What is Steam? ..and other important questions...

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Steam is an online PC gaming service/platform that will hopefully save gaming on the PC for all us fans.  I have mentioned Steam before, but finally had some bandwidth and time to play with it. I have talked before about how I feel the PC-side of gaming is doomed, and that at best, PC gaming is going to be reduced to casual rubbish - due to all the serious game designers being lured over to the consoles/On Live, where all the cash/users/piracy protection is.

I haven't seen anything in the last few months to change my opinion, but just because "the end is nigh" is my opinion, please don't think I'm happy about it.  On the contrary, I want the PC Gaming experience to live on, because it is the best.  If it is going to live on, then a service like Steam is probably how it is going to happen.  And even though a great many people use the service, I tend to find that, like any well keep secret, maybe there are some of you out there who haven't heard about it yet. 

How Steam Works

This is how Steam works for me:

First - download and install the free Steam client. 

Second -  search through the library of games. 

Third - purchase said games (in US $). 

Fourthly and lastly - download game to your computer and then play.  

Neat, huh! Because Steam has its own Piracy protection, patch updater and support centre, it offers a solution to some of the things that push many newbies,and developers to the consoles. Steam offers an organised and reasonably easy option for your PC gaming, and you can also install the client and games onto other computers.  This means that you can play your games on your laptop, if it can handle them AND ALSO your work computer.  Of course you can only be logged into one Steam client at a time, so you can't play a game on two of your computers at the same time.

There is also more in the way of community and friends lists as well.  If you have friends also using the service, you can put them on your Friends List and see what they are playing, and chat to them.  Join in with multi-player games and troll in the forums.  But for me, the big pluses are in the automatic updating of games, and easy access to mods and expansions.

How Steam Doesn't work

There are a couple of things you need to know before going to Steam for your gaming.  The first is that it is a on-line service, so once you purchase your game, it is downloaded to your Windows PC (no Mac, well, who games on a Mac, really?) via the Internet.  You may think this is self explanatory, but before committing, check your bandwidth and download limits, as most new games are 2-10Gb downloads.  That could take a long time over dial-up.

Secondly, Steam is a part of Valve - developers of some of the most popular games of the last ten years.  Valve set up Steam as their own on-line digital distribution system, but as it has proved successful, they have been able to add other studios and developers.  What this means, though, is a lack of games, unless you like Valve games.  That being said, there is Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Crysis and even Brian Lara's Cricket 2007 and more and more being added all the time.

Prices are in US dollars, so Australians need a currency converter handy when buying, but when you do the math, most titles work out a bit cheaper than the box copy.  The other issue is that you never really own the games.  Well, not like in the "go to the store, buy packaging and a Disc" sense.  The whole DRM is another post which I don't really want to get into here.  You will need to work out how YOU feel about that before getting involved though.

Why it will work

There is just something right about bringing up a browser and searching through lists, clicking on something new, watching the trailers and checking out the screenshots.  Being able to read about the game on the same page and check out the all-important system specs, then clicking "Buy" and sitting back and waiting for the download while you're doing other things.  It just works for 2009.

Connectivity is the biggest hurdle for any service like this, but I guess that even if the service was available to the major centres, then there should be enough users to make it viable. 

Steam is a viable alternative for those with the bandwidth to use it and a glimpse into the possible future of PC Gaming.

Jason Remnant
if it is broken...slap DRM on it and put it online...

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