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Not sure what you mean by "dynamically move my Steam install off my drive that's filling up" but it is very easy to move your steam folder to a different drive.
This explains how: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7710-tdlc-0426

At least, for now, on Steam, you're still buying a multiplayer game : http://store.steampowered.com/app/12750/

The game also has split-screen mode (party mode) so this is technically correct. The online part was removed from the description, however.

yes
about 75% of the way down, on the right side of the page: "Multi-player"
Also, in the game summary: "Jump behind the wheel of exhilarating racing cars in the most aggressive, spectacular wheel-to-wheel races you've ever experienced - then prove yourself online."

At least, for now, on Steam, you're still buying a multiplayer game : http://store.steampowered.com/app/12750/

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=664376

Lucky for you, they're free to try:

http://store.steampowered.com/

It also seems that some of these free to play games aren't available everywhere (a couple of users have written at the thread about it).

Perhaps Valve should just make IvanDoomer's list official or something :)

Torchlight is a great game and made by some of the same people as fate. http://store.steampowered.com/app/41500/

Have you seen the specs required for the latest Worms game? See the bottom of http://store.steampowered.com/app/22600/ for the list. 1Gb RAM and a little over 2Gb of disk space required?! The backgrounds and sprites can't be *that* much more numerous and higher resolution can they? Needing a beefy machine to run Doom via C-compiled-to-JS-running-via-JIT-compile-bytecode doesn't seem so ridiculous when you consider that "Worms Reloaded" is running native.

Are you kidding? Every download-only game retailer I've looked at has tons of shovelware.

Check this shit out

It costs almost nothing for a download-only retailer to add it to an existing catalog because there's no physical product that has to be bought, stored and possibly sold at a loss (or never sold and written off). There is no incentive for them not to carry shovelware titles since even a small number of sales will make it profitable to have done so.

There's probably more, but I know of two training programs.

There's probably more, but I know of two training programs.

Especially when physical media dies out! I wonder if people sell Steam accounts..

Its against the Steam Subscriber Agreement. "You may not sell or charge others for the right to use your Account, or otherwise transfer your Account."

It might be simpler and operate on different basis. For example - valve gifted their entire catalogue of games to the participants of Portal 2 ARG who managed to get all 36 potatoes. They also cherry picked the 10 community leaders from the ARG and fly them over to Valve HQ and provided them with early access to portal 2. Essentially they created a bunch of torch bearers who will promote Valve in their respective communities. Another example could be a fan who e-mailed for an autograph and got disproportional response.

What started as the Team Fortress 2 nonsense store which allowed the purchasing of hats in a first person shooter(!), has progressed to a total overhaul of how Valve sell their products. Portal 2 is now fast becoming the flagship example, with, wiat for it, hats available for purchase, along with little flags and such. DLC (I feel a bit sick every time I say or type that) is the devil that you cant' avoid. If Activision put a human shit in a box and sold it as Call of Duty (or Modern Warfare, whichever they own) material DLC, for let's say £5 / $9, it's guaranteed they would make a profit. Call of Duty: Human Chemical Warfare in a Box.

Pretty much every game you buy now has this so called downloadable content, right from the game's release. There's no relevant analogy here, even the most coherent slashdot analogy wouldn't be able to ascribe to the bizarre concept of selling an entertainment product with parts loped off and sold along side it.
A great example is the add-on content to Railworks 2. A £25 game with £800(sic) of DLC. Have a look if you don't believe me. http://store.steampowered.com/app/24010/

Bottom line, there's a huge amount of money to be made on the DLC market and any game company would be stupid not to dip into that pool. And it's a damned shame.

Steam is a great service. I've bought over 200+ games with it and completely stopped buying games from brick and mortar stores. A lot of them are from sales, and now they're introducing one new sale every day too.

Speaking of which, just last night I spotted a really fun game on Steam - Terraria. I love games where you can build, dig and explore. If you have to compare, it kind of reminds of Minecraft, but is still different and has a lot more features. The multiplayer works great too and you can have teams. It's great fun when both teams build a castle and start attacking the other one, even making secret tunnels to get there unnoticed, and there's tons of weapons and other fun stuff in the game. YouTube has a cool video series on the game.

