Big Steam update today. They're changing a bunch of stuff. Should be faster and more blue now.

After reading the ops post its obvious that Steam has some issues with their download servers and this has nothing to do with drm. Basically the download of the game for installation did not start. With the size of their download service server errors are more or less going to happen. It usually gets fixed in a matter of hours or days depending on the problem. This is similar to the gog Bear appearing problem here but on Steam it persists for a long time cause of the size of their platform. And when I was more or less a steam user I did see some of this issues happen. And also if you have an option try to get a better, faster internet provider.

Total war games are the main reason for me to have a Steam account.

I experienced at least 3 issues with games there.

1) Like you, updating Shogun 2 didn't work properly. Had to remove the local content and reinstall

2) Never could get PT boats to work on Steam. The non steam version works perfectly on the same computer

3) Similar issue with "Hegemony" . The DRM free copy bought from Longbow games works perfectly, but the Steam version won't even launch

But that's not the silliest effect of drm I have ever had to deal with.

The worst was the French disc version of Theatre of War. The publisher (Anuman) had had the bright idea to add a disc protection software that conflicted with the game itself. They took weeks to patch that !

And I have two older games on discs featuring DRMs that are incompatible with win7. The publisher simply never cared about patching the drm out.

Either they changed it or it can be changed by...third-party mods!

(or a free DLC that introduces brand new content like not having to be connected to the internet, as I like to think of them)

They changed it years ago.

Oh c'mon who hasn't got the internet these days. Online DRM is just something we're gonna have to get use to.

No, no we don't. I hear this line all the time and I think your experience is a prime example and I like who you worded. If Steam doesn't feel like it you don't get to play.

This is big deal because it's your property and would be able to use whenever you want to.

No, it never happened to me. This may be because I never used Steam though. :P

It pisses me off when people say shit like "Who hasn't got internet these days blah blah" because a lot of people don't live in parts of the world where you can get decent internet. Not everyone lives in a town or in a city too. A lot of people live on their own property in the middle of nowhere.

Yes, and they allow you to hide your games from your library now... Hmm... Now where would that idea come from? *looks at GOG game shelf...
Also, the new font on the chat... yeah, right here.

I think the same. Even if I live in a fairly large town, my connection is AWFUL. That is why I preferred to buy physical copies of my games... but guess what? Almost every physical release now forces the use of Steam, that on its turn forces me to download GIGANTIC updates (see Metro 2033 or all Valve's games), so I need to wait for hours, sometimes even days, before having access to the product I already purchased *and* installed via DVD. Not to mention the fact that often I need to restart their damn client for 2-3 times before it actually starts to work (and this has nothing to do with my connection). Moreover, since my drive is not that big, I have to uninstall games when I finished them... only to wait hours and hours again if I ever want to replay them. God bless the executable installers!
This motives, along with DRM and their detrimental monopoly, are the causes that pushed me to not buy even a single game from them since I joined GOG.

I live in Mexico. I ask myself why my ISP and its DNS servers block me from some sites for no apparent reason.

I'm used to crap ISPs... I kinda have to be since there really is only one in the entire goddamn country.

Was it error code 53? Because I get those from time to time, and it's my AV's fault every time.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9677-EUDC-7384

Sorry but this is simply not true for every game on Steam.

All my other games worked fine, I even installed Mount and Blade to test to see if it was new games to my library and it worked fine, only Shogun 2.

Still does it today :/