[evilgenius]

I cant decide if its worth the hassle of downloading say Mass Effect which is not 50% off but im sure it will be a monster download, like 5-8 gig and that would take a week on my connection.

Any experiences with it, is it worth it of you have a slower connection?

[kempez]

I've used Steam for years. It downloads it pretty damn fast, usually as fast as your net can handle.

Personally I'm a big fan of steam

[SDMDAM]

I have used it ever since Half-Life 2 came out and it is pretty fast.

Some games are over-priced but you do also get good bargains and weekend specials which offer good deals. Also there are more and more retro games which are good fun and sensibly priced.

I also like that the games always (mostly) update automatically so you don't need to go looking for patches.

Another fan here!

[Coop995]

Used it loads of times and very happy with it, also handy if you need to un-install a game due to lack of HD space etc, you can always download them again in future for free as and when needed.

I originally bought Half Life-2 from steam but subsequently was bought the Orange Box - which also includes Half Life 2 - as a gift. It allowed me to give the extra copy as a gift to a friend so that they could download it from steam for free.

[insomniak123]

Originally Posted by Coop995

Used it loads of times and very happy with it, also handy if you need to un-install a game due to lack of HD space etc, you can always download them again in future for free as and when needed.

I originally bought Half Life-2 from steam but subsequently was bought the Orange Box - which also includes Half Life 2 - as a gift. It allowed me to give the extra copy as a gift to a friend so that they could download it from steam for free.

Did a similar thing; bought HL2 retail, set it up through Steam (my first encounter with Steam) then downloaded Orange Box, and gave HL2 away on here

Steam is great, most of the games I've got have been harvested on the weekend specials or Pack deals (i.e all Rockstar and all ID packs for cheap as chips)

...Actually, evil genius, you're a star! I had Mass Effect on order @ £10.99 from coolshop, just checked it out as I hadn't thought to look on Steam - £6.49! It needs 10Gb, so I'm thinking if previous purchases from Steam is anything to go by, it'll be a 10Gb download. it's closer to 11Gb .... **edit- but it's maxing-out my 8meg connection as usual.

Just buy it as soon as poss, set it downloading, and forget about it. When it arrives it'll be a nice surprise. What speed is your connection?

Luvverly

[WildeKarde]

Have to agree on a good spot. Was considering buying at full price but thought I wouldn't have the time till over Christmas, so was gonna leave buying it till then. But at half price you can't really say no and I can happily leave it sitting installed ready for being off

[evilgenius]

Glad to be of help!

My connection is pretty poor: 1277 kbps (160kB/s) 364 kbps (45.5kB/s)

So a game like M:E would take at least a week if I was to leave it on from 12am to 8am ( my free downloading time from Plus.net )

[WildeKarde]

Originally Posted by evilgenius

Glad to be of help!

My connection is pretty poor: 1277 kbps (160kB/s) 364 kbps (45.5kB/s)

So a game like M:E would take at least a week if I was to leave it on from 12am to 8am ( my free downloading time from Plus.net )

I get about 16mb download but for these games but I tend to have them just downloading in the background as and when I'm online. The good thing about steam is it picks up where it left off if it's not fully downloaded, plus it does all the patches at the same time

[insomniak123]

since I last posted (8:30ish) it's done 51%, at an average of ~400Kb/s

soo it will take 6 hours to complete

given some simple maths... I'm 2.5 times quicker than your DL rate, you can expect it to take 15 hours, or two of your free overnight dealys

worth it, I reckon

[Houghsx]

Used steam a few times now. You have to be careful in terms of price as retail can be cheaper. However, they do some cracking deals as I got orange box for a £10. Probably the best £10 I have spent on gaming. As for download speed I found it very good on my unlimited sky.

[evilgenius]

Your tempting me insomniak123 lol... I think I will try it tonight...never played mass effect before.

[insomniak123]

Originally Posted by evilgenius

Your tempting me insomniak123 lol... I think I will try it tonight...never played mass effect before.

neither have I, just had an urge to try it out the other day, so I found it @ £10.99, and stuck in an order. Never thought to try Steam

91%....

btw, why do you get such an appalling speed from plus.net? do you live in a shack surrounded by arctic tundra??

[evilgenius]

More or less. I live on the allowed limits of AdslMax (6kms or so)...I sure hope thats the reason.

[SibTiger33]

Originally Posted by Houghsx

Used steam a few times now. You have to be careful in terms of price as retail can be cheaper. However, they do some cracking deals as I got orange box for a £10. Probably the best £10 I have spent on gaming. As for download speed I found it very good on my unlimited sky.

