Bargain thread

I've been enjoying a bit of the first Deponia that I picked up through some sale or another. Great art, and doesn't take itself seriously, but scratches that old LucasArts/Sierra adventure game itch.

A question on The Sims 3 expansions before the midweek deal ends: I have the base game and Ambitions and have been pondering starting up a new character. If I was only to get one other expansion and didn't want one that traded heavily on gimmicky play (vampires, etc.) or Katy Perry, which would be a good choice? I've asked something like this before and remember being advised that one expansion was rather buggy (World Adventures?) World Adevntures, Generations and Pets seem like the best possibilities for expanding play without adding anything over-the-top (or Katy Perry). Thoughts?

UPDATE: Steam will not let me buy any of the expansions because I don't own The Sims 3 on Steam. It is trying to protect me from myself. You win this time, Steam!

Meanwhile, warn the cows and fire up the tractor, as GamersGate's Daily Deal for January 24 is the ever-popular Agricultural Simulator 2012 for $6.78 (66% off).

The two Weekend Deals at GG are:

1. 75% off all things The Guild, specifically The Guild, Guild 2 and various expansions. Get the Complete Collection for $7.50.
2. 75% off King Arthur, its sequel and various DLC. The Complete Collection is $7.50.

Hm. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by gimmicky play. I mean, I absolutely love World Adventures, but it's all about going to other settings to run through tombs, which is pretty specific. I love Pets, but...it's all about adding in pets, which have their own play options and require more time and etc. So it's hard to say! For what it's worth, Generations is probably the most integrated of all of those, but consequently (in my opinion) the most boring. It adds a whole lot of new things for teenagers and kids and young adults to do, in Special Event or Wacky Prank sort of ways, but there's no real core thing it adds that I found very interesting. So I guess it depends on your playstyle?

For what it's worth, I find the new gameplay of World Adventures especially awesome, and Pets to be full of much cuteness and horses. Late Night has horribly buggy elevators and high-rises--I pretty much cannot play in a world with apartment buildings included--and Supernatural has loads of entertaining fairy/witch/genie/ghost/vampire/werewolf options, though if you're not into vampire play, you might not like those either. Seasons is a lot of fun, but is, like Generations, more the sort of thing that adds a lot of little details to everything else, rather than having a big new Thing to focus on and do.

Thanks for the insights! As I noted in my post above, Steam is not letting me buy the expansions, anyway, but I'll keep your thoughts in mind should they go on sale again on Origin.

By gimmicky play I basically meant anything deliberately unrealistic (like vampires). Not that there's a problem with that, it's just that I'm more interested in The Sims for other aspects of the game.

Oh! Missed that. (Curse you, reading comprehension!) Since I'm on a Mac, I have to get all my electronic copies through Game Tree anyway, which has its own separate sales. If you don't like deliberately unrealistic stuff, then Supernatural is right out, but Pets should still work well for you; there are unicorns, but they're trivial to ignore if you'd rather focus on the more realistic stuff, and the whole process of raising and training horses is pretty cool. World Adventures is at least mostly plausible, but does have mummies and various mentions of Curses and Magic and so forth in some of the adventures, so there's that. Seasons is, I believe, very much on the realistic side of things--goofy but not supernatural--for most of its weather effects, and the seasonal fairs are kinda cool.

(And now I will hush before I ramble about Sims 3 expansions foreeeeeever. I'd probably try to do an LP of one if I had a decent idea for it, but that niche is pretty well filled right now.)

Dungeons and Dragons Ultimate Pack is $11.24 on GameStop's PC Download section today. Includes everything Baldur's Gate and IceWind Dale as well as everything NeverWinter Nights. That's a hell of a deal for under $12.

The mummies and stuff in World Adventures are fine. I just don't want to turn my Sims into werewolves or something. I've got the Elder Scrolls games for that. :)

The Steam Weekend Deals are up:

#1: Hotline Miami is on sale again, this time it's $4.99 (50% off).
#2: Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is $12.49 (50% off) and free to play until 1 p.m. PST Sunday.

Daily Deal for January 24 is Ace of Spades for $4.99 (50% off). Also known as Minecraft Goes to War. Multiplayer-only!

Steam is having a Square Enix Weekend starting right now. Each day a different game/game series will be highlighted and most of their catalog will be 50% off through the weekend. Two notable exceptions are the 'edgy' new Tomb Raider game which is only 10% off ($44.99) and Hitman: Absolution, which is 33% off ($33.49).

Today's featured game series is Tomb Raider. The Tomb Raider Collection will get you pretty much everything except the latest for $14.99 (75% off). This collection features approximately five million jumping puzzles.

I got this in my e-mail:


But when I go to the website it only has it at 50% off. Conundrum indeed!

