Fallout: New Vegas Switches to Steam

[jpoon]

Bah, gonna have to get this on PS3.

 

[brumby]

brilliant news for all fallout fans. if only there was steam cloud for fallout 3. i lost my saved games

 

[Danpascooch]

Jeez, is this going to be like Civ 5?

Actually...All Sega games are being released exclusively on Steam. Total War, Alien Vs Predator and Football Manager. Civilization 5 is also shipping with Steamworks. F.E.A.R. 2 also.
It's already a big slice of the PC community.

Which is something I don't like. There needs to be some competition. More competition = better for consumers.

Is there actually any proof that it is bad for consumers? I'm not trying to say otherwise, but this seems like a mantra many people spout without thought about steam, and so far it hasn't actually come true. I have never known a person who hated steam after a couple of months of using it. Does anyone actually have evidence that a strong monopoly is bad for a market, or is it all just the old and doctored teachings of a flawed capital education?

Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it never will happen. Things change, sometimes really fast. Especially in the gaming industry.

Microsoft used to be in the same position as Valve. Microsoft was new, well loved, and everywhere. Now look at where they are.

The same thing could happen to Valve.

Monopolies don't exist now (at least in the U.S.) because the government made them illegal. And they did so for good reason.

And besides, whats wrong with having choices?

I still don't see how that means Steam is bad for the market, as long as console games and piracy are around, they aren't going to try to raise prices (else they would push people to console games and piracy), plus, the developers could always leave Steam if they did that.

There's enough checks and balances to keep Steam in check.

Plus, you say "what's wrong with choices?" The fact is there IS choice, Steam is just popular because tons of people choose it.

Steam is not bad for the market. But when its the only one in the market, thats when things get bad. Competition can only be a good thing. It pushes for innovation, it pushes each party to do better. I want more competition because only good will come of it.

Yes, Steam is great now, but what will happen when Valve's leadership is replaced with one thats not so gamer-friendly. I doubt we'll see and immediate drastic changes, but I would not be surprised if things gradually and slowly take a turn for the worst.

And people "choose" to put up with Steam because the other choice is usually to not play the game they want to play. They don't really have a choice. The way games are going, its either deal with Steam, or don't play that game you've been waiting for. Like with Civilization. It has a very dedicated fanbase, most of it probably doesn't care much for Steam and would rather not use it. After it was announced that it would use Steam, the fanbase had a choice of putting up with something they wanted no part of, at all. Or just not buying a game that they've been waiting five years for thats a new part of the franchise they love.

The thing is though, that if Steam starts to slip, the developers will pull their products out because it's no longer beneficial, it's a nice check that's put in place by the fact that it's the developers that choose to use Steam.

That said, there could be a nasty period of a few months right after it starts to slip but before it gets bad enough for developers to leave, but that would hardly be a disaster, and it's a risk that I'm fully willing to take.

EDIT: .....wait, I just remembered I don't play computer games, why I am arguing about this?

(I have used Steam for TF2 and L4D, but I primarily play on consoles)

 

[Flying-Emu]

Well, I still don't quite like being forced to use a system and have to activate it online, its still a lot better than Games for Windows Live.

After having to deal with it cripple the game's performance, not to mention it being awful in terms of distributing the DLC, I'll take anything but GFWL.

Still though. I'm against forcing consumers to use a platform they have no interest in using, whether or not its Steam or GFWL.

Glad to see it won't impact modding in a negative way.

Looks like it'll run in offline mode, so you won't even have to be connected to the Steam servers to play it.

 

[Irridium]

The thing is though, that if Steam starts to slip, the developers will pull their products out because it's no longer beneficial, it's a nice check that's put in place by the fact that it's the developers that choose to use Steam.

That said, there could be a nasty period of a few months right after it starts to slip but before it gets bad enough for developers to leave, but that would hardly be a disaster, and it's a risk that I'm fully willing to take.

If Steam does slip, then developers/publishers would pull away from the PC, and bad things would happen. But if there was a primary competitor or two, those devs/publishers could just go to them, and we would be able to avoid the nasty part where PC gaming becomes a cesspool of DRM and whatnot. Or a bigger cesspool at least...

Point is, if there were more competitors, if one did start to fall, there would be another to consumers to go to. Right now if Steam falls, there's no one gamers can go to. Except the smaller platforms, but I doubt they would be able to make things better anytime soon.

EDIT: .....wait, I just remembered I don't play computer games, why I am arguing about this?

(I have used Steam for TF2 and L4D, but I primarily play on consoles)

:|

While I don't want to say since you don't game on the PC much, you don't know what your talking about, I do believe you may be, um... less than familiar with whole PC situation and what PC gamers are and have to go through in order to play their games. Stuff like this is a very big deal for PC gamers.

