# Steam Christmas Sale has started! **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 20, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790 "2011-12-20T00:35:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/1 "2011-12-20T00:35:02Z")
I was expecting **Senorbeef** to start his usual excellently done thread on the topic but perhaps he’s busy playing the latest and greatest or planning four-way matches of something 😃 Today’s deals, after some hellacious fights with the Steam servers… Metro 2033 - $4.99 (75%) Fable III - $12.99 (75%) Sam & Max Franchise - 75% Off – Complete pack $12.49 Amnesia: the Dark Descent - $4.99 (75%) Portal Franchise - 66% off – Portal 1 $2.49 – Portal 2 $7.49 Singularity - $7.49 (75%) Just Cause franchise - 75% off – JC $3.74 – JC2 $4.99 Max Payne franchise - 75% off – MP $2.49 – MP2 $2.49 Bunch of Heroes - $2.49 (75%) Rift - $7.49 (75%) Orcs Must Die! - $3.74 (75%) Pendulo Studios Adventure Pack - $12.49 (75%) I’ll leave the editorializing the someone more qualified although you can’t go wrong with the Portal series and I’ll still recommend Just Cause 2 as a barrel of fun and virtually impossible to not get $5 of good times out of it. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/2 "2011-12-20T00:41:52Z")
I’ve been waiting for this to start. I’ve had a few games on my waiting list for what seems like forever. Remember: wait until the last day to pick up games you want to make sure they aren’t going to be on the special daily deal. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/3 "2011-12-20T00:46:38Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > Remember: wait until the last day to pick up games you want to make sure they aren’t going to be on the special daily deal. Unless, of course, they ARE a daily special, in which case you’re going to want to grab them before the next day. 😉 Hey, I KNOW it’s obvious but there may be new users out there unfamiliar with the sale! ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/4 "2011-12-20T01:14:46Z")
Oh holy cow, those are amazing deals. Portal 2 for $8?! Dayum! I _adored_ Just Cause 2. Is Just Cause 1 anything like it? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/5 "2011-12-20T01:40:50Z")
Yeah hey I wasn’t around to start the thread, so thanks. Didn’t know it was gonna start today. There’s also an event like in the previous sale attached to this one. You apparently get gifts or lumps of coal when completing various achievements for games. The gifts can be new games, or coupons for games to give a further discount. The coal apparently can either be turned into gifts, or used as entry tickets into the final drawing, in which 1 person gets every game on steam, 50 get their top 10 on the wishlist, and 100 get the top 5 on their wishlist. I’ll post more as I learn more details. Anyway, today’s achievements for: Check your inventory - freebie. Follow the link to your steam inventory. Orcs must die! Bunch of Heroes EDGE Cargo! The quest for gravity Anomaly: Warzone Earth ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/6 "2011-12-20T02:06:52Z")
For the first challenge (the check your inventory one), I got a Steam coupon for 25% off any Valve game. It doesn’t become valid until January 2nd, but there are gold coupons that can be used in conjunction with the holiday sale. The gifts and the lumps of coal from the challenges can be traded, too. Should we arrange trades (if any) in this thread, or should we have a Steam Swap-Meet thread? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/7 "2011-12-20T02:10:53Z")
As with all these sales, don’t buy anything that’s not a daily sale until the last day. If you buy something for 50% off today, and then it’s 75% off tomorrow in a daily sale, and you whine about it, you should be beaten to death with a baseball bat. [The big packs](http://store.steampowered.com/sale/holiday2011_packs) (which won’t go on daily sale) are a good way to get a lot of game for cheaps if you have a relatively empty account. Of today’s games, Just Cause 2 is pure awesome (not sure if JC1 is any good - people seem to agree that JC2 is much better), Portal 2 is considered game of the year by many, and Amenesia is regarded as the scariest game of all time by a lot of people if you like that sort of thing. Oh and Orcs Must Die! is one of my favorites. Grab the extra DLC for $1.50 if you grab it - new traps and levels. I’m also going to try to get an [orcs must die! leaderboard competition](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=629388) going. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/8 "2011-12-20T02:25:51Z")
Oh, and Metro 2033 is a great game. The best of the corridor shooters, and actually has a reason to be a corridor shooter. You need a fairly beefy computer to run it well though. It’s one of the best looking games ever made. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/9 "2011-12-20T02:26:48Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > As with all these sales, don’t buy anything that’s not a daily sale until the last day. If you buy something for 50% off today, and then it’s 75% off tomorrow in a daily sale, and you whine about it, you should be beaten to death with a baseball bat. For the dumb and ignorant like me, can you explain this a bit? What’s the difference between a daily sale and a game that’s 50% off today? I mean is there a big label that denotes which games are “Daily Sales” and which are just regular ones? Re: Just Cause, that was the very first third-person shooter I’ve ever played (not including “Alone in the Dark” a million years ago, which I hated) and it was revelatory. I once started a thread here asking for recommendations for RPGs but specified that I was worried because so many of them are in 3rd person POV and I didn’t think I’d like it. Anyway, JC2 made a believer out of me, and _GTA:3_ finished the process. I can definitely enjoy a 3rd person POV game! Plus, as you say, it’s made of platinum-coated awesome. I still can’t walk around NYC without seeing water towers I wish I could blow up. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/10 "2011-12-20T02:31:28Z")
