Amazon PCDD - Important Update New Community Manager Incoming!

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Hey CAGS,

I’ve got some news I’m both excited and sad to share with you at the same time. I’ll be leaving the Digital Video Games team in Mid-March to join the marketing team for Amazon.com’s Loyalty and Rewards program, Amazon Coins. My boss and I have talked extensively about how to maintain and continue our presence here and across the other communities we’ve created in the past couple of years. To that end I’d like to introduce you to Josh, who take over monitoring, updating, and responding to this thread. Josh will be ramping up over the next couple of weeks, he  will be posting shortly to introduce himself.

Now that the “what’s going on” part of the message is out of the way I want to tell you all how much I love CAG and the posters here. This was the first community I joined when I started this job (anyone still remember that first thread?) and all of you have had a huge hand in shaping how we think about and execute Community Development and Management here at Amazon, which has in turn shaped my career these last two and a half years.

I started to write out a section calling out the regular posters and realized the list would be both overly long and incomplete at the same time. Instead I’d like to thank you all again, you all have my deep and sincere gratitude. I’ll still be around and my gaming accounts aren’t going anywhere so feel free to hit me up anytime you want to chat. I’ll probably still hang out in the thread too :).

Thanks again everyone, let me or Josh know if you have any questions!

The Indie Store has launched!
Amazon.com is launching a storefront dedicated to supporting and promoting PC/Mac/Web-based Indie Games. Our Digital Video Games team is a small group of passionate gamers and we’re all really excited to help Indie developers reach more customers quickly by providing a quick and simple process for bringing their games to market. Additionally we’ll be supporting the Indie Store with a ton of promotions, both at and after launch. Many of these promotions are designed to give the developer the opportunity to maximize their revenue. For example, Amazon is forfeiting all royalties from bundle sales and passing them along directly to the developer, we’ve also created an “Indie Spotlight” program to help customers learn more about the games and developers they love. We view the Indie developers as some of the most creative in the industry and we want to help them continue to create new and innovative experience for customers.

Why we are doing this:

  • Allow customers to discover an entirely new category of games on Amazon.com
  • Help developers reach new customers quickly. Our onboarding process is straightforward and we want to sell every Indie game available
  • We want to leverage our strengths to support and help the developers who are driving forward innovation and creativity in the games industry
General Information

Hi CAGs,
I'll be posting deals we're running on Digital Games (PC/Mac, Free to Play, Sony/Microsoft Points/Subs).

I'm also here to answer questions you might have, get you closer to the developers by hosting Q&As, setting up podcasts, live streaming gameplay etc. If I don't respond to a question you have in thread please send me a PM. These ping my email address and make it more likely that I will see your question and respond more quickly.

Cheers,
Tony


FYI. EA Games sold by Amazon will not activate on Steam.
F.A.Q.S.:

1. Does the game I'm buying from Amazon Activate on Steam/Origin/Uplay? What DRM does the game use?

There are two places to identify DRM on a digital video game detail page:

At the top of the page, below the title:

16hm7a8.png


In the "Product Description" section:

r06ykl.jpg


2. Note on Electronic Arts Games - For the most part, EA games sold on Amazon do not activate on Steam. Most activate on Origin.

3. Note on DRM with limited activations:

Our Policy



4. Sometimes I'll do giveaways.

5. I work with developers and publishers to get fun (or at least what I think is fun) content to share with you all. Here are some examples:

a. Check out the Pax Gameplay videos here: Xcom: Enemy Unknown I played Xcom with Jake, the Creative Director for the game, a few months before the game came out Also, on this page, check out the Q&A, also a community driven event.

b. Check out the interview on this page: Borderlands 2 we did this interview at E3 with Randy Pitchford this year.

c. We've partnered with the ++GoodGames Podcast to feature many of the games we carry. They talk to the developers about the game development process, how the games are conceptualized and managed, all kinds of fun stuff. I'm working on putting together full link list and will update when I have it.

What else do we sell?

