OK, so I've just bought Bioshock for £8 (yes yes, when you're done pointing and laughing at how late I am in buying it I will continue).

Anyways, so I goes to installs it and what's this? I *HAVE* to download the latest patch to complete the install process!? WTF!?

And to make matters worse, it took no less than 7 attempts, yes, SEVEN, before it completed the process without failing. I am NOT looking forward to having to reinstall this game when Windows 7 is released and I wipe my drive(s).

Mind you, I'm not looking forward to re-installing all my Steam stuff either. I think I might back it up for once.

Bought Bioshock on Steam when it first came out - installation was painless, thankfully, but I understand changes were made to the copy protection post-release to make it less draconian.

Put your Steam folder on a separate drive if you get chance. You only have to reinstall the client then.

This isn't Steam, this is DVD.

I'm trying to get a few games on DVD, because at least I have something to play then when I have no/crap internets.

Damnit, I was going to install it again on my new gaming machine.
Cheers for the warning

When you mention Steam, it should always end in "ftw"

I too installed over Steam when it was cheap last Christmas. I'm now waiting for Anno1404 to reduce on Steam, as it's currently £34 compared to £24 on Play

Incidentally, it's worth pointing out here that Valve have no control over the third party stuff for sale.....basically about 95% of their inventory....as it is priced by the original distrubtor, not Valve. I have always agreed that Steam is waaaaay to expensive, especially as bad as it was before prices in GBP; £55 for COD4 anyone? Didn't think so

I know, but the last line of your original post was about Steam. Also, you can still access your Steam games without an internet connection - it's called Offline mode! Was a godsend last time I moved and BT thought it was acceptable to leave us without phone and broadband for nearly a month, despite giving them a month's notice that we were moving.

Yeah, it takes ages but its well worth it.

Bioshock is awesome, up until the ending which has to be the worst ending in all history.

Yeah, but that doesn't help me when I don't have them installed! Also, offline mode was ruined for me once when Steam decided it needed to update the client, so when I started Steam and it couldn't update (after sitting on 0% for an eternity) it would just quit!

Cheesy 80's Sega arcade endings! Not an inspired move that one!

Games..Activate a product on steam

Worth a shot to see if it will work

Bioshock isn't on the list unfortunately. Unreal tournament 3 is to my surprise, but Bioshock isn't.

Might try it on my UT3 disc then as it's a US disc (limited edition tin was $10 when I was over last year) and see if it works