The daily sales are the ones on the main page, the ones that are only good for 24 hours, the ones listed in the OP. Most of the games on steam are discounted to some extent, but the ones that aren’t currently part of the front page 24-hour only sale may become part of one on another day, in which case they’d be on an even steeper discount than their regular sale discount. Hence… if you buy a game that’s not on the front page, you might find that tomorrow it’s even cheaper, and you could’ve saved money. Make a list of games you’d want to buy at the current regular sale price, and if they aren’t part of any daily sale, buy them on the last day of the sale. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/11 "2011-12-20T04:02:04Z")
Huh, this sale must have really hammered the Steam servers - my Steam app is stuck at “Connecting to Steam account …” which is something I haven’t seen happen during the previous sales. ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/12 "2011-12-20T06:18:29Z")
Anyone else having trouble with their gifts? I did the freebie and the orcs must die achievement, and when I go to my inventory, I only have the 25% valve coupon that I got when I did my freebie. The objectives page shows me having 2 complete. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/13 "2011-12-20T06:20:12Z")
Their servers are dying. It’ll all sort itself out eventually, though I hear things are working better in the beta. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/14 "2011-12-20T06:21:44Z")
They’re behind, but you’ll get them in time. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/15 "2011-12-20T07:18:25Z")
Okay in my Steam inventory apparently I have the full game of Portal in there. My options are “View in store” or “Send gift”. If I have already sent it to one person, can I send it to more? I mean, it’s still in my inventory after sending it to the first person, but I don’t want it retracted from them if the second person actually receives it first. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/16 "2011-12-20T07:40:22Z")
Things seem to be back to normal, more or less. If you’re missing a gift/coupon, chances are you’ve received a piece of coal. People who want to get a head start on the other days’ achievements might want to take a look here: [The Great Gift Pile | Steam Treasure Hunt Wiki | Fandom](http://steamtreasurehunt.wikia.com/wiki/Winter_Objectives) The coupons/gifts received appear to be totally random, which is a bit unfortunate. I’ve heard reports of people receiving discounts on buying games they already own, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/17 "2011-12-20T09:17:33Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Oh, and Metro 2033 is a great game. The best of the corridor shooters, and actually has a reason to be a corridor shooter. You need a fairly beefy computer to run it well though. It’s one of the best looking games ever made. Agreed, it’s a steal at 75% off. Very enjoyable. The pack deals are what I’ve been waiting for, some really good stuff in there. Of particular note are the WB pack (All the Batman games + DLC/FEAR + DLC + Bastion), the SEGA pack which is just ridiculous (_all_ the Total War games if you didn’t pick them up in the earlier sale - they’re worth the price alone, plus a shitload of classic games, Alpha Protocol and the new AvP), 2K pack is also an absolute steal (Bioshock 1 + 2, Borderlands + DLC, Civ IV + V + DLC, Mafia I + II + DLC). Annoyingly I already have most of the games in these packs for the 360…do the pack deals tend to rotate? ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/18 "2011-12-20T10:04:46Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > do the pack deals tend to rotate? Not really. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/19 "2011-12-20T11:13:29Z")
Heh, I was going to buy Portal 2… then I got it for free. 😛 I’ve also got 50% off on Blood Bowl Legendary Edition if anyone wants it. I can’t really recommend it, though: being a board game directly translated to a video game, it’s got some really frustrating elements. One is that a string of ones will _always_ screw you, no matter how well you plan. You’ll learn to hate the one-in-1,296 chance of rerolling a double Attacker Down to get another double Attacker Down. The other is that bad things tend to cascade, adding insult to injury. Said one-in-1,296 chance doesn’t just knock your player down, it also causes a turnover (prematurely ending your turn) and may injure or kill your player. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790/20 "2011-12-20T11:25:24Z")
I bought Portal 2 on black friday for $10 and now it’s $7.50. RAAAAAAGE RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE (seriously this is like 90% of what forums discussing the steam sales are about. In order to not piss people off, Valve would have to maintain high prices forever! good work) Anyway, might as well make this a general christmas sale discussion thread. Gamersgate has has Civ 5 GOTY with all DLC for $17 which is a great price. \ood Old Games ([GOG.com](http://GOG.com)) has a ton of old classics for 50% off, usually $3-5. Railworks 3 has the game and all the DLC for a mere $300. That’s 80% off! (I’m not kidding, train games are nuts) Oh, and the publisher packs won’t rotate or anything, those deals will be the same throughout. Individual games within the packs may become more steeply discounted, but if you want the whole pack you can safely get it now. And I recommend getting the Just Cause 2 downloadable content, at least the vehicles. They’re like a quarter and lots of fun. I particularly like the [hovercraft](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n3Pj2svh0A). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-christmas-sale-has-started/606790.md?page=2)