewer number
of customers, cause they will make those customers pay what
they want.
Just do the math...
Valve already said next Half-Life will be in episodes...
But before that they will use Ritual to try Sin Episodes
and Sin Episodes will sell for 20 bucks each and have 4/5
hours of gameplay... and their will be 9 Episodes...
So you do the match... total 40 hours gameplay will cost
180 dollars!
So now tell me what the hell they need me for when they
will be able to ask for 180 dollars for each game?
I'm expendable cause the future of Steam is very bright
for Valve.
They can affort to lose me and many other PC Gamers with
no net connection cause Steam will make they ask more
for each individual game.
As for the price... these are current figures... not
past figures...
The facts are clear currently in the present FPS PC Games
released in 2004 like Painkiller, Far Cry, Riddick, Tribes
Vengeance and DOOM 3 all cost 19.99 in Retail and Half-
Life 2 costs 39.99 in Steam
These are facts so check the numbers.
You can say Half-Life 2 is better than all those so it
deserves being sold 2 times the price of all the others
but I don't buy it and I think Steam is responsible for
Half-Life 2 being still more expensive than any other
FPS released in 2004.
Where do I get my patches?
First I don't always need to patch...
Let me give you an example...
The last FPS I've bought/installed/played and finished...
FEAR, ended playing it and didn't patch
Serious Sam 2, ended playing it and didn't patch
Quake 4, only patched cause of the no need for DVD inserted
to play, cause otherwise I wouldn't.
So you see first in the majority of cases I don't patch at
all and second when I need it I ask friends and I copy the
file to a 512MB USB memory stick I have and carry back home
This is freedom and not like Valve that doesn't let me
patch offline and have patches available in individual files
and makes mandatory to fully patch your game when you first
install it even if you only have a narrowband dial-up pay
by the minute connection.
You need internet connection to install, play and patch a
Steam Retail game like Half-Life 2.
Again these are not things you can argue, these are facts.
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Again replying to "dzjepp":
Done it already
http://www.petitiononline.com/NewHL2SE/
please sign it
Thanks
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Replying to "scourge34":
I didn't say Activision has 80%! I asked if they have 80% of
the profits... do they have? does Activision get 80%? it is a
question I'm asking now but I guess no one in the forum knows
So again anyone knows what margin profits does Activision has
for sales of DOOM 3 and Quake 4 in Retail?
And it does matter if people have broadband or not, what is
important is Retail single-player PC Games don't need net
access to install and play.
Retail single-player PC Games can't have as requirement the
need for net access even if everyone in the world has a T1
connection!
Just think about the following
Do you want to buy a record and only after you "asked for
permission to use" to the record label can you listen to it?
Do you want to buy a book and only after you "asked for
permission to use" to the publisher can you read it?
Do you want to buy a movie and only after you "asked for
permission to use" to the Studio can you watch it?
Come one... come on! Product Activation in Retail is BAD!
BAD! what the hell is happening to consumers???? getting
all submissive???? don't be submissive!
product activation which means asking for permission to use
something you just bought is WRONG! Gosh