Steam is not that bad of a distribution system but in a since what happens to your games if say valve goes out of buisness there all stored on there servers so basically the users would be out of luck now the likely hood of that happening is really low but its something to think about you know?

i definitely like the certain promotions going on in Steam once in a while and such, but who knows what's gonna come when they successfully monopolize the market.. i absolutely want some competition here, juz like Google. only healthy competition will drive the market and give companies initiatives to compete in terms of both quality and price. and to Hell with DRM.. it's retarded... why can't i install the same game on the same machine infinitely when i'm the kind of guy who reinstall OS pretty often?

Oh, I'm not saying they're monopolistic at all. They are just good at their business. The Stardock CEO and others in the discussions here were complaining of monopoly, which I wholeheartedly disagree with. Stardock is just upset that they had a jump on Valve and totally dropped the ball, leaving them in the dust as far as the digital distribution and DRM scene goes.

But, for the record, Impulse is really improving. And we, the consumers, are making out like bandits on many of the sales and deals on both Steam and Impulse. Just bought the Sword of the Stars collection on Impulse today for $7.50. Seriously, that's a massive deal. And a larger chunk of that money goes back to the publisher than ever would have if it had been a box on a shelf in a store. At least, that's the theory behind digital distribution. Anyone know if they really do make more per sale?