Xbox Live Points and Subscriptions:

1600 Microsoft Live Points
4000 Microsoft Live Points
12 Month XBOX Live Subscription
3 Month XBOX Live Subscription]
12 Month + 1 XBOX Live Subscription

PSN+ Subscriptions and PSN Points:

$20 PSN Points
$50 PSN Points
12 Month PSN+ Subscription
3 Month PSN+ Subscription

We also have a Free-2-Play store supported by our GameConnect technology. Gameconnect allows you to link your Amazon.com account with free-2-play and MMO accounts so that you can buy things like in game currency, premium game time/subscriptions, in game items, etc. on Amazon.com using your Amazon.com payment options and have this content delivered directly into your game.

5. Price Matching notes: Generally we do not match international retailers (GMG, Gamersgate, etc) or physical retailers (Best Buy, Newegg.com, etc.)
To check out the Free-2-Play games we offer you can visit our storefront here: Free-2-Play Store

 
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MysterD said:
$10 or less is fair for a rental - which is pretty much what a MMO feels like.

While I am curious about ESO - if modding is prohibited, which probably will be VERY likely w/ a MMO - I think it'll miss one of the things that make the ES series what it is.

The other thing I think that makes ES series what it is - is the fact b/c of its size and the way quests are done feels like a MMO-game; but you're not online and you're in a SP-only game. Putting that into a MMO atmopshere - that just sounds like it'll make ESO just another MMO, IMHO.
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Ya I'm skeptical, but I think Elder Scrolls may be my favorite game series of all time.

Maybe.

But it's up there...I'm definitely not investing money to play day 1, but if it gets good reviews, I'll bite. God I wish it had a guild wars like purchasing model tho...hate subscriptions.

 
The problem with Elder Scrolls MMO is that... they're trying to make it too much like a TES single player game.  Specifically with character design you can max out all perks/skills/abilities given enough time.  Essentially then there is no difference between 'classes' and you aren't guided towards a certain build.  I just don't see how they can balance this game.  it might be a fun game to mess around in for a month but over the long haul I don't see it working.

 
pasports31 said:
Ya I'm skeptical, but I think Elder Scrolls may be my favorite game series of all time.

Maybe.

But it's up there...I'm definitely not investing money to play day 1, but if it gets good reviews, I'll bite. God I wish it had a guild wars like purchasing model tho...hate subscriptions.
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I'll guess this: ESO will get great reviews....and also be buggy as hell and have many of the connection issues many MMO's and online-only game at launch are known to have.

 
Mooby said:
The problem with Elder Scrolls MMO is that... they're trying to make it too much like a TES single player game. Specifically with character design you can max out all perks/skills/abilities given enough time. Essentially then there is no difference between 'classes' and you aren't guided towards a certain build. I just don't see how they can balance this game. it might be a fun game to mess around in for a month but over the long haul I don't see it working.
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Yeah, like I said, I'm pretty skeptical. We'll see what happens...very interested in seeing the reviews, etc

But any chance I get to enter the world of elder srolls tends to be one I heavily consider

 
Mooby said:
The problem with Elder Scrolls MMO is that... they're trying to make it too much like a TES single player game. Specifically with character design you can max out all perks/skills/abilities given enough time. Essentially then there is no difference between 'classes' and you aren't guided towards a certain build. I just don't see how they can balance this game. it might be a fun game to mess around in for a month but over the long haul I don't see it working.
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From my experience with The Secret World (another MMO where technically, given enough time every build/skill is obtainable) is that when that is part of the game design and it is possible for every character in a 5 character dungeon/mission (for example) to have the same or similar builds, it is not logically feasible. There always has to be, at minimum a tank and at least 1 dedicated healer, leaving the other 3 roles to DPS (damage per second) or support, and even then you have to change up the roster depending on the boss/mission types. At first it will be a complete blast because everyone will have been limited by the build/skill tree they chose to start building to begin with. Whether Bethesda can vary the mission types to force player cooperation and role switching remains to be seen, but I can tell you that it is possible to have a game where everything is eventually obtainable and even still require a choice position. Ideally, I hope it plays like the single player when you want to solo, and allows you to jump into a certain role when required. I have high hopes.

