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[Stephen_drewz]

First night of my holidays. Staying up till 2am to see if the sale starts(Australia). Unfortunately still have to get up at 5:30am to take GF to work ><

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Mark of the Ninja is the best game I played this year. And I played a ton of games this year.

It's the best:
-Side-scroller
-Stealth game
-Indie game
-

Spoiler

Metroidvania

In recent years.

The story is surprisingly great, the ending is gorgeous, the gameplay is incredibly tight, and the visuals are very consistent.

So I'm usually not patient enough with stealth games. For instance, I always wound up in a shoot-out in the Splinter Cell games because I just couldn't stand sitting there waiting for the guards to show me their patterns.

But I love side scrollers and Metroidvanias.

Sooooo.... how much sitting there waiting for patterns develop is in the stealth? The trailer makes it look like the stealth is more in actively moving into position vs. waiting.

 

[CosmicQueso]

I figure asking this question is almost suited for an entirely new thread, but has any developer/publisher been really outspoken about how much profit is brought in from all these sales?

For most major publishers the PC market is a very small portion of the overall business. In addition, deep discounting like seen during the Steam sale keeps the revenue and profit figures relatively low despite the huge spike in units sold.

In other words, the Steam sale is a good way to end the year, but rarely does it have a material impact to the bottom line such as you'd see during a BOGO or other discounting done at retail on console.

For the smaller pubs and devs it sure can be a huge help and can make or break years. For the larger guys, it's a good thing, but not as big as you might think.

It also has to do with pricing for sales I suppose, we've gotten so use to deep discounts. If a game launches at 20$, I'm still inclined to wait and know it'll be cheaper on a sale.

Unit and revenue sales figures without pricing data makes those sales numbers a bit useless when trying to figure out how much a sale like this impacts a company.

But whatever man, just enjoy the sale and buy some stuff. The perceived value of PC games has taken a hit with the Steam sales for sure, but the market is what it is.

Yeah, I didn't think so. It's a bit of a catch 22 as I mentioned. If there are big profit increases for these sales, why isn't the base price of these games lower? But like I said, we've all become sales driven, if the base price is lower, we'll still wait for that big sale discount.

Price anchoring for one. And because games are price inelastic at launch. Price elasticity only comes into play during deep discount sales where the perceived discount (-75% OFF!!) motivates a consumer to buy something he/she may have had no interest in buying otherwise. But yeah, these aren't big profit drivers. You can see a general lift in sales post Steam Sale, however, as friends of those who bought the games also pick up copies at non-discounted rates.

 

[Skilletor]

Mark of the Ninja is the best game I played this year. And I played a ton of games this year.

It's the best:
-Side-scroller
-Stealth game
-Indie game
-

Spoiler

Metroidvania

In recent years.

The story is surprisingly great, the ending is gorgeous, the gameplay is incredibly tight, and the visuals are very consistent.

This is true for me.

Beat it on XBL, bought it on Steam just to support the devs and do another playthrough w/o some of the slowdown that plagued later levels.

My surprise of the year.

 

[Lord British]

Just to be a sole voice of dissent, I thought Mark of the Ninja was fiercely generic, floaty and imprecise.

 

[PedroPanache]

This is true for me.

Beat it on XBL, bought it on Steam just to support the devs and do another playthrough w/o some of the slowdown that plagued later levels.

My surprise of the year.

I've added it to my wishlist. It's fell under my radar, but looking at the trailer, it looks right up my street.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

So I'm usually not patient enough with stealth games. For instance, I always wound up in a shoot-out in the Splinter Cell games because I just couldn't stand sitting there waiting for the guards to show me their patterns.

But I love side scrollers and Metroidvanias.

Sooooo.... how much sitting there waiting for patterns develop is in the stealth? The trailer makes it look like the stealth is more in actively moving into position vs. waiting.

