merry xmas (GOG/Steam direct download weekly specials)

ok i hope that was vaguely comprehensible

What is your reason for wanting to keep everything on Steam?

because i have bought so many games and bundles from so many different online retailers, it's impossible to keep track of now; on Steam alone my profile lists 235 games. it's not like i'm spending a ton of money on these, but that the market has completely bottomed out on pc game prices since Steam went crazy (which is awesome for consumers)

off the top of my head: gog.com, gamersgate, humblebundle, indieroyale, amazon, Apple App Store, a million other indie bundles like groupees/be mine bundle. let's not get into the ones i've bought directly from the developers sites! trying to remember, store, and backup every game i've bought is an insurmountable task.

not to mention SteamPlay is extremely convenient in giving me both PC and Mac versions wherever/whenever I want for most games I buy now, as I rarely buy PC-only games on Steam anymore.

ironically, though i am pushing for steam here, i'm still super glad that i have the option to do my own backups when they're sold DRM-free. I don't see Steam going down anytime soon, but who knows? Especially with the other retailers I've listed.

witness my backlog of shame:
http://lambentstew.com/webblog/miniproject/steamanalysis?steamid=nhex

kinda staggering to realize that i've only played 40% of my library, give or take (it counts DLC entries as a separate game) and that's counting over 1700 hours of playtime!

damn, is recettear that good?
i mean i bought it but i uh haven't played it yet

Recettear is worth playing, yes

I dunno about that tool, I mean it's telling me I never played half life 2...

nah Recettear in all honesty isn't THAT good, but it really scratched a itch for me at the time. eventually I awoke from my haze, escaping that endless grind...

steam didn't start keeping track of playtime until... 2008-9ish? so that might be why HL2 doesn't show up. also if you're in offline mode, the hours won't track either.

Sure, I just mean that I'm not going to feel too guilty about the fact it says I've never played 73% of the games I own if a bunch of those are false negatives anyway. Course there's still plenty of stuff in there that I DO feