Well its the features is all. Steam is not the devil if anything they have really been helping the PC games industry for a while now an making it profitable again. A big part of it is their Steamworks feature set. Letting you download an install a game you own as many times as you want onto any computer. Being able to upload your save games onto a cloud so you can also get them from anywhere. Automatic patching, friends list an achievements. That was their philosophy on how to get around the piracy issue. To provide more value to the customer for buying the game an eliminate the hassle. Now GOG is pretty much that same philosophy so I like them as well. It's just when trying to figure out what version of the game you want to buy the Steam version is tempting cause of those features. In fact it's kind of strange cause they also made the Retail version of the game more attractive than the GOG version as well. By including all those nice hard goods like the cloth map, guides an such.If they would sell me a Retail copy through their website with the hard goods an optional Steamworks integration I would probably buy it even if cost 10 or 20 dollars more. Maybe then they could get full profit an I could get full features haha.
probably because steam is super convenient and people can't seem yo manage just a few extra steps. oh and steam is guaranteed to have fast downloads, whereas gog...don't know. hopefully.
Steam is much better known, many people have not heard about GOG, or just learned about it. Brand trust and convenience methinks. Also, most people don't care about DRMs as much. Say what you well about the GOG PR stunt earlier this year, but it taught me to backup my games and learn the value of DRM-free downloads.But objectively speaking, you get a much better deal from GOG.Then again, I'm getting the CE from gram.pl (Polish localisation) which is an even better deal as far as I'm concerned, even if mild DRM should be applied.
Steam has its auto-patching, download-from-anywhere and friends overlay as advantages (I wouldn't include achievements, cos those come from the developer anyway).GOG.com has the insurance than once you downloaded, there's no DRM and you never need to worry if CD Projekt closes down. With Steam, I'd have lost hundreds of dollars of games.I'm really torn between the two.For Witcher 2 though, I think you get a little bit more in terms of the free bonuses they give out with every game.
Steam is far more popular and better known, it has some nice features, like server stored savegames, achievements (some people are real suckers for those), friend list and in-game chats - and many others. Also, its simply convenient to have all your digital edition games in one place if you are a long time steam user (I am).That said, I'd buy a gog version myself if I wanted a digital copy (I'm getting a physical collector's edition this time), since dev support is a top factor for a fan like me, plus I already own several gog oldies and is happy with their service and ideas - but I can see why many people prefer steam.
TW2 would be awesome if used steamworks for real, not achievements are important but things like friends playing it, steam is also non-intrusive platform of having legit games so retail copy should be bound to steamworks imho.
I would prefer that they go the same route that Egosoft did with X3:The Terran Conflict in its latest patch. Give you a CD key (only used to activate on steam)You can install the game from the disk and play without steam OR, optionally you could Register the CD key with steam to add the game to your library enabling the steam features.This way you get the best of both worlds, the ability to install and play it without steam and the ability to use Steam's functionality if you so choose.
It would be nice to have the OPTIONAL ability to do this but I don't think that they will.SeeDborg said:
I do not support Steam. If you do, I want you to continue to love it. I have no interest in changing your view. And you cannot change my view.I'm posting because I would like to know if Steam is required for the retail boxed version. Pre-orders are being taken; so, I would like to know if the boxed game requires Steam. If it does, then I have no interest in this game and I will not purchase it. If Steam is not a requirement, then I will place my pre-order. Thank you
GoG is the best online games retailer I know of. Their package for TW2 is the best deal I've ever seen for a modern game, considering the price. Steam is....ok. Go with GoG and support the devs. There is no reason to buy the game from Steam.