So...I buy Civ 5 in a store...

[PVnRT]

but I have to install this Steam bullshit and download it, requiring hours instead of minutes to get the game set up?

Go to hell, 2K Games. I've bought my last product from you. Fucking horseshit.

[realisticphish]

1. I like Steam

but they require it to play the damn game? wtf?

[PVnRT]

2. At least to activate it

And it gets accessed every time I play it. And the game crashes EVERY FUCKING TIME I start it, despite meeting the recommended system requirements. It's real fun having to use task manager to close the game every time I access the main menu.

Unfuckingreal. I will never, ever, so long as I live, buy another PC game. This is bullshit.

[Occulus]

5. Are you running the DX9 version or the DX10/11 version?

Check the community forum on Steam; bug reports, fixes, and other issues will go there. When a patch is ready, Steam will automatically download and install the patch, transparently.

[Occulus]

4. Yes, Civ V is a Steam exclusive.

I don't have an issue with that, actually.

Now, let's not get into the pile of steaming crap that is Games for Windows LIVE. That smoking mess can go pound sand....

[Occulus]

3. Nono, Steam is an unalloyed good thing to have

It's the best online game distribution platform there is, period. I have nothing but good things to say about Steam; I've never had any issues with it, its memory footprint is pretty small, you can have multiple accounts (so the kids can have their games and the adults theirs, and the one doesn't show up on the other's accounts).....

And lots of free demos, too, of top-shelf titles, and you can gift people games, and oh yeah, ZOMBIES. Left 4 Dead 2 is just fun.

Seriously. Keep Steam, enjoy it, love it.

Oh, and it saves many things in the cloud, so you can uninstall, get rid of Steam, come back later, reinstall, and pick up where you left off without having to keep your savegames under lock and key elsewhere on the drive.

[realisticphish]

6. plus, I downloaded Portal for free

:D

[Occulus]

7. Nice

Portal is about the closest to perfect I've ever seen a game. My one complaint is that it ends.

:D

[realisticphish]

8. And soon we'll have P2 to fix that

[Occulus]

9. "I think we should put our differences behind us... for science.

You monster."

:D

[realisticphish]

10. "The cake is a lie"

I've always been interested in who it was that wrote the graffiti... obviously, the discovered that the cake was a lie, and escaped somehow