I'd like to know this as well. Mark of the Ninja sounds cool, but I HATE games where patience is one of the primary mechanics. Especially when failure requires you to repeat the waiting.
Should I still play this game?

Just to be a sole voice of dissent, I thought Mark of the Ninja was fiercely generic, floaty and imprecise.

Why did you have to use the word generic? 2D side-scrolling stealth games are barely a genre, so how can it be generic?

What do you really mean?

 

[ShaneB]

For most major publishers the PC market is a very small portion of the overall business. In addition, deep discounting like seen during the Steam sale keeps the revenue and profit figures relatively low despite the huge spike in units sold.

In other words, the Steam sale is a good way to end the year, but rarely does it have a material impact to the bottom line such as you'd see during a BOGO or other discounting done at retail on console.

For the smaller pubs and devs it sure can be a huge help and can make or break years. For the larger guys, it's a good thing, but not as big as you might think.


Unit and revenue sales figures without pricing data makes those sales numbers a bit useless when trying to figure out how much a sale like this impacts a company.

But whatever man, just enjoy the sale and buy some stuff. The perceived value of PC games has taken a hit with the Steam sales for sure, but the market is what it is.


Price anchoring for one. And because games are price inelastic at launch. Price elasticity only comes into play during deep discount sales where the perceived discount (-75% OFF!!) motivates a consumer to buy something he/she may have had no interest in buying otherwise. But yeah, these aren't big profit drivers. You can see a general lift in sales post Steam Sale, however, as friends of those who bought the games also pick up copies at non-discounted rates.

All valid points, thank for the response! I guess for the big publishers PC sales are still a small part of the market, but for the smaller indie devs, the pc market is pretty much their driving force lately, so there's that.

But I'm just overthinking it I'm sure, as you said, I'm the consumer, low prices make me happy!

 

[Stallion Free]

Just to be a sole voice of dissent, I thought Mark of the Ninja was fiercely generic, floaty and imprecise.

Imprecise? Uhhhh....

So I'm usually not patient enough with stealth games. For instance, I always wound up in a shoot-out in the Splinter Cell games because I just couldn't stand sitting there waiting for the guards to show me their patterns.

But I love side scrollers and Metroidvanias.

Sooooo.... how much sitting there waiting for patterns develop is in the stealth? The trailer makes it look like the stealth is more in actively moving into position vs. waiting.

It's more active stealth, very little waiting.

 

[dark_inferno]

I'd like to know this as well. Mark of the Ninja sounds cool, but I HATE games where patience is one of the primary mechanics. Especially when failure requires you to repeat the waiting.
Should I still play this game?

You can rush and kill people... the AI is derp as fuck.

 

[Milamber]

Hey guys, just reposting this here, just so ya know when... ya know.

 

[YianGaruga]

Hey guys, just reposting this here, just so ya know when... ya know.

I hope we get a good weekend deal leading up to christmas.

 

[Fantasmo]

I'd like to know this as well. Mark of the Ninja sounds cool, but I HATE games where patience is one of the primary mechanics. Especially when failure requires you to repeat the waiting.
Should I still play this game?

I stopped playing a few levels in. The game is very high quality, but if you don't like stealth don't bother, you won't have fun.

 

[MMBosstones86]

soon....

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

Imprecise? Uhhhh....


It's more active stealth, very little waiting.

Is it at all comparable to Hotline Miami in the sense that you can play patiently and stealthily, but you can also form specific plans of attack that involve very little waiting?

You can rush and kill people... the AI is derp as fuck.

Is it still fun to play that way or does it feel like you're missing out on a lot of the intended game design?

 

[Snuggles]

It's more active stealth, very little waiting.

Yep. And the checkpoints are very generous too. One of the great things about MotN is how it avoids the many things that can be frustrating about the stealth genre, such as the waiting around mentioned above and sketchy, unpredictable AI, while retaining all the great things about the genre like the satisfaction of assassinating a room of enemies undetected.

