Game Discs Replaced by Steam

I was trolling through Steam the other day when I came across a few games that were in my personal game library.  Since it’s always great to have a digital backup, and these older games are really cheap, I figured it would be a good idea to add these games to my Steam account.

Another reason this is a good idea is because the original CDs or DVDs have copy protection out the ying-yang.  Some of these games will also refuse to install on a modern operating system, even in compatibility mode (I’m looking at YOU, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory).  Still other games are so old that they have to be emulated in DOSbox, and getting the right settings can be very annoying, especially if they supported a 3DFX card, such as the original Tomb Raider or Descent.

Even more games are duplicates of what I have on the old Xbox 360.  I had every single console from the former generation of video games (circa 2005 – 2012: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP, Sony Vita), and if there’s a console game that becomes available on Steam then I buy it so I know I will always be able to play it, even after the original console is dead and gone.  Let’s face it: the hardware will eventually fail, as will the game discs.

So, here are some of the games on Steam I found that have replaced the physical scratched discs.

• Duke Nukem (1, 2, and 3d)
• Commander Keen Complete Pack
• Obscure (1 and 2) (see our review here and here)
• Pinball Arcade
• Braid
• Doom Series
• Flashback
• Risen
• Bully: Scholorship Edition (read our review)
• Grand Theft Auto series
• Deus Ex: Human Resolution
• Painkiller series
• Tomb Raider series (all of them!)
• Far Cry series
• Unreal
• Wolfenstein (Steam has all the original games, and even the new reboot Wolfenstein: The New Order)
• Call of Duty (all of ’em!)
• Postal series
• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
• Star Wars Classic Games (Jedi Knight, Dark Forces, Dark Forces 2, Force Unleashed)
• Thief Series: 1, 2, and 3 (they even have the new one)
• Condemned: Criminal Origins
• Prototype (1 and 2)
• Red Faction series
• Hitman series
• Tom Clancy’s series: Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon
• System Shock 2
• Hexen series, Quake series
• Dungeon Siege series
• Freedom Force
• Medal of Honor series
• Sacrifice
• Oddworld series
• Beyond Good and Evil
• Enclave
• King’s Quest Collection
  It’s $20, but you get all of the games.  If you’re an adventure fan, then this should be your base.
• Deathtrap Dungeon
• Daikatana (It’s a total piece of crap, but as a collector of games…)
• Dead Rising (1, 2, and Off the Record)
• Age of Empires 3
• Myst series (1 through 5, including Riven and realMyst)

Listed here are the games that still need an electronic replacement (not necessarily from Steam).

• Ecstatica and Ecstatica 2
• The Curse of Monkey Island
• X-Wing, Tie Fighter, and X-Wing vs Tie Fighter
• Simpsons: Hit and Run
• Virtual Pool 3
• Stubbs the Zombie
• Outlaws (3d audio enahnced version)
• Maniac Mansion
• Day of the Tentacle
• Infocom Adventure games
• Return to Zork
• Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
• Resident Evil 1, 2, and 3
• Ultima Collection
• Old Microsoft 3d games (Hellbender, Monster Truck Madness, Midtown Madness, Motocross Madness)
• Sim Copter
• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
• South Park
• Tribes (1 and 2)
• Heavy Metal: FAKK 2
• Warcraft 2