GOG to take on Steam at their own game.

[Niode]

Never used GOG but I didn't like Steam for a couple of reasons.
I have not used Steam for a while so maybe this is no longer true?

Download games require online authentication connection to play
I read Steam allowed a download to be backed up to a disc, but an online authentication was still required to play. Kind of pointless, even for discs that are purchased.

Only once. It's easily the most unobtrusive DRM out there. Once your games are activated you can run steam offline.

Front end required to play a game
Just let me do a direct run a game and set my own games menu off the Windows Start Button. The stupid resource hog front end takes forever to load! I removed it from starting up every time I boot Windows, it was a pain when I just wanted to browse online when using a slow public server connection on the laptop.

You can run your games from the exe. I've done this on several occasions. There's pretty much only a select bunch of games that require steamworks to play (of course, all valve titles fall under this category). I'm sorry but your system just plain sucks if it's having trouble running steam as well as anything else. I'm talking to a bunch of people, have the library open and my friends list open and it's using 35MB of RAM. That's not a lot my friend... If I close my friends list and the Library it drops down to 14MB...

[CRTGAMER]

EDIT UPDATE

I read Steam allowed a download to be backed up to a disc, but an online authentication was still required to play. Kind of pointless, even for discs that are purchased.

Yes, you will need at least one online authetication to play. You won't need any more after the first, tough.

Good its a one time authentication, but a concern
A reinstall of a Backup say years later on newer PC, would it require the authentication?

Is GOG going this route?

You can run your games from the exe. I've done this on several occasions. There's pretty much only a select bunch of games that require steamworks to play (of course, all valve titles fall under this category). I'm sorry but your system just plain sucks if it's having trouble running steam as well as anything else. I'm talking to a bunch of people, have the library open and my friends list open and it's using 35MB of RAM. That's not a lot my friend... If I close my friends list and the Library it drops down to 14MB...

Good info, didn't know you could direct run the non Valve games, THANKS!
The laptop is about two years old, its just used at times at a coffee house with a slow server. I took the Steam Front End off the Startup so it wouldn't slow down the bootup when I just want to browse.

[Erik_Twice]

Good its a one time authentication, but a concern
A reinstall of a Backup say years later on newer PC, would it require the authentication?

Yes, it's like a CD key.

[Niode]

EDIT UPDATE

I read Steam allowed a download to be backed up to a disc, but an online authentication was still required to play. Kind of pointless, even for discs that are purchased.

Yes, you will need at least one online authetication to play. You won't need any more after the first, tough.

Good its a one time authentication, but a concern
A reinstall of a Backup say years later on newer PC, would it require the authentication?

Is GOG going this route?

GOG doesn't use DRM.

[J T]

I read Steam allowed a download to be backed up to a disc, but an online authentication was still required to play. Kind of pointless, even for discs that are purchased.

Yes, you will need at least one online authetication to play. You won't need any more after the first, tough.

Steam requires that you be logged in to play your games. While you can play in offline mode for extended periods of time, you can't get by without loggin in again at some point. And backups on Steam require a new authentication, and occassionally require additional downloading for portions of the game. Your Steam games are all tied to an online account and only function as long as that account is in good standing. Valve does block accounts for cheating and that can restrict your access to your games.

[GSZX1337]

I'm surprised that no one else has mentioned this: It'd be nice if there was a way to have in-game chat with Steam Players. I'd like to play The Witcher on GoG while chatting with my friend who's playing Half-Life 2 on Steam. Perhaps, there can be a Trillian/MeeBo for game chatting systems?

Add a nonsteam game to steam and you can chat both verbally and by text.

I was meaning if there was a GoG client. As it is now, I use the "Add non-Steam Game" option. Only thing that sucks is that Steam doesn't show those games in my Gameplay Stats. I've been playing The Binding of Issac (which I got from the Humble Voxatron Debut) for hours and Steam does not show it.

Mumble and Skype alo have the benefit of not having as much lag as Steam does.

I've used Steam a couple of times for chatting and haven't noticed any lag/static.

[Niode]

I'm surprised that no one else has mentioned this: It'd be nice if there was a way to have in-game chat with Steam Players. I'd like to play The Witcher on GoG while chatting with my friend who's playing Half-Life 2 on Steam. Perhaps, there can be a Trillian/MeeBo for game chatting systems?

Add a nonsteam game to steam and you can chat both verbally and by text.

I was meaning if there was a GoG client. As it is now, I use the "Add non-Steam Game" option. Only thing that sucks is that Steam doesn't show those games in my Gameplay Stats. I've been playing The Binding of Issac (which I got from the Humble Voxatron Debut) for hours and Steam does not show it.
.

Usually humble indie bundles get a Steam key at some point. They will email you one when it is ready.

[Erik_Twice]

I've used Steam a couple of times for chatting and haven't noticed any lag/static.

My TF2 team experienced between half and one and half seconds which isn't bad but suboptimal. Recently I was playing with a friend and it was pretty noticiable.

The sound quality is top-notch tough.

[fastbilly1]

I've used Steam a couple of times for chatting and haven't noticed any lag/static.

My TF2 team experienced between half and one and half seconds which isn't bad but suboptimal. Recently I was playing with a friend and it was pretty noticiable.

The sound quality is top-notch tough.

Thats interesting, because in my years of using steam I only had problems with lag back when I first got HL2. I play L4D2 most nights with atleast one other friend and we dont have any lag.

I was meaning if there was a GoG client. As it is now, I use the "Add non-Steam Game" option. Only thing that sucks is that Steam doesn't show those games in my Gameplay Stats. I've been playing The Binding of Issac (which I got from the Humble Voxatron Debut) for hours and Steam does not show it.

I agree on both accounts. I wish it would show non-steam games in stats and I have wanted a GoG client for a while. The "new" downloader is nice though. It actually works, as opposed to the old downloader.

[Erik_Twice]

Thats interesting, because in my years of using steam I only had problems with lag back when I first got HL2. I play L4D2 most nights with atleast one other friend and we dont have any lag.

Perhaps it's an Europe thing.