A digital distribution service owned by Valve Corporation. Originally created to distribute Valve's own games, Steam has since become the de facto standard for digital distribution of PC games.
More interesting is the mention that it supports games with steam transactions. So is Steam going to become a platform for in game real money purchases now ? Could happen.
It could be good for gifting. Rather than gifting a game to someone, you can buy them a dollar amount so they can get whatever they want. Of course, this feels like the start of selling Steam cards in stores, which would make presents good for people who don't want to buy things online for people.
I think the only time I ever have problems with buying stuff on Steam is during their huge super sales. Even then, I'm only spending maybe $20 at a time.
Isn't that much use to one as myself, but it's good to see Valve making an option for younger PC-gamers. Anything to get them away from alot of bad consolegames.(Halo etc)
Those of us with Paypal accounts and such obviously have no reason to use this, but there are a lot of people that don't like using their credit/bank cards on the internet, or don't want to give some online store too much personal data, then pre-paid cards make sense. I don't know if there is a huge amount of people who don't use their card online anymore, but I guess there are some that could start buying on Steam now.
Also, as others mentioned already, this is a perfect way for parents to let their kids buy stuff for very fixed sums of money on Steam.
What I don't quite get is what the real difference between this service and the PaySafeCard they started using a couple of months ago is.
it could be good though to help you budget your money. tell yourself "okay only 50 bucks on steam games this month" and put 50 in your steam wallet, then you won't be tempted to pull out the card and spend more than that.
I'm happy about this simply because I don't want to save my credit card information on my Steam account, but I'm not thrilled that I have to input it with every purchase. In the past I just had to suck it up, but now I can purchase a bunch of funds at once, and then spend them at my leisure without saving my info.
If this means we are going to finally see Steam gift cards then FINALLY!!!! I can stop telling relatives to buy me EB Games gift cards for holidays and buy Steam Gift Cards instead. I have about $100 worth of EB Games gift cards sitting in my wallet for over a year now because I hate buying a game and not being able to add it to my Steam Account.
" The only thing I want to hear about Steam is when it's coming to PS3. "
Not quite there bro. Steam cloud support and Steam for realz are two totally separate things when it comes to the PS3. Maybe someday, but you sure as hell aren't going to be able to buy PC games on the PS3 anytime soon.
Of course if Valve does eventually release HL: Ep 3, then I suppose anything could be possible.
@SupeRaven said:
"
...be used to purchase any game or within a game that supports Steam transactions.
Ahh... its really for the in-game purchases I bet. "
Makes sense. Then steam can start carrying the free to play business model games.
Steam will be nothing but Korean MMOs in five years.
Also I could see how this would be awesome for those too young for plastic money, or for those that don't want to put their credit card information on that gosh darn scary internet yet.
I think I might actually use this. It might make me realise how much I spend on Steam and possibly make me think twice before I buy literally anything that is on sale. I know I have a problem but maybe this wallet thing can help.
This's perfect for grannies and grandads that have no clue what to get their grankids.
I remember being given a bob the builder book for easter even though I was like 9 at the time. I mean, sure I read comic books at the time but jeez, it's quite a stretch from dennis the menace to "Bob The Builder: The mystery of the Broken Tractor"!
Ah well! They meant well by it so I guess that's what counted.
As a side note, it could help me control how much I spend on Steam. I tend to just buy stuff if it looks cool to me and it's also on sale.
The only way I can see this being useful, would be if pre-paid Steam cards were being sold at stores. So even though they haven't announced any such plans yet, I'm certain that will eventually become a reality.
And, hey, why not? You can buy pre-paid cards for almost anything, so why not Steam?
" The only thing I want to hear about Steam is when it's coming to PS3. "
Not quite there bro. Steam cloud support and Steam for realz are two totally separate things when it comes to the PS3. Maybe someday, but you sure as hell aren't going to be able to buy PC games on the PS3 anytime soon.
Of course if Valve does eventually release HL: Ep 3, then I suppose anything could be possible.
@SupeRaven said:
"
...be used to purchase any game or within a game that supports Steam transactions.
Ahh... its really for the in-game purchases I bet. "
Makes sense. Then steam can start carrying the free to play business model games. Steam will be nothing but Korean MMOs in five years. Also I could see how this would be awesome for those too young for plastic money, or for those that don't want to put their credit card information on that gosh darn scary internet yet. "
It would be one of the most brilliant micropayment schemes ever. Instead of making crappy micropayment games, you handle their transactions and take a cut of their profits.
This is dumb. When I first heard about it, I thought they were doing something like Paypal and Google Checkout. I don't even see why people are reporting on this. "Hey! You can pay us at checkout or you can pay us way ahead of time!". Big deal.
" How 'bout people get credit/debit cards? Seriously, it ain't that hard. "
kids cant. this way kids can ask for the pre paid cards for like birthdays and shit instead of having their parents get on and buy them their games. i think this is just helping out the people that cant get cards yet.
I like the wallet too. Especially since my wife's iTunes was hacked recently we're more gunshy of linked accounts. (Like Paypal. Though they stopped all the charges before they hit our bank so Paypal still rocks!) A prepaid card I could buy at Target or something? Hell yeah! That's a christmas gift I can give and recieve all day long. :)
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