Have you ever played a game and wanted to message your friend at the same time? Did you ever want to log on MSN but didn’t want to minimize your game screen? Well, have no fears, Steam is here!
Okay I admit, that was a lameduction intro. But I needed to get your attention! So many people who play games on the PC (personal computer) are missing out on Steam, a wonderful and free program that provides a lot of features for gamers. Developed by Valve Corporation, an indie company known for its Half-Life series created it. Basically it’s a software that distributes games digitally, as in you don’t need a disc to play your game. It’s a program that can store all your games in one convenient place and also give you an enriching multiplayer experience!
Now you’re still probably wondering what makes Steam so awesome and why I’m advertising it. No, I’m not getting paid for this; I’m just a youth that wants to introduce useful programs to other youth. Like most websites, you have to create an account (well, duh). With this account you can buy games (there’s a store) and instantly have access to them! You don’t have to pay for taxes or shipping and handling fees or even go to the store and experience that awkward moment where a sales associate tries to persuade you to buy Wii Music (It was thoroughly disappointing for a first-party game) for a gift. There’s no line ups, rowdy customers or the inconvenience of going to the store to find a game that you’re dying to play. I guarantee that your most-wanted game will be available to purchase on Steam, reducing your time and gas/transit tickets used to go to the store. Except for Blizzard Entertainment products (World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo); I don’t think they want to be associated with Steam at all (which totally stinks for those who want Diablo 3 on Steam…like me).
You can add your friends or find new ones through the community (posting on the forums, joining groups, playing multiplayer games). You can even communicate with your buddies while you’re gaming! Whether you’re in a voice chat or you’re just messaging each other, there’s a shortcut (default is alt+tab) that switches to the Steam Overlay System. This is where you can open up y0ur Friends list, the Steam Store, the Steam Community page and much more. There’s even a web browser that automatically directs you to Google if you’re bored while waiting to respawn (getting revived from death so you can play again)!
The best thing about Steam are the deals. Since you don’t have to pay for the packaging (the game box, manuals, etc.), games are cheaper to purchase digitally. Although stores might have pre-order bonuses (accessories or downloadable content), Steam reduces the price of the game. I’ve seen pre-orders come with bonuses as well. Right now, Dead Space is 75 per cent off when Dead Space 2 is pre-purchased (bought before the official game release)–a really awesome deal if you wanted to get the series but never had the opportunity to do it before (plus, have you seen their new advertisements?).
The moment I wait for every year is the winter sale that Steam holds during the end of December until the beginning of January. Publishers take advantage of the holiday season by reducing their games by up to 90 per cent. You can even buy bundles that contain several games (usually related to each other by genre or publisher) that saves you some big bucks. The Valve Complete Pack (Half Life, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress, Counter-Strike) was about $35, a savings of over $100! And the best part of it is that the individual games in a bundle are usually on sale as well. So if you didn’t want to buy the whole bundle, you can still get one of the games for an extremely low price.
And that’s not all! Every day during the sale, selected games have a special price for exactly 24 hours. Super Meat Boy was 75 per cent off one day, and the rest of the sale it was about 50 per cent off. During the sale Steam has a day where they offer the best deals on popular games from previous days. Super Meat Boy was so successful that they decided to give the Steam users another day to take advantage of the deal. Steam deals help everyone: publishers can make a huge chunk of money and recognition (boosting sales on the long run) during these sales, and users get to save a ton of money!
Steam also supports indie developers much like the PlayStation Network and the Xbox Live Arcade; most indie games would not be successful if it weren’t for Steam. Despite the amount of money it might cost to get into the Steam store, it’s worth the numerous advertisements and opportunities for sales. Gamers love deals, so even if an indie game was 5 per cent off, people would pounce on it.
There’s plenty more that Steam offers, but you’ll just have to download it (as well as buy games for it to experience the sheer awesomeness of Steam!!!) and see for yourself. Trust me, it’s worth the 1.5 MB! How can you beat Steam’s awesome community, its user-friendly interface and their gasp-worthy deals? I don’t know, I just don’t know. So please, do your inner-gamer spirit a favor and download it!
P.S. This is my Steam account. Feel free to add me!
You should mention Desura, Steam's direct competitor. They offer the same type of service.
Desura is more focused on mods and indies, whereas Steam has the leading edge in the mainstream games as well as multiplayer games in general. I'll definitely give the topic a whirl though for next week!
I agree with Steam being more mainstream, but I've noticed Desura offering lots of new releases. Just to keep the article unbiased 🙂 Also, I added you on Steam.