Qualified resignation is not the same as saying "I want to use Steamworks". Sadly the actual quote doesn't make a nice pro-steam title for you to bandy about, though.

Gabe was in charge when Valve bought out CS and used it to anchor Steam onto people's systems if they wanted to keep playing, whether they wanted it or not. Gabe was in charge when they launched Half-Life 2 with mandatory online decryption for the retail copy, adding an hour or more to the install time for non-broadband users.

I personally don't trust them with any sort of control because they've already shown in the past that they don't deserve it. No amount of cheap sales will change that for me.

If you are not able to uninstall standart app like Steam you either dont know what are you doing or you have some serious problem in Windows itself - when that happen easiest solution is to backup important data and format entire HDD.

I somehow doubt he actually wants to use Steamworks when he mentions Stardock has just made its own DRM system to match it.  It sounds more like he'll use it only if the entire industry starts using it, at which point we all lose anyway since Steam will then have a monopoly.

No, don't use steam it sucks!  I like impulse because I can play on multiple computers at the same time : )

I'm a Steam fanboy I guess. I love the service, and I have about 200 games on it. However, I am more of a fanboy of the underdog. I support Impulse when I can, and I love Stardock as a company anyways. The thread starter obviously mis-represented what Brad was saying, whether that was intentional or not who knows.

I very much would like to see Impulse::Reactor succeed, because even though I like games with Steamworks, I don't like having no choice. There needs to be an alternative out there to keep us from falling into a Steam monopoly.

No I paid for all of the games. I usually just end up buying stuff that's on sale when I have money. I have bought "complete packs" only intending on playing a few games, but calculated the deal as being better than buying those few games separately. Once Impulse gets more competitive with sales and community features I'll probably start getting more on it than Steam.

I own 319 steam games, 62 impulse games, 29 ea downloader games, 32 gog games, 34 big fish games, 23 direct2drive games, and 8 amazon downloadable games.

This off topic own was brought to you by... me

I'd almost agree with you, but there is at least one exception, I am not really interested in using EADM in any form, and their digital download policy was awful at one point. And while they removed the text referencing all the limitations they had, I am not convinced that actually means a lot. Csrs mentioned in some CAG posts just say they don't follow those policies anymore, not that they don't exist.

I figure I'll wind up using gamersgate, gog, direct2drive eventually. I've used Steam, Impulse, and BigFish already. BigFish is a little funky though in how it connects to the net, used to drive my old firewall, Comodo, nuts. I swear I needed to give each game a dozen permissions to install and run them.  I still haven't paid full price for any game on any digital service though.

For some reason Valve are seen as the sole saviors of pc gaming.

i hated steam when i viewed it merely as DRM (ie when HL2 released). these days, after valve had ironed out the kinks, its a pretty neat service. i'd prefer if things like steamworks weren't necessay, but its not the 90s anymore.

I still dislike steam. I remember when it used to disconnect me back when I was playing DOW2. If I lost the connection to steam, GFWL or the actual servers, I'd be kicked from the match. That's two too many chances to disconnect, especially when steam decided to start changing servers without announcing it, causing disruptions for a week, and so on. And no, you couldn't "opt out".

I also don't like getting popups whenever I start it up.

I do like getting my games automatically updated - left 4 dead 2 getting a new update for a custom game type every week is hella fucking awesome. If it wasn't because of that, I wouldn't use it at all. I don't give a rats ass about friends lists (if it wasn't on steam, people would just ask for MSN instead). I don't care about achievements. Groups can be handy when you're looking to play a mod of a game and need a few players.

I also like Steam permabanning cheaters, sometimes their whole accounts with all game keys. So there's an actual monetary reason to not fuck about with exploits. It backfires sometimes, though (and quite recently, if I remember correctly).

Steamworks as "drm" is great, as long as it works. But sometimes it doesn't. And that "sometimes" is too often, in some cases. Still, I prefer it, just as I prefer impulse, over solutions like Settlers7 had. It's nice to be remembered from time to time exactly how poorly some companies decide to implement "drm" solutions. That game you couldn't even play single player without connecting to their server, doing continuous checks. Only their validation servers were absolute crap, and had about 80% downtime in my region for the first two weeks. That's when you REALLY start appreciating a well-thought out solution like steam or impulse. And hope that problems like those I had with Dow2 have been ironed out the next time an awesome game comes along.

I don't like choices being made for me. That's why competition is good.

To be fair to Steam, you can turn off those pop-ups.

But I do agree with your general assessment that there are far too many times it doesn't work and that it isn't the worst, but I still consider it to be pretty bad. Any service that can delete my legally purchased games is one that ought to be avoided whenever possible. That's why for a lot of games using Steamworks, I'm other not buying (because I don't like the game) or just waiting until the price is significantly lower and not purchasing it through Steam directly (either retail or D2D). That's the way I'm going to play any Steamworks game. To be honest, the only upcoming one I'm interested in at all is FO: NV. However, I tried to do the same with Empire: Total War and ended up never purchasing it. After the game has been out for months, you start to realize you could probably do without.

And I agree with you about competition. It's just sad how many PC gamers out there who currently bemoan Stardock for even attempting to oppose Steam. Both companies love PC gaming, so it's not like they're doing it out of spite. To be honest, I've seen a rise in attacks against Impulse on other forums...it seems like Impulse is making some headway in terms of being recognized as a competitor. It's usually just childish ****- point out a flaw in Steam and they randomly attack Impulse saying it "sucks" but never qualifying how.

that's what I think of the people who think Steam sucks.  They never explain a legitimate reason of why it sucks.  Oh you have to connect to the internet?  Sorry?  When you download patches it can take a long time on 56k modem? lol?  Steam helps to prevent exploiters by banning the entire account, but they're worried about getting caught in the crossfire... I hope they're equally worried about being struck by lightning and refuse to go outside even when there aren't clouds in the sky because you just never know when a flash storm or heat lightning will come about. etc, etc, etc, etc.