Looks like Steam has new competition!
 

Finally, Steam has a worthy competitor, StormPowered. And it's about damn time. Granted, they don't have the game library that Steam offers, yet. But I'm sure they will in the near future. And, StormPowered also has an almost identical set up that Steam has, which will make switching over that much easier.

And I don't know about you guys, but I'm sick and tired of this SteamWorks garbage being integrated into almost every single popular game nowadays, no matter if its an online or an offline game. What the hell were they thinking? It's nothing but an inconvenience in most cases.

I can't wait until StormPowered gains momentum, I will gladly make the switch over. And for anyone interested, here's a link to their page so you can check it out for yourself.

http://stormpowered.stormeaglestudio...tore/Index.asp

Do you really think spamming random forums is a smart way to promote yourself?

1. from a brief glance it looks like this site uses client garbage too.
2. it sounds like you need to be more worried about competing with say... strategyfirst.

It looks ugly and the games really aren't that great. Competition? I think not.

Saying steamworks is BS is like saying 'I hate when games integrate an interface that makes gaming more community based and fun!' Seriously, who doesn't think a cohesive interface across games like on consoles make your life so much easier? I like being able to access the internet right through the game without alt-tabbing.

Steam made gaming on the pc that much more reliable and easy, something PC gaming has a hard time doing since its all standalone with no direction.

yeah, I used to feel tired and lonely and didn't care about anything but after using Steamworks™ my life changed.

"Steam made gaming on the pc that much more reliable and easy, something PC gaming has a hard time doing since its all standalone with no direction."

Sure. Nothing like having a boxed game you thought you owned outright and finding out you can't play it without Steam. Pfui.

Steam is like a console. It creates a better gaming experience. It made a unified hub for games to finally work together on the PC platform instead of a chaotic mess of apps.

I don't know man, I think complaining about it is nothing compared to the pros of using the service.

The only competition for me would be GoG because they're DRM free.

Since I only use a PC, I honestly don't know what you mean by "a chaotic mess of apps" for games to "work together". Could you explain that? At the moment, all I can figure is that you don't like having to look for a game on the shelf or, if you keep them installed, in your computer files.

I'm a big fan of GOG, Schneckchen. No client, no DRM, some great titles I've never been able to play before, and when I buy them (cheap) and burn them to disk, they're Mine.

Do your games work together aimless? Do they create a complete experience like consoles do? Its the difference between going to a book store and going to a yard sale. One has a better user experience with great usability and community while the other is temporary and will only offer the item and nothing more.

Community is key because the general pc gamers I see at gamestop are complete antisocial white boys with no social skills whatsoever.

GOG is still. Its a portal to everything good and old. (god I just said that -_-), but it lacks everything about the latest and greatest in pc gaming.

Seriously though, entitlement to a physical object is getting old. It's sad people feel the need to own a physical object. Its all an illusion to make one feel safer? If there is a company that won't go under for decades, it's Valve/Steam. I'd prefer to throw my cash into a company that will allow me to 'own' my copy forever essentially without threat of losing the physical copy while also getting the latest compatibility and updates for the product.

Steam encourages developers to keep their product up to date.

Sorry to make You feel sad. A beautiful boxed copy on the shelf gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling (just as a book does, in contrast to an e-book). The ability to "connect to the Steam community by pressing something+F1", not so much.
I'm glad Steam "makes for a better gaming experience" for You though.

"Do your games work together aimless? Do they create a complete experience like consoles do? Its the difference between going to a book store and going to a yard sale. One has a better user experience with great usability and community while the other is temporary and will only offer the item and nothing more."

I'm afraid we're doomed never to understand one another. I have no idea what you mean by a "complete experience". You talk about books as if it's where you get them and being able to discuss them with others that makes or breaks the book. For me, it's the book itself and its impact on me; I really don't care what anyone else thinks of it. It's the same with games. I read the blurbs, the reviews if there are any, and maybe I'll decide to buy one. It's a lot better way of determining how to spend my money than relying on the opinions of gamers who may not even remotely like the sort of thing I do. If I have to rave about it or diss it, I can always do it on the forums.

