Steam v Retail Discs

I always wonder, why would i buy game from steam, with all those complex transactions, downloading the whole game(with the pathetic speeds we are getting), when you can able to easily purchase the same game for reasonable price from nearest store or online store like flipkart/nextworld etc.

But recently, i got Metro 2033 for free and keys are only redeemable in Steam. So i have to use steam and now i can see the difference. Downloading 6.6GB of game, is like taking forever. It is still downloading. But since i want to see how steam works, i did this.

The only downside of having retail disc is physical damage, which i will avoid by using no-cd patch and i can have the disc in mint condition for quite a long time.

And steam's advantage over discs is, once code is redeemed, you can download whenever you want, with no risk of losing/braking discs.

Now i want to know, what are the views of other members of this forum?

I too prefer the discs. For a change, i tried "Blacklight Retribution" on Steam.
But, got frustrated because of the "Multi_GB first update" + "the patching process".

Steam will eat up my whole monthly BB limit in a day.

^^ Thats the point. My monthly FUP limit is 30GB and i am downloading Metro 2033 @ whooping 6.6GB, so i easily eat up this limit before 20th. After that i have to use that freakingly slow 512Kbps sh1t.

D

for us in india with our speeds steam may not be the most viable solution to buy games. also our retail games are subsidized. but steam has become something more than just a store, it has developed into an ecosystem and a great social platform for gamers.

steam's features are really overwhelming.
- Friends
- Gifts
- Trading
- Big Picture
- Sales
- Workshop
- Auto Updates
- Steam Overlay
- Driver Updates etc

and now they have just added Community market.

though i usually buy games in retail, i make sure if it can be redeemed on steam or some other platform like uplay or origin.

I'll switch to Digital the day I get a CC for myself(no problem with the bandwidth either in Hyderabad.), but hey, boxed games are cool

^^ Especially with goodies that comes with the boxed ones.

I have probably never purchased any game in my life as retail disc except Project IGI.

All my games, are on Steam.

furious_gamer said:
^^ that i have to use that freakingly slow 512Kbps sh1t.

My broadband top speed is 512 Kbps and then 256 kbps :wink:

G

once you have downloaded the entire game through steam you can take physical backup of it in steam client and write it to disk and just use it later if u have to install again....but you will have to take backup again if the game receives any updates..

thetechfreak said:
I have probably never purchased any game in my life as retail disc except Project IGI.

All my games, are on Steam.

My broadband top speed is 512 Kbps and then 256 kbps

You have a lot of patience to download games in such slow speed... Anyway, you still not off from forum?

ghouse12311 said:
once you have downloaded the entire game through steam you can take physical backup of it in steam client and write it to disk and just use it later if u have to install again....but you will have to take backup again if the game receives any updates..

It is the big PITA process, that i hate. Still downloading metro, total time around 8 hours to download 6.6GB, it is sh1t man.

Digital is the future. Yes the pathetic download speeds and instability of the Internet in our country does make the process of downloading games from steam a PITA sometimes, but future isn't for dialups anyway.

Well I prefer to have a copy where ever I go and I don't like to store disks so steam is the way for me. Never liked boxed games anyway because of damn disks.

one word for all Steam Sales :meditate:

Vyom said:
Digital is the future. Yes the pathetic download speeds and instability of the Internet in our country does make the process of downloading games from steam a PITA sometimes, but future isn't for dialups anyway.

Maybe, in future, if our DC/CC will become more hassle free for online transactions, and speeds are good, then we can think about it.

gameranand said:
Well I prefer to have a copy where ever I go and I don't like to store disks so steam is the way for me. Never liked boxed games anyway because of damn disks.

Well, i bought GTA IV and stick that map in my room wall, so i can navigate easily while playing...

Still i prefer to have Disc rather than in steam. So i can take the disc, install it and keep it safe. Hassle free, in my opinion.

avinandan012 said:
one word for all Steam Sales

+1 . Agreed.

Well when I play I prefer to use map button rather than seeing my wall for the map.

I have like 200 discs of movies and music (most are original). I don't like them because they are just too much, too much hassle to carry if I want my collection to be portable. Its really simple, if you want portability then nothing beats Steam and add to that the steam sales and all.

Steam over Physical Disks because of the Amazing Deals you can get on games plus the great community and save game back ups

and i dont know if this has happened to anyone else but my download speed increases when i download from steam i.e my regular 2mbps(around 230 kBps) turns into stable 500-700 kBps

gameranand said:
Well when I play I prefer to use map button rather than seeing my wall for the map.

