+1
I'll buy from steam if its cheaper, or I pre-order the day before release or I really want the game :)
Other than that physical copies :)
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I like steam, as it means I can purchase games and I will always have them. It means I can go to a friends house, log onto my steam account and download the game there and play (only on my account of course). I like being able to uninstall a game and later if I want to play it again, just redownload and install easily. Don't get me wrong though, I still like having a physical copy of the game, but if I had to pick one option and one option only I would download all my games.
Also, prepurchasing them preloading games on steam is amazing. I bought l4d2 and had it downloaded a week before it came out. When it was finally released, all I had to do was wait for the files to decrypt (took all of 10 minutes) and play :D . Far better than going to a shop, coming home and installing, or waiting for the postman.
I prefer to download from Steam but it really depends on price and how much I want the game in question. Steam (and other download services) aren't necessarily cheaper so price is the real deciding factor for me.
For me downloading is a better option because I was away from home last month and I had forgotten to copy my games across to my new laptop. However, with Steam I was able to download any of the games I had in my account which was great for me :)
I tend to be an impulse gamer so I want it there and then. Post is too slow, and going to the shops usually works out more expensive than Steam once you've worked in petrol/parking costs. If I planned ahead, I could really buy my games from Play/Amazon and probably get a better price.
I remember when PC games were less than 360K, and Curse of the Azure Bonds took a massive 4 5.25" disks...
But yeah, 5GB+ removes the instant gratification part of downloads, and can put a hefty dent in your download allowance depending on your broadband package. Combine that with big new titles almost always being cheaper via mail order then I don't bother with those via Steam, but it often has cracking offers for older stuff that I've taken advantage of (a ten-pack of Indie games, Freedom Force, the XCom series etc.)
I prefer disc just because its nice to look at a collection such as final fantasy or another game series, download is good for moving around as it does take up less space and makes it alot easier. But I will be physical all the way
Physical copy for me, But would download as a last resort.
Race on was released about 4 weeks earlier to download on steam which pissed me off a bit, ridiculous having to wait all that extra time for a DVD.
TBH i dont really care as long as it runs whenever i want it to..
I prefer a physical copy, particularly because my connection is not great, so downloading a huge game would take ages and stop me doing anything else. Also, it'd use up a huge amount of bandwidth, so I'd be limited in how many games I could get in a month. Until the internet gets a whole lot faster and more reliable, I'll stay with physical copies.
With music, i'd go with a physical copy everytime, however, with games, i'm not at all bothered, the end result is always the same with a game... You just get a game... No quality difference, just the same either way...
Grid for £3.74 on Steam is definitely a reason to vote for "I go with the cheapest option" :P
I much prefer having the physical copy of a game..only buy download versions when they're much, much cheaper.
Have to say that it's usually a physical copy, however if i had a faster connection, then it would almost certainly be steam all the way. Game dvd's these days seem to be jam-packed with secure-rom stuff. Every single game i've bought within the last 6 months has had loading issues, especially anything by EA or Ubisoft. I know SR is on steam aswell, but i don't have nearly as many loading issue's under the steam platform.
The one thing I wish Steam would allow is the ability to transfer ownership of a game.