Steam

I have been on Steam, Valve Software's digital software distribution service, for maybe a month or so. For most of that time, I was content with using it simply as yet another social networking client. See, when a person sets up an account, they get a profile page that they can fill up with as much or as little personal information as they want, build a list of friends also on Steam, and check out what games people are playing. In many ways, it serves as Valve's answer to Xbox Live. It does, however, two major things that are much better than Microsoft's offering: 1.) the service is free, and 2.) you can download full versions of retail games. Now, just so I am clear, when I say "retail games," I mean games that come in a box, and that you can currently buy at Wal-Mart.

This is all old hat to people who have been using Steam since its release in 2003. Like I said, though, I have only been on it for a month. It was a happy month, to be sure. A month spent blissfully, without any hindrance on my time or my wallet because, you see, I wasn't buying anything. Perhaps this behavior meant that I was not experiencing the service for what it really is.

Perhaps I didn't care.

It doesn't matter now, anyway; all that has changed. I have made my first transaction. Those sneaky bastards in Bellevue tricked me into doing it by heavily discounting a game I already wanted. Oh sure, they say that they were selling the original Half-Life for 98 cents in celebration of the game's tenth anniversary. The truth? They knew it was exactly the thing to do to get my money. And now I can't stop the dreaming. Suddenly, I feel a deep and personal need to play all the old PC shooters I have missed over the years, from Quake and Hexen, to Deus Ex, to Counter-Strike - not to mention the two Half-Life expansions. Thankfully, I can't get any of the newer games because my computer is a four year old hunk of junk. What I find to be somewhat bittersweet is the fact that neither the Blood series, nor the original Thief is in their catalog. I would love to play those, but at least I won't be spending any money on them.

For now, I am content to slowly make my way through Half-Life while I don't feel like playing any of the new hotness I have procured this holiday season. Tell you what, though...this summer will be full of retro goodness.