steam?

[freeboy]

sorry for being a littel slow, if I get a retail version of a game that uses steam, does that mean EVERY time I launch I need to use steam or just once

[bairdlander2]

should install from the disc on your pc.

[freeboy]

ok, you did not asnwer the ?.. if we look at say, Nappy Total War, it  uses steam... does it to activate.. will not install without the use of steam.. BUT do I have to connect every time I launch the game after install?

[2ndACR]

Yep, must have internet connection the whole time IIRC.....Only used Stream once a long long time ago.......never again.

[freeboy]

yeh, that is a deal breaker

[JudgeDredd]

erm - no. You can run Steam in offline mode and still run your games afaik.

I'll check tonight

[freeboy]

T U

[martok]

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

erm - no. You can run Steam in offline mode and still run your games afaik.

I'll check tonight

A word of caution: Some people have had trouble getting Steam to run in offline mode. Fortunately, I've not been one of them myself, but it is a problem for a certain percentage of Steam users.

[htuna]

They were actually having a problem with offline mode in the last update.. they will fix it though.. I used offline mode all the time, so that I can play Total War.. while my kids play some online game on a different computer..

[Scott_WAR]

ORIGINAL: 2ndACR

Yep, must have internet connection the whole time IIRC.....Only used Stream once a long long time ago.......never again.

Hopefully the person who asked the question originally comes back and sees that what you told him is 100% false. Speaking of which, maybe you shouldnt comment on things you dont really know about.

ORIGINAL: freeboy

yeh, that is a deal breaker

[freeboy]

oh sure, I asked for a reason.. thanks

[Scott_WAR]

Just to update, it is screwed up at the moment. I just tried to play offline and it is not working. So whoever said it was screwed up with the last update is correct. It will be fixed soon without a doubt though. I am sure people are complaining about it.

[ckammp]

ORIGINAL: Scott_WAR

Just to update, it is screwed up at the moment. I just tried to play offline and it is not working. So whoever said it was screwed up with the last update is correct. It will be fixed soon without a doubt though. I am sure people are complaining about it.

Until it is "fixed soon without a doubt" (how do you know? are you an employee of Steam?), you are forced to play online. And hopefully, people won't just complain, they will stop using Steam.

Steam sucks. Just avoid it, and buy from a reputable source, like Matrix Games.

[Scott_WAR]

I know from past experience with steam. Several years of past experience.

From your post I would have to assume you dont use steam,......
I wonder who would know more about it.................

[DuckofTindalos]

Steam works fine for me.

[freeboy]

right, some retail boxed games come wit hsteam activation.. so your choices are don't buy it, or use steam
 

[jackx]

It's not that bad, provided offline mode isn't screwed by an "update", as it currently is.
Only real downside is that it gives everyone with access to the PC you want to play on access to your account... but that shouldn't be much of an issue for most people.

What I really dislike about steam is the way it's force-feeding you its "community features" with Valve's own games, such as the inability to have an ingame nick different from your "friends" nickname etc... seems they can't grasp the idea that some people play games to play games, not to chat to a dozen other people, and that we don't all need our own emospace profile with everything. *insert lengthy anti-web 2.0/online-social-networking rant here* [:@]

[JudgeDredd]

freeboy

What game were you thinking of in particular?

[killroyishere]

ORIGINAL: freeboy

sorry for being a littel slow, if I get a retail version of a game that uses steam, does that mean EVERY time I launch I need to use steam or just once

If it needs Steam to activate you will always need the steam client but not necessasarily steam or to be online to play it. Steam does have a feature to allow you to play activated games in an offline mode. It's more or less like a big brother standing outside your door but not always in your room guarding his property.

[Jeffrey H.]

L4D and L4D2 can run in offline mode, (provding it's not porked as people are now saying it is) but you can't play multiplayer in offline mode.
 
It does kind of suck because there have been times where I don't have i-net access and I just want to play a good old face to face LAN game with some buddies. OTOH, it hasn't been a disruption for me ~95% of the times I've wanted to use it.
 
What has happened more frequently is either the service is "down for maintenance" or it tries ot update in the middle of a session which causes hiccups and burps in the game I'm simultaneously playing.
 
I also kind of agree with the poster above about the social networking aspect of it, I don't need that at all.