By Adam Smith on July 12th, 2012 at 6:20 pm.
The Steam Summer Sale is happening RIGHT NOW. There’s a community vote for a new deal every eight hours, there are massive bundles, and there are daily deals that include Crusader Kings II and Legend of Grimrock. On top of that, or at the side if you’re looking at the screen, there are also Flash Sales, which are shorter, except for including the Rayman Oranges one which is possibly was previously and incorrectly counting down from 11 days. It’s 11 hours now. Sale runs from July 12 to July 22. Anyone finding things they didn’t expect, or that they haven’t already bought at twice the price?
12/07/2012 at 18:23 FriendlyFire says:
Isn’t that 11 hours for Rayman Oranges?
12/07/2012 at 18:24 Moni says:
Hmm, they’ve dropped the sale gamification achievement thingies, although they have added more general achievements with the badge things.
12/07/2012 at 18:30 friendofrobots says:
I’ve bought way too much stuff in the last couple sales, so I was looking forward to buying less this time buy playing the sale gamification stuff instead :-/
12/07/2012 at 20:06 Ninja Foodstuff says:
Agreed. Last time I “rediscovered” a lot of games, such as Defense Grid.
12/07/2012 at 20:09 Siegfried says:
wish they fixed steams maths though Crusader kings 2 the bundle is dearer than the individual cost
£13.51 Price of individual games:
£22.79 Bundle cost:
13/07/2012 at 02:31 Solar says:
Speaking of Defence Grid and the lack of achievement/treasure hunt stuff… Defence grid recently updated again with weekly competitions accessed in game to help advertise their kickstarter for defence grid 2. This includes some new console stuff (currently space invaders), you tube submissions, and beating certain challenges in game. Prizes include hardware with challenges and prizes changing weekly. Nice to come back to this game yet again :)
13/07/2012 at 03:04 inadfvas says:
Warning to anyone interested in CKII, the Collection was marked up by 65%, £13.51 to £22.79, buy the game and all the DLC separately, the Collection doesn’t even include all the DLC.
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2996/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1
13/07/2012 at 02:28 MaXimillion says:
I’m kinda disappointed that there’s no achievement hunting and rewards this time around. I don’t usually go for achievements but all the prices in the last few sales were a nice incentive.
12/07/2012 at 18:25 gunny1993 says:
SO glad i don’t get paid till after the sale, cos i would be liable to buy so much shit that i would never play … as it is i will still manage that
13/07/2012 at 10:04 starclaws says:
Got paid… Came home and saw summer sale… I’m screwed :( Just hope Dead Island comes on sale… Great game… Just need to ummm buy it now :)
12/07/2012 at 18:25 x1501 says:
Ha. “Sorry! The Steam Store is experiencing some heavy load right now. Please try again later.”
12/07/2012 at 19:04 yanko44 says:
isn’t it dangerous to make online transactions if the connections are that bad?
12/07/2012 at 19:29 LionsPhil says:
It depends on your confidence in the quality of the implementation.
So, er, yeah. Sorry Valve; robustness isn’t really your strongest point.
12/07/2012 at 20:23 Suits says:
I’d like to see any other digital distributor handle the steam summer sale traffic when daily deals are updated. Too bad there isn’t such a thing
12/07/2012 at 21:56 LionsPhil says:
The problem isn’t that you buckle; it’s how you cope with buckling.
Given Steam is pretty flakey at the best of times, I wouldn’t exactly say that it’s impossible for it to process payment but not add the game(s) to your account if it goes bang at exactly the right moment. Sure, you could probably sort it all out nicely with support, or you could just avoid giving the Universe a chance to cause you hassle and wait a few hours until it’s calmed down.
12/07/2012 at 22:58 aliksy says:
At one of the last big sales, I got 2 extra copies of a game (and 2 extra charges) because I tried to purchase, got an error, and tried again twice. Valve support was very kind and refunded the extra charges (and rescinded the extra copies).
Lesson learned: If you get an error after hitting submit, don’t retry immediately.
12/07/2012 at 23:11 zaphod42 says:
The definition of that word: “Transaction” defines that it should be an all-or-nothing arrangement.
Not saying there aren’t a few companies out there with a bad web business, but any company selling things online even remotely worth their salt has a transactional system.
What that means, is that either you get charged AND you get your game, OR you don’t get charged. There is absolutely NO way you can be charged and not receive your product.
12/07/2012 at 23:26 PhoenixTank says:
Seconded. Thanks for summing up exactly what I wanted to say.
12/07/2012 at 19:05 Shuck says:
That’s how I instantly knew that the summer sale had started. Hope I can get on before any sales end.
12/07/2012 at 18:25 Ross Angus says:
404′ed, for me. No surprise: Reddit has been waiting for this day all year.
12/07/2012 at 18:25 nimzy says:
I just locked my wallet in a safe, the code for which will be transmitted to me in exactly 11 days from now. I figure that should keep me from buying anything during this amazing Steam sale.
…What do you mean my card details are saved to my Steam account?! No! Argh! And Strategy First and Paradox are both having franchise-wide sales! Hnngh! I’m doooooooooomed!
12/07/2012 at 18:26 db1331 says:
Nothing for me today. There’s always tomorrow.
12/07/2012 at 19:04 Keymonk says:
And the day after. And the day after. And the day after…
12/07/2012 at 18:28 sleepisthebrotherofdeath says:
Hmm, can’t see anything any cheaper than the last time they were on sale
12/07/2012 at 19:14 mondomau says:
Outrageous!
