Mass Effect 3 Demo Shows the Absurdity of Xbox Live Gold - 1UP

[fastyxx]

Scoobes said:

fastyxx said:

4.  Steam is a store and a store only.  The price for their bandwidth is included in the pricing of their games.  Simiar to Live, their social features, like friends and acheievements, are set up only so that you feel almost obligated to use their retail portal so that they can be a dominant retailer of digital downloads.  You are paying per download in the price of each game versus a subscription fee. 

You must have used Steam in 2005...

Welcome to 2012, where Steam isn't only a Store but a full blown online service with all the services (plus a few extra) offered by X-box Live and PSN:

http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/gameservices.php

You can add to that list cloud storage for storing saved games (up to 100mb per game)

You're missing the point.  The only reason they HAVE those features is so that you'll buy all your product in the one integrated space.  They make their money by being your store - the community and social functions and cloud storage and the like are solely there so that you'll buy all your digital downloads in one place.  Versus a Live, where it serves that purposebut also must entice you to buy the console and the accessories and invest in the brand enough to buy the next console, and to tie you to bing and windows, etc. etc.  It goes so far beyond just the simpler goals of Steam.