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Has anybody here, running Boot Camp on their Mac, downloaded games from Steam?

D

dh2005

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 25, 2010
907
0
Hello again,

I realise the last question that I asked was supposed to be my last, but I have another one. Sorry...!


I'm gonna be installing Windows 7 on my Mini, and running Boot Camp. It's my plan to download some legacy games from Steam (like Doom II, and Half-Life, and blah-blah-blah...); but does anyone here have any experience with using Steam?

Steam appeals to me because it's gonna be easier than hunting-down some of these games on disc. Then there's all that faff with patches and stuff, which Steam deals with automatically... but I'm keen to know about any ways in which it sucks.

Don't spare my feelings. I want to know!

Cheers,



DH.
 
dh2005 said:
Hello again,

I realise the last question that I asked was supposed to be my last, but I have another one. Sorry...!


I'm gonna be installing Windows 7 on my Mini, and running Boot Camp. It's my plan to download some legacy games from Steam (like Doom II, and Half-Life, and blah-blah-blah...); but does anyone here have any experience with using Steam?

Steam appeals to me because it's gonna be easier than hunting-down some of these games on disc. Then there's all that faff with patches and stuff, which Steam deals with automatically... but I'm keen to know about any ways in which it sucks.

Don't spare my feelings. I want to know!

Cheers,

DH.
Click to expand...

I don't like Steam so I use Direct2drive.com

No client to install and no disk required to run. Annoying initial validation and it re-validates if you login as a different user on the same machine which would not happen if you had the CD/DVD but still a good electronic distro.

Cheers,
 
Thanks, both of you.


So, what's annoying about the Steam client? Does it slow your machine down?
 
I would have a nice purchase from Steam... if their support system wasn't just a steaming pile... I bank in the US for various reasons but live in Singapore.... somehow they just can't wrap their feeble brains around it. The software locks up thinking... you put a US address but you're not in the US... how could that be??? LOL

Do people never travel with laptops? This is unforgivable in this day and age.

Paul
 
Most of my PC game purchases are on Steam thesedays. It's a fantastic platform - probably the best digital distribution out there. They have great deals on every month too.
 
Steam is awesome. The only reason I use Boot Camp, and I don't like getting non Steam games. Plus the sales are amazing value. My latest purchase was Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs The Third Reich for $2.
 
Interesting... I'd say the positives are outweighing the negatives at the moment.

I realise this is a slightly far-out question, but what if Valve decided to start charging for Steam? As in, a mandatory subscription charge? Or what if they withdrew it altogether?

My point being; once you buy games from Steam, are you not at the mercy of Valve to play all of these games?
 
dh2005 said:
Interesting... I'd say the positives are outweighing the negatives at the moment.

I realise this is a slightly far-out question, but what if Valve decided to start charging for Steam? As in, a mandatory subscription charge? Or what if they withdrew it altogether?

My point being; once you buy games from Steam, are you not at the mercy of Valve to play all of these games?
Click to expand...

The gaming community would be in such uproar that Valve would become the most hated company in the world, and would never sell anything ever again.
 
Hm. There is that, I suppose...!


I'm just a little gunshy, because I've dropped a lot of money on Xbox Live downloads over the past three years, and I'm pretty much certain that I'm gonna lose it all, or be forced to pay some sort of 'export fee', when the next Microsoft console is released.


So, all in all, you'd say Steam is a good thing?
 
dh2005 said:
Hm. There is that, I suppose...!


I'm just a little gunshy, because I've dropped a lot of money on Xbox Live downloads over the past three years, and I'm pretty much certain that I'm gonna lose it all, or be forced to pay some sort of 'export fee', when the next Microsoft console is released.


So, all in all, you'd say Steam is a good thing?
Click to expand...


Welcome to the wonderful brave new world of DRM. Start using iPods and buying from Apple's iTunes store if you really want to get screwed by DRM.

That being said, Steam is the least annoying DRM platform that is currently on the market. You can always download your purchased games to ANY computer on which you logon with your Steam account. I've never had any problems with Steam, and I've been using it since the original Half-Life 2 was released (which was the game with which they launched Steam).

And, yes, I've also used Steam on Macs - which, despite all the religious hysteria about the company Apple, are just regular PCs with a pre-installed proprietary operating system from Apple. Except for their design, there's technically nothing special or extraordinary about a Mac that you couldn't get somewhere else.
 
Winni said:
... I've also used Steam on Macs - which, despite all the religious hysteria about the company Apple, are just regular PCs with a pre-installed proprietary operating system from Apple. Except for their design, there's technically nothing special or extraordinary about a Mac that you couldn't get somewhere else.
Click to expand...

Thank you for that compelling summary!


So, do you think there's anything better out there that meets my needs, over a Mini? Bearing in mind that I want a very small, quiet, generally inconspcicuous computer for productivity and legacy gaming?
 
Another MRumors thread on its way to being completely hijacked and derailed. Wow what happened to this place in the last six months? :confused:

Anyway OP download Steam and check it out it's easy free and it works on any pc you want/need it to. Also as some have said the games are a steal I bought L4D last year for like $10 bucks on a 1 day blowout sale or something.

