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Steam Winter Sales 2012 | Deal quality keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'

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Sysgen

Member
Got The Darkness from Amazon last night for $5 + Duke Nukem and Boderlands GOTY both of which I don't need but yea that's a deal and one Steam, let's face is never going to do.
 
If the sale ends and the game you want doesn't come up for the price you want (for instance, Dead Rising 2 in every sale except this one), then you're more than correct in complaining.

I'm not actually like legitimately upset though. I just think it's crazy how many times TWD has appeared, but then again, like I said it's really popular right now after it's been getting so much praise.

I think this sale has actually been really good. I'm not complaining about the sale or upset about anything really in general, I've gotten some good stuff so far.
 

drizzle

Axel Hertz
Ok so it has been established a couple posts back that Sonic CD is apparently worth getting and a good game BUT is this specific Steam port good as well? I heard bad things about the other older Sonic games on Steam so how is this one different?

It's a good port. It's not made by the same group that did the other Sonic Genesis ports. This is a new engine made specifically for SonicCD.

My problem with the sale isn't really specific to Steam, since all of the distributors appear to be working the same sales. It's that the games I want simply are not being put on sale at all.

I'm getting sick of the "I wonder if today is the day that (insert game here) goes on sale?!?" only to see the same shit show up that's already been on sale. But I sure as hell can't just go buy the game anyway.. that's the jinx, and the game will go on Daily the very next day.

The only one that would remotely interest me today would be TWD, if I hadn't already picked it up for the same price a few days ago when it was the Community Choice.

Exactly. And you can't wait 8 days until your game comes up in one of the daily deals/flash deals/community votes?

IF it doesn't, sure. The sale was shitty FOR YOU. YOU don't care that TWD came up again. But what about people that lost the flash sale before?

Fake Edit: However, I gotta say that people missing deals is something inexcusable in today's age. You can buy the goddamn game from anywhere: Browsers, phones, Steam Client. Every deal has a start and ending time known by everybody. If you lose a deal, unless there's something horrible that happened to you (like, you had to go on a last-hour trip or somebody rearended your car), there's no excuse.
 

dani_dc

Member
Guys I have this crazy theory:

.

Honestly, I disagree with this notion. I had plenty of games in past sales and I still thought they had plenty of good deals even for games that I already own.
Now I just see lots of repeat sales from past sales, sales that aren't as good as Amazon/GMG and lots of repeated sales between the sale itself (flash/Daily/votes).

This sales are definitively not as strong as past sales.

Ok so it has been established a couple posts back that Sonic CD is apparently worth getting and a good game BUT is this specific Steam port good as well? I heard bad things about the other older Sonic games on Steam so how is this one different?
The genesis games were not ports but emulators (and the steam version aren't really bad, just not perfect sound wise, the only "perfect" emulated version is the VC one).

The Steam port is a an actual port, it's the same exact version released for other platforms, I don't believe there's any issues with it, it's by all acounts the best version of the game (alongside the other releases of the port).
 

Suite Pee

Willing to learn
Is it possible that Ass Creed Rev will go on sale for 75% off? I just beat Ass Creed Bro (I love doing that), and I'd like to play Rev pretty soon. I know it's generally not considered to be very good, but I'd like to finish out the Ezio trilogy and then finish out side stuff in Bro (which is easily the best game in the series so far).

If it does go on sale, I'd get that plus Dark Souls and maybe an indie game. Otherwise, I'd get Borderlands 2 and wouldn't be able to afford anything else. I imagine, even though this is the 3rd time already, that Blands will go on sale again so I guess I should just wait.
 

MutFox

Banned
"Spec Ops: The Line" for $10.19?
On Amazon you get "BioShock" 1+2 and "Spec Ops: The Line" for $10...

$0.19 less for 3 games...
WTF Steam?!?

Also "Spec Ops: The Line" was already a flash sale for $10.19...

Funny part is the Amazon deal activates on Steam... :|
 

1-D_FTW

Member
It's just funny.

It's more like you're frustrated because the game you want to buy with the money you have is not coming up as a sale fast enough to satisfy your desires.

So what if TWD came up 3 times (a flash deal, a community vote and a daily deal)? If The Witcher 2 came on the first day, you bought it and that was it, would you care as much about TWD getting 3 chances to be sold?

Everybody complaining sounds like "omg the games I want for the prices I want are not coming up, this sale is horrible. Screw everybody else" to me.

