Steam Wishlist
Despite Steam's general awesomeness, there are three things I wish it could do.
A. Ingame external server browser.
It would be all kinds of awesome if I could check if anyone was Stan's in the middle of DMC4
B. Better ingame web browser.
The ability to look at external websites would be very cool.
C. IM and email apps.
While not critical for me (I use my laptop set up on my desk for IM and email), it'd be all kinds of awesome for mom, and I bet a bunch of other gamers.
Despite all that, I still add my non-steam games to it so I can use the overlay. (DMC4, and trying with Oblivion)
Anything else that'd make a nice dream addition?
And yes, I attempted the PXP thing, but it won't even properly update on mine, and I'd really like the tie-in with Steam. (The ingame server browser especially.)
St.Hillary wrote:
There's nothing wrong with enjoying a boob!Commence your hatred, gentlemen.
Id like if Steam had better external games handling. I'd be awesome if I could add non-steam game to My Games tab and it would show them if someone would access my steam page (or show the title when I play them)
This. They already seem to have no problem taking the launcher, the name and the icon, so it shouldn't be too hard to track the hours you play it or have it inform other people on your list that you're playing it.
I would think the first rule of PR is to ignore forum people, because they vacillate between crazy and liar. - Elysium
I would just like to see other game companies support steam so I could one day run the majority of my games on it. The idea that I dont have to go looking for patches and that I can re-download my game any time I want is very nice.
I agree. I like the fact that If I get a new computer all I need to do is sign on to steam and I can install all my games quickly and easily.
It would be nice if I could backup my saves to steam too. Didn't they mention something like this a while back? Whatever happened to that?
As for the browser, you could use http://www.playxpert.com/web/guest/splash. I've never tried it, but I hear it works well.
"Everyone's always in favour of saving Hitler's brain but when you put it in the body of a great white shark, ooh, suddenly you've gone too far."
I put Mass Effect on my Steam Games list and it integrates so well. It's like I am playing a steam game. The way I check if people were in the server was to view game info on friends.
Not all games work with the steam overlay though. Mass Effect was re-designed very well for the PC.
Thanks for standin' still Wanker!
-XBox Gamertag: Tempest Blaze (Without the Y)
Google "Valve Steamcloud". You'll get a million results. It's supposed to store your save games and custom keyboard configurations in your Steam account.
Fast Fact: If the number of zombie hunters world-wide were to decrease just 1.3% in the next year, the world would see a 50% rate of zombification by 2015.
Better ability to play games you purchased over Steam when you can't connect to the Internet.
Improved synchronicity of when Steam applies patches compared to when retail purchasers have access to patch so that multiplayer games don't run into patch incompatibility problems.
Achievements. I like them. Not just a high rating because I left Civ running for 5 days straight.
"All that time you waste dating and having sex could be better spent scouring the web for new game developer press releases." - Quintin_Stone
Feature parity with xfire, specifically the ability to join friends in games in progress, even if they are not source games or built with steamworks.
xbl y3llow5 | steam yellow#5 | PSN ForrestTheWicked
Doesn't it do this already though? I see people playing non-steam games like WoW, EQ2 and such all the time.
Coldstream wrote:
So when is Steamcloud due?
"Sometimes I go around saying, 'Kommisar Paulson has seized the commanding heights of the economy!'" - Paul Krugman, asked if recent changes to banking are socialistic.
It will report the title and when people are playing those games, but it won't track the time played for those specific titles nor will it show what server people are playing on if it's CoD4 or whatever else.
XBLive: Thin J
PSN: Thin_J
I don't imagine master craftsmen leaping away from completed projects and shouting "Done, motherf*ckers! - 1Dgaf
Ah, so the time tracking is what you're after? Yea, I suppose that makes some amount of sense. Same with the server thing. I can't help but wonder if it's that hard to just convo em and ask though :/
Coldstream wrote:
Tron 2.0. Hey, the one game I go looking for on Steam and they don't have it. I'm just saying.
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come on down to Rat Boy's nest!
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At least for Source engine games, I think its already implemented. I just reinstalled HL:Ep2 and I my saved games, control configuration and video settings were still intact (unless it was already on my HD. I don't remember getting that stuff back whenever I reinstalled a HL game).
Speaking of Steamcloud, I wonder how long before it can or will be used to store persistent character information, similar to what is done with MMO characters, or COD4 and the Battlefield series as a better example.
