Steam Summer Sale Buying Guide

[Ginaz]

Flash sale right now for Civilization V, $7.49.

[lamaros]

Still $17.49 here.

[Ginaz]

Still $17.49 here.

Isn't the price difference in Australia more to do with your own laws and government than with Steam?  I know Australia has some wacky rules when it comes to games and other media.

[Wasted]

It's nothing to do with our government and everything to do with the publishers arrangements with local distributers.

The only 'wacky' law we had was the one about classification and no 'R' 18+ rating for video games which is currently getting addressed.

[Kail]

Weird; I would have thought that the extent of Steam's deals with local distributors would have been a crayon drawing of Gabe Newell giving the middle finger.

[lamaros]

Afraid not. It only really has an impact on the big titles, as the smaller and indie titles never get such deals in place and sell for exactly the same amount as they should...

Bloody annoying still.

[pants]

Weird; I would have thought that the extent of Steam's deals with local distributors would have been a crayon drawing of Gabe Newell giving the middle finger.

It was like that 3-4 years ago, but I've noticed more and more games are being released as 'full' Aus prices - which means 80-90USD.  Even now SR3's normal price is USD50 (gah, that should read US59), which means at 75% off its still USD12.50.  Very annoying.

Edit: Gah, I fail at reading prices in Steam.

[Wasted]

It's the publishers that set the price, Valve games themselves are priced at the US price for us, as are most independent and small house games.  The worst offenders for us in games are Bethesda, 2K, EA and Activision.  Ubisoft where bad too but just announced recently they where going to address pricing down here and seem to be moving towards parity on steam.

[Ingmar]

Even now SR3's normal price is USD50, which means at 75% off its still USD12.50.  Very annoying.

In this case that's the same as it is in the US, then.

[Wasted]

For Australia at the moment Saints Row 3 is

-75% $59.99
         $14.99 USD

$10 more at base price.  The franchise pack is the same price for us though ($24.99) which is what I bought

The trick for us is sometimes they have an extra pack like this one with all the DLC or some other games and they overlook regionalising it and we can snag it at the US price.  There have been a couple this sale like that.

[jth]

Im curious, what's the one not available in my region (Europe/Finland)? Never seen that happen before.

[Ginaz]

Im curious, what's the one not available in my region (Europe/Finland)? Never seen that happen before.

I think it was Deadrising 2.

[Ginaz]

New flash sale.  Crisis 2 for $11.99.  Well worth it imo.

Oh, and a chance to vote for Batman:Arkham City 66% off or Witcher 2 for 60% off.

[Trippy]

Voting for stuff that's already been on sale is really annoying.

[Kageru]

It's not bad to have a second shot at it. I would not be surprised if this isn't some sort of experiment with how to select the flash and community sales.

There's a page that does pricing comparisons (http://www.steamprices.com). Some of it is really silly, like RAGE at 67% less in the US for a game that should be desperate for attention. Current winner being modern Warfare 2 at a 78% discount in the US (67.49 vs 15 USD after 25% off).

I guess it could be because our PC game retail sector is so awful and focused on making huge profit margins off the big-name games and the publishers go along. So the sooner game retail dies the better.

[Setanta]

I occasionally drop into our local (Aussie) EB and remind them how much cheaper I can get stuff online or direct from the US.

"Oh that's on sale for 1/10th your price"

They remind me that I'm killing their industry.

I grin.

Fuck 'em

[Lucas]

Bought Metro 2033: I'm also thinking about Crysis 2: Maximum Edition and the Dungeon Siege pack deal (all three games for € 7.49) : not really because I want to play DS, but because thanks to the first episode, you can play Ultima Lazarus, the remake of Ultima V, and I lost my DS disks :P

[Kageru]

I occasionally drop into our local (Aussie) EB and remind them how much cheaper I can get stuff online or direct from the US.

"Oh that's on sale for 1/10th your price"

They remind me that I'm killing their industry.

I grin.

Fuck 'em

... I do pretty much the same. Pretty much the only use of EB is a good laugh. It's funny they get annoyed because they never cared about PC gaming before steam came out.

It shocks me there's a potential use for the DS disks, cause the game was many flavors of dull.