I have like 200 discs of movies and music (most are original). I don't like them because they are just too much, too much hassle to carry if I want my collection to be portable. Its really simple, if you want portability then nothing beats Steam and add to that the steam sales and all.

LOL, interpreted in diff way. I still use in-game map, but it is cool to watch map and drive. No GPS.

I agree with the disc carrying hassle, but don't you think download games again and again is painful?

CarlonSamuels said:
Steam over Physical Disks because of the Amazing Deals you can get on games plus the great community and save game back ups

and i dont know if this has happened to anyone else but my download speed increases when i download from steam i.e my regular 2mbps(around 230 kBps) turns into stable 500-700 kBps

Apart from Deals, i don't find anything good as of now, from Steam. I still have all my game disks with me and i am keeping them in good condition. Even my Flight Simulator 97, is still in good conditon.

furious_gamer said:
Apart from Deals, i don't find anything good as of now, from Steam. I still have all my game disks with me and i am keeping them in good condition. Even my Flight Simulator 97, is still in good conditon.

haha everyone keep their discs in a different way my gta 4 Complete edition (bought 6 months back)
for example the box is torn,discs scratched and posters faded

furious_gamer said:
I agree with the disc carrying hassle, but don't you think download games again and again is painful?

If you have the power of Beam then it's no problem.
otherwise carry discs

^^ I have to go to Hyderabad for that ...

I prefer discs over digital downloads cause I don't like to wait much to play a game. even if I have to get a new game, max time to acquire (read buy) a game would be 2 hrs. My nearest Landmark store is about 30 minutes, thats one hr for up and down and about 20-30 mins for installation and lot of saved bandwidth.

furious_gamer said:
I agree with the disc carrying hassle, but don't you think download games again and again is painful?

Well you can always make backup so that you don't have to download again. There are always option if you want to carry disk but wouldn't that defy the meaning of digital copy.

I prefer steam, but since in India we have pi$$ poor internet bandwidth(well except hyd and a few places), I am forced to prefer retail discs, beats the hell out of waiting a week to get the game. Also another issue with Steam is forced updates which may be a few GBs in size, another few days wait, game drags on forever, get retail disc and play through it all at once.

avinandan012 said:
If you have the power of Beam then it's no problem.
otherwise carry discs

About that, soon I will be moving into a PG near Q-City hyderabad, do you know if Beam gives connection there?
*maps.google.co.in/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=tcs+hyderabad&aq=&sll=22.571739,88.437184&sspn=0.030236,0.053773&vpsrc=6&ie=UTF8&hq=tcs&hnear=Hyderabad,+Ranga+Reddy,+Andhra+Pradesh&t=m&fll=17.427335,78.335427&fspn=0.00781,0.013443&st=109146043351405611748&rq=1&ev=zi&split=1&ll=17.427335,78.335427&spn=0.00781,0.013443&z=17&iwloc=A

I always wonder, why would i buy game from steam, with all those complex transactions, downloading the whole game(with the pathetic speeds we are getting),

would you say the same if you *downloaded* the game for *free* ;-)

i buy steam games on discs but i dont like sneaky steam downloading the game rather than installing from discs

CommanderShawnzer said:
would you say the same if you *downloaded* the game for *free*

. Those days are gone. Now it purchasing games phase....

CommanderShawnzer said:
i buy steam games on discs but i dont like sneaky steam downloading the game rather than installing from discs

Steam games?

furious_gamer said:
. Those days are gone. Now it purchasing games phase....

Yeah, we're all grown up you see

Can't vote. Among the options given, the closest one for me is "I download", but the poll option probably points to torrents only, you should have added another option like download from other online portal. Well unlike most of the guys here, I don't like to have all my games in Steam, so can't vote for it. Discs I rarely buy, the only 02 over the last 04 years are bought this year, Max Payne 3, and Sleeping Dogs, price being the deciding factor here. I mostly purchase from GamersGate and GOG.com, and sometimes GetGamesGo. And yeah, if someone is offering a non-Steam version or any platform independent version, I prefer that, even at a slight premium. For DRM Free games, I am ready to pay even a higher premium. No wonder both my Witcher games were purchased at GOG.

tkin said:
I prefer steam, but since in India we have pi$$ poor internet bandwidth(well except hyd and a few places), I am forced to prefer retail discs, beats the hell out of waiting a week to get the game. Also another issue with Steam is forced updates which may be a few GBs in size, another few days wait, game drags on forever, get retail disc and play through it all at once.

Provided the game is not Steamworks enabled (like Metro). Otherwise, a disc is as good as half the game installation.

