Steam Summer Sale (Full Version)

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Bullwinkle58 -> Steam Summer Sale (6/23/2016 6:34:33 PM)

For those who care, the 2016 Steam Summer Sale just began a couple of hours ago.

I think there are some Matrix games in there. Have not dug in as yet.



LoBaron -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/23/2016 10:23:23 PM)

Thanks Moose!



RogerJNeilson -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/24/2016 2:59:26 PM)

Could somebody explain in simple words what Steam is and why anyone would use it?

Best wishes

Roger



Dixie -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/24/2016 3:08:58 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Roger Neilson 3

Could somebody explain in simple words what Steam is and why anyone would use it?

Best wishes

Roger



It's an online games vendor/marketplace thing. Lots of developers etc on there, from big names like Ubisoft down to independent companies or acouple of guys in an spare room somewhere.

Now that most people have a fairly fast internet connection there's less heartache involved with downloading stuff so it's easier than having discs cluttering the place up. There are plenty of sales on which can make getting things cheaper and there's a wider selection of games available than you can get almost anywhere else.


It's not so relevent with the summer sale on, but there are also sites where you can get the games even cheaper. Some are a bit grey, but a good one is Humble Bundle. I picked up a bunch of games for $10, including CC Gateway to Caen which I wanted and was $30 on its own.



RogerJNeilson -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/24/2016 3:13:06 PM)

Thanks Dixie. I see what it is now, will have a look.

Roger



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/24/2016 3:19:26 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Roger Neilson 3

Could somebody explain in simple words what Steam is and why anyone would use it?

Best wishes

Roger


Steam is a digital distributor.

And to why should anybody use it?
game availability: Some games are only available in steam.. that is the simplest one.
automatic updates: with steam you don't need to care about updating your game.
easy access to mods: if the game have mods, you can simply "check" them in or out. you won't need to do any kind of downloading or unzipping.
personal virtual library: you will have your personal library of games at steam, so changing computers is not a big problem
easy search, pay and download: you save your credit card in your profile, then you simply add the games you want, download starts immediately
extensive indie game collection: there are games that you won't simply find anywhere else; moreover, you won't need to worry about your new computer being incompatible with an ancient game, as it would be the case if you install from disk.
other minor ones: achievements, micro transactions, groups,

Key disadvantages:
Digital rights management: You need to be running Steam while connected to the Internet for authentication prior to playing a game.










RogerJNeilson -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/24/2016 7:00:48 PM)

Thank you.

Roger



Revthought -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/24/2016 9:50:21 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury
Key disadvantages:
Digital rights management: You need to be running Steam while connected to the Internet for authentication prior to playing a game.


Not necessarily, as Steam does have an offline mode. In practice though, yes, at least for me.

For example, Steam allows you to save games on steam servers. I use this feature almost universally, so if I get somewhere with no internet and want to load up that game of CK2 I was playing, then I'm SoL.

Edit

Steam is not perfect; however, it is the winner in terms of digital distribution of games, which is really the future of PC gaming.

It's a lot of things already mentioned. There are a lot of features that haven't been.

*You can stream games on steam with a click, or let your steam friends watch you play
*Social network--I never use this function, but it acts as a social network platform as well
*Mods: While it's not universally the case, if a game is on the games workshop you can simply "subscribe" to mods. They'll be download and you can activate/deactivate them with a click of a button

Valve, who runs steam is also a game and software publisher and has their fingers in hardware as well with things like the steam PC controller, and the Steam Machine (boxed gaming PC that hooks to your television)



Bullwinkle58 -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/27/2016 10:01:51 PM)

Monday. Civ 5 package is $.82 today. Less than a buck. I know from PMs that a lot of AE players also play the Civ games.



Chris21wen -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/28/2016 6:52:14 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Roger Neilson 3

Thanks Dixie. I see what it is now, will have a look.

Roger



My advice is avoid it like the plague. Many games (probably all) bought on steam can only be played through steam. You don't get a disk nor can you download digitally, in other words you don't own them.



Bullwinkle58 -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/28/2016 4:01:05 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chris H


quote:

ORIGINAL: Roger Neilson 3

Thanks Dixie. I see what it is now, will have a look.

Roger



My advice is avoid it like the plague. Many games (probably all) bought on steam can only be played through steam. You don't get a disk nor can you download digitally, in other words you don't own them.


You don't own any software.

I don't want any more discs. I have hundreds and no place to put them.

I have local backups of all my Steam games. I have re-installed a dozen times from the local backup and the games work fine.

Right now today Steam has over 13,000 games on sale. Show me a store where that's true. Most have no disc version in existence.



Revthought -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/28/2016 7:31:02 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chris H


My advice is avoid it like the plague. Many games (probably all) bought on steam can only be played through steam. You don't get a disk nor can you download digitally, in other words you don't own them.


I do not want to be the guy stick up for Valve, but frankly trying to avoid steam is getting harder and harder. Excuse the turn of phrase, but it is almost like pissing in the wind.

There are a number of games where Steam is the only distributor--you'd just have to avoid those totally--or the only outlet for multiplayer play.

Plus, the economics of Steam--as of right now--really favor the consumer. There is a lot of pressure on games distributed by Valve to correct lower in price, at least for sales, which gives the consumer a shot of buying $100 niche wargaming titles, for example, for $70, or the entire CIV5 library for less than a $1.

So I totally understand the motivation behind trying to avoid Valve and Steam, but it's just really hard when Valve's competition is so weak, and when Valve is providing pricing (and products!) that have a huge impact for the consumer.

For example, take me. I purchased Command: Naval and Air War at something like a $40 discount from steam. I buy a lot of games, honestly, but I'm still at a point in my life--even at 38--where I can only justify financially spending over $70 on a game once every few years.

Mostly, I can *afford* to go crazy and get things I want with a high price tag when Steam puts them on sale. Another example, I just bought XCOM2. A game I've wanted since launch, but only because the steam Summer Sale got the price down to under $35.



Bullwinkle58 -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/28/2016 9:03:23 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Revthought

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chris H


My advice is avoid it like the plague. Many games (probably all) bought on steam can only be played through steam. You don't get a disk nor can you download digitally, in other words you don't own them.


I do not want to be the guy stick up for Valve, but frankly trying to avoid steam is getting harder and harder. Excuse the turn of phrase, but it is almost like pissing in the wind.

There are a number of games where Steam is the only distributor--you'd just have to avoid those totally--or the only outlet for multiplayer play.

Plus, the economics of Steam--as of right now--really favor the consumer. There is a lot of pressure on games distributed by Valve to correct lower in price, at least for sales, which gives the consumer a shot of buying $100 niche wargaming titles, for example, for $70, or the entire CIV5 library for less than a $1.

So I totally understand the motivation behind trying to avoid Valve and Steam, but it's just really hard when Valve's competition is so weak, and when Valve is providing pricing (and products!) that have a huge impact for the consumer.

For example, take me. I purchased Command: Naval and Air War at something like a $40 discount from steam. I buy a lot of games, honestly, but I'm still at a point in my life--even at 38--where I can only justify financially spending over $70 on a game once every few years.

Mostly, I can *afford* to go crazy and get things I want with a high price tag when Steam puts them on sale. Another example, I just bought XCOM2. A game I've wanted since launch, but only because the steam Summer Sale got the price down to under $35.


I used to be a Steam resistor. Five years ago. Then Fallout: New Vegas and that pricing. Also, a lot of games now require DRM activation through Steam. I think Fallout:NV might have even if not bought there. Given some of the horrible DRM schemes of yesteryear Steam's is easy and painless. (Anyone recall Starforce on Silent Hunter 3? It could break your CD drive.)

I go to my local Target and look at the game section and it's just pitiful. BestBuy as well.

Steam has completely changed my whole gaming architecture. If I see something I want I am playing it inside an hour, even for multi-gig downloads. No driving, no gas, no time, no storage. In Minnesota, not driving on a January Sunday is not a trivial variable. Patches come as they are issued; I don't have to go look for them. I don't have to save libraries of old patch zip files as in the old days.

And yeah, the sales. I got Sid M's Civ in Space with DLC ("Beyond Earth") on the first day of the sale last week. Under $20 for a two year old game. I had already played a free weekend (Steam does that too) when it was just out, but didn't want it $40 bad. Half off was a good price for me. Next summer it will probably be under $10, so the time/value trade-off is there. I paid a lot more than $.82 for the Civ 5 libraries, but I've been enjoying the game for a couple of years. I will get Xcom2, but the Steam sale right now is still more than I want to pay, as I have other games in line. By the Christmas sale I'll probably jump in.

It's hard to remember what a hassle gaming was before Steam. I haven't had my DVD drive door open in over a year. I probably should see if it still works.



Anachro -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/28/2016 9:08:05 PM)

I'm fine with Steam; and it's nice to have a one-stop shop and repository for all my games - plus I don't have to deal with all the physical clutter of CD's, boxes, etc. What I really hate is company's like EA forcing you to download their store app if you want to play their games, or Ubisoft's UPlay. No, I do not want to have to download and open 10 different applications to access all my games. That said, I understand their business reasons why they would try to do so.

