Welcome to the Steam deal thread V1! Read post # 2 for Steam FAQs and more.
This thread is no longer being updated. Please visit the V2 thread for Steam deal discussion. Thanks to everyone who made this thread a success.
Group Buys - Updated 05/20
Several multiplayer Steam games are available in 2-packs or 4-packs. These packs offer a discount over buying multiple copies of a game separately. We also maintain group buy trade threads for several games, so please use those threads if you're interested in setting up a group buy.
Free Stuff
There are several free games and mods on Steam. These are a few choice ones; you can find a full list here. Note that free games are not permanently attached to your Steam account like actual purchases would be. You'll need to manually download a game again from the website if you uninstall it.
[quote name='jab1235']They have whole teams working on their games for years, terraria was built buy 1 coder, 2 artists (1 or 2 i forgot), and 1 composer.
Besides games like call of duty are charging for extra map packs, mw2 gave you 5 maps for $15, 2 in each pack were from previous games and 3 were new. So in essence you were paying to play maps that you bought in the last game as well as a couple new maps. That doesn't really seem like hard work. There were only 2 or 3 patches witch didn't really balance the game they only fixed major bugs as far as i know.
Indie games like terraria are supporting there games with bug fixes, balancing and extra content for free. It seems like they are putting in more work to prove that their game is worth the purchace instead of milking their fanbase.
Why do you make me want to argue about video games haha and what makes you hate terraria so much, have you played it yet?[/QUOTE]
Games like Call of Duty ALSO get patches, fixes, and upgrades, and their game designs are orders of magnitude more complicated than Terraria. Expecting CoD to be balanced is like expecting Marvel vs. Capcom to be balanced (Or Mount and Blade, for that matter.). But the patches are substantial in number and magnitude. You need only look at Steam's Blops news feed (Filter for product updates) and see the numerous pages of stuff.
What does it take to add new content to Terraria? New items, blocks, and monsters spawning. The game's content is procedurally generated. It's hardly trivial but also hardly anything amazing to throw more stuff to grind out.
I'm not defending the $15 map packs, (Though part of the bloat might be the new suite or two of voice work for the zombies maps... but not all. I'm not stupid.) but I do not think they can be compared quite with Terraria's style.
As far as Terraria itself? I find it offensive, as petty as it may sound. People may rage at the great Kotick/Activision/CoD/EA boogeyman as killing gaming, but that sort of thing will always be there. It's games like Terraria that I think are strangling what part of the industry might be innovative, showing the world that you CAN make big money with breezy, too cute, simplistic grind-heavy crap scarce in the way of any sort of gameplay engagement or challenge unless you love stacking blocks.
Full disclosure, I sank about three or four hours into Terraria sinking shafts, excavating my way through a sizable chunk of the underworld, hitting hell and flooding a good chunk of it to get me some obsidian. It just wasn't fun digging, exploring, fighting, or crafting. Everything felt sloppy, weak, and unsatisfying.
I will confess that I do have a huge chip on my shoulder because THIS game has been a top seller on Steam for MONTHS and real games, clever, well-designed indie games, namely Jamestown, never even breached it until the daily deal. That burns my toast.
But also because I ABSOLUTELY cannot see what people would see in Terraria, and not for lack of playing it.
Thanks for explaining and I completly understand what you're saying, I'm the same way about cod/activision. Same game every year to me and everyone loves it i don't get it but i guess that's just somethign we can't controll.
But I'm done in this thread, it's to big and my posts are just cluttering it more. Someone put this thread out of its missery and start a new one.
[quote name='wilflare']Prince of Persia Collection looks really dated to me.
Now I'm tempted to get the Remastered Trilogy on the PS3 or something, though I'll lose Prince of Persia 2008 and Forgotten Sands, any suggestions?
Does Hitman: Blood Money look dated?[/QUOTE]
I'd pick up the PoP Collection if it's available to you, I can't see it. I haven't played a Remastered collection but they all seem to have pretty minor improvements. The PC version will probably look as good as or better than the remastered trilogy anyway. Also, why do you care about the graphics for old games. I'm playing Deus Ex right now and the graphics don't affect my enjoyment at all.
[quote name='Vegan']Agreed. It's not worth the bad price, and they honestly would have made more money. When the price increased by $2.50, a lot of people stopped buying it.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='wilflare']Prince of Persia Collection looks really dated to me.
Now I'm tempted to get the Remastered Trilogy on the PS3 or something, though I'll lose Prince of Persia 2008 and Forgotten Sands, any suggestions?