12/07/2012 at 20:09 Ninja Foodstuff says:
It might just be my imagination, but it seems that the discounts are not quite as deep as previous sales. I remember picking up a lot of stuff last time for £2-4 a go, whereas I don’t see anything at that sort of price point right now.
As an aside, it seems the “Under £4″ is showing several games that are in fact above £4.
12/07/2012 at 18:28 Crimsoneer says:
75% off al CKII DLC :)
12/07/2012 at 19:58 Simas says:
YES. I am so happy!
12/07/2012 at 21:31 LintMan says:
A lot of the Crusader Kings II DLC is just 40% off, not 75%, at least here in the US.
Even more oddly, the CKII Collection bundle is just 40% to cost $29.99, while right on the bundle info page, you can see the individual cost of all the included pieces is just $17.53!
Seems rather inexplicable to me. But in any case, I don’t have the game yet, so $17.53 is a pretty good deal. I might even spring for the three $.49 DLC’s not included in the bundle.
12/07/2012 at 23:30 Randomer says:
They fixed it! The bundle still doesn’t have all the DLC, but now it only costs $12.50. And if you want to get the DLC it is missing (Sword of Islam, African Unit Pack, Songs of the Caliph), that only adds up to an extra $3.50 total.
tldr: Astute shoppers get all CK2 stuff for $16.
13/07/2012 at 02:20 frenchy2k1 says:
Astute shoppers grabbed the CK2 + DLC through the amazon Summer sale of Paradox last week, getting all of it + a bunch of other games including SOTS complete, magicka, Warlock and more for $20 (best deal being the $12.5+$7.5 packs, which added to more than the $20 “complete pack”. Go figure…)
Tempted by Space Chem so far.
Resistance is futile…
13/07/2012 at 15:20 LintMan says:
Damn. Why did I not hear anything about the big Amazon sale before now? How did I miss that?
12/07/2012 at 18:29 Bluerps says:
Great. I just bought Crusader Kings 2 two weeks ago.
Oh well. I spent almost 30 hours with it since I got it, and it has been the most awesome game I played in quite some time. I think that’s worth the extra money.
12/07/2012 at 18:43 Llewyn says:
CKII, despite its many flaws, is the only game I’ve paid full price for in the last year for which I don’t feel any regret* every time it’s on sale.
*Well, maybe just a moment of buyer’s remorse. But it soon passes.
12/07/2012 at 19:10 Bluerps says:
Exactly. How can you feel remorse when you are Emperor of Britannia?
12/07/2012 at 18:55 Askeladd says:
Are the DLCs for CKII worth it? I don’t wanna pay 30 bucks.
12/07/2012 at 19:00 pakoito says:
Ruler Design if you don’t want to play the odds. Sword of Islam is ok, allows you to pick Muslim leaders, and adds a lot of traits and new mechanics (Corruption, relative to Mahoma…) for them.
12/07/2012 at 19:21 Bluerps says:
I’d get Sword of Islam, because it actually adds to the game. The muslim rulers get their own game mechanics, that are also at work when you play a christian character.
The ruler designer is okay, I guess. Normally, you just pick one of the characters that is already present on the map. The ruler designer gives you a character creation screen instead.
The music ones are completely a matter of taste. I think the music in the game is really great, so more of it is a good thing.
The dynasty shields and the unit packs are just eyecandy, I think, and not a lot of that.
12/07/2012 at 21:33 LintMan says:
“Are the DLCs for CKII worth it? I don’t wanna pay 30 bucks”
Don’t. As I noted above, the individual cost of the base game plus DLCs is only $17.53! For some reason, they mispriced the bundle as a bad deal.
12/07/2012 at 18:29 Gesadt says:
I am aroused by the cheapening of intellectual property.
12/07/2012 at 18:33 byteCrunch says:
Warning to anyone interested in CKII, the Collection was marked up by 65%, £13.51 to £22.79, buy the game and all the DLC separately, the Collection doesn’t even include all the DLC.
12/07/2012 at 18:34 Fumarole says:
This sale really floats my boat.
12/07/2012 at 18:36 svge says:
Gah! The THQ collection is mighty tempting but at £35 I would have trouble justifying buying anything else all sale. Decisions, decisions…
12/07/2012 at 18:36 MythArcana says:
R.I.P. game industry.
12/07/2012 at 18:47 Brun says:
Oh you. Don’t be so melodramatic.
12/07/2012 at 22:02 wcanyon says:
Console sales are down but PC sales are up, way up. In short: you’re clueless.
12/07/2012 at 22:59 aliksy says:
I thought they were joking?
12/07/2012 at 23:41 SkittleDiddler says:
You should call yourself MythAlarmist.
12/07/2012 at 18:37 Sublett says:
Thoughts on Heroes of Might and Magic VI? I’ve kinda ignored it since HoMM 3..
12/07/2012 at 18:48 pakoito says:
Don’t. Campaign cannot be saved and you’ll lost progress unless you are online. Given that the game didn’t sell well they’ll pull the plug to the servers in less than two years, rendering the game useless.
12/07/2012 at 19:39 PodX140 says:
Sadly this. Though gameplay wise I did find it just under par of HOMM3, which is exemplary to say the least. Still not worth the money to put up with the UBI DRM though.
12/07/2012 at 20:15 Ninja Foodstuff says:
It’s also, what a year old? The “regular” price is £30 and even with the 50% off it seems very expensive. Given that Crusader Kings is a couple of months old and has much more of a discount, it seems like a very cyncial “deal”.
