Web Africa to host local STEAM server
As part of its recent drive into the gaming space, Web Africa has announced that it is in the process of setting up a local Steam server.
The ISP plans to set up a server from which its subscribers can download content without using their bandwidth. This means that gamers will effectively be able to download large games from Steam without incurring any of the associated bandwidth costs which have prevented the service from taking off properly in SA.
Not only will its subscribers have access to bandwidth- free Steam content, but they are now also able to play online on, the just launched, Wage servers without using any of their bandwidth. This, in conjunction with the planned Steam set-up, may well make Web Africa extremely popular with local gamers.
Due to the relatively low prices gamers pay for PC games in SA, the benefits of having free access to Steam are not that obvious. New releases such as Left 4 Dead 2 and Borderlands usually retail for $49 (R370) on Steam, so buying locally will still be cheaper. However, Steam’s value proposition is greatly enhanced by its regular specials. This weekend’s special deal has Counter Strike: Source selling for $5 (R40).
Steam also hosts a variety of game demos, videos, as well as DLC packs such as the recently released Borderlands add-on; The Zombie Island of Dr Ned.
Another benefit of Steam is that it hosts a wide variety of games, many of which are difficult to find in stores in SA. There are also games which are only sold online, such as Braid, Machinarium and Gratuitous Space Battles.
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Comments (18 posted): Comments (18 posted):
Subscribe to comments feedI don't think I explained myself clearly.
Firstly, we already do play MW2 with local latency. The reason it is laggy is due to it being hosted p2p and the fact that we just don't have the broadband infrastructure to really pull it off. Not as well as dedicated servers can anyways.
Secondly, the Steam server will only benefit us in so far as we can download stuff from the store using the "freezone". It is doubtful that it will work in games like MW2 as you have described.