Does Hitman: Blood Money look dated?[/QUOTE]
The PoP series looked like PS2 games to me, and not bad ones, if you ask me.
H:BM looks pretty good but yeah, it's of a similar age. The art style is pretty nice though, clever use of design, atmosphere, color, etc to make the game look good despite the graphics.
These are games that transcend graphics with quality though, and aren't even BAD looking at all.
[quote name='wilflare']
Does Hitman: Blood Money look dated?[/QUOTE]
wow, came out in 2006, has it really been more than 5 years since the last Hitman game? Installing now, will how it looks.
[quote name='Jaysonguy']Put your hands up, the conversation is going over your head.
It's not about price, it's the fact that they could have come out of this with a PR push that costs companies hundreds of thousands of dollars and instead they put a black mark on themselves that's going to linger for years of sales.
Doubling the price isn't the real issue (even though I find it laughable how people will gladly pay for everything in life after they find out it's double. "Oh is that house 250k? I'll buy it? Oh now it's half a mil? Let me get the checkbook").
The issue is that they were lobbed a public relations softball and whiffed.[/QUOTE]
lololno. Don't pretend it's more than what it is. Something like this is proportional. If it was something like $10 to $20, then it would make sense. $2.50 to $5.00 is a price increase to an already low priced game that was priced by mistake and Terraria devs had nothing to do with either the mistaken price or the price correction.
I don't get it. What public relations softball? The Terraria devs had nothing to do with either the price decrease or increase other than setting the original price. Beyond that, management of the sale was on whoever in Valve manages Steam.
The triviality of the price difference matters on the issue.
[quote name='RollingSkull']
I will confess that I do have a huge chip on my shoulder because THIS game has been a top seller on Steam for MONTHS and real games, clever, well-designed indie games, namely Jamestown, never even breached it until the daily deal. That burns my toast.
[/QUOTE]
I feel the same way. But I can't say I am surprised. Shmups is such a niche genre. Not many enjoy them, but those that do LOVE them! I hope Final Form keeps making stellar games for us hardcore gamers.
Back in the 90's, you were either a gamer or you weren't. These days there are a few different types of gamers, most of them falling into the "casual" category.
The way gaming is now... casual games are always going to sell more than hardcore games. The hardcore gamer is a dying breed it seems. Just look at all the bitching and moaning going on in the Jamestown steam forums... No online co-op, too difficult, forcing you to play on higher difficulties (WTF? lol)... on and on. Jamestown is meant to be played solo for high scores. Casual gamers don't understand the concept of high scores, they just want to buddy up and play.
Just look at Vorpal on XBLIG. One of the best games on the service IMHO, yet gets absolutely NO CREDIT! Vorpal 2 got passed up by the devs behind the Summer Uprising... Have you seen some of the other games that made it thru? WTF? is all I have to say.
Terraria rode the "minecraft train" to success. It's as simple as that.
[quote name='RollingSkull']Games like Call of Duty ALSO get patches, fixes, and upgrades, and their game designs are orders of magnitude more complicated than Terraria. Expecting CoD to be balanced is like expecting Marvel vs. Capcom to be balanced (Or Mount and Blade, for that matter.). But the patches are substantial in number and magnitude. You need only look at Steam's Blops news feed (Filter for product updates) and see the numerous pages of stuff.[/QUOTE]
You realize that you're saying, "So what? COD does it too," about an indie game, right? Comparing a blockbuster series that has two studios, thousands of workers, and hundreds of millions in capital behind it to a game developed by a few people with limited income, and equating their level of support, thereby dismissing it? That's one of the most extraordinarily dumbfounding comparisons I've ever heard.
[quote name='RollingSkull']What does it take to add new content to Terraria? New items, blocks, and monsters spawning. The game's content is procedurally generated. It's hardly trivial but also hardly anything amazing to throw more stuff to grind out.[/QUOTE]
You seem to lack an understanding of the amount of work that goes into creating a video game. The amount of time it takes to create something can be extraordinary. First you have the code, then the art, any related sounds. Then you have to balance it through playtesting and QA, and then finally you can ship out the update. Each part takes a lot of time when there's only person behind each part.