I can't imagine Americans tolerating Euro prices or vice versa. This way, everything's priced in points and we're happy.

I'd very much tolerate USD prices since it's usually cheaper. I buy all my physical video games from the UK because the conversion rate saves me about 20-30% for new games (Portal 2 Xbox360 - German Amazon 55â - UK Amazon 42â) even after the German VAT is added. Also I don't have to deal with the terrible dubbed versions. If the points were any cheaper to set off the differences I'd be ok but that's not the case. 2000 MSP cost about 25USD (17â) as far as I know. In Germany 2000MSP cost 24â (34USD). Basically I pay 30% more for the same games on XBL and it's the same files transferred through the same pipes. If you really want to have an international "virtual" currency you'd have to adjust it across borders to make it fair. Granted there are some taxes incurred but those are not even close to justifying this discrepancy.

I very much agree. The biggest thread on the Steam forums is exactly about this issue, but Valve has said they'll keep pricing unevenly as long as some people keep buying.

I LOL'd. Check out the Steam stats: http://store.steampowered.com/stats

At the moment, Counter-Strike (not even Counter-Strike Source!) is the most-played game today. Fact is, it's just a better game than almost everything out there, so people play it even more than 10 years after its release.

For the record, this is a CS:S map.

I'm calling shenanigans. There is defiantly something other to this story here. Every exchange I've had with steam support has been very forthcoming. I've been using the service since day 1 and have received help with numerous problems. I'm also fairly certain that absolutely no steam customer service rep will ask you for your credit card information. Proof of purchase would've been the last 4 numbers of the card. The story seems a little far fetched, what with claims of demanding CC information and flat out refusing to tell you why it was disabled. They will always tell you why it was disabled. Perhaps it was this for breaking the code of conduct or any one of these other reasons

The strict enforcement of this conduct is one of the main reasons I game on steam rather than xbox live

I'm calling shenanigans. There is defiantly something other to this story here. Every exchange I've had with steam support has been very forthcoming. I've been using the service since day 1 and have received help with numerous problems. I'm also fairly certain that absolutely no steam customer service rep will ask you for your credit card information. Proof of purchase would've been the last 4 numbers of the card. The story seems a little far fetched, what with claims of demanding CC information and flat out refusing to tell you why it was disabled. They will always tell you why it was disabled. Perhaps it was this for breaking the code of conduct or any one of these other reasons

The strict enforcement of this conduct is one of the main reasons I game on steam rather than xbox live

Already, every Humble Inde Bundle, 25% or the revenue is Linux. Not bad for a niche OS with less than 1% market share... Or could that be wrong?

Sales of three sets of games are a very piss-poor measurement in this case, due to other elements in play.

• Windows has a lot more games available for purchase than Linux or Mac, including several "app stores" solely for games, such as Steam.
• • While Steam is officially available for Mac, only a small portion of the games on this service are available for the Mac.
  • Steam games are really hit or miss under Wine and generally perform better by dual booting to Windows.
• As I recall, the Humble Indie Bundle was the first Linux release for a number of these games.
• The Hunble Indie Bundles were heavily advertised on geeky websites... like /.

P.S. Slashdot messes up HTML list formatting now? Stupid fucks...

Actually, I have to dispute that a bit. According to this survey, only 73% even have Acrobat installed. Admittedly, that's a survey of PC gamers - a significantly more computer-savvy group than average. And it is in third place, after Flash and the program used to conduct the survey.

Is Acrobat too common. Yes. While I will concede that it may be needed in situations where doing pixel-perfect PDF rendering, or where highly-scripted custom PDFs are heavily used, Foxit/Sumatra is MORE than enough for 99% of users. If Microsoft focuses on making a small, fast, PDF viewer that doesn't even TRY to run embedded scripts, it'll be good. And since making a big, complex, script-heavy PDF viewer would eat into their Office share...

Does Steam have solid games in all genres, even those not traditionally associated with PCs?

Check for yourself. No need to donwload/install the Steam client, if you just want to browse their catalog.

Does Steam have solid games in all genres, even those not traditionally associated with PCs?

