Crossed over to the darkside: bought my first game for steam

[Bikerdude]

But it's that forced use for so many games that annoys me to no end. If I could have gotten a copy that doesn't use Steam, I would gladly have bought it.

Amen to that!

[Lux]

I have to assume then you didn't pay anywhere near full price then, for a game that barley lasted 4-6hrs...

 

The issue with that is that if after playing it you DON'T want the game they(valve) point blank refuse to remove it from your games list sighting some BS excuse.

 

Barely lasts 4-6 hours? For me at least, 4-5 hours is worth $60bucks though Portal 2 wasn't a full price game when it was released on Steam. Going down to the movie theater and watching a flick costs $12 if you go alone and $24 bucks if you take someone with you and that's for usually 1.5hours of entertainment, and that doesn't count beverages and food which are outrageously priced.

 

Considering all of the work that has gone in to games, and many of you are familiar with that, I personally think $60 for 4-5 hours of fun is completely warranted.

 

Of course I'm not a "run through the levels and don't take in my surroundings" kind of player so Portal 2 lasted me 8-10 hours. Plenty of value in that, IMO and it wasn't even full priced.

Edited June 19, 2013 by Lux

[STiFU]

Also, as I already said above, don't forget the coop mode, which is about twice as long as the single player campaign and it's really fun!!

[Bikerdude]

• For me at least, 4-5 hours is worth $60bucks though Portal 2 wasn't a full price game when it was released on Steam.
  
• Going down to the movie theater and watching a flick costs $12
  

• $60/£38 - ouchie your getting ripped off over there then, the average price for a new physical retail copy over here is £30-35/$45-55. But then we go back to the circular argument/issue of publishers charging full retail for a digital copy, I have stopped buying at release time due to this very issue etc. And regarding playtime I expect to get on average at least a 15-20+ hrs actual play time from any game.
  
• I stopped going to the movies years ago due to the bloody outrageous prices(this time we are getting ripped off),currently they are £10($15) and £14($23) for 3D(wtf should this cost any more like...). Only a an idiot pays these prices (unfortunately there are a lot of idiots out there)
  

[brethren]

4-6 hours is terrible for a full priced ($60) retail game. Are there even games that have less than that? Games used to go 10-15 hours, but in the last 5 years or so things seem to have changed. One of the main things I look for in reviews now is how long it took them to finish the game. If it's in that ~5 hour range, I'm waiting until the thing hits the bargain bin.

 

When I look at the big name AAA games I've bought over the last couple of years on my Steam account, I see this:

 

Skyrim 136.0 hours

Dishonored 31.0 hours

Deus Ex HR 27.5 (only played half way through too)

Bioshock Infinite 8.8 hours (quit early in the game)

Dead Island 41.3

Dead Space 2 11.9 hours (didn't finish)

Fallout New Vegas 27.5 hours (still playing)

 

Now granted, I explore and screw around a lot, and try to check out every corner of every level, but there's no way I'm finishing any of these games in 4-6 hours even in a speed run.

 

And maybe it's just me, but I consider movies to be reasonable - $12 for 2 hours, sounds like cheap entertainment to me. Sure, I'm not getting a physical product to take home, but there's very few movies I watch more than once anyway. And you can't wrap food and beverage costs into that, because you're actually getting food and beverages for that cost! Plus, most places around here won't flinch if you carry something in, I usually grab a bottle of soda and maybe some Twizzlers from the gas station on the way to the theater.

[Bikerdude]

Most places around here won't flinch if you carry something in...

The last time I went, they tried to stop me going in, so here is a tip for yer, pull the old " I have food allergies " works every time.

 

Bioshock Infinite 8.8 hours (quit early in the game)

I look forward to the day you can sell/transfer a digital game on to someone else.

[Professor Paul1290]

I use Steam a lot, but it's not the only service I use. I also use GOG, GamersGate, and if possible I buy from the game developers site. Between those options I can usually get just about anything.

GOG is DRM Free and leaves you free to keep as many backups as you want, so where applicable I often prefer to get my games from there. Some developers sell the game on their own site and some even give you Steam keys in addition to their own copies from their site and that works fine as well because you get to back up the game and download it from the service.

 

Personally, I think having an available downloadable copy on a digital distribution service that also leaves you free to make backups is the ideal solution when you can get it. I find that even more ideal than a physical copy as odd as that might sound.

 

 

 

The obvious problem a downloadable copy that's tied to the service for every install, via DRM or otherwise, is the possibility of the service being no longer available in the future.

 

The problem with physical copies, and one that I don't think is brought up enough, is that there's nobody on the other end having an incentive to maintain the game, which can matter just as much as being able to simply store the game as game's aren't as straightforward simple to keep around as music or movies.

In additon to that anyone who has kept a lot of physical copies over the years has probably learned that you're going to make your own copies anyway if you want to keep them a long time. As someone who has kept (or tried to keep) a lot of games for a long while, I think relying on the quality of the typical CD or DVD on its own isn't any better than the DRM-tethered downloadable copy.

 

 

 

If you have a downloadable copy that can be backed up on your end as well, such as from some developer's sites and GOG, then you get the best of both worlds. Someone on the other end has an incentive to keep that copy available and playable with current systems and you can keep a backup in case they go away, and both have to fail before for you really to lose the game.

 

Now the caveat to this is that you can't really re-sell game, but I don't really do that much anymore. The monetary value for most of the expensive ($50-$60) games I buy drops before I would be willing to re-sell them, and games I buy that stay at a consistent price for a while tend to be cheap enough that re-sale isn't worth the bother.

Edited June 19, 2013 by Professor Paul1290

[Lux]

4-6 hours is terrible for a full priced ($60) retail game. [...]

 

I'm not saying it isn't as far as compared to other games. I was just saying basically that vs. movie prices for 90min movie (majority) that a 6 hour game is priced about right at $60.

 

Would I rather pay less? Sure. Would I rather all game be Deus Ex/Skyrim 50-150hrs for the same money? Sure.

 

I'm sure the money men are looking at that too. Would you pay $100 (US) for a game that guarantees 100+ hours of gameplay?

 

No telling what game prices are going to do in the future, or movie prices for that matter. Those that can't or don't want to afford it will pirate as they do now.

 

The only reason, personally, that I don't mind paying $60 for a decent game is because its my hobby. I enjoy games and want to support the industry, not just leave it on the shoulders of everyone else. I get sincere enjoyment from games of all types and that is worth something to me.

[brethren]

Would you pay $100 (US) for a game that guarantees 100+ hours of gameplay?

 

The only reason, personally, that I don't mind paying $60 for a decent game is because its my hobby. I enjoy games and want to support the industry, not just leave it on the shoulders of everyone else. I get sincere enjoyment from games of all types and that is worth something to me.

 

I actually would pay $100 for a game from a good developer with a solid track record, or an established franchise, where I know I'm going to get close to 100 hours of gameplay. Very few games qualify for this, and recently I'd say only Skyrim and Fallout New Vegas do.

 

I understand the thing about supporting the industry (it's my hobby too, btw) too, but the better avenue for that is spending money on indie games. There's so much cool stuff coming out now by indie devs, and it doesn't cost nearly as much as the AAA stuff. Plus, they need your money much more than the big game companies do. But in the end it all comes down to what games you really enjoy.

[Lux]

<3'd Fallout New Vegas as well; possibly more than the original title though the intro wasn't as thorough.