Dungeon Master Forum

I'll always miss those wonderful big boxes packed with an inch thick manual, maps and other goodies, but I can't deny the convenience of digital distribution.

That said, I still fully prefer physical copies for all my non-PC gaming. I have a huge shelf of japanese RPGs from every system that's come out. I'm a bit of a selective collector in that regard.

I still have a lot of boxed games from the 90s which I will probably keep. But these days I just don't have the interest or space to keep lots of boxes. I just play games that interest me and I buy them usually on Steam when they are on offer. The only game I recently bought that I haven't yet got my money's worth out of is Skyrim: I've only played 4 hours of that, I honestly couldn't be arsed with the RPG aspects, I pretty much don't have the patience for such things anymore.

I did get a great deal on the Orange Box stuff a couple of years ago and when Episode 3 finally comes out (I hope it does!) I'll still only buy it on Steam.

As for Sophia's point about resale, that's certainly true, but it doesn't bother me personally as I don't usually buy things with the intention of reselling them anyway.

resale isn't viable for a number of boxed games these days either. They even go so far as to say so in the eula..

EULAs are usually egregious and often of dubious legal enforceability.
I just know I'd be annoyed if used game stores like Gamestop got completely wiped out.

I'm not even a fan of Gamestop and EB as far as their used games go. They tend to offer FAR too little and charge WAY too much for their used stuff.

On my downtime from school I work ina pawnshop that deals exclusively in games and movies. For something we sell for $20 we'd offer $12-15 for.

We make upwards of $5000 a day on game sales alone, and in a small town. That's how you do business

(of course it also helps when people clean out their closet and we offer them $20 for Earthbound on SNES, then throw it up on Ebay and get $100 within the day )

Well EB games, gave up resale of all PC games, because of the above mentioned EULA issue.. however they still sell used versions of console games and used consoles.. so I imagine they'll be around as long as consoles continue to be the preference of so many gamers. I usually want to play games on console because when i get to the computer and sit down, I feel like I should be doing work.

My original point was that the game publishers are trying to destroy the ability to buy used games on consoles also. Things like EA having its own "online pass" and you have to pay them $10 if you want to play a game you bought used.

trying and failing, until a ps3 comes with a 1TB drive, they just don't have the space to maintain such a thing, plus a lot of people strive on having the games to trade in, OR keep them close at hand to play again later (like me).. which means i'd need a huge drive... and if it was a case of "you buy it, and can't resell it" then I'd damn well want to keep it backed up somewhere under then potential possibility that the company goes belly up and the download is lost. Dont' get me wrong, I buy a lot of stuff from steam. and I used to buy game on the PSN network, but drive space stopped that.. as I don't want to have to wait to download a game again in order to play it.. but I do like that I can download it if my system goes kaboom. Or in the case of steam I have a new install of windows and need to redo all my games..

then there are friends of mine who refuse to participate in anything with a steam like set up where they need to be online to play... even single player games.. which indeed, to me is a bit bunk.

There were some unbelievable bargains on Steam over Christmas. I bought 7 games for around £30 (Including Walking Dead and Witcher 1 & 2) which would have cost well over £200 if I'd bought them full price. Of course, now I simply need to find some time to play them...

... Agree completely, Gambit. I broke over the Legend of Grimrock though.

The only reason they do these great deals is so that idiots like me, who have no time to play the games, will buy them thinking "What a great deal!" -- and then they just sit on my virtual digital shelf, gathering virtual dust, unplayed.
The funny thing is my mum used to buy stuff on sale all the time, even though she had no use for it and I used to think she was daft for doing that....
Perhaps idiocy is inherited...

I am falling into the Steam trap too, now that I have a bit more time on my hands. Got LoG and some other stuff, but I am trying to avoid any deals that I don't really want.

