Game Download Review: Steam
Here's my review of Valve's Steam.
Steam valves.
Heh.
Website: www.steampowered.com
Pricing: Per-download
Free Things: Demos, trailers, videos
Speed: Very Good (Usually over 300 KB/s)
Client: Proprietary Steam Client running on Windows
Steam is Valve's flagship software dispersal system, known for being tied into Half Life 2 and other Source Engine games. I've personally been using Steam for a while as a platform for installing mods and other free things.
Their library of games includes everything by Valve, a slew of casual games, and a couple big 3rd party games. There are usually demos and trailers for all of these.
Recently I purchased Prey through Steam for a measly $20. I already had Steam installed, so I can't say much about the install process now, but like much software you can get it on their website and use the default options for everything if you're not picky. You will need to create a Steam login the first time, but it will remember this later on for you if you'd like.
All of Valve's content is available through the Steam client, so there isn't any need to start a browser once you have it downloaded. The purchasing process is also integrated into the client, and it will be familiar to anyone who has purchased goods or services online. You have to fill out all your credit card information to complete the transaction, of course. For free items you get to skip this step.
After the transaction, the client adds your newly purchased (or free) items to the Games list, which has a rundown of each game's (or video's) title, icon, and status. Since Prey was newly added, it still had to download itself, so the status field shows the download percentage and speed.
Steam will automatically download and apply patches to anything you have that needs it, so if 3DRealms releases any updates I won't need to go looking for them. This is all of course very convenient, especially coupled with the fast transfer rates available. I had all two gigabytes of Prey downloaded in a handful of hours, peaking at over 500 KB/s during the process.
After downloading, you can launch the game through the Steam client or by a newly created icon on your desktop. You won't have to enter any software keys, this is all handled automatically by the client.
As a great bonus, you can install Steam on another computer and re-download your games at your leisure, in case your main box gets nuked. If you want to back up in case you also lose internet, you can do that as well. There is an option to back up all your Steam data to a CD or DVD. Upon restoration it installs the steam client with all the games you backed up all ready to go.
Pros: Fast, convenient, lots of little perks
Cons: Small library of games
Rating: 4.5 / 5
If you're looking to download a game, and it's available on Steam, I'd recommend using it over any other service. Luckily since it's an ala-carte system, you can also get your games elsewhere without feeling bad about yourself. It's really great.
Steam valves.
Heh.
Website: www.steampowered.com
Pricing: Per-download
Free Things: Demos, trailers, videos
Speed: Very Good (Usually over 300 KB/s)
Client: Proprietary Steam Client running on Windows
Steam is Valve's flagship software dispersal system, known for being tied into Half Life 2 and other Source Engine games. I've personally been using Steam for a while as a platform for installing mods and other free things.
Their library of games includes everything by Valve, a slew of casual games, and a couple big 3rd party games. There are usually demos and trailers for all of these.
Recently I purchased Prey through Steam for a measly $20. I already had Steam installed, so I can't say much about the install process now, but like much software you can get it on their website and use the default options for everything if you're not picky. You will need to create a Steam login the first time, but it will remember this later on for you if you'd like.
All of Valve's content is available through the Steam client, so there isn't any need to start a browser once you have it downloaded. The purchasing process is also integrated into the client, and it will be familiar to anyone who has purchased goods or services online. You have to fill out all your credit card information to complete the transaction, of course. For free items you get to skip this step.
After the transaction, the client adds your newly purchased (or free) items to the Games list, which has a rundown of each game's (or video's) title, icon, and status. Since Prey was newly added, it still had to download itself, so the status field shows the download percentage and speed.
Steam will automatically download and apply patches to anything you have that needs it, so if 3DRealms releases any updates I won't need to go looking for them. This is all of course very convenient, especially coupled with the fast transfer rates available. I had all two gigabytes of Prey downloaded in a handful of hours, peaking at over 500 KB/s during the process.
After downloading, you can launch the game through the Steam client or by a newly created icon on your desktop. You won't have to enter any software keys, this is all handled automatically by the client.
As a great bonus, you can install Steam on another computer and re-download your games at your leisure, in case your main box gets nuked. If you want to back up in case you also lose internet, you can do that as well. There is an option to back up all your Steam data to a CD or DVD. Upon restoration it installs the steam client with all the games you backed up all ready to go.
Pros: Fast, convenient, lots of little perks
Cons: Small library of games
Rating: 4.5 / 5
If you're looking to download a game, and it's available on Steam, I'd recommend using it over any other service. Luckily since it's an ala-carte system, you can also get your games elsewhere without feeling bad about yourself. It's really great.