 

[Irridium]

Well, I still don't quite like being forced to use a system and have to activate it online, its still a lot better than Games for Windows Live.

After having to deal with it cripple the game's performance, not to mention it being awful in terms of distributing the DLC, I'll take anything but GFWL.

Still though. I'm against forcing consumers to use a platform they have no interest in using, whether or not its Steam or GFWL.

Glad to see it won't impact modding in a negative way.

Looks like it'll run in offline mode, so you won't even have to be connected to the Steam servers to play it.

Yes, but there is still online activation, which I am thoroughly against.

And besides, its still just unnecessary steps to what normally is a fairly simple process.
Its like adding more buttons to a controller that doesn't need more buttons.

 

[The Night Shade]

At least its not DRM

 

[CD-R]

And yet... people are actually cheering about having DRM in their game.
Yes, Steam is surely the lesser evil among the other choices, but still its another game turning to no-steam no-play deal and i dont like that fact. I dont like game publishers deciding for me what software, no matter how good, i am forced to use, especially when i buy hard copy.

I will still buy it of course, but am not happy.

Agreed. I've been putting off getting Steam for awhile. I reall hope it doesnt affect the mods in any way.

 

[CD-R]

At least its not DRM

Steam is DRM.

 

[Danpascooch]

The thing is though, that if Steam starts to slip, the developers will pull their products out because it's no longer beneficial, it's a nice check that's put in place by the fact that it's the developers that choose to use Steam.

That said, there could be a nasty period of a few months right after it starts to slip but before it gets bad enough for developers to leave, but that would hardly be a disaster, and it's a risk that I'm fully willing to take.

If Steam does slip, then developers/publishers would pull away from the PC, and bad things would happen. But if there was a primary competitor or two, those devs/publishers could just go to them, and we would be able to avoid the nasty part where PC gaming becomes a cesspool of DRM and whatnot. Or a bigger cesspool at least...

Point is, if there were more competitors, if one did start to fall, there would be another to consumers to go to. Right now if Steam falls, there's no one gamers can go to. Except the smaller platforms, but I doubt they would be able to make things better anytime soon.

EDIT: .....wait, I just remembered I don't play computer games, why I am arguing about this?

(I have used Steam for TF2 and L4D, but I primarily play on consoles)

:|

While I don't want to say since you don't game on the PC much, you don't know what your talking about, I do believe you may be, um... less than familiar with whole PC situation and what PC gamers are and have to go through in order to play their games. Stuff like this is a very big deal for PC gamers.

Oh believe me, I understand it's a big deal, and I'm up to date on everything about DRM and whatnot.

I'm just saying it's hard to criticize something for the reason of "if it becomes crappy it will be bad" What would you have Valve change? Should they make Steam less good so competitors have a chance? That would seem kind of crazy.

 

[JWW]

Looks like I'm gonna need to get me a decent computer...

 

[JakeOfRavenclaw]

Fail. Steam is rubbish, and the many problems I had trying to use it to install Empire Total War is what made me abandon the series. In addition to which, having to run third party software to play PC games is patently absurd. I was really looking forward to this, too...hmm. If it means more Fallout, I may have to submit to Valve after all. Damn.

 

[Kazedarkwind]

AWESOME, so i can go to the game store across the street, get the collectors edition with the spiffy extras and still have it added to my Steam acount!!! thanks Bethesda and Steam ^_^

 

[AllLagNoFrag]

Steam FTW!
Achievements on steam so much better than GFWL
Like the idea of only having to use the disc for the first install, Ive got steam anyway so the installing of steam isnt a problem. YAY!

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Yay! Now it might not crash every other second! No matter what people say, I refuse to believe steam is intrusive at all, and it most certainly is not a DRM in the usual sense.

Only if by "usual sense" you're referring to the fact that 90% of DRM is intrusive/restricting for the paying customer. Steam is DRM, simple as that. A horse is a horse is a horse, just because one might run faster and one might be a smoother ride, they're still all horses.

 

[Rack]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The only reason I never bought Fallout 3 was the horror stories surrounding GFWL.

Now I can play next-gen Fallout AND support Steam. Fantastic.

Annoying as GFWL is it was ridiculously easy to remove from Fallout 3. Get yourself the GotY version and get some mods.

Anyway this is broadly good news but I'm still a bit wary of Steam games as they completely prevent second hand sales, borrowing or returning games. So far this hasn't really been a problem as Steamworks hasn't been attached to anything I might want to trade in, but Obsidian have a fairly patchy reputation.

 

[Dr Bob]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.


Guess I'll be downloading this one then.

No achievements? means no pay check for you Bethesda.

1) Retail discs will still be sold and you can install New Vegas from a disc, if you wish.
2) Steam achievements will be present.

 

[ItsAPaul]

Sweet, was gonna buy it there anyway.