Bargain thread

It sure doesn't feel the same when it comes time to reinstall some game and its odd number of random expansions all purchased from separate vendors.

I know how to use Steam shortcuts too, but it's not like you just fire and forget. Every patch or update, every reinstall, every time you want to so much as verify game cache... roadblocks and hindrances all along the way. And it's annoying to have to keep multiple gigs worth of backup files stashed all over the place, when I'd rather just use Steam as the source of my backup... and it's not like I'm going to burn all that crap to physical media and defeat the whole purpose of going 100% digital in the first place.

The only consistent downside to Steam for me has been that some anxious indie devs get a little ahead of themselves and release expansions/dlc from their own websites months before Steam will get around to adding those same expansions/dlc to their library (and I buy and play tons of indie games). But I'd rather wait and pick it up from the same place I picked up the base game and existing dlc/expansions, rather than manually install some random update on top of a Steam install.

I mean, hey, if some folks don't mind the headache and busy work that comes with tracking and updating all this shit on thier own... who am I to stop them? There are all sorts of third-rate & inefficient ways they can go about buying, storing and downloading software... but I'm finding I don't have that sort of patience any more.

I think it's also worth noting, I don't just try to wait till a product is out on Steam before buying, I've even been willing to pay more for a product for the chance to buy it there (in those instances where there was no way to just activate a product code there). And on more than one occasion I've purchased second copies of things I've already owned just so I could rid myself of older installs/backups/physical media/whatever. It's always been worth the extra couple bucks to me in those cases.

I honestly don't have an issue patching non-steam games on my own, been doing it for years anyway.

If it's all on Steam, then I don't have to keep a running tally of 'where did I buy this game?' and 'where did I buy this expansion?' It's all on Steam. If you really don't have a problem with all of this stuff yourself, that's great, but kerzain's complaints are hardly unusual or hard to understand.

What do you do if the game on Steam is managed through a publisher's launcher like all of Ubisoft's stuff or MMOs or F2Ps? I agree Steam is the best of clients by far, but it seems hard to be such a Steam only gamer.

You know what is especially rage-inducing for me? When it comes time for me to redownload some older title I picked up before I started trying to transition to a 100% Steam existence, and I'm stuck downloading crap at dial-up modem speeds because whoever it is storing the files is apparently connected to the internet using something akin to E.T.'s phone-home device.

And this is after I'm able to track down proof of purchase and retrieve new & working download links for some of this stuff years after the fact...

I own hundreds of games, and I'm constantly adding to my library. Efficiency is important to me. The only constant exception I make is for certain GoG titles, but even my GoG purchases are limited in that I won't pick up some of the new releases and such they're offering now days, and instead just use them for titles which only they have gotten working on modern operating systems/setups and have put up for sale.

There are a couple recent developments that have started to get under my skin though, and these include MMO/F2P games that Steam has in their library. Steam will have the base install files, but never have the most updated copy of these base install files. In these cases you'll often download an MMO/F2P install from Steam only to then be forced to download another 1-5gig patch through that game's launcher the first time you start it up. So you're basically installing twice. Now, this can also happen just downloading base install files from that same game's website, but typically thier launchers are more up to date than what you'll find on Steam.

Another headache that's becomming more common are those assholes that insist on cramming in GFWL or excessive third-party limited install/DRM and crap into their Steam releases.

Yeah, I never understood why a game would go with both GFWL and Steam. (And I know, that's somewhat hypocritical, since you know, MS Flight, which I worked on, eventually had a steam release, with GFWL still being used in it, but that MS is in the title for a reason)

On the topic of Steam - anyone else just experienced the client updating 10+ titles, some of them rather old (e.g. Defcon) ? I'd say preparation for some sales gimmick, but there are quite a few AAA titles in the mix. Maybe just a weird coincidence., but it is strange.

It's probably Xmas event stuff. If you look in the Defcon files, there's a 'changes.txt' that explicitly mentions Xmas achievement changes and fixes as a Dec 2012 update.

So it is the sales gimmick. Thanks !

Santa shows up in DEFCON's radar.

And you get to nuke him.

Speaking of Steam, here are its two Weekend Deals:

1: Crysis 2 Maximum Edition is $9.99 (75% off). For when minimal Crysis isn't enough.
2. Red Orchestra 2 GOTY Edition is $4.99 (75% off). This is also free to play until 1 p.m. Pacific on Sunday. Note: Has nothing to do with playing musical instruments.

The Steam Daily Deal for December 13th is the Grotesque Tactics 1 and 2 Bundle for $3.75 (75% off).

TigerDirect just sent me a flash:

Chromebooks for 229.
Upstar 40" 1080p TV for 289
Scepter 50" 1080p TV for 399
LG 60" 1080p TV for 799

I actually have an Excel spreadsheet for all of that, with the place I bought it, platform, format and all associated keys. Makes this sort of thing VERY easy to keep track of. :)

Yea, my attempts at doing similar collection things result in me setting up a pretty spreadsheet that is awesome, filling it up a little bit and then never opening it again.

Oh, you're THAT guy.

I have to be, I'd go crazy otherwise, besides, a while back I got rid of all of my boxes and jewel cases for all of my disk-based games, so I needed to keep the keys SOMEHOW.

I'm currently mourning the fact that I didn't do that for my Asheron's Call CDs.

