I just bought Jade Empire on Steam for around $4, and it does not work. This problem has been going on for sometime, and Steam has not offered any advice on how to fix or any warning that this game may not work on certain OS.

GOG at least offers some sort of work around on problematic games, which has been helpful

Steam stinks? Well, I suppose it can stink, if it comes from the sewage system? I have noticed some smelly steam coming out of the manholes here, not recently though..

(sorry)

And on-topic:
Well, that seems to be the current state of things in Steam's cataloq of older games, sadly..

(how is cataloq written anyway? Such a horrible word, that)

Nah, it's not that bad word, the ending is same as in word colleague ;)

In British English it's catalogue. We have very few words that end in Q and most of them are proper nouns of foreign origin, with the possible exception of 'dafuq'

And in American English it's simply "catalog".

Steam is a content delivery platform. Its job is to let you download games. It doesn't care if they work or not.

You're not going to blame the postman if whoever sends you the package snaps the contents in half before it gets to you.

It isn't Steam's problem if a game doesn't work; it is the developer's. Steam delivers games to you as is. Because that is its job. It is a postman.

So no; Steam doesn't stink because Jade Empire doesn't work. It stinks for many other reasons, but not that. The developer of Jade Empire stinks for sending you a bad package.

I hate to be that guy, but it's kind of obvious that Steam offers little support in order to get their games running. It's every man for himself. And unfortunately Jade Empire isn't on GOG's library yet.

Obvious question, did you check the Steam forums for possible solutions?

Not quite. You don't buy packages form the post office.

It's more like buying something on Amazon or Ebay. Except those have easy ways to get refunds.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=153
check there for any fixs
bioware is the one that should providing the support if anything

Actually, when you buy a game on Steam, they are your contracter partner in the sale. Making them responsible for the game to run. Now, reasons why a game on a PC doesn't work are far and wide. So if the game runs on the recommended system configuration, they did their job. If not, then it is their fault. Yes and no. Bioware is the one to actually provide support, because they are the only ones who can. But the customer should go to the retailer and bitch or get a refund from them. And then the retailer can go to he developer.

It is very common, also in physical retail, to have the seller send you of to the manufacturer. Which is also a possibility, if a warranty is issued. But without warranty, any claims are on a contractual basis against the seller.

Really?
So that means the same goes for brick & mortar stores I suppose, unfortunately my experiences with those have been pretty much the same as with Steam. Well except that they accept you returning the game if you haven't opened the package yet and Steam won't allow you to return it even though they can see if you've installed and/or run the game.

It is the case in Germany but not necessary in other countries and you usually do get a refund if you don't react to them like a total ass.
EDIT: Cracking the game should help.

The problem with Jade Empire lies with the configuration utility which is not actually a Steam issue, its down to Bioware to fix it, you know, the people that created the game and put the info on the store page.

Literally just launch the game and change options once on the title screen, if you launch the configuration from the initial splash screen it crashes out.

I hate one thing on steam. Really, really hate.

There is no easy way of showing which DLCs you already have. It's a real pain in the ass when I check for a tenth time "do I already own that Crusader Kings 2 DLC?"

Games you own are not visible in store unless you are on a specific game / dlc subpage.

And it drives me fucking crazy.

btw. I own Commandos games on steam. Commandos 1 crashes like crazy. I heard GOG version doesn't have that problem
Old games on steam are safe only if they are selling... GOG versions :P

The sale of a subscription that grants you access to download the game, yes. Remember that Steam doesn't sell games. only the licenses necessary to access them. Anything beyond actually downloading the game is completely extra.

So if something went wrong in the system in regards to your acquisition of that license, or a rogue Valve employee voided the license or somesuch; then and only then would Valve be responsible for the game not working. But if the game simply doesn't work then they're not obliged to care, since they've only sold you a pass that allows you to download it. If you also want to play what you downloaded, then that's extra.

That's not to say that Steam support won't help you in most cases - they're just not obliged to; like Amazon's refunds. Amazon shouldn't refund you in 99% of the cases that they do, but they're nice people. Ultimately Steam is just there to grant you access to the games that your licenses permits you to access. It doesn't really care (but will do sometimes) about anything else.