If you're a PC gamer and you don't have Steam and Games for Windows Live on your system, you might as well go ahead and install them. In yet another sign of the times, the Dawn of War II beta will be available via Steam later this month, and it will require Games for Windows Live for online play.

Which I normally wouldn't have a problem with, if I hadn't spent the better part of Thursday trying to install the PC version of Saints Row 2. With no explanation whatsoever, I kept getting kicked out of the authentication servers after waiting several minutes. I couln't even install Saints Row 2, much less play it.

What's more, I couldn't even play a LAN game of Left 4 Dead, because apparently no such thing exists. Although I have several computers set up with the game, until I can sign into my Steam friends list, I can't play on the LAN. Which means my friends and I will have to spend the evening playing something less hostile to local play. Like, say, a board game.

By the way, on my retail copy of Saints Row 2, there's no indication on the box that Steam is required. Instead, it's written in fine print on that clear plastic adhesive strip along the spine. You know, the one some people just slit with a knife or their car keys while the more OCD among us carefully pry it loose from the edges with our fingernails. Here's a picture:

It's not easy to read in real life either. It says:

Notice: Product offered subject to your acceptance of the Steam Subscriber Agreement (SSA). You must activate this product via the Internet by registering for a Steam account and accepting the SSA.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, right: Dawn of War II, also published by THQ and hall-monitored by Steam, will probably be plagued by similar inconveniences.