Edit: odd, when I log in to the website it shows as -100% in the wishlist but not in the game's actual page.

So for anyone who held onto a $5 Amazon credit from the end of 2012, they've put a bunch of the Editor's Choice stuff back on sale again. Highlights include (price is after $5 credit):

Bioshock 1 and 2 plus Duke Nukem Forever - $4.99
The Darkness 2 - $2.49
Bioshock 1 and 2 plus Spec Ops The Line - $4.99
XCOM Enemy Unknown (BF Game of the Year!) - $19.99
2K Strategy Pack (Civ 4 complete, Civ 5 GOTY, Civ 5 G&K, Stronghold collection) - $14.99
THQ Mega Pack - $19.99 Too many games to list so I linked, hell of a good deal.
Borderlands 2 - $24.99
Farming Simulator 2013 - $14.99 What?


ALSO : I saw that the Origin Store has the Game of Thrones RPG on sale for $10. That's a decent deal, but personally I'd rather wait and get a Steam or Amazon copy so I don't have to futz with Origin.

The GamersGate Daily Deal for January 25 is Tales of Monkey Island Complete Season for $8.74 (75% off). This includes both the PC and Mac versions, all five chapters and scurvy.

gog.com's Weekend Deal is 60% off various Rebellion games:

• Empire Earth: Gold Edition $2.39
• Empire Earth 2 Gold Edition $3.99
• Empire Earth 3 $3.99
• Evil Genius $3.99
• Lords Of The Realm: Royal Edition $2.39
• Lords Of The Realm 3 $2.39
• Lords Of Magic: Special Edition $2.39
• Ground Control + Expansion $2.39
• Ground Control 2: Operation Exodus Se $2.39
• Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs Death $2.39
• Pinball Gold Pack $3.99
• Sniper Elite: Berlin 1945 $3.99

As SlainteMhath mentioned, Origin has a dozen or so titles for as low as $5 through to January 28th. Follow this link and see if it works to see the list. A few highlights:

• Game of Thrones $10
• Battlefield 3 $12
• Alice: Madness Returns $5
• Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition $10
• Need for Speed Hot Pursuit $10

I'm on kind of a Judge Dredd kick after my brother bought me the first volume of the comic series. I recently watched the Karl Urban Dredd movie and loved it. Anyone ever played this Judge Dredd game? At $2.39 I'll probably buy it regardless, but I'd be interested in impressions nonetheless.

It's a mediocre shooter and the game gets worse as you progress through the story but the early parts show off Megacity One and let you send bystanders to the isocubes for six months for littering so if you're a Dredd fan you'll probably get $2.39 of fun out of it.

The worst thing about the game was that it made me realise just how awesome an open-world Dredd title could be.

Sounds like $2.39 worth to me.

I'd love to see an open world Dredd game! I feel like Volition could really do something cool with that idea. They've got the chops to make a legitimately good game from a mechanics perspective and I think they'd be able to inject it with the sort of wry humor that's in the comics.

Yeah, an inverted Saints Row was the first thing that came to mind when I thought about describing it.

GMG has its Weekend Deals up:

• Alan Wake $7.48 (75% off). A man with a flashlight.
• The Lord of the Rings: War in the North $4.99 (75% off). Men with torches.
• Batman: Arkham City GOTY Edition $7.49 (75% off). A man with a flashlight he made himself with little bat wings on it or something.
• Painkiller: Hell & Damnation $6.79 (66% off). What you may experience if you buy this game.
• Spellforce Complete Collection $9.99 (75% off). Features 'Click 'n Fight'. Do you like to click? Do you like to flight? This is the game for you.
• Defenders of Ardania $2.49 (75% off). Tower defense, rich fantasy world, blah blah blah.

Steam Daily Deal for January 25 is I Am Alive for $5.09 (66% off). Features Intimidation-based combat. Yep!

Painkiller HD is no good? $6.79 seems like the right price for a Painkiller remake to me!

I downloaded Chivalry, was instantly turned off by the glacial pace of the tutorial's first 60 seconds, then immediately enraged by how incredibly twitchy the combat is. I like free weekends. They remind me how much I hate multiplayer games.

Yea, Chivalry was my biggest disappointment from the recent holiday Steam sale.

yeah that's the thing about quantum, once you observe it, it changes.

Gamefly is getting all Sims up in the hizzy for their Weekend Deal. As a bonus (and because I'm too lazy to fix it) you also get to see the regular price you would have paid. $59.97 for the Spore Ultimate Digital Edition? Perhaps it comes with a sample of Will Wright's DNA.

• SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition$19.99 $9.99
• The Sims Medieval $19.99 $9.99
• The Sims 3 $29.99 $7.49
• The Sims 3 Supernatural $39.99 $19.99
• The Sims 3 Seasons $39.99 $19.99
• The Sims 3 Pets $39.99 $19.99
• Darkspore $19.99 $9.99
• The Sims 3 Showtime $29.99 $14.99
• Spore: Ultimate Digital Collection $59.97 $14.99

I got this mixed up with some of the other Painkiller games out there. It indeed is a remake of the original but I'm not sure how good a remake it is. The metacritic score is a tepid 66/100. On the other hand, it now includes co-op so that's got to add some value. I volunteer you to be the guinea pig for the rest of us! Or hell-pig, if you prefer.

Meanwhile, the next part of the Square Enix Weekend Deal is up and it's 75% off various Deus Ex games:

• Deus Ex Collection $11.24. Includes the original, Invisible War and Human Revolution plus its DLC.
• Deus Ex GOTY Edition $2.49. The well-regarded original and source of some of the best videos ever posted to YouTube.
• Deus Ex: Invisible War $2.49. In the invisible war all bullets look the same.
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution $4.99. Well-regarded (indirect) sequel featuring the color yellow.

Tried Defenders of Ardania as I am a sucker for tower defense games and will forgive almost all failings they have. That being said stay far far away, its not even worth $2.49.

and Black. or is black technically not a colour? Lots of Yellow and Black. sometimes it is kind of golden yellow.

How could you forget:



Desperate.

Desperate.

Steam's Daily Deal for January 26 is Skyrim for $29.99 (50% off). Also 50% off are the two DLC, Dawnguard for $9.99 and Hearthfire (The Sims: Skyrim) for $2.49.

Also, GMG is having a weekend deal on Paradox games, 75% off everything listed including the above-mentioned SOTS II and more Hearts of Iron than you can shake a stick at.

No deals on Crusader Kings II, alas.

This was rumored for a while, but Amazon has finally put it up for sale: Microsoft 5-Game Arcade Pack!

Iron Brigade - $3.75
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet - $2.49
Toy Soldiers - $3.75
Deadlight - $3.75
Mark of the Ninja - $3.75

The games are all discounted individually as shown, but the pack itself can also be purchased for $9.99. Quite a bargain, IMO.

Bear in mind that the first three games I listed all come equipped with GFWL.

They also register on Steam. It's a helluva deal.

EDIT: Also, if you have one of those $5 credits left over from holiday purchases it applies to this bundle.

Just got that pack. $5 with the credit is an amazing deal.

EDIT: Mark of the Ninja key claimed

GamersGate's Daily Deal for January 27 is Metro 2033 for $4.99 (75% off). Spooky manshooter with a sequel due out in the first quarter of this year (provided the sale of the property to Koch Media/Deep Silver) doesn't delay things.

Green Man Gaming has rolled out Train Simulator 2013 as a 24 hour deal. It's $7.49 (75% off). Interestingly, the notes for the game state 'if you already own Train Simulator 2012 on Steam, it will automatically change to Train Simulator 2013!' Who knew train technology had become so advanced?

GMG has a few other weekend deals still on offer but the way they list them crosses my lazy threshold in terms of reporting them here. Hit the main page and you should see them in all their bargain-y glory or check out their Hot Deals page.

I have an extra Toy Soldiers key if anyone wants it.

Steam's Square Enix Weekend continues today featuring the Hitman games:

• Hitman: Absolution $16.99 (66% off)
• Hitman Collection (includes the first three games) $6.24 (75% off)

Or any of the first three games individually for $2.49 each. Assassination has never been so cheap.

Other Square Enix games range from from 10 to 75% off.

The Steam Daily Deal for January 27 is the original Orcs Must Die! for $2.49 (75% off).

Thank you to XenoCrash for Mark of the Nin--shhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Sleeping Dogs $9.99 on Steam today as part of the Square Enix sale. I think this is the cheapest it's been so far (?)

Yeah, for some reason the Square Enix deals haven't been rolling over at 10 a.m. Pacific like most deals normally do. Maybe it's based on some mysterious Square Enix timezone. Here's the link to Sleeping Dogs, which is 75% off. The Hitman deals expire at the same time, 4 p.m. Pacific on Monday.

Orcs Must Die 2 has now been added to the Steam Daily Deal for Sunday. It's $3.74 (75% off). The DLC is also 75% off.

GamersGate's Daily Deal for January 28 is Alan Wake for $8.99 (70% off). This is more than GMG's Weekend Deal price which lasts for about another hour if my math is right. And it's probably not, because math is one of my enemies.

The Sleepy Dogs DLC is also on sale 75% off. Under $15 for the lot. However, most of it is clothes or other cosmetic items. Some cars as well, iirc.

The base game is well worth $10.