But yeah, tl;dr, everyone should buy Mark of the Ninja. If you like stealth you'll love it, if you don't like stealth you'll probably still love it. Just play it, ya dumb dumb.

Is it at all comparable to Hotline Miami in the sense that you can play patiently and stealthily, but you can also form specific plans of attack that involve very little waiting?

Sure. You can play through the entire game without killing any guards, which would obviously require a little extra patience and care, but you can also play (somewhat) aggressively and get by.

 

[RepairmanJack]

Glad I popped in here to see that Darksiders 2 deal. I've been looking to pick that up.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

Despite Darksiders 2 being really bad and worth laughing at, I bought it too. Because I'm an idiot e-hoarder.

 

[Stallion Free]

Is it at all comparable to Hotline Miami in the sense that you can play patiently and stealthily, but you can also form specific plans of attack that involve very little waiting?

Is it still fun to play that way or does it feel like you're missing out on a lot of the intended game design?

Yes, it's fun to play that way.

 

[Lord British]

Why did you have to use the word generic? 2D side-scrolling stealth games are barely a genre, so how can it be generic?

What do you really mean?

I mean it was exactly what I'd expected from a 2D game called "Mark of the Ninja". Didn't stand out. Mechanical. By-the-numbers. I found it generic, as I understand the word to mean, as it's frequently used, though it may not be the correct definition. A whole lot of people love it, but it wasn't for me.

 

[PedroPanache]

soon....

Well, Seal once said "But we're never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy

Spoiler

and spend over £100 on the Steam sales"

Wise words, indeed.

 

[Tizoc]

Thanks for the feedback on Borderlands guys, I'll make a note of needing to play it co-op if I ever plan on getting it.
Oh and couldn't find the laptop I was looking for yet lol =P

Is gfwl available in your country. If I recall correctly countries that dont have gfwl cant play gfwl games.

Check this list if your country is listed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GFWL#Availability

You can probably be gifted and redeem in your library, but if you live outside gfwl area you wont be able to play it

I'll check thanks, the one game I want is Bulletstorm which isn't available in my region...I might consider trading one of the Steam codes I have for it (I haven't used my THQ Indie Bundle codes yet.)

BTW, I've gotten the free Dragon Age DLC that EA offered some weeks ago, all I gotta do to use them is to play the games and log into my EA account while it's running right?

READY YOURSELVES GAF! 2 HOURS TO GO!

 

[toastyToast]

Despite Darksiders 2 being really bad and worth laughing at, I bought it too. Because I'm an idiot e-hoarder.

The plot is almost completely non-existent. Also, you get funnelled around like an errand boy despite the fact that you're the physical incarnation of Death

It is a good 'game', strictly speaking

 

[Derrick01]

Despite Darksiders 2 being really bad and worth laughing at, I bought it too. Because I'm an idiot e-hoarder.

That's the most recent game that made me wish Steam had a trade in store. That game sucked so damn bad I was almost glad that THQ was folding just so no one could release another game as bad and disappointing as that again.

 

[M.D]

How does this sale work? do they just announce every game that is given a discount, and they all end at the same time, or does this sale take place over a couple of days and each sale ends at a different time? I ask because I use a one time use credit card for online purchases, and I just ran out of money buying the Humble Bundle yesterday, and won't be able to get a new one until tomorrow

 

[Deleted member 47027]

How does this sale work? do they just announce every game that is given a discount, and they all end at the same time, or does this sale take place over a couple of days and each sale ends at a different time? I ask because I use a one time use credit card for online purchases, and I just ran out of money buying the Humble Bundle yesterday, and won't be able to get a new one until tomorrow

Is this your first sale? Oh man you're in for a treat. Don't worry, you'll get to spend.

