lost_soul on 9/6/2009 at 16:32
I wanted to play Quake 3 again recently, so I began shopping around for a copy. On Steam, it was $19.99 (with team arena), but I found Q3A on Amazon used for $5. There was another copy for less than $3, but I purchased the $5 one because the shipping is done by Amazon.
Anyway, $19.99 seems outrageous for a 9+ year old game when they don't even supply you with a physical product. I also plan to play this on Linux, and I don't know if Steam supplies you with a CD-Key and if that is possible.
If the software companies want digital distribution to take off, the prices need to be competitive. I would have gladly paid that $5 to Id Software, because I appreciate them releasing their engines as open-source.
Hopefully this used copy's key is not banned.
addink on 9/6/2009 at 17:05
Be glad you don't live in euroland.
Steam basically converts the dollar prices 1:1 to euros while the exchange ratio is 1 euro to 1.4 dollars.. That's 28 dollars for Quake3.
I rarely buy stuff of Steam, even most of their weekend deals are more expensive than regular prices elsewhere.
On the subject of Quake3, I guess you haven't checked out (
http://www.quakelive.com) quakelive.com
EDIT: Flux beat me to it..
lost_soul on 9/6/2009 at 17:17
Yeah I am aware of Quakelive, but there is no Linux support yet (and I don't feel like hacking around with wine). I also want a copy that will work ten+ years from now that I can play on a laptop whenever.
SubJeff on 9/6/2009 at 17:39
Quote Posted by addink
even most of their weekend deals are more expensive than regular prices elsewhere.
Yeah thats just not true is it?
Regular games perhaps, but the weekend deals tend to be pretty good value.
gunsmoke on 9/6/2009 at 17:46
Yeah, I am usually shocked by some of the prices they charge for older games, but they are there 24 hours a day and you don't have to go hunting for them. Still, I have yet to actually purchase anything through Steam. My valve shit is all physical copies.
EvaUnit02 on 9/6/2009 at 18:02
Quote Posted by lost_soul
and I don't know if Steam supplies you with a CD-Key and if that is possible.
Of course it does, it's needed to play online. ALL games on Steam are supplied with keys as required.
I'm surprised that you're even considering Steam.
1. It requires Internet Explorer.
2. Every game sold on Steam has Steamworks DRM, which uses unlimited online activation. Games are tied to a username and password.
We all know how you're a paranoid nutcase, labelling every form of DRM as "corporate malware". :rolleyes:
Steam gives users the convenience of being able download and play their games from any PC (and as many times as they want), as long as they have Windows + a broadband connection. Plus it downloads and automatically patches games (which you can opt out of).
Once a game has been launched once whilst a Steam account is logged in online, it can then be run in the Steam client app's offline mode.
Valve is a company that values its customers and keeps its word (not counting the Left 4 Dead 2 fiasco. Chet Faliszek can go fuck himself.), if they ever do go belly up (highly unlikely) they have promised to provide a solution to disable Steamworks for all your games.
lost_soul on 9/6/2009 at 18:24
I saw some people saying that you can buy Q3A on steam and then run it with the IOquake3 source port or the official Id binaries. I was considering steam because I want to play it now, but this copy should be here by Thursday, which is fast enough.
BTW, Steam works on Linux. I still use it to play TFC occasionally.
EvaUnit02 on 9/6/2009 at 18:36
Quote Posted by lost_soul
I saw some people saying that you can buy Q3A on steam and then run it with the IOquake3 source port or the official Id binaries.
That is totally true.
Quote:
BTW, Steam works on Linux.
That's good to know. Could you please go into the specifics of how?
lost_soul on 9/6/2009 at 18:42
Sure, I run it with Wine 1.1.18.
It installs and runs just fine. The only thing I had to do was put the Tahoma fonts in the WIndows/fonts directory. Before doing this, some of the tab labels looked like crap.