100% agree with

alot of the time the games are more expensive with steam but u do have the bonus of being able to format your PC for example then reinstall steam and have your games back without worrying about cds etc.

i actually have problems downloading with steam never really get that good of a speed but its never really bothered me as i let the games download in the background.

good service but i feel as though the prices should be even cheaper for new release.


Started using it with Half life and Lost Coast

[CraigofScotland]

All of my games.

Its excellent as a platform.

Had maybe 5 hours of downtime in 3 years. No biggie and usually just a corrupted .blob

[Coop995]

Also for some games, Valve usually let you pre-load most of the games content before it is released and then on release day, just give you a small download to activate the game. I think this may only be for their own games though, I'm not 100% sure about other publishers. Saves you waiting for your purchase to download on launch day.

[Hawklord]

Originally Posted by Coop995

Also for some games, Valve usually let you pre-load most of the games content before it is released and then on release day, just give you a small download to activate the game. I think this may only be for their own games though, I'm not 100% sure about other publishers. Saves you waiting for your purchase to download on launch day.

They pre-load other publishers too. I've had Dragon age installed the last week and it unlocked today.

[Sinzer]

I find it can also be worth checking out Direct2Drive, I have used them a couple of times and their prices can be more competive than STEAM.

Impulse from Stardock is also good in some cases, as they charge in dollars and you can get a good exchange rate They have started to regionalize some of these games now. Dragon Age is not purchaseble within the EU

[Praxidike]

Steam is brilliant. It used to be a bit flakey, but it's fixed now.

I wish all PC games were released on Steam (and at competitive prices) so they don't feel the need to put their own annoying copy protection rubbish on that just makes you wish you'd downloaded illegally rather than having to spend ages jumping through their hoops to prove you bought the game and own the DVD.

But then if they did that, they couldn't use piracy as an excuse to release cheap ports I suppose.

[evilgenius]

Well ive taken the plunge, bought Mass effect for £6.50 and it will take 1 day 7 hours to complete

So Sunday evening say if i stage it at off peak times which fits my schedule nicely. Pretty impressed with Steam so far and a faster connection would be ace for it.

[insomniak123]

after saying how wonderful it is, and how my download was flying along:

firstly, no source games would work, so I took the decision to obliterate my Steam, totally delete all content, and start downloading it all over again (yes, including Mass Effect)

secondly, I find a solution that wouldn't have required me to delete everything

thirdly, BT come to do some work outside, I believe they're 'upgrading' the line and sticking a few more houses onto an LLU, and my sync rate drops to, you can guess 1.6Mb/s

I couldn't believe it. I've been tootling along, downloading the best part of 30gigs, at a relative snails pace. I feel your pain.

Karma, you are a strange mistress


(ah, i've reset the router and it's sync'ed back at full speed. Damn you BT monkeys!)

[Coop995]

Had an issue with Direct2Drive in the past when I downloaded Il-2 Sturmovik (a good few years back now) and installed it fine and all working. Anyway I un-installed it due to lack of space but kept the install files on another hard drive. When I tried to re-install a few months later, upon trying to activate it with my product key I was told that the PK wasn't valid for my region. After numerous attempts to contact IGN I gave up and acquired a copy by other means

[drivinscool]

Just registered with steam, as a test i'm downloading a demo of GTR Evo, getting a healthy 1.1Mb/s (sky broadband)

[evilgenius]

wow steam took less than a day, about 11 hours for 10 gig give or take. Im definately converted now. No more discs laying about

[CAS FAN]

Have also used since the days of HL2 and Steam is great.

The games are overpriced, but if you buy the cheaper shop versions then you can just activate them and download over steam and never need to use the disc.

It's good to have the games in one place, which can be loaded at the touch of a button, no messing with discs etc. Also as some have stated, many auto patch as well.

[Truffle-Sniffer]

As others have posted been on Steam since Red Orchestra launched had no problems with it since then put The Full Half Life set on along with Left 4 Dead all run great with very good download speeds.

[Knyght_byte]

Originally Posted by evilgenius

wow steam took less than a day, about 11 hours for 10 gig give or take. Im definately converted now. No more discs laying about

just so you know, steam shows the final amount of space required on the hard drive, the amount you download is often around a half to two thirds of that as a lot of it opens up and creates larger files once downloaded as its being installed.


I know this as I panicked when downloading KOTOR on to my netbook via my Vodafone Mobile BB while at work. At the end I saw it had downloaded around 3.5gb's and my limit is 3gb with each meg after costing £1 or something daft like that. Panicked and brought up the netbooks datatracker.....had only d/l'd around 2.5gb.....phew....hehe