When "Mark of the NInja" came up as flash deal, everybody was expecting that. Suddenly, it was an amazing deal, Steam Sales redeemed, etc etc.

Except the game was only 50% off. Technically, that's a bad discount. But everybody was hella excited, because everybody wanted the game no matter what the price, they just wanted a discount. When it comes back as a Daily Deal, people will complain again.

And when it's 75% on the summer sale next year, people will complain again.

If the sale ends and the game you want doesn't come up for the price you want (for instance, Dead Rising 2 in every sale except this one), then you're more than correct in complaining.

I never complain when a game is 75 percent (unless it's been featured for the third time during the current promotion and has been on sale for 1000 times in the past).

Didn't buy MotN or Rayman Origins either. Cause they weren't good deals. It may have been the cheapest it's been on Steam, but Rayman has broken 10 dollars a bunch of times on other services.

To me, the big point is this: There's nothing terrible about these sales. They're decent. But of all the major sales this season, Steam is running in a a solid last place. So I think it's time we stop acting like they're special and better than everyone else. Cause, in reality, it's a decent sale... but the worst of all the major DD outlets. As such, we should stop with the worshiping of it. It deserves about as much attention as the others.

On that last point, I'm as guilty as anyone I guess. It's just expectations were raised and it's hard to come to grips with the fact Steam sales are no longer special and deserve to be rated in last place amongst the DD outlets.
 

therapist

Member
There isn't a single daily that we can say: "Well, at least we have this game"
Also SpecOps is 9.99$ at Amazon with Bioshock 1 and 2 included. So basically that isn't even a deal.

Yea , was thinking the exact same thing when i saw the spec ops deal.
Not really much of a deal when you can pay a tad less and get 2 more games with it...

This years steam sale is the worst ive ever seen unfortunately.

Only game i wanted , sniper elite 2 , i missed by like 1 minute...had it in checkout , was at work , got a call , missed checkout time went back to only 50% off (33$) instead of 16$...oh well :/
 

Isaccard

Member
Fake Edit: However, I gotta say that people missing deals is something inexcusable in today's age. You can buy the goddamn game from anywhere: Browsers, phones, Steam Client. Every deal has a start and ending time known by everybody. If you lose a deal, unless there's something horrible that happened to you (like, you had to go on a last-hour trip or somebody rearended your car), there's no excuse.

Agreed.
 

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Is it possible that Ass Creed Rev will go on sale for 75% off? I just beat Ass Creed Bro (I love doing that), and I'd like to play Rev pretty soon. I know it's generally not considered to be very good, but I'd like to finish out the Ezio trilogy and then finish out side stuff in Bro (which is easily the best game in the series so far).

Check amazon, its $7.50. Uplay though.
 

J-Tier

Member
I hardly bought for myself and mainly gifted, and I feel pretty good about the sales. I apologize for not sympathizing with those who are agonizing over these ridiculously overpriced deals.
 

dani_dc

Member
Is it possible that Ass Creed Rev will go on sale for 75% off? I just beat Ass Creed Bro (I love doing that), and I'd like to play Rev pretty soon. I know it's generally not considered to be very good, but I'd like to finish out the Ezio trilogy and then finish out side stuff in Bro (which is easily the best game in the series so far).

If it does go on sale, I'd get that plus Dark Souls and maybe an indie game. Otherwise, I'd get Borderlands 2 and wouldn't be able to afford anything else. I imagine, even though this is the 3rd time already, that Blands will go on sale again so I guess I should just wait.

Considering that the communtiy vote is for AC2 (which has been for that price various times) and not for Rev (which never went that low) I imagine that we won't be seeing it that low, maybe 66%. It's in no way impossible though,

Dark Souls will be 17.99 on Amazon until early January, so if you picked up a game on Amazon you'll be able to get it for 12.99.
 

sgossard

Member
I'm in a Rogue/Dungeon crawler binge. Finished Dungeons of Dredmor yesterday and I'm in chapter 4 in Legend of Grimrock. Can GAF recommend similar games?
 

drizzle

Axel Hertz
On that last point, I'm as guilty as anyone I guess. It's just expectations were raised and it's hard to come to grips with the fact Steam sales are no longer special and deserve to be rated in last place amongst the DD outlets.

Again, that is expected.

Steam has been the ONLY ONE doing these annual sales for the past two years.

They're the reason other companies took notice and said: Hey, maybe if we made a seasonal sale, we could pump our numbers up as well.