You can burn the games to DVD from the Steam client if you are so inclined so you have a back up or can play from disc. Then you don't need to log into Steam to play the games you bought if you don't want to and are not at "the mercy of Steam to play" all your games.

As for paying for Steam they'd lose a ton of their subscribers you can't start out free for 10+ years then go to a fee model it just doesn't work and Steam knows this. Unless they really have a legit "next level" of service or games up their sleeves that warrants paying for Steam Platinum or something it's doubtful they will go that route.
 
Another vote for Steam. I have been using it since it came out and for the past 4 years in Boot Camp on Macs. It runs flawlessly for me and I agree with the others above about the great special discounts they offer.

As for the time necessary to download games that all depends on the speed of your own connection. I'm fortunate enough to live in Japan with a 100MBs FTTH connection and can say that Steam's servers are equal to the challenge.
 
itommyboy said:
Another MRumors thread on its way to being completely hijacked and derailed. Wow what happened to this place in the last six months? :confused:
Click to expand...

Sorry, man. I wasn't trying to drag things off-topic. To be absolutely honest, I had a momentary lapse of concentration and forgot which thread I was posting in; I have another thread running at the moment, asking people whether or not there's a preferrable PC-based option to the Mini.


itommyboy said:
You can burn the games to DVD from the Steam client if you are so inclined so you have a back up or can play from disc. Then you don't need to log into Steam to play the games you bought if you don't want to and are not at "the mercy of Steam to play" all your games.
Click to expand...

Now, this is good news. I reckon that's just about made the decision for me.

Do I take it that this is a legitimate mechanism? It's not a loop-hole that Valve are going to track down and close the day after I register...?!
 
dh2005 said:
Interesting... I'd say the positives are outweighing the negatives at the moment.

I realise this is a slightly far-out question, but what if Valve decided to start charging for Steam? As in, a mandatory subscription charge? Or what if they withdrew it altogether?

My point being; once you buy games from Steam, are you not at the mercy of Valve to play all of these games?
Click to expand...

Going out of business is an issue. Sometimes the company may unlock all the content before closing the doors (Think Divx players when they ceased operations as a hardware provider - of course once your player died, your movies were useless). However, in most cases companies just close up shop and without the authentication servers you can't re-install (Direct2Drive) and on Steam and Stardock it may impact playing at all.

That said, I do use Direct2Drive and take the risk. I do tend to only buy games that are greatly discounted in this manner but I have a lot of them.

Cheers,
 
panzer06 said:
However, in most cases companies just close up shop and without the authentication servers you can't re-install (Direct2Drive) and on Steam and Stardock it may impact playing at all.
Click to expand...

So, are you saying that the only hit I'd take from software bought from D2D would be not being able to download them again, if I lost them?

Whereas, using Steam, if such a thing occurred then I wouldn't be able to even play my games? What about the comment from itommyboy, about being able to burn downloads to disc and running them without Steam? Does Steam still need to authenticate the game when you start it from the disc?


Jesus... when did buying a computer game become so effin' complicated?!


(don't tell me... 2004, right...?)
 
Steam absolutely has a backup feature to burn your games to DVD. This allows you to easily reinstall anytime without the necessity of redownloading if for some reason you lose your installation or move to a new machine.

Steam absolutely has an Offline Mode that will allow you to play their games without the necessity of being connected to their servers.

It's really quite simple.
 
SaSaSushi said:
Steam absolutely has a backup feature to burn your games to DVD. This allows you to easily reinstall anytime without the necessity of redownloading if for some reason you lose your installation or move to a new machine.

Steam absolutely has an Offline Mode that will allow you to play their games without the necessity of being connected to their servers.

It's really quite simple.
Click to expand...

This is good. I've not used them since the early days and just didn't like the client. From what's been posted seems Steam has gotten a lot better.

The only issues I've seen is that Company of Heroes from Steam had to wait for Steam to release patches. The std patches did not work.

Cheers,
 
Thanks for that, Sushi-San.


Can I ask, if it's possible to burn downloaded games to a disc and play them in "Offline Mode", how does the system safeguard against the illegal distribution of these games?
 
dh2005 said:
Can I ask, if it's possible to burn downloaded games to a disc and play them in "Offline Mode", how does the system safeguard against the illegal distribution of these games?
Click to expand...

From the Offline Mode FAQ page I linked above:

Please note that you must connect to the Steam Network and test each of the games you would like to use in Offline Mode at least once to set up your account and configure Offline Mode on your machine.
 
I see. Thanks.

You probably think I'm just being a paranoid schmuck...! I just don't want to commit myself to something that's gonna bite me on the arse some way down the line.



EDIT: If I wanted to get the ball rolling on using Steam right now using this rubbish netbook, can I do so then transfer my account painlessly to the Mini when I buy it? The key word being "painlessly"! If it's possible, but annoying, I won't bother.

I'm itching to play some X-Com...!
 
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