[quote name='RollingSkull']As far as Terraria itself? I find it offensive, as petty as it may sound. People may rage at the great Kotick/Activision/CoD/EA boogeyman as killing gaming, but that sort of thing will always be there. It's games like Terraria that I think are strangling what part of the industry might be innovative, showing the world that you CAN make big money with breezy, too cute, simplistic grind-heavy crap scarce in the way of any sort of gameplay engagement or challenge unless you love stacking blocks.[/QUOTE]
"Lacks Decisive Evidence"? I'll say. You're right, an indie game like Terraria is objectively worse for the industry than an annualized mindless Bruckheimer shooter by a publisher that chews through developers like a wood chipper.
It's not about hardcore and it's not about casual. It's just about games that have real substance, real fun, real craftsmanship, and something to engage the player. Jamestown has that, and, as much as the haters in the room are going to disagree, Call of Duty does too. It's got problems, but all games do.
Terraria doesn't do that to me and I think that people go for that is what will really be detrimental to gaming at least if that fad gets milked.
Vorpal kicks ass but XBLIG is a horrendous wasteland where it's tough to find anything remotely decent.
[quote name='RollingSkull']It's not about hardcore and it's not about casual. It's just about games that have real substance, real fun, real craftsmanship, and something to engage the player. Jamestown has that, and, as much as the haters in the room are going to disagree, Call of Duty does too. It's got problems, but all games do.
Terraria doesn't do that to me and I think that people go for that is what will really be detrimental to gaming at least if that fad gets milked.
Vorpal kicks ass but XBLIG is a horrendous wasteland where it's tough to find anything remotely decent.[/QUOTE]
See, you're arguing matters of personal taste and opinion as objective fact, which makes this discussion impossible. Just look at what you've written: you say that Jamestown and Call of Duty are fun, well crafted, substantive, engaging games. Terraria isn't to you, but you then parlay that into global, objective statements of truth. And your argument falls apart.
Because you don't like the game, you've decided to rally against it, but when people level the same criticisms at COD in the same way, you deflect them away with a dismissive "haters gonna hate," and say you're right anyways. Don't you see the hypocrisy inherent in that?
I could argue for hours point by point about why everything you've listed regarding craftsmanship, fun, engaging, etc. is wrong regarding Call of Duty. Just like you can do the same for Terraria. We can talk about some of the objective points of the game, and we can even disagree on the extent of their impact on how good a game is, but that's not what you're doing, and it's disingenuous.
[quote name='JustYourAverageJoe']You seem to lack an understanding of the amount of work that goes into creating a video game. The amount of time it takes to create something can be extraordinary. First you have the code, then the art, any related sounds. Then you have to balance it through playtesting and QA, and then finally you can ship out the update. Each part takes a lot of time when there's only person behind each part.[/quote]
You're advocating then treating indie devs like special needs children, giving them ridiculous credit . Oh look, he used the toilet. All by himself. And he almost didn't make a mess. I'm so proud.
Surprisingly an apt comparison now that I think about it.
I'm not grading on a curve because one game has just two guys working on it and another has hundreds with a real regimented design process. Especially when there are plenty of other devs who CAN provide better games that also have the added benefit of a real gameplay element.
"Lacks Decisive Evidence"? I'll say. You're right, an indie game like Terraria is objectively worse for the industry than an annualized mindless Bruckheimer shooter by a publisher that chews through developers like a wood chipper.
Not enough cliches there. You really need to sneer harder at it if you really are trying convince everyone of your superiority to such crass, low art that you wouldn't even deign to touch. Maybe throw in 'redneck,' 'frat boy,' a few suggestions that whatever political party you don't like is the sort of rubes who would actually consume such a game.
If you're going to sneer that much, you may as well go all the way.
As an idea, has anyone considered that a game is a game? Who gives a crap WHO makes it. Indie, Big Industry, blah blah blah. Just buzz words.
Mom's home-town-home-made apple jam won't make/break the industry.
Mom's hyper-soulless-conglomerate-walmart apple jam won't make/break the industry.
Consumers buy games they want to play. They don't care if it's made by Stephen Spielberg (lol @ boomblox), or some grunge indie starving artist, or ghandi, or zombie jesus. If they like it, they buy it. Indies try to get rich, soulless corporations try to find the next big thing to get richer. Consumers, en masse, don't give a darn.
Bottom line:
Indie isn't saving/killing/helping/anything the industry.
Neither is the soulless conglomerate.
Money goes where the fun is, not WHO the fun came from.
I need to go to bed. I'm arguing on the internet. Insert 'special olympics google pic here'. Yeah.
Well, for starters, the vast majority of said arguments against COD are poorly formed.