^^ Valid point. DRM free is what a good game distribution should be. Sick of all these DRM craps...

tkin said:
I prefer steam, but since in India we have pi$$ poor internet bandwidth(well except hyd and a few places), I am forced to prefer retail discs, beats the hell out of waiting a week to get the game. Also another issue with Steam is forced updates which may be a few GBs in size, another few days wait, game drags on forever, get retail disc and play through it all at once.

About that, soon I will be moving into a PG near Q-City hyderabad, do you know if Beam gives connection there?
tcs hyderabad - Google Maps

yeah Beam gives connection there, but in your building if you are the first customer then expect a delay. Otherwise they will provide a new connection withing 2-3days max.

Give a call to them to be sure @ 040 66 27 27 27

IMO get this plan 15Mbps @ Rs.1100 30GB FUP after that true 2Mbps unlimited

^^ Wow. This thread topic changes to Can i get Beam BB Connection in my place?

Can't vote. Among the options given, the closest one for me is "I download", but the poll option probably points to torrents only

le skud : GOG is the best.I :wub:

GOG

Steam games?

what?
darksiders 1 had the problem while installing from the disc(or rather activating)
i activated it and steam started downloading,then i found a work around for installing from discs.skud explained nicely

Provided the game is not Steamworks enabled (like Metro). Otherwise, a disc is as good as half the game installation

Yeah, we're all grown up you see

great,this comes from the guy who said

i *demo* games before i buy them.

some months ago ;-)

and,
there is no age to become a Jack Sparrow :wink:

CommanderShawnzer said:
there is no age to become a Jack Sparrow

There should be a Captain in there somewhere

Oh and yes I do *demo* games but only ones thay dont have a free to play demo available

Previously most of AAA games used to release a demo of their game but now it seems like they are just afraid that many fans of the series itself might not buy the game if they play the demo and see that game is not that good. many games wouldn't had sold that much copies if demo would had been available. But maybe thats just my opinion and real reason is something else, I am not sure about that.

^^ lol. Might that be reason? Who knows.

I remember, few years ago, i used to download all demo's and happy with that. Once i feel like good to play that game, i will get the *ahem* copy in local market...

furious_gamer said:
^^ lol. Might that be reason? Who knows.

I remember, few years ago, i used to download all demo's and happy with that. Once i feel like good to play that game, i will get the *ahem* copy in local market...

Thats the difference. Previously we used to demo for getting the pirated copy but now if the game is good enough and I am sure about that then I will gladly pay for it but unfortunately demo days are gone.

^^ Yep, no we have to see the gameplay in youtube and decide for ourself. Business trend is changing.

furious_gamer said:
^^ Yep, no we have to see the gameplay in youtube and decide for ourself. Business trend is changing.

Youtube videos are never reliable. Actions might be nice but controls might not be good. This happened with DA2.

^^ Cons of not having demo's for the concerned game.
I still remember, i downloaded Pro Street Demo, and played for a while and decided not to get that game.

I think this vid fits in: Funny as hell, btw

s/floppy/DVD/

My opinion about download:

1. Our infrastructure is not that good. Even fast internet's choke when they face 8-16 GB of data... And Imagine the costs?? To download 16 GB in high speeds you're giving more money than purchasing the DVD itself. Will this be economical? Not unless you have someone's open Wi-fi near to your house.

2. And still, it takes a frustrate-able amount of time.
And if you format or your system crashes, be prepared to lose 6-10 hours again. 6-10 hours for "EACH game". Ouch!!

My opinion about Steam/ any DVD's:

1. It is true that they will tell you to download from the internet. But, I got one Steam game and I installed it through the DVD's only.. How? I just used a command line in the Run option of Windows, something like "C:/Program Files/Steam/Steam.exe D:" and then it installed from D drive, my DVD drive. That install happened in just 20 minutes.

2. The high quality merchandise, like GTA IV Map, other box content is worth it I believe.

3. Re-installations won't consume so much time. That's the best part.

4. Internet is consumed only about 50-100 MB after DVD install, for patches, etc. which is not too much. Its economical.

So, it will be the Retail Disc for me. I can't find enough reasons to download such heavy stuff from servers when they can reach us manually. While my hatred for DRM is something that everyone knows here by now, I still find the DVD's more convenient than internet, and that will remain, even if I had a 8 mbps connection.

^^ Exactly my point. Even if we had 8mbps connection it doesn't matter because of stupid FUP, Seriously, for 16mbps FUP is 30GB!

And the goodies that come in box, is worth it. But the major advantage of Steam is their discounts.

