Why Does the Game Download Again After Pre Downloaded
5 best game download services
Ten years ago, the mere proffer of downloading a game digitally would have left most PC gamers aghast.
"What of my phone pecker!?" "Won't the Boutique of Electronics shut downwards equally a result!?" "Who is this Horatio chap, and what does he want with my daughter?"
Fortunately, we shortly got out of the early on-millennial way of thinking and accepted digital downloads as the way forwards. As with all other shifts in the games industry, the PC led where others will surely follow. Digital distribution platforms, such as Steam, basically nabbed the iTunes model and applied information technology to gaming. Very successfully.
We've actually reached a bespeak where physical media is becoming less and less relevant. Concrete copies of recent games such equally Deus Ex: Man Revolution and Modern Warfare: Black Ops have only been containers for a Steam code and a fleck of data, the residuum of which is downloaded online.
The opinion seems to exist that the majority of PC gamers don't care almost boxed goods, and would rather be able to play their games on the day they're released than accept to wait around with a Gregg'south pasty waiting for their local branch of GAME to open.
In turn, every other platform is getting in on the digital download malarkey. It seems that neither the PlayStation Network or the Xbox Alive Arcade were quite set for just how massive digital downloads would be, and the tiny file size limit (350MB on Xbox Live, concluding time we checked) has stopped console downloads being as big as the PC.
In the concurrently, the PC is still the best platform for digital downloads, and there are a fair few contenders to Valve'due south crown. The most important is likely to be EA's Origin, which is playing host to the visitor's upcoming uber-blockbuster, Battlefield three. In fact, the war game won't be enjoying a Steam release at all, although it will exist available on a few other digital distribution platforms.
We've rounded up five of the biggest and most interesting platforms, and given them a run for their money in terms of download speeds, blueprint, and content. We've left out more than specialist services such as Good Old Games and Blizzard's Battle.net as the titles on these sites often aren't available anywhere else, which would hardly brand for a off-white comparing.
1. Steam
The original game download service, launched by Valve in 2004. The decision to release Half-Life 2 on the service in 2005 saw PC gamers downloading Steam en masse, and subsequent releases saw it expand in popularity. Forbes estimates that 50-70 per cent of PC gaming's $4billion income comes through Steam.
Information technology'due south not without its bug, though. If you oasis't fix Steam to offline mode, and find yourself without an internet connection, yous won't be able to access any of your games. Plus it occupies a shady expanse of UK distance selling regulations, which land that you're allowed seven days to try out products bought online - Steam doesn't offer refunds.
With an apparent lxx per centum cutting for big publishers who get their games on Steam, it's an attractive choice. DRM for Valve and some third-party titles is supplied via Steamworks, with publishers able to stick other forms of protection on tiptop of their games. The latter tin can evidence to be a bit of a nightmare, specially if information technology's Fallout 3's Games for Windows Live or GTA Iv's Social Social club.
Valve has absolutely nailed the user experience. Everyone who plays PC games has Steam, and its chat and social features are second-to-none. Nonetheless, surprisingly, we found our download speeds lagged a piddling. There's as well no incentive plan to keep you coming back, and Steam keys can now exist sold past 3rd-political party sites.
Steam has set the loftier h2o marking for PC game download services, and information technology has besides sneaked onto the PlayStation three and Mac. Information technology's also got a humongous catalogue of iii,710 games - only information technology'southward going to face up some tough competition as other publishers greenbacks in on digital acquirement.
2. Origin
EA's brand-spanking-new web store is rather like its quondam i, just with an original name. It's aiming to match its "leading competitor [read: Steam] by 2012", and it - somewhat unsurprisingly - only stocks EA titles. Even though information technology'southward still in its nascent stages, Origin is fairly fully formed.
Just Origin has stirred controversy recently - specially when it comes to its relationship with Steam.
The decision to brand Battlefield three an Origin-exclusive seemingly didn't go down also well with Valve, and Crysis 2 has been pulled from Steam - although EA believes this to be a mere coincidence.
The plot thickens when yous realise that Valve and EA accept a mutually benign relationship - the manufacture and distribution of Valve'south boxed products is silently handled past EA.
Every bit a customer, Origin is nicely laid-out and easy to use. The games seem generally cheaper than on Steam, too with Dead Space 2 costing £19.99 on Steam and £xiv.99 on Origin. Download speeds are solidly impressive, and the fact that you don't have to get through the Origin layer to access your games is a boon to anyone who likes gaming on the move.
EA has big plans for Origin, such as an iPhone version and potential cross-compatibility across upcoming consoles. Information technology'southward still got a long way to go earlier it tin can compete with Steam, simply it's slick and smooth enough to be a serious contender.
