Pre-load on Steam?

To SI, is there going to be a pre-load for Steam users?

I hope so, and I will love to know when does it start, because I have a pretty slow connection and wan't to start as soon as possible.

what is a pre load?

Basically steam has the ability to 'pre-load' a game by downloading it, but the game remains locked until the release date.

On some preordered Steam games, you can download the game files early, so the game will be complete at release date, and you can start playing from minute one.

thats a great idea, shame i can never get steam to work though

cheers for your time both!

What was the advantage of using Steam that SI mentioned?

What was the advantage of using Steam that SI mentioned?

There is no chance you can lose or scratch a Steam game

Steam games are available to play on any computer

Steam offers tons of games at bargain basement prices. I bought MLB2K10 for $1.99 at the same time I bought FM2011.

I thing heheheman is talking about some kind of 'surprise' that is exclusive to Steam users, but it wasn't revealed AFAIK.

Yeah Geo thats what i as talking about. Any ideas what it could be?

Bababui - I like steam, When I bought HL2 it required I install steam so have used it a few years now. Civ5 was the first actual purchase I made over steam. Great advantages like you mentioned.

There is no chance you can lose or scratch a Steam game

Steam games are available to play on any computer

Steam offers tons of games at bargain basement prices. I bought MLB2K10 for $1.99 at the same time I bought FM2011.

Going slightly off topic, MLB2K10 is a pretty good game, but it's a little easy tbh. I hit .430 in my 2nd year in the big leagues.

Everyone has already mentioned the benefits in this thread. There's also sales (like right now) and around Christmas time you can always find bargains.

And if you buy FM11 through Steam (or activate through Steam), you get an exclusive skin for the game, achievements, and maybe some other surprises...

There is no chance you can lose or scratch a Steam game

Steam games are available to play on any computer

Steam offers tons of games at bargain basement prices. I bought MLB2K10 for $1.99 at the same time I bought FM2011.

hey nooooow!!

There is no chance you can lose or scratch a Steam game

Steam games are available to play on any computer

Steam offers tons of games at bargain basement prices. I bought MLB2K10 for $1.99 at the same time I bought FM2011.

hey nooooow!!

Yeah but if by some "luck" STEAM goes bankrupt so do all of your games. Id always rather have the "hard copy".

Yeah but if by some "luck" STEAM goes bankrupt so do all of your games. Id always rather have the "hard copy".

in case of that happens witch is highly unlikely there will be a patch that will allow you to keep your games

Si still didn't announced the exclusive steam favorites for this year apart from achievements

The last 2 years we have been able to preload FM on the day before it released. I'm sure we'll be able to again.

says on steam for FM11:

This game will unlock in approximately 4 days and 8 hours

that would be around 4pm on Friday, which would suck

says on steam for FM11:

that would be around 4pm on Friday, which would suck

Please note that is says unlock; not open for download.

thanks for that...

in case of that happens witch is highly unlikely there will be a patch that will allow you to keep your games

That's a not true.

The EULA states that they can terminate your account when ever they feel like it and without warning.

nowhere is it stated that they will patch the games nor have they ever said so.

That said.. If Valve where to go bankrupt. (very _VERY_ unlikely) they will sell steam.

The idea of Valve going bankrupt is hilarious to me, but then stranger things have happened.

I really don't see the advantage of using steam, unless you want major baseball league etc, which i don't.

Is it cheaper than instore copies?

The only thing is patching, which is automatic, but not sure when the 11.1 patch is released anyway

Can normally pre-load at some point the day before release, with the game unlocking at midnight. Usually anyways

That's a not true.

The EULA states that they can terminate your account when ever they feel like it and without warning.

nowhere is it stated that they will patch the games nor have they ever said so.

That said.. If Valve where to go bankrupt. (very _VERY_ unlikely) they will sell steam.

its true valve already stated that several times on steam forums and Gabe himself said on an interview

Nothing to stop them going bankrupt. Do they have to pay all server costs for keeping Steam running? Can't be cheap. Look how many developers over the last 20 years have gone Bankrupt (and I mean a lot of big ones as well).

