Carmack: Doom 4 is so big it may not fit on PS3 Bluray Discs

[Redeemer812]

Steam is total crap. 10 reasons:

1. Offline mode is flimsy and crashes often, many times for no reason.

2. It does not remember your update settings and often times will begin updating a game even if you specifically tell it not to.

3. It occasionally stalls for minutes on end and refuses all input.

4. It will sometimes refuse to boot a game and give a useless error message that gives no reason for the failure. Restarting fixes the problem sometimes. (that should sound very wrong to you)

5. It takes forever to start up and it hogs system resources.

6. It screws with your system files and half-integrates itself with Windows.

7. Uninstall.exe NEVER cleans up all the files and registry entries.

8. The "in-game community" feature will ALWAYS eventually turn itself back on after you turn it off.

9. Said community feature interferes with gameplay by hogging resources, creating hitches in gameplay with its stupid pop-ups, and causes problems for those rare cases when you actually hit the magic key combo to turn it on.

10. The occasional random crash will sometimes corrupt game files, forcing you to redownload/reinstall them.

The fact that Rage will require Steam is one of the reasons that I changed my mind again and decided that I would order the Xbox version.

I really don't understand people who actually like Steam and even go so far as to try to defend it from the unwavering truth, which clearly states that it is a total piece of crap. (see above)

[Edward850]

Redeemer812 said:

Steam is total crap. 10 reasons:

Oh this will be fun.

Redeemer812 said:

1. Offline mode is flimsy and crashes often, many times for no reason.

Works for me.

Redeemer812 said:

2. It does not remember your update settings and often times will begin updating a game even if you specifically tell it not to.

Never had that problem.

Redeemer812 said:

3. It occasionally stalls for minutes on end and refuses all input.

Never had that problem either.

Redeemer812 said:

4. It will sometimes refuse to boot a game and give a useless error message that gives no reason for the failure. Restarting fixes the problem sometimes. (that should sound very wrong to you)

Never had that problem either. I'm sensing a pattern here.

Redeemer812 said:

5. It takes forever to start up and it hogs system resources.

It uses 10MB. Explorer uses more. Are you going to stop using Windows as well?

Redeemer812 said:

6. It screws with your system files and half-integrates itself with Windows.

No it doesn't. I could delete the steam folder from Program Files, and it wouldn't affect windows in the slightest. That hardly seems integrated at all. Making things up won't make your 'argument' seem more 'convincing'.

Redeemer812 said:

7. Uninstall.exe NEVER cleans up all the files and registry entries.

It does clean up registry settings. Then all you need to do is delete the folder. You know, like every other program with user settings.

Redeemer812 said:

8. The "in-game community" feature will ALWAYS eventually turn itself back on after you turn it off.

Never had that problem. Still sensing a pattern here.

Redeemer812 said:

9. Said community feature interferes with gameplay by hogging resources, creating hitches in gameplay with its stupid pop-ups, and causes problems for those rare cases when you actually hit the magic key combo to turn it on.

Never had that problem. You can switch off pop-ups regardless (yes, all of them). also try changing the key combo if the current one annoys you so much.

Redeemer812 said:

10. The occasional random crash will sometimes corrupt game files, forcing you to redownload/reinstall them.

What random crashes? Are you sure we are talking about the same program?

Redeemer812 said:

The fact that Rage will require Steam is one of the reasons that I changed my mind again and decided that I would order the Xbox version.

Your loss.

Redeemer812 said:

I really don't understand people who actually like Steam and even go so far as to try to defend it from the unwavering truth, which clearly states that it is a total piece of crap. (see above)

"Stop liking things I don't like."

[Megamur]

I like Steam. It definitely does have problems, as I, too, wish it were less resource-intensive and more stable. However, being able to automatically update your game, chat with other players, see when friends are in a game and joining them, and having game downloads on demand (sometimes for ridiculously low prices) are all nice things.

[Redeemer812]

Oh, sorry. I forgot to mention that Steam works perfectly as long as you don't disrupt any of its "normal operating procedures." Like closing the program with its own exit option.

What random crashes? Are you sure we are talking about the same program?

Oh no. I'm just making all of this up to annoy you.

