https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555

Mine Alien Shoother also is working without a patch. I finished it without having a problem.

Anoffday IS right,
This is why I've created
this!
There's more talk about Steam than about GoG lately...

This ---> http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-635688.html

I and I believe that most people here at GOG have bought games off of Steam. I frequent thier forums and know what to expect from them. That's why I strongly recommend not to buy third party games from that service. Steam's customer service is horrible. They always have weekend sales, yet have no weekend customer service. They end their sales whenever someone has a spare moment (sometimes early), not like GOG who has an actual start and finish date/time.
The service works great for Valve games, but now that they've expanded to other developers, things have gone downhill. My two sons love the Total War series. But sadly I won't get Empire: Total War because it's tied into Steam. Yes I do have some hatred toward Valve/Steam. But that's because, IMO, they've earned it.

While i dislike the way they are doing business these days, i don't hate Steam. I do hate to be treated like a moron, by Steam or whoever. Don't you?
And what do their 'sweet deals' have to do with the reasonable expectancy that their customers have that they will actually comply with their own terms of service ? Or that they won't put products up for sale on the storefront that they know customers won't be able to use ?
Since when demandind that people on the other side of the wire keep up their part of the deal became hate?
As for what to do with my time, i'll decide that if you don't mind. And yes, some stuff going on in the game selling industry lately is important enough to stop play CS for a couple of minutes, and focus on more important issues.
Off course, if someone is blinded by so many 'Sweet Deals' you'll probably miss those issues entirely.
But you're right about one thing.
I have around 60 games on my Steam account, and i'm not loking forward to buy another one anytime soon. Maybe things will change...

I'm not "blinded by sweet deals." I'm just naming some of the things they've done right, rather than focusing all of my anger on one game that doesn't work out of the hundreds that do, which I can almost guarantee that none of you even bought anyway.
Of course, if someone is blinded by 1 damn game not working, I'm sure they're missing all the things steam does right entirely. Or just refuse to acknowledge them. And I do believe that anyone who bought Earth 2160 has a right to a refund. That's crappy that it was broken for so long, and steam continued to sell it. But like I said, I highly doubt this effects very little, if any, of you.
Also, believe it or not, I'm not a steam fanboy. I'm actually banned for life from the steam forums for getting into it with a mod. I am, however, a fanboy of people not constantly bitching just for the sake of bitching, which is exactly what you are doing if you didn't buy that game. And even if you did, fine, complain all you want. But complain on the steam forums, in an email, to your girlfriend, to your dog, whoever. I don't freaking care. Just don't do it here. It's unproductive and doesn't accomplish anything, and it's a waste of space for what people come here for, which I thought was to talk about classic games, but half the time I'm here I wonder if I really am at gog.com or steamhaters.com
And yes, let's all stop playing CS so we can discuss these oh so important issues that have absolutely nothing to do with the majority of us or the website that you are using to discuss them. Good idea.

I am certain that Valve will offer you all refunds if you ask kindly.
I got a refund on Heroes of Might and Magic 5 Tribes of the East, b/c the multiplayer patch on steam was not up to date.
Whose fault was it that I could not play multiplayer? Valve? or Ubisoft?
Ubisoft, but Valve gave me back the money in around 5 days.
If Earth 2160 doesn't work on Steam then Valve is not to blame, they do not make patches for every game and they cannot monitor every game, especially older titles that are $5.

I'm skiiping the quoting. Annoying sometimes.
anoffday,
First, i am not a kid whit a beef against Steam and i don't make stuff up just so i can bitch about it on whatever forums.
And i certainly don't have the habit of lying about things, if that's what you're implying.
So, regarding your doubts about what i've stated about the game in question, see the attached pic.
Wanting people on the other side of the wire to keep up their end of the deal it's not anger or hate, got it? It's what's fair and expected, no more, no less. Some frustration is definitely envolved, but that's it.
As for what they do right, that's why they get the big bucks and the big praise. But that doesn't translate into 'let's just forget about all the legitimate complaints', does it?
And what exactly do you mean 'blinded by one game'? I payed good money for that 'one game' and i actually enjoyed it while i was allowed to play it, so yes i want to play it again, if that's what you mean. Anything wrong with that or am i supposed to just 'donate' money to Steam and no questions asked? Sorry, definitely not my nature, especially when i don't remember hitting the 'paypal donate' button anytime during the check out stage.
As for the refund, you're wrong. Not everybody asking for one got one. Specially the people who got it at $19,95 + VAT like me.
Personally i dont want one. Either fix it, or say 'We're sorry, we just can't do anything about it because...' and i'll try my best to forget about the money and get another copy of the game here as soon as it's released. Like it is, it's unnaceptable.
And notice i've mixed Steam with Devs and Pubs as far as responasability goes and i also mentioned the retail market, so i'm pretty much concerned with the bigger picture reagrding my rights as a consumer and not so much concerned with bitching for no good reason about Steam.
But in this particular case, i gave my money to Steam, so...
As for talking about this kind of stuff here, i'm sorry, who are you again to tell people what's productive and what's not, and where they can or can't adress this kind of issues that affect all of us as gamers and consumers ?
I don't know if talking about it here or on some other boards will actually solve anything. I'm pretty sure that turning away from the problem saying 'Oh, but they do some things right, bless them, let's just talk about that instead' will definitely not change anything, ever.
If you're all around happy with Steam fine, but please don't belittle your fellow gamers legit complaints by throwing them together with the 'let's just bash Steam for no reason' complaints. That's just selfish. I'm betting you don't have Earth 2160 from Steam.
The fact is you do come across as a fanboy because from all the mindless and useless posts here on GOG about 'how STEAM just sucks' you managed to pick the one who actually raises a few questions about how Steam is doing business and treating their customers these days.
Sorry, i'm just being honest AGAIN. Nasty habit with me.

You don't even know what Steam is about! You start saying how much Steam sucks, without knowing the full idea! Steam isn't bad and a lot of people here use it, but it's no crapware! Or else nobody would use it, would they?

Thank you. DRM-free does not mean you get to bash Steam automatically.

Unnoticed by who? Steam employees? Yes. People who may be considering whether or not to buy a game from Steam? They may very well take notice. The thing about sizable companies (such as Steam) is that they often have difficulty taking a hint unless it's applied with a sledgehammer directly to their bottom line. In light of this, complaining loudly and in as many places as possible can actually be quite productive in getting a company to recognize and fix a problem.
And that's to say nothing of complaining relieving stress for some people, so that in itself can make it worthwhile for some.
One of the nice things about an internet forum is the ability to choose which threads to read and not read. If you dislike hearing people complain about Steam I can think of a very simple solution to that problem. ;)

To be fair, they have no choice if they want to play certain games. It's far from unlikely that many people who "choose" Steam are actually just choosing a game and take being forced to use Steam as a price they are willing to pay rather than miss out on Steam. That's a long way from an endorsement for Steam and "choosing" to use it.

Like choosing to eat at mcdonalds isn't technically an endorsement for food poisoning...