The purpose of this Blog

I created this blog back in 2005 because I had to for a class in College, but since then I have used to talk about various topics. It may not have anything interesting for most people, but that's because I am not catering to the masses. I am basically talking about whatever comes to mind when I think I know enough to talk about it. You will see that the topics are a scope of things that usually impact me. If you want more information and stories then you can stop by my website linked on the left. Feel free to comment and browse. I think some spam bots may have beaten you to it though.

Monday, December 22, 2008

EA and Valve

Recently, Steam announced the addition of EA titles to its store. I feel this is a huge deal for both Valve and EA. EA being the largest and one of the oldest publishers of game titles, agreeing to let Valve sell its games through its online store. Steam was originally created as a DRM and store for Valve's games only.

I remember the early days with Steam and those were very dark days. Steam was buggier than a lamp post on a cool summer night. But time passed and because Valve is so well regarded, we overlooked it and put up with it. Steam became a very good means to purchase games from other developers. No CDs meant no CD keys, no scratched discs, no long, tedious installs. Steam was quickly becoming a convenience application because no longer did a new desktop or laptop mean going through a whole collection of game discs to install them all.

Steam has changed its look and feel to accommodate the increased library of titles and continues to increase it every week. Weekend deals are something to look forward to and the package deals are fantastic! It is so easy to just open Steam everyday, see what's new in the store or what updates are being downloaded (did I mention going to a developers website to download updates is a thing of the past :) ). I will then usually open the friends window to see who is playing what. Steam is GREAT!

In conclusion, EA on Steam makes my one wish for Steam one step closer to coming true. Back in the days of 2005-2006 (Freshman year of college) I played the Sims2 religiously. Having every available object at my sims' disposal was my top priority. A new "stuff" pack or expansion meant happy days for my Sims and I. For anyone who has ever installed close to 30 discs for a game, knows how this is a huge PAIN IN THE ASS. Needless to say, I have not installed them since my newest configuration of hardware on my PC. But if the Sims is released on Steam and I can just click "Install" on each of the packs or "Install All" I will be the happiest gamer alive :). Who in the world wants to install 30 discs worth of content? Not I!

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