 

[MMBosstones86]

How does this sale work? do they just announce every game that is given a discount, and they all end at the same time, or does this sale take place over a couple of days and each sale ends at a different time? I ask because I use a one time use credit card for online purchases, and I just ran out of money buying the Humble Bundle yesterday, and won't be able to get a new one until tomorrow

basically theres X # of daily deals that get refreshed every 24 hours (but last 36) + 4 'flash deals' that cycle every 6ish hours or so + community voted deals.

its a 2 weeks clusterfuck of deals.

 

[PedroPanache]

The plot is almost completely non-existent. Also, you get funnelled around like an errand boy despite the fact that you're the physical incarnation of Death

It is a good 'game', strictly speaking

Does the first game resolve itself in any meaningful way, or, as is the most often the case with new IP, does it end on an annoying cliffhanger? I'd like to play the first game, but from what I've heard about Darksiders II, it's very disappointing.

 

[dark_inferno]

Is it still fun to play that way or does it feel like you're missing out on a lot of the intended game design?

Its a lot of fun... but a bit overhyped.

 

[YianGaruga]

The plot is almost completely non-existent. Also, you get funnelled around like an errand boy despite the fact that you're the physical incarnation of Death

It is a good 'game', strictly speaking

How does this sale work? do they just announce every game that is given a discount, and they all end at the same time, or does this sale take place over a couple of days and each sale ends at a different time? I ask because I use a one time use credit card for online purchases, and I just ran out of money buying the Humble Bundle yesterday, and won't be able to get a new one until tomorrow

The sale runs for 2 weeks and almost every game is discounted for the whole duration.
Every day there are daily deals, which are discounted even more, but only for 48 hours. The dailys switch every day at the same time (10 AM PST?).

Then there may be flash deals, which only run for about 10 hours. Those are also even cheaper.

If you find a game that you want, you should wait until it is part of a daily/flash deal, or wait until the last day to buy it.
Have fun!

Does the first game resolve itself in any meaningful way, or, as is the most often the case with new IP, does it end on an annoying cliffhanger? I'd like to play the first game, but from what I've heard about Darksiders II, it's very disappointing.

The game literally has no story. Nothing important happens, so nothing gets resolved. It's a joke.
EDIT: Talking about Darksiders II.
Darksiders story is okay, but sadly ends on a cliffhanger which might never get resolved.

 

[PaulLFC]

Okay, decided I'm just going to buy the Stronghold Collection rather than the complete pack with 3 included as well.

One question - does the Steam version include the HD patches for Stronghold and Crusader that the GOG versions do?

 

[nexen]

That's the most recent game that made me wish Steam had a trade in store. That game sucked so damn bad I was almost glad that THQ was folding just so no one could release another game as bad and disappointing as that again.

What didn't you like about it? I found Darksiders 1 to be enjoyable until it became too repetitive. I think I managed a good solid 10 hours of fun out of it, which is above average for me.

 

[TheNamelessOne]

I love how all the Steam sales line up perfectly to when I'm off work for a few weeks.

 

[somesayyea]

this will be my second steam winter sale - hoping to grab sleeping dogs on the cheap

 

[JaseC]

Does the first game resolve itself in any meaningful way, or, as is the most often the case with new IP, does it end on an annoying cliffhanger? I'd like to play the first game, but from what I've heard about Darksiders II, it's very disappointing.

The original ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, yes, and nothing further is revealed during DS2 as it's a "parallel sequel".

 

[Stallion Free]

What didn't you like about it? I found Darksiders 1 to be enjoyable until it became too repetitive. I think I managed a good solid 10 hours of fun out of it, which is above average for me.

I wouldn't recommend Darksiders 2 then TBH.

 

[Derrick01]

What didn't you like about it? I found Darksiders 1 to be enjoyable until it became too repetitive. I think I managed a good solid 10 hours of fun out of it, which is above average for me.

Don't play 2 then, it's the definition of repetitive. 25 hours of fetch quests within fetch quests, garbage loot, piss easy dungeons, and no story at all. It's a trash game on all fronts.

