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Businesses Entertainment Games

Valve Games Still On Store Shelves 29

Posted by Zonk from the in-case-you-were-worried dept.
Valve has announced that despite its recent break with Vivendi Universal Games, games boxes will remain on store shelves after the August breakup. From the article: "The news will mollify retailers who feared that a recent legal settlement between Valve and VU Games, which will see VU Games withdrawing all of its Valve-created products from August 31st, could signal a move to online-only distribution for the firm's products."
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Valve Games Still On Store Shelves More

Valve Games Still On Store Shelves

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  • I wonder... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Nos. ( 179609 )

    How much of their customer base Valve would lose by going to an online distribution method as their only source?

    Now we all know that you require an internet connection for signup and to download the latest patches. Suppose however, that Valve allowed anyone to burn generic copies of HL2 (and previous/future releases) to their media of choice and distribute freely. None of these freely distributed versions would be playable until the user signed up with Valve and payed the "activation" fee. Valve gets to

    • Re:I wonder... (Score:3, Informative)

      by HD Webdev ( 247266 )
      JSYK, only 2-3% of the HL2 players are known to be using 56k.

      Here is the current hardware etc... information [steampowered.com].
    • Er... You can do that, I did it for my 56k friends, check under the backup utility. Right click on any game and push the backup button.
    • One of the things I'm sure someone will point out is that for many people, there's a bit more substance to a gift when you go buy a box in a store.

      I like being able to buy a box and stick it in some wrapping paper.

  • I for one.. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by root-kun ( 755141 )
    I know that personally (as a game collector) would not buy games online. Maybe if they were budget games, but anything serious I want a box and a disc that I can put on my shelf, and in 10 years replay! I cant forsee ganking a DVD-R with HalfLife3 out of the binder and having it work in 10 years, let alone finding it.
    Ofcourse online distribution would (if done properly) allow a company like Valve to sell their games cheaper, and have more direct control on the content. If they did it right, it would be a

    • Re:I for one.. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Grand ( 152636 )
      So you wont be able to find a DVD-R, but you will be able to find the OEM disc because its in a box????

      Personally, I like the idea that all I need is a login to get my games. I have a couple of games that I have lost the CDKEY's or the discs are scratched. Now it is my fault for this, but im still SOL. I believe that you can actually just copy the valve file for each game (Its one file per game) and your set. Just download/install steam, and copy that file into its respective folder and your set to pla
      • I like it also because I can log in from any computer that has Steam installed and play any game I have purchased.
        • While I'm not a big fan of some of the DRM stuff steam pulls, I do see this as the way of the future. Smaller game developers especially would benefit from straight online sales because there are no middle men cutting into their profits. However, boxed games will never go away. Just as someone posted earlier, they perfer the box with the booklet and artwork and whatnot. It's the same as the music industry right now, you can buy songs on iTunes or whatever, but most people still perfer to have an actual phys
      • He didn't say he wouldn't be able to find the DVD-R. He said he couldn't see the DVD-R still working when he looked for it 10 years later.

        Mass produced read-only media (CDs, cartridges) tend to have a much longer shelf life than writable media does (floppy, CD-R). That was the point of the message you replied to.

        There's also the issue off companies going out of business, resulting in the servers validating the DRM no longer existing.
    • "I want a box and a disc that I can put on my shelf, and in 10 years replay! I cant forsee ganking a DVD-R with HalfLife3 out of the binder and having it work in 10 years,"

      Are you saying HL2 bought from a store gives you some illusion you'll actually be able to do the above? That is, picking it out of a closet in 10 years time and playing? Good luck. Unless Valve's still online so you can decrypt the data after installing it, you'll be way better of burning a Steam backup onto a DVD-R.

      The future seems to
      • Are you saying HL2 bought from a store gives you some illusion you'll actually be able to do the above? That is, picking it out of a closet in 10 years time and playing? Good luck. Unless Valve's still online so you can decrypt the data after installing it, you'll be way better of burning a Steam backup onto a DVD-R.

        Just like there are no-cd executables, there are already cracked versions of Steam that allow the game to be played whether Valve exists or not.

        If Valve fell apart, we'd still be able to
        • The parent said he wanted to pick the box off the shelf, install and play. Not pick the box off the shelf, install, go online to download crack, then play.

          • The parent said he wanted to pick the box off the shelf, install and play. Not pick the box off the shelf, install, go online to download crack, then play.

            I'm aware of that.

            That's what quoting is for. I was replying to what I quoted.

  • Wait. (Score:1, Informative)

    by Pwned ( 799180 )
    You mean that I don't have to goto the mall anymore to buy games? What have I lost here? I'm only seeing this as a good thing.
    • You mean that I don't have to goto the mall anymore to buy games? What have I lost here? I'm only seeing this as a good thing.

      Yeah, it's very much a quality-of-life thing for me. I find this whole 'going outside' phenomenon to be in quite direct conflict with what I perceive to be an otherwise efficient video gaming existence, and so Valve's measures certainly seem a step forward. Why make a time-consuming trip to the mall during which I am neither gaining levels nor increasing my frag count when I cou
  • Does that mean HL2 is the last game ever that requires online updates and online forced registration? Is this prove that the model doesn't work.

    • Uhm no, VU has nothing to do with Steam at all, thats completely Valve. If anything, this proves that Valves approach using Steam as a distyribution method was a good choice for them, and they can use it again.
  • I bought the game from a store, and people condemn this action. However, when I recently bought a new HD, and moved all my games to it, it only took 10 mintues to reinstall HL2, instead of having to download the whole frigg'en thing again. Same thing would go if my HD crashed. At least when I bought Anarchy Online from their online store and downloaded it, I was able to burn it. Can you not burn a HL2 copy if you bought it through steam?

    • Re:I bought a hard copy... (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      yes you can make a backup of your game. I did it quite successfully when I moved to a new hdd.

      It was actually better than installing again from the original discs because all the latest updates were already in it, whereas when installing from disc I would have had to wait for the updates to re-download

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