THQ opens to GamersGate

good news :)

yup couldnt agree more as well i bought orange box for $37 on steam where as the retail version was $99 and thats after christmas same as call of duty 4 cost $88 on steam so i bought the retail got $90 and got the case/booklet and dont have to download it

mantra6 - I agree with everything you've said. Unfortunately, the price of a product is driven by what the publisher believes the market will bear, not by the need to cover costs. The need to cover costs is only the baseline.

Digital distribution is the present reality and true future of game media. Steam was waaaay ahead of its time, and does it better than anyone else because of it. The early versions had an unwelcome performance hit and didn't provide much value for living on your desktop day after day. Today SteamID's add a true value, incorporating social networking into the distribution fabric. It works smoothly, and tastefully, and doesn't get in the way so much. It isn't perfect, but it is pretty darn good. Over the years I haven't had more than one or two glitches, for instance when the Orange Box had a promo that wasn't reflected in the store - but my guess is that was human error and timing more than architectural issues. This is my big gripe... Digital distribution should ALWAYS BE LESS EXPENSIVE. A printed box, media and retail space take a big cut of the sales price that digital distribution bypasses entirely -- so pass along the savings! More people will use your service and by doing so become repeat customers! There is no better current example than the Hollywood writer's strike; digital distribution saves companies money, so don't think we are stupid and get greedy and try to pocket all the savings. As it stands, I only use digital when there is a cost savings over boxed, because I am losing something in the process. There is risk of no access to the data, requirements for broadband, personal privacy invasion, and no cool printed materials to consider. There will always be a market for collectors boxed sets, but alot of people forget a major factor. The environment. Think about tons of CD media, plastic, and crap in the landfills over the years - we all have to be responsible for this planet. I still have boxed games I don't know what to do with that are 6 years old. I would also add that there is always risk associated with having your purchased property stored on a company servers. Should that company go under, or be purchased, or any of a thousand things that can happen - then say goodbye to your property. Fortunately Steam has stood the test of time, and Valve is in a nice, successful position in the near term. But then again, who knows if Half-Life is gonna run on the PC's of five years in the future anyway... It sure keeps the bookshelf neat.

STEAM is the worst bunch of whale crap I have encountered. Totally oblivious to "customer support". Liars, cheats and BS, that is all it is. I just wish some of the little SOBs would have been across my computer desk from me when I had all my issues start with them. A bunch of wimpy cowards hiding behind a computer and emails. Wussies.

@sparten1012: You should send emails to steam's support, they will help you out. There's a money-back guarantee on ALL their products regardless of the publisher so if something really doesn't work, just complain about it !!!!! There's nothing risky about Steam as long as you don't give your account name and password to someone else. @wpat007: You probably just have a terribly slow machine, because none of my steam games ever have to load 5 minutes before the game will start. I have certain titles both as steam version and as retail, for example S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Half-life 2, both load about as fast as the other. No offense, but 'unexplainable error messages' sound like downright lies to me, the Steam client has never let me down. I'm not saying it's perfect, nor that it's bug-free because it's probably not, but the things you need to be able to play will always work. You can also start any game in offline-mode. [Quote=" "]If you can't find a game in retail version, get it as digital. If you find the game as retail and digital, get it as retail. If there is a special edition of the game available as retail, go for it.[/quote] I don't agree. Why pay more for retail when you can get a digital one for much much less? Why pay more for digital if you can get a retail one for much much less? Both happen to be the case all the time. Biggest advantage, regardless of the price, of digital purchase is actually that it doesn't matter if your game DVD is broken or lost, you will be able to play the game because you can download it. Especially Steam is awesome in this aspect, having the unlimited ability to download titles again and again and again once purchased. Special editions aren't normally sold through digital distribution channels, so uhm there's really not much of a choice there now is there? :)

steams cool but a bit risky if the game doseint work your **** steam takes no respomns abilaty (Ive lost money on STALKER and doom 3 becouse of such problems and steam refuses to reimbers me but if you have plenty of moeny to throw around and its no big deal if 1/10 dont work its great and easy to use

Digital distribution is great for those hard-to-find games, classics that are not sold as retail anymore. I love Steam's ability to backup games especially for the hard-to-find games. But for the new games, that also have collector's, special, limited editions, retail is the best way. If you can't find a game in retail version, get it as digital. If you find the game as retail and digital, get it as retail. If there is a special edition of the game available as retail, go for it.

Steam sucks in my book. If ya wanna take a quick break and play a game for a short bit, it is such a hassle. Takes 5 minutes to just load the game. A bout 2 months ago I started gettin error messages and none of my Steam games would work. I contacted Steam support twice. They never even bothered to answer. Buncha punks.

I ONLY use hard copies, I do not like to wait to play a game I paid for, under conditions I have no control over.

Bandit_Haze said: "i'm all for digidis .. but some of these games take up so much space, that you still have to get it backed up on disc..." The point of digital distribution is that you don't have to back up the games on to disc...you just redownload them whenever you want them, from wherever you happen to be. They store your product key and purchase receipt online with your account.

I don't mind play $5-$10 for some of the older, hard to find classic titles, but for anything newly released, I'd rather have the retail box in hand. THQ is just trying to find other ways of making additional funds for their games. Nothing wrong with that.

It would be nice to see a lot of companies do this. SSI etc.

The price of games bought via digital delivery falls much slower than the boxed copies in shops, and they definitely cash-in on very old games when they are first made available.

As much as I'd love to get STALKER, all its glory is still not enough to lift my boycott on THQ for making the quick buck on crappy movie and TV based games.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a great game.

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the only problem i have with gamersgate is...the cost! some budget games are seemingly full price wereas you can get a actual boxed copy for maybe a quarter of the price.

hmmm new zealand is the best country in teh world. why do we miss out?

i'm all for digidis .. but some of these games take up so much space, that you still have to get it backed up on disc... plus the prices some places charge really aren't that much different from buy from an online retailer

kool

great

Good!.

kool

Hmm, nevermind what I said a moment ago. Apparently these ARE already on Steam. Haha.

Thats cool

Can anyone say Triton? If you're wondering what I'm talking about, it doesn't surprise me.

OMG!!SSBB wuz del... oops, sorry wrong article... ;) This is pretty good actually. One major issue with old PC games is obscurity and the lack of playability on years-newer systems, so a centralized front end that actually RUNS software is good. I've been enjoying Deux Ex off Steam for a while. Crysis Shmysis.... Ex was the original MoBo Buster.

great, and why aren't they available in Australia or New Zealand? Anybody know, same deal with Steam versions of THQ games....sigh