You know you could just go to the online store and take a look, just use the Genres drop down.

Per Steam support article the saves won't be compatible, which kills primary advantage of linking your PSN and Steam accounts. Yes, you will be able to play on PC/Mac and PSN. No, your progress won't be tracked, so you'd have to play them independently, not just picking up where you left off on PS3. Hopefully with time they will resolve this problem (or make some sort of PC/Mac utility that will convert the save data).

Some other Steam games (i.e. Torchlight) also have this limitation when you go from Mac to PC -- saves don't work cross-platform, which is a bit pity.

So, one step closer to "buy once, play everywhere", but not there yet :)

Sorry, about replying to myself, apparently the agreement is not as horrible as I thought. Yes, they can still revoke your access at any time; yes, your only remedy for any dispute is to cancel your account; yes, they can change the terms at any time and if you disagree you are free to cancel your account; but, they *do* in fact notify you that they change the terms! Sorry to have been wrong.

12. AMENDMENTS TO THIS AGREEMENT

Valve may amend this Agreement at any time in its sole discretion. As a Subscriber, you agree that Valve may amend the terms of this Agreement. If Valve amends the Agreement, such amendment shall be effective thirty (30) days after your receiving notice of the amended Agreement, either via e-mail or as a notification within the Software. You can view the Agreement at any time at http://www.steampowered.com/. Your failure to cancel your Account thirty (30) days after receiving notification of an amended Agreement will mean that you accept all such amendments. If you don't agree to the amendments or to any of the terms in this Agreement, your only remedy is to cancel your Account or a particular Subscription.

Hey guys, let's complain about free updates.

No seriously. Look at the very same game, Team Fortress 2, for the Xbox 360. It's abandoned now, no new maps or anything, just a few bug patches. It's dead.

If Valve did the same thing to the PC version, guess what people would have done? They would complain about lack of updates (like the 360 users did) and/or just abandon the game.

So in short, users are complaining about change. Different weapons (almost all of which suck in comparison to the stock), the hats (easy to patch out: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1683132), and more newbies.

There's no pleasing the "old" crowd, because "nostalgia" makes everything better. Nevermind the hatless patch and vanilla servers, and comp TF2 crowd only allowing stock weapons.

Also all the hats and crate keys are optional, and a money sink for Valve to earn money. You can ignore them, especially using the hatless patch.

Hey guys, let's complain about free updates.

No seriously. Look at the very same game, Team Fortress 2, for the Xbox 360. It's abandoned now, no new maps or anything, just a few bug patches. It's dead.

If Valve did the same thing to the PC version, guess what people would have done? They would complain about lack of updates (like the 360 users did) and/or just abandon the game.

So in short, users are complaining about change. Different weapons (almost all of which suck in comparison to the stock), the hats (easy to patch out: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1683132), and more newbies.

There's no pleasing the "old" crowd, because "nostalgia" makes everything better. Nevermind the hatless patch and vanilla servers, and comp TF2 crowd only allowing stock weapons.

Also all the hats and crate keys are optional, and a money sink for Valve to earn money. You can ignore them, especially using the hatless patch.

I am lucky that I didn't get screwed with this. I normally do a quick google search on what the DRM of a game is before I buy, and most of the matches were of the announcements that this EA title didn't have SecureROM DRM. There was no mention of the DLC having it. Is this a tactic to look like they are listening to their users' complaints while stabbing them in the back once they have made their purchase?

If you look at the game on Steam (yes, I know that adds its own DRM), there is no mention of the usual EA DRM text on the Ultimate Edition that includes the DLC. They sell that version cheaper than the vanilla edition to suck you in (your local prices may vary). It is obvious which version EA want you to buy!

I am lucky that I didn't get screwed with this. I normally do a quick google search on what the DRM of a game is before I buy, and most of the matches were of the announcements that this EA title didn't have SecureROM DRM. There was no mention of the DLC having it. Is this a tactic to look like they are listening to their users' complaints while stabbing them in the back once they have made their purchase?