Is that game still running?

Yep, and AC2 is back from the dead as of today. But, you need an AC account to play it. In order to activate an account on the Turbine system, you need a key from a Turbine product. All of my old jewel cases have been long tossed. Now I'm working with Turbine support to see if they have me on file, somewhere. I think they're engaging the forensics team for this one.

Wow, I had no idear those still worked. I really liked AC back in the day, never got around to AC2 though.

Good luck!

Can you have vampire zombie Sims in career banker suits walking their dogs in the rain?

Yes. And vampires can go outside during the day as long as they use a parasol :D

GamersGate's four daily deal for December 14th:

Trainz Simulator 12 $9.99 (75% off). A train(z) simulator.
Risen $4.99 (75% off). Not a bread-baking simulator.
Call of Juarez: The Cartel $7.49 (75% off). Men holding guns simulator. Observe:



Hearts of Iron 3 Their Finest Hour $9.98 (50% off). A heartwarming WWII robot flight squadron simulator. Note: this is an expansion and requires the GamersGate version of HOI3 to play. Also, it doesn't actually include robots. Sorry about that.

gog.com's daily 75% off deal today is Pick 'n Mix Indie RPGs. Each title is $3.74. The list:

• Inquisitor
• Legend of Grimrock
• Geneforge 1-5
• Torchlight
• The Real Texas

AC2 is probably the best finding people and jamming with multiple disparate musical instruments simulator ever made.

My game .xlsx, let me show you it.

Reminds me that I have to update it with the THQ Bundle games that I'm keeping, and the GoG games I picked up yesterday :0

I just updated mine with the GOG games I just got. I have a feeling the GOG sale will be better than the Steam sale, if the Thanksgiving sale was any indication.

GetGamesGetLoaded are doing a deal for the next 72 hours. The deal is choose any 2 games for $10/8€/£6:

• Borderlands GOTY
• Batman AA GOTY
• Empire Total War
• Napoleon Total War
• Alpha Protocol: The Espionage RPG
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• Civilization IV Complete
• Mafia 2
• F.E.A.R. 3
• Duke Nukem Forever

All games are Steam keys except Batman AA.

*** Smugglers 5 Beta & Christmas discounts

To celebrate Christmas there is a 30% discount on all games from www.nielsbauergames.com - including the new Smugglers 5. Just enter the discount code on the order screen AND press "return" on your keyboard.
Discount code: CHRISTMAS
This discount is valid until 2nd January 2013.

The Steam Daily Deal for December 14th is sure to make you green...with radiation: The Fallout Collection is $6.80 (66% off). It includes Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics and Fallout Male Nurse.

Gamefly kind of sucks with advertising their Not So Scary End of the World Sale. It appears the titles are changing on a daily (?) basis but there's nothing in the email notices I've been getting that state this. Anyhoo, here's what's on sale at the moment:

• Assassin's Creed Revelations $10.19
• BioShock 2 $4.99
• BioShock 2 (Mac) $12.49 (it costs more because of Retina or something, maybe)
• Borderlands 2 $29.99
• Borderlands Game of the Year Edition (Mac) $20.09
• FIFA Soccer 13 $19.99
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning $11.99
• Mass Effect $4.99
• RIFT Storm Legion $24.99
• RIFT Storm Legion Expansion $19.99
• RIFT Storm Legion Infinity Edition $34.99
• RIFT Storm Legion Infinity +1 Edition (Coming Soon)
• Saints Row: The Third The Full Package $12.49
• Torchlight II $9.99

Blueberry Garden on IndieGameStand.com (activates on Steam, no spreadsheet necessary.)

Per GMG's tweet:

Is single player Crysis 2 any good? I'm considering picking this up for my husband.

I thought single player Crysis 2 was pretty good, but I didn't think it was an improvement on the original. The story certainly wasn't an improvement, and the gameplay had a bad case of console-itis, but I still enjoyed myself. Many reviews I had read were very negative, and it wasn't a bad game.

Ho-hum review maybe not much help.

Crysis 2 single-player is very good by any standard, except that of the first Crysis which is why everyone hated it far more than deserved.

Thanks, it sounds like he'll likely enjoy it. Console-itis and bad stories never seem to bother him, hehe.

GamersGate's four daily deals for December 15th are brought to you by an unusually heavy dose of Saturday morning sarcasm:

Starvoid $2.49 (75% off). You play an astronaut starving on a spaceship slowly drifting into a black hole. (I looked, it's really a multiplayer RTS but if you buy a copy you get a free extra copy to give to a friend. Runs on Steam.)
Dead Island GOTY Edition $10.00 (50% off). My one sentence review: Has its flaws but worth it, especially in co-op, if you're not tired of the whole zombie thing yet.
CSI Fatal Conspiracy $5.99 (70% off). One of the listed key features is 'Take down the Queen'. I don't watch CSI so I assume this is an alternate universe where the Queen of England is a serial killer.
Spec Ops: The Line $10.18 (66% off). An FPS to make you feel uncomfortable about your actions. You know, beyond being the usual MURDER SIMULATOR.

I'm not sure why my brain wants to get the Thief games on GOG, since I have two versions of them on disk plus the Steam collection.

Let Thief die with your nostalgia, and go play Dishonored.