The Best of Online Game Stores

You don’t need to leave the house to get video games, and you don’t have to settle for Web-based casual games or demos. Over the last few years, online video game stores have become a huge force in gaming. Whether you own a PC, a Mac, or any of the major game consoles, you can get hundreds and thousands of new, full games over your broadband connection. The services are free, and they often have better deals and bigger libraries than retail stores. 

On the PC side of gaming, Valve’s Steam service has become the biggest name in digital distribution. Nearly every major publisher and most notable independent publishers use it, it offers lots of community and multiplayer features, it regularly offers sales and discount publisher bundles, and it even supports the Mac for some of the bigger names in PC gaming (like Valve’s own games). It’s our Editor’s Choice, but it’s not alone in the field.

Impulse from Gamestop stands as Steam’s biggest competitor, with a big library of games. Unfortunately, its multiplayer and community features are underdeveloped. Microsoft and EA offer Games for Windows and Origin respectively, but they’re limited to releases just from those publishers. GOG.com is one of the best resources for legitimately purchasing classic PC games from the 90s and early 2000s, but retro gaming isn’t for everyone. Still, all of these services offer hidden gems gamers might find useful.

The game consoles have their own digital distribution systems, handled by the hardware manufacturers. The Nintendo Wii, 3DS, and DSi have Nintendo’s Shopping channels, which offer not only independent games but a wide selection of classic console games from the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System onward. Xbox Live offers retail, independent, and even classic Xbox games for download directly to Xbox 360 systems. Last, the PlayStation Network offers hundreds of full PS3 and PSP games, plus PSOne Classics and PS Mini games, that can be played on either system.

Steam (Valve, PC and Mac)

Valve’s PC game distribution service is one of the oldest and largest game platforms on the Internet. It was originally designed to make patching games like Counter-Strike easier and smoother, but a few years after its 2002 release the service really hit it big. Half-Life 2 and the growing number of games using Valve’s Source engine caused Steam to really pick up speed, and by 2007 it became the premiere platform for purchasing and downloading PC games online. Last year, Valve released a Steam client for Mac OS X, and currently all major Valve releases and a handful of other games are playable on both Mac OS X and Windows through Valve’s SteamPlay.

New game selection: Steam is very good for new releases, with both currently available and upcoming titles available for purchase or preorder. New games currently available include Dungeon Siege 3 and the Fallout: New Vegas: Old World Blues expansion, and upcoming games available for preorder range from Deus Ex: Human Revolution to Driver: San Francisco. If there’s a major new release for the PC, Steam will probably have it.

Old game selection: Steam’s library goes back several years, and includes some excellent classic games. Prominent titles include 1994’s X-Com: UFO Defense, 1998’s Half-Life, and 2005’s Psychonauts. It’s not a comprehensive library of older games, but it includes some of the best releases from the last two decades.

Pricing: Newer games are priced similarly to retail releases, with most big titles costing $49.99. Older games, depending on their release date and popularity, can cost anywhere from $5 to $19.99. Steam really shines with its regular and seasonal sales, cutting prices of certain games at certain times. Weekend and mid-week sales reduce prices on games from 20 to 75%. Larger, thematic sales occur on a seasonal basis and usually include discounts on publishers’ entire libraries or bundles of their top games.

Multiplayer features: Steam offers matchmaking inside games and social media services outside of games, thanks to a Friends list with text and voice chat and support for Clans (groups of players). Friends can jump into each others’ games, or invite them into their games, and Clans can organize group activities by setting up calendars and posting server IPs.

Local storage, game transferring, and DRM: Steam automatically handles game downloading and installation, putting local game files in its “steamapps” folder and getting them organized in the background. Steam allows users to keep their games on multiple computers, but only one can be logged into an account at once. 

Impulse (GameStop, PC)

Impulse is GameStop’s answer to Steam, and its long-anticipated leap into digital distribution. Originally the online store of publisher and developer Stardock, Impulse was purchased by Gamestop in May and has since become a large part of the company’s Web store. The service shares many similarities with Steam, but GameStop lacks the years of experience Valve has in digital distribution and online matchmaking features.

New game selection: Impulse’s selection is similar to Steam’s in size. Newer games like Dungeon Siege III and Alice: Madness Returns can be found, along with preorders for upcoming games, but navigating the catalog is clunkier than Steam. A large collection of smaller and independent games are also available over Impulse, just like Steam.

