Steam Article

**Jocky** · 11-09-2004, 07:28 PM

sweet....steam is the begining of the end for the old days ...i love steam

**xlokix** · 11-09-2004, 07:49 PM

Steam is overall a good idea, I just don't understand how hard it is to fix a bug that's been here since the beta of steam.

**FuzionMonkey** · 11-09-2004, 07:50 PM

"There are certainly a lot of people canceling their retail pre-orders and instead buying...over Steam," Deeming said. "But there will always be those that much prefer to have the CD or DVD, box and manual in their hands. I don't think that'll ever change." - Cnet

actually hl2 will not have a manual. which is why i am buying from steam.

**Deletable_Man** · 11-09-2004, 08:12 PM

"The growing penetration of home broadband connection..."

Man I'd like to be penetrated by that anytime soon.

**Cmoney** · 11-09-2004, 08:14 PM

i dont get it

**snkcube** · 11-09-2004, 08:19 PM

Steam is good.

**kerosine99** · 11-09-2004, 08:23 PM

i love how hl2 doesnt come with a manual.

total immersion.

i'm surprised they don't just kidnap me and put me in charge of a rebellion against an orwellian nightmare.

**ZackMorris** · 11-09-2004, 08:27 PM

Good post Dchozn ... Good article

**xlokix** · 11-09-2004, 08:28 PM

Strategy guide, manual, same thing.

**b3dlaM** · 11-09-2004, 08:36 PM

excellent article, really shows how revolutionary Steam really is.

**Evil Timmy** · 11-09-2004, 08:38 PM

kerosine99 wrote..

i'm surprised they don't just kidnap me and put me in charge of a rebellion against an orwellian nightmare.

Half-Life 3 is only a couple of years away...

An option that I haven't seen much discussed, but one that Steam would make very possible, is episodic content for a game. They could offer the first episode (or a portion of it) for free or at a very minimal cost, or include it in a general subscription that encompasses many more products. Then, on a more-or-less regular basis, they put out new content, which you can choose to buy to continue the story. Steam, with their content streaming, is an ideal platform for this, and tied in with some sort of subscription, this sort of thing could really take off.

Also, I know quite a few people, usually those who have most of their time taken up by work, who would prefer shorter games that give you a complete story (or a single satisfying episode) and enjoyable gameplay, but can be wrapped up in a couple of hours. Get much longer than 6 hours, for most of these people, and you're talking about stretching it over many weeks, and it's easy to lose interest over that span of time. It's also attractive to developers, who would (I hope) be able to license Source for less in exchange for Valve taking a bigger cut, but who would also have less startup costs and a shorter development cycle. It'd be a great way for smaller studios to showcase their work, and hopefully get picked up by a real publisher.

**Helkite** · 11-09-2004, 08:49 PM

Evil Timmy wrote..

Half-Life 3 is only a couple of years away...

An option that I haven't seen much discussed, but one that Steam would make very possible, is episodic content for a game. They could offer the first episode (or a portion of it) for free or at a very minimal cost, or include it in a general subscription that encompasses many more products. Then, on a more-or-less regular basis, they put out new content, which you can choose to buy to continue the story. Steam, with their content streaming, is an ideal platform for this, and tied in with some sort of subscription, this sort of thing could really take off.

Also, I know quite a few people, usually those who have most of their time taken up by work, who would prefer shorter games that give you a complete story (or a single satisfying episode) and enjoyable gameplay, but can be wrapped up in a couple of hours. Get much longer than 6 hours, for most of these people, and you're talking about stretching it over many weeks, and it's easy to lose interest over that span of time. It's also attractive to developers, who would (I hope) be able to license Source for less in exchange for Valve taking a bigger cut, but who would also have less startup costs and a shorter development cycle. It'd be a great way for smaller studios to showcase their work, and hopefully get picked up by a real publisher.

Hey, that's actually a REALLY cool idea. Some good came out of the CSN comments system, I'm surprised.

We probably won't be seeing this any time soon, but hopefully developers will start consider such an idea... it would really change the way we look at a game, though... and it would be a nightmare for game reviewers as the quality of the beginning episode may not be necessarily indicative of the quality of the later episodes.

Still, that's really interesting.

**kerosine99** · 11-09-2004, 09:02 PM

Evil Timmy wrote..

Half-Life 3 is only a couple of years away...

An option that I haven't seen much discussed, but one that Steam would make very possible, is episodic content for a game. They could offer the first episode (or a portion of it) for free or at a very minimal cost, or include it in a general subscription that encompasses many more products. Then, on a more-or-less regular basis, they put out new content, which you can choose to buy to continue the story. Steam, with their content streaming, is an ideal platform for this, and tied in with some sort of subscription, this sort of thing could really take off.

Also, I know quite a few people, usually those who have most of their time taken up by work, who would prefer shorter games that give you a complete story (or a single satisfying episode) and enjoyable gameplay, but can be wrapped up in a couple of hours. Get much longer than 6 hours, for most of these people, and you're talking about stretching it over many weeks, and it's easy to lose interest over that span of time. It's also attractive to developers, who would (I hope) be able to license Source for less in exchange for Valve taking a bigger cut, but who would also have less startup costs and a shorter development cycle. It'd be a great way for smaller studios to showcase their work, and hopefully get picked up by a real publisher.

in a way, that's what demo's are supposed to do. give a person just enough of a taste to get them hooked. but your idea takes this much further. it's interesting, but i'm not sure how it would be received.

i'm reminded of the way books are sometimes published, piecemeal.

the whole point is to just get the reader to continue to buy the magazine or digest that's running the novel. i think that works for magazines because... they're cheap.

i feel like the price plan would be a huuuge factor in your idea.

ok, lets take a subscription game, such as World of Warcraft, and think about it. It costs about... 14 dollars a month to keep playing the game (its online only), so how many people are going to spend 100 dollars for the game and 3 months of gameplay (but probably many less days of actual playing)? In a way this idea of subscription service matches your idea... and personally I'm not sure if I'd like to pay to play continuously over time.

One thing your idea has over subscription is once you pay for the next episode, its yours right? That is more appealing than if you don't pay for another month, you just can't play.

Now that I think about it, your idea already exists.

Demo -> Game -> Expansion Pack 1 -> Expansions Pack 2 -> Sequel.

Although the fluid nature of steam (eh?) makes this much easier...

Which brings me to another idea: steam capitalizes on sloth.

More people will buy a game if they simply have to punch in a bunch of numbers, instead of having to leave their home.

Genius!

Wow -- enough blathering. I could write a terrible essay on this, but I will stop.

**Smurfzilla** · 11-09-2004, 09:04 PM

hmm, interesting..

and why do i have "tbh m8, I love DaveJ." under my name? lol

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