Latest uTorrent comes with a Game Store
Users of the popular BitTorrent software uTorrent who have updated the client to the latest release version may have spotted the new Game Store entry on start already.
Game Store is an integrated store for digital computer games that users of the software may buy directly from within the client.
It seems to feature classic games and independent (those not from a major publisher) games right now. That's not necessarily bad, as these games have quite a few fans as well.
Game Store is a new entry in the left sidebar menu of the uTorrent client. It is listed beneath upgrade to Pro and before the actual torrents list. While this ensures that most users will notice the new entry right away, it is probably not the best location for it from a usability point of view.
The Store features games for Windows, Mac and Linux, and you may browse its front for some suggestions, or click on the more link to browse the whole catalog and use the built-in filtering system.
uTorrent Game Store
The selection of games in the catalog is quite limited right now which is definitely something that the team needs to work on.
What is probably more problematic from a user perspective is how the actual buying and downloading of games happens.
Payment options may differ depending on the country that you access the store from. In Germany, PayPal and credit card payments are supported as well as a service to make a direct transfer from your bank account to the service.
These payment options are integrated directly in the uTorrent client. This means that any part of the payment process is handled in uTorrent.
This cannot be said for the downloading however.
While you might expect the Store to make use of the torrent protocol for fast transferring and convenience, since you are already in the client when you make a purchase, this is apparently not the case.
I made a trial purchase earlier today, and while payment was accepted, I have yet to receive the email that includes instructions on downloading the game. According to Neowin, games are provided as Steam keys that uTorrent users need to redeem on the Steam gaming platform.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that, provided that it offers an advantage over making the same purchase on Steam directly. It is too early to tell if that is the case though, as the Steam Sale that is going on right now makes that difficult. If games are offered for a discounted price when compared to Steam, it may be able to generate some attraction, but if the pricing is identical, there is little incentive to buy using uTorrent's Game Store.
Note: The uTorrent client includes third-party offers during installation. The company began pushing adware in uTorrent in 2012, and promised to move away from the bundled offer back in 2015 when a Bitcoin Miner was distributed through its offerings.
BitTorrent Inc plans to put more focus on uTorrent, as many of the company's other endeavors aimed at diversifying income were not as successful as hoped. The company added uTorrent Plus, a subscription-based version back in 2011 that does away with ads and comes with additional benefits such as a media converter.
Now You: A Game Store in uTorrent, what is your take on that?
This is why (nothing against Steam) I stopped using the app YEARS AGO … and thats not even counting why the only time (Linux user here) I am on Windows is fixing other people’s computers.
There are at least two much better alternatives out there that are cross platform too … QBittorrent https://www.qbittorrent.org/ and/or Deluge http://deluge-torrent.org/
qBittorrent is very good. It’s a simple torrent program, no ads, and no unnecessary junk.
I’ve been using qBittorrent for a couple of years now, I actually can’t remember when I stopped using uTorrent, but it was definitely after 3.x. Tixati is also nice, but the UI is getting on my nerves with those 12×4 wide buttons that have a 2×2 icon inside (example numbers).
Using uTorrent >2.2.1 is utterly retarded.
Why would anyone do that?
Then I guess that describes me. I’m just vigilant as to what I download. But v2.2.1 works reliably.
(’nuff said)
The bloating still continues… On a related note: which version is considered the best? 2.0.4?
People not learning lessons ((
A dead-end road, like ACDsee and Nero !
PS : i am migrate to qbittorrent Immediately as I first time saw the advertisement in uTorrent !
I’m using the penultimate version of uTorrent as of now, with everything removed, but I’m really getting tired of constantly fighting this thing. I think I’ll switch to qBittorrent soon. Or Deludge, whichever is more lightweight.
I broke it, lol:
imgur.com/a/ocUzf
If you have it installed go to the installation folder (I think now it’s in C:/Users/username/AppData/Roaming/uTorrent/) while uT is running look after where it creates these folders:
apps
dlimagecache
share
updates
Especially the last two. Create dummy files and set their attributes to read-only.
Here’s a tip:
Options > Preferences > Advanced…
Turn ALL settings to false:
bt.enable_pulse
distributed_share.enable
gui.show_notorrents_node
offers.left_rail_offer_enabled
gui.show_plus_upsell
offers.content_offer_autoexec
offers.sponsored_torrent_offer_enabled
offers.featured_content.badge.enabled
offers.featured_content_notifications_enabled
offers.featured_content_rss_enabled
Hidden menu = Options > Preferences > Hold F2/Shift while clicking Advanced:
gui.show_gate_notify
gui.show_plus_av_upsell
gui.show_plus_conv_upsell
gui.show_plus_upsell_nodes
This list is not up to date, so after allthis search for stuf like “ad” “offer” and set to false. Also do a search fot “http” and replace the address with 0.0.0.0 (let http colon slash slash in front).
Note, if you don’t need associations use the portable version from portableapps.
uTorrent also supports portabilisation by itself (I have only tested once, but it works, I just prefer the PAF version). Create “settings.dat” in the folder with the uTorrent.exe. This version may allow associations too.
I am always using the latest PORTABLE version. No ads, no bloating…
p.s never understood the need to install anything on a Windows PC.
Same mistake as Vuze.. bloatware
I don’t download a lot of torrent files. But, when I need to download one, I do not use uTorrent. The name is no longer appropriate. There’s nothing “micro” (u) about it.
There are much better alternatives. Some were mentioned above. Here’s what I use.
https://www.tixati.com/discover/
– Transmission
– Deluge
– qBittorrent
– Tixati
utorrent 1.6.1 here.
does exactly what it has to do: to download torrent files.
Here Hear – I like v2.2.1 a wee bit better, but you’re right. It does the job
Does 1.6.1 have DHT yet?
Usually you go with 2.2.1.
Game store? I’m…almost speechless. utorrent must have been bought so many times that their actual owners are 90 years old and they don’t even know what that means.F**k you you 90 year old.
Recently, an uTorrent ad was using a flash exploit (SWF/Meadgive) to install malware. That’s enough reason not to use it.
uTorrent went to shit a long time ago. After the bitcoin miner incident, I don’t see any reason to continue using this torrent client. I was already using Qbitorrent at that time.
Tixati best,vuze pretty good,tried them all over the years,stuck with a old version of vuze for a very longtime till i found tixati.as for a store really? come on man what a joke,defeats the purpose,f the middle man.
They keep adding stuff to this thing, while still describing it as “a (very) tiny Bittorrent Client”. As a reminder, it’s name is μTorrent (for microTorrent).
I used UTorrent some time ago and I find it slow, I do not understand why. But it can not be denied that it offers some advantages when shopping online on steam