If you look at the game on Steam (yes, I know that adds its own DRM), there is no mention of the usual EA DRM text on the Ultimate Edition that includes the DLC. They sell that version cheaper than the vanilla edition to suck you in (your local prices may vary). It is obvious which version EA want you to buy!

Last time I checked, the Potato Sack Indie bundle sale was still going on (it's a PORTAL TWO promo, but Portal 2 doesn't launch for another 6 days, 23 hours, and 29 minutes.). That has both Amnesia and Super Meat Boy in it.

I can't check steampowered.com from here, so I can't say whether or not the sale it over yet.

Every VAC ban is subject to dispute and anyone who takes the time to dispute it usually wins a reprieve. If you're referring to the poor bastards who tried to cheat on blackops and suddenly realized they were blocked from every game that uses that engine... they deserve it. I have yet to see anyone with a repeatable, verifiable unwarranted VAC ban.

Unfortunately, you are quite wrong. From their support site here:

* Steam Support cannot remove the ban on your account
* The details of the ban will not be provided.
Steam Support will not disclose the cheats that were detected running on your system or the date and time the infraction took place. Any requests for this information will be ignored.

VAC may not ban you immediately - the cheating violation may have occurred days or even weeks before the ban is apparent on your account.

It would be nice if Steam was as friendly as you say, but that doesn't appear to be the case according to their own site. It would be most unfortunate if anybody was lulled into false sense of security by your post and effectively lost multiplayer ability in a costly game.

Every single game on Steam contains one of the most restrictive DRMs.

No, not every game does.

Every single game on Steam contains one of the most restrictive DRMs.

No, not every game does.

Every single game on Steam contains one of the most restrictive DRMs.

No, not every game does.

When's the last time Amazon offered you 13 games for just over half the price of a brand new game? When's the last time Amazon gave away a highly rated and reviewed game for free? When's the last time Amazon offered such amazing sales like this?

Don't get me wrong, I love Amazon, but Steam just loves to trade amazing deals for a little bit of patience.

That being said, Just Cause 2 is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the Square Enix taint is already there, and you get half a game out of the box with the rest being released as an endless stream of DLC.

OK now I hate DLC as much as anybody, but I don't really see Just Cause 2 as an example of a "half game" without the DLC. Did you actually look at the list you linked? There are a few weird vehicles, a couple moderately updated guns (remember this is a single-player game), and.... not much else. It's not like you need to pay to unlock half the map.

I'm enjoying Just Cause 2, and I have not purchased and do not plan to purchase any DLC.

"The DRM does not stop piracy," he said, "it just punishes the people who have actually paid for the game. It's completely useless."

Agreed. So that must be why Just Cause 2 doesn't use any DRM.

Oh, wait, it does. And it punishes people who have actually paid for the game.

So at least his customers agree with that statement.

That being said, Just Cause 2 is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the Square Enix taint is already there, and you get half a game out of the box with the rest being released as an endless stream of DLC.

And now that they're published by Square Enix, I wonder how long until we hear about Just Cause 2 2?

At least Square Enix has a fairly simple form of DRM that they employ. The just make games no one in their right mind plays.

Yo dawg, I heard you like cars, so we put a car in your computer so you can drive while you compute!

But does this car have valves or is it steam powered? What about the car's specific impulse?

If you think Valve would ever do that for a new game, you'd be kidding yourself.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/630/

Free from day 1.

Also Dead Space 2: price dropped 33% in a month.

Not sure why you needed to argue that. What I am saying is Apples "App Store" will not be confused by anyone with another "App Store" unless they are complete moron since iPhones and iPads are tied to the service and have no other option.

OK, you just addressed two of the three device families that use the App Store.

What about OSX? Are you claiming there are no other Mac app stores? I can think of one without even trying.

You can get Civ IV Complete (Vanilla + 2 expansions & 1 mod) for $29.99 off of steam, and it's for both PC & Macintosh. If you're lucky, you might even catch it on sale. I picked it up for $9.99.

http://store.steampowered.com/browse/mac/ Just for starters

This is just so off the wall I don't even.

