Steam Holiday Sale 2012

[Rokal]

All days seem to put the release of the Steam Holiday list at December 20th as the start. So we are a week away by estimates.

I don't know why I'm so excited, but I'M SO EXCITED.

Steam Winter sale is like the new Christmas day for adult PC gamers.

Mostly looking for DLC discounts this year (Borderlands 2, XCOM, Skyrim), but I'll be excited if there is a new metagame for the sale.

[Kageru]

Maybe kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will finally drop from 60 USD$  

I'll keep an eye out for Skyrim (now a potential discount from a sensible price) and Secret World. I have such a backlog though.

[JWIV]

Maybe kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will finally drop from 60 USD$  

I'll keep an eye out for Skyrim (now a potential discount from a sensible price) and Secret World. I have such a backlog though.

TSW is screaming for a deep discount after they just shifted to a F2P model with paid expansions which really requires a solid playerbase.

[Kageru]

I'd have bought it just to support them being very sensible... but I'm also poor atm.

[Paelos]

If TSW goes to 50% off during the sale I'll certainly give it a shot.

[satael]

Maybe kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will finally drop from 60 USD$  

Green Man Gaming has it for £9.99 right now if you really want it 

[Lakov_Sanite]

Skyrim was a deal at full price, I can't imagine wanting to wait for $10 on it.

[Kageru]

It was 150% US cost in Australia, and I don't want to support that sort of thing.

[Cyrrex]

Skyrim was a deal at full price, I can't imagine wanting to wait for $10 on it.

Agreed, that is one of the few games out there were full price still feels like a bargain.

I'm also waiting for TSW to drop, because from the trial weekend I played, it seemed to be pretty cool.

[Wasted]

Skyrim was a deal at full price, I can't imagine wanting to wait for $10 on it.

It was 150% US cost in Australia, and I don't want to support that sort of thing.

I don't think people in the US really understand what rage-inducing facefucking bullshit this region discrimination is.  It doesn't come down to how good the game is and if it is worth the price, it is all about imagining the shit-eating grin on jerkoff executives that add unnecessary borders to the internet and decide we should pay more for no good reason except they think we will.

its killed the excitement of upcoming sales for me, because I've gotten to the point where even with a big discount on a game if its has discriminatory pricing I still can't support that philosophy and buy it.

[Cyrrex]

I don't think people in the US really understand what rage-inducing facefucking bullshit this region discrimination is.  It doesn't come down to how good the game is and if it is worth the price, it is all about imagining the shit-eating grin on jerkoff executives that add unnecessary borders to the internet and decide we should pay more for no good reason except they think we will.

As someone who has lived a significant amount in both the US and Europe, I understand where you're coming from...but it's true of far more things than just video games.   Shit, where I am now it is true of virtually every consumer product, real and digital.  Should digital products be exempt and held to a different standard?  I wish it were so, but I doubt it ever will be.  I have programmed myself to look at things in relative terms, but I'll admit it is hard to choke down paying up to 100 dollars on a new AAA title.

[KallDrexx]

What's hard to choke down is when I was in Australia it was cheaper for me to ship games from Amazon UK than to buy them locally or on steam.

[Paelos]

2 days...

[Kageru]

As someone who has lived a significant amount in both the US and Europe, I understand where you're coming from...but it's true of far more things than just video games.   Shit, where I am now it is true of virtually every consumer product, real and digital.  Should digital products be exempt and held to a different standard?

Yes, I think they they should be. It's one thing to pay a moderate mark up for being a smaller volume market, a distant market with transport costs and supporting local retail but none of this applies to digital downloads so it just comes across as gouging. Support it and they've got no reason not to keep doing it (even though I think the high price is choking their sales in any case).

That and I did want to finish my Oscuro's overhaul playthough of Oblivion first, but I'm beginning to doubt I'll ever manage that.

[Ingmar]

I assume there's an element of having/wanting to price it the same as phyiscal copies available in the country when the game is new. I'm not saying you don't have a good point, but presumably you need to make the case for phyiscal console copies of Skyrim for example to also be cheaper than they currently are? No publisher is going to want to undercut themselves in that way I assume.

[Sky]

Fair penalty for living on the wrong side of the planet.








 

[Kageru]

Indeed.

I assume there's an element of having/wanting to price it the same as phyiscal copies available in the country when the game is new. I'm not saying you don't have a good point, but presumably you need to make the case for phyiscal console copies of Skyrim for example to also be cheaper than they currently are? No publisher is going to want to undercut themselves in that way I assume.

I'm pretty sure the distributors here (primarily EB games) pressure the publisher to bring the prices up to retail level mark-up. You quite often get to see things like Dark Souls that fly under their radar, have US prices on steam and then suddenly jump over night by 40-60%. But most of these places really only sell console games, their PC offerings are miniscule, so it annoys to be supporting them too.

Then again, thanks to steam, I have a sufficient back-log I also don't care as much if some game isn't available.

[Sky]

Brick and mortar shops need to stop pretending to stock PC games. Maybe put Warcraft out there. You guys fucked up buying PC games at retail so many years ago I barely remember having to drive somewhere to buy a game. Even if I wanted a physical copy I'd just hit up Amazon.

[Ingmar]

It isn't just PC copies though; if the 360 version is sitting there at $90 no distributor is going to want the PC version to be 1/3 cheaper at release. It seems kind of absurd that putting it on a boat to Australia and sticking a kangaroo on the label adds another $30 onto the price of course, even for physical copies.

