shivars

meh, given that the trailer video on the Steam store page for CC says preorder to get the beta I think that's a bit shite. i dont really mind if the beta is restricted to people who order direct from BI but to say its a preorder perk *in the Steam promo* material is a bit crap. To check it, skip to 1min from the endof the video here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/65740/ tbf I preordered on the strength of steamworks integration and 3D Vision support, not beta access, but it would be nice... S

Ok I've just registered here (and gone through how many captchas and random questions....) to reply here. I've been looking at Arma for a long time - I loved the original Operation Flashpoint, and want more of that. But if I'm honest, these days no Steam = no buy. For me anyway. Others feel the opposite and that's fine, but might I explain why... - no disc. So i can't scratch it, lose it, etc. I don't have to find it when I want to play. I just clicky icon and game plays. In fact my PC is in a cupboard near me and doesn't even have a disc drive any more. Haven't used one since I installed Windows. Why would I... - automatic patching. better yet, it patches while I'm at work. Not when get to the PC and want to play. - cloud saves. So i don't have to worry about backups. - achievements. Something trivial to aim for during/after completing the campaign (yes I like achievements, I'm not ashamed of that. if you don't...ignore them). I play games longer if they have achievements to aim for. - its a nice community, the forums are reasonably intelligent, the site/friends/recommendations/etc are nice. Steam really isn't bloatware, it really isn't intrusive, it's a nice game library. I've been using it since 2004 and I can't remember having one single problem with it. ever. full stop. It has only made my gaming life easier. nothing else. I can't think of a single mod or map pack I've not been able to use because of Steam. Before anyone thinks I'm a pleb for wanting simplicity and time-saving...I'm not. I don't want to show off or come across as a knob, but I've been gaming since the Spectrum 48k. I made maps for the original Quake. My first PC had an 8086 CPU. I loved the original Counter Strike (pre 1.6!) - but I prefer CS:S now. I'm now 34, a Director in a market research firm, I have an 18 month old child and I somehow still game for around 14 hours/week. But those 14 hours are precious to me. I do NOT want to spend them installing/backingup/messing around. I DO want to spend them enjoying great games - Steam makes it as easy and reliable as possible for me to do that. Some people raise the privacy/data questions. I think it's clear that Steam does no more and no less than most modern software. What modern game doesn't have some sort of telemetry back to the devs. You use social networks right? what do you think your value is to them? Valve have shown many times that they are decent enough people - I'm comfortable enough with having their software on my PC. As much as anyone else's anyway... Why am I bothering to write this? Well, I'd really like Arma 3 to have Steamworks - specifically for cloud saves and achievements. With those I'll buy it. Without them I won't. Sounds shallow I know, but there's enough good games about in enough genres - I'll buy and play the ones that tick the most boxes and get me the most excited. Anyway, that's my 2c. Flame suit going on...