Samarth 619 said:
My opinion about download:

1. Our infrastructure is not that good. Even fast internet's choke when they face 8-16 GB of data... And Imagine the costs?? To download 16 GB in high speeds you're giving more money than purchasing the DVD itself. Will this be economical? Not unless you have someone's open Wi-fi near to your house.

2. And still, it takes a frustrate-able amount of time.
And if you format or your system crashes, be prepared to lose 6-10 hours again. 6-10 hours for "EACH game". Ouch!!

My opinion about Steam/ any DVD's:

1. It is true that they will tell you to download from the internet. But, I got one Steam game and I installed it through the DVD's only.. How? I just used a command line in the Run option of Windows, something like "C:/Program Files/Steam/Steam.exe D:" and then it installed from D drive, my DVD drive. That install happened in just 20 minutes.

2. The high quality merchandise, like GTA IV Map, other box content is worth it I believe.

3. Re-installations won't consume so much time. That's the best part.

4. Internet is consumed only about 50-100 MB after DVD install, for patches, etc. which is not too much. Its economical.

So, it will be the Retail Disc for me. I can't find enough reasons to download such heavy stuff from servers when they can reach us manually. While my hatred for DRM is something that everyone knows here by now, I still find the DVD's more convenient than internet, and that will remain, even if I had a 8 mbps connection.

What? Maths time:
8Mbps=1MBPs, so in one hour 3.6GB, you can get a game in 4hrs max, give me that and I'll always buy from steam.

B

tkin said:
What? Maths time:
8Mbps=1MBPs, so in one hour 3.6GB, you can get a game in 4hrs max, give me that and I'll always buy from steam.

That 8 MBPS connection costs around Rs 25/GB, so you will be paying 200-400 extra just to download the game. I got Hitman Professional Edition for 699, but its 24GB download would've cost me around 600 just in bandwidth. Of course, on a truly unlimited connection, digital download will be the way to go, but we don't seem to have that in India

The only two disadvantage(for Indian Users) Steam has, are bandwidth and Global pricing, but Sales take care of that pretty well.
For someone who has a large gaming collection, physical discs can be a hindrance to carry along. You don't have to preserve each game and their key, as it's all in one library and ready to install anywhere.

From being a pukka pirate a year ago, I only have 10 games on physical discs(flipkart mostly), 10 on Origin and 62 on Steam(almost all bought on sales

). FUP 20GB, 512kbps after that. But I make do

samrath619 said:
2. And still, it takes a frustrate-able
amount of time.
And if you format or your system
crashes, be prepared to lose 6-10
hours again. 6-10 hours for "EACH
game". Ouch!!

err steam has this feature called backup which you are probably unfamiliar. We can create files that we can easily store on DVD or external storage and we can install game after format of PC.

samrath619 said:
2. The high quality merchandise, like
GTA IV Map, other box content is
worth it I believe.

I hope you are joking. Dont tell me looking at the map on the wall is more convinient while cops chase you around Liberty city.

thetechfreak said:
Dont tell me looking at the map on the wall is more convinient while cops chase you around Liberty city.

You don't ?

*i.imgur.com/LCm72.jpg

For 450/- it was a nice package though.

thq Humble bundle FTW!

furious_gamer said:
^^ Yep, no we have to see the gameplay in youtube and decide for ourself. Business trend is changing.

Gameplay! I saw total war gameplay was soo impressed i bought it, in the end I wasted 1k for that boring game

I prefer steam inspite of the fact that I have a 512Kbps broadband. I just let it download in the background while I play some offline games.The biggest reasons:
1. Steam sales- games get cheaper than the disc versions during sales.
2. Steam is an acceptabl;e form of DRM for me since they give me a lot of convinience in return.

I have so many games in discs which I hate lplaying because I have to find the disc and put it in my computer each time. Once the game gets an update, I can't backup that update. The updates are backed up in steam too. ALthough I like steam, I just hate Origon. I recently installed BF3 from my disc and it patched more than 6.5GB from the internet. And now there is no easy way to back it up because I din't ask it to keepo the installer.

A

I agree to that.. Disk handling is quite a bit of problem.. And having everything managed in one software is quite handy..

