[citation][nom]Proxy711[/nom]May i ask why?[/citation]
I'm a different guy I'm not buying from Steam again either. The first and only time I tried buying on Steam was BF:BC2 Vietnam expansion. I had bought the original version on retail. I lookup on official forums and all to see if I could buy Steam version of BC2 Vietnam when I had a retail BC2, answer: yes. Basically Vietnam is just a CD-Key that you add to the EA account, not even a DVD or a new game. You download the content and start-up the same game.
On the BC2 Vietnam Steam page there was no info about having to own a Steam version of the original either so I went ahead and "pre-ordered". When Vietnam went live I couldn't find where to get the CD-key. I spend hours trying to figure it out and in the end DICE wrote an official post about Valve screwing up and not putting any limitation on BC2 Vietnam to only make it available if you have the Steam version of BC2. It also stated that if you're one of the few ones who pre-ordered before the limitation was put up to contact Valve.
So I did contact Steam support. First reply was the stupid copy paste response on how to start up a game even though I specifically wrote in the message that I don't want to do that, I need the CD-key. I explained to read my first post and so on...posts went back and forth. In short, due to Steam's error I got the option of...get a refund or buy BC2, again, but on Steam (and I guess get a new account going so I have to juggle sign between the two account when I change between original and Vietnam - since i already have a "soldier" that I had ranked up a lot). I had asked if they could just send the CD-key to my verified email address but they just ignored it, didn't even say that it couldn't be done.
When it's your customer's first purchase and you've made a mistake making the customer not get the proper service they should get, in my opinion, you grant them some type of price reduction, extra service or simply some type of gift. Just giving the absolute minimum that is required by law (i.e. a refund) is not enough. This doesn't make a customer return to your business.
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I did eye on Portal 2. I checked prices on Steam as well as the gaming stores in my country. Steam with its own game, no middle man to pay with their online service, no packaging to pay (just bandwidth) managed to make the game MORE expensive there than ordering a physical copy at a game store WITH shipping. How can Steam not be cheaper? -.-
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Lastly the fact that they can block your WHOLE account for something you did whilst playing ONE game is scary. Then I've heard about developers not liking how Steam is and how they have a monopoly on the digital market. I used to love Valve but it seems they're getting too big and cocky. Oh, I also like how they've messed up CS 1.6. I'm not sure if it's fixed but some eastern Europe country highjacked the server list so you can't play the game. The things like mouse acceleration is impossible to remove without a registry tweak. I don't mind not receiving any updates but not keeping a game playable (that you still sell!!) is frankly not acceptable.