Waking one morning ready to enjoy a freshly purchased game via STEAM, the client notified me of an update. Reading while it downloaded, the release notes stated yet another fix for the recently released Left 4 Dead 2.

Let me clarify before continuing. This was a STEAM CLIENT update just for Left 4 Dead 2, not a game patch.

Now, there’s been talk of this recently (http://elder-geek.com/2009/10/…..m-unfair/), geared more towards the developer side of things, but the recent string of Valve-game-only client updates have me pondering another side of the question:

Is STEAM “unfair”?

There was an issue with the STEAM CLIENT and how it handled the post-download installation on some recent games, like Bionic Commando and a few others. Basically, STEAM wouldn’t install the game, leaving many not able to play the game they bought. When was Bionic Commando released? July. When did the STEAM client update come out to fix this issue? October, almost three months after the games release. This is just one of the many times a client bug was preventing people from enjoying games that they bought.

But for Left 4 Dead 2, one of Valve’s very own, we’ve had almost a dozen updates for the STEAM client to fix issues JUST with the Left 4 Dead 2 demo/retail game. Just because STEAM is their baby, Valve can tinker with it to add functionality or fix the problems with their games just days(or hours) after they are discovered, while other companies games get client updates on “Valve time“, if at all.

Is my assumption biased or has my thought process ultimately led me next to the previously discovered land of Randy Pitchford? Do you feel the king of digital distribution is stacking the cards in its favor?

http://thegamesmen.com/2009/12…..-by-steam/

Well

I executed Plants vs. Zombies and had to wait until it downloads the patch. Waited for a while and saw notification in systray: "Steam has finished updating Left 4 Dead 2" or something like that.

I say: "WTF?! I want to play Plants vs Zombies, not L4D2!"

Last update for Plants vs Zombies was released on 8th May!