However, I have to say that all this is moot. I've noticed that I've stopped buying new games after being introduced to WitP:AE [:)]



Bullwinkle58 -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/28/2016 9:15:33 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Anachro

I'm fine with Steam; and it's nice to have a one-stop shop and repository for all my games - plus I don't have to deal with all the physical clutter of CD's, boxes, etc. What I really hate is company's like EA forcing you to download their store app if you want to play their games, or Ubisoft's UPlay. No, I do not want to have to download and open 10 different applications to access all my games. That said, I understand their business reasons why they would try to do so.

However, I have to say that all this is moot. I've noticed that I've stopped buying new games after being introduced to WitP:AE [:)]


I buy some, but not as many as in the 90s. Games in general are much bigger now. Look at Skyrim--just a massive environment and hundreds of quests. I've played it for four years I think, and have not gotten nearly to the "end."

Ubisoft is off my buy list after several boneheaded sub sim moves.

Agree about EA. They used to distribute through Steam. I got the first two Mass Effect games (really, really good) through Steam, but they only sell ME3 on the EA digital site. I got their client to use for a Sims game and it was clunky, crashed, and the password reset never worked right. I haven't been back. I'd buy ME 3 on Steam at full price just to finish the tale, but EA has lost a sale here due to their business practices. Steam is not perfect, but it is stable and every interaction I've had with customer service (minimal) has been great.



wdolson -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/29/2016 12:20:19 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

You don't own any software.

I don't want any more discs. I have hundreds and no place to put them.



Of course some of us own software. Or at least own the rights. Not that I make anything off it (the project is moribund at this point).

A few months back I got a network storage server and it has all my installation files for everything on it. Any computer has instant access to anything I need. With so much stuff keeping it organized is important.

Bill



Bullwinkle58 -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/29/2016 12:35:24 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: wdolson


quote:

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

You don't own any software.

I don't want any more discs. I have hundreds and no place to put them.



Of course some of us own software. Or at least own the rights. Not that I make anything off it (the project is moribund at this point).

A few months back I got a network storage server and it has all my installation files for everything on it. Any computer has instant access to anything I need. With so much stuff keeping it organized is important.

Bill

I meant you own the rights. A license I guess more specifically.

Most of my discs are old games I'll never play again, but that I have emotional attachment to. And their manuals, which are tres bulky.



rustysi -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/29/2016 12:47:46 AM)

Believe it or not I do play some of my 'old games' from time to time. I quite enjoy the break from AE on occasion. As a matter of fact I'm in a break right now, been playing Imperialism II. Nice little beer and pretzels type game. Others... Computer Risk, Caesar III (aka Sim Rome), RR Tycoon, to name a few. I even play a little Steel Panthers on my old laptop.



Bullwinkle58 -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/29/2016 2:41:33 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: rustysi

Believe it or not I do play some of my 'old games' from time to time. I quite enjoy the break from AE on occasion. As a matter of fact I'm in a break right now, been playing Imperialism II. Nice little beer and pretzels type game. Others... Computer Risk, Caesar III (aka Sim Rome), RR Tycoon, to name a few. I even play a little Steel Panthers on my old laptop.


I load MOO2 in a DosBox enviro sometimes. Rise of Nations too. Cleopatra. Not many others. With time the limiting factor there are just too many great, recent games. Kerbal Space Program is over 1000 hours on Steam I know.

I played Imperialism I (Frog City?) and man, what a bear of a game! Modern kiddie gamers would cry at the difficulty. In general some of those old games, targeted at a different crowd than now, were really tough even with the small footprints.



Chris21wen -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/29/2016 8:39:49 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

You don't own any software.

I don't want any more discs. I have hundreds and no place to put them.

I have local backups of all my Steam games. I have re-installed a dozen times from the local backup and the games work fine.

Right now today Steam has over 13,000 games on sale. Show me a store where that's true. Most have no disc version in existence.


I do or at least a Licence if you wish to be pedantic.

I do not want to run Steam every time I start a game, it annoys me that I have to use someone else software to run something. It wouldn't be so bad if you could remove all the Steam %$$ that comes with it.

Now I'm not sure what you mean by a local backup when it comes to Steam. If you could explain how, what etc.

I've got lots of games and can always find space.

The problem these days, as someone else has said, it's getting difficult to avoid it.



Lowpe -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/29/2016 8:46:22 PM)

I was a steam skeptic too -- years ago. My kids and experience have fixed that.

Coordinating multiplayer cross platform games are a breeze!

No lost discs or keys.

No upgrade concerns.

You can stream the game from another's purchase -- family program.

Usually good forums.

You need to fine tune the interface a little, but other than that very sweet.