 
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MysterD said:
$10 or less is fair for a rental - which is pretty much what a MMO feels like.
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You must have kept your blockbuster movies out for a very long time if this seems like a rental. :roll:

I guess maybe I'm alone in this, but if I play a game for a month or two that's about all I ever want, so regardless of how long I'd theoretically be able to play it I probably wouldn't even want to.

 
The big trend in recent MMOs is to get away from tanking and healing roles because apparently most players find them boring (I guess I'm an outlier).

 
Mooby said:
The big trend in recent MMOs is to get away from tanking and healing roles because apparently most players find them boring (I guess I'm an outlier).
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Yeah, I've always enjoyed a healer role, even in completely unrelated genres like shooters. I'm not sure why, I guess combat just feels a bit tedious to me much of the time and I'm never very good at it.

 
MrNinjaSquirrel said:
You must have kept your blockbuster movies out for a very long time if this seems like a rental. :roll:

I guess maybe I'm alone in this, but if I play a game for a month or two that's about all I ever want, so regardless of how long I'd theoretically be able to play it I probably wouldn't even want to.
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I didn't rent very often at Blockbuster.

I often rented, back in the day, at Hollywood Video.

And I also VERY rarely had late fees.

Literally, Hollywood Video (RIP) was like 5 minutes from my house.

 
Mooby said:
The big trend in recent MMOs is to get away from tanking and healing roles because apparently most players find them boring (I guess I'm an outlier).
Click to expand...

MrNinjaSquirrel said:
Yeah, I've always enjoyed a healer role, even in completely unrelated genres like shooters. I'm not sure why, I guess combat just feels a bit tedious to me much of the time and I'm never very good at it.
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We're all just a bunch of Ashe's Kitties.

 
MrNinjaSquirrel said:
Yeah, I've always enjoyed a healer role, even in completely unrelated genres like shooters. I'm not sure why, I guess combat just feels a bit tedious to me much of the time and I'm never very good at it.
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I also really like playing healers... even tanks. But once I get to the point of heroic level or beyond, there's just too much bar watching. IMO, the devleopers can make healing/tanking a lot more fun by making it more intuitive to the gameplay. Still... the really good healers and tanks out there do it for the reasons why I give up.

The most fun I've had end-game healing/tanking has always been in PvP. Maybe that's why Guild Wars PvP bores the snot out of me.

 
I end up always playing a tank or healer solely out of necessity.  A good tank or healer has a far greater impact on a group than dps, in almost any MMORPG.   Rate of pulls, ability to hold agro etc.  In most groups / dungeons a good dps can swing the time to complete by maybe 10-20% on average whereas a good or bad tank can swing completion time by 50-75%. 

I prefer to play DPS but as soon as I enter a group with a bad tank, I want to throw my keyboard into my monitor and end up just playing a tank to avoid the frustration of grouping with a bad tank. 

 
pasports31 said:
Yeah, like I said, I'm pretty skeptical. We'll see what happens...very interested in seeing the reviews, etc

But any chance I get to enter the world of elder srolls tends to be one I heavily consider
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I wouldn't base my money on so-called "professional reviews" these days either. You can bet that these "AAA" titles will always get 9s and 10s and be labelled "the best game ever" even though it's not.

It's best to just see it for yourself, either thru getting in on a beta, or just waiting for after release and then watching some streams/gameplay video etc.

In any case, my theory is that if the trailers (or development dollars) are all spent on pre-rendered cut-scenes and stuffs, and doesn't have much of gameplay shown in it, the game is likely to suck :p

 
uqblf said:
Well at least there is some hope down the road as Codemasters recently confirmed that they are working on patching GFWL out of DiRT 3 and migrating it to Steamworks. If that goes well, they might continue with their older titles as well.
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Nod. Their DiRT 3 move surprises me. Their lack of announcements for Dirt 2 & F1 2010/2011 leaves me hanging. At least GRID learned to "Just say no!" (to GFWL).

