Are you sure? I thought I read somewhere that you couldn’t gift a game to someone who didn’t have it available in their region.
Good point. I honestly don’t know in that case as the cases I’m aware of is for the regional pricing not that it’s unavailable.
Steam is having SEGA week, and you can get all the games that sega published in one big pack here for $90. It’s a weird mix of games you wouldn’t normally associate with SEGA, but then again they’re just the publisher. There are some good games in there (the total war games are always good) but I can’t really recommend the whole package unless the other stuff appeals to you.
But they also seem to be having different sales each day of some component of the pack so if you only want 1 or 2 of the things in there, keep an eye on it.
The indie game Altitude is having a free weekend on steam along with a half off sale. It’s fun, you should give it a try.
Edit: Oh, and Sega & Sonic All Star Racing is 50% off ($15), probably today only.
… I’ve got to ask about the DRM on Direct2Drive and Steam. The only game I’ve ever downloaded from any site was Fallout from Good Old Games, and the main reason I went with them first is because they fly the “No DRM” banner proudly.
So my questions are these: If I download a game from D2D or Steam, do I have to download an installer, or can I just download the installation file and do it that way?
When I go to play the game, can I just double-click an icon on my desktop, or do I have to install and use a dashboard or something similar for the service from which I download?
If something happens to my computer and I have to wipe it out and start over, can I just go back to the site, log on, and download the file again, or is it a one-time deal?
I hope that’s not all too wordy or hard to understand. I appreciate any help I could get with these questions.
Steam and D2D are different.
With steam, you have to run the steam client. It’ll automatically organize and update all your games. It’s low resource and unobtrusive and integrates a social component so you can keep track of your friends that way. You can download games as many times as you want.
With D2D, you get an installer file (I think you can download just the file itself, although I have it setup to download/update through gamespy comrade) which installs an equivelant to the retail version of the game. There’s no D2D client to run - once the game is installed you just run it off a shortcut or the start menu like any other game you installed. I think there’s a limit to D2D downloads but I’m not sure - you can save and backup the installer file though.
I generally recommend steam - the client works well, Valve is easily the best company in video game development/publishing and I trust them, both not to screw over people and to be around for the long haul, and they tend to have more sales.
I know with D2D there have been patch issues for games; people had to wait for a D2D version of the patch which of course isn’t always the priority. Is the same true of Steam? I haven’t bought many Steam games that aren’t Steam exclusives.
I also notice with the new version of Steam there doesn’t seem to be a “Offline” setting for each game.
Steam does need a custom patch made for it, I think - at least for some games - but it’s a big enough platform that it’s definitely a high priority to get that done, so it usually gets a simultaneously release, or at worst, a few days lag.
I’m not sure what you mean about offline mode - it’s not a per-game setting as far as I know, the entire client goes into that mode. The option is still right there under Steam -> Go offline.
I seem to remember in the old Steam client you could right-click on a game and pick “Enable offline play for this game” or something like that. I had to do that a few times when Steam was flaky, but ironically Steam had to be working when you enabled that setting.
Well, I just gave it a try - you click “go offline” and it relaunches into offline mode with no store/friends list/etc but you can any game (as far as I can tell).
One of those short term Sega sales is the total war pack including rome+expansion, medieval 2+expansion, and empire total war for $20. Good way to get into the series if you aren’t already. Very good deal. The most recent, Napolean: Total War is up for $26 individually.
Steam just released Half-Life 2 for Mac, and has all the HL2 series (including the orange box) for 30% off. If you don’t own any of that, you need to. The Orange Box is the cheapest way to do that, but if you only need any particular individual component you can pick it up individually. For $21 it’s one of the best deals you’ll ever find for anything. All the cross-platform stuff is owned/playable on Mac and PC once you buy it from steam too.
Majesty 2 for $7.50 (75% off) and Hearts of Iron 3 and Europa Universalis 3 Completeare 50% off ($15 each. Link is to bundle, but can be bought seperately). LucasArts adventure pack has 4 old adventure games for $10 (half off - still pretty pricey considering). Global Agendai s 25% off.
Hearts of Iron is an extremely detailed WW2 era grand strategy game where you control any country in the world in the 1930-1950 type period, including diplomacy, military operation, economics, etc. I’ve never played EU but it’s sort of similar I think, only with medieval Europe. I’ve heard it’s good.
Direct2Drive has the Westward series bundled and half off. I’ve never heard of it or played it.
On Impulse Sins Of A Solar Empire is $10 (50% off) and well worth it. Demigod too.
I’d been waiting for a sale on Loom, actually. I don’t know the other games in that, but that’s a low enough price for me to justify giving them a try.
Addendum: The regular price for the bundle is $10. The sale brings it down to $5.
Woops, you’re right. Much more reasonable then.
Impulse has Sins of a solar empire for $4. It’s silly not to buy it at that price.
Impulse also has a big THQ pack like was available on a steam sale months ago, but with some differences. It lacks Frontlines: Fuel of war, Dawn of War 2, and Saints Row 2, but includes Supreme Commander and the expansion and World of Zoo. Good deal for $50, lots of good games.
Steam has Dawn of War 2 and expansion bundled for $20.
Steam has the Neocore complete pack which includes King Arthur - The Role-playing Wargame, Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come and DLC for $18.70. Never played it myself. There was a game room thread on the king arthur game.
GamersGate has a bunch of strategy games (Hearts of Iron 2 complete, EU series, a bunch of others for 60% off).
Steam has another Shattered Horizon free weekend and it’s on sale for half off ($10). And Supreme Commander 2 for $11. Impulse has Resident Evil 5 for 50% off ($25) … there’s actually a bunch of stuff with significant discounts listed here ATM.
A bunch of bethesda games on sale on steam now. Fallout 3 GOTY for $25, Oblivion GOTY Deluxe $8.50 Morrowind GOTY $5.
Also Batman: Arkham Asylm GOTY for $20.
Football Manager 2010 for $14 on D2D, the STALKER games and NBA 2K10 cheap on gamersgate.
That’s like 500 hours of gameplay for $40.