Second, I'll freely admit to being not always a deft communicator and my selection of adjectives could use work, but I remain of the opinion that Jamestown and CoD (Which apparently only stays in the discussion because it's obligatory for every internets gaming discussion) emphasize actual gameplay first. There's nothing in Terraria's combat, in Terraria's exploration, movement, digging that's innately rewarding. You're playing to gather, to craft, to build, to do all that silly numbers gaming and then draw your own houses in Terraria's ugly world. It's a dull collectathon on a big map and it is singlehandedly the biggest indie release in recent memory despite all that, which boggles my mind. Unlike those two, the actual engagement of the player, the words I am trying to look for but can't really find, are NOT the king. CoD and Jamestown offer that sort of engagement. Apart from all too rare instances, Terraria's vast sandbox doesn't hide or provide the tools to offer anything approaching that sort of real gameplay.
And your proposed point for point arguments would be no more or less opinions than what you're accusing me of doing, and putting me up to defend what's practically the Godwin's Law of gaming would be a waste of both our times but it would make you look the victor.
EDIT: On the plus side, I'm probably about one or two posts away from devolving into total incoherence so, just so you know, good shot.
EDIT: I think we're both tired and wound up, so I'm just going to leave it with this post, and we can leave it for another day (so pardon the last bit of argumentative doucheyness on my part; it's before I saw your post.) To put my parting post in calmer terms, I think we're just approaching this from two different views that are ultimately incompatible on some level, so we're going to butt heads. We each have our own tastes; let's live and let live. It's not worth the high blood pressure, it's not going to change either of our minds. Water under the bridge?
[quote name='RollingSkull']You're advocating then treating indie devs like special needs children, giving them ridiculous credit . Oh look, he used the toilet. All by himself. And he almost didn't make a mess. I'm so proud.
Surprisingly an apt comparison now that I think about it.[/QUOTE]
I'm sure CAGs with special needs kids in their family appreciate the derisive comparison.
[quote name='RollingSkull']I'm not grading on a curve because one game has just two guys working on it and another has hundreds with a real regimented design process. Especially when there are plenty of other devs who CAN provide better games that also have the added benefit of a real gameplay element.[/QUOTE]
Few problems: first, please define "Real gameplay." If you're going to argue whether something qualifies under a term, you have to define that term. Second, it's not about grading on a curve and instead about tempering your expectations to what is reasonable. Expecting a level of fidelity or polish of a AAA title, something with hundreds of people and millions of dollars behind it, in an indie game is ludicrous on the face of it. The resources simply don't allow it. It's like expecting an arthouse film to have the visual CG spectacle of a Michael Bay movie. There's a reason a movie like The Black Swan costs a few million and Transformers 3 costs a few hundred million, and both can be good in their own ways if you don't expect them to be something they're not.
[quote name='RollingSkull']Not enough cliches there. You really need to sneer harder at it if you really are trying convince everyone of your superiority to such crass, low art that you wouldn't even deign to touch. Maybe throw in 'redneck,' 'frat boy,' a few suggestions that whatever political party you don't like is the sort of rubes who would actually consume such a game.
If you're going to sneer that much, you may as well go all the way.[/QUOTE]
You just compared indie developers to special needs children, and I'm being the unreasonable, hyperbolic snob? Although I do appreciate your presumptuousness. Instead of finding out that I enjoyed COD up through 4, or Battlefield, or Halo it's instead easier to assume that my criticism of the COD series is born from a deep hatred of shlocky popcorn gaming, and a sense of artistic condescension of the proles who do.
EDIT: FIGURES I SEE YOUR FIRST DRAFT AS MY LAST THING BEFORE I GO TO BED AND THEN I REPLY AND THEN YOU EDIT. I'll hide my douchiness to your douchiness under a spoiler just like you so there. Nyah.
Oh don't worry about it. I pretty much assumed that when I got here. I'm a dumb arguer on the internets and to me this is mostly a sporting shouting match over which drinks can be had later. No worries, no big deal. Have a good night. [quote name='JustYourAverageJoe']I'm sure CAGs with special needs kids in their family appreciate the derisive comparison.[/QUOTE]
Not my least abrasive simile, and for those in the audience who do, what are you wasting your time reading my crap for? Also, apologies if offense was given. Was crass but not meant to be specifically degrading to any person, just a construct.
Second, it's not about grading on a curve and instead about tempering your expectations to what is reasonable. Expecting a level of fidelity or polish of a AAA title, something with hundreds of people and millions of dollars behind it, in an indie game is ludicrous on the face of it.