Since Steam has been doing it for the past 2 years, they've created a public that's attached to the service. That public will, most likely, buy shit on the service next time there's a new sale around.

Amazon, on the other hand, is just now starting to come up on Digital Distribution. So yes, of course their sales will be cheaper. Except people are only buying the Steam redeemable games.

Valve doesn't need to drop their prices even further: They already got the public they wanted. Now, other companies are doing it. And they're having a harder time, because everybody is attached to Valve's ecosystem. That's why most of the Amazon sales are for Steam-redeemable keys.

I still think they deserve praise. If we have this competitive market today it's because of them. And we're the ones benefiting from it. But you must never forget that companies don't do charity: They're doing what they're doing because they want a larger profit margin.

Except Gamersgate, which just has a shitty system that provided us with amazing deals. :D
 

dreamfall

Member
Oh no! These Daily deals are no good- everything has been cheaper at some point...

Just want DS2 to win the vote, and I'll be alright. Garry, make it happen!
 

Suite Pee

Willing to learn
Considering that the communtiy vote is for AC2 (which has been for that price various times) and not for Rev (which never went that low) I imagine that we won't be seeing it that low, maybe 66%. It's in no way impossible though,

Dark Souls will be 17.99 on Amazon until early January, so if you picked up a game on Amazon you'll be able to get it for 12.99.

Great, thanks for the info. I get paid on the 1st, and indeed I did get some 5 dollar coupons on Amazon. I'll probably get Blands then, since I have time to co-op with people now that I'm done grading for the semester.
 

dorn.

Member
Fuck me, I missed out on BF3 premium for 12,80€. Was on my phone with barely any network coverage and now that I'm back home it's back at 43...

Got The Walking Dead and Chivalry, both are amazing so far.
 

Def Jukie

Member
If anyone is looking for a copy of Spec-Ops for $4.99 let me know. I've got a promo credit for $5 on Amazon for 2K games that I'm not going to use. Also comes with Bioshock 1 and 2 if you need them or we can give them away to other GAFers. Shoot me a PM if you are interested.

Edit: Keys went to Da DreadLord
 
Fuck me, I missed out on BF3 premium for 12,80€. Was on my phone with barely any network coverage and now that I'm back home it's back at 43...

Got The Walking Dead and Chivalry, both are amazing so far.

I feel bad for getting it for €30 last month...
 

1-D_FTW

Member
Again, that is expected.

Steam has been the ONLY ONE doing these annual sales for the past two years.

They're the reason other companies took notice and said: Hey, maybe if we made a seasonal sale, we could pump our numbers up as well.

Since Steam has been doing it for the past 2 years, they've created a public that's attached to the service. That public will, most likely, buy shit on the service next time there's a new sale around.

Amazon, on the other hand, is just now starting to come up on Digital Distribution. So yes, of course their sales will be cheaper. Except people are only buying the Steam redeemable games.

Valve doesn't need to drop their prices even further: They already got the public they wanted. Now, other companies are doing it. And they're having a harder time, because everybody is attached to Valve's ecosystem. That's why most of the Amazon sales are for Steam-redeemable keys.

I still think they deserve praise. If we have this competitive market today it's because of them. And we're the ones benefiting from it. But you must never forget that companies don't do charity: They're doing what they're doing because they want a larger profit margin.

Except Gamersgate, which just has a shitty system that provided us with amazing deals. :D

No. I know. I agree with everything. But I can still pin a picture of "Mr. Valve Economist" onto my dartboard and throw darts at his face as I mourn the lost innocence and calculated precision they now operate at.
 
oh wtf, so are we turning it into an 'entitlement' argument now? Fuck that shit. I agree that there is no entitlement involved. Before, it was 'oh the sale lasts til Jan 3 blah blah blah'. This sale has been terrible with what Steam has offered and done before AND yes, Amazon and GMG has been offering better deals and games and in Amazon's case, you don't have to wait for most of them since we know what's coming up AND they discounted a huge number so you get more choice.

I love Steam and Valve, but I'm not going to be so blind as to not clearly see they got whupped this year. I expect the best from Valve and Steam, and they most certainly did not deliver; if anything, they seemed to be dialing this one in since there's nothing special about it.
Kuro with the real talk.
 

justjim89

Member
Man, I got a $50 wallet code for Christmas and the only thing I've bought so far is Mass Effect. I picked up XCOM the other day and that was great. I don't know if it's how sizable my backlog is, but the deals seem really lackluster. I'd pick up ARMA II for Day Z, but I already have so many big open world games I need to beat first. I'm waiting on Sleepy Dawgz, Max Payne 3, Chivalry, and Ass Creed I and Revelations. I don't have any real money, so it'll have to be on Steam.