Yeah but if by some "luck" STEAM goes bankrupt so do all of your games. Id always rather have the "hard copy".

what aload of rubbish

the games are installed on your own computer mate, and you can set all your games to offline mode

so the game wont be unlocked til 4.30pm on friday? any1 else notice that?

so the game wont be unlocked til 4.30pm on friday? any1 else notice that?

people panic

it will be released on 5th november probably at 12.01 am

Nothing to stop them going bankrupt. Do they have to pay all server costs for keeping Steam running? Can't be cheap. Look how many developers over the last 20 years have gone Bankrupt (and I mean a lot of big ones as well).

I wouldn't worry about this too much. If nothing else they could just add some more hats to team fortress 2 to pay the next months bills Its actually quite scary how well that gimmick has worked. Not only have them made loads of money since that update, but the player base (daily counts) have almost doubled from prior to the update. Not bad for a 5 year old game! Note: if you are a sega/SI employee, or work with any gaming company, please disregard the last paragraph! DLC and micro transactions are bad! Thanks!

On the serious side, I don't see valve/steam encountering any financial difficulties that could cause them to have to totally pull the plug. Even if the the next half life engine totally flopped, and at the same time a new completely sweet engine came and and was used for everything, the steam portion would still make money.

Back to the topic, I think it would be great if SI were to allow steam to let users Pre-Load the game so that it would be ready to be played as soon as it was unlocked. Steam would likely go along with it as even now FM is in steams top 10 games played daily (the FM 2011 demo is as well). While it may not sell quite as many overall titles (I have no numbers on this but I'm sure SI/steam do), the more users playing daily, the more steam users see the news and sales, and the more over-all games purchased! All things being said, I'm good either way. When it unlocks at midnight, I'll likely hit download and then go to sleep. When I get up, It will be downloaded and ready to go!

people panic

it will be released on 5th november probably at 12.01 am

cheers for that

On the serious side, I don't see valve/steam encountering any financial difficulties that could cause them to have to totally pull the plug. Even if the the next half life engine totally flopped, and at the same time a new completely sweet engine came and and was used for everything, the steam portion would still make money.

Where is the next Half Life? Episode 3 should have been out a year ago. Im starting to get worried.

LOL Half Life 2: Episode 3.

Think it's been shredded and put in a box somewhere. I imagine they'll just announce Half Life 3 in a couple of years time

Where is the next Half Life? Episode 3 should have been out a year ago. Im starting to get worried.

I was actually joking with my friend the other day in TF2 that with the money they made on the tf2 update, episode 3 doesn't need to come out for another 6 months

Either way, I still believe that without the HL IP, valve would still make money on steam. With the ability to sell micro transactions within games with the HL engine (this was why they were testing with tf2), the platform itself will only become even more profitable. Almost everything I purchase these days is through steam (and I used to be a steam hater) and I have no doubt the games will be available long after I ever think about wanting to load them up again.

(OT MLB 2k10 for $1.99 was a fantastic deal, I was tempted to pick it up for long term storage despite owning the game in physical media form)

I am confident that Steam will be successful for a few years yet. However one day it will be overtaken! But I am prepared that the games I have I may lose at that point. It's a bit like when you lost your VHS collection when DVDs came out. Anyway..

It would be good if SI can confirm a preload date, so we don't all end up hanging around on the 5th until 9pm at night The game is already out on piratethingy - why punish us any longer with a long release day wait for downloading when the load can be spread over 3 days beforehand.

Where is the next Half Life? Episode 3 should have been out a year ago. Im starting to get worried.

Valve is notoriously bad when it comes to releasing stuff on time (Valve time). I'm not the least bit worried about them. They still rake good amounts of money from their older games like L4D2 which is currently 2nd on top sellers list and TF2 is 5th on the same list. Both are on -50% sale though. Even though HL2:EP3 is in some kind of time vortex they are publishing two major titles (Portal 2 and DotA 2) soon. Valve also makes good money with Steam taking a fee for every game sold and Steam currently holds about 70% of the digital distribution market. They are also going to expand steam to PS3 in the future, the details are unknown though. They also get some money from licensing the Source engine to other developers and letting online games use VAC. Long story short: Valve is not going out of business anytime soon.