I'm just expecting a good movie from both, and of course I'd be putting VVVVVV and Iji and Cave Story and any number of other indie games ABOVE Black Ops in quality and the like. It's only because we're speaking of Terraria that I am being asked to dial down my expectations. No, they were perfectly fine for THOSE indie games.
Instead of finding out that I enjoyed COD up through 4, or Battlefield, or Halo it's instead easier to assume that my criticism of the COD series is born from a deep hatred of shlocky popcorn gaming, and a sense of artistic condescension of the proles who do.
No, I pretty much assumed those positions were the case. That's the way it is with most, really. I'm probably also going to hazard a guess you weren't a fan of Reach and loved Halo 1 and 2 more than the others, etc etc.
[quote name='sp8001']^ Halo 1 was the shit. Halo 2 was shit. [/QUOTE]
OH NO YOU DIDNT. Reverse that RIGHT NOW or I'm coming right over there to make some crude remarks about things your family is sensitive about.
I stopped playing Halo shortly after Halo 2 came out. It just hasn't felt right since. I tried Halo 3, it was just ok. Never played it, but I heard Reach was the best of the current gen.
[quote name='RollingSkull']The PoP series looked like PS2 games to me, and not bad ones, if you ask me.
H:BM looks pretty good but yeah, it's of a similar age. The art style is pretty nice though, clever use of design, atmosphere, color, etc to make the game look good despite the graphics.
These are games that transcend graphics with quality though, and aren't even BAD looking at all.[/QUOTE]
thanks.
just thought I should have gotten the remastered PoP Trilogy on PS3 instead.
widescreen and all. (a nagging sense that it could have been played in a better setting)
may give Hitman a try.
should have known the PC versions of PoP werent remastered
[quote name='RollingSkull']OH NO YOU DIDNT. Reverse that RIGHT NOW or I'm coming right over there to make some crude remarks about things your family is sensitive about.[/QUOTE]
Completely true though ... granted, Halo 2 multiplayer was superior to Halo 1's MP ... but storywise and graphically Halo 2 was rather disappointing ... not as disappointing as 3 though from the story standpoint.
Halo, imo was always the best of the franchise ... the maps seemed much more expansive for some reason than either 2 or 3 and the game was simply more fun. The only negative regarding the original Halo was the plodding library level, otherwise it's an exceptional game. Halo 2 was interesting with the shift to Covenant perspectives but I never really enjoyed the way the "bad guys" changed into gorilla's from uh ... whatever they were before.
Reach made the series fun for me again ... I could never play 2, 3 or ODST again and still be satisfied with 1 or Reach.
Kind of late but as some are still arguing over Terraria, the sale afterglow lingers...Thanks for all the end-of-sale roundups. I enjoy seeing the purchasing patterns of the cumulative CAG, so here's mine.
Games: Zen of Sudoku
The Longest Journey
Dreamfall
Eternity's Child
Starscape
Eschalon: Book I
Eschalon: Book II
Genesis Rising
Safecracker
Fatale
The Graveyard
Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual
Rush for Berlin: Gold Edition
Build-A-Lot
Build-A-Lot 2: Town of the Year
Build-A-Lot 3: Passport to Europe
Build-A-Lot 4: Power Source
Mahjong Quest
Mahjong Quest II
Mahjong Quest III: Balance of Life
Faerie Solitaire
Saira
Guns of Icarus
Chaser
Escape from Paradise
Escape from Paradise 2
Farm Frenzy 2
Farm Frenzy 3
Farm Frenzy 3: American Pie
Farm Frenzy: Pizza Party
Book of Legends
Razor2: Hidden Skies
Aura: Fate of Ages
B.U.T.T.O.N.
Lume
iBomber Defense
Cradle of Rome
Cradle of Persia
Cloning Clyde
System Protocol One
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
Spectromancer
CreaVures
The Tiny Bang Story
Zombie Pirates
Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals
Scratches: Director's Cut
Syberia
Syberia II
Still Life
Still Life 2
X: Beyond the Frontier
X2: The Thread
X3: Reunion
X3: Terran Conflict
Post Apocalyptic Mayhem
Terraria
The Last Remnant
Universe Sandbox
Sanctum
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. : Clear Sky
Wings of Prey
AI War
Gratuitous Space Battles
Alpha Protocol
Fortix 2
Darksiders
The Polynomial
Men of War: Assault Squad
HOARD
Garshasp: The Monster Slayer
Engine Driver: Drive a Steam Train
Alien Breed: Impact
Dwarfs!?
