# Should I buy from Steam



## coolguy204 (Jun 28, 2006)

Hi guys. I plan on buying Bioshock soon but I have a very important question. I was wondering whether to buy Bioshock in a retail box at a local game store, or on my Steam account. I am having a hard time deciding because I would really like to have a box and stuff with manuals, which Steam obviously doesn't give you a box. The only concerns that I have are that one day Steam may be shutdown or bought out, and then what will happen to my games, do they just drift away like they were never bought? Also if I buy from Steam I have to have Steam running as a background task, which means just another running process to add to task manager. But there are many good things that come with the Steam version, such as not worrying about the game CD's being scratched and never losing the CD's. Also when I want to install it I press download from online in my Steam account, go to bed, wake up and it's done in the morning instead of staying up and popping CD's in and out. I can also back up the game to a DVD. Also the games are automatically updated by the Steam server. I have never had a problem with Steam before, and I have even bought Far Cry off of Steam, and I must say it is great. But now that I am starting to think about it more, the more I am getting worried. Someone please respond soon. Hopefully someone who has played Bioshock on Steam can tell me how it is.


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## Cazio (Apr 4, 2008)

Bioshock on Steam is just fantastic.

While it is theoretically possible that Steam may one day be shut down, it is highly unlikely. Sales via digital distribution are skyrocketing, so Valve isn't hurting for money. I can't say what they'd do if the service got shut down for whatever reason, but it seems likely that they wouldn't leave their customers hanging. Plus, as you mentioned, you can always back your games up on DVD. I say go for it.


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## Gulo Luseus (May 12, 2007)

You pays your mobey, you takes your choice I guess. I take a lot of games from Steam, and no probs. You may not realise, but you do not have to be connected to the net to play games, if steam detects no net connection it will start if offline mode with the full game. So in the unlikept event that Steam dies, its all still there. As far as manuals go, not many games seem to have them now so its no great loss.


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## coolguy204 (Jun 28, 2006)

I thank you both very much for your responses, and I will get Bioshock on Steam. It is also a good gas saver, so I don't have to go out and drive to a game store. I just had another question. Do you think that Steam will allow your own personal uploads of games? Such as if I want to upload F.E.A.R.. They should do that, but make you pay per gigabyte. Do you think that this will ever happen?


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## PrivatePC (Aug 4, 2007)

Do not buy your games used that go on Steam!!


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## coolguy204 (Jun 28, 2006)

What are you talking about?


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## Gulo Luseus (May 12, 2007)

I wouldnt want them to. I take it you mean they give you a space allowance where you can upload games and then play without needing to install to your computer. The time it would take to load would make it pretty impossible, and anyway, I prefer knowing where the things are


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## PrivatePC (Aug 4, 2007)

i mean like. I got Half-Life 2 from amazon.com used game. I tried to play and wont let me becuase duplicate cd-key. get it?


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

PrivatePC said:


> i mean like. I got Half-Life 2 from amazon.com used game. I tried to play and wont let me becuase duplicate cd-key. get it?


I doubt that Steam does USED games  so he will be safe.


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## PrivatePC (Aug 4, 2007)

omfg.. u dont get it. Steam DOESNT do used games!! AMAZON did and they do it to spam u so dont buy used valve games!


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## Jarmer (Jun 27, 2008)

I have had great experiences with Steam on my PC's. It keeps the games up to date, backs them up, keeps your games across different computers, etc...

I highly recommend the platform.


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## tom6049 (Aug 6, 2007)

I can also highly recommend Steam. I have purchased about 60 games through Steam and I'm very happy with their delivery method. I *especially* like not having to fumble with countless CDs.


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## Dustdvl (Jan 5, 2008)

If you purchased games out of steam you would probably wanna install steam because it has the server list im pretty sure


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## Tomtheman70 (Jun 14, 2005)

PrivatePC said:


> Do not buy your games used that go on Steam!!


I'm with this guy...

Steam has never really been reliable on my machines, it always slows down games that I put through it with its community crap.

Just buy the retail, that way you'll have it forever, or 100 years till the DVD rots. 

Also: I buy all my single player games from retail, but purchase most of my multiplayer games through direct download.



Dustdvl said:


> If you purchased games out of steam you would probably wanna install steam because it has the server list im pretty sure


What are you rambling on about..? Bioshock is a single player game...


