Well now that the game is been released, what's your opinion on steam? Is it really the hell some of you expected, or is it ok? Let me know in this pole I pre-ordered on steam and I like it, so my opinion is biased but I like it.

keep them votes comin I'm curious to see ( shameless bumping maybe >.> )

7 people who think they're objective. Pardon my hearty guffaw.

edit: 9 now

Steam is definitely better than GFWL... it isn't a horrible memory hog... it occasionally has popups, but not too bad, and almost no issues with DRM. Modding is a little harder because of how it stores files, but if everyone has 'em in the same place... I really don't mind it.

The Achievements are stupid. They just mark quest completion etc... the real achievements should be more along the lines of L4D etc.

That first question should be a multiple choice of all that apply.

(voted 5;1;1)

1. I really don't like it
2. no
3. no

how so? conflicted much? Lol, how can you have more then one opinion on how you like something like this?

I love Steam as I have said here before, but I can also understand why some dislike it, but not the whole malware stuff.

Prior user and totally biased. I honestly think there are people who are claiming to be unbiased that are full of malarkey. As of right now EDIT - 60% of voters claim to be unbiased, and this is on the Internet, where everything is biased.

Remember people, this is serious business, so vote honestly. :nono:

I don't get it. People complain endlessly over the problems with disc checking and serials... downloadable content systems like Steam centralize everything and get rid of DRM issues.

If you consider having an opinion as being biased then obviously 100% of poll responders are. I personally define bias as having a different motivation than user experience (financial, friend that works for Steam, etc.). I do not, my opinion is based solely on my experience with the program, so I consider myself unbiased. I hate it, I have almost never had good times with it and I find it clunky, unnecessary, and obtrusive.

how exactly is it clunky and obtrusive though?

So far it looks like more people like it then dislike it, it's 20 to 11, adding up the I don't mind it, I love it, and the I can't stand it with the I don't like it options. and there are 2 outliers with the others.

people who dont like steam either don't know how to use a computer or are severely prone to user error.

Please don't make flame-ish generalizations like that. It's fine if you want to express your like or dislike of a service, but keep the comments about what you think of Steam, not about what you think of other members.

I do not like Steam, although my past experiences with the program have not been negative per se. In this instance, Steam is used to keep me from playing a game I have lying right next to me. It is telling me the game that I bought is not yet released. Now, I know Steam is not to blame for this, but Steam is used to make it happen. Since Steam (and no other program) is giving me this particular message, it is the very first target of my irritation. Hence my dislike for Steam!

P.S. I hope it is obvious enough to take this with a grain of salt, aye? But ... not too much salt.

For me, being in the military, the major downfall of the Steam application is that it requires you to have an internet connection to play any of the associated games. Which is a huge let down by Bethesda in their decision to take that route. Left 4 Dead 2 is what really killed it for me. Now, normally when I'm at the house this isn't a big deal. High speed internet and the works, I can play all day long. But I do spend a lot of time... traveling abroad you might say. Now why would I want to purchase a game that I won't be able to use when I walk out my front door? I'm looking for a quality bit of entertainment to fill my down time. So am I supposed to purchase these games just to have them rack up in a que that I can't get to? Is this the future of games? A future of being reeled in and leashed by these companies (that probably get paid way too much by our fav game designers) just to enjoy 5 min of game time? A game that I dished out a lot of money for to take home from the electronics store, that came in a box, that contains the game disk (right here in my effing hand), that I load onto my computer, just so that I can't play it???

@ Rusty Gunn: Oh... It makes me feel so much better knowing that I'm getting rap ed for free...

I'm not voting due to the fact that I'm waiting for the game to stabilize after the patches before I get it

but Steam can be very clunky on some systems, it is on mine & for one the patching system alone is horribly obstructive (why can't steam patch like windows does, download then install instead of blocking access while it downloads the patches)

@SandHawk: Actually the Steamworks suite is free to the publishers

When I found out that Fallout: New Vegas was gonna be on STEAM I immediately went and pre-ordered over STEAM. In the past I have always enjoyed buying physical copies of my games so I may put on my shelf the box with the CD contained within it so I may forever awe (or rage) at my purchase. The moment I was allowed to pre-load this I got excited, I would be able to install the game before launch day and wait till it unlocks so I can play. Further I enjoy having my games automatically patched for me... sorta. Unluckily for me this is a game that is gonna kill me when it comes to patches since the fate of the Bethesda tag onto any software deal is pretty much buggy software with patches that fixes those bugs but cause more bugs. Yeah I can turn off the auto patching but what good is that? If I reinstall from STEAM it's just gonna install the game files that are patched.

Actually, I would love to have the option to download patches not using Steam. As I have have asked about that a couple weeks ago.

the situation is a mess

I've been using steam forever so I don't mind that much, it would of been nice to know from the start though so I could of saved a trip to gamestop

Games are going to be cracked regardless, no DRM actually works. The point of steam is to link up games like xbox live or PSN, as well as sell games easily. Achievements are just a useless add on like consoles, but friends & groups are nice. Basically you should be happy you don't have to deal with the garbage that is GFWL.

If you dislike steam, you are clueless.

I've used Steam for hundreds of hours. Never had any issues with it. Love it.

though I never had to deal with G4WL even with FO3.

It's not Steam (the optional digi-distribution service), it's Steamworks (the forced digi-distribution & DRM system) that I dislike. using dial-up to use Steamworks is not fun(DSL doesn't reach where I live). Heaven forbid that I'd have to DL a 6GB file (as some have gone through) @ 5kb/s when trying to install from a disc.

I've used Steam for years and never had a problem, but for the last few days I've been consistently getting a network error when trying to log in. Since Steam is required to validate New Vegas prior to installation, I can't even install the game, let alone play it. The DVD is entirely useless due to Steam's technical problems.

Steam, of course, has not responded to my trouble ticket.

The fair thing to do would be to be able to return the game for a full refund, since I can't play it through no fault of my own, but of course that's not an option.

I used to sympathize when software devs and publishers complained about piracy. Now I see why people pirate games instead of paying for them (besides just being thieves)...Bethesda basically just stole from me, so why would it be wrong to turn the tables?

I didn't like GFWL, but I prefer it to Steam. So far this is one high mark for Fallout 3 that FO:New Vegas cannot surpass.