I don't see how what I said was personal, at leat no more personal than claiming dissent is against digital distrbution. Talk to a steam fan of an impulse fan and you would think questioning either of those services was the same as slapping them in the face. I don't know that you are a huge fan of either of these so I was not actually referring to you. The argument that anything is the wave of the future is, however, a hollow argument as it isn't backed with anything like why, when, how concerns might be addressed. As for retail purchases, i am with you there. I still have almost pristine copies of manuals for my SNES titles. And I was disappointed when .pdf was taking over printed manual. Some of that is just nostalgia I am sure and digital manuals are fine with me now... it does save them money although after all this money saving talk I hear about with digital versions of things like games and manuals... too bad consumers aren't seeing much of that savings.

If you were to tell me that moving to digital distribution would save consumers money, I would say there is little better way to vote for change than with your wallet, but I haven't seen that. Just look at Left 4 Dead. 39.99 on steam, 29.99 at any local retailer which includes the free DLC for the game. Now do I think digital distribution makes it easier for indie titles to spring up and sell their wares, sure... and that is a reason I would download a game now, and I do think that is a good thing.

I would just caution anyone not convert skeptism and concerns and label it as some sort of movement against digital distribution. I think its pretty convenient, and the only reason I didn't by Left 4 Dead during the sale recently is because the people I play most with were not as into it as I was. Besides that, Left 4 Dead doesn't strike me as a game that wouldn't have great replacements in the future and therefore might be less likely for me to want to hold onto for a decade. Some of the strategy games though... some of them have never had a good replacement and their similar namesakes have fallen flat terribly.

Nice.

Well, I've never paid over $25 dollars for a single PC game through DD(L4D the most expensive), and I own quite a few. In fact, all 70 of my Steam games cost me 266.09(exactly), and I love all of them except The Ship(>).

Impulse made me turn that last sentence bold, btw. It won't go normal.

Oh, and I think L4D will be a big thing for quite a while. Valve supports every game it releases, and they are probably planning some more free DLC for the game. I'd probably pay full price for it if I didn't already own it, and it's gaining popularity. If you don't have any friends who would play it, though, I guess it's not worth checking into yet.

So you've been a gamer since the SNES days? That's great, same here. I'm only 17, but I've been a gamer since I was able to think. No joke, probably the oldest memory of my childhood was being introduced to Star Fox, Zelda, and Super Mario World along with my new SNES. I don't have any of those games any more, but I still cherish them deeply and occasionally play ROMs of the classics on my PC(I bought it once, I'm not buying it again on WiiWare!).

A bit off-subject, but do you know of a word used to describe major love for gaming? I don't know of any, but I almost wanna talk to a psychologist or someone who might know to find out. I'm learning quite a bit about computers and game development so that I can find a place in the industry, and if that doesn't work out for me I'll just continue to look for a vg industry job. That's the only future I think I would enjoy, and I would yield quite a bit of work output in a job position that fits that simple requirement. Maybe vg journalsm? Vg historian? Meh.

I'll probably wind up getting L4D around the holidays I think. Right now most of my gaming hours are shared with the same group so it makes little sense to buy a game they are not into. I mean we liked it when it was free, but I was the only one ready to pay for it when the free time ended. I think it was 26 during their promo, but now its full retail again, except at retail stores. 30 dollars for a game that has both good gameplay and good graphics is a bargain to me. It's not really my genre, the whole horror thing, is a little too much gore for me generally, but the gameplay and the co-op was so much fun and interesting I was willing to buy it.Not to mention the addition of a female character, although I let my sister play her because I am nice. I am hoping that type of game-play will be spread out to other genres too. And if they continue to add new content, only the more reason to look at it.

Seriously though, there are only a few games I play years, years later still but it's nice to know I have that option (even if some of the really old titles require the help of programs like hamachi or DosBox to work). And it does concern me it could be cut off, not because of OS limitatinos or standards changing but because some company couldn't run their business properly or because they decide it's not in their financial interest anymore to support the servers or whatever else is involved. My hesitations could be for not, and that's fine. It's not so important that I be proven right as it is that those concerns be addressed. It's nice though that some old titles are showing up as digital releases which will be a nice option if something ever happens to my disc.

I've actually been a gamer since NES and remember playing someone 's old Atari system but that system really predates me. I would say the highlight of my earlier gaming years is with SNES, a system I still have that works almost as well as it did when we, my siblings and I, got it. It needs a little repair for a plastic piece that fell out where the power adapater plugs in is all.

I remember when Super Mario World came out and Star Fox was a lot of fun, though I never owned it plenty of people I knew did. I own a Wii and have been conntemplating trying out some of the older titles and seeing if it plays the same. SNES was also the first time that four could play and we (friends and siblings) would spends hours playing it in the garage until the parents told us to go do something else. Around the time Playstation was released, I had switched to primarily PC gaming and LAN/Online play ever since.

Love for gaming? Hmmm, I don't know if there is one term for it yet. I guess if you stop saying you love games and tell everyone you are a gamer that might work. Then again, i play other games as well,board games, card games, games in general.

As far as working in the gaming industry, that's not my industry but I can say internships could help a lot with that. Internships help in general Remember, the gaming industry doesn't just employ programmers either, there are accountants and business managers, marketers, artists, all sorts of professionals linked to that industry. Since you are so young, I'll give you just a wee bit of advice and say it again, internship. Getting an internship to one of those companies while you are in college could be a lot of help. I studied abroad one summer instead and that helped me gain my first position too.

I should say that I'm 27 on my profile. -.-    That stings.

I actually have a potential internship planned. Hopefully I won't screw up any coffee runs or filings of important documents then.

Bah, nothing wrong with being 17. I am not so old I don't remember being 17 or in college for that matter. I probably come off a lot older than I am, but I come from a generation just before you but not that long before you. The gaming industry is an exciting place still, but I guess if you go back and you look at some of the developers you thought would be around forever Maxis (swallowed by EA), 3DO, Black Isle, Interplay, Sierra, Westwood Studios... just some that I can think of that were big when I started.

I am sure you will do fine, and an internship at 17 is a lot more forward thinking than I or anyone else I knew at the time was doing at that age.

If it's on Impulse I will use it first. If not, I see if it's on Steam. If not, I buy it retail.