Steam is the Future "Guardian" of PC Gaming

[CSN NewsBot]

PC Gamer has a comprehensive look at why Steam is leading the movement to revitalize PC gaming as we know it.

"We're talking about Valve becoming the platform holder and guardian of the PC as a gaming system over the next two years," says Stephen Gaffney, Business Development Manager of Splash Damage.

The article discusses Steam's rather rocky start, why they needed Steam to begin with (major file hosting sites refused to carry patches because of the demand on their servers!), and what Splash Damage (ET:QW developer) has to say about the future of Steam and Steamworks.

With last year's release of the Orange Box and Steam Community, the promise of Steam was finally fulfilled. But Steam is more than a digital delivery platform to Valve. It represents half-a-decade's problem solving. How to connect with gamers. How to protect games from being pirated. How to track sales. Valve took the time to engage with all these problems, and now every developer in the world can benefit from their work.



Post-Orange Box, Valve are hoping to add to the community features. They have plans to store screenshots, config files and save games. They have a long list of ideas that will feed back into Steam and Steamworks.

This is just from the last section of the article. If you've ever wanted to read up on the history of Steam and why Steam has evolved into the digital distribution method for PC's, you will absolutely want to read this article.

[kalabalana]

awesome, I made a suggestion about 4 years ago on the steam forums saying that saved games and configs should be hosted, and auto loaded despite what system you're using.

Glad to see it's finally going into action!

[-AK-]

PC Gamer has a comprehensive look at why Steam is leading the movement to revitalize PC gaming as we know it.



that link is borked...takes you to the UT3 map-pack site

[meowmeow]

That article made me "laugh out loud," because about 3 years ago people bitched and nagged about Steam.

[kalabalana]

hmmm, I knew where steam was heading, so I was always all for it, even in it's beta stages.

I flamed a lot of the people who bitched about steam. lol

[Thortok2000]

I always supported Steam. Now, I said it was crappy implementation and had a long way to go, but I always supported the concept. Implementation has gotten a lot better. Way better.



Still has a ways to go in terms of compatibility and tech support to be fully 'polished'. When things go right, it's fine, but when things go wrong, getting them fixed can be a headache. =P

[LMN8R]

kalabalana wrote..

hmmm, I knew where steam was heading, so I was always all for it, even in it's beta stages.

I flamed a lot of the people who bitched about steam. lol

Same here - I've always loved the idea of steam since the first day it was originally announced. It wasn't without problems, but none of those problems were that big of a deal in my experience.

[Admz]

Steam has come a long way since its buggy debut. I didn't realize how useful steam truly was, until I purchased TF2 with a prepaid visa card I bought at safeway (couldn't find orange box in my corner of the world).

[Ryosuke T]

never a fan of steam. nor do i like the whole acct thing with games attached to it.

[aras_se]

still think they need to make a "light" version

[Thortok2000]

Yeah, a light version that does ONLY the auto-patching, anti-piracy, and server browser and NOTHING else. That automatically closes out when you're no longer playing a Steam game.



That'd be awesome.

[Fragalishus]

That's the way it should have been from the beginning. But one look at the UI should tell you they're trying to be the Apple of gaming. Lock in you in to using bloated software wherein the bloat only exists to shove ads in your face. Might as well have called Steam iGames.



Broken record time...As long as Valve as a company thinks in-game ads are a good idea I certainly won't support them. Didn't read the article, but I'm assuming they're talking about Valve being a leader, and I agree. So if other companies see them getting away with it, they'll think it's ok, too. You want to put out a free game and plaster it with ads go for it. But millions of people paid for Counter-Strike. It's a slap in the face. Amazes me anyone would support them, but I guess most of them were raised by televisions instead of their parents so they view corporate branding as a good thing I guess. Look at any message board on the net there's usually threads devoted entirely to discussing their favorite fast-food joint, or whatever topic they can randomly blurt out some brand name for no apparent reason. meh..I could go on but really don't want to hear it myself, anymore. Fuck 'em.

[Remani]

steam is kinda like the iTunes of gaming. you pay for licensed games here and there, but you add your own genre of things from time to time *cough*



honestly, if i had to choose between having 100% of the population that knows how to hack (back in the wonID days) and able to get their hands on the game for free, versus a platform station where games are tracked and cheaters are held off just that much more because it cradles an organized way of delivering games..id prefer Steam. thank ya

[Fragalishus]

Yet another myth they try to perpetuate, or yet another failed promise, however you want to look at it. Piracy is not only more rampant than it was back in the WON days, it's easier to boot. Back then you needed an actual cd-key. These days you don't. Cheating's about the same, too. Just a larger user base now so it's just more rare you come across them, better policing of community servers, etc (cuz VAC sure ain't stopping them). But you go right ahead and keep believing the hype. Their pocket books are counting on it.

[eugene74]

STEAM IS THE FUTURE! I always knew... good thing a whole lot more are seeing the value of it.



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