But the sale goes to the 5th, so there's bound to be some good deals eventually.
 

drizzle

Axel Hertz
No. I know. I agree with everything. But I can still pin a picture of "Mr. Valve Economist" onto my dartboard and throw darts at his face as I mourn the lost innocence and calculated precision they now operate at.

Well, I believe we were all doing that the entire year. I'm pretty sure he's the one saying "hey, we don't need to lower our 30% profit on each sale to get a game to -75% as opposed to -66%, that game wouldn't increase our audience that much"

But that's the way shit works.

Now where's FTL. I know it's been 50% multiple times before with Steam redeemable keys, but maybe Mr Valve Economist slipped on that one. :D
 

Kammie

Member
Steam sales really stink now. It's always the same few games over and over, whether as dailies or showing up to be voted on for the flash sales. Focus is always given to the same stuff, while smaller or older games always go ignored. And not to mention that the prices are no longer the best.

I think Amazon has more respect for the customer. Instead of forcing you to go to their site multiple times a day hoping you don't miss a flash deal, deals run for several days, and you're always getting perks like coupons. For me, they're already the preferred place to shop at.

Are we getting less games with this new Steam sales format? I seem to recall having a huge palette of icons for the 24-hour deals they had in the past. Now we just get six per day plus 3-game flash updates.
 

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
Oh no! These Daily deals are no good- everything has been cheaper at some point...

Just want DS2 to win the vote, and I'll be alright. Garry, make it happen!
Who the hell is that Garry guy? Everyone keeps mentioning him, seems like I'm missing something here.
 
Still waiting on a better deal for the Lost Planet games.
A double-pack ala what happened with Dead Rising 2 would be awesome.

Also Resident Evil 5 PC looks so good. Say what you want about Capcom this gen but they've really stepped their port game up.
 

plc268

Member
No. I know. I agree with everything. But I can still pin a picture of "Mr. Valve Economist" onto my dartboard and throw darts at his face as I mourn the lost innocence and calculated precision they now operate at.

I just miss the whole metagame. Buy games, earn achievements for other cool stuff.

Now, it's just so clinical and predictable. I used to enjoy opening steam at 12 to see the new sales, but now, I completely forget about it almost every day. I don't really care for the concept of the flash sales and the community sales either. But that's just the grinch in me talking.

Yea, I have a ton of games, but I've haven't bought much of anything in the last year and a half, so there should be a ton of stuff that I should be itching to buy. But not really...

Call it entitlement if you want
 
I don't feel entitled or anything like that. That'd be really ridiculous and over the top. They're just games and it's been a good sale so far IMO. I made one comment about how TWD has been spammed but I'm not sitting here upset about it or anything like that. A lot of people are kind of playing with this like its a sporting event, like "come on this game!" or "come on that game!" or "damn why that game again instead of something else!" But I don't get the impression that people are actually really pissed about anything or are hating on Steam to any extent at all.

That comment I made about The Witcher 2 and The Walking Dead wasn't some declaration of anger or entitlement. It was a passing thought/comment if anything. It's easy to sit here and wait for hours hoping for something you'd like and when it doesn't pop up and something else does that has appeared numerous times already does, I think it's okay to make a completely harmless comment about it because everyone else is also doing the same thing. Again these deals always play out like a rally, people get excited, and likewise people get let down, but I don't think anyone is actually mad or ungrateful about any sale.

But I'll be careful about what I post going forward as it seems to touch a nerve here and there, and this isn't anything worth getting worked up about from any angle or perspective. It's all fun times.
 
Still waiting on a better deal for the Lost Planet games.
A double-pack ala what happened with Dead Rising 2 would be awesome.

Also Resident Evil 5 PC looks so good. Say what you want about Capcom this gen but they've really stepped their port game up.

I'd buy that. Capcom got a lot of love from me this sale, I like what they're doing here and on GMG. I'm even seriously considering ordering DmC.
 

Seik

Banned
Holy shit, TWD 50%...

Never played it, saw a friend play it and it looked sick...

Consider me VERY tempted... I'll probably pull the trigger tonight. Damn you Steam! I didn't want to spend more but I have no choice. >_<
 
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