Old game selection: Impulse’s older game selection isn’t quite as robust, with classics found on Steam missing on GameStop’s system. Notable classics that aren’t available on Impulse but can be found on Steam include Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines and X-Com: UFO Defense. Curiously, the beloved strategy game Total Annihilation can be bought through Impulse, but not through Steam.

Pricing: Game prices run approximate to retail prices, but Impulse offers regular sales to offset the cost of prominent games. The service offers a daily deai where a major title gets a solid discount, usually around 50%.

Multiplayer features: Impulse incorporates tons of multiplayer features, including friends lists, forums, and even an IRC client. None of it feels quite as integrated or complete as Steam’s features, and nearly everything is tucked away under the Community tab instead of constantly present in some form.

Local storage, game transferring, and DRM: Installation functions in nearly the same was as Steam’s installation process: each game is downloaded and installed locally to its own directory and connected through the Impulse browser for launching. Multiple systems can access the same account and install the same game, but only one can be logged in to the account at a time. 

Microsoft Games For Windows Marketplace (Microsoft, PC)

All you need to know about Microsoft’s PC game service is that its web site is on xbox.com. Games For Windows was built to be the Windows equivalent to Xbox Live, with integration between the two services for Gamertags and achievements. It’s a functional system, but there just isn’t enough support from other developers, and it’s become a distant third to services like Steam and Impulse.

New game selection: Games For Windows has less than 200 full games currently available on it, the majority of which published by Microsoft. There are many great games from last year, but the selection isn’t nearly as great as Steam’s.

Old game selection: With a few exceptions, Games For Windows is strictly for new games. A few games from the original Xbox era like Fable and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas are available in the marketplace, but besides that there isn’t any classic game appeal.

Pricing: Newer games, like Fable III and Bulletstorm, can cost $30 to $50, while older titles like Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Assassin’s Creed are only $10 to $20. Games For Windows puts less emphasis on sales and bundle deals than Steam or Impulse.

Multiplayer features: Online content integrates with Xbox Live, so achievements and information is shared between the services. However, there isn’t any actual cross-platform gameplay, so you’re still dealing with fellow Games for Windows players in multiplayer and not the thousands of gamers on Xbox Live, even if you’re playing a port from the Xbox 360.

Local storage, game transferring, and DRM: The Games for Windows Marketplace handles downloading and installing like Steam and Impulse. Everything is done through the program itself, and the game is installed locally. 

Xbox Live (Microsoft, Xbox 360)

Xbox 360,
Xbox Live started as a matchmaking system for the original Xbox, but it quickly bloomed into one of the largest console-based gaming services on the Internet. If you have an Xbox 360, you’re probably on Xbox Live. The regular Xbox Live service offers access to tons of downloadable games, while upgrading to Xbox Live Gold membership adds online gaming, streaming media services like Netflix and Hulu Plus, and social network features like Facebook, Twitter, and video conferencing with Kinect.

New game selection: Thousands of both full-sized, retail games like Call of Duty: Black Ops and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and smaller, download-only Xbox Live Arcade games like Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet and From Dust are available for download over Xbox Live. While not every retail Xbox 360 game is for sale on the service, enough of the big names are there for you to fill up your hard drive pretty quickly.

Old game selection: Older games on Xbox Live are limited to re-releases and remakes, and the small collection of Xbox Originals (Xbox games available for download) Microsoft has made available over the service. Xbox Live Arcade has a strong selection of classic arcade games and high definition remakes, but it’s not a comprehensive library of older games.

Pricing: Retail games cost the same over Xbox Live as they do in stores, and XBL games can retail for $5 to $15, with a few exceptions running cheaper or more expensive.

Multiplayer features: Xbox Live Gold membership offers online gaming, including voice and video chat (with a headset or Microsoft Kinect) outside of games, and an accessible friends list that lets users manage who can see them online. Inviting friends into games or joining their own games is as simple as a few button presses in the Xbox Live menu.