13/07/2012 at 09:56 DAdvocate says:
@Sublett If you enjoyed HoMM3 then I’d strongly recommend picking up this one at some point. They’ve added some great new features to the series such as outposts controlling the nearby resource buildings, and an option to immediately auto-resolve battles which you can manually fight afterwards it if you don’t like the result. It takes time to get used to the changes but they are (almost) all for the better.
@Pakoito It’s true that the servers will be switched off eventually, but why would that prevent you enjoying it today? I’ve finished it after around 60 hours game-play, I’ll be annoyed when the servers go off but I’ve already had my fill.
There is some form of offline campaign option but you lose the dynasty weapons and I think you still need to be online when the game launches, they relaxed the DRM in a patch but I’m not sure how far. The DRM can be a major pain, I only had 1 disconnect in my 60 hours which was an infuriating experience, but I’d still say the actual game-play more than makes up for it (assuming you have a decent broadband connection).
As with many “deals” on Steam, you’ll actually find it cheaper buying the boxed copy elsewhere which you can register on Steam anyway.
12/07/2012 at 18:38 Retro says:
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2996/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1
Grand Ages: Rome: Gold is reduced by 141% and now costs $-6.16 :o
12/07/2012 at 18:39 lowprices says:
Oh god, not a Steam sale! I only have so much money and I need to use it to buy food and shelter!
12/07/2012 at 18:39 phelix says:
What’s the game on the bottom right of the list? It’s not ‘available in my region’.
12/07/2012 at 18:42 Anthile says:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
12/07/2012 at 18:45 Llewyn says:
No, I see MW3 but I still have one that’s unavailable in my region (UK).
12/07/2012 at 19:21 Baines says:
Order keeps changing…
Indie Bundle I, Legend of Grimrock, Total War Shogun 2, Might & Magic Heroes VI, Call of Duty MW3, Crusader Kings II, Ridge Racer Unbounded, Portal 2, Terraria
12/07/2012 at 18:44 Mocharaid says:
Looks like Legend of Grimrock, an awesome first-person, tile-based dungeon crawler <3
12/07/2012 at 19:11 sonofsanta says:
It’s the Indie Bundle I. I can see all 9 tiles in Steam, but that one is missing when I check in Firefox.
On a related note, I’m not sure if I’m annoyed that Steam doesn’t support tabbed browsing for the store, or relieved that it saves my wallet from too many impulse purchases.
12/07/2012 at 20:33 Suits says:
You can just browse in your browser..
12/07/2012 at 18:41 tehfish says:
The only reason my wallet no longer cries at the mention of a steam sale is the fact i’ve pretty much brought everything of interest in previous sales…
“there there wallet, you’re safe now…”
12/07/2012 at 18:45 Bluerps says:
Jup. Pretty much the same for me. I went crazy during previous sales, and I bought most of the indie bundles that came out, so I think I already have everything that I want.
12/07/2012 at 19:23 grundus says:
Same here. Max Payne 3, Skyrim and… I’m really struggling to think of a third big game I kind of want and would get if it’s cheap enough that I should already have. DCS: Black Shark, Myst and Riven will all be mine by the end of the sale though.
12/07/2012 at 18:47 Askeladd says:
until….
12/07/2012 at 18:43 The First Door says:
Has anyone played Ridge Racer Unbounded? I’ve heard mixed things about it, but it is tempting at £15…
12/07/2012 at 18:55 Vagrant says:
As a big Ride Racer fan who hasn’t played it, I’m a bit worried about it being developed by a western studio. No real concern about the gameplay because of it, but Ridge Racer games always had great soundtracks. (RR4 best soundrack of any media ever)
My research tells me RRU has licensed songs, which gives me SADFACE. Also, possibly original stuff. So DUBIOUSFACE.
12/07/2012 at 19:32 grundus says:
I’ve played the demo, you can also play the demo. It’s nothing like Ridge Racer in my opinion.
12/07/2012 at 19:32 Mistabashi says:
I played the demo and wasn’t impressed at all. The handling is poor, the cars are quite slow, and the boost mechanic didn’t seem very fun at all. It’s also weird about whether or not you can crash into things, sometimes when you nudge another car you just die instantly.
12/07/2012 at 18:44 Kuraudo says:
I wonder if this is the work of that Greek economist.
12/07/2012 at 18:54 LionsPhil says:
If Valve file for bankrupcy next month, I guess we’ll know.
12/07/2012 at 19:05 Brun says:
Bazing.
12/07/2012 at 19:36 alundra says:
It must be:
Front page—->Shogun 2 TW franchise 75% off
Franchise page—-> Shogun 2 75%
FOTS 50%
DLCs 40%
12/07/2012 at 20:33 Baines says:
Front page: Portal 2, but then says “Franchise -75% $4.99″
Click on link: Portal 2 is $4.99, “Franchise” bundle is $6.24
Yes, the front page says “Portal 2″, but putting Portal 2′s price next to saying the franchise is on sale is…iffy at best.
Crusader Kings II does similar to Shogun 2… -75% for CKII, -%40 for the collection, half the DLC is -75% and the other half is -40%.
Though Shogun 2 may still be the silliest of all, considering the front page (Shogun 2 -75%) links directly to the -71% collection, and not the base game.
13/07/2012 at 00:23 alundra says:
And take a look at the first community’s choice
SR 3 —–>75% off
SR3 complete —–> 76% off
Individual DLC —–> 33& off
I mean, I’m sure I will find an outstanding deal(s) in this 10 days of constant sales, yet, the fire isn’t there anymore.
