# Anyone else considering buying some Steam games? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 23, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389 "2009-12-23T23:29:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/1 "2009-12-23T23:29:45Z")
I see that Steam is having a big sale of some of their older games. Anyone else considering buying anything, and if so, what are you looking at? Personally, I’m kicking around the idea of buying the XCOM product pack. It seems to have all of the series of games in there, and I presume it is tweaked to work on windows XP (and hopefully 7, since that’s what I just upgraded too). I know when I tried to play one of the early one’s I had on 3.5" disk (yeah :p) I could never get it to load. Anyway, anyone else thinking of buying anything on Steam? -XT ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/2 "2009-12-23T23:53:39Z")
Check out [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=544389) if you haven’t already. But I bought about $100 worth already. I’ll keep on checking the one day sales but I think I’m done. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/3 "2009-12-24T00:02:10Z")
I decided to check out Space Trader for two bucks. ---
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/4 "2009-12-24T00:39:15Z")
If I may be permitted to shamelessly shill for a moment, Steam is currently offering my company’s (Telltale Games) entire catalog for a mere $50, which IMHO is a fantastic deal that normally goes for at least twice that. If you like old school adventure games like Space Quest & Monkey Island (yes, we did the new MI series), you should check it out: [Welcome to Steam](http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2683/) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/5 "2009-12-24T01:37:49Z")
> [@HoboStew](#): > > If I may be permitted to shamelessly shill for a moment, Steam is currently offering my company’s (Telltale Games) entire catalog for a mere $50, which IMHO is a fantastic deal that normally goes for at least twice that. If you like old school adventure games like Space Quest & Monkey Island (yes, we did the new MI series), you should check it out: [Welcome to Steam](http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2683/) Holy cow! The whole thing for $50? I’m not shilling at all here. That’s a seriously amazing deal. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/6 "2009-12-24T03:01:04Z")
CNET featured STEAM on their Cheapskate Deals today. I bought The World of Goo, so far. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/7 "2009-12-24T12:49:07Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I decided to check out Space Trader for two bucks. Meh. Way too linear and way too hard. Even at two bucks, I feel I overpaid! ---
**Author:** ![Erasmus\_Darwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@Erasmus\_Darwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erasmus_Darwin)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/8 "2009-12-25T01:02:57Z")
I was tempted by someof the package deals, but I was able to talk myself out of them because each had some third-party DRM. It’s enough having to deal with Steam – the last thing I want is SecuROM on top of that. I forget which packages specifically, though one was the Eidos pack. That one struck me as worth it for Arkham Asylum alone (at least until the DRM angle shot down the deal). The deals are awfully tempting. I might end up grabbing some other stuff from there, still. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/9 "2009-12-25T03:27:11Z")
> [@HoboStew](#): > > If I may be permitted to shamelessly shill for a moment, Steam is currently offering my company’s (Telltale Games) entire catalog for a mere $50, which IMHO is a fantastic deal that normally goes for at least twice that. If you like old school adventure games like Space Quest & Monkey Island (yes, we did the new MI series), you should check it out: [Welcome to Steam](http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2683/) Wow, that’s awesome. I have Sam and Max Season 1 and I’m glad that someone out there is still making adventure games. Just curious…why the commitment to episodic gaming? I think S&M would have worked better as one single game… ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/10 "2009-12-26T06:33:51Z")
King’s Bounty: Armored Princess is 9.99 right now. The reviews are pretty positive. I bought it tonight and will play it sometime this weekend. > **[King's Bounty: Armored Princess](https://www.eurogamer.net/kings-bounty-armored-princess-review)** > > I'm both the best and the worst guy to be reviewing this. The best because last year's strategy/role-playing curio King… ---
