News Valve brings game guides to Steam

I didn't realise people still bought game guides you know with the advent of the internet and all.

 

"Or you could Alt-Tab to Gamefaqs."

or better yet Shift+Tab to Gamefaqs.

 

steams online browser is pretty good these days

its not slow and it will do for gamefaqs thats for sure

 

And most importantly it is not IE!!

 

Personally, I often have my netbook balanced on the corner of my desk, and use the browser on that rather than messing with alt/shift-tab.
I must say though, it's unusual for Valve to sell something I don't want to buy. (of course I need a fluffy boomer doll!)

 

Oh dear... Prima guides... If you can't learn everything the guide tells you just from basic gameplay then you are quite bad at games. Not even being an elitist here, they're really just like a basic user manual that every game comes with, except with more pictures and some tables in the back.

Or, if you're really having such a hard time because video games are srs bzns (being an elitist now) just search for the answer on the internet like everyone else has said.

Not sure if Tom was trying to say this, but a "muted point" could be possible. One could claim that he used muted to mean the point was dampened, quieted, muffled, etc by the ease of finding online guides. Stretching it further, one could argue that claiming it was a moot point would actually be less correct. Strategy guides still have a purpose and a point, so they are not moot, simply overshadowed by alternatives, aka muted.

Or maybe he really did mean to use moot point, who knows.

 

I meant to say muted, if it works on not strictly in English I am not that concerned. I see far bigger crimes committed than that every day!

My original point was to say that Valve with the shift+tab feature have taken the thunder from the possible benefit of the new guides. If the feature was not there but you could load up the guides in game then it would go some way to justify the guides to me.

5 years ago I think the reception to these guides would have been somewhat different.

At least there is the potential for them to bundle the guides for free on future releases.

 

Ah, and this will quite likely be happening more and more in the future.

This weekend only, Metro 2033 only $39.99 with FREE Prima strategy guide!

Pre-Order your copy today and get a Prima strategy guide FREE!

THQ Pack now just $89.99, includes Prima strategy guides for ALL titles!

I'm scared.

 

The main problem with most guides is that they usually only offer a very specific strategy which the author found the most useful to progress through game. Most of the fun of completing a game comes from finding your own strategies, not knowing what is coming up next and thinking on the fly etc. Using a strategy guide all throughout a game will just ruin the experience and turn it into nothing more than series of button presses.

The only guides I find of any use is ones for open-world games with collectibles like the GTA series, Just Cause 2 etc.

 

That has to the the reason. There's no way in sanity they would think they could make some money out of people actually buying the darn things at full price without even getting a hard copy of it.

 

shift-tab is the "in steam browser" i guess?
(never understood what steam needs a browser for. There's...well...browsers to perform that task!)

 

The fact that you can browse the web in game is great, handy for waiting in lobbies or checking your email while playing L4D!

 

Some of the guides online in places like IGN and CheatHappens are better laid out and developed than most of the Prima guides I've seen.

 

I often thought that, but I have the luxary of dual screens... game on one (windowed) and a browser / email etc on the other