12/07/2012 at 18:47 pakoito says:
Did I say I was safe? Well, day 1 I already got the Sword of Islam DLC for CK2. Reminder, version 0.2 of the Game of Thrones mod is out, and looks fantastic!
12/07/2012 at 18:47 Oozo says:
I’m I the only one who finds those Flash Sales utterly stressful? Like, do they expect me to check Steam in the middle of the night? It’s the kund of compulsive behaviour I only know from Ebayers and Travian-players, and I kind of feel bad about the fact that I feel their hooks sinking into my flesh. (Might explain the name.) Then again, First World Problems, and all that
12/07/2012 at 19:28 Baines says:
On the bright side, the flash sales don’t look any more amazing than regular big Steam sales, so you can tell yourself that you aren’t really missing much.
I think Steam has bottomed out on what it can do with sales. Sales numbers keep increasing, but they are going to hit diminishing returns at some point, as many people have already bought most of what they want. Only so many new games are released each year, after all. They can’t really cut prices further. They are trying new gimmicks, but even that seems restrained compared to the Christmas sale’s coupons and rare free games.
12/07/2012 at 19:28 frightlever says:
Set up an RSS reader on your phone, then go here:
http://savygamer.co.uk/categorised-feeds/
Select the PC digital distribution deals feed, Raise a cup of good cheer to Lewie and his gnomes.
Stress free!
(obviously the only downside is that they don’t seem to have the current Steam deals up but I’m sure they’ll get on it.)
12/07/2012 at 18:47 JD Ogre says:
Damn, it’s going to take all my willpower to wait for the last day of the sale so I don’t miss it if Fallout: New Vegas’ and its DLC gets a better discount than the -40%… (though, frankly, they’re probably worth the $6 each right now)
12/07/2012 at 19:34 JD Ogre says:
Nope. No willpower for me. :/ Oh, well, I’ve got over 200 hours in New Vegas so far, so it should be worth it even at only 40% off. :P
12/07/2012 at 20:00 Zoombini says:
Should have waited – 1 and 3 are certainly worth it, but 2 and 4 were REALLY underwhelming.
12/07/2012 at 20:04 Revisor says:
Apart from Honest Hearts the DLCs up the ante from the already great core game. Especially The Old World Blues and Lonesome Road.
If you want to enjoy the story in a chronological order, play it like this:
Honest Hearts
Dead Money
Old World Blues
Lonesome Road.
Enjoy!
12/07/2012 at 18:47 jealouspirate says:
I’m pretty intimidated by what looks like a big learning curve in Crusader Kings II, but picked it up anyway because it looks so good. Hopefully I can stick with it long enough to really learn and appreciate it.
12/07/2012 at 18:49 pakoito says:
Don’t forget getting Sword of Islam too. Adds all the southern muslim countries not available in Vanilla.
12/07/2012 at 18:53 Kyrmaal says:
Nope, 1.06 added these countries. Sword Of Islam only enables players to choose a Muslim ruler.
12/07/2012 at 18:56 pakoito says:
That’s what I meant? Muslims were in Spain before 1.06
12/07/2012 at 19:29 frightlever says:
Good Lord, just wait until the Daily Mail finds out!
12/07/2012 at 19:39 Bluerps says:
It looks harder than it is, really. I read the tutorials and played a short game as an irish earl and then pretty much knew the basics of the game.
Btw. playing an irish earl or duke is really not a bad idea for a beginner. You have no liege, you don’t have to manage much (so you can’t do much wrong), nobody on the island is significantly stronger than you and you are relatively separated from the rest of the world, so you don’t get conquered. Scotland and England can be trouble, but that’s about it. In my game even that has not been a problem, since the english crown fell to France pretty early, and France had other problems than conquering Ireland.
12/07/2012 at 20:02 sinister agent says:
It really is a lot less daunting than it seems – there’s less to keep track of than similar looking games as your country kind of runs itself economically and infrastructurally. You’re mainly concerned with seeing off claimants to your throne and keeping people in your court either happy, powerless, or dead.
Pick a medium-sized kingdom/whatever to start with – that way you have stuff to do and some options, but aren’t likely to be immediately crushed or have too much going on to understand it all. Don’t worry too much about building and research to begin with – those are for long and sometimes absurdly long term development rather than reacting to your immediate situation, and chances are you won’t be able to afford them for a long time anyway.
It’s not really about conquering the world, out-researching everyone, or balancing the books. It’s all about people and inheritance. The ambitious lord, the back-stabbing prince, the loyal general, the shamelessly flirtatious courtier, the wonderfully evil queen who utterly despises you and will absolutely be the death of you, but when?
12/07/2012 at 18:48 Hoaxfish says:
Having to draft a quick excel document so I can compare the various deal and bundles so I can get the games I want, without over paying for a bunch I don’t
12/07/2012 at 18:49 Jason Moyer says:
This is pretty underwhelming compared to the sale Amazon’s been doing, in all honesty.
12/07/2012 at 18:57 jealouspirate says:
If only Amazon would sell games to me! Unfortunately they apparently don’t want Canadians’ money.
12/07/2012 at 19:17 mondomau says:
Yes, that may be. But crucially, I, as a UK citizen, can actually buy these deals.
12/07/2012 at 19:19 alundra says:
There are a couple of things that are lower than what can be found @ amazon, yet, Shogun 2 FOTS gets 50% off while it was 75% @ amazon a week ago and Deus EX HR @ 75 yet Amazon did that 6 months ago.
Same goes for Binary Domain, Max Payne, and Spec Ops.