XFire and Steamworks are more similar in this vein than you might think, at least in this area. Even XFire requires the addition of code in order to join your friends' games and so on. Its just that more games need to support Steamworks, which seems criminal that they don't.
Oh yeah, one thing I would love for steam to do is have a mini profile, like XFire. Also like XFire, a PC stats section since they're into having stat comparisons so much.
"We don't care how we get the money as long as we get it!"
- Eric Hartness, Electronic Arts
Some games that can be bought on Steam don't actually work with the in-game overlay. Punkbuster still reads it as a cheat of some kind in CoD4, for example.
And there's also nothing worse than "What's the IP?" When you're already in a server and playing.
We should have been past people having to ask for IP's years ago. I find myself abandoning the Steam overlay stuff more and more for Xfire again for this simple reason. I right click on someone's name, and I click on Join Server. Done. It doesn't matter who makes the game (with exceptions, like Battle.net, Relic Online, or other service specific titles like that) it just works.
XBLive: Thin J
PSN: Thin_J
I don't imagine master craftsmen leaping away from completed projects and shouting "Done, motherf*ckers! - 1Dgaf
I'd just like a clock in the steam overlay.
Yeah, I was also thinking of announcing what game I'm playing because the last time I added shortcuts it didn't do that. Looks like they've included that. Cool.
Also, I've said this before and I'll say it again, if EA just joined Steam they would get a lot more of my money. Not only do I plan on buying a lot of PC titles from them over the next while, but having it on Steam would make me consider paying full price for a few of their titles I was planning on getting on console when they dropped their price, and I'ld rather give Valve my money then EBGames any day. I don't get it - some of their games are on Direct2Drive already so you can't tell me it's due to their own service.
EDIT: Oh man, I just went to D2D to confirm this and noticed they now accept Paypal. My lack of a credit card was what prevented me from using their service. Between this, Steam and Impulse I might rarely purchase a PC game from a retail store now. Can anyone tell me how easy it is to make a backup copy of a D2D purchase? I want to pre-order Spore right now.
I would think the first rule of PR is to ignore forum people, because they vacillate between crazy and liar. - Elysium
Its pretty basic. The games usually download in a .zip file. Uncompressed its what you usually find in an installation folder. Just burn it like you would any data CD. I almost always make backups of my D2D purchases.
"We don't care how we get the money as long as we get it!"
- Eric Hartness, Electronic Arts
My understanding of xfire is that the support is added in xfire, not the game. Steamworks requires that the developer actually integrate it, which can be a much bigger task.
xbl y3llow5 | steam yellow#5 | PSN ForrestTheWicked
There might be some game engines that have already added support for XFire, but by and large, they require a number of things from whoever has a game they want supported by XFire, usually one or two copies of the game (particularly the .exe), registry information, and command line info in order to be able to join a game. I only know about the need to implement code from XFire because of a current project I'm working on, where some of the resources pointed to an XFire development page for getting the necessary code. A lot of it reminded me of what was needed for getting Steamworks into a game. After communicating with Valve briefly, it seems that it isn't very difficult to integrate Steamworks into most games, like for server viewing and joining.
"We don't care how we get the money as long as we get it!"
- Eric Hartness, Electronic Arts
Seconded!
xbox live: taer3 steam: taer
Yea, I completely agree on this, don't get me wrong. I never got into XFire much myself, but it certainly sounds like Steam and others could learn a lot there.
Coldstream wrote:
One thing that might be interesting to see on Steam, that has not yet existed on the PC: game rentals.
Having games that you can rent for maybe 24hrs, or a monthly fee like Gamefly, renting one game at a time. In a way, Steam has already proved this kind of system can work with its free weekends. This could potentially solve two issues as well. Publishers have long been complaining about game rentals and used games, as they don't get a cut from this. This method would put the control of rentals in the publisher's hands. There is also a chance this could affect piracy by offering a lower cost solution to playing games legitimately.
Its a thought anyway.
"We don't care how we get the money as long as we get it!"
- Eric Hartness, Electronic Arts
Followup with that would be gifting of purchased games, or the sale of games you own for steam credits that you could use to purchase others.
xbox live: taer3 steam: taer
Damn! I just thought of that and I was coming to post it =)
Yeah, Steam definitely needs a way for you to offload the old games to someone else.
Is there a law that prevents digital content you bought to be re-sold? Otherwise I think Valve should allow us to do that.
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred