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Forums - Gaming - How is the Ones and Steam's internet service different?

wfz on 07 June 2013
disolitude said:

PC is an open platform but PC isn't the platform we are talking about but just the hardware. Steam is the gaming platform and its not open.

I get that you can install a different gaming platform on to a PC, but you can also buy a different console platform which comes with its own hardware. I just see is as a different business model pushing similar gaming services.

Are you are arguing that Microsoft and Sony who make their own hardware and invest billions of dollars in R&D and price subsidizing needs to make this hardware open for everyone and their platforms to compete against them?


No no, don't shove arguments in my mouth. I was merely stating the differences between Steam and Xbone. 

Also, you keep forgetting that Steam itself isn't completely closed. You can buy games from other services and retailers and activate them on Steam if you wish. Steam doesn't control the price you pay for Steam games. The Xbone will have a similar service for physical games (since you can buy them at any retailer, right?) but on the digital side, it will be controlled and distributed by MS only. So you can't buy a digital game through another provider and activate it on your Xbone. (Well, unless retailers like amazon start selling digital codes for full retail games to activate on your Xbone. That would be cool.)



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Rafux on 07 June 2013
JusSayian said:
Rafux said:
JusSayian said:
disolitude said:
JusSayian said:
They're not that much different at all. The only difference is Xbox one exist in the physical world why steam exist solely in digital space for now.


Actually steam does have a retail presence and sells disks with games. Disks still need to be installed and activated and can't be resold once they are tied to an account.


was not aware of that. Sounds much worse then MS policies. Why arn't people complaining about this?


Cause you can choose to not buy steam retail games, on x1 is mandatory on all games also Steam is on PC not a console.


So if they do not buy a retail steam game they will have to download it from steam. You and you alone can play that game than, this is not the case with the Xbox one which allows up to 10 "family" memebers to play the game simultaneously on different accounts or systems without the need of the disc. While on steam if you switch PCs you have to redownload the entire game again.

Why does it matter then Xbox is console and Steam is on PC? The point is Steam is more restrictive and offers less but gets praised. The Xbox One is built for the future, and MS knows the Cloud is the future just like they XBL was the future when they built the first Xbox.

Theres been all sorts of DRM on PCs for more than 20 years, the root of it is the fact that PCs have always had installs because of the multitasking, you don't want to put your MS Office disc every time you want to use it right? PCs are not just for playing.

X1 on the other hand is a console which primary job is playing games and it should give users the option to play directly from the disc but instead of that installs and online activation are mandatory.

And that family members stuff is still confusing and not even MS twitter support knows all about it.



Jabbamk1 on 07 June 2013

-A PC is not a console
-Steam is a choice, not a forced option
-Not all PC games have DRM
-Steam has many competitors driving the prices of games down.
-In fact i can pirate games on PC if the official verison doesn't work
-Steam is not always online, you can play all games offline (unless it's a multiplayer game)
-A PC is not a console
-Steam does not require online check-ins every 24 hours, X1 does. It's not a month either, it's indefinite.
-Steam got famous in the first place for the completely ridiculous sales. Until that happened the service was niche and was actually hated by a lot of people. You can get 1 year old games for £2 on steam. On Xbox Live it's still £20 for Gears of war which was released 7 years ago.
-You can even buy Steam keys from different retailers. There have been countless times where games appear on Green Man Gaming or Amazon DD that are far and away better than any time they have been on sale on Steam. So even within the steam platform there's no monopoly.
- can back up any Steam game I want to any form of storage I want and install the game from that backup any time I want. That's far more convenient than Microsoft's "Never use a disc again!" spin, and it already exists on Steam.
-A PC is not a console
-Steam has mods
-steam has alternatives and a better community
-I already have a PC
-I  don't need to tie myself to Xbox and pay for Xbox live just to play online. 
-Steam have said if they go under they will make sure everyone gets their games and DRM is removed



JusSayian on 07 June 2013
Mohasus said:
JusSayian said:

So if they do not buy a retail steam game they will have to download it from steam. You and you alone can play that game than, this is not the case with the Xbox one which allows up to 10 "family" memebers to play the game simultaneously on different accounts or systems without the need of the disc. While on steam if you switch PCs you have to redownload the entire game again.

Why does it matter then Xbox is console and Steam is on PC? The point is Steam is more restrictive and offers less but gets praised. The Xbox One is built for the future, and MS knows the Cloud is the future just like they XBL was the future when they built the first Xbox.


XBL wasn't the future, online gaming was huge already on PCs. Just like the cloud isn't the future, it is here already.

XBL was the future for console gaming, just like cloud will be.



green_sky on 07 June 2013

Ahh don't forget the XBOX Live subscription to play online. *Slaps self for bringing this up*



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platformmaster918 on 07 June 2013

You don't have to pay $400+ to access Steam's service and don't have to pay to play online.




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hinch on 07 June 2013
Shinobi-san said:

Some people are just purposefully trying to find company for the XBone to make as if people complaining about it has no argument (which is ridicolous!). 

At the end of the day Xbone is a console and Steam is not. Completely different things, customers and expectations.

Exactly.



RazorDragon on 07 June 2013

Steam's game prices are great. Doubt that will be the case for next-gen consoles, though, as digital games on XBL/PSN already showed us what to expect from publishers when talking about game prices in consoles.



Machiavellian on 08 June 2013
wfz said:
disolitude said:

PC is an open platform but PC isn't the platform we are talking about but just the hardware. Steam is the gaming platform and its not open.

I get that you can install a different gaming platform on to a PC, but you can also buy a different console platform which comes with its own hardware. I just see is as a different business model pushing similar gaming services.

Are you are arguing that Microsoft and Sony who make their own hardware and invest billions of dollars in R&D and price subsidizing needs to make this hardware open for everyone and their platforms to compete against them?


No no, don't shove arguments in my mouth. I was merely stating the differences between Steam and Xbone. 

Also, you keep forgetting that Steam itself isn't completely closed. You can buy games from other services and retailers and activate them on Steam if you wish. Steam doesn't control the price you pay for Steam games. The Xbone will have a similar service for physical games (since you can buy them at any retailer, right?) but on the digital side, it will be controlled and distributed by MS only. So you can't buy a digital game through another provider and activate it on your Xbone. (Well, unless retailers like amazon start selling digital codes for full retail games to activate on your Xbone. That would be cool.)

Actually we do not know if othe digital retailers will not be able to sell X1 games.  We do not know if MS will only be the one who can sell digital content on the X1 or if they would be the only company to set the prices of those digital content.  Even with the 360, MS is not the sole company in charge for setting the prices for their games on demand.  I also believe if MS did not publish a game on XBLA they do not set the price of the game or when it is discounted.