Hamilton's Great Adventure
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution
DLC/Expansions: Madballs BDI Clan Skins
Madballs Scorched Clan Skins
Madballs BDI Evolution Rollup
Madbals Scorched Evolution Rollup
Spectromancer: League of Heroes
Spectromancer: Truth and Beauty
Guardians of Graxia: Elves and Dwarves
X: Tension
The Final Hours of Portal 2
Wings of Prey: Wings of the Luftwaffe
King Arthur: The Druids
Beat Hazard: Ultra
Beat Hazard: iTunes Support
AI War: Children of Neinzu
AI War: The Zenith Remnant
AI War: Light of the Spire
Gratuitous Space Battles: The Tribe
Gratuitous Space Battles: The Order
Gratuitous Space Battles: The Swarm
Gratuitous Space Battles: The Nomads
Gratuitous Space Battles: Galactic Conquest
Fallout: New Vegas - Dead Money
Fallout: New Vegas - Honest Hearts
Magicka: Wizards' Survival Kit
Magicka: Vietnam
Magicka: Marshland
Magicka: Final Frontier
Magicka: Watchtower
Magicka: Frozen Lake
Magicka: Robe Bundle
Ticket Goodies: Summer Sale Prize - AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity DLC
Complimentary
Summer Sale Prize - Alien Breed 2
Complimentary
Summer Sale Prize - Beat Hazard DLC
Complimentary
Summer Sale Prize - Serious Sam HD DLC
Complimentary
Summer Sale Prize - Dawn of War 2: Retribution DLC
Complimentary
Summer Sale Prize - Magicka DLC
Complimentary
Summer Sale Prize - Winter Voices DLC
Complimentary
Summer Sale Prize - Fate of the World DLC
Complimentary
Summer Sale Prize - X3 Terran Conflict DLC
Complimentary
Summer Sale Prize - Monday Night Combat DLC
Complimentary
Summer Sale Prize - Portal 2 Item
Complimentary
Summer Sale Prize - Team Fortress 2 Item
I'm left with some extra gifts that I either replaced with a pack or a friend didn't end up using. Take a look if interested.
So...I guess I'm supposed to play one of these now. Oh wait, they just released a demo for Critical Mass. I'll just play that instead. (Lies to self: "Plenty of time, plenty of time.")
lol u kno seeing as this topic took a turn ima just ask here. does anybody have a spare hl2 or hl2+both episodes or orange box for sale/trade/gift? pm me for info/offer. thx
Short answer: They love it. [/QUOTE]
I can see why, their sales went through the roof and now word of mouth has put that developer on many people's watch list. Plus I am sure they still make a ton of money, probably more than they would of in at least a few months without the sale. The only thing that these sales hurt is our wallets :lol:.
Good news for RTS fans: Stronghold 3 is coming out in Q3 of 2011 this year.
Bad news: Probably won''t hit the winter sale. In the rare instance it does, it might have atleast 30%ish off without being a daily - or for a daily.
Good news: the Stronghold collection prior might get a super discount at a pack daily deal in the winter sale to help advertise the 3rd one.
Even sweeter but probably less likely news: They might throw Stronghold 3 into the whole pack and offer a really nice price, like the valve pack having Portal 2.
If anything, I see good odds for a Stronghold Collection going on sale this Winter to support the release of the 3rd era of Stronghold games.
even though the last sale had the collection for $13 without ever going as a daily deal, this winter will most likely have it for $7 or less as a daily. Somewhere very close to that.
Breath of Death VII and Cthulhu Saves The World! are now both available now on Steam, I've heard these are good games (Xbox Indie Games) and it's actually cheaper to buy the double pack then to buy them separate (2.69 for double pack, 2.69 for each one)
I like jamestown. I like terraria. I thought COD Modern Warfare revolutionized the shooter genre but I havent played any of them since. I think the worst thing is how Activision is running crap into the ground. They already burned Guitar Hero out and a yearly COD doesn't seem to be helping the creative juices, well that and firing the people who made it what it is.
[quote name='Japanese Dorito']Breath of Death VII and Cthulhu Saves The World! are now both available now on Steam, I've heard these are good games (Xbox Indie Games) and it's actually cheaper to buy the double pack then to buy them separate (2.69 for double pack, 2.69 for each one)[/QUOTE]
Thank you! I've been excited for these and am glad they finally made it out!
