Steam or Shop?

Aastii

VIP Member
Do you usually buy games from steam or similar software or go down to your local shop and buy them?

Obviously this can't count for consoles because they don't have a place to buy full games and stuff (please corrent me on this if i am wrong because i know that 360 has a market place and PS3 has similar but as i have neither and know that 360 have had a huge change with the home page and whole system from when i last played on one, this may have changed).

I prefer using steam, means i can play at home or go to a friends house and play my games with them without having to cart my computer down with me. Also loses the fear of lost or damaged discs or keys or anything like that.
 
If it's a major title I'd go to the store and buy it. I like having a tangible copy that I can hold in my hands. Plus, I like looking at game manuals, box art, etc etc..plus I put the game boxes on a shelf in my room as sort of a display :D Smaller titles like Garry's Mod, I would buy off Steam.
 
Shop. Mainly because Valve has this silly idea that 1$=1€, so everyone in Europe is paying more for games than you pay in the USA. Also Finland puts a tax on the existing tax, so we pay more than is stated at the Steam store at first. :mad:
 
shop. i like the old fashioned way of going into the shop, chatting about the game with the person behind the counter, browsing around, buying stuff i don't need, playing the demo setups, reading a magazine or two etc, then buying it and driving home excited about playing it

kinda sad that it's the old fashioned way of doing it :(
 
Shop...you get the actual cd adn everything plus you will still be able to play the game whenever you like unlike when steams down (again)
 
I prefer Steam to shop because sometimes they have the game you want out of stock and its like I WANNNA PLAY NOW! >;o! if yo know what i mean? But yer i actually tend to use both to be honest.
 
Shop. Mainly because Valve has this silly idea that 1$=1€, so everyone in Europe is paying more for games than you pay in the USA. Also Finland puts a tax on the existing tax, so we pay more than is stated at the Steam store at first. :mad:

Don't feel alone, I see games that are $10 over priced if not more on there.
OP my opinion is to look on steam and in the shops. If you have broadband, go with steam if the price is the same.
 
shop. i like the old fashioned way of going into the shop, chatting about the game with the person behind the counter, browsing around, buying stuff i don't need, playing the demo setups, reading a magazine or two etc, then buying it and driving home excited about playing it

kinda sad that it's the old fashioned way of doing it

Pretty much this.
 
I guess I would go either way. I sometimes prefer to buy from the shop. I too have a nice collection of all the game boxes on a shelf :P The shop is also good if you're tweaking a game, I'm pretty sure you can't tweak the game files that you buy from Steam. And maybe I'm just really impatient, but I don't like having to start up a program and wait to log in to play a game haha, usually my disc is already in the drive.

Although if there's something like Garry's Mod, I would buy it off Steam. Steam is good for when I'm usually too lazy to go out to the store, or if they have a really good weekend special. And again, it's good for backing up all of your games.

I have games from each source so I could go either way.
 
If a game's cheaper than Steam or an MP game NOT by VALVe then I'll but it in the shop because Steam takes an age to release patches. If it's a VALVe MP game I just get it off play anyway (cheaper) and it's then locked to my Steam account. When some SP games are cheaper (Fallout 3) I'll get it off there but I still do prefer shops.
 
If a game's cheaper than Steam or an MP game NOT by VALVe then I'll but it in the shop because Steam takes an age to release patches. If it's a VALVe MP game I just get it off play anyway (cheaper) and it's then locked to my Steam account. When some SP games are cheaper (Fallout 3) I'll get it off there but I still do prefer shops.

Steam does autopatch, but then again it doesn't take long to manually patch a game. I guess it's just a matter of preference.
 
Well i used to be a huge fan of having the box and manual and all that jazz...
But i recently changed operating systems and was pissed I couldnt find a few games. And installing all my steam games was a breeze so from now on, I'll probably get all my games from steam.
 
Not trying to naysay/start an argument, just curious jns, what makes you say a shop is more reliable?

Well I guess at a shop you get in person support, so for example if a game didn't work on your PC you could take a screenshot of the problem and the store would most likely take the game back (has happened to me a couple of times). Plus with a shop, you can browse titles in person and talk with the shop keeper to see if they have played the game before and if they would reccomend it.
 
I prefer a hard copy of my games.

Though I buy on Newegg/Ebay.



If its made by EA I will Ebay a used copy to avoid helping them grow...anyone else I will Newegg it. Local PC shops are over priced here.
 
i like steam but i agree that sometimes if its a game that i have been waiting for-like dragon age origins(when it comes out) if thats on steam i wont care because im gonna buy it from a store
 
If its made by EA I will Ebay a used copy to avoid helping them grow...anyone else I will Newegg it. Local PC shops are over priced here.

I do stuff like that to EA, I hate them, glad to see someone else does that.

The shop I visit is cheaper than GameStop and Steam. And the employees up there will chat forever, I am the same way. I like the idea of Steam but I also like the physical copy.
 
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