 

[dark_inferno]

Don't play 2 then, it's the definition of repetitive. 25 hours of fetch quests within fetch quests, garbage loot, piss easy dungeons, and no story at all. It's a trash game on all fronts.

Yes,yes,yes. Nobody can deny it.

 

[dreamfall]

soon....

He's watching- making sure we all give Ga

Spoiler

rry

money.

So excited! Literally adding everything to the wishlist. Just to see older titles on sale too.

 

[toastyToast]

Does the first game resolve itself in any meaningful way, or, as is the most often the case with new IP, does it end on an annoying cliffhanger? I'd like to play the first game, but from what I've heard about Darksiders II, it's very disappointing.

The first game ends with a cliffhanger and the sequel does absolutely nothing to further the plot. Nothing at all

 

[PedroPanache]

I can't wait for it to start, it'll be my second sale and my first that I've got in on at the very start. I came in at the end of the autumn sale, and got stung a couple of times in buying games before they went on a flash sale, but at least this time I know what I'm doing. I'm also really digging the community aspect of it all, with this thread, and the shared anticipation etc. It adds something extra when a bunch of virtual strangers are sharing in the madness.

 

[metalshade]

How does this sale work? do they just announce every game that is given a discount, and they all end at the same time, or does this sale take place over a couple of days and each sale ends at a different time? I ask because I use a one time use credit card for online purchases, and I just ran out of money buying the Humble Bundle yesterday, and won't be able to get a new one until tomorrow

DONT buy anything under 75% is my recommendation.
This will be my second ever sale, and in the first one, the things I bought at 75% are still enough to keep me going maybe for years, so if you see something for 50%, dont bother. By the time you will actually get round to playing it, it will have reached 75% in the next sale.

 

[Terry Crews]

So you guys think the steam sale is gonna happen today???

 

[MacGurcules]

I can't wait for it to start, it'll be my second sale and my first that I've got in on at the very start. I came in at the end of the autumn sale, and got stung a couple of times in buying games before they went on a flash sale, but at least this time I know what I'm doing. I'm also really digging the community aspect of it all, with this thread, and the shared anticipation etc. It adds something extra when a bunch of virtual strangers are sharing in the madness.

Oh man. Autumn sale doesn't even count. It's a speed bump. If you've not been in on a proper semi-annual Steam Sale, you're in for a treat.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

So you guys think the steam sale is gonna happen today???

Pretty much confirmed to begin at 1:00pm EST today.

 

[Rickenslacker]

So you guys think the steam sale is gonna happen today???

Hmm. Nah.

 

[YianGaruga]

I can't wait for it to start, it'll be my second sale and my first that I've got in on at the very start. I came in at the end of the autumn sale, and got stung a couple of times in buying games before they went on a flash sale, but at least this time I know what I'm doing. I'm also really digging the community aspect of it all, with this thread, and the shared anticipation etc. It adds something extra when a bunch of virtual strangers are sharing in the madness.

If there are achievement hunts again, you won't even believe how much fun the sale is going to be. The community aspect of it is just amazing.

 

[PedroPanache]

The first game ends with a cliffhanger and the sequel does absolutely nothing to further the plot. Nothing at all

Oh, great, my favourite kind of cliffhanger, the completely unresolved one that will, and let's be honest here, never ever be resolved because the series bombed completely at retail. I wish developers would just fuck off with these cliffhanger endings; they're incredibly annoying. And on that bombshell, Darksiders has fallen to the bottom of my backlog pile.

 

[Flunkie]

So you guys think the steam sale is gonna happen today???

Nah

 

[Caerith]

Does the first game resolve itself in any meaningful way, or, as is the most often the case with new IP, does it end on an annoying cliffhanger? I'd like to play the first game, but from what I've heard about Darksiders II, it's very disappointing.

The first Darksiders resolves nicely. It doesn't end on a cliffhanger so much as a sequel hook, so it's disappointing that we never got a sequel.