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General discussion (archive)Steam to be preinstalled on dell PCs(42 posts)(42 posts)
(42 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted November 26, 2009
Eh, with the sheer volume of bloatware Dell also installs on their PCs I can't really bring myself to get worked up about this. And are people still buying those overpriced POS Alienware systems? I would have expected most people in the target demographic to have wised up by now.
Posted November 26, 2009
The first thing I did with my dell was that I formated it, so...
Posted November 26, 2009
Oh well, to play Weclock's Advocate, Dell's PCs suck compared to customized ones anyway.
Posted November 26, 2009
Its not just dell ones, every PC sucks compared to a custom build system (at least if you know what you're doing)
Posted November 26, 2009
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Aliasalpha: Its not just dell ones, every PC sucks compared to a custom build system (at least if you know what you're doing)

Very true.
Posted November 26, 2009
It is still a cause for some concern though, at the moment this is only for alienware, next it'll be allienware and xps then those plus any inspiron/studio listed as gaming capable and then it'll be part of the standard image for all their PCs
Posted November 26, 2009
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Aliasalpha: It is still a cause for some concern though, at the moment this is only for alienware, next it'll be allienware and xps then those plus any inspiron/studio listed as gaming capable and then it'll be part of the standard image for all their PCs

Only if it goes down well. Free Portal isn't such a bad thing (at least until you take into account how much they're overcharging for the hardware). But Steam still has its share of controversies and the fact that this is a marketing ploy could not be any more blatant.
Posted November 26, 2009
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Aliasalpha: It is still a cause for some concern though, at the moment this is only for alienware, next it'll be allienware and xps then those plus any inspiron/studio listed as gaming capable and then it'll be part of the standard image for all their PCs

I think going this route would end up backfiring for Steam, as many people would simply come to think of Steam as just another piece of crapware that shouldn't be taken seriously. With Alienware they're dealing with a pretty targeted demographic that probably already knows what Steam is, but when dealing with the general, non-gaming populace it wouldn't be particularly good to have people's first introduction to Steam be just seeing it as another bit of bloat.
Posted November 26, 2009
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DarrkPhoenix: I think going this route would end up backfiring for Steam, as many people would simply come to think of Steam as just another piece of crapware that shouldn't be taken seriously. With Alienware they're dealing with a pretty targeted demographic that probably already knows what Steam is, but when dealing with the general, non-gaming populace it wouldn't be particularly good to have people's first introduction to Steam be just seeing it as another bit of bloat.

Of course that depends on if most of the general non-gaming populace even recognize bloat.
Posted November 26, 2009
I have been very vocal speaking out against Steam in the past, but that is simply due to how much potential I see in the service.
Sometime during the summer of 2008, something happened within Steam, a fundamental paradigm shift, if you will. It's around that time that Steam started mandating an internal "exchange rate" with the Euro, and that a lot more DRM'd games started showing up on Steam.
If valve can turn the wheel back a year or so, and we let them perform a do-over, I think they can get back in mine, and a lot of other peoples good graces.
Posted November 27, 2009
Awesome.
Though it's nothing new, dell have given the option to install a large number of free services on their PCs for ages... when I bought my laptop I remember having the option to have WildTangent's gaming portal installed by default. (which i didn't choose.).
Should be some nice exposure for them... I've been saying that they (or someone else) should do this for ages if they want to combat piracy.
Posted November 27, 2009
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anjohl: I have been very vocal speaking out against Steam in the past, but that is simply due to how much potential I see in the service.
Sometime during the summer of 2008, something happened within Steam, a fundamental paradigm shift, if you will. It's around that time that Steam started mandating an internal "exchange rate" with the Euro, and that a lot more DRM'd games started showing up on Steam.
If valve can turn the wheel back a year or so, and we let them perform a do-over, I think they can get back in mine, and a lot of other peoples good graces.

I think it's called greed. They saw how much money could be made by making a game that isn't in the traditional Valve style (L4D) and decided that maybe the other guys were right.
Valve is in a great position to take advantage of their customers because nearly every serious gamer has Steam installed on their pc. And the sad part is, all of those gamers have Steam installed because of the now false belief that Valve isn't like the other guys.
Posted November 27, 2009
How is L4D not 'in the traditional Valve style?' How many games have they developed? Half a dozen?
Posted November 27, 2009
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Metro09: How is L4D not 'in the traditional Valve style?' How many games have they developed? Half a dozen?

Well it's a co-op game. I don't think that Valve ever created a co-op game before. Their games have always been single/multi-player or multi-player only. And then they popped a sequel out. Valve usually takes forever to make a game.
Posted November 27, 2009
So making a co-op game is such a significant deviation from something like Team Fortress 2 or Counterstrike that it paints them as greedy? If you dislike Valve, more power to you but the logic of your argument makes no sense. I'll admit that producing a sequel a year after the original is a bit untoward but they still give excellent support to TF2 which they've practically given away for free in recent months ($2.50 deals).
Post edited November 27, 2009 by Metro09
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General discussion (archive)Steam to be preinstalled on dell PCs(42 posts)(42 posts)
(42 posts)