Steam Winter Sale 2012: Deals and News Here

Daily deals:

DOTA 2 $14.99 (-50%)
Dawn of War franchise pack $9.99 (-75%)
Blood Bowl franchise -50-75%
Dungeon Defenders $3.74 (-75%)
Dead Island $6.79 (-66%)
Train Simulator 2013 $13.74 (-75%)

Flash deals: (ending 7 hours from now)

XCOM Enemy Unknown $33.49 (-33%)
CounterStrike Global Offensive $7.49 (-50%)
Unmechanical $2.49 (-75%)

I’ve played quite a bit of Dungeon Defenders. It’s a really great co-op tower defense game and I’d highly recommend it at this price. (However, I would be remiss in not mentioning that it is currently available in the Humble Bundle, including all of the DLC, if you pay more than the average, which right now is $6.39, and you’d be supporting indie developers and some worthwhile charities by doing so.)

Gamefly/d2d sale.

Mass effect 3 $12, Battlefield 3 $14, empire: total war $3.75, xcom $25, walking dead $12.50, crysis maximum $7.50, various others.

Gamefly also has a 20% off coupon with HOLIDAY20. So you could get XCOM for $20, Torchlight 2 for $8 or Hotline: Miami for $4, for example.

I don’t know if the coupon is usable more than once.

Amazon Winter Sale

Also, those are some terrible Steam dailies. DOW Franchise is a steal but DOTA 2 is a joke (the game is F2P; you’re just buying DLC), Dungeon Defenders w/ all DLC is a “Beat the Average” in the current Humble Bundle and Dead Island: GOTY is currently cheaper on Amazon.

Looks like the time is right to try Dawn of War. I’m not very familiar with Warhammer, but I know that 40k is awesomely ridiculous. Read the entry about it on TV Tropes. It’s a scream.

I just picked up SimCity 4 for $4.99. Despite it’s “meh” reviews, I couldn’t pass it up for that little money. I’ve been wanting it since it came out, so I hope it’s enjoyable.

Can someone help me out?

The Dudeling loves trains, so back in November I got Trains v. Zombies for a few bucks. Train Simulator is on sale again, and since it’s only $14 I figured I’d get it for variety. Since TvZ includes the basic TS engine, the main page says that I already own it. I can add the general bundle, and then I get the self/gift page, but haven’t gone any further.

First, does anyone know what the differences are between the main (full?) version and the zombie version? Given the price differences I would have assumed TvZ had just the one train and route, but the full version has a lot more options. True? I’ve been to both Steam’s and railsimulator.com but can’t figure out the difference.

Second, if I go ahead and spend the few bucks for (?), will I have any issue installing it? I figure with all the bundles that Steam puts together this situation isn’t all that unique. But I’d rather not donate $14 to the HL3 waiting club.

Thanks~

Are the Amazon and Steam deals generally very similar?

In my experience, the Amazon deals are generally better than Steam’s deals.

Rhythmdvl: I’m a bit unclear what the Trains vs Zombies game is. I assume you mean Trains vs Zombies 2. From the description, it seems you get the base game (Train Simulator 2012), with DLC in the form of the route, trains, and scenarios/missions for Trains vs Zombies.

To check this, is Train Simulator 2013 listed in your steam library? If you go on to the Train Simulator 2013 store page, does it say “You already own Train Simulator 2013”?

If you answer yes to both (you seem to be saying yes to the second question), you already have the base game. If not, what how is Trains vs Zombies listed on the steam Library?

The full version you refer to seems to be the package that says “Includes 4 items: Train Simulator 2013 , London to Brighton Add-On, Sherman Hill Add-On, Munich to Augsburg Add-On”. I think you already have Train Simulator 2013, so you “waste” that portion of the package, but the other parts of the package are DLC for Train Simulator 2013.

Basically, each one is a different route, with a set of trains, and some scenarios to play on them. There’s also a Quick Start mode, so you can select your own train, route, start and end point, etc, to quickly make your own scenario (with the trains and routes you already own), and there are quite a few free scenarios on the steam workshop (but you already need the routes and trains involved). You might already be able to access the Quick Start mode, and steam workshop, but you’re restricted to the routes, and trains that come with Trains vs Zombies.

The routes are a nice mix of different railways, as they are the London to Brighton passenger route, Sherman Hill is a freight route in Wyoming, and Munich to Augsburg is a German passenger line. A note of warning, these routes might requite a bit of reading of the manual for each route (there’s a pdf for each one), to get to grips with the signals, controls, etc), and there is less of a storyline to them than I imagine Trains vs Zombies had*, although I think the Sherman Hill one is a series of assignments that form part of a career.

To recap on buying the package, if it’s the one that says “Includes 4 items: Train Simulator 2013, London to Brighton Add-On, Sherman Hill Add-On, Munich to Augsburg Add-On”, if you already have TS2013, you should be able to buy the package, but it will probably warn you that you already own part of the package, and you don’t get a refund for that, but the Add-Ons should be added to TS2013. I’ve done something similar with a GTA complete pack which included all the GTA games, even though I already owned some of them.

If you don’t have TS 2013, then the package should just come with the base game, and the routes I’ve mentioned. In any case, I don’t see why there would be a problem with installing the package.

  • I haven’t played Trains vs Zombies 2, but I bought the original, which was released as DLC.

Skyrim is on a flash sale right now for 50% off. Is it likely that it will go lower than this during this sale? I definitely want it, but I’m wondering what the odds are that this is the lowest price we’ll see. Opinions?

Having spent all of my waking hours on Steam (pretty much) since I found it seven months ago, I’d wager “Yes…that is probably the lowest it will get this sale.”

Also, may I (very highly) recommend Thomas Was Alone if anyone has a few extra bucks.
I wrote a glowing review of it here.

Really amazing, clever, witty, funny, amusing, interesting game.

Okay, pulled the trigger on Skyrim and also Thomas Was Alone, based on Idle Thoughts’ recommendation and the fact that it’s only like $5 right now. Merry Christmas to me!

Scribblenauts Unlimited is $7.50 at Amazon

So should I dive into Mass Effect? I’ve never played any of them. I know they’re supposed to have a great story, but what’s the actual gameplay like? What other games are they similar to?

Knights of the Old Republic, but with a more robust third person shooter combat mechanic.

(Android)

Not PC stuff but I thought worth mentioning. Big list of stuff on sale via the Google Play store. Lots of games on there plus other stuff.

OfficeSuite Pro 6+ from $14.99 to 99¢ was an easy buy for me.

I’m not sure what to make of the cheap Sonic games (I grew up in a Nintendo household). Which ones are worth picking up?

Mass Effect is excellent. The comparison to Knights of the Old Republic is apt, in terms of how talky the game is. The combat is third-person shooter for the most part.