Black Ops: I'm being forced to install Steam!!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I had a similar experience when I installed Fear 2. The whole point of buying a retail copy is so you don't need to download loads of stuff before you play! I thought that Steam was only there to validate the copy on-line but I was wrong!
If you are on a slow connection or have something like mobile broadband it essentially means you are almost locked out of games which need Steam.

[Zak33]

nahh... to ignore it would be offensive to the debater.. I shall argue it.. a tad any way.

ps. when you buy a car you don't always get to drive it away straight away, sometimes you have to wait for the dealership to get the exact spec in that you want, or you may have to wait for a check up and service

I know... I've some experience in that arena but this game has no options... it has no upgrades.... I can't choose it in different colours, with different interiors, not with a boot spoiler. The only choice I get it... Black Op's for PC

pps. when you go to the cinema you have to sit through at least 20 mins of trailers if you're lucky, more if you're not. Having said that I like trailers

I know....I don't mind waiting through adverts and trailers. I even occasionally like them.

I don't mind trailers on games... so long as I only have to see them once. No... this is different... this film isn't even HERE.... I've sat down to watch it, paid, got comfy.. and it's not here. It's gotta arive on MY bandwidth, and I have to wait hours!

Yes the box does say Steam Account required.. now I look for it , its back cover, under Internet Connection required...white box, red border.

[jetfire]

i was going to get this game this week but after your post i ain't going to bother now because if i buy a game on a disc i want all of it on the disc.

if i have to download gbs of the game over the net what is the bloody point of buying the game on disc in the first place.

and what happens in a few years time when you cant download the game cos the server has been shut down and you are left with nothing other than go buy the new one and end up in the same situation after a few more years.

[jim]

Only one way I know of to install Steam games without Steam...

[jetfire]

Only one way I know of to install Steam games without Steam...

it says ACTIVISION on the box not steam.

[Legthigh]

I'm the complete opposite, I won't buy games that are NOT on Steam, I want all my games in once place and Steam is super convenient.

[[GSV]Trig]

Jessie

[cleaverlch]

I'm the complete opposite, I won't buy games that are NOT on Steam, I want all my games in once place and Steam is super convenient.

Personally, I buy whatever is cheaper but prefer boxed version as I don't need to download 20GB or so of data while Virgin throttles my line. While the Steam friends list is useful, I rather save my £ for a pie or cookie...

[Apex]

now THAT is positive... that IS positive

However... negative is that I'm STILL not playing the new game and it's crashed at 98% because Steam is not responding.

I shal not debate the other points as I feel you may have.... missed them a tad.

Sounds like Steam is d/l stuff in the background.

[directhex]

You have to have Steam, in fact, i think the disc is just a glorified serial key and you still download a percentage of the game itself from Steam.

I've done the reverse - bought a retail game, never taken the disc out of the box (just used the serial number to activate it online). Dawn of War 2 springs to mind - the expansion pack didn't even download any extra data when I activated the CD key, it just added an extra desktop icon.

You can do the same thing these days with Blizzard games - an old retail CD key for Warcraft 3, Diablo 2, or Starcraft, allows you to download the game & skip the whole CD-in-drive thing.

[directhex]

On the bright side, Zakkariah, check today's sales on Steam. Complete IL-2, £4.99. Crysis, £2.49. All Valve games (all the Half Lifes, Team Fortresses, Counterstrikes, Left 4 Deads, etc) for £24.99

[Terbinator]

I don't understand why you would *want* to download data that should be on the disc, though. Even i don't want to do that and i get a consistent 20Mb+.

You can do the whole activation/download thing through EA download manager as well.

[[GSV]Trig]

On the bright side, Zakkariah, check today's sales on Steam. Complete IL-2, £4.99. Crysis, £2.49. All Valve games (all the Half Lifes, Team Fortresses, Counterstrikes, Left 4 Deads, etc) for £24.99

Ta, just grabbed Crysis, Warhead, HL:Episode 1 and 2 for £13...

[Rob_B]

So Zak-zakkety-zack-zack when are you buying L4D2 & joining in a game then?

[jim]

it says ACTIVISION on the box not steam.

Alright, Steam-DRM games. Happy now?

[directhex]

Basically Matt, some PC games these days build against a given online middleware, and like it or not, that middleware is required for the games to run. Games for Windows Live, for example - the game developer builds stuff like achievements into the game, and an integrated store for obtaining downloadable content, and bam, you've got a game with mandatory GFWL. A couple of games now build against Valve's middleware, Steamworks - it gives Valve's achievements system (as opposed to Microsoft's or a vendor-specific one), online save/config integration (my Civ 5 saves are stored online so I can start a game on my laptop & finish it on my desktop), integrated patch management (much like GFWL or the average MMO, the game is kept patched at all times), and yeah, online in general.

So CODBLOPS, much like Fallout New Vegas or Left 4 Dead or Half-Life 2, just plain doesn't work without Steam, much like it doesn't work without DirectX. Blame the developers for wanting what Steamworks brings them.