Come to think of it, you are right, in all, it’s pretty underwhelming.
12/07/2012 at 18:50 Fazer says:
So only 11 people died until the sale went live – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIbxPVHJEw8
12/07/2012 at 18:56 Vagrant says:
I can’t believe that hasn’t been turned into a Source Film yet.
12/07/2012 at 18:53 EOT says:
Aaaaaaaand…I have no money. Why now Gabe? Why now?
12/07/2012 at 18:54 Whiskey Jak says:
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of wallets suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.
12/07/2012 at 19:00 Askeladd says:
and then 404…
12/07/2012 at 19:01 Sparkasaurusmex says:
“Sorry
The Steam Store is experiencing some heavy load right now. Please try again later.”
404 leads to anger…
12/07/2012 at 19:41 Xerian says:
thats a 503, not a 404 :]
12/07/2012 at 19:50 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
Solo: “Our login is correct but… no Steam store.”
Skywalker: “What do you mean? Where is it?”
Solo: “That’s what I’m trying to tell you, kid. It ain’t loading.”
Skywalker: “What? How?”
Kenobi: “Overloaded. By the Internet.”
Solo: “That can’t happen. The entire Steam community couldn’t bring down the Steam transactions server. It would take thousands of special offers, with more buying power than I’ve ever seen.”
13/07/2012 at 00:33 Skabooga says:
That is fantastic.
13/07/2012 at 08:41 Asokn says:
That’s quite, quite excellent!
12/07/2012 at 19:51 Chris D says:
Beware the dark side of the 4′s.
12/07/2012 at 18:57 TheLupineOne says:
Purchased Grimrock; eager to see if Civ V Gods & Kings turns up.
12/07/2012 at 19:01 yanko44 says:
I purchased this game on GOG.com yesterday… but it’s even cheaper now on Steam! >_<
Just my luck! (… I know this game is worth the money. :) )
12/07/2012 at 19:25 Revisor says:
GOG is the good guys, don’t sweat it.
Also you have it without the Steam DRM layer.
12/07/2012 at 19:36 grundus says:
This. I never get buyer’s remorse when I’m buying from GOG, but that might be something to do with the games being really awesome as much as anything else.
12/07/2012 at 19:28 Jnsen says:
G&K probably won’t be reduced further, it’s relatively fresh still.
12/07/2012 at 19:28 woppyce says:
Gods&Kings is currently $22,49 on Green Man Gaming, even for Europeans.
12/07/2012 at 20:55 sinister agent says:
Filthy, nasty Europeans.
12/07/2012 at 18:58 Vagrant says:
Here’s hoping for a Street Fighter x Tekken deal before this is over. EVO got me wanting to play the game, and I should have it for quakecon to further promote my arcade controls.
12/07/2012 at 19:02 pakoito says:
General opinion on thatr game is “meh”. It didn’t even live up to the hype in EVO. Lots of timeout rounds, broken gems, general tuurtling…poor greedy design in general.
12/07/2012 at 19:45 Vagrant says:
The community is apparently actively opposed to it due to the on-disc DLC issue. Meanwhile, the game looked fun to me. Looked more like an SNK game than a Capcom game.
12/07/2012 at 19:14 shaydeeadi says:
It was 14.99 over the weekend as well so you may have to be patient.
12/07/2012 at 18:59 niuqqz says:
http://is.gd/PFQQs4
12/07/2012 at 19:05 SkittleDiddler says:
Wow, what a disappointing sale so far. I’m glad I already bought every video game I wanted this year, because from what I’ve seen for today’s deals, they’ve all been cheaper at other sites.
Steam is losing its touch.
12/07/2012 at 19:45 Xerian says:
Not really… There are just less new games now, and you’ve most likely gotten most games you wanted in the previous winter and summer sale. This is alot cooler than the last few seasonal sales, but seeing how you, I and *EVERYONE ELSE* have more of said games now, its just less exciting, however if you’re semi-new to Steam…
So please, dont blame Steam when its likely to be your brains fault.. (And then EA not putting any of their games on Steam.)
12/07/2012 at 20:43 Baines says:
It doesn’t help that others are copying Steam’s level of discounts, and Steam even let Amazon go first for its summer sale. If so many people weren’t latched onto Steam as their only source for digital games, you might see even more people going to other stores’ sales.
But yes, Steam sales may be running out of steam. There are only so many people to buy games, and the majority of the catalog was available six months ago for a similar sale, and six months before that too..
12/07/2012 at 20:51 SkittleDiddler says:
My point is that, when it comes to discounted items at least, Steam seems to be losing out to its competitors more often than not these days. From a consumer standpoint, I was expecting much better deals then what I’ve seen offered in the Summer Sale so far. Almost every game they’ve got up for sale right now has been advertised for an equal or better price at other DD sites over the last couple months. I’m willing to bet that’s going to be the case for the rest of the Sale.
My personal experience with Steam’s last sale (the Christmas special) left a bad taste in my mouth, and it forced me to change my shopping habits. That’s not a negative — I’ve saved a ton of money by choosing to spend my digital nest egg with Steam’s competition this year, as opposed to reverting to my old habit of waiting for Steam’s annual sales to roll around. Steam just can’t cut it when it comes to offering the best deals anymore. My brain is now all the happier for it.
12/07/2012 at 19:06 Bob says:
I’m very late to the Skyrim party but the price is right today. I’m hoping Saints Row 3 wins the vote and I’ll snaffle it as well. I’ll never learn to wait.
