Steam Beta Opens

[Jul 11, 2003, 11:04 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

The Steam Website now offers public downloads of the Steam beta, which will provide access to the Counter-Strike version 1.6 beta. Steam offers downloads and auto-patching of Valve games, chat, server browsing, and more. According to the site: "Stay tuned for a blast of HL2 full-motion goodness, brought to you very soon via Steam."

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39.

Got Steam? Down with the middle men!

Jul 12, 2003, 12:03

Dr.Del

Now that Half-Life 2 is around the corner we will finally be able to see Steam in action. A lot of entrepreneurs have tried this model of game distribution in the past (during the tech boom) and failed... one of the primary reasons for failure, I believe, is that these entrepreneurs did not have the customer base.

Since HL2 is such a highly anticipated game, Gabe has all the customer base he needs. So, if the broadband distribution of games is going to work, Steam is its best chance. I personally think it will succeed. Why? Because it is attractive to dev houses as well as (some) consumers.

Attractive to devs since they are "truly" independent now, and don't have to rely on a publisher or a publisher's contractual financing to get a game on retail shelves. And the devs don't have to worry about shelf space or the extra charge that the retailer takes either. So, game prices shouldn't be as high and the developers are no longer the publisher's bitch. Furthermore, (some) consumers like it since they dont have to line up, drive to stores to find games on release dates and deal with the fucking geek employees at your local EB store. (Granted, some consumers like the smell of the new box, but I prefer the smell of a woman instead... but I digress...)

Havings said that are publishers/retailers not concerned about this trend? (assuming Steam will be successful, which I think it will be). Eventually other game devs will be leasing Steam technology to sell their wares, and other larger dev houses (id? the Unreal guys?) may even develop their own Steam-clones. ..

... so my question is: to you guys who work in the games industry... have you heard any rumblings about the possible shift in power between the devs and the publishers IF broadband game developing becomes a success? Not even some small rumblings?

Come on... at least publishers' and retailers' attention should be perked by this a little bit!

Agree? Disagree?

(taken from my qt3 forum post)

