I live far from any proper form of civilization. My wife works for toy store, who is the biggest shop in town regarding games, but she seldom receive decent new releases and when she does its only one or two copies. Many times I warned her of an upcoming releases that will sell, but the guy who makes the decisions just don't listen.
Which means that I have to order my games from the internet, mostly Take2 and BT Games, if I want the disks and cases(which tells me that I am doing things right after years of pirating) or get it from Steam. My personal experience is that Steam was actually a bit more expensive with the new releases I wanted than the on-line orders. Plus it takes about the same time for me to download the game than to wait for the Post Office.

So Steam can help me due to the lack of proper game retailers in my area. However, due to the above mention price difference I actually buy most of my titles from on-line retailers.