A question on digital distribution.

[Killian Kalthorne]

By the 16th of this month I will be getting a new computer for gaming. I have been itching to move away from the console side so I figure it is time to go back to my roots. However I have notice a certain trend in PC gaming that there is more emphasis on digital distribution than the usual store bought titles. The first game I will be getting for the new system will be Dragon Age but I have to ask what sites would be considered the most reputable. I heard about Steam and a friend uhas used Direct2Drive successfully. I am just curious which one is considered better, or if there is a better site than those two.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

I'd recommend you it on DVD.

[Morgoth]

Yup, in the case of Dragon Age, retail is the best version to go. It costs just as much as the DD version, but comes with extra codes, plus installation from the disk is still faster than downloading all those 15 Gbytes!

 

As for my personal experience, I use a lot Steam and I love it. Haven't tried any other DD outlets yet.

Edited December 11, 2009 by Morgoth

[Monte Carlo]

I'm a complete downloading n00b.

 

However, I found THIS French website for Mysteries of Westgate, have used it since and found it to be reliable, easy-to-use and not at all invasive. Have heard great things about D2D as well. Steam is reportedly invasive but great if you want to integrate your online gaming into one portal. I won't be touching Steam, personally.

 

As for DA - what the other guys said. Strongly suggest a physical retail version.

 

Cheers

MC

[entrerix]

i go physical copy as a first choice,

 

then steam for anything else (usually to take advantage of their frequent awesome sales).

 

plus if you have any interest in say... Portal, team fortress 2, Left4Dead, Half life, etc you might as well pick steam cause you'll need it for those titles anyway (which irks me, but i like steam so i let it slide)

Edited December 11, 2009 by entrerix

[Rostere]

The best site for digital distribution is gog.com. But they only have old games in stock, so you might want to try out gamersgate.com. But they also have a limited selection of games, so then you're stuck with Direct2Drive.

 

And then there's Steam and Impulse of course, but those two suck, especially Steam.

 

Also, it might not matter to someone living in the US, but I'd like to advise European people to watch out for situations where a game costs 39.99 dollars or 39.99 euro... Always choose to buy it with cheap-ass dollars

[Killian Kalthorne]

My roommate got Dragon Age from Direct2Drive. It was the more expensive version. The problem with getting physical copies is that even in a town over 50,000 people there are fewer outlets for PC games. Even Gamestop has a token shelf space nowadays.

[Zoraptor]

Apparently GG's download range is actually the largest (1400+) of all digital distributors. That's according to their advertising, so take with salt.

 

As for which is best it really depends on what is wanted. Steam has the best integration and largest community and generally has the most, best deals, does things which may either annoy or be greatly appreciated like automatically apply patches (saves time but may nuke save games half way through a game and you often cannot play until the patch is applied, patches tend to arrive later than retail) and has certain DRM/ monitoring aspects that some dislike a great deal and can lead to occasional annoyances like not being able to play your games if you cannot contact the Steam servers.

 

Impulse is client based and its selection is limited, though in the US this is considerably less. Unlike Steam you do not need the client running to play, only to install and to update certain games.

 

None of Gamersgate, GOG or D2D use a client which is nice if you don't like them, and their service is perhaps closest to a retail experience. GG has no DRM unless publisher mandated if that's a consideration, GOG has none on any title period. If you buy limited activation software GG is highly advised as they guarantee to get you new activations if necessary.

 

There are other considerations if outside the US like the degree of regional pricing and availability, but since you're in the US they're irrelevant.

[Killian Kalthorne]

I am itching towards D2D when I get my new system. It is only going to be an Athlon Phenom II X2 but it should suffice.

[cronicler]

As others have pointed out, you might need to research a bit (edit:) for each seperate title. Some games (generally the ones with heavy online side) are better with steam (no idea about impulse) as it regulates the patches and anti cheats equally. However if you want to mod or tinker with your games, then steam is not a good option with some of the non valve titles. I personally prefer GoG but both GoG and D2D offer services that are much like buying a regular boxed game. no other extra stuff.

 

As much as I would like to defend them, if the game you bought has problems that is based on developers or the publishers (or from the ms / sony aspects) your 3rd party steam bought game can stay broken for quite some time untill the idiots get their backsides off the sofa. Cursing steam does not work on this scenario.

Edited December 12, 2009 by cronicler

[Nightshape]

Steam... It's worth it for the deals they have, and the community stuff, I've never used direct2drive, but that has more to do with the fact that back when I looked it was US only, so I can't comment on the service.

 

And GoG goes without saying as it's the one stop shop for anything that's old skool. I'm the kind of sad act who collects old games just incase they'll be good reference one day.

[LadyCrimson]

Never heard of GoG - went and looked.

Now that looks like one digital download website that I could love.

[Slowtrain]

GoG still doesn't have a very good selection. every time I go there and look, I am always disappointed. Their list of rpgs is really short and there's still no XCOM or Moo or Thief or Terra Nova or Daggerfall or Warlords: 1-3 or Wizardry or Hexen/Heretic or Deus Ex or, well I could go on and on.

 

Its nice to see they added Realms of Arkania recently. Those were great crpgs. And HoMM and M&M are always fun, but eh not worth the effort of signing up.

 

But if they can really expand their catalog, I would definitely be in.

[LadyCrimson]

Perhaps their desire to have offered games work on XP/Vista limits them/slows them down somewhat?

Their selection isn't large, but if they stick around a while, I'd imagine in a year or two it'll be much better. I like a lot of games beyond crpgs tho. They have quite a few games where my discs probably wouldn't work on XP/Win7 at all, and for 6-10 bucks would be worth downloading a compatible version.

 

Like Myst...

[Hurlshort]

I fight with Steam a lot. I think it has a good deal to do with my lousy internet connection, but it is still a hassle. So yeah, great deals, but there are some issues you can expect.

[Zoraptor]

Perhaps their desire to have offered games work on XP/Vista limits them/slows them down somewhat?

Probably- in a lot of cases they may need source to get it 100% compatible and in some cases problems may be quite obscure- though it doesn't explain why some things aren't there (XCOM is available on every (?) digital distributor except GOG using dosbox for its compatibility) and some things seem to just be the publisher, I don't think they have any EA games on there despite it being a natural home for a lot of the old Origin games.