Mac games on sale

Ganggrel · Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:28 am Post subject: Mac games on sale

www.direct2drive.com is having a huge mac sale. Every mac game in their catalog is on sale, and a lot of them are 50% off, including Dragon Age: Origins.

I've been a longtime customer of this site, I highly recommend it. I don't have a mac but I know some of you guys do so I figured I would make mention of it.
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Fleur · Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:21 am Post subject:

Hm, thanks for the heads up. My guess is they're doing this now because of the upcoming (rumored) Steam for Mac release, but either way, I am strongly considering picking up DAO. Does anyone have anything bad to say about D2D? I have the impression that Steam is generally better liked.

Rynz · Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:40 am Post subject:

Steam is better, but D2D isn't a bad service. Just not as intuitive and requires a little more work on your part. Updates are harder as well.

Ganggrel · Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:05 pm Post subject:

not sure what rynz had a problem with, but i dont think its really fair to compare them to each other in terms of which is "better" because they operate differently. D2D is a store, it doesnt try to be anything else. it has a simple to use download manager. it downloads the install files and launches them. so the installation process is much like if you bought a box from a retail store and stuck the disc in your machine. whereas steam just does all the installation internally where you have no choice in where it is installed to etc.

steam is "more popular" because of the peer to peer and networking aspect. it lets you have a friends list so you can easily follow them into games, or see what they are playing or have been playing. you can pull up anyone's steam profile and see what games they own, how many hours they have played each of them and any achievements earned etc.

thats steam's big selling point.

however you can stick nonsteam games (such as ones bought from D2D) into your games list in steam. if its a retail box copy, you will be able to register it with steam, and then get your downloads and achievement tracking through steam. if its from d2d, they wont let you because they want to be dicks about it. but it still lets you add to the games list, which means if you launch the game from there it lets you have the shift-tab overlay system from steam woven into it. it also will show others on your friends list that you are playing it.

i play my d2d copy of borderlands with cart and keis who have steam copies, through steam. the downside is the new dlc's are available for me a day or two later than on steam. no biggie.

in my opinion they are equal. buy from the one with the better price imo. d2d has some ridiculous sales, as does steam. i have a decent library from both, and launch all of them through steam.

i think this is why d2d does not bother with creating a steam clone. why bother? any games bought from them can use steam's friends list system anyhow.

im a big fan of both. you just need to realize that d2d is a store. you buy your game from them, and use their download manager to dl the installation and you can launch the installation from the manager too, but the installation is literally handled outside of the manager. great if you have multiple drives, or want to install it to a public folder for all users, an option steam doesnt allow, everyone on that machine would have to log into your steam account to play the games. d2d games stand alone just like if you bought a game from a retail store.
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Ganggrel · Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:12 pm Post subject:

oh almost forgot. d2d also gives you the retail cd key. so there is no worry about being screwed if the company ever goes belly up. you still have you cd keys.
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Tygragaris · Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 2:44 pm Post subject:

Ganggrel · Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 3:43 pm Post subject:

not really. they are doing fine. steam wont put them out of business. and steam cd keys dont normally work with non steam installations. try it sometime. get a disk from a friend of a game you bought on steam. try and install using your steam key.

steam very much likes to lock you into steam. only downside to steam.
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