Seriously though, its pretty clear by this that you don't believe a word I say. Although I could probably dig up some terribly incriminating evidence that Steam is total crapware, I really don't have time for this.

EDIT: Thanks for your post, Megamur. I'm not saying I hate all that Steam stands for. It's got some good ideas behind it, and I wouldn't mind seeing a more stable, robust online gaming platform like it. But my personal experiences with Steam makes it impossible for me to enjoy it myself in the slightest.

Oh yeah, I take back the last snide remark I made in this post. Not sure if anyone saw it, but nevertheless...

[Edward850]

Redeemer812 said:

Seriously though, its pretty clear by this that you don't believe a word I say. Although I could probably dig up some terribly incriminating evidence that Steam is total crapware, I really don't have time for this.

Well it's kind of hard to believe you when I, or anybody else I know, have never had these problems occur in the slightest. It's like you live in some alternate reality where nothing works for you, ever. I mean, maybe these problems do occur for you, but when you are the only person I have ever heard of exhibiting these problems, then maybe the issue is something other then the program?

[Redeemer812]

I'm not sure what the deal is, but my theory is that Steam only has problems on relatively low-end PCs that lack a constant internet connection.

I'll be honest and say that by modern standards, my hardware is rather dated. In fact, it's really just a hand-me-down, pre-built, 2005 Gateway desktop (I've never had the money for my own gaming PC). But I know that I've taken very good care of the thing. In my hands, it's outlived its brothers by several years (the other computers went to my older, but less technically capable/responsible siblings).

But it's not ancient, and let's be honest: something even that old should have no problem running Steam. For crying out loud, Steam is a software manager. Some people seem to be able to run Steam just fine (like you, apparently) but the fact that there is a group of people like me, even if we're a minority, that have this much trouble from such a simple piece of software is just baffling.

[Edward850]

Redeemer812 said:

I'm not sure what the deal is, but my theory is that Steam only has problems on relatively low-end PCs that lack a constant internet connection.

That's precisely the problem, actually. An unstable internet connection will cause it grief. Not sure why to be honest, but that's what happens. Try to run it on dial-up and it will take half-an-hour to actually get anywhere, if at all.

[AirRaid]

I can't remember the last time I had a serious problem with steam that didn't involve me forgetting my password.

The only two major problems I see cropping up regularly are that
a) Offline mode can be a heap of junk; it seems to want to have been online before you switch it over. (If you know this and anticipate it however, it goes into offline mode just fine and stays there)

b) That their support are kinda slow to respond. They are hitting 4 million simultaneous users now though, I wouldn't actually expect lighting quick responses (even if it would be nice for them to, you know, hire more staff)

Redeemer812 said:

I'm not sure what the deal is, but my theory is that Steam only has problems on relatively low-end PCs that lack a constant internet connection.

http://store.steampowered.com/about/

The Steam website said:

System Requirements

Windows XP, Vista, or 7
512 MB RAM
1 Ghz or faster processor

Internet connection (broadband recommended)

It does tell you about this. At least twice before you install. And then the very first line of the Subscriber agreement is

Steam is an online service ("Steam") offered by Valve Corporation ("Valve").

You don't really have any comeback there.

As for resources, I'm not sure what resources it hogs. It sits 10th on my memory used list at 11MB, and ~25-30th on CPU. Considering everything Steam manages to do that's not bad at all.

Take a look at a similar, and theoretically simpler service, which is even more popuilar - iTunes. And then come back and say Steam is a resource hog with a straight face.

The fact is that Steam would not be anywhere near as popular or successful as it is today if it weren't a solid platform. When it launched Steam really was buggy and pretty awful, but it's come a hell of a long way from there.

[Redeemer812]

You don't really have any comeback there.

I meet the system requirements just fine, thank you very much. My PC is not nearly that old.

The only area I fall short in is the broadband connection. We use wireless modems here at home because of our poor location (we live in a pit, basically). The things aren't very speedy but they are certainly much faster than dial-up and under some circumstances are even able to handle online-play rather well.

What I don't understand is why Steam requires such a great connection to run well. The sum of its application consists of managing software and displaying web pages. Should that really create a strain on the average PC/connection? I think not.