[quote name='Japanese Dorito']Breath of Death VII and Cthulhu Saves The World! are now both available now on Steam, I've heard these are good games (Xbox Indie Games) and it's actually cheaper to buy the double pack then to buy them separate (2.69 for double pack, 2.69 for each one)[/QUOTE]
They're not up for sale separately, Breath of Death is a free game tied to CSTW
Good article. May I also recommend another article for people who are newer to Steam?
After the first holiday sale (Dec 08/Jan 09), Gabe Newell made interesting comments about how successful the deep price cuts are. In brief:
10% sale = 35% increase in sales (real dollars, not units shipped)
25% sale = 245% increase in sales
50% sale = 320% increase in sales
75% sale = 1470% increase in sales
They had also just run a 50% off sale for L4D1 just 3 months after it had been released, and saw a 3000% increase in sales. That was the legendary "Valentines Day" L4D sale that you sometimes hear mentioned here, and it really set the pace for the steep cuts we see on Valve's games. These were the early days of Steam learning how to make us love to give them our money! 50% off a (basically) brand new game? SURE! We're a little more jaded now (witness: Terrarria!)
Look closely - that's REAL DOLLARS, not units sold. 15x the sales, when sold at 75% off, means they sold almost 60 times the volume of units. No wonder the servers are slammed during sales!
[quote name='Japanese Dorito']Breath of Death VII and Cthulhu Saves The World! are now both available now on Steam, I've heard these are good games (Xbox Indie Games) and it's actually cheaper to buy the double pack then to buy them separate (2.69 for double pack, 2.69 for each one)[/QUOTE]
Just grabbed the pack earlier today. Good stuff for a good price!
[*]10% sale = 35% increase in sales (real dollars, not units shipped)
[*]25% sale = 245% increase in sales
[*]50% sale = 320% increase in sales
[*]75% sale = 1470% increase in sales.
[/LIST]
[quote name='RollingSkull']Terraria still isn't even worth $2.50[/QUOTE]
[quote name='RollingSkull']Anyone can put 100+ hours in a tedious, simple with randomly generated terrain, precious little real content, and even less quality gameplay.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='RollingSkull']Game reviewers can be just as hipster as the average forum poster, willing to pad an indie game up for whatever ego related reason.
Alternately, maybe some of them DID get sucked into the boredom of the whole thing and found something to like in how boring it is.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='RollingSkull']As opposed to non-indie devs who don't make any money on their games and just make it back through merchandising.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='RollingSkull']Games like Call of Duty ALSO get patches, fixes, and upgrades, and their game designs are orders of magnitude more complicated than Terraria. Expecting CoD to be balanced is like expecting Marvel vs. Capcom to be balanced (Or Mount and Blade, for that matter.). But the patches are substantial in number and magnitude. You need only look at Steam's Blops news feed (Filter for product updates) and see the numerous pages of stuff.
What does it take to add new content to Terraria? New items, blocks, and monsters spawning. The game's content is procedurally generated. It's hardly trivial but also hardly anything amazing to throw more stuff to grind out.
I'm not defending the $15 map packs, (Though part of the bloat might be the new suite or two of voice work for the zombies maps... but not all. I'm not stupid.) but I do not think they can be compared quite with Terraria's style.
As far as Terraria itself? I find it offensive, as petty as it may sound. People may rage at the great Kotick/Activision/CoD/EA boogeyman as killing gaming, but that sort of thing will always be there. It's games like Terraria that I think are strangling what part of the industry might be innovative, showing the world that you CAN make big money with breezy, too cute, simplistic grind-heavy crap scarce in the way of any sort of gameplay engagement or challenge unless you love stacking blocks.
Full disclosure, I sank about three or four hours into Terraria sinking shafts, excavating my way through a sizable chunk of the underworld, hitting hell and flooding a good chunk of it to get me some obsidian. It just wasn't fun digging, exploring, fighting, or crafting. Everything felt sloppy, weak, and unsatisfying.
I will confess that I do have a huge chip on my shoulder because THIS game has been a top seller on Steam for MONTHS and real games, clever, well-designed indie games, namely Jamestown, never even breached it until the daily deal. That burns my toast.
But also because I ABSOLUTELY cannot see what people would see in Terraria, and not for lack of playing it.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='RollingSkull']It's not about hardcore and it's not about casual. It's just about games that have real substance, real fun, real craftsmanship, and something to engage the player. Jamestown has that, and, as much as the haters in the room are going to disagree, Call of Duty does too. It's got problems, but all games do.
Terraria doesn't do that to me and I think that people go for that is what will really be detrimental to gaming at least if that fad gets milked.