walkonshadows said:
Makes you wonder how difficult it is to separate out the GFWL DRM. Is it just ripping the exe out of the wrapper, or does it require some sort of emulation code for when it goes looking for the client/server mechanic? I know the hooks for starforce and tages are still present but considered "inert", which makes it seem as if the active code is just turned off like flipping a switch when they disable those types of DRM.
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Well I was going to point out that -ahem- enthusiast patches have done that for quite some time, but Mac the Geek pointed that out already. Imo, just drop/patch the GFWL integration to leave the game as intact as possible... which reworking the multiplayer net code would be nice, I think we're all used to MP/net play on old games ceasing to work.

pasports31 said:
I have never given money to an mmo
Dat elder scrolls tho...
aeifjeiofjwanfkldfnmsliejfe
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It's the the money... it's the years of your life, the estrangement from friends and family, and the building isolation from society that's the real cost. And then there's the breaking the cycle of dependency and by the time you get your [customspoiler=6-month-chip]
06month.jpg
[/customspoiler] there's a new expansion releasing... and you think, I'm better now, I can control this, it won't control me....

Mooby said:
The big trend in recent MMOs is to get away from tanking and healing roles because apparently most players find them boring (I guess I'm an outlier).
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That's a misnomer... there's a lot of players who don't want to tank or heal but do it anyway to get into groups/faster. I liked tanking, but not nearly as much as I loved healing. Both of these roles require quick use of knowledge and experience as well as having a more dynamic interaction with the other players. If the tank or healer is subpar this tend to get noticed and often called out quickly... the tank & healing specializations used to mean that going out and killing stuff on your own was tedious (especially while leveling), but that has long been addressed with dual-specs and hybridized skills.

 
Is there a list of games that are/aren't getting GFWL removed? It would help prioritize my huge backlog before the deadline...

 
Just bought Dark Souls, hope the GFWL closing thing doesn't ruin the game. I don't really care about the multiplayer stuff, it's fine with me if that goes offline. I don't see those developers patching it out of the game. They don't know how to code for PC, which they admitted to I believe.
 
MrNinjaSquirrel said:
Yeah, I've always enjoyed a healer role, even in completely unrelated genres like shooters. I'm not sure why, I guess combat just feels a bit tedious to me much of the time and I'm never very good at it.
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Hippy. Next time I see somebody in the middle of a shootout on CoD or BF with a sign that says, "Make Love, Not War" I'll know who to snipe first. :D

PS: Thanks x1,000,000 for the FTL code. I freaking love the game now.

 
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On the MMO discussion:  I loved EQ Adventures when it was on the PS2.  I also played my fair share of WoW.  While I enjoyed my times with both games, I hated that I felt "obligated" to play them over other games because I was shelling out money each month for access.  Meanwhile my backlog was sitting in the corner wimpering like a neglected puppy.  Sad eyes and all.

It is one of the reasons why I actually liked the first Guild Wars when I played it.  I had no guilt walking away from it for a month to play something else because it didn't feel like money down the drain.  While it isn't an MMO, I finished my first playthrough of Path of Exile last night.  Some close friends are playing it as well and we started a guild called the Amish Maulers.  The game is free so I don't feel obligated to be on there all the time.  Starting either Witcher 1 or Skyrim LE tonight.  Decisions, decisions.

Also...a lot of douchebags populate MMO worlds.  I hate douchebags.

 
Solid-Snake-Eyes said:
Just bought Dark Souls, hope the GFWL closing thing doesn't ruin the game. I don't really care about the multiplayer stuff, it's fine with me if that goes offline. I don't see those developers patching it out of the game. They don't know how to code for PC, which they admitted to I believe.
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The single player is so amazing you don't really need multiplayer qualities in it. The first time I played was on Xbox before I got Live, loved it.

It's a shame if they don't patch out GFWL though. The multiplayer really does add a pretty awesome element to it. And the covenant system is nearly pretty stupidly pointless if there's no multiplayer

 
Mooby said:
The problem with Elder Scrolls MMO is that... they're trying to make it too much like a TES single player game. Specifically with character design you can max out all perks/skills/abilities given enough time. Essentially then there is no difference between 'classes' and you aren't guided towards a certain build. I just don't see how they can balance this game. it might be a fun game to mess around in for a month but over the long haul I don't see it working.
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While I'm not going to say the game is good, you're very wrong with there being no differences between classes. You can't use your class skills on other classes.

 
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I have never played an MMO and you guys/gals are scaring me.  I'm pretty sure you would all need to replace your keyboards if I joined a group!

What exactly is the tanking specialization?  Is that a literal thing?

 
Palinn said:
I have never played an MMO and you guys/gals are scaring me. I'm pretty sure you would all need to replace your keyboards if I joined a group!

What exactly is the tanking specialization? Is that a literal thing?
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Tanks are the meatheads who stand up front taking damage and keeping the bad guys from going after healers and characters doing high amounts of damage per second (like mages, aka Glass Cannons).

 
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Palinn said:
What exactly is the tanking specialization? Is that a literal thing?
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In a lot of MMO's the 3 main roles in a group are tanking, healing, and damage dealing (DPS). The tanks role is to keep enemies focused on and attacking him so that the rest of the group can take as little damage as possible.

 
walkonshadows said:
Ideally, I hope it plays like the single player when you want to solo, and allows you to jump into a certain role when required. I have high hopes.
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One of the things that LOTRO started doing with the epic story quite a few updates ago was making the previously-group-only content solo-friendly--basically, giving a player a substantial temporary buff if he's entering a mission with powerful bosses.

Mind you, there's still plenty of quest content in the game that either requires you to be massively overlevelled or in a group to have any hope of success. There are also parts of the Great Barrows (I've read--haven't spent much time in there personally) that actually require a group because two or more characters have to be present to flip switches at the same time to open a door (a bit like that mandatory-grouping early quest in Guild Wars where you have to have a party of two to activate two devices simultaneously).

But I like it because of the setting and because it's one of the more solo-friendly MMORPGs out there. However, I find that I have a very mixed tolerance for MMOs in general. They can be massive time sinks, but LOTRO's the only one I've ever played regularly and I don't quite understand how people speed through content in any of these games. I have five characters in LOTRO, which is the cap for a "premium" (aka "I've spent some real-world money on this at some point") account on a given server and the highest-level one is around 45 (in a game with a cap of 85--maybe 95 now that Helm's Deep is out?) and I haven't even ventured into the Mines of Moria with that guy yet. That means that while I have MoM, Siege of Mirkwood, and Rise of Isengard (three of the five currently-available expansions), I have yet to explore the content of any of them.

But I've put something like 400 hours into LOTRO, if Raptr can be believed, and it seems like a lot of people blow through the quest content of most MMOs in a tiny fraction of that time.

Part of this is that I tend to get bored of playing MMOs after a while and I go load a new SP game. Then I'll get the urge to fire up LOTRO and I'll play it on a daily basis for weeks or months (this tends to revolve around festivals these days). Then I'll quit and do something else. I feel as though I'm probably the only MMO player in the world who exhibits this behavior.

 
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who doesn't own Serious Sam 3 BFE and wants to own it (via humble gift link)?

PM me and it's yours :)

edit: and it's gone!
 
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Jon7 said:
In a lot of MMO's the 3 main roles in a group are tanking, healing, and damage dealing (DPS). The tanks role is to keep enemies focused on and attacking him so that the rest of the group can take as little damage as possible.
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wtsutton said:
Tanks are the meatheads who stand up front taking damage and keeping the bad guys from going after healers and characters doing high amounts of damage per second (like mages, aka Glass Cannons).
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All of this is 100% correct. I'll just add that the "tank" bit comes from the part where this character is supposed to have certain traits or abilities that allow him/her to absorb or shrug off a lot of damage because without that ability you can't really be a "tank."

 
Since I'm getting married next Friday, I feel like I should start ditching some of my excess baggage in the form of duplicate keys. 

