Steam down? (Merged threads).

[Madfish]

Originally Posted by Fjordmonkey

If you're thinking about a content delivery system similar to Steam, well, there isn't any. Period. As much as you may hate Steam, it's the best CDS as of today.

It's understandable that it's frustrating that you cannot connect and play. But again, there's few alternatives and right now I don't think 1C will swap platforms due to the fact that they actually make far more money selling their products over Steam compared to regular over-the-counter sales. And as usual, money talks, bovine excrement walks.

There are tons; it's the publishers who prevent them from flourishing. First of all there are several great platforms that don't require messed up 3rd party, like GoG, Gamersgate etc.

But then again, if it's just about contend distribution then Desura and Origin are definitely almost equal.

And no, Origin isn't worse than steam when it comes to privacy...

[Fjordmonkey]

Originally Posted by Madfish

And no, Origin isn't worse than steam when it comes to privacy...

I personally don't give that much thought or care toward privacy (I've long since stopped believing that privacy on the internet is an attainable thing), but I DO care a whole deal about functionality. And that's where Steam outshines Origin by an order of magnitude.

[Madfish]

Originally Posted by Fjordmonkey

I personally don't give that much thought or care toward privacy (I've long since stopped believing that privacy on the internet is an attainable thing), but I DO care a whole deal about functionality. And that's where Steam outshines Origin by an order of magnitude.

Maybe. But I still remember when Steam was forced down my throat back in the HL1 days. It was way crappier than Origin and this means there is hope.
Origin is basically a year old, Steam is ancient in age compared to it.

On top of that much of the "functionality" of Steam is useless to me (others may think different but I use about 10% of the features that Steam has and I'm basically a hardcore Steam user with tons of games and signed in daily...)

Also only balance can keep thinks level. The more strong platforms there are the better for us gamers.