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So why is steam so great?

I might be wrong but i doubt its faster to cold start a pc and launch a game on steam than it is to do the same PS5.
That's an unfair comparison, since all of the shit that Steam does on PC happens on the OS level on consoles. If a PC just had to load Steam and nothing else on boot it'd be just as fast as a PS5, and if a PS5 had to load Windows beforehand it'd be just as slow as a PC.
 
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That's an unfair comparison, since all of the shit that Steam does on PC happens on the OS level on consoles. If a PC just had to load Steam and nothing else on boot it'd be just as fast as a PS5, and if a PS5 had to load Windows beforehand it'd be just as slow as a PC.
Fortunately, soon we'll see a release of SteamOS 3.0, and then we'll actually see what a PC can do from a cold boot. :)
 

rushgore

Member
Steam is great as an idea.
But its technical aspects had already become outdated by 2010. It’s mainly a (slow) web browser.
 

Fbh

Member
I think it's less about Steam particularly amazing and more about it being the better option.

Your alternatives are GOG with GOG Galaxy which is great too but has an exponentially smaller library.
Epic which has always been slow as fuck for me, is a horrible experience if you have bad/slow internet at home, and lacks many of the features of steam
And the various publisher specific launchers which are annoying to keep updated and only offer very limited selections of games.
 
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sendit

Member
I am probably out of my element here, but man its ugly as sin, always looks like a store front rather than my library of games.

Its slow as shit to start.

You have to double load different storefront systems when you play certain games. Takes forever to start.

I honestly dont see the benefit of this vs the classical way of installing games on pc?
computers GIF
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
Question to those saying they hate the UI: what do you want?

Are you the same guys who have a hard time with windows? Menu is at the top and everything is organized like how programs have been since win 3.1.
 

gypsygib

Member
Steam could be better but when the competition is EGS, Origin, Uplay (or whatever its called now) Steam looks like far more featured, community oriented, and advanced.

Steam may be not be the most impressive webstore/community hub that I've scene but if Steam is akin to Best Buy or Gamestop in terms of shopping experience the other stores are hotdog carts.
 
Steam is great as an idea.
But its technical aspects had already become outdated by 2010. It’s mainly a (slow) web browser.
I mean.

Purely technically, you're not that wrong - the desktop part of it is a web browser. A Chromium-based custom client with no address bar, designed to browse the Steam ecosystem. (with the sole exceptions of the Library and Downloads pages, which are client-specific and you can't access them from the web)

I'd like to see you try to come up with a better way to keep parity between the web and client-based storefront versions though. :p
Like, it's all designed to be accessible from the web. Storefront, community, account settings, etc, everything but the actual installing and playing of games. You can buy games on Steam without opening the client, and then install them in the client without ever touching the 'web browser' pages.

And of course everything else it does goes far beyond what a web browser can do. :)
 
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