About eleven months ago, I bitched about how much I hated Steam’s region-locking that prevented me from playing The Orange Box. Well, some things have changed since then.
For one, I’ve come to appreciate Steam as a good distribution medium. Buying games from Steam is pain-free, and they are ready to be played the day the games are released – I had Left 4 Dead ready-to-go the morning it came out. While I like having a hard copy in case I need to reinstall, grabbing a game via Steam means less clutter in terms of game packaging (PC games tend to come in larger boxes than their console counterparts). You can often find discounts on slightly older games, too. One more score for Steam is the ability to download and play a game through your profile on any PC, once you’ve completed initial activation. Let’s not forget all the indie games that Steam promotes and makes available readily.
However, my original issues still remain. The games still come with DRM (albeit not as nasty as SecuROM) and I believe region-locking still exists, although I was finally able to play The Orange Box, since I’m currently in India. I might share a love-hate relationship with Steam, but I absolutely love Valve and their games. Half-Life 2 is still one of my all-time favorites, and I revisited the thrill of playing the original as I plowed through Episodes One and Two. New enemies are introduced, the story and characters show significant progression, new questions are raised, epic battles are fought, and, Episode Two ends on a cliffhanger. Okay, so maybe I hate Valve just a little for making us wait for Episode Three to drop, but I’m sure it will manage to blow my mind once it arrives. Also, Portal is a great game. It’s a puzzler in the first-person perspective with a great sense of humor, and a fair bit of challenge towards the end. The cake is most definitely a lie.
To conclude, I still haven’t decidedly swung one way or another when it comes to Steam, but my opinion is now a lot more positive than it was eleven months ago.