Shame on you for using STEAM !

[Kikuchiyo]

I use Steam pretty much exclusively, and honestly prefer games that use it's match making service too. I've never had issues with Steam itself, but someone used the example of Moder Warfare, and the recent Total War, which if we are totally honest were buggy piles of crap at launch. That isn't Valve or Steamwork's fault when a publsisher/developer hocks off some bloody awful port that won't run for most people.

These issues need to be pointed out and seperated. Steam can't be held accountable for the short comings of the publishers/developers that offer their software through Steam any more than you can hold a B&M store accountable in that regard. Does Steam have it's issues? Sure. All software has issues. I for one am not going to go into panic mode over this. If day one comes and I pay forth my money to get Il-2 Cliffs of Dover and it can't or won't run I will be up in arms, and likely will request a refund. I, however, highly doubt that will be necessary. Steam has improved in functionality and usefulness in leaps and bounds since the early days of HL2.

To another question that was brought up (or a couple actually): a)Whether or not I can mod my game with Steam? Yes, just like any other bit of software find the file and change it. Steam will not change it back unless an applied patch does that. (i.e. the developer's patch undoes all mods)
b) Can I run the version of the game I want to run (i.e. I don't like the current patch and want to run an older version)? Yes, and no. You can back up the current version to a separate folder for posterities sake, and if a new patch comes out that you don't like you can pull the old files out. You will have to set the game to not auto update, but hold onto that older file because when Steam starts back up it will update an out of date version of the game in it's subfolders. This does not mean the same thing as erasing mods.

160 games through steam. only game I have issue with and can't run is Rome: Total War, and that is because I use windows 7 and that game can't run on this OS.