Battlefield 3 volition either define or sink it, and our coin's firmly on the sometime - at the end of the day, most gamers aren't going to worry also much about where their game comes from, as long every bit they can play it.
three. Direct2Drive
Started originally by IGN, Direct2Drive has recently been purchased by United states game rental service Gamefly. Gamefly itself is launching an online rental service soon, so Direct2Drive has been slightly neglected, just it's still an interesting online game shop.
Direct2Drive doesn't have a client as such, instead it installs a basic "shop" which redirects to the website, as well as GameSpy Comrade for online matchmaking and chats.
It's a slightly hotchpotch system, just information technology only about works. With over 1,500 titles, its catalogue isn't lacking, although nosotros had problems getting a decent download speed.
Some titles - such as Deus Ex: Human Revolution - simply consist of a Steam primal to become the game, which is a tad annoying.
Unlike Steam, nigh games simply require a one-time activation to become them working, so there'south no fretting most being offline. The downside is that many titles use the infamously Callous Securom DRM, but apparently the support team will ship out more access codes if y'all run out.
At that place's some other goodness, too. Direct2Drive promises to price-match any game yous've bought if you find information technology on a competitor's site for cheaper. It will as well refund your game if yous request your money back within a reasonable amount of fourth dimension, and haven't activated the title.
Direct2Drive is definitely due an overhaul, though, and hopefully Gamefly's ownership will give it the lick of pigment it so badly needs. If Gamefly tin also bring its rental plan - which gives you lot unlimited games for a monthly fee - to the UK, it could be the unique selling betoken information technology needs to muscle in on Steam, Gaikai and Onlive.
four. Greenish Man Gaming
Probably the most interesting and innovative service in our circular-upwards, Dark-green Man Gaming is a British starting time-up. On the surface, information technology looks similar any other download service, and to some extent it pretty much is. Where the Green Human being stands out is in its trade-in policy.
Although a trade-in organisation may seem a tad odd on digital products, it does actually work. If a game gets the become-alee from publishers, it's listed and sold through Dark-green Man Gaming'south site. Yous can download and play the game to your heart's content, but if you get bored, or just don't similar it, you can merchandise it in for a sure value - normally about 25% of the price you paid for it. Bigger games don't characteristic the trade-in organisation, but yous can withal put your credits towards them.
Prices on Dark-green Man Gaming fluctuate, and getting good prices is almost a game in itself - one user invested just 4p at the site's outset, and at present has £thirty of credit for the site. Green Human being Gaming reckons that, in essence, you're spending less money to get more games.
Although the range is currently a trivial thin, it's an interesting epitome for online gaming, specially in these days of wallet-watching credit crunches. Its Capsule software is a picayune clunky, and its slightly esoteric shopping system may get over the heads of some users.
The site'south success lies on people using it, and more merchandise-ins brand it better for anybody. If it takes off, it could well testify to exist an underdog challenger to Steam'south throne - unless Steam decides to nab the trade-in system for itself.
5. Games for Windows Market place
Microsoft has browbeaten around the bush with its Games for Windows Live platform for ages now, and seems to accept finally decided to integrate it with its Xbox portal. This could be part of some one thousand plan for the next Xbox console, only at the moment it's in a no-human's land of games services.
Like information technology or non, you've probably already got Games for Windows installed if you've got Dirt 3 or Dead Rising 2 - fifty-fifty if yous bought them via Steam. It feels a tad sneaky, and the sheer number of hoops you've got to become through to get games running makes for some major ball-aches. DLC is similarly ineffective, and nosotros still have nightmares near getting the add-ons for Fallout 3 working.
The Games for Windows Market catalogue currently stands at a pitiful 166 titles. Among these you'll find the triple-AAA likes of Dirt three and Bioshock two, but recent releases have been thin on the ground. It obviously works well enough for some publishers: Codemasters has released F1 2011 via Games for Windows Marketplace. It makes sense for Microsoft'southward own games: Legend 3 and Age of Empires are at that place too.
Microsoft clearly still has a vested interest in PC gaming, what with it owning that whole Windows thing. Games for Windows Live does expect rather spiffing; the MSN-manner messenger and wholly-cribbed-from-Xbox achievements organization work well. However, right at present it seems to be more of a promotion for the Xbox as a gaming platform than a fully-fledged service.
Verdict
Light-green Man Gaming comes a close second to Steam. On paper, Steam ticks all the right boxes, with decent download speeds, a huge catalogue of games, and a straightforward user interface. There's also the fact that just almost every PC gamer on the planet uses information technology, and information technology's established itself in the very bedrock of gaming.
Just Steam is simply our number 1 for the moment. In the coming months, especially with the release of Battleground 3, in that location could be some rather huge shifts in gaming clients, and the way we use them.
Each service we looked at has its ain unique selling indicate, from Origin'south cross-platform mechanics to Games for Windows Live'south apparent integration with the upcoming Windows eight.
Steam might never be toppled, merely it could run across a sizable share of its user base of operations migrate to other platforms.
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Offset published in PC Format Issue 259
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