Steam Winter Sale 2012

Glad the sale kept going. I forgot to get some Tropico 4 dlc its first time around and this morning I managed to snag three dlc packs I'd wanted but forgot. Also picked up the Longest Journey pack for my wife's adventure needs.

Now I just need the Sims 3 expansions to go on those 75-80% off sales again, since there's a couple more I want.

I'm not really complaining, I'm more surprised. I'll take lower prices all year long if they want to give them.

But since the Thanksgiving sale started until the end of the Winter sale, over half the days will be sales event days. I have to wonder about what effect that will have on people's attitudes towards prices the rest of the year. Especially with the Summer sale thrown in there.

Personally, PC games are now in either a "Day one purchase" category or "Wait until Steam Sale" category. There's no in between. Frankly I don't sweat this since I have a big backlog and I'm not worried about missing something in the current sale since I'm sure it will show up again later so there's no urgency or sense of scarcity. But that's just the thing. Part of why sales work so well is that they create a perception of scarcity in that if you don't buy now you'll lose the chance to buy it for that price. That assumption is pretty much gone as far as Steam.

Thanks to the obligatory clunky UI and game mechanics, shenanigans happen almost immediately!

Daily deals for January 2nd:

• Magicka $2.49 (75% off). The copious DLC is also 75% off.
• Tomb Raider series $14.99 (75% off). Nine games in total. Approximately 20,000 jumping puzzles.
• Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 or 2, $2.49 (75% off). May the bugs be with you.
• Dark Souls $19.99 (50% off). AKA Won't Price It Lower Than Amazon Edition.
• Sniper Elite V2 $12.49 (75% off). MURDER -- well, you know.
• Painkiller Complete Pack $19.99 (60% off). A whole lot of not-very-good gaming.

Yes! Finally! I've waited years!

Has Binary Domain only come up as a deal once? The Giant Bomb guys were mostly positive about it during their GOTY podcast, so now I'm curious.

Hmmm...is Dark Souls better on PC or console? Seems to be the same price either way.

The answer is "it depends". If you have a controller for your pc (ideally an xbox controller imo, but people have found ways to use the others well apparently) and your pc has decent hardware, and you like playing on your pc, then it is the definitive version in terms of graphics quality, load times, etc (once you add the fan-made patch, which works flawlessly for most). For a point of reference, I have an older graphics card, a 4890, and it runs really well at 1920x1200.

Following that, it kind of depends on whether you have xbox live already and thus that version does not present additional costs for the multiplayer component, which is not required but is a tremendously interesting part of the game. PS3, of course, gets that for free. Also, be aware that unless something has changed on the consolve versions, the Artorias of the Abyss DLC (ie what makes the PC version "Prepare To Die Edition") is still ten dollars more. It comes bundled in with the PC version automatically. It is probably the best DLC addition to a game that I've ever played, and I would consider it something that you will want one way or another if you end up liking the game.

So after looking at those basics, then just think about where you would like to play it more in terms of couch vs desk and all that, and perhaps consider if there are any people in a console/pc community that you would be excited about playing the game with; I got a lot more out of my initial playthroughs because my wife and I did a lot of coop, and so the xbox (because we already had 2) was perfect for us initially. Now, well over a thousand hours later, I spend a lot more time on the PC because it's more convenient while multitask. But I still go back to xbox every now and then when duty calls.

I disagree, since I get paid tomorrow and can purchase a few things I had to hold off on to make sure bills were paid. I do think that they sorta ran out of steam (HA HA) though. No single deal has blown me away like a few others (mostly considering everyone's been doing sales).

To me it kind of feels like the whole industry has run out of steam and all that's left is the bargain bucket :(

Well, I would gladly pay the (usurious) price they want at retail, but A) I can't afford that many games at that price and B) Not all games are equal, but most games are sold at equal prices.

PC, because the graphics are eleventy billion times better after you install a simple third-party fix, you don't have to pay for Live to get access to multiplayer (assuming 360 rather than PS3), and you get the DLC for free.

I don't normally complain about graphics on consoles at all, but Dark Souls really does look much, much better on the PC.

*sting*

Back to work today and it was crazy busy so I missed some of the repeats/flash deals but here are the current ones!

Only ~1 hour left for these:

• Metro 2033 $4.99 (75% off). (Spooky) MURDER SIMULATOR.
• Mass Effect 1 & 2 $9.99 (75% off). 2/3 Shepard at 3/4 off.
• The Longest Journey + Dreamfall $6.24 (75% off). All adventure-y.

Around 7 hours left for these:

• Payday: The Heist $4.99 (75% off). Again!
• Spellforce Complete $9.99 (75% off). I cast magic missile!
• Lucius $12.49 (50% off). Creepy Omen-style kid simulator.

One hour left in the current Community Choice of Skyrim for $29.79 (50% off).

I believe it was on sale for a crazy low price on GMG some time ago. Like 4-5 Euros/Dollars. Oh, and I think GamersGate also did a big discount on it one day.

Flash deals with ~11 hours left:

• Hotline Miami $4.99 (75% off). More like Repeat Miami (lol?)
• Might & Magic Heroes franchise 40-75% off. Titles include V, VI, Dark Messiah and Clash of Heroes.
• GameMaker Studio $33.99 (66% off). This is not a game.

That's a bingo. Well, V and VI, not that other chaff.

Ehh, I guess I'll be the one to inform you that Clash of Heroes is probably the best title in that pack... and for $4.50 it and its DLC would probably be one of the best returns on investment one could possibly make this season. I've put 114 hours into my copy so far anyway.