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## Dustdvl (Jan 5, 2008)

dude steam has never slow'd down my computer i would always buy my games with steam. specially counterstrike


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## Jarmer (Jun 27, 2008)

Tomtheman70 said:


> Steam has never really been reliable on my machines, it always slows down games that I put through it with its community crap.


You know you can turn OFF the in-game aspects right? then it has almost no effect on your game. But honestly, what are you running games on, a 486? Steam has a tiny footprint.

Btw- Valve is releasing a "Cloud" feature for Steam which will allow you to store all your save data and vid's and pics from games on the Steam servers if you want. That way you can easily go to a friends house or somewhere else and play your save game from home. Freakin Sweet!

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52906


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## Tomtheman70 (Jun 14, 2005)

Jarmer said:


> You know you can turn OFF the in-game aspects right? then it has almost no effect on your game. But honestly, what are you running games on, a 486? Steam has a tiny footprint.


http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/9371/44348057tc8.jpg

I don't know about you, but when it runs using 80% of my processor and even when it's idle it sits around 50% I wouldn't call that a small footprint. :/


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## Jarmer (Jun 27, 2008)

whoa whoa whoa. something is definitely wrong with your system. At idle it's using 50% ??!?!?!? and in-game 80% ?!?!?

That's not steam, that's your system. what's your hardware? Even on my older P4 3.2 with a 9800XT steam uses about 1% on idle, and maybe 5% max in-game.


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## Tomtheman70 (Jun 14, 2005)

Jarmer said:


> whoa whoa whoa. something is definitely wrong with your system. At idle it's using 50% ??!?!?!? and in-game 80% ?!?!?
> 
> That's not steam, that's your system. what's your hardware? Even on my older P4 3.2 with a 9800XT steam uses about 1% on idle, and maybe 5% max in-game.


My system is fine, it's just steam that does that. It's like.. only my compter too because I've asked on the steam powered forums and they never get any replies and you can't bump threads there.


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## flyworld3 (Feb 17, 2008)

You know, Steam lets you back up games you've downloaded to a DVD. So even if your house burns down or it's been taken over by aliens, you can still get your game.


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## PrivatePC (Aug 4, 2007)

Tomtheman70 said:


> I'm with this guy...
> 
> Steam has never really been reliable on my machines, it always slows down games that I put through it with its community crap.
> 
> ...


 Im not saying Steam is bad. I like steam, i was just saying dont buy a 60$ steam game for 7$ cuz it wont work....


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## sPiDeRz (Jul 8, 2008)

Tomtheman70 said:


> http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/9371/44348057tc8.jpg
> 
> I don't know about you, but when it runs using 80% of my processor and even when it's idle it sits around 50% I wouldn't call that a small footprint. :/





Jarmer said:


> whoa whoa whoa. something is definitely wrong with your system. At idle it's using 50% ??!?!?!? and in-game 80% ?!?!?
> 
> That's not steam, that's your system. what's your hardware? Even on my older P4 3.2 with a 9800XT steam uses about 1% on idle, and maybe 5% max in-game.


I have to agree, theres something wrong with your system or its severely outdated....

I'm running steam atm and its not even registering CPU usage only process showing CPU usage is System Idle Process.

I run:
Intel Quad Core @ 2.4 GHz per core (so i got told lol)
nVidia Geforce 8800GT 512MB 
4GB DDR2
320GB HDD

As for buying from steam, go for it, i've never had any problems with buying off steam. Just be careful buying steam products from the likes of amazon or ebay users, you can get stinged.


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## B-Subs-Me (Nov 8, 2007)

Steam is nice because you can get on any computer in the world, install steam, and play your games.


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## coolguy204 (Jun 28, 2006)

I actually decided to buy from a Gamespot store instead of steam. My parents wouldn't buy it on steam so me and my good friend went to gamespot in the MM and bought it. I didn't see huge lag but do you think its my processor? I have a E6300 1.86 GHz Core 2 Duo.


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## AcidBurnz95 (Jul 17, 2008)

I first got steam when I bought the Orange Box . I've bought a few things off Steam. Like the Half Life Antholigies (Half Life1, Blue Shift, Opposing Forces, and TF Classic) and Peggle for my wife. I love not having to swap CD/DVDs to install all of them I connect and DL them all. And they are always up to date. You can also DL mods for most of the games.

Steam/Valve gets a thumbs up from me.:up:


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