12/07/2012 at 19:24 Schmitzkater says:
Skyrim already was around that price last december (?) if I remember correctly as well.
12/07/2012 at 19:41 Llewyn says:
I’d be amazed if Skyrim isn’t cheaper than £23.32 at some point during this sale. Also I’d be very surprised if the community voting turns out to be meaningful in any way; I suspect we’ll see all those discounts at some point, all we’re choosing is which one we get first.
13/07/2012 at 13:25 fish99 says:
Steam sales rule #1 – don’t buy anything unless it’s in a daily (or the new flash sales). You’ll be kicking yourself in a few days when it’s even cheaper.
12/07/2012 at 19:12 Sparkasaurusmex says:
despite “only” a 20% discount Arma II is ruling the Top Sellers. It’s the Combined Operations version.
Is that all you need for DayZ?
12/07/2012 at 19:16 shaydeeadi says:
It’s ‘only’ 25% off on Bohemia’s site and it activates on Steam so…….
13/07/2012 at 03:56 smb says:
It’s also 32.99 (USD) list price on their website compared to 29.99 on Steam. So it’s actually a tad cheaper on Steam.
13/07/2012 at 11:18 shaydeeadi says:
Well last night I bought A2:CO for £14.99 from BIS instead of £19.99 on Steam.
13/07/2012 at 16:31 fish99 says:
I wouldn’t be surprised if CO is on a daily for cheaper than that, maybe £10-12.
13/07/2012 at 00:35 Skabooga says:
Indeed, Combined Operations (which contains both Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead) is all you need to play DayZ.
12/07/2012 at 19:22 Wut The Melon says:
Can anyone remind me why Mass Effect 2 is on Steam but Mass Effect 3 is not? Both have DLC that isn’t for sale on Steam…and that never gets any discounts because of that -.- damn you EA have been waiting for a half decent ME2 DLC sale for over 1.5 years now and only the consoles have got any.
12/07/2012 at 19:39 smg77 says:
EA stopped selling their new releases on Steam last year to get people to use Origin. It all worked out…all the money I saved not buying Dragon Age 2, BF3, ME3 and SW:TOR is getting me a bunch of stuff at the steam sale.
12/07/2012 at 19:44 Deano2099 says:
ME2 came out before Valve changed the rules to where if you sell DLC, you have to sell it via Steam as one option.
Existing games weren’t removed as long as they didn’t add more DLC. Once they did, they had to be taken off too.
12/07/2012 at 19:23 Beelzebud says:
It annoys me that they have put “link your steam and facebook accounts” in the badges list. I will not be making a facebook account for this, so I suppose I will not be completing it.
12/07/2012 at 19:39 svge says:
If you care enough about the badges to get riled up at the fact that you need to make a facebook account to get one, maybe you should just make a facebook account that you never use with a fake name?
12/07/2012 at 19:44 pakoito says:
Facebook is a bitch with fake names, so make it quick.
12/07/2012 at 21:20 Eukatheude says:
As long as no one flags you. I’ve been using a fake name for a year.
12/07/2012 at 19:42 grundus says:
Badges? We don’t need no steeeenking badges! Much apart from the fact that I can’t see any badges at all anyway.
12/07/2012 at 19:49 Llewyn says:
I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one.
12/07/2012 at 20:28 Markcb says:
They’re in your community profile, not in the store.
12/07/2012 at 20:37 D3xter says:
Same here, and it’s EVERY SINGLE sales event, I made a thread thingie about it… http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2799630
12/07/2012 at 22:01 LionsPhil says:
The fact that for some reason that category is “ALL of the things” and contains Facebook at least means that I don’t have to care that it hasn’t registered things like posting videos and bothering my friends that I’ve already done several times.
12/07/2012 at 19:30 Carra says:
Please take my money Valve (I know have 500 games in my steam collection, when am I gonna play them all?)!
And don’t just give me “server too busy” x 10…
12/07/2012 at 19:41 grundus says:
All this time I’ve been funding Valve to develop a time machine to give me enough hours in a day to play all the stuff I’ve bought from them, I expect results dammit.
12/07/2012 at 19:45 Crius says:
Everytime a Steam Sale is out i risk my marriage.
12/07/2012 at 19:55 abandonhope says:
Tell her she can also spend as much as she wants on Steam during the summer sale; problem solved.
12/07/2012 at 19:57 Mctittles says:
Portal 2. I’m happy now.
12/07/2012 at 19:59 dogsolitude_uk says:
Erm, not found anything I want to buy yet, oddly enough. I’ve still got a stackload of games left over from Xmas!
Anyway, top tip:
Eschalon and Eschalon II are just a couple of quid each. I love these two games, and think everyone should buy them. I’m too tight to buy them for everyone though.
12/07/2012 at 20:15 Revisor says:
Thanks for the tip
12/07/2012 at 20:05 AzureBlu says:
The only time not having a credit card sucks.. :(
12/07/2012 at 20:09 Silva Shadow says:
First comment I’ve ever made I think, I logged in just to warn people on how shitty EYE is. I preordered it in an attempt to support smaller developers make great games, but I felt so ripped off when I finally played the game.
Spend your money elsewhere.
12/07/2012 at 20:13 grundus says:
Warning noted but when did you last play it?
12/07/2012 at 20:14 barelyhomosapien says:
Got it for the cyberpunk-ish setting and neat art style.
Played it for all of an hour and uninstalled due to lack of….anything.
12/07/2012 at 20:51 Revisor says:
And I thought it was great, giving you freedom, being complicated and obtuse in a fun way, making you a badass from the very beginning.