I hear GBs of update!! WTh! Am downloading Skyrim files from Steam, it's my 2nd day. I don't wan no mo updates after this completes

Indian Pirate said:
fcuk steam.Downloads are meant to be FREE, i will not pay $7 to $60 for a game and pay more for my bandwidth

pay? everyone has UNLIMITED plans pirate, stop whining,Have PATIENCE

Indian Pirate said:
*has a 1 Lakh worth gamiing PC i7 2600k/HD 6970
CD kaun ******* khareedta hai? torrent se download karo,atleast main toh mere parents ke paise barbaad nahi karta hoon.and i dont want to put more money into some publishers pocket

Disadvantages of having so many games that don't get played: Recently I was about to buy Alan wake from GMG so I tried my usual login password on the site, just to check that I have not register there before. To my surprise, my login worked and in my games list I found that I have bought ARMA II from them before. I must have bought it because of a very good sales price. No use playing a tactical shooter unless you have friends to play with.
One more thing I have noted with some Non-steam sites like gamersgate, Greenmangaming and getgamesgo is that they work really well with Indian Debit cards. GMG even supports the 3d secure password that our VISA and Mastercard Debit cards have.

B

The best option is buying retail discs for games that require Steam or Origin. Activate the CD-key in the package, install from the disks and voila - you can either keep the disks or forget about them. Of course, it is a bit of a shame when developers become a bit lazy and you have to download a 2GB patch first if you want to play

theserpent said:
Gameplay! I saw total war gameplay was soo impressed i bought it, in the end I wasted 1k for that boring game

Total war and boring??? Does not compute

Steam is fine for me. I don't want my room to be a warehouse of compact disks.

if you have decent broadband, (like >512 kbps), Steam downloads are better. you get patches, hack-free servers and 100% compatiblity with other players.

i'd only buy a retail disc if the download was too big/my speed was too slow.

thetechfreak said:
err steam has this feature called backup which you are probably unfamiliar. We can create files that we can easily store on DVD or external storage and we can install game after format of PC.

I'm aware of it. But what's the point of purchasing the empty DVD and making a backup? Why not directly purchase the ready DVD itself instead of employing your internet, DVD writer, time involved, etc.?

I hope you are joking. Dont tell me looking at the map on the wall is more convinient while cops chase you around Liberty city.

No, I'm not joking.
Its not necessary that the map can only be used while running from cops. You can also use it while leisure playing, or trying to find some place within GTA IV like cafe, sex shops, Night clubs, etc. which are not shown in the Game's map as icons.
On the other side of the map, there is also a GTA IV poster with 3 girls. Keeping that on the wall will show that you are a gamer.

So, what's that bad in getting the poster?

Although, I find more overall benefits of purchasing DVDs', instead of downloading, but still I would say: to each his own. Only you decide what's best for you.
If I had a good internet, maybe I could have downloaded instead of purchased. But currently for me, even upgrading to a faster internet seems useless as there is just no other use. I use Facebook, Digit, etc. which work great on my connection.

Samarth 619 said:
I'm aware of it. But what's the point of purchasing the empty DVD and making a backup? Why not directly purchase the ready DVD itself instead of employing your internet, DVD writer, time involved, etc.?

An empty disk cost Rs 15/-. And taking backup that way also backs up all the updates till that time.

^^ But the game from steam cost + download time + backup time + writing to DVD *sigh*, i prefer Retail Discs....

I hope the majority of members who have voted, "Retail Disks" over Steam, really means the "retail" disks, not the ones which people sell in nehru place for 50 bucks.!!

Since I am not allowed to make online payments, I buy on retail then register on steam...

^ :iagree: Disadvantages of not being 18 :sad:

I hope the majority of members who have voted, "Retail Disks" over Steam, really means the "retail" disks, not the ones which people sell in nehru place for 50 bucks.!

they mean the Nehru place retail disks and the chor bazaar retail disks :grin:

frankly, i find the people who buy those kind of disc's idiots
why don't they download the games from the *cough*original*cough* source

CommanderShawnzer said:
^ :iagree: Disadvantages of not being 18

they mean the Nehru place retail disks and the chor bazaar retail disks
frankly, i find the people who buy those kind of disc's idiots
why don't they download the games from the *cough*original*cough* source

No Offense dude, but don't call anyone idiot just like that. I bought games like these when i don't have internet. After i got internet, i never went there. Don't call someone stupid, without knowing facts about what you are talking.

CommanderShawnzer said:
^ :iagree: Disadvantages of not being 18

they mean the Nehru place retail disks and the chor bazaar retail disks
frankly, i find the people who buy those kind of disc's idiots
why don't they download the games from the *cough*original*cough* source

When I was 10-12, I used to buy those discs because I got a virus whenever I tried to download, and I could always return the disc if game doesn't work. I did not know much about my computer, so didn't know if the game will run either. That was a better situation.

@furious/nipun : clarification : i was assuming the people inspite of having internet connection Still *buy* games from chor bazaar

^^ Please be clear next time. Since the world didn't end, Happy New Year for you guys!