Steam

[Karnak]

Steam has also enabled a lot of smaller developers to get their games to market where they never would have been able to buy shelf space in a brick and mortar store.

[Wiley]

It's ok, I just turn it off when I'm not using something that needs it.

Wiley.

[eagl]

I was wary of steam at first but after using it for a few years it doesn't seem to be too bad.  Some companies have had horrible launch portals (ICI anyone?) but steam has been pretty reasonable.  It has bloated up some in the last few years and has a ton of social gaming and stuff that I have absolutely no use for but which makes it load up quite a bit slower, but it does not appear to be too obnoxious in behavior.

Better yet, when you tell it to quit running, it quits.  And if you un-install it, it is pretty much gone gone gone with minimal traces left over and without nuking out other application settings in the process.  I don't think it hijacked a single file extension or other application, and it didn't mess with my browser settings or install an uninstallable toolbar or whatever.  Pretty well behaved compared to a lot of other portals and apps nowadays.

[PuppetZ]

People that are really finicky about security find it invasive and blan bla bla. Just as they find about ANY other program to be. If you have an aging machine it might slow it down some. If you have a good gaming rig, you will not see any real difference. The deal on it are pretty awesome. There is almost always something on sale and they have big sales during the different holidays. The biggest cons I can see about it is as you dont have to actually drive to a store and buy it there, it can easily lead to compulsive buy. Like you see something and clic clic clic it's your's. A big plus for me, is the wishlist feature. You see a game you'd like to buy but don't want to pay a premium for it. Add it to your wishlist and steam will let you know if and when it goes on sale.

Do it. Skyrim is worth any annoyance steam could cause you. And big chances are it wont

Also skyrim is on sale right now. 33% off. Hint Hint...

[Volron]

There was a 75% off sale on Sanctum last weekend (or was it the weekend before?).  Ye gotta love those sales!

[Gaidin]

Thanks for the reviews.  I segment mine and my wifes gaming rigs from the rest of our network, so Im not too worried about that.  All of my other machines are on a separate segment and never touch our gaming rigs.  This has kept my private stuff intact so far.  My biggest concern was with it causing problems with non-steam games, but if you can turn it off then I think I may give it a shot.

[Karnak]

I've never had to turn it off and it has never interfered with any application on my system.

[Volron]

I've never had to turn it off and it has never interfered with any application on my system.

Same here.  Hell, more often than not I forget it's even running when I'm playing any other games, Aces High included.  It doesn't affect anything, at least for me.

[Raphael]

you guys don't use steam overlay with aces high? I tought some big squads used it, might be helpfull even.
Most of the times when I'm in a long sortie I open the overlay to check the BBS forums, while I can easly see what's going on in game and can even fly the plane if needed to avoid a hill or something

[Wiley]

Same here.  Hell, more often than not I forget it's even running when I'm playing any other games, Aces High included.  It doesn't affect anything, at least for me.

It probably depends on how beefy your system is.  If you've got a decent gaming rig you likely won't even notice it's running.  As you get closer and closer to minimum specs, the chance for it to affect you goes up.

I noticed a (possibly coincidental) increase in CTDs in AH when Steam was running, so I only run it when I'm playing something that needs it now.

Wiley.

[Raphael]

Like this

[Raphael]

inception
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/578955961161814337/4B7C3F23B022F6571355DA2AAA51958A3568E84E/

[Babalonian]

Ok, well I have never had a game that required STEAM, but I really want to play Skyrim.  So about STEAM?

Do I have to be online to play a single-player game?  Does it really cause issues with computers?

Pro's?  Cons?

I have read alot of good and bad things about it.  Just trying to decide if its something I want to hassle with.

Steam got a lot of flak 10-years ago, when software first started "calling home" to verify the copy you paid for is something their studio/publisher got their share of credit/$ for.  Basicly copywrigth infringement issues - one kid would buy one game and share it with 12/24/200 of his closest friends.  But now they're almost the standard or at least started it.  Almost all software you are expected to pay for "dials home" to verify it's a legitimate copy/distribution that they got paid for, and nearly everyone now that utilises online gameplay only allows you to have an account if it directly associates to a legitimate purchase of the distributed software.  Almost all software (AH included) checks with the servers to make sure it's up to date upon launching or connecting online to play.

I've used steam, kinda have to for some of the real old goodies (*cough CS *cough* RO *cough*), and if anything I think the pressure is good for them.  IE:  At one point a long time ago, it was a chore to disable steam from running in the background, but they fixed that to only requiring steam to be running before launching/using their products.  (and if I recall you can disable steam so it only launches prior to launching these games).

[soda72]

I've been using Steam for the past 11 months and I like the service they provide.  As others have mentioned their customer service is terrible, but they do have other good qualities.  One other thing to note is that not every popular game is available on steam.  For instance EA no longer allows Steam to sell their games.  

Some other features I like about steam is that they have options to keep the game up-to-date with patches.  You don't have to go around looking for patches, even for old games that have been out for several years.  It takes care of it automatically for you, and it doesn't cost you a single dime.  If you need to re-download a game that you have purchased through them they don't charge you for it.  They also have a few decent free to play games like Team fortress 2, as well as some others.  

[Karnak]

It probably depends on how beefy your system is.  If you've got a decent gaming rig you likely won't even notice it's running.  As you get closer and closer to minimum specs, the chance for it to affect you goes up.

I noticed a (possibly coincidental) increase in CTDs in AH when Steam was running, so I only run it when I'm playing something that needs it now.

Wiley.

My system is, sadly, far from beefy.  AMD Athlon 64 4400 X2, 2gb memory, WinXP Pro and a 512mb nVidia card that cost me $1000 in Dec. 2010.