Steam is into virtual reality in a big way, or so I am told...that will really change things I think. Maybe not for the better, but who knows...

The is Gog.com which will become like Steam with a different policy on installs.

Linux for games wouldn't be where it is now without Steam!!!

Also, for what it is worth, they take bitcoins.



Bullwinkle58 -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/29/2016 9:00:44 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Chris H


quote:

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

You don't own any software.

I don't want any more discs. I have hundreds and no place to put them.

I have local backups of all my Steam games. I have re-installed a dozen times from the local backup and the games work fine.

Right now today Steam has over 13,000 games on sale. Show me a store where that's true. Most have no disc version in existence.


I do or at least a Licence if you wish to be pedantic.

I do not want to run Steam every time I start a game, it annoys me that I have to use someone else software to run something. It wouldn't be so bad if you could remove all the Steam %$$ that comes with it.

Now I'm not sure what you mean by a local backup when it comes to Steam. If you could explain how, what etc.

I've got lots of games and can always find space.

The problem these days, as someone else has said, it's getting difficult to avoid it.


It's just true that disc or Steam you don't own the software. You have a license in each case. And the IP owner, through Steam, has no more incentive to pull the license than they do to try to retrieve the disc. In both cases the risk is nil.

You don't "run" Steam when you launch a game. It loads itself. I have never investigated offline mode, but it's there too.

Another feature of Steam not mentioned is you can load your old disc games, associate them with Steam, and put the disc away. You won't need them to launch.

You can do local backups of your games from the Steam tool bar. I have them all backed up on a second 1TB HD from where Steam itself resides. If you over-mod, or corrupt a file (Steam does verify the entire game library on command and re-loads just the errant files), you can wipe the install from the Steam folder and re-install from the local backup without having to re-download.

If you have a huge house, congrats. Today my wife is re-jiggering a storage room to find room for a freezer. About 10% of the room is full of bins of my old games and manuals.



Bullwinkle58 -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/29/2016 9:02:07 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I was a steam skeptic too -- years ago. My kids and experience have fixed that.

Coordinating multiplayer cross platform games are a breeze!

No lost discs or keys.

No upgrade concerns.

You can stream the game from another's purchase -- family program.

Usually good forums.

You need to fine tune the interface a little, but other than that very sweet.

Steam is into virtual reality in a big way, or so I am told...that will really change things I think. Maybe not for the better, but who knows...

The is Gog.com which will become like Steam with a different policy on installs.

Linux for games wouldn't be where it is now without Steam!!!

Also, for what it is worth, they take bitcoins.


In the summer sale there is a separate section of VR games. First time for that I think.



JohnDillworth -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/29/2016 10:57:23 PM)

Thanks, Picked up Kerbal Space Program for $23. Been waiting for that one to go on sale. Of course one of my certifications is due in September so I'll have to put that on hold (yeah, right) for a bit



Bullwinkle58 -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/30/2016 12:34:05 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Thanks, Picked up Kerbal Space Program for $23. Been waiting for that one to go on sale. Of course one of my certifications is due in September so I'll have to put that on hold (yeah, right) for a bit


I know Jocke has it; we discussed it at length in PM about a year ago. It's a perfect game for a lot of AE types. Great physics engine, a lot of creativity. It looks cartoonish, and it can be a little, but underneath is a solid steel space sim. I have learned so much about orbital mechanics playing it. They recently went to a pure 64-bit engine and continue to add parts and features. The mod community is massive. After AE it's probably my go-to game most of the time.

Career mode only for me as well.



JocMeister -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/30/2016 6:00:32 AM)

Agree with Bull. Its a very, vert solid game. Extremely good value for money. I havn´t played it in a quite a while now though. There wasn´t much incentive to play on "late game" when I played a year back. Maybe that has changed now?

That being said the journey to "late game" was extremely fun and interesting and will give you hundreds of hours. Its very different from other games. [:)]

PS. How is XCOM 2?



Bullwinkle58 -> RE: Steam Summer Sale (6/30/2016 6:28:29 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Agree with Bull. Its a very, vert solid game. Extremely good value for money. I havn´t played it in a quite a while now though. There wasn´t much incentive to play on "late game" when I played a year back. Maybe that has changed now?

That being said the journey to "late game" was extremely fun and interesting and will give you hundreds of hours. Its very different from other games. [:)]

PS. How is XCOM 2?


I don't recall when you bailed, but they added fuel mining so you can set up a refuel depot network around the solar system. The next part patch is going to institute a system-wide network of relay comm satellites you can build to talk to distant probes and bases. And of course after the stock game "ends" there are lots of mods for colonization and advanced station building. With the 64-bit executable large numbers of parts are possible.



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