Valve is notoriously bad when it comes to releasing stuff on time (Valve time). I'm not the least bit worried about them. They still rake good amounts of money from their older games like L4D2 which is currently 2nd on top sellers list and TF2 is 5th on the same list. Both are on -50% sale though. Even though HL2:EP3 is in some kind of time vortex they are publishing two major titles (Portal 2 and DotA 2) soon. Valve also makes good money with Steam taking a fee for every game sold and Steam currently holds about 70% of the digital distribution market. They are also going to expand steam to PS3 in the future, the details are unknown though. They also get some money from licensing the Source engine to other developers and letting online games use VAC. Long story short: Valve is not going out of business anytime soon.

Which is a great thing. I cant think of another game or series of games that approach the brilliance and imagination of the Half Life series, IMO. In fact, Im playing through it all again in the runup to friday. Am I the only one who would love to use Freeman's crowbar on Joey Barton??

I wouldn't worry about this too much. If nothing else they could just add some more hats to team fortress 2 to pay the next months bills Its actually quite scary how well that gimmick has worked. Not only have them made loads of money since that update, but the player base (daily counts) have almost doubled from prior to the update. Not bad for a 5 year old game! Note: if you are a sega/SI employee, or work with any gaming company, please disregard the last paragraph! DLC and micro transactions are bad! Thanks!

It amazes me it does make money though, personally I can't play that game any more its like all the lamest elements in the original game have been taken to the extreme in the additional weapons and when you see some of the rubbish people have on their head... I sure hope SI don't do gimmicks like this.

I really don't see the advantage of using steam, unless you want major baseball league etc, which i don't.

Is it cheaper than instore copies?

The only thing is patching, which is automatic, but not sure when the 11.1 patch is released anyway

Instore copies? You're not from 'round here are ya?

Not sure what it's like in the UK these days, but the PC section in most stores is very small. My only other option apart from Steam is Amazon.com or pay to have it shipped across the Atlantic. Then again, I have yet to have any issues with Steam and if Valve ever goes under, well, I guess I'll just wait for FM2030 (or whatever).

In the Steam store it says in 3 days and 3 hours meaning around 17:00 GMT on thursday. Don't know how accurate that is.

People talking about time like we are all in one timezone...Steam is now saying it will unlock at approximately 11:00am for me...that would be approximately 5:00pm London time...note the operative word, there....

if it says 3 days and 3 hours thats 5 on friday isn't it? which is late. Or does the clock not update? why cant someone from steam just say when its going to be available?

what day troyer? thursday or friday?

Friday (I'm in the US Central Time Zone).

Don't get too worked up about the release time; it did this last year, too, and came out at 12:01 (if I recall correctly.) And don't forget that a day or so ago Steam was saying that the game had released in October!

Even though Steams says 3 days for us US Steamers, it should be ready on Thursday evening. It will be at midnight on Friday UK time; if Steam gave it to us on Friday it would be just because they feel like delaying it for us :S

People talking about time like we are all in one timezone...Steam is now saying it will unlock at approximately 11:00am for me...that would be approximately 5:00pm London time...note the operative word, there....

Well I said GMT in my post.

if it says 3 days and 3 hours thats 5 on friday isn't it? which is late. Or does the clock not update? why cant someone from steam just say when its going to be available?

You are right, hmm somehow mixed that up

Most of my boxed games also no longer work, because they only support dos / directx3 / my video card is no longer compatible...

I like steam, because it's just extremely easy. Just pay, download, done, in a couple hours without leaving the house. Also easy to reinstall games when you have a new computer and have all your achievements / savegames transfered.

As for Valve going broke, as said, Steam can be sold, as it is pretty much seperate from their game development. Also, I dont think I will miss most of the games I once bought. I have like 20 titles on Steam, and I only play 2 of them anymore, so I doubt I will be crying once it happens.

I do hope there is a pre-load option however, and it has been their the previous years. I do hope that there are no problems registering the game once it is launched, cause that did happen for FM08 and/or 09. So let's hope it goes smoothly this time around.

And, as of 2 minutes ago, you can start preloading.

And, as of 2 minutes ago, you can start preloading.

US based Steamer here, and preload is now, er, preloading

1.3Mb/sec - oh how I love preloading!!!

I can close this then:D