So there. :)
Definitely a divisive game.
12/07/2012 at 22:35 Juan Carlo says:
I was impressed for like the first hour of play as it has a huge stat system with lots of neat sounding skills. but the more you play the more your realize the stats are basically meaningless. Plus, the AI is awful and the level design is scattershot. It plays like a half finished mod (in fact I’ve played scores of free mods that are way better than this).
So, yeah, it sucks. I paid 2.50 for it on sale and even then I was disappointed.
12/07/2012 at 20:10 Mr-Link says:
So this might be obvious for you steam fans out there, but can I buy something in the sale without steam immediately downloading and installing it ? if yes, how ?
Right now i am out of both download bandwidth and time to play anymore games
12/07/2012 at 20:18 Zenicetus says:
You can make the purchase without downloading and installing the game. Just be careful not to click the button that installs it, at the end of the transaction. Steam will stash the game in your game list, and you can run the install whenever you want.
12/07/2012 at 20:12 barelyhomosapien says:
Nom nom nom CK2 DLC (ones I didn’t get in the last CK2 sale) and Arkham City DLC.
12/07/2012 at 20:22 Fynbar says:
Does anyone know what the game that is not available in the UK region is at all?
12/07/2012 at 20:25 Simas says:
Day 1 for me is a bunch of CK2 DLCs and Legend of Grimrock :)
12/07/2012 at 20:30 2lab says:
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The Steam Store is experiencing some heavy load right now. Please try again later.
12/07/2012 at 20:40 tossrStu says:
That’s a dodgy pun in the post title, Adam.
12/07/2012 at 21:06 InternetBatman says:
I’m really disappointed by this. I absolutely loved last summers sale, and the winter sale was alright even if it was manipulated by scammers. I like getting holiday achievements. I like getting small rewards from it. I like the feeling of an event. This is underwhelming in comparison.
12/07/2012 at 21:30 Eukatheude says:
That’s a pretty clever comment to make on day 1 of a two weeks sale.
12/07/2012 at 22:42 arccos says:
Unless Steam completely changes the structure of the sale before the end, I agree with him/her.
It was a lot of fun to “buy” DLC and games with achievement tickets in the 2011 summer sale, and while the winter sale wasn’t nearly as interesting, it was still decent.
Instead, we get to vote on a deal and have stuff swapping in and out of deeper sales every few hours. This year, it’s just a sale instead of an event.
12/07/2012 at 23:13 InternetBatman says:
All the other sales explained their mechanics on the very first day. Hell, we knew what most of the games with achievements were before the Steam winter sale actually hit. This has some unexplained nonsense with badges.
12/07/2012 at 23:43 SkittleDiddler says:
Steam are nothing if not predictable.
13/07/2012 at 01:38 Aardvarkk says:
I’m also a little sad by this. I was really looking forward to the little list of achievements to play through with new ones each day. The deals are great but as you say, the lack of mini goals is missed, it really added character to Steam.
12/07/2012 at 21:28 Stochastic says:
I really hope people vote to discount Witcher 2. I should have picked it up long ago. Better late than never, eh?
12/07/2012 at 23:10 bhagan says:
I voted for it, though I probably won’t buy it now. I’d rather get it off of GOG and I think they discounted it last Christmas so I’m holding out some hope
12/07/2012 at 21:31 RegisteredUser says:
Hard Reset is on sale for just 3,37 EUR, the full edition.
GO BUY IT NOW!
Also of note is AI War for a fiver, the full Alien Bundle.
13/07/2012 at 00:16 trjp says:
Hard Reset is good – an old-school shooter ala Serious Sam or even Doom.
Gets a bit hard/fiddly in places but it’s WELL worth the asking price – esp as you get all the newly added bits too I guess?
13/07/2012 at 03:58 RegisteredUser says:
Yes, the full edition has the added stuff / Exile DLC as well.
13/07/2012 at 07:52 LionsPhil says:
It’s reasonable enough, but it’s really not DOOM.
DOOM was fast.
13/07/2012 at 13:11 RegisteredUser says:
I actually played it rather leisurely. Outside of dodging Cyberdemon rockets and green lord-splots, that is.
You could decide whether you wanted to chainsaw your way through a room of cacodemons and imps, was the nice thing.
It was only the also gun-carrying soldiers that annoyingly enough had kind of an insta-hit that made you take out the chaingun first. :p
Still, never saw DOOM as particularly “Fast”. Which I liked. It had a good pace.
13/07/2012 at 00:04 Hmm-Hmm. says:
I picked up just Portal 2 for now. I’m trying to restrain myself, here.
13/07/2012 at 00:15 trjp says:
First voted deal is in – Saints Row 2 by a small margin over Batman – ahead of Witcher 2 by not much more.
First Flash Deal changed – Warlock is now £5ish… (66% off)
13/07/2012 at 00:26 alundra says:
It’s 53.07 USD for the whole SR3 DLC pack, on sale, a total insult to the community.
13/07/2012 at 03:33 smg77 says:
I just bought SR3 and all the DLC for $24.99 USD…maybe it was a flash sale or something?
13/07/2012 at 03:48 alundra says:
No it’s still there, it seems it’s the common place this steam sale, can be seen in many other games problem is, this fucks us customers who already have the base game and only want some DLCs, the logic seems to penalize the part of the customer base that were early adopters or purchased the base games only.
Not logical at all.
