Pretty sure you know what Steam is. If you don't, I'll explain. It's a program (run by Valve) that you download. On that program, you can buy digital copies of games. You don't really *have* them on your machine. They are all stored digitally on your Steam account. Say, your internet dies. Then you can't play the games you purchased. It's a measure to prevent piracy...and well make more money for Valve. You can buy most everything from really old classics, like Doom, to complete independent titles like Zombie Shooter. It's all linked, you can have friends, chat with them, download demos, download trailers, all that.
Then of course there is the consoles. The Wii and DSi only lets you download full games. It's simple. The 360 and PS3 have DLC for their games. You pay for it, download it, and it adds more content to your games. (I'm not sure what the PSP lets you do, I assume everything the PS3 does since they share the same store)
Here are the ups and downs.
+ It's a convenient download.
Not everybody feels like putting on heaps of clothes, digging their car out of the snow, waiting for their car to warm up, drive slowly to Best Buy, go in, fight through crowds, then find out the store doesn't even have the game they're looking for, and then they have to go and find it someplace else fighting through more crowds and snow. Ok, that was dramatized, but sometimes it's just good to chill at home. Get the hankering for a new game or expansion? Just download it. Some people claim it promotes laziness, but that brings us to...
+ It's convenient to have it actually work.
This counts more for Steam than console titles. Steam auto-adjusts their games to work. You download something, it'll work. (unless you download something that doesn't match your specs) You don't have to worry about downloading a really old game, then "fuck, it doesn't work! *messes with DosBox*" As Steam as already done that.
+ Cheaper prices
Ok, it isn't always the case, but it normally is. Steam has had some fucking awesome deals lately. I recently bought 6 games for 15$ in total. IN TOTAL. I went to Target yesterday, and saw 1 of the games I bought for 20$. That is just awesome. I mean really...would you rather spend 50$ or 30$ for Left 4 Dead 2? This doesn't apply to consoles, as it's normally the same price online as it is in-store.
+ You never lose save data
If your like me, your computer is shit. I'm scared to install and play anything because my computer likes to crap out, and I have to install my operating system a gain and lose everything. So what's the point of playing if I never can make it far? With Steam, you don't have that problem. It's all stored online. If you go to another computer and put in your account, you can play all your shit, exactly as it was. Again, this doesn't apply to consoles, as it saves to your hard-drive. If your console blows up, you lose your saved data.
That's all good, but there are always negatives.
- No manual
Some games are little bitches and don't tell you the controls or anything in-game. You either have to figure it out, look online, or look in the man-oh wait. Downloaded games don't come with that. You have to figure it out for yourself. While not quite a necessity, it sure is nice to have one so you can find out maybe the backstory or other bits of information. The consoles actually gets a free point here, because all of it's downloaded games come with a manual just right there.
- Requires online 24/7
We're reaching the age where every single person ever should have a cellphone and the internet. Unfortunately, we're not quite there yet. Until we are, this is an issue. Not everybody can play their Steam-purchased games all the time. It's pretty annoying when your internet goes down, or you foolishly buy one when you have little access. Same for consoles. How the fuck are we suppose to get true endings to games if we have no internet to buy the DLC from?
- No hard copy
On Steam, they basically allow you to play. You don't really own the game. You can't back it up and have the game forever and ever and fondle the disk. Ok yes, it combats piracy, but come on. People will always find a way to steal. You can do your best to combat it, but there is ALWAYS a way. I mean, would you rather have your own car, or a car your parents allow you to drive? Not a problem on the consoles, as the DLC downloads directly to the hard-drives. This may not seem like a huge issue at first until we reach...
- The online services won't be around forever
Say Steam shuts down. Well damn, you can't play your games anymore! You wasted all that time and money pumping up your character on Torchlight and now you can't play it anymore. If you had a disk...it wouldn't be a problem. Just pop it in and continue playing. Of course, yes, "Pffttt, it'll be a long time before Steam shuts down!" True, but wait until that day comes. Won't that be sad? Same for DLC. When the next gen consoles show up (they won't for a longgggg time) You can't get your DLC anymore. Also true it's on the hard-drives, but you never know when your system might mess up. I guess the Wii has the only small advantage here, by letting you back your stuff up on the SD Cards.
- DLC is a cheap excuse for empty and lazy games
Not a problem with Steam, as they have many creative small-funded games you can play. However, how much fucking sense does it make to release a game on a console, then make you pay for DLC to see the true, non-shitty ending? I'm looking at you, Fallout 3. If you bought the game the first time, you've swiftly received a kick in the pants. Bethesda has your money, they wait and wait and wait...THEN release all the goodness the 360 and PC already had. But wait, you have to pay for it. Not only that, but if you got rid of your old copy, you have to re-buy Fallout 3, but it has to be the GotY, new, expensive, version otherwise you wasted your time playing through the whole game. That's just low and stupid. I hate it when they release SO MUCH DLC. Whatever happened to expansions? It might be hypocritical because I blab about Little Big Planet's DLC alllll the time, but they release so damn much of it. Then of course we buy it because half of my family is addicted to that game so I fail.
I know, I posted an extra negative. Digital distribution can be good, but it needs a hard copy to go along side it. Why don't companies (especially computer companies) patch, and re-release old games for the PC (in stores)? Or why not have a system of digital downloads where I could have the bulk on the installation on my computer so I could back it up? You know how badly I'd love to play Baldur's Gate again? Ok yes, I could easily eBay it. But like I said, my computer is shit and I'd have to burst a blood vessel getting it to run. What happened to expansions and add-ons? Add-ons are basically super DLC, and you could buy them in stores too. It'd be nice to live in a world where I could easily chose to download Elf Bowling or go buy it in a store. And yes, this paragraph applies to both consoles and PC.
