Steam or retail stores?

I would say Steam for 3 reasons: 
1. I don't have to worry about the game being sold out.
2. I won't be 18 for another 3 months and the manager at the Walmart electronics department is very strict about IDing people for M rated games. Also Walmart is the only store that sells games in my town so I can't just go to another store.
3. The main reason is Steam is always $20 cheaper for me. Games are $69.99 at my local Walmart and on Steam they are $49.99.
 
What do you guys prefer?

Online retailers. Much cheaper than going to a store or buying new off Steam.

Where the hell do you live!?
 
It's pretty unanimous that Steam is the way to go if you're playing on the PC.

Steam or ordering off webshops, whichever is cheaper. 
 
Buying in stores is so... 2004.

Steam, Steam, and Steam again I say!

I won't be 18 for another 3 months

I'm going with online stores. Thank you, Amazon!

Even though I don't buy many PC games, Steam is pretty fucking sweet.

Steam. 

Steam is one of the awesomest things ever invented. Also, on your point number one, they sold out of Prey on the Christmas sale lol. That's rare though.

Steam. convenient. all games under your account you can download AT ANY PC THAT HAS INTERNET CONNECTION.

" @The_Philosopher said:

I won't be 18 for another 3 months

You only have to be 17 to buy rated M games. "

@EpicSteve:

" Where the hell do you live!?  It's pretty unanimous that Steam is the way to go if you're playing on the PC. "

Wherever is cheaper, which usually happens to be some sort of direct download service.

Steam for anything on PC, Amazon for anything console.

I honestly like physical media still, plus it doesn't make me waste gigs of bandwidth for an impulse purchase (like ghostbusters from the steam sale).  That being said, if what I want is on sale on Steam, ill buy it.

" Steam. convenient. all games under your account you can download AT ANY PC THAT HAS INTERNET CONNECTION. "

Steam, games are normally the same price or cheaper and much more wider variety of games compared to retail shops where pc games are tucked away around a corner.

Steam. 
 
I'd be worried about my pc 'collection', but I realize that there was no set box for PC games and there never will be. So trying to amass a PC collection always looks incredibly hideous because of the zillions of odd boxes. Also Steam prevents some of the ridiculous DRM that a lot of companies put on games now.

Both options are good and what is available right now.

Store  
Physical Media ftw!

Should've been a poll.
 
 
Also, Steam.

Where's oldschool to give us his opinion?

I better check out Steam then soon. I must be missing out.

Anything that keeps me out of GameStore > GameStore

Steam gives American prices in Canada so it's always cheaper on Steam. Plus I like that all my games are all in one central area for download at any time.

I generally only use steam for indie games, older games and steam sale games. It's usually easy to find newer games much cheaper at retail than on steam, apart from when steam are having an amazing sale. 

@The_Philosopher said:

"1. I don't have to worry about the game being sold out. "

" I generally only use steam for indie games, older games and steam sale games. It's usually easy to find newer games much cheaper at retail than on steam, apart from when steam are having an amazing sale. 

@The_Philosopher said:

"1. I don't have to worry about the game being sold out. "

 Don't be so sure. Steam has sold out of games before. When Mount & Blade went on sale last year they ran out of CD keys for a while, and in the steam sale they ran out of keys a game (I think it was Prey, but I'm not sure). It's a rarity, but bizarrely, games can get sold out on steam. "

Definitely Steam. I never have to worry about CD keys or anything. Just download and play.

i really like physical media because i like looking at pretty box art

If someone says retail they are smoking crack

Steam.  They either match prices you find at retailers or go lower, and it's just extremely nice to find out about a game, buy it, and play it within a couple of minutes.

Steam. But I do know that one day the steam servers will be down for good and all the games I bought off it will be gone.

It depends on the game.
 
Retail, or at least online stores are often cheaper.  I bought Left 4 Dead 2 for PC for $30 at Gamestop while people were paying $37 on Steam, that's just idiotic.
 
I strongly prefer to have a disk (having true control over my copy of a game, not having to wait for long downloads in the present or future), and Amazon is cheaper than Steam most of the time, so really it's a no-brainer.