Epic Steamed

I just drank a Sierra Nevada Torpedo Ale, and damn, was that good.

more games on steam = less reason to go to the shop, keep the games coming to steam

yo. i'm thinking about getting UT. only thing i could afford... and, if anyone wants to know, my Steam ID: zymn65

Sounds great. I'll never buy anything on Steam of I can help it, due to me wanting a physical product in front of me, but having so many options on Steam is absolutely awesome for most others.

Yeah Banshee, there is a back-up option somewhere in Steam, I believe it lets you copy to CD/DVD/etc. Never actually used it myself though.

I hope Steam starts to release individual sales numbers for each game, otherwise it doesn't help the PC look any better in the sales department. What ever reason they can possibly have doesn't justify the damage they're doing do the image of PC gaming by not releasing their sales numbers. And no crap Gears isn't on Steam. It's a Games for Windows title, it works with Games for Windows Live, and I'm pretty sure that Microsoft owns the Gears IP, just like they own the IP to Halo and PGR. Anyway, the whole thing is good for Epic, but I'd really like them to put out some sales numbers so I have a little hope that UE3 will be supported for the PC and PS3 versions. I'm a bit concerned.

Flackstone, Microsoft does not own the IP. It simply has an EXCLUSIVE on two titles, presumably GeoW and GeoW 2. Epic may then farm the title out to whomever they choose. You sir, are completely wrong. Duh.

got a question because i've never really used steam to download anything but patches- are the downloadable games able to be burned to a cd or dvd? I'd hate to sit thru re-downloading after having to re-format

This is good, although I still prefer to buy the retail box version of the game, mainly because I feel it's worth my money more, since I get a booklet (which I do not read), a pretty box (which I let it eating dust) and some more little promotions for other games. What would change my ming in all this is if the ISP's in Puerto Rico weren't so crappy and limited in DL and UL Speeds. Top speeds here are 5mb download (In some areas) and costs 80$ a month. :'(

It's pretty amazing how successful STEAM has become.I could've never imagined it.Oh BTW UT2004 rules.

well this sounds like a win win for everyone. plus epic doesn't have to worry about steam piracy.

I love how everyone is hooking up with Steam, screw buying crap, JUST DOWNLOAD IT! I give props to you Steam, way to stay true. keep it going.

Epic sold out after UT2004... So I will never buy another one of their games.

It's unfortunate that they couldn't price these games to compete with the Unreal Anthology pack you can buy at retail for $19.99. Call me crazy, but shouldn't a download cost less than a physical copy? *edit* Actually, Amazon is selling this set for $14.99, and it includes Unreal, UT, Unreal 2 and UT2004. That's $30 less than what they're charging for all these games on Steam.

Awesome news, still no games on steam that interest me(I'm a console jockey) but any alternative to pirating games is always good. I'd love to see simular services for the ds and psp.

Owned the game's since release.. Great games... I'm one of these ppl that don't care what company bought,sold or changed what; long as they produce a good game.. UT2003 of 2003 was a great First-shooter produced by Epic & Legend..... Just made the way for the Great first-shooters today.... Just wanna say: THANK YOU ROGUE

the legal way of downloading games for the past 10 years and going strong. Way to go steam. hopefully this won't stop devs from releasing games in boxes but this alternative will at least entice those pirates to get of their boats and join the good side

@Dkarlowicz I don't think so really, I bought GMod from steam recently for $9.95, and the relative weakness off the dollar in comparison to the pound meant that it was dirt cheap for me in britain. We're used to most new next-gen releases costing £50, or $100, so at american prices its good value imo I just checked, and UT3 is $45 (£22.50) on there, which is far better than any shop prices here

Steam = death to my credit card :/ I just finished purchasing the Atari ones.. now this!!! when will it end?!? :P

Not a big fan of Steam or other network stores. Steam and other online networks charge way more for older games, than if you were to get some of the golden oldies in regular stores. And I thought that they would pass on the savings of not having to produce instructions,boxes,game discs to the gamer. That is not the case, if anything, I have seen them get greedy and ask for more money. Look how Nintendo charges almost $10 for their old games, games that they made millions on already. Future of gaming looks more and more to be an expensive hobby with online services like Steam. Say goodbye to bargain bins/deals at your local store, those won't be available online, thats for sure.

Too bad anyone with common knowledge could get those for free...

cybergooch you are completley wrong microsoft owns the IP on gears of war that means it was developed with microsoft so it owns the gears of war franchise duh

Yay!!! :) I had hoped for that to happen. Now I'll treat myself to some nice gaming time of Unreal Tournament 3! Awesome news!

So when and where can I get the "Unreal Deal Pack for $59.95"???

GreggD: Yes, it also gave me gingivitis & the plague. lol

Maybe some more people will actually play UTIII now.

FOr some reason I prefer the boxes

PorkNBeans: Wait, you got plaque on your teeth from playing Gears?

i guess someone finally pointed them to a solution. maybe they can stop whining about the state of pc gaming now.

