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Steam is a digital distribution service owned by Valve. Originally created to distribute its own games, Steam has since expanded to become the de facto standard for digital distribution of PC games, and supports community features, downloadable content and achievements. Starting 2010, Steam now offers Mac games as well.

For Christmas I Want a New Steam Client

#1 Posted by nintendoeats (5970 posts) - 1 year, 4 months ago

Not a new interface (though that could use a some work in a few spots) but just some good old optimizations. I'm running an overclocked Q6600, 7 GB of RAM and a fiber optic internet connection...yet the client can easily hang for 15-30 seconds during routine tasks like switching tabs or opening game categories.

Am I the only one who has these problems?

#2 Posted by JCTango (1301 posts) - 1 year, 4 months ago

@nintendoeats: Yeah I get that too, and I'm on a mid-high end system.

#3 Posted by Jams (2682 posts) - 1 year, 4 months ago

I start getting those problems when I have like 225 games installed at once.

#4 Posted by c0l0nelp0c0rn1 (1648 posts) - 1 year, 4 months ago

@nintendoeats: Mine has to crash once before actually logging me in, but that may be because of some filtering software...

Anyway, there's definitely room for improvement in the out-of-game stuff. Stuff like:

  • Why can't I trade in a browser?
  • Why can't the steam store benchmark my system to see if I can run the game I am looking at?
  • Why can't Steam check for video drivers automatically?
  • Why doesn't small mode let me look at the store at all?

That's all I can think of for now.

#5 Posted by Azteck (7330 posts) - 1 year, 4 months ago

It's slow, yeah. But it's all fairly easy to live with. Then again I rarely do sweeps of the store or anything like that so..

#6 Posted by easthill (351 posts) - 1 year, 4 months ago

Tabs. That's all I want. Became apparent to me in the holiday sale, how much I use tabs when I browse anything.

#7 Posted by dudeglove (6262 posts) - 1 year, 4 months ago

Pfft. The fact it actually works nowadays is an achievement in itself.

#8 Posted by nintendoeats (5970 posts) - 1 year, 4 months ago

@c0l0nelp0c0rn1: Actually, Steam DOES update ATi graphics cards now. Has done for a while.

#9 Posted by Ravenlight (7085 posts) - 1 year, 4 months ago

@nintendoeats said:

@c0l0nelp0c0rn1: Actually, Steam DOES update ATi graphics cards now. Has done for a while.

Not automatically. You have to activate the updater yourself.

That said, I'd rather Steam not automatically update my drivers as soon as they're available. Usually that results in a few games stopping working for a few days.

#10 Posted by JustinNotJason (395 posts) - 1 year, 4 months ago

I guess I've been on STEAM long enough to remember when the client barely worked and was only for launching Counter Strike and Half life. So now, even in it's unoptimized state, I'm content.

Oh man, the dark days of steam when friend lists were just for show and they had no real store to speak of.

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