[Lucas]

It shocks me there's a potential use for the DS disks, cause the game was many flavors of dull.

http://www.u5lazarus.com/

 

[Lucas]

One more thing: I already mentioned them in other posts, but right now you can purchase the two, excellent Eschalon games (old school style CRPGs) for € 1.99 (book I) and € 2.99 (book II, which is the direct sequel). Look them up on Steam! There is also a demo for the first game.

[Dren]

Wow, this summer sale is killing me much like last year.  Bought a package deal that will keep me obsessed with playing for multiple weeks.  I both love it and hate it at the same time.

[HaemishM]

It's not even noon yet and Steam is shitting the bed. Anyone else able to get there?

[Rasix]

Working fine for me, mang.

[ffc]

Spec Ops, Binary Domain and Sniper Elite were all cheaper on Amazon's sale. 

[Lucas]

If you want to play quite a curious and (very) atmospheric platform/adventure (mostly platform, though), give "Limbo" a try (€ 2.49) . IMO, it can make for a nice, "introductory" videogaming experience for your son/daughter/fiancee.

And man, only € 6.23 for the entire Company of Heroes franchise? Whoa.

[Rasix]

If you want to play quite a curious and (very) atmospheric platform/adventure (mostly platform, though), give "Limbo" a try (€ 2.49) . IMO, it can make for a nice, "introductory" videogaming experience for your son/daughter/fiancee.

Nothing like introducing your small child to gaming by watching another small child die repeatedly.  It's also pretty difficult (I suck at platformers).

[Lucas]

If you want to play quite a curious and (very) atmospheric platform/adventure (mostly platform, though), give "Limbo" a try (€ 2.49) . IMO, it can make for a nice, "introductory" videogaming experience for your son/daughter/fiancee.

Nothing like introducing your small child to gaming by watching another small child die repeatedly.  It's also pretty difficult (I suck at platformers).

Teach 'em while they're still young!!! 

But yeah, I guess you have a point 

Alright, alright; alternatively, go for The Tiny Bang Story (which was on sale in yesterday's Indie Bundle, I think), then...Or Machinarium.

[Rasix]

Amnesia's usually on sale too.   

Think I'm going to buy Batman: AC, even though I'm like the only person that didn't think AA was GOTY material.

[Kail]

Im curious, what's the one not available in my region (Europe/Finland)? Never seen that happen before.

It can also happen if there's some problem loading the page.  I've seen it a few times, and I'm in Canada, where everything's available.  Reloaded a few minutes later and it was fine.

Dungeon Siege pack deal (all three games for € 7.49) : not really because I want to play DS, but because thanks to the first episode, you can play Ultima Lazarus, the remake of Ultima V, and I lost my DS disks :P

It doesn't mention it, but the version of DS1 that you get in that pack is neutered (no multiplayer, for example) so I'm not sure if mods work with it or not.

[HaemishM]

It finally started working again right about noon, just in time for me to get Dear Esther. I've been wanting that for a while. I'm tempted by the GTA IV thing. I've seen a buddy play that on the PC at work and it looks fun, but now I'm regretting not grabbing Saints Row 3.

[Fabricated]

I'm gonna be up to my ass in cover-based shooters. Max Payne 3 the other day, Gonna get The Line and Binary Domain too.

I have like 420GB left on my steam drive and I'm starting to get worried I'll get close to punching it out after installing all of this shit and I'm damn sure I'll come close to my DL cap from Comcast.

30gb for Max Payne, like 25 for Rage I think, God knows how much for The Line and Binary Domain (I'm sure a bit less, but still)...

[Thrawn]

What's wrong with me?  I'm very tempted to pick up Train Simulator 2012 even though I have no interest in it because "What the hell, it's $3.49 and I've never tried it before."

[Rasix]

I should really buy that for my son.

[5150]

Probably a stupid question but is Arkham City worth the price (and it's DLC)?

I have Asylum but haven't got around to playing it yet?

[Lucas]

What's wrong with me?  I'm very tempted to pick up Train Simulator 2012 even though I have no interest in it because "What the hell, it's $3.49 and I've never tried it before."

The great thing about it, is that it has no DLC whatsoever