# Winter digital distribution sales **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 18, 2014, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561 "2014-12-18T08:54:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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 22, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/41 "2014-12-22T15:14:06Z")
How to Survive is 80% off on Steam until January 2nd. My understanding is that the Storm Warning pack is the best deal, containing the actual content DLC. My tablet doesn’t like making embedded links for me but here it is https://store.steampowered.com/widget/250400 Also The Cursed Crusade is a buck on Amazon. Comes with a Steam key. > **[Amazon.com: The Cursed Crusade \[Download\] : Video Games](https://www.amazon.com/Atlus-41060sed-Crusade2-Crusade-Download/dp/B0087QI83U)** > > Buy The Cursed Crusade \[Download\]: Read Video Games Reviews - Amazon.com ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/42 "2014-12-22T16:03:44Z")
Amazon is having a sale. Here’s the link to [games offered.](http://deals.kinja.com/amazons-year-end-game-sale-is-here-to-save-you-from-hol-1674028802/+shepmcallister) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/43 "2014-12-23T18:54:23Z")
Hmmm. I noticed that the price of their Dragon Age: Inquisition game code was ten dollars more than they were charging for a physical copy of the game. But then I noticed that the price of the physical game had jumped almost ten dollars to compensate. The standing price gets jacked up so that it doesn’t compete with the sales price. Oh, you internet! ---
**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 24, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/44 "2014-12-24T00:34:04Z")
Amazon’s physical game department and their digital games department are two separate entities. What likely happened was that the physical game was temporarily discounted to price match the sale Walmart had on 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 24, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/45 "2014-12-24T01:49:54Z")
[Battlefield 3 for a buck](https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/buy/50182/pc-download/base-game/standard-edition) ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/46 "2014-12-24T02:37:04Z")
Mutter, mutter. Instead of knocking a $100 dev tool down to $20, people voted for a $3.50 discount on a benchmarking program. And then people voted for a 10 cent discount on Orion Prelude. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/47 "2014-12-24T03:35:50Z")
Yeah, I was one of the latter, but in my defense, I didn’t really notice the price at the time. I’m kinda surprised people pay for system benchmarking programs, though. ---
**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 24, 2014, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/48 "2014-12-24T04:12:18Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Mutter, mutter. Instead of knocking a $100 dev tool down to $20, people voted for a $3.50 discount on a benchmarking program. And then people voted for a 10 cent discount on Orion Prelude. Given the voting gives you a trading card, I bet a lot of people just click a random pretty picture like I do. Maybe the benchmarking program had a prettier picture. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/49 "2014-12-24T17:00:23Z")
I’ve been looking at some smaller cheaper games, and was wondering if anyone has played any of these and can give me some feedback? **Magicians and Looters** **Craft the World** **Steamworld Dig** **Windforge** **Daylight** **Signs of Life** **Death Skid Marks** **Project Zomboid** **Over 9000 Zombies** ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/50 "2014-12-24T21:07:03Z")
How do I gift a game on Steam? Can I buy it and then keep it and gift it later, or does it have to be gifted at the point of purchase? I play a ton of games, but I don’t have time for a lot more. However, just thinking about all these deals makes me wonder if I can horde a lot of them when they’re on sale and gift or trade them to people later ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/51 "2014-12-24T22:11:14Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > How do I gift a game on Steam? You buy it and instead of selecting “Buy for myself” select “Buy as a gift” > [@](#): > > Can I buy it and then keep it and gift it later, or does it have to be gifted at the point of purchase? You can buy it and gift it later; When you buy a gift it asks you how you want it delivered: Via Email, Directly through Steam, or Put it in your inventory to gift later. > [@](#): > > I play a ton of games, but I don’t have time for a lot more. However, just thinking about all these deals makes me wonder if I can horde a lot of them when they’re on sale and gift or trade them to people later You totally can, though apparently you have to wait 30 days before you can TRADE a gift. ---
**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 24, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/52 "2014-12-24T22:36:58Z")
[Origin sale](https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/deals) begins. Meh. A bunch of games were cheaper last month. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/53 "2014-12-25T01:33:53Z")
> [@Apocalypso](#): > > I’ve been looking at some smaller cheaper games, and … Haven’t played any that you listed, but I do like the look of Craft the World. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/54 "2014-12-25T01:36:00Z")
Some others on my wishlist, any opinions? Dominions 3 Shadowrun Dragonfall Director’s Cut Space Engineers Magic 2014 Ticket to Ride ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/55 "2014-12-25T04:35:09Z")
I’m close to done with Dragonfall, and have mixed feelings about it. The setting is a lot of fun, and for a Kickstarter game they did a great job. However, things are really repetitive in combat, in a way that I didn’t find especially fun, and it’s sometimes hard to figure out where cover is, or whether you’ll be able to take a shot from a particular position, and some mechanics require needless extra clicks. I got to what I think is the final sequence and dropped it out of boredom. Maybe I’ll pick it up again in a few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/56 "2014-12-25T13:15:57Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > Some others on my wishlist, any opinions? > … > Magic 2014 I do not recommend the Duels of the Planeswalkers series. If you’re going to put out a yearly series like this, you should at least build on the work you’ve already done. Once you add Planechase to the series, every subsequent game should allow you to to play Planechase. Instead they’ve gone with a one step forwards, one step backwards approach that doesn’t actually progress towards providing a better game. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/57 "2014-12-25T14:55:45Z")
It appears to be an EA policy now to never offer discounted DLC. For a game like Dragon Age II, which I thought would have been a value at $20, I’m not so sanguine about spending almost $30 to pick up the rest of the story (really, $20, since I have BioWare funbux left over from years before). I also begin to suspect there will never be a Whole Goddamned Game edition of Mass Effect 3 as there was for Mass Effect 2. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/58 "2014-12-25T15:23:55Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > I do not recommend the Duels of the Planeswalkers series. If you’re going to put out a yearly series like this, you should at least build on the work you’ve already done. Once you add Planechase to the series, every subsequent game should allow you to to play Planechase. Instead they’ve gone with a one step forwards, one step backwards approach that doesn’t actually progress towards providing a better game. Can you recommend a MtG title or collection? I’m looking for a cheap way to play a bit of Magic or similar. I enjoyed the 1997 [Microprose version.](http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/images/3/3c/Magic_-_The_Gathering_-_W32_-_Duel.png) Judging by Wikipedia, Magic Online or the Planeswalker series is about it for current choices. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/59 "2014-12-25T15:28:16Z")
Talisman is a silly/epic board game dating back to the 80s, a decent-looking adaptation is under $2 on Steam. ---
**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 25, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/60 "2014-12-25T16:48:42Z")
I haven’t played all the Magic games to give a comprehensive review but I’ll definitely say that 2014 is much better than 2015. Also, the Gold Standard edition is better than the Gold Complete edition. The Gold Standard gives all the DLC decks and extra cards to unlock during play but the Complete actually effectively unlocks all the cards from the start, thus eliminating the whole value of the campaign. In the recent games, you have prebuilt decks and win extra cards through campaign to tweak deck with. For a fun bit of just playing the game, I think 2014 is a good but for the price. It won’t recreate the whole experience of building a deck and all that though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561.md?page=4)