Red_Avatar: even if you consider Steam a store (despite the fact they're a publisher as well in the literal sense) they are still, by law, responsible for the content they sell.

Delixe: Steam ARE a store and are not responsible for the content they sell just as Game or Electronics Boutique are not responsible for selling games that are broken. You are confusing Steam with Valve. Steam is the Store, Valve is the publisher and Valve do not publish Aliens Vs Predator Fox do.

Red_Avatar:
No I understand that you don't understand *facepalm*. I guess lessons in English are needed here. Maybe I can explain it like I would to a 5 year old:
Step 1: developer gives patch data to Steam.
Step 2: Steam then modifies patch data to work with Steam platform.
Step 3: Steam then adds patch to the system so that when people log on, the Steam software patches the game using the patch data.
So yeah, I'm wrong when I said Steam patches the games, right? Oh wait, I'm not. I can't believe I'm actually wasting time explaining that, shock horror, "patching" may have more than one single meaning *another facepalm*.

Gundato: Actually, Valve is the dev team. I think they actually have EA as their publisher, at least as far as retail is concerned. But Valve is a confusing case.

Delixe: Can be confusing alright. EA published the physical copies of L4D but Valve supplied it directly through Steam with no involvement from EA. Valve also published Orange Box on their own. They probably only turned to EA to help market the game on the Xbox 360.

acare84: For Commandos problem is from Eidos or Pyro, they are selling their broken game on Steam, Steam is just a marketplace not promise to patch or fix games to work on Windows 7 and Vista not the company to fix games on store.

DarrkPhoenix: the basic fact of the situation is that someone gave Steam money for a game, and got a game that doesn't work in return. If Steam doesn't then make things right then that person is going to be much less willing to hand Steam money in the future. That's simply the reality of the situation, as it should be.

DarrkPhoenix: The problem is that a crucial bit of consumer protection is missing from the picture with services like Steam: refunds. When buying physical items if there's a major problem with the item you bought you can just take it back to where you bought it from and get your money back. Even if the original manufacturer was the one responsible, your business relationship was with the store you bought it from, and thus they are the ones obligated to rectify the situation. If the store then determines that the costs of dealing with refunds on a seriously defective product line is cutting into their profits then they take it up with the manufacturer (who they have a business relationship with) and either get the manufacturer to fix their product or they stop stocking it.
However, without refunds being an option there is much less motivation throughout the entire chain to deal with defective products, as the only one really affected is the buyer and they have little recourse. Basically what it comes down to with me is that if something I buy doesn't work as it's supposed to the one I'm going to be looking to to make it right is the person or company I handed money to. If I know from the start that they are utterly unwilling to issue refunds then I'm naturally going to be much more cautious about what I buy from them.
While people can argue in circles about whose "fault" something like a Steam game not working is, the basic fact of the situation is that someone gave Steam money for a game, and got a game that doesn't work in return. If Steam doesn't then make things right then that person is going to be much less willing to hand Steam money in the future. That's simply the reality of the situation, as it should be.

DarrkPhoenix: The problem is that a crucial bit of consumer protection is missing from the picture with services like Steam: refunds. When buying physical items if there's a major problem with the item you bought you can just take it back to where you bought it from and get your money back. Even if the original manufacturer was the one responsible, your business relationship was with the store you bought it from, and thus they are the ones obligated to rectify the situation. If the store then determines that the costs of dealing with refunds on a seriously defective product line is cutting into their profits then they take it up with the manufacturer (who they have a business relationship with) and either get the manufacturer to fix their product or they stop stocking it.
However, without refunds being an option there is much less motivation throughout the entire chain to deal with defective products, as the only one really affected is the buyer and they have little recourse. Basically what it comes down to with me is that if something I buy doesn't work as it's supposed to the one I'm going to be looking to to make it right is the person or company I handed money to. If I know from the start that they are utterly unwilling to issue refunds then I'm naturally going to be much more cautious about what I buy from them.
While people can argue in circles about whose "fault" something like a Steam game not working is, the basic fact of the situation is that someone gave Steam money for a game, and got a game that doesn't work in return. If Steam doesn't then make things right then that person is going to be much less willing to hand Steam money in the future. That's simply the reality of the situation, as it should be.

honorbuddy: Stores won't give me a refund with open games, movies, or music CDs, they'll just replace it by the same. But what if the game doesn't run on my system? I'm shit out of luck.

honorbuddy: Stores won't give me a refund with open games, movies, or music CDs, they'll just replace it by the same. But what if the game doesn't run on my system? I'm shit out of luck.

Gundato: Bingo. People keep citing that "law" of retail (I don't know if it is a real law, I am not in retail, but it probably should be one :p), but they seem to try to extend it too far.

Gundato: I just make sure that the game will work (which, I do for pretty much every game these days).

DarrkPhoenix: The availability of refunds on the things you mentioned are a bit of a mixed bag. Generally stores are reluctant to issue refunds on opened items of those types, instead opting for replacements in the case of clear physical defects. However, in the case of known systemic problems refunds are often issued more readily. For example, following the release of Fallout 3 (which had numerous issues with crashes making the game unplayable for many people) there were quite a few cases of stores giving refunds upon request with no questions asked, even for opened copies. The kinds of return policies in place can also vary significantly by country, depending on what kind of consumer protection laws are in place. It's my understanding that it's quite a bit easier to get refunds on the likes of CDs and games in many European countries, although perhaps someone from across the pond can confirm or deny this.
We're not speaking of the law here. While consumer protection laws will come into play to an extent in shaping store return policies, you'll rarely see it coming into play with individual disputes over defective products. Basically, if a customer comes into a store saying "I bought this game from you, my system meets all the requirements, but the game crashes every 5 minutes, I'd like a refund" and the store response is "Sorry, but we don't give refunds on opened games, no exceptions" the customer response is rarely going to be "Fine, then I'll sue you." Rather, it's going to be more along the lines of "Fine, if that's your position then I won't be buying anything from you in the future."
Which is what a rational consumer response should be when refunds are taken off the table. People are less willing to roll the dice products that they see as having any significant chance of not working- net result fewer sales. I'm willing to take a chance on computer equipment from Newegg that has reports of DOAs but otherwise high ratings because Newegg is easy to deal with for RMAs if the component ends up not working. I'm not willing to take similar chances on any games. And this is how things are supposed to work.