Vorpal kicks ass but XBLIG is a horrendous wasteland where it's tough to find anything remotely decent.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='RollingSkull']You're advocating then treating indie devs like special needs children, giving them ridiculous credit . Oh look, he used the toilet. All by himself. And he almost didn't make a mess. I'm so proud.
Surprisingly an apt comparison now that I think about it.
I'm not grading on a curve because one game has just two guys working on it and another has hundreds with a real regimented design process. Especially when there are plenty of other devs who CAN provide better games that also have the added benefit of a real gameplay element.
Not enough cliches there. You really need to sneer harder at it if you really are trying convince everyone of your superiority to such crass, low art that you wouldn't even deign to touch. Maybe throw in 'redneck,' 'frat boy,' a few suggestions that whatever political party you don't like is the sort of rubes who would actually consume such a game.
If you're going to sneer that much, you may as well go all the way.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='RollingSkull']Well, for starters, the vast majority of said arguments against COD are poorly formed.
Second, I'll freely admit to being not always a deft communicator and my selection of adjectives could use work, but I remain of the opinion that Jamestown and CoD (Which apparently only stays in the discussion because it's obligatory for every internets gaming discussion) emphasize actual gameplay first. There's nothing in Terraria's combat, in Terraria's exploration, movement, digging that's innately rewarding. You're playing to gather, to craft, to build, to do all that silly numbers gaming and then draw your own houses in Terraria's ugly world. It's a dull collectathon on a big map and it is singlehandedly the biggest indie release in recent memory despite all that, which boggles my mind. Unlike those two, the actual engagement of the player, the words I am trying to look for but can't really find, are NOT the king. CoD and Jamestown offer that sort of engagement. Apart from all too rare instances, Terraria's vast sandbox doesn't hide or provide the tools to offer anything approaching that sort of real gameplay.
And your proposed point for point arguments would be no more or less opinions than what you're accusing me of doing, and putting me up to defend what's practically the Godwin's Law of gaming would be a waste of both our times but it would make you look the victor.
EDIT: On the plus side, I'm probably about one or two posts away from devolving into total incoherence so, just so you know, good shot. [/QUOTE]
[quote name='RollingSkull']EDIT: FIGURES I SEE YOUR FIRST DRAFT AS MY LAST THING BEFORE I GO TO BED AND THEN I REPLY AND THEN YOU EDIT. I'll hide my douchiness to your douchiness under a spoiler just like you so there. Nyah.
Oh don't worry about it. I pretty much assumed that when I got here. I'm a dumb arguer on the internets and to me this is mostly a sporting shouting match over which drinks can be had later. No worries, no big deal. Have a good night.
Not my least abrasive simile, and for those in the audience who do, what are you wasting your time reading my crap for? Also, apologies if offense was given. Was crass but not meant to be specifically degrading to any person, just a construct.
I'm just expecting a good movie from both, and of course I'd be putting VVVVVV and Iji and Cave Story and any number of other indie games ABOVE Black Ops in quality and the like. It's only because we're speaking of Terraria that I am being asked to dial down my expectations. No, they were perfectly fine for THOSE indie games.
No, I pretty much assumed those positions were the case. That's the way it is with most, really. I'm probably also going to hazard a guess you weren't a fan of Reach and loved Halo 1 and 2 more than the others, etc etc.
I imagine the floodgates open at 75% because that is usually the lowest the bar will drop on a game. There are several 50% and 66% off games I passed on because my backlog can hold me over until the winter sale and I have the patience to wait for 75%.
I can understand the impulse of Rollingskull, to see something you perceive as utter shit gain high praise and sales whereas something you perceive as much more worthwhile is ignored by the populous (I still cannot fathom how Avatar became the #1 grossing movie of all time for example). It's not much different than how core gamers thumb their noses at facebook games.
[quote name='Japanese Dorito']Breath of Death VII and Cthulhu Saves The World! are now both available now on Steam, I've heard these are good games (Xbox Indie Games) and it's actually cheaper to buy the double pack then to buy them separate (2.69 for double pack, 2.69 for each one)[/QUOTE]
Anyone know if they have controller support? The store page doesn't say they do, but since they were ported from XBL, it seems like they should. If not, how are the controls? I'd almost rather get them on the 360 if they don't have controller support on Steam, and the price difference isn't that much.
and what makes you hate terraria so much, have you played it yet?[/QUOTE]
ton of money, probably more than they would of in at least a few months without the sale. The only thing that these sales hurt is our wallets :lol:.
