Rating Digital Game Sellers

Please rank the following (and add that I'm missing)

Amazon Digital Games

Steam

Direct 2 Drive

Games for Windows



Am I missing any other major online game sellers? I would love someone who has used each service to provide opinions on the pros and cons of each.

I've only used Steam and found it pretty good, but I have no point of comparison.

Games for Windows has too small of a library.

Amazon seems to have a big library as well as really good (better than steam) prices.

Dont know much about Direct2drive.

When commenting, please discuss the library of games, the ease of install and playing, etc.

Thanks!

 

You can also add EA Downloader (EA games only) and Impulse to that list.

Personally i have only used Steam, Impulse or EA Downloader but il rank em all exept Steam to 4 stars.
Steam delivers that extra bit like friend list, voice chat and Steamworks achievements so il give them 5 stars.

 

EA Downloader sucks.

There's also green man gaming

 

I've only ever used Steam, and the GFWL interface in certain games, but not their store.

I love Steam. I've probably spent hundreds of dollars on games there thanks to their awesome sales. The whole community and friends system is great as well, and Valve keeps adding more stuff, like the recent addition of an in-game screenshot utility. Games that are fully Steamworks-integrated are handy as well, since you can join games directly through your friends list without having to manually look up servers.

 

There's also GOG.com, Desura, and Gamersgate

 

Impulse

EDIT was adrealy said

 

I've used steam (4.5/5) and D2D (3/5)

I've rated them how they are because steam is sometimes glitchy for me (shuts down on me on a very rare occasion) and D2D is ok, but their Gamecommando (or whatever it is) interface isn't that great. I've used them and gamersgate to purchase games that I can activate on steam, and that works rather well.

 

cant forget GOG (good ol' Games) their way of download stuff is sooo easy

steam (4.8/5) ever since mac update its been glitchy

GOG (5/5) It just works

 

Steam is by far my favorite as they have the best selection of awesome games and almost always get the newest releases. Plus great sales that I look forward to every week. Steam also keeps all my games up to date which is a huge enjoyment to know that I can load up a game I installed a year ago and it will still be up to date without having to hunt for a patch. Simply a fantastic platform. Not perfect, but in my opinion the absolute best out there with no serious competitor I'd consider. (5/5) The standard to judge all others.

GOG is great, but is limited to older classic games... great in their own right and I've bought quite a few, but more a niche market than a day to day digital source for modern games. (3.5/5)

Ive bought a few games through games for windows, and it works just fine and they have decent sales and an ever increasing selection. I do like that it is tied to my Xbox Live account to stay in touch with my friends there. Microsoft does seem to be putting in a decent effort with it, glad to see. (3/5)

Impluse works well, but honestly brings nothing to the table that I can't get elsewhere, so while I have a few games purchased through them, I don't ever run the client or check the website. (3/5)

D2Drive has pleasantly surprised me, and I've bought a few games from them as well without any issue. They send me the whole game file to then install, but I'm responsible for updating games myself. Basicly it's like buying the game on disc almost. Works, and with the right sale price I will bite, but not my main source by any means. (3/5)

I guess for me it comes down to using Steam as my main source of games, and will only go to another source if they don't have it or someone else is having a too good to pass up sale.

 

Steam is my favorite by far. I've also used D2D but only for steamworks games. I guess the reason is the big holiday sales and reliability.