- Dr.Del




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		Date	Subject	Author
	1.	Jul 11, 23:06	No subject	Dr.Del
	2.	Jul 11, 23:13	Half Steam	Enforcer
	7.	Jul 11, 23:22	Re: Half Steam	Enforcer
	3.	Jul 11, 23:14	Re: No subject	Scottish Martial Arts
	4.	Jul 11, 23:19	Re: No subject	Dr.Del
	5.	Jul 11, 23:21	Re: No subject	Scottish Martial Arts
	10.	Jul 11, 23:55	Re: No subject	Bronco
	11.	Jul 12, 00:55	Re: No subject	[AIX]Hood
	24.	Jul 12, 05:12	Re: No subject	BicycleRepairMan
	25.	Jul 12, 05:43	Re: No subject	garry
	35.	Jul 12, 10:26	Re: No subject	Bunko
	12.	Jul 12, 01:51	Re: No subject	kyleb
	13.	Jul 12, 01:58	Re: No subject	Fungu
	14.	Jul 12, 02:07	open beta?	Merc248
	15.	Jul 12, 02:44	Re: open beta?	Virus
	36.	Jul 12, 10:44	Re: No subject	Brick
	38.	Jul 12, 11:48	Re: No subject	garry
>>	39.	Jul 12, 12:03	Got Steam? Down with the middle men!	Dr.Del
	47.	Jul 12, 14:06	Re: Got Steam? Down with the middle men!	jimmy jam
	6.	Jul 11, 23:21	Re: Baaaaa Baaaaa	Halsy
	8.	Jul 11, 23:31	No subject	Da Stylin' Rastan
	9.	Jul 11, 23:31	Interesting	Marduk
	16.	Jul 12, 02:59	No subject	ExcessDan
	21.	Jul 12, 04:38	Re: No subject	Fungu
	17.	Jul 12, 03:33	Try...	Stolk
	18.	Jul 12, 03:53	Well i give up	Daedalus
	19.	Jul 12, 04:02	hl2 trailer	garry
	20.	Jul 12, 04:27	Re: hl2 trailer	Daedalus
	22.	Jul 12, 05:02	No subject	garry
	23.	Jul 12, 05:11	Re: No subject	ExcessDan
	31.	Jul 12, 08:03	Re: No subject	Fungu
	33.	Jul 12, 09:16	Re: No subject	garry
	26.	Jul 12, 06:13	There be Pirates!!! Arrgggg!!!!	Eye 4N Eye
	27.	Jul 12, 06:25	Re: There be Pirates!!! Arrgggg!!!!	garry
	28.	Jul 12, 06:40	Re: There be Pirates!!! Arrgggg!!!!	Eye 4N Eye
	29.	Jul 12, 06:46	Re: There be Pirates!!! Arrgggg!!!!	Hump
	30.	Jul 12, 07:49	As a developer...	Jimfing
	32.	Jul 12, 08:05	Re: As a developer...	Fungu
	34.	Jul 12, 09:35	No subject	Nexus
	37.	Jul 12, 11:24	Steamy	Hump
	40.	Jul 12, 12:38	Downloading eh?	Marduk
	41.	Jul 12, 12:55	Re: Downloading eh?	garry
	42.	Jul 12, 13:27	Re: Downloading eh?	60days
	43.	Jul 12, 13:35	Re: Downloading eh?	Brick
	45.	Jul 12, 13:58	Re: Downloading eh?	Marduk
	52.	Jul 12, 15:37	Re: Downloading eh?	ExcessDan
	53.	Jul 12, 20:45	Re: post #4 (quoted herein)	Zephalephelah
	60.	Jul 14, 18:26	Re: post #4 (quoted herein)	D4rkKnight
	61.	Jul 15, 15:40	Re: post #4 (quoted herein)	MindTrigger
	54.	Jul 12, 22:48	Re: Downloading eh?	Marduk
	44.	Jul 12, 13:56	Steam runs constantly?	Contact
	46.	Jul 12, 14:00	HL2 and Steam	SidVicious
	48.	Jul 12, 14:13	No subject	Hump
	49.	Jul 12, 14:18	A progress bar would be nice...	Sarcasmo
	50.	Jul 12, 14:30	Half-Life for free	David Johnston
	51.	Jul 12, 14:43	Re: Half-Life for free	ZzeusS
	55.	Jul 13, 00:35	HL's Goodness ??	Xenos Overdrive
	57.	Jul 13, 06:14	Re: HL's Goodness ??	John Nelson
	62.	Jul 15, 16:04	Re: HL's Goodness ??	hebrew_national
	67.	Jul 16, 20:39	Re: HL's Goodness ??	John Nelson
	58.	Jul 13, 08:09	Re: HL's Goodness ??	NFNNMIDATA
	59.	Jul 13, 20:42	Re: HL's Goodness ??	Xenos Overdrive
	56.	Jul 13, 01:11	No subject	Brick
	63.	Jul 16, 03:47	Beta testing HL2	Henry
	64.	Jul 16, 15:24	Re: Beta testing HL2	TheFlatline
	65.	Jul 16, 17:32	Re: Beta testing HL2	human
	66.	Jul 16, 17:33	Re: Beta testing HL2	human
	68.	Jul 17, 08:42	Steaming pile of....	Honkytonk
	69.	Jul 17, 15:32	Re: Steaming pile of....	John Nelson
	70.	Jul 17, 21:42	Re: Steaming pile of....	Quaternion
	72.	Jul 18, 18:27	Re: Steaming pile of....	Alak
	71.	Jul 18, 07:15	american hero	rock climber
	73.	Jul 18, 18:52	You know what?	Nexus
	74.	Jul 18, 23:13	Re: You know what?	DrEvil