merry xmas (GOG/Steam direct download weekly specials)

yeah i bought lara croft, was just waiting for this kind of discount.

I still have my bonus copy of Frozen Synapse for someone. calstars never replied.

i for one would happily take it off your hands.

Frozen Synapse awwwesome btw

All three seasons of Sam & Max are like $12.fiddy

yeah i'm in on that

thanks for SYNAPSE
i'm gettin' terraria for no reason now

Trying to decide between Sam + Max 3-series pack for £8.74 or Telltale Games complete pack for £30 (don't know USian prices, sorry). Sam and Max is the main draw for me; I'd like to play the new Monkey Islands, but the one I've played so far was missing a certain something from the original.

Good timing since I was just kicking myself for missing Telltale Games' own June sale. Had been planning to buy a bunch of stuff but got put off by postage prices, since there was no download-only option on the new Sam and Max.

The Sam and Max is a steal, but I guess it depends how much adventuring you think you'll be able to get through in the next 6 months (when the Telltale stuff will inevitably be up for sale again) - there's a lot of good stuff in the pack, like both Puzzle Agents (including the new one!). I haven't played them, but I assume Back to the Future and Strongbad are good too.

Another Humble Bundle: Crayon Physics Deluxe, Cogs, VVVVV, Hammerfight, And Yet It Moves. All can be activated on Steam.

http://www.humblebundle.com

here's the missing V: V

Already have two of them, but what the hell, i was kinda curious about Cogs and Hammerfight

VVVVV is pretty excellent, btw

picked up humble indie block 3. available on mac and 'pay what you want' is always the right price.

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is $5 on Steam this weekend

http://store.steampowered.com/app/2600/

cheapest its ever been, highly recommended if you think you can stomach the dated graphics and bugs (definitely get a hold of the fan patch)

the graphics aren't that dated actually, it's got the creepo HL2 face tech

EA is having their own sale with a lot of games priced at $5. No idea how their DRM system works.

http://store.origin.com/store/ea/html/pbpage.summersale

Vampire Masquerades requires a dedicated graphics card

Hammerfight is pretty fun btw - pretty silly and absurdly hard at times (like fighting with the controls hard). Cogs is OK. Crayon Physics not really worth it, but in fairness it seems aimed at kids.

read that as Hammerfist almost there

The humblebundle 3 now also includes everything that was in the humblebundle 2. And Steel Storm. And free Mincraft until August 14th. It's a ridiculously good deal, basically.

4-day Quakecon sale at Steam begins today. I think I want to get FO3:GOTY for $22.50. FONV is only $15, too.

The Call of Cthulhu FPS is only 7.50, but I have to check if I even have that or not.

Actually, Steam sales are like perusing the greatest used book sale you've ever seen. We're now at the point where the cost of media is so low you can easily purchase more than its physically possible to ever play.

Does entertainment value change with the cost-per-hour-of-fun ratio plummets? how does a game's fun content change with price changes? I know that I personally will get really pissed off at a game that costs too much for the actual value I perceive getting from it, but how about the other way? Does a super-low cost affect the worthwhile enjoyment you get, or just lower the probability of annoyance experienced during play?

I think we've talked about this on the iphone games thread; if you get a shitloada games for a fiver or a single one for pennies, are you as annoyed when one or two titles are shit?

How much does cost-based expectancy play into enjoyment and/or annoyance?

Has a pretty major effect I think. Mainly in that I've got a lot more tolerance of difficulty spikes in games I've shelled out £40 for. Whereas those that were £3 each on steam, well, if I get stuck I'll happily just switch off and never play again without really feeling I've wasted anything. But I'm no doubt missing out on lots of potential fun as a result.

Lowers the annoyance immensely! It's like, if this game sucks, who cares, I paid less than a cup of coffee. It doesn't make a bad game better, though.

Speaking of the topic tho - didn't realize Bastion is coming to PC, and next week! Nice. Was thinking about getting it on Xbox, but now I'll wait for an inevitable sale on Steam (or XBL)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/107100/

Bastion does look good

cool, i think i'd rather play that on pc

Whereas those that were £3 each on steam, well, if I get stuck I'll happily just switch off and never play again

yes, it's similar to if you play free retro games nowadays - they're usually so bloody hard you end up not persisting. Whereas back in the day if you'd shelled out you're hard earned pocket money on them you'd happily play them all day.

getting Bastion the instant it goes on sale, very possibly sooner.

humble bundle was just too good to pass up. They really do get you.

Yeah, bought HB #3 and #2. I think I only have maybe 3 games already.

Hammerfight bitches, PLAY IT

I tried! With a trackpad. Impossible. Then I tried a trackball, also impossible. Haven't been bothered to dig out a mouse to play it with yet.

Make sure you lower the DPI to like 200-400, they always detect too high and you end up mving like molasses

yup, both fallouts now on insane sale. FO3: goty is like $10 today.

ugh laptop gaming suxxx, Bastion needs 512mb of vrap and my integrated graphics card only has 128 :(

JimD, you know the HMB gives out Steam keys for all their stuff, right? So you already own Hammerfight on Steam (noticed that you added it to your wishlist)

I did? Must've misclicked, cos yep, I've already been launching it from within steam. Don't really understand steam wishlists, it's not like people are going to come here to find gifts to buy me, are they? I'd like it to give me "one of your wishlist games is on sale this week" email notifications though, that'd be v handy.

steam trading made official - now i won't have to paypal random dudes so often for 4-packs, i guess? or maybe i will more often, hard to tell

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6748-ETSG-5417

interesting. we should trade

i don't have any gifts in the acct atm, but come thanksgiving and christmas.... well remember that scene towards the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? when Christopher Lloyd's eyes started buggin' out? HE LOOKED JUST LIKE THIS

...especially if they make good on what seems to be the promise of being able to store extra copies of previously bought games as gifts, then trade them, because i've often gotten several games multiple times due to bundle sales. As it is, it's pretty uncommon to get that extra gift copy from when buying something again

recent purchases:

- Terraria's half off for Midweek Madness so I took the plunge. so far I don't like it.
- picked up the Commander Keen pack for $3.50 during the Quakecon sale - haven't played it yet since I'm waiting on my gamepad to show up
- decided to pick up Dungeons of Dreadmor right before going to bed, so I haven't played it yet. everything I see or read about it makes it look like exactly the roguelike I'm looking for, though.

also speaking of roguelikes, until last night I didn't know C&P 2010 standout Desktop Dungeons is getting an actual for-money sequel/revamp! apparently it's going to be sold through Steam too. RPS says it's pretty good too.

if you want to enjoy Terraria more, i suggest checking out quartertothree's game diary of it which made the game much more engaging to me. one of the things i think it suffers from is that it's not immediately obvious what there is to do-- but the game diary really outlines a fun path through the game. if u already bought it, worth a try before just deleting it

Dungeon of Dreadmor is AWESOME.

Bastion on monday, the one game that could throw a wrench into my Fallout playing

Bastion is so good.

Broken Sword trilogy $3.39 on steam. The first two games are well worth it.

Aaaaand Bastion's out.

^and only four more months before it's 50% off!

Maybe, but $15 seems a fair price.