Cutting The Mustard (What The Hell Does That Mean, Anyway?)
Does GamersGate cut the mustard? Pretty well actually. Having purchased, downloaded and played two games from GamersGate, and about a half a dozen from Steam, I'd actually say that GamersGate is the more painless of the two services. The main, fundamental, difference between Steam and GamersGate is the fact that Steam uses a comprehensive client, and GamersGate does not. GamersGate does pretty much the same job as Steam, at least where purchasing and managing your games is concerned, via the GamersGate.com website, rather than via a client.
GamersGate does have a download manager, which is tied to the website and your account data, which is used to download and unlock encrypted files for installation, but it is very simplistic compared to Steam. Unlike Steam, there is no server browser for multiplayer games and the download client is not used to push game announcements and news to your machine, though I wouldn't put this past being a future feature of the system.
Purchasing a game on GamersGate is a simple procedure, as one would expect. Credit card details, or a pre-paid activation code, go in, and game comes out. Much of the time the game will download via the GamersGate download manager - once a game is purchased it shows up on the menu of the manager, and one simply hits "Download." Speeds averaging around 250 to 300 kb/second are the norm. When a game is downloaded one selects it and the download manager will decrypt protected files - in rather short order, unlike some of Steam's preloaded, several hour ordeals of the past - and the install begins.
Patches are also run through the download manager, though it won't push them to your system as Steam does. In all GamersGate offers a more flexible solution which isn't steeped in DRM mumbo jumbo, and which is as - if not less - painless to use than Steam, depending on your personal experiences of course.
Paradox seems to have picked up more recently released to retail products than Steam. On Steam the likes of Darwinia are quirky games which largely drowned amid a sea of blockbuster cash cows on shop shelves, languishing there unsold until Valve rode out like a knight in white shining armour to save them from complete ubiquity.
On GamersGate meanwhile we do have some rather niche titles, such as Ship Simulator, which are never the less at least brand new and being sold in shops as well as online; and there are also some pretty high profile games. Paradox's own catalogue is obviously interesting, but games like DarkStar One and Rush for Berlin are worth picking up for a good tenner less than the shops asking price.
The world of digital distribution is expanding, and Paradox has done well to follow closely behind Valve Software in the game of monopolising what indie and "fringe" developers there are to be had out there. Meanwhile of course the question has to be asked what the likes of EA are up to with regards to digital distribution. Both Valve and Paradox started off their digital distribution systems in order to offer their back catalogues to the masses at knockdown prices (though obviously with an eye on bigger things); EA meanwhile offered us a service which casts doubt upon their ability to organise a piss-up in a brewery - for the same price as you'd pay in the shops you can buy a game minus the packaging, minus the disc and minus the real manual. Hmm, there seems to be something missing from this.
Unfortunately, I doubt if digital distribution will truly take off until the big players weigh in. DarkStar One, Half-Life 2 and Europa Universalis III make it worthwhile to toy with Steam and GamersGate; but until Battlefield, Lara Croft and Sam Fischer get in on the game in a serious way then toying with digital distribution is just about all we can do. But, in the meantime, Steam and now GamersGate are providing the perfect spot for niche developers to put their wares in front of the masses, and even make a bit of money out of it.