**Author:** ![XanderCrews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ee59a6/32.png) [@XanderCrews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XanderCrews)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/11 "2009-12-26T07:19:24Z")
Don’t presume that the games will work with current rigs. I bought Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines and it runs too fast. Steam won’t refund it either, so I’m stuck with it. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/12 "2009-12-26T12:53:32Z")
> [@Erasmus\_Darwin](#): > > It’s enough having to deal with Steam – the last thing I want is SecuROM on top of that. Steam DRM is not used alongside securom or any other form of DRM. They use one, or the other. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/13 "2009-12-26T15:13:40Z")
I’ve tried registering multiple times for a Steam account. I can’t get past the verification screen where it asks you to type the letters at the bottom of the screen. Too bad for both of us. I was ready to spend money. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/14 "2009-12-26T18:46:08Z")
It would appear that Steam requires that you type in Capital letters where they exist in the Captcha window. Case sensitive, in other words. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/15 "2009-12-26T20:41:59Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > Steam DRM is not used alongside securom or any other form of DRM. They use one, or the other. There are a few exceptions unfortunately. For instance the [Borderlands DLC](http://store.steampowered.com/app/8990/) says: 3rd-party DRM: SecuROM™ 5 machine activation limit Doesn’t make any sense to me, but there it is. And it has so far kept me from buying that DLC. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/16 "2009-12-27T05:36:30Z")
I picked up **Zombie Driver** yesterday. Never heard of it before, but watched the trailer, and it looked cool, especially for the price. Drive a taxi through hordes of zombies. You can actually do bloody doughnuts while splattering zombies everywhere. You get guns, but ammo is limited and they’re used sparingly. Fun game. I am probably going to pick up **Fallen Earth** since it’s $25. They just started offering a free 10 day trial on their web site, so I’m going to check it out for a few days first and make sure its worth it. I’ve not played Borderlands, but FE sounds very similar, minus the cartoony graphics (Road Warrior/Fallout FPS MMO RPG). Seems cool so far. **Torchlight** is $4.99. For that price I’ll probably pick it up, though I’ll probably not get around to playing it for a while - too many new games! **Evil Genius** is $1.99! An awesome dungeon keeper type game that came out a few years ago. Play a James Bond style villan, and have your minions carve out a secret island lair. Different rooms have different functions, and you can research and build all sorts of fun traps. My favorite was a “fake entrance” to my lair, that led to a large room filled with about 50 bee traps all tied together. Any enemy agents (or tourists) unfortunate enough to wander in disappeared under a huge cloud of bees! No one ever survived the bee trap room of death. Also recommending **Defense Grid: the Awakening**. Yes, I know there are dozens, if not hundreds, of free tower defense games. But this game has amazing graphics and it’s been crafted with love and care. Very nicely balanced levels mean there are a lot of different strategies, and each level has a ton of different modes and challenges to unlock There’s a game on Steam called **Gratuitous Space Battles** , the name and description of which made me laugh. “Who needs backstory? Who needs resource-gathering? Diplomacy is so last year. Gratuitous Space Battles cuts right to the chase of sci-fi strategy games, and deals with large, completely unjustified space battles between huge opposing space fleets.” ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/17 "2009-12-27T06:23:50Z")
One of my sons plays Evil Genius religiously. I thought it looked pretty cute, and for $2, who can go wrong? Hell, that’s half the price of a Big Mac!!! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/18 "2009-12-27T06:30:57Z")
I ended up buying Mount and Blade and a fresh copy of Rome TW (the CD’s of my old copy finally gave up the ghost, and for 2 bucks I figured what the hell). Haven’t had time to play M&B yet…doubt it will be that great, but for the price I figured I might as well. Was going to get XCOM, but not sure if it will play on my system. -XT ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/19 "2009-12-27T14:28:39Z")
Joined Steam, bought Company of Heroes, have no idea how to get it to run. It says it’s ready. I click on the “Launch” button, it briefly says it’s gonna launch, and nothing happens. Well, there goes $15. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389/20 "2009-12-27T15:19:50Z")
I had a friend that had a similar problem, I’ll have to ask what he did to fix it. Or try the steam forum there or google “CoH crash on launch” or “coh starts then hangs” etc. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-considering-buying-some-steam-games/522389.md?page=2)