Topic: Valve to give MS the finger

[idolminds]

Reading thing.

Valve's latest big announcement, The Steam Community, will encourage you to play with friends, and make new ones.

The headline feature is one-click matchmaking, both for new games and existing ones such as Counter-Strike. You'll be able to jump straight into a game with players of your skill level, with no history of griefing, by pressing a single button. It also lets you form a party with your friends, and automatically find a game that you can all jump into and play together. There are parallels to Microsoft's Live service, obviously, but the differences are heavily in Steam's favour. You need the ($)£50-a-year Gold subscription to get Live's matchmaking, whereas Steam's is free, and it'll be supported by masses of our favourite games from day one.

The 'Community' part comes in when you form or join groups, like the PC Gamer UK Group we'll be setting up. Members can see when others are playing a game, join them, or schedule a match for a specific date and time. They'll also have a dedicated chat channel to talk to each other on regardless of what game they're playing, even between rounds.

Lastly, but perhaps most visibly, Steam Community gives you a personal gamer page that's accessible via the web, with embarrassingly detailed stats about what you play, how much you play it, and what kind of player you are. It even highlights noteworthy trends - the example we saw told the user "You like playing as a Boomer. Sometimes you (accidentally?) shoot your fellow Survivors."

Valve adding pretty much every feature of Windows Live Gold to Steam, for free.

[MysterD]

And Valve's ulterior motive here is revealed:
They are just trying to get more PC gamers to use and support STEAM...

[Ghandi]

It's good that there is competition to Live. We will see how it turns out. Generally I try and avoid Steam, though.

[MysterD]

It's good that there is competition to Live. We will see how it turns out.

One one front, I hope this is a slap in MS's face for what they are trying to pull w/ Windows Live....

Generally I try and avoid Steam, though.

Agreed.

STEAM is, on many fronts, one of the current evils of the gaming world.

If only they could come up w/ a less intrusive copyright protection scheme and less annoyances...

[beo]

And Valve's ulterior motive here is revealed:
They are just trying to get more PC gamers to use and support STEAM...

well yes, of course that's what they're trying to do! i'd hardly call it an "ulterior" motive. but yes, competition is always good for consumers. if live, steam, and other similar products are competing against each other, maybe we'll end up with a decently priced, functional platform at the end.

[MysterD]

well yes, of course that's what they're trying to do! i'd hardly call it an "ulterior" motive. but yes, competition is always good for consumers. if live, steam, and other similar products are competing against each other, maybe we'll end up with a decently priced, functional platform at the end.

Yeah, and that product is what we've had before STEAM and Live, which was pretty much "anything goes...."

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, this can't be called an "ulterior" motive.  It's just... the motive.  What else would they be trying to do?

But... yeah, I wish I could be happier about this.  While I hate Live's ethics and am extremely happy to see somebody offering competition (and seeming like a much better deal entirely, hopefully smashing it to bits), I wish that competition was something I could support.  Unfortunately, I hate Steam quite a bit more than Live, sooo... yeah.  Fuck.

[Xessive]

I feel that Steam is the lesser of two evils in this case. This is a choice I don't want to have to make, but if I do then I'll have to go with Steam.

It pretty much comes down to "taking shit" or "buying shit".. If I have to put up with shit I'd rather not pay for it too.

[MysterD]

I feel that Steam is the lesser of two evils in this case. This is a choice I don't want to have to make, but if I do then I'll have to go with Steam.

It pretty much comes down to "taking shit" or "buying shit".. If I have to put up with shit I'd rather not pay for it too.

I dunno, but both are unnecessary evils....

I *deal* w/ STEAM, as much as I fuckin' dislike it.

I will not pay for Live. Period.

[gpw11]

I won't pay for Live either.  That said, most online games on LIVE and Steam suck anyways.  Well, maybe suck isn't the right word, but they're....tired.  Given the option between buying an FPS not tied to steam without any MP and buying an FPS tied to steam with lame ass tired online gameplay, I'll opt to not have to phone home.

But, as it is I see Steam as being more of a threat to my gaming satisfaction then Live will ever be.