Steam = OnLive

[tmujir955]

Recently I've been seeing lots of people complain about how OnLive is terrible because you are "renting the games at full price", and you are not really owning the game.

But doesn't Steam work the same way?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/stolen-pixels/7827-Stolen-Pixels-211-This-is-Not-Funny

You can't play Steam games when Steam is down. Yo can't play OnLive games if OnLive is down.

So whats the big problem?

Note: I'm not trying to advertise, but my experience with OnLive has been really awesome, and it's a shame to see so many people decide it is not worth it before even trying it.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Uh, you can play Steam games when Steam is down.

It's called offline mode.

Edit: Some at least. Gah.

 

[The Amazing Tea Alligator]

Steam is awsome - how dare you give it negative connotations. Also ya, as said above you can play stam games forever... and it's beautiful.

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

But you have to go online before you can go offline.

 

[JRShield]

Uh, you can play Steam games when Steam is down.

It's called offline mode.

Click the link!

 

[AlternatePFG]

Uh, you can play Steam games when Steam is down.

It's called offline mode.

Click the link!

Yeah, I realize that now. .-.

But I was able to play Dragon Age (bought off of Steam) and a few other games worked when my internet was down for awhile.

 

[RRilef]

Except with steam, so long as you are patient you never have to pay full price, with how frequent their high percentage off sales are. And you don't have to pay a subscription fee to rent the games, that you may lose if you ever stop paying the fee. They are two different services aimed at two different markets.

Edit: Not to mention, that are also issues with trust. Steam has been around for a while, and so has Valve. After years of using the system the consumer knows it is reliable. OnLive is new, once you go beyond the basic concept it is unappealing to a PC Gamer. Many PC gamers choose the PC for its precision. The mouse and keyboard is a more precise control for certain games, and a 360 controller can still be used for others. OnLive is going for a different market than Steam, even though there is substantial overlap between those markets.

 

[The Amazing Tea Alligator]

But you have to go online before you can go offline.

Not true. If steam finds that there is no connection (like if the intertubes are down) then it will give you two options:
- retry connection
- go offline

It should be noted that none of those are:
- don't play games

And yes, some games don't work if you're offline, but that's because those are VALVe games that use steam as a multiplayer service, and therfore if steam is down, steam is down (you can still LAN)

 

[manaman]

Steam is awsome - how dare you give it negative connotations. Also ya, as said above you can play stam games forever... and it's beautiful.

Steam is not awesome. Steam is the enemy almost as much as Onlive is.

 

[dududf]

Only a COUPLE of games like thism and OP is extremely overexagerating.

 

[The Amazing Tea Alligator]

Steam is awsome - how dare you give it negative connotations. Also ya, as said above you can play stam games forever... and it's beautiful.

Steam is not awesome. Steam is the enemy almost as much as Onlive is.

How? People claim to be having all these problems, and I never have. My inclination is that people are incompetent. I like your avatar btw.

 

[Rakkana]

He just bad mouthed steam. I shall call the armies. He will be dead by sun rise.

 

[Kollega]

Recently I've been seeing lots of people complain about how OnLive is terrible because you are "renting the games at full price", and you are not really owning the game.

The thing is... On Steam, your games are permanently (sp?) tied to your account. As long as Steam exists, they will be yours. With OnLive, this is not exactly the case.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101466-Gamers-Dont-Get-to-Keep-OnLive-Purchases

Steam is not awesome. Steam is the enemy almost as much as Onlive is.

Let me put that in perspective: Steam is like Brave New World, and OnLive is like 1984. Neither is perfect, but the former gives away free drugs and sex and whatnot.

Ridiculous comparsion, but pretty funny - don't you think?

 

[The Amazing Tea Alligator]

He just bad mouthed steam. I shall call the armies. He will be dead by sun rise.

That's hardly constructive is it?




The bear cavalry are far superior.

 

[Dana22]

Because you dont rent games on Steam.

 

[Doug]

Uh, you can play Steam games when Steam is down.

It's called offline mode.

Edit: Some at least. Gah.

Indeedie.

As for OnLive, from what I understand, you lose your games if you ever lag behind on subscription service payments, and because of the boardband link, lag is a problem, especially if you happen to live in a country with relatively undeveloped boardband, like the UK.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Let me put that in perspective: Steam is like Brave New World, and OnLive is like 1984. Neither is perfect, but the former gives away free drugs and sex and whatnot.

Ridiculous comparsion, but pretty funny - don't you think?

Your ideas intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

 

[TOGSolid]

OP is exaggerating to a massive degree and is full of shit.

I am a sailor and spend most of the year on a boat. I own a shitpile of Steam games and guess what, I can play all of them when I'm out there with no internet.

When Steam is offline and you do have internet, you can still play the majority of your games online because they don't use Valve's servers. Case in point: I was updating Steam and some games on my work laptop yesterday while playing Bad Company 2 online via Steam's offline mode on my desktop.

 

[JB1528]

No just no.

Onlive: only supports games for 3 years (longer if they are popular)
Steam: Supports all games indefinitely

Onlive: Makes you stream the games, giving you lag and no mod support.
Steam: Lets you download the games before you play them giving you zero lag and complete mod support.

Onlive: You have to be online to play any of their games.
Steam: Steam has offline support for most of its games.

Onlive: You have to pay a monthly fee and pay full price for games.
Steam: No monthly fee is required and steam has constant sales where they sell full price games for 10%-95% off.

In other words, OP are you an idiot? Steam and Onlive are NOT the same things, do some research before you make stupid comparisons.