Angry Birds is a simple concept with some great levels and compelling replay value. Would I pay $40 for it? No. However, conversely, I probably wouldn't pay even $2 for some of the "mini-game compilation" titles that have been released for the Wii (having been burned by one such abortion, priced at GB£15), nor would I pay $2 for any of the hastily hacked together "Dogz" clones for the DS. I love those platforms, but some of the crapware that's been released for them should give this man pause for thought before throwing around insults about "cheap" games.

There's a market for AAA US$40-50 titles and a market for US$1-10 casual/indie titles. These are two separate things, and complement each other. What he's probably worried about is that these $1-10 casual/indie titles will compete with similarly priced re-releases of 1st/2nd generation console titles on WiiWare/DS like Super Marios Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, Ecco the Dolphin etc.. Now, do I really want to play Sonic on my Wii or do I want to try out VVVVVV or Chime or Clickr on PC?

Now, if you price your SDK and impose restrictions in such a way as to exclude or discourage casual, indie or hobbyist developers then don't be surprised when they turn to other platforms with lower barriers to entry...

This is just so off the wall I don't even.

Angry Birds is a simple concept with some great levels and compelling replay value. Would I pay $40 for it? No. However, conversely, I probably wouldn't pay even $2 for some of the "mini-game compilation" titles that have been released for the Wii (having been burned by one such abortion, priced at GB£15), nor would I pay $2 for any of the hastily hacked together "Dogz" clones for the DS. I love those platforms, but some of the crapware that's been released for them should give this man pause for thought before throwing around insults about "cheap" games.

There's a market for AAA US$40-50 titles and a market for US$1-10 casual/indie titles. These are two separate things, and complement each other. What he's probably worried about is that these $1-10 casual/indie titles will compete with similarly priced re-releases of 1st/2nd generation console titles on WiiWare/DS like Super Marios Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, Ecco the Dolphin etc.. Now, do I really want to play Sonic on my Wii or do I want to try out VVVVVV or Chime or Clickr on PC?

Now, if you price your SDK and impose restrictions in such a way as to exclude or discourage casual, indie or hobbyist developers then don't be surprised when they turn to other platforms with lower barriers to entry...

This is just so off the wall I don't even.

Angry Birds is a simple concept with some great levels and compelling replay value. Would I pay $40 for it? No. However, conversely, I probably wouldn't pay even $2 for some of the "mini-game compilation" titles that have been released for the Wii (having been burned by one such abortion, priced at GB£15), nor would I pay $2 for any of the hastily hacked together "Dogz" clones for the DS. I love those platforms, but some of the crapware that's been released for them should give this man pause for thought before throwing around insults about "cheap" games.

There's a market for AAA US$40-50 titles and a market for US$1-10 casual/indie titles. These are two separate things, and complement each other. What he's probably worried about is that these $1-10 casual/indie titles will compete with similarly priced re-releases of 1st/2nd generation console titles on WiiWare/DS like Super Marios Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, Ecco the Dolphin etc.. Now, do I really want to play Sonic on my Wii or do I want to try out VVVVVV or Chime or Clickr on PC?

Now, if you price your SDK and impose restrictions in such a way as to exclude or discourage casual, indie or hobbyist developers then don't be surprised when they turn to other platforms with lower barriers to entry...

According to the statistics: http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey 73% of steam users' video cards support dx10 and 12% - dx11. It's not a small number.

My laptop supports DX10. But if I enable DX10 in the only game I own that has a DX10 mode, then the frame-rate drops from 30fps to 10-15fps. So they might as well not have bothered.

Why'd you post anonymously? Your opinions are valid. One thing you can do if you want cheap gaming is download Steam from http://store.steampowered.com/ and buy your games online. They often have sales with older games costing 1/4 the already low price. And older games have much lower requirements. It's certainly worth a shot and they have lots of free demos as well.

Until recently, 1280x1024 was the most common gaming resolution on PC's.

Now 1680x1050 is in the #1 spot and 1920x1080 is #2, with that 1280x1024 at #3.

Depends how you define mid-range. Steam has a nice breakdown of actual graphics cards used to play their games: http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/ Keep in mind that these stats are for players, the actual market is much more low-end that that.

So $250 would be about in the top 5% of the gamers' market, 1% general market ?