"Community is key because the general pc gamers I see at gamestop are complete antisocial white boys with no social skills whatsoever."

Never bought anything at Gamestop but I have looked futilely for AGs at places like Best Buy and talked to the occasional gamer. I am a heck of a lot older than most of them but they weren't all white and they were certainly sociable enough with me. We even found some common ground when I introduced them to GOG. Amazed, really, that they didn't know anything about it.

"GOG is still. Its a portal to everything good and old. (god I just said that -_-), but it lacks everything about the latest and greatest in pc gaming."

Yeah, but I still love boxes and if a game has me impatient as hell waiting for it, I get the box when it comes out. As for the 'latest and greatest', there's a big fuss going on over at GOG because they plan to add newer games - one to three years old. That may be too old for some but I can wait. At least I can hope I don't expire first.

"Seriously though, entitlement to a physical object is getting old. It's sad people feel the need to own a physical object. Its all an illusion to make one feel safer?"

That's way too philosophical for me. I prefer to own rather than rent or use on someone else's sufferance. Let's put it that way.

"If there is a company that won't go under for decades, it's Valve/Steam. I'd prefer to throw my cash into a company that will allow me to 'own' my copy forever essentially without threat of losing the physical copy while also getting the latest compatibility and updates for the product."

Well, if I'm throwing cash (bloody unlikely since I don't have that much of it), I'd rather toss it to a company that doesn't put any restrictions on my game, doesn't require me to use that umbilical cord connecting me to them called a client, removes the DRM if there is any and seems to respect me as a customer.

As for updates, I don't play many games outside the AG genre so I usually get games that don't require them. When I do have one that needs tweaking, it's amazing how easy it is to find a patch or a NoCD offered freely on the web. It's thanks to someone at Quick and Easy Software that I can play Grim Fandango on my Win7, 64 bit. Lucas Arts certainly hasn't updated that game to play on modern computers. Not that they've let anyone have it for download with or without restrictions. Just saying.

Should I sign this, Fossil? ;)

I guess we will live in disagreement. Your point about drm is a little flawed since a lot of games would either take the steam route which is a lot less intrusive or the other route with ugly drm. I'd have to say Steam is the better choice.

I'm looking at this from a 'Community' and 'Unified' standpoint and Steam is like a 'all in one place' or a complete gaming experience for PC gamers. I can never look down upon it because it is nothing but noble both toward users and developers.

Steam is the better choice in the same way getting stabbed is better than getting shot. Or is that the other way around? I can never remember, as either way you're in a lot of pain or dead...

Steam is a pretty cool guy. eh has games and doesnt afraid of anything.

Speaking of Steam, it looks like they've just started their big holiday sale. As always, the number one thing Steam has in its favor is their unbelievably insane sales. Wait around long enough and just about every adventure usually goes on sale for like $2.50. No other competitor comes remotely close to them in this regard.

Don't insult my mess of apps. I take pride in being able to maintain my very own chaos.

The good thing about STEAM being ubiquitous is you don't have to wait long for the un-STEAMed version.

...so you prefer to manage that chaos and pay games at full price? Yeah, smart.

Steam turns down lots of games by different developers at very regular intervals. Not that noble towards the developers, imo.
Steam has DRM. Any form of DRM is not that noble towards users, imo.

How exactly does Steam help manage my chaos? I only play games on my one PC, so I don't need a cross-platform/cross-system library and I'm quite sure I can boot up any game on my PC a lot faster if I manually go to the .exe file on my hard disk, than I could if I first had to boot up Steam and then look for the game I wanted to play.
Just use a structured directory system on your hard drive and you'll out-manage Steam and avoid chaos. And you'll be gaming without a third party program running in the background using your CPU-time and bandwidth...
Also, I'm in Europe, and Steam's pricing here is a little more expensive than elsewhere, so your "full price" argument isn't entirely valid...