Local storage, game transferring, and DRM: Like other consoles, games are downloaded locally and stored on the Xbox 360’s hard drive 

PlayStation Network (Sony, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable)

Sony PlayStation 3 120GB
Sony’s answer to Xbox Live is a free online service with a massive library of downloadable games. Despite its scandalous month-long downtime earlier this year, the PlayStation Network has generally been a stable, full-featured service that offers access to game downloads, multiplayer matchmaking, and streaming media services.

New game selection: Like Xbox Live, PSN offers several major retail games for download, plus a wide selection of PSN arcade games and PlayStation Minis, small games that can be played on the PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Portable. For PSP owners, most major PSP titles are also available on PSN, and can be downloaded to the PS3 for storage.

Old game selection: Unlike Xbox Live’s meager library of Xbox Originals, PlayStation Network offers over a hundred PSOne Classics, PlayStation games available to download and play on the PS3 or PSP. Besides these older games, most rereleases and remakes available on XBL are also on PSN.

Pricing: Retail games cost about the same to download as to physically purchase, and PSN arcade games and PSOne Classics can range from $5 to $15. While PSN is free, the premium Plus service adds discounts to all PSN purchases, and includes a rotating list of free games to download.

Multiplayer features: Unlike Xbox Live, PlayStation Network supports multiplayer gaming without a subscription. At this, it has an edge of Xbox Live, making the premium service more an issue of download game savings than multiplayer service.

Local storage, game transferring, and DRM: All content can be downloaded to a PlayStation 3, and from there can be installed on the system or, if PlayStation Portable, PSOne Classic, or PS Mini, transferred to a PSP. It’s a fairly flexible system, and PSN tracks your transactions so you can download games you’ve purchased again,, or download directly to a PSP even if you loaded it on a PS3 already. 

Nintendo Shopping Channels (Nintendo, N intend Wii, DSi, and 3DS)

Nintendo Wii,
Nintendo has been slow to build up its downloadable games library and even slower to put together anything resembling an online service, but it’s built up a solid set of libraries for the Wii and the DSi, and is working on developing a library for the 3DS. On the Wii it’s the Nintendo Shopping Channel with Virtual Console and WiiWare downloads. On the DSi it’s DSiWare. On the 3DS it’s the Nintendo eStore with Virtual Console, DSiWare, and 3D Classics. It’s a mish-mash, but it’s brought a solid selection to two of Nintendo’s three systems, and has a solid library of DSiWare for the 3DS until 3DS-exclusive software becomes more common.

New game selection: While you won’t find retail Wii, DSi, or 3DS games for sale on Nintendo’s shopping channels, plenty of smaller and independent game titles are available, like LostWinds, Shantae: Risky’s Revenge, and Cave Story. The 3DS is also scheduled to get 3D versions of classic Nintendo games, though only two have currently been released: Excitebike and Xevious.

Old game selection: The Virtual Console is where the Wii and 3DS really appeal to retro gamers. The Wii Virtual Console currently has hundreds of classic games from the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES, Turbografix-16, Sega Genesis, and Nintendo 64, plus arcade games. The 3DS is getting a steady flow of Game Boy games, with plans for Game Boy Advance and NES games for the future.

Pricing: WiiWare, DSiWare, and Virtual Console games range from $2 to $15, depending on the game (or, for Virtual Console games, the system).

Multiplayer features: Basically nonexistent. Different games with online components have different ways to match up players. There are no friends lists or matchmaking features.

Local storage, game transferring, and DRM: Game downloads only work for the system to which they were downloaded, linked to both the hardware and the Nintendo shopping channel user account. Game transfers are technically possible, but it’s a convoluted system. 

GOG.com (PC)

This is a service specifically for old-school gamers. GOG.com (Grand Old Games) mostly offers computer games from the 1990’s and early 2000’s, like Baldur’s Gate, Alone in the Dark, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, and Crusader: No Remorse. Since most of these games became difficult to run in Windows XP and later versions of Windows, they’re delivered in DOSBox format, with all settings to emulate the right system for the games to run on Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

New game selection: If you want new games, look elsewhere. Besides The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings, and Guilty Gear X2 #Reload, every game in GOG.com’s catalog is at least 5 years old.

Old game selection: Old games are almost the entirety of GOG.com’s selection, with hundreds of classic video games from the last two decades. Besides the classic games listed above, some highlights include Gabriel Knight, Blood, Betrayal at Krondor, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, and Privateer.