I recall enjoying V a lot, learning how to abuse everything that could be abused (except elemental chains and how to get the super abilities, which I did not figure out before I got done with the game), but I seem to recall at it had a lot of language-type problems such as horrible spelling and missing item descriptions.

I have no reason to dispute you, but Heroes of Might and Magic is my personal fanboy weakness. They are what I want.

Perhaps not, but it does have achievements!

I enjoy the series too, and to be honest Clash of Heroes isn't even really a M&M as far as I'm concerned, it's more like Puzzle Quest than anything M&M related. It's M&M in name only, and boy does it stand on its own.

I'll keep it in mind for next time. Thanks for the info.

Flash deals with ~7 hours left:

• Dead Island GOTY Edition $6.79 (66% off). Zombie documentary without the film crew.
• Overlord Complete Pack $4.99 (75% off). Includes 1 and 2 for Maximum Overlord.
• AVSEQ $1.24 (75% off). An 'audio-visual sequencer puzzle game'.

Mirriam Fallen Enchantress is a flash sale at 50% off for the next 12 hours.

OZ, I could kiss you! Thanks for the tag :)

I hear ya.

Even though I've wanted it since it was released, I resisted purchasing Might & Magic Heroes VI Gold for $20, since the February expansion will include it. Also, I haven't even completed any of the Heroes of Might & Magic campaigns for I through V. For shame. I love the series, warts and all, but I just couldn't justify the expense. I have dodged thee this time, Steam Sale!

You're a better man than I am, sir. I already have the base VI, but bought the gold version to get it together with the 2 dlc packs, despite the upcoming expansion. When I saw it on flash sale, I couldn't click fast enough.

So I assume that I'm not the only one getting a server error when I try to connect to the Steam store?

Edit: So it seems to have fixed itself.

Is I Am Alive any good? Looks interesting for that price.

Can someone tell me what it means when a game is listed as having "partial controller support"? I'm thinking of picking up GTA IV and was wondering how it would control with mouse and keyboard. I've only ever played the series on console. (aside from a brief foray into III on the iPad before I lost it)

You can steer left and right on the controller but you must use the arrow keys for up and down.

Seriously, I have no idea. Maybe no controller support in menus?

Partial controller support I think means you cannot launch and control the game entirely with a controller. You'll need a mouse and keyboard within reach for something, like for menus, or a launcher program that you can't use a gamepad on. I think GTAIV had a rockstar social club launcher, which might be the cause.

But I got nothing but bewilderment out of my sale-purchase of GTAIV a few years ago, so I don't recommend it.

I know for example Dark Souls has partial support, because you're required when you first play the game to sign up/log in to GFW Live. After that, it's all controller all the time. Until you rage quit with Alt+F4.

Besides flying helicopters, M+KB controls for GTA4 were easy to come to terms with. I have played all the GTA's previously on consoles.`

Just purchased To The Moon from Steam for $3.39 (66% off). If anyone else cares to join in, the offer stands for another 6.5 hours.

As best I can tell, partial controller support means you might have to do a little bit of something (perhaps only once) with a keyboard/mouse. Full controller support essentially means it has full blessings for Big Picture and you will never need to touch a kb/m.

About half of my game library changed from Controller Support to Partial Controller Support when Big Picture went live. Almost all of them are basically fully playable with a controller. Mainly just a semantics thing.

I work at a college help desk and today was the first day of classes. Approximate free time: some negative number.

But for reference here are today's deals, which are still good for almost 38 hours:

• I am Alive $5.09 (66% off). I am On Sale Again.
• Civilization IV, V and various expansions are 75% off. You can even get Civ III Complete for a mere $1.24!
• Football Manager 2013 $19.99 (50% off). The kind of football where hands aren't allowed.
• Bastion $3.74 (75% off). Yep!
• Thief Collection $6.74 (75% off). 1, 2 and Deadly Shadows.
• Tropico 4 Steam Special Edition $5.99 (80% off). El Repeato.

Current Community Choice is Legend of Grimrock for $7.49 (50% off). It's not going away until everyone buys it.

Flash deals with 5+ hours left:

• Grand Theft Auto Franchise 75% off. Various flavors of thuggery.
• The Amazing Spider-Man $24.99 (50% off). Not so amazingly priced.
• To the Moon $3.39 (66% off). Adventure game featuring Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows*.

With 10+ hours left:

• Little Inferno $7.44 (50% off). 'Burn flaming logs, screaming robots, credit cards, batteries, exploding fish, unstable nuclear devices, and tiny galaxies'.
• Rocksmith $14.99 (50% off). Does not include Real Tone Cable. Just so you know.
• Guns of Icarus Online $6.79 (66% off). Multiplayer airship battles. 'Hit by a blimp.'

* named Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts in-game

I also went in for To The Moon at that price. That makes it only the 4th game I've purchased.

Total damage so far.....

To The Moon
Jagged Alliance 2 Gold (rebuy to get rid of discs)
Ace of Spades
Retro City Rampage
Crusader Kings II: Byzantine Unit Pack
Crusader Kings II: Dynasty Shields II

I'm all saled out at this point. Have fun with the rest of the Steam sale everyone!

I just bought another one, ahhh...

Acquired:
FTL: Faster Than Light
L.A. Noire (+DLC)
Monkey Island 1+2 Special Edition (waiting for my favorite part 3 to be specialised...)
Tales Of Monkey Island
Torchlight II
Little Inferno