I will never buy anything released under the Epic umbrella based on the horrendous support they gave Gears of War for the PC, they have yet to fix the stuttering issues that plaque that game.

Yes steam games can be played offline.

Gears probably won't come to steam, since it has Live integration. Lost Planet is getting cross platform though, so I wonder...

Gears of War will not be on steam because of the publishing deal with Microsoft.

digital distribution .... still don't trust it ... only buy things that way when i have to ( Sam & Max ) otherwise physical format for me everytime !!

stream is awesome, valve is more awesome

This should disprove their thoughts about PC gaming. People just buy online. Also, my only real criticism of Steam is that when your internet connection is down, Steam can't open offline without going online first, and they aren't willing to change this (i emailed them). This is only a rare occurance, but an annoying oversight anyway.

I'm going to be really ignorant for a moment, so bear with me. I once bought a game off of Steam... but I couldn't open and play the game unless I was connected to Steam through the internet. I had the game on a laptop and I would have preferred to play it wherever and whenever I wanted, even if I wasn't hooked in to the ol' interwebs. This was years ago, though, so can someone confirm/deny that they've changed this? If I buy a game through Steam, can I play the darn thing even if I'm out on the beach, or on my boat, or in the car, etc. etc.?

cybergooch Microsoft is the Publisher of GeOW so that stops it from going to Steam. Wouldn't suprise me if they own rights to the GeOW franchise now and that's why we wont see it on a PS3....

Poor Midway... Poor Epic... Poor Unreal...

Live Service for gaming - is contractialy obligatory for Epic for a timeframe. usually for a duration of said number of years. This means that GOW will become eventually available on Steam however, it will not be available any time soon. Also I enjoy Unreal however, not so much into the Tournament series though the engine and gameplay are nice. The failure of the product for me has been - there are to many users already l33t'd up for me. Can't get into a game without getting smacktarded back to the beginning couple hundred times. I'd prefer the game to have a matchmaking service that grouped (new) accts with each other or relatively skilled people together so that the game could be adopted to. I know that there are those out that in game with me on quake2 or similarly fps titles have said the same thing of me... Anyways, on the topic: I love steam and have been using it since it came out...the more the better I say... I agree on the starcraft thing damnit, give me SC on steam...can't find the damned thing anywheres...What good is a broodwar cd without the original! damn them ...heh

It'd be nice to see the original Unreal Tournament again. This was the game which took up way too much of my time, the sort of game where going to school was just just so you could get a break from gaming. Definitely recommended!

UT3 is a fantastic game. I find it difficult to understand why some people have shunned it. The engine is so flexible that it even runs on my old 1.8ghz system. Fantastic stuff, and good to see its going to get more exposure now on steam. I would not call steam a worldwide service though. Yes it is available worldwide, but all games are not available in all regions, which blows. That needs to be sorted out. There are technically no boundries for sensorship and licensing when receiving titles over the internet. Its no different to importing.

@uberjannie: With Steam you get to download and re-download the content again and again. Onto any computer, anywhere. Think of it as a CD that will never scratch and you will never forget to take with you. Steam definitely has its benefits over hard copy versions of games. The more games on Steam the better IMO. At least the communities created out of gaming on Steam don't have to pay for access to a gaming network that is thriving and fun to be part of. Steam>Game For Windows anyday.

The reason I support Steam is because it's a worldwide service.

All skus of GOW are published by Microsoft Game Studios which is reason enough for Epic's shooter not going the Steam way (at least not for a while).

What really jazzes me is the fact that the original 1999-era Unreal Tournament is going to be re-released. I'm having a really difficult time finding it in bargain bins, and all my friends' versions are either scratched up or I owe them money, so it's no good borrowing it. Finally being able to download the classic gem is really making me pumped. With computer nowadays, I'm expecting nothing less than a four-digit FPS and crazy prepubescent kids overseas whose lighting fast reflexes will take full advantage of it. Also, Majidok, to answer your inquiry, Steam's driving force is its exclusivity rights. There are downloadable games only available on Steam. This is the console equivalent to there only being games availalbe for XBox Live Arcade and Sony Online Store. Valve is making a king's ransom every day with the amount of content they're able to sell over it and leech the royalties from. It's a win-win for both developers and Valve. Kind of a friendly nudge towards those who bought Half-Life 2 that motions them towards other titles they can purchase, allowing smaller, independent companies (like the guys who made Darwinia) to effectively leech off the wild success of Half-Life, Team Fortress, and Counter-Strike franchises.

What's so special about steam ? Can someone fill me in ? A little direct2drive + XFire and Gamespy arcade ? Or is there anything more or special about it ? I read the whole wikipedia page but didn't see anything special .

@Viral-venom13 - won't break much ground? Dude, It already broake it back when UT 2003 and 2004 came out. They were the biggest multi player games for their respective years.

wtf @ people giving negative ratings to people wanting a linux port of UT3

Great deal, unfortunately i still don't think that the UT franchises will break much ground here!