Pricing: The Witcher 2 is the only game that retails for two digits ($49.99). Every other game GOG.com offers costs either $5.99 or $9.99, with the exception of five titles (Beneath a Steel Sky, Dragonsphere, Lure of the Temptress, Tyrian 2000, and TeenAgent) available, with extras, completely free.

Multiplayer features: Considering most of the games were developed before Steam or Xbox Live, and many hail from the days of manually inputting TCP/IP information to deathmatch over dialup, this is not a service if you want a multiplayer experience. There aren’t any friends lists or matchmaking features, and most games don’t have any multiplayer modes at all.

Local storage, game transferring, and DRM: Besides the large old-school library, the flexibility GOG.com offers is its biggest draw. Games are completely DRM-free, downloadable and transferrable between any Windows computer. Even better, most games come with bonuses, like scanned PDFs of manuals, wallpapers, and even soundtracks. It’s not a bad deal for $6 to $10 per game. 

Origin (EA, PC)

EA’s Origin service is one of the latest additions to the digital distribution field. It’s an online game store and matchmaking service that benefits from some great design and technology, but suffers from the same problem every publisher-specific store does: its selection. You can only buy EA games on Origin, which means you have to look elsewhere for games from Ubisoft, Activision, Valve, or others.

New game selection: If EA put out a game for the PC in the last few years, you can find it here. It’s EA’s full library of new titles, including Dragon’s Age 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Unfortunately, it’s only EA games. If you want a new game from any other publisher, you need to look elsewhere.

Old game selection: Unfortunately, Origin doesn’t offer much in the way of classic EA titles like Privateer or Syndicate (the classic strategy game, not the upcoming action game). For those games, you’ll have to look at GOG.com, Steam, or eBay.

Pricing: Pricing is the same as retail PC games, with full titles like Mass Effect 3 available for $60, expansions like The Sims 3 Pets available for $40, and older games like Mass Effect available for $20. Origin doesn’t seem as aggressive with discounts and bundles as Impulse or Steam, so don’t expect many great deals.

Multiplayer features: Origin offers a friends list for playing online, which is a nice feature for a system with any selection of multiplayer games. There aren’t any achievements or trophies like in Steam, and there isn’t much community support besides a friends list, but it’s still present.

Local storage, game transferring, and DRM: Like most other PC game distribution systems, Origin downloads games to the local hard drive and installs them as if they were installed from a physical copy of the game. However, Origin has the added benefit of GaiKai, an OnLive-like cloud gaming system that Origin uses to offer free and almost instant streaming demos of games. I jumped into the demo of Alice: Madness Returns, and in a Java window I saw a surprisingly smooth copy of the game itself play, without any installation. I had full control through GaiKai, and could play through the first part of the game. Only a handful of demos are available on GaiKai, and most of them can be played on GaiKai’s web site, but it’s a nice system that should see some growth, for its flexibility. 

OnLive (OnLive, PC, MicroConsole, Portable Devices)

OnLive MicroConsole,
OnLive is an unusual case, because it doesn’t actually involve game downloads. Instead, the service, accessible through PCs and OnLive’s MicroConsole, uses cloud computing to handle games, piping out input from the user and bringing in the video and audio of the game. 

New game selection: The library is a mishmash of nearly 200 games, both new and old. While newer games like F.E.A.R. 3 and Homefront are available, and many prominent upcoming games like Saints Row: The Third and Deus Ex: Human Revolution can be preordered, but it’s not a complete selection compared to Steam and Impulse.

Old game selection: A handful of older games like Deus Ex and Alien Versus Predator Classic 2000 can be purchased, but OnLive isn’t meant to be a comprehensive library of classics. You might find some titles that bring up fond memories, but there’s no real logic or consistency to the selection.

Pricing: Besides purchasing games for retail prices, you can also “rent” games for a short period of time, or subscribe to OnLive’s PlayPack bundle, a selection of several dozen games you can play for $9.99 per month.

Multiplayer features: OnLive offers matchmaking and tracking services for users of the service, but it doesn’t extend to the general PC or console population. You can only play online with other OnLive users.

Local storage, game transferring, and DRM: Because OnLive is cloud-based, there’s no local storage at all. However, any game you purchase through OnLive is available to play at any computer or gear that can run OnLive.