Issues with steam......and game problem...

[Welsh]

Now, this is very very weird. With most games using steam now, I always install from the disk if I have it. Soo after my exam on friday, i went to load up Shogun 2 : Total War, which had been installed from the disk. I noticed however, there was an update via steam for it, so I just waited till that was done. Now, after this is done, I am so happy that maybe i'm going to be able to play and take over Japan! (Again.)

However, Steam pisses on my parade. It comes up with an error message saying 'Error. This game is not currently available.' So, i looked up on internet and none of the suggestions worked for me (verified game cache, fiddled round with some obo file or something.....) Very annoying! in the end i had to reinstall, and the download took 6 hours cos i dont have the disk!! :|

So, i played happily for a day. On sunday, i booted up my laptop, hoping to play some Shogun 2 : TW. Guess what happens? Yes..... It's still [f*cking] reinstalling!!!

So my question is, why the [f*ck] can't these amateurs get this right!? I've never ever had this problem before with any games.....all my drivers are up to date.....so strange.

And

B. Why is it that when it did work on my laptop (i7 740qm, ati hd5850m 1GB, 4gb DDR3 ram) which clearly comes well within the minimum and recommended specs, is shogun 2 struggling to play and rather laggy (i tried lowering graphics....didn't seem to work.)?

Is my processor actually [sh*t]? Or is it the graphics card?

I'm annoyed.

[Sky]

all the previous total wars can be played without the need for an internet connection as they're only single player games, is Shogun 2 multiplayer?? if not the only reason I can see for them making it require steaming [sh*t] is to drastically reduce their cosumer base and consign any future total wars to immediate failure. the whole point of single player rts and rpg is to be able to play when internet isn't available.
Personally I won't be buying any future games that require steam or any online activation everytime you want to play, when I buy a game it belongs to me not some jumped up shitty bug ridden online gaming service.

edit: just noticed empire & napolean also require steam but they were [sh*t] games anyway, good job nosteam cracks are available