I have played a lot of everything I bought except for the Witcher - I was a bit disappointed in it. Maybe because I had just finished replaying Mass Effect 2 (one of my all-time favourite games) beforehand, and the voice acting and combat seem pretty poor by comparison. In fairness I was only about 4 hours in, so I will definitely give it another go.

Revisiting this thread. I've so many games in my Steam Library that I've never played, I need some help in deciding.

So... Dishonored, or the first Witcher?

I've played both of them but only a little way in. The Witcher is a third-person RPG where you hunt down monsters for people (well, that's you're basic job - of course there's an actual plot beyond that ) with weapon tactics and buffing potions. Dishonoured is first-person and more of an action-versus-stealth game, where you have missions that you can choose to complete by either sneaking around and achieving your objectives without anyone realising you're there, or by tearing about the place with weapons swinging and murdering every guard you come across (your chosen methods will have an effect in the later game, apparently), pretty similar to the Thief series. You also get some (optional) supernatural powers you can use to make yourself better at either or both of those things.
I completed the first few quests in the Witcher and the first couple of missions in Dishonoured, then ended up getting distracted by other stuff and haven't yet got round to getting back to either of them .

I did wonder where everyone was playing nowadays, and Steam seems popular. I've 187 games bought - mainly on a whim and usually remain unplayed: too many bundles!
[I now calling this phenomenon my 'unpainted lead' syndrome: akin to an ever-growing box of unpainted lead figures, never used - but you keep on buying them, despite only being halfway through your painted warband - ah those memories...]

All my old physical games - computer and board-games - I donated to the local games-model shop, so their staff could eBay or give out as freebies: resale on a lot of this stuff can be in the £100s (from full set of Basic to Immortal D&D boxets, to obsurities like 'HoL' or 'Nuns with Guns') - but in reality, on the several occasions I've tried, every time I've been burned by idiots who refuse to pay etc. So I just cleaned it all out, hoping the local gaming community could do with the extra help - as I knew deep down I would never get around to doing a proper job of selling the lot: in theory worth lots, in reality, it only works with actual customers.

[Same with my CDs and DVDs, all gone to charity: though heartening to see 'kids nowadays' buying vinyl and cassette tapes as they do crave the physicality of these things, where 'our lot' seems to crave the convenience of online more and more.]

Anyway, Steam however is still a minor addiction, like sugar - cannot give it up and usually splurge over the xmas period (damn those sales! why do I need a truck simulator!?).

On that, did a quick search for you guys on Steam and guessed a few contacts.
this is me if you want to be nosey and see what I (or my family!) do play nowadays,

http://steamcommunity.com/id/boyflea/

I have a bunch of Steam games I've not even installed yet, a few that I've started but not got any further in, and the rest are ones that I actually have played properly at least once through. And there are a couple that aren't the kind that can ever be "finished" (in the sense that they don't have a plot or an ending or anything) but which I play every now and then, like Tabletop Sim and Audiosurf (the latter of which was my first ever Steam game). Anyway, I've just searched for you and added you to my Steam list. Because why not?

I apologize for the unwarranted comment coming up, but I couldn't avoid speaking out when I saw the subject. Steam has two games that I enjoy on it: Starfleet Command, and Eternal Senia. Starfleet Command's normal price tag is around eleven dollars. Eternal Senia is free to play.

Just thought that I'd give my one bit on the topic.
Jay.

We've downloaded a number of STEAM games. Just put together a lower end gaming computer, so we could play most of the STEAM stuff. I found GOG a year or two back. Downloaded the Might and Magic group. Really enjoyed playing #6 and #7 again. Hope everyone has a great new year. MW

Yeah, I replayed MMVI-VIII a year or two ago. Didn't need to download them, though, in my case, as I still have the original disks . VI is my favourite...it seems the biggest (definitely bigger than VIII, which is really quite short), and um...there are a whole bunch of exploits I know about to get unlimited gold, unlimited experience, and to allow classes to learn magic that they shouldn't be able to learn >:).