[rk47]

Can't someone just buy them a copy and 'gift' it?
And then you 'gift' them back thru paypal?

[Samwise]

I think you aren't allowed to gift a copy to someone who's in another price zone or whatever.  Although if I'm wrong that is indeed a nice loophole.

[Paelos]

I think you aren't allowed to gift a copy to someone who's in another price zone or whatever.  Although if I'm wrong that is indeed a nice loophole.

The problem is you could create a niche business by selling people in other price zones that game for 50% of the difference. Valve doesn't want that.

[Kageru]

I don't think Valve cares that much, they don't set the prices and I'm sure they're not interested in policing them. They also understand better than anyone that the trick is in volume of sales. They probably tell the companies that this approach reduces sales and encourages piracy so has a downside but that would be it. But like all mainstream sellers they have to play along with it. I mean EB in Australia is a division of GameStop (dumb name) who I assume have a lot of clout with the producers. Some games apparently have their own region locking but it's hard to know for sure. I assume this is the same reason Amazon games are US only.

Green Man Gaming was happily under-selling steam on the PC version of Demon Souls, even lots of the threads on the steam forums directing people there, and those threads stayed up for quite a bit. Not sure why they could and steam could not, possibly because they fly under the distributors radar.

[Wasted]

There are lots of people gifting cross region.  I set up a US steam account myself once to get Civ 5.  There are import stores that cater to us quite well based out of the UK, and steam key resellers and the likes of Greenmangaming that are either just flouting the rules or using some quirk of UK laws.  Its commonplace to see guides on how to use proxies and whatever to set up US accounts for all major media distributers (itunes, netflix etc)We have the options but for me the underlying problem still remains, these (generally eula breaking) backdoor methods still reward the publishers with a sale and really feels like it legitimizes them exploiting the ignorant while grudgingly letting us jump through hoops just for some equality.

It is far more a philosophical thing for me than monetary, and gets me pretty worked up sometimes when I let it.  i don't want to pirate, I want to reward good work, but I don't want an internet with borders.  I'm a part of international communities and want to have the same access to media as everyone else.  I know the excuses these media companies all make, the contractual obligations they have, but at the end of the day they don't excuse what I see as just plain discrimination.  Discrimination that is more easily dismissed because people think entertainment isn't important, and because its based through business and not government.

But anyway derail and rant over, I am trying to avoid getting too much into politics territory. 

[Paelos]

Tomorrow all hell breaks loose. With Christmas game buying cheer!

Some leaked stuff suggest there will be the following game collections:

Mount and Blade, Devil May Cry, Farcry, Tom Clancey, Might and Magic, Assassins Creed, Ubisoft, Anno 2070, Valve, Dota2, 2k, Metro.

[DraconianOne]

Is the Skyrim DLC (Dawnguard, not the house building one) worth it? Got the game via GreenManGaming a few weeks back and now I've found a way to turn off all the godsdamn spiders, I'm starting to get into it.

[Paelos]

I got it for $10, and I think it is. 2 new factions, new faction quests for those with the story line, a legendary dragon, new achieves, full perk lines for vampires and werewolves, new armor sets, new weapons (dragonbone and crossbows), an undead skeleton horse, a lady who can remake your face for 1000 gold, and some cool new items like rings/necks/etc.

I wouldn't have bought it for more than $10, but at that price it felt like a good value.

[DraconianOne]

Bet it adds a fuck load more spiders too... 

[Lakov_Sanite]

Bet it adds a fuck load more spiders too... 

 

[Paelos]

Bet it adds a fuck load more spiders too... 

I have not noticed a pointed increase in spiders.

I have been attacked by more bears, however.

[Big Gulp]

I love Dead Kennedys.  Jello Biafra is my motherfuckin hero.  Srsly.  I even hug him on FB.

Although, predictably like most people who go the holier than thou, anti-corporate, anti-greed route he's a raging hypocrite who was found guilty of purposefully and maliciously denying his former bandmates their back royalties.

I liked DK too, when I was a kid.  Their brand of faux outrage just comes across as immature and silly now.  They aren't a band who've aged well.

[Ingmar]

I liked Dawnguard, even at full price. Hours/$ value was well in my acceptable range and the content was fun. It makes werewolf/vampire stuff actually worth bothering with too.

[Azazel]

What's hard to choke down is when I was in Australia it was cheaper for me to ship games from Amazon UK than to buy them locally or on steam.

I do this all the time. Console games, miniatures, etc. It's just how it is. I sometimes get a friend in the Americas to pick up steam sale shit for me and gift it across. GMG is also good to keep an eye on for digital stuff. Or Amazon US if you have a fake US billing address.

[Segoris]

It begins.

Kind of a shitty beginning imo though. Most notables are Batman:AA 75% off, Fable3 50% off, Borderlands 2 50% off. Couple other okay things but nothing even tempting yet

[Paelos]

WELCOME! TO THE GREATEST SALE ON EARTH!

Day 1 Daily sales: Scribblenauts $20, Wargame Euro Escalation $10, Mirror's Edge $5, Borderlands Franchise 50-75% off, Prince of Persia francise 75% off, Hitman Franchise 50-75% off.

Flash Sales: War of the Roses $15, Intrusion 2 $3.39, Flashpoint Red River $13.74, Batman Arkham City GOTY $7.49 all DLCs 75% off, Fable 3 $25, Natural Selection $10

I will be getting Arkham immediately.