13/07/2012 at 09:09 Valhuen says:
That seems to be the modus operandi of many publishers/developers of late. As an example, had some minor fun with Dungeon Defenders & Magicka, but the mass DLC nonsense just got carried away. Want SR3, but I also want the DLC, and no way am I paying that price for the complete game. Maybe the winter sale will have a complete pack cheaper.
Don’t mind a few DLC’s for a game, mainly cosmetic, but the whole thing is getting a bit carried away. Also, as you stated, don’t appreciate being penalized by devs for buying the base game shortly after release, then having to pay more for a complete package than others later on.
13/07/2012 at 14:01 Dilapinated says:
If it’s any consolation, the SR3 DLC is crap.
13/07/2012 at 03:37 Vinraith says:
SR3 will be $9.99 on Amazon next week, and registers on Steam anyway.
13/07/2012 at 03:51 alundra says:
Sniper Elite V2 going on amazon @ 14.99, currently going for 33.49 on steam, might change in a flash/daily deal.
13/07/2012 at 04:10 Sakkura says:
Newest flash sale: The Force Unleashed II for… 18€?! Are they actually mad? The 30€ non-sale price is bad enough, but 40% off?
13/07/2012 at 04:46 alundra says:
Refresh your page in a moment or two, the usual steam weirdness around sales, it’s going for 5 usd @ 75% off.
13/07/2012 at 05:11 Sakkura says:
Fair enough… But can I at least rant about the Steam exchange rates instead?
13/07/2012 at 06:33 alundra says:
Whatever that rocks your boat, didn’t see your post as a rant though.
13/07/2012 at 08:33 aeghort says:
New community choice and my first Summer Sale choice: Trine 2.
€3,24ish for the game, €5 with the soundtrack and artbook, or €4 with the first game.
13/07/2012 at 08:35 Asokn says:
I wonder if anyone can help me out, I haven’t currently got a PC and last had one about 8 years ago so I’ve completely missed the rise of digital distributors like Steam. However, I’ll be buying a new PC in a few months and until then have access to my gf’s PC (but not for gaming sadly).
My question is, can I set up a Steam account on her PC and buy some of the great deals now but not link them to her computer so that when I finally buy my own I have a ready made game collection?
Thanks in advance!
13/07/2012 at 08:59 jezcentral says:
Yes, you can just buy the games now, after creating your own Steam account. When you get your PC, just download the Steam client and you can download the games then.
Also, *welcome back comment here* . :)
13/07/2012 at 12:23 Asokn says:
Thanks, much appreciated!
13/07/2012 at 12:28 alundra says:
Just make sure the game doesn’t have third party DRMs other than steam, like securom, or get them but don’t install them yet until you get your machine, to be on the safe side.
13/07/2012 at 08:56 Valhuen says:
Well, think I have reached the point of saturation. These deals just don’t look that great to me, and in the last year my catalogue has bloomed to over 800 games. Still picked up a few titles today (Legend of Grimrock was a must buy). At this point the few games I want I doubt will go any cheaper, since they are a bit out of the mainstream.
My small wishlist:
Take on Helicopters w/Hind expansion
Galactic Civilizations II UE
Tropico 4 w/DLC (this should have a daily)
Gratuitous Tank Battles
Hegemony Gold
Demigod, maybe, don’t know a lot about it, does it have a decent SP skirmish?
Also kind of interested in Alan Wake, may grab the GOG deal.
Other than that have all the AAA titles I have wanted to get, so maybe a few lesser known or indie games. Agree with others above, this sale just does not have the “pop” of the previous ones due to increased competition in the DD marketplace, and having most titles I want already.
13/07/2012 at 09:44 Shadram says:
Skyrim’s on sale! 33% off! It now only costs US $60!
… Fuck you, whoever prices games for New Zealand.
13/07/2012 at 10:25 drewski says:
Already all over Spacechem and the Ben There, Dan That double pack.
Good start for deals. Hope it continues.
13/07/2012 at 10:30 drewski says:
…and Hard Reset. Woot!
13/07/2012 at 11:10 paddymaxson says:
Yes, I’ve seen something I didn’t expect the “Bundles” become a hell of a lot more stingy.
While they’re still cheap they are crap compared to previous years. For instance, the Bethesda one only contains:
Skyrim (which is on sale but more expensive than at amazon and play), Fallout NV Ultimate edition (disguised as 7 items by listing NV and all the DLCs as seperate items) and Brink with some DLCs.
What Bundles seem to be right now are the Latest incarnation of each series (I picked up the Ubisoft one mostly because I only had 1 game in it already).
I know these are set by publishers, so it seems the publishers are becoming suddenly very stingy.
Still some great deals, but I kind of expected more. I realise sound a bit spoiled, probably because I have been spoiled by previous deals.
13/07/2012 at 13:13 roobar says:
Bethesda Bundle? Not if you’re an Aussie (or Kiwi I’m guessing)
13/07/2012 at 14:52 dawnmane says:
Is The Force Unleashed 2 any good?
13/07/2012 at 16:29 fish99 says:
Why are so many people buying Arma 2 CO at 20% off when there’s a very good chance it’ll be much cheaper in a daily very soon? Do people still not know how these sales work?
14/07/2012 at 18:32 johnnyfiction says:
Skyrim has just been added to daily deals at 50% off!
18/12/2012 at 12:03 rentonx says:
Steam sales are becoming near to some form of religious celebration. Most people I know tend to not even have the money to get the Steam Games they want due to there being so much available on sale.
There are various Steam community sites that rewards its users with free steam games. Any game you request on here will be steam gifted directly to you:
http://freesteamgifts.webs.com/