Game Download Service Buyer's Guide Discussion

Installing games from a CD is old-school. These days it is all about digital game download services. We reviewed five examples over the last month and today we recognize some of the best.

Read the full content of this Article: Game Download Service Buyer's Guide

Related Articles:

• Moms, Dads & Grads Software Buyers Guide 2010
• Impulse Video Game Download Service Review
• Steam Video Game Download Service Review
• Direct2Drive Video Game Download Service Review

 

Excellent summary Chaz...

I would mention the following:

It's not really an either/or...I have Impulse installed (for Galactic Civ, Sins of Solar Empire, Demigod, etc), and Steam installed.

I also use gog.com and Direct2Drive.com...

There is no monthly fee for any of the services, so why not use them all?

I have probably downloaded as many games with Direct2Drive as I have Steam...I go where the deals are...

Steam's new overlay is much more user-friendly than the previous version...looks almost Apple clean...

Direct2Drive has a 'new' Comrade' interface that appears to be the old Gamespy (which I never used...I am NOT a social gamer and I always viewed anything that required a network connection and had the word 'spy' in it with some suspicion) re-tooled to improve social networking/game playing and does some auto-patching...I refuse to install it on my m1710, but it did a decent job on the m11x...

And on casual gaming, even though it's a more pay-per-play oriented service, I might give the nod to Wild Tangent...I have little experience with the service (and that being 'Fate: Undiscovered Realms', a Diablo clone from the guys who eventually made Torchlight, tried to trick me into using it), but it appears that the games are quick-into and quick-out of...

gog.com has some arcane games, and unlike modern games, these don't have built in tutorials and the learning curve can be a bit steep for those that didn't grow up on games in the 90's...

I guess it depends on how you define 'casual gamer'...

Finally, there is also Games for Window - LIVE! (blech)...a necessary evil foisted upon me by Street Fighter 4, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dawn of War 2 (most screwed up installation ever...I bought it from Direct2Drive...it used Steam to install and then launched GfWL for multiplayer gaming) among others...the only 'advantage' that I see is that my XBox Live account tracks with my GfWL account so you can see my PC achievements on Fallout 3 on the 360...wow!!! (please note sarcasm in the preceding)...you can buy games and downloadable content from GfWL, but I find the whole affair confusing...I'll stick to Steam and Direct2Drive...(I wish Impulse had a larger game selection...I really, really, really like Stardock and Mr. Wardell...)

 

Wildtangent has a bit of a history behind it as having "questionable" software.

Some people accused it of "phoning home" a bit more than necessary, and called it borderline spyware.

This was quite some time ago (5 years or so), so they may have changed their service.