Message me if you want any of the following:

Magicka + DLC

Orcs Must Die 2 Complete

Serious Sam 3 BFE

Dawn of War

--Base Game

--Dark Crusade

--Winter Assault

Metro 2033

Nexuiz

Red Faction: Armageddon

RF:A Path to War

Snapshot

Basement Collection

Trine2

FTL

Cave Story+
Bastion
Showdown Effect

Closure

Edit: All gone! Enjoy, everybody!

 
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Chuoi said:
Guys, I found this on steamdb.

Tony, so, you can make it come this holiday, right :bouncy:
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We already have it up for sale, working on a promotion but nothing locked in.

Thermopyle said:
Since I'm getting married next Friday, I feel like I should start ditching some of my excess baggage in the form of duplicate keys.

Message me if you want any of the following:

Magicka + DLC

Orcs Must Die 2 Complete

Serious Sam 3 BFE

Dawn of War

--Base Game

--Dark Crusade

--Winter Assault

Metro 2033

Nexuiz

Red Faction: Armageddon

RF:A Path to War

Closure

Snapshot

Cave Story+

Basement Collection

Showdown Effect

Trine2

FTL

Bastion
Click to expand...
Congrats!

Cheers,

Tony

 
Hey Tony,

Grats on getting married... hopefully you'll be delaying your honeymoon until after the Christmas sale and after the EC sale in January.  February is a great month for Hawaii or Mexico.  Haha jk.

BTW... Crusader Kings and DLC is on daily sale at Steam right now.  Can you let me know the chances of the separate DLC going on sale this month?  I'd rather buy from Amazon for obvious reasons... I'd love a couple of more EC coupons and I'm a DLC whore for games fermenting in my backlog.  I know... probably not something you can answer.

Thanks.

 
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spacejunk said:
Hey Tony,

Grats on getting married... hopefully you'll be delaying your honeymoon until after the Christmas sale and after the EC sale in January. February is a great month for Hawaii or Mexico. Haha jk.
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I'm getting married, not Tony. :) Honeymoon is going to be next year sometime, since my job doesn't give me vacation this year. Just staying at a nice hotel for a couple of nights in Chattanooga next weekend, is all. Should be fun.

I'm taking my tablet and going to be checking for good sales every time she's not looking, though. :)

 
Thermopyle said:
I'm getting married, not Tony. :) Honeymoon is going to be next year sometime, since my job doesn't give me vacation this year. Just staying at a nice hotel for a couple of nights in Chattanooga next weekend, is all. Should be fun.

I'm taking my tablet and going to be checking for good sales every time she's not looking, though. :)
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Ha. That's what I get for speed-reading. Grats, Thermo! TN is nice too.

Tony,

My just keep my comments in mind if you're considering getting married (if you're not already) sometime between now and Feb 2014. :)

 
spacejunk said:
Hey Tony,

...

BTW... Crusader Kings and DLC is on daily sale at Steam right now. Can you let me know the chances of the separate DLC going on sale this month? I'd rather buy from Amazon for obvious reasons... I'd love a couple of more EC coupons and I'm a DLC whore for games fermenting in my backlog. I know... probably not something you can answer.

Thanks.
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I would love to see a price match on these as well, specifically the two African DLCs, Portraits and Unit Pack.

http://www.amazon.com/Crusader-Kings-II-Portraits-Download/dp/B009KSPF2Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386355818&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=crusader+kings+2+african+dlc

http://www.amazon.com/Crusader-Kings-II-African-Online/dp/B008EYIBVE/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1386355786&sr=8-13&keywords=crusader+kings+2+dlc

 
Hmmm, apparently Derp Island: Riptide is going to be $3 on the 8th ($2.40 after a 20% discount code) on Gamefly -- would love a PM on that when it happens.

 
Neuro5i5 said:
Yeah, but if it did get PM'd (unlikely) would it only be for the sale price of $3? Meaning it would still be cheaper from GameFly.
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Yeah, the 20% off coupons never get PMd. This would be a good PM deal if you have credit or possibly looking for one of the $5 credits, but otherwise Gamefly is the better approach IMO.

 
Probably but for the sixty cents I'd take an Amazon EC coupon... even though they won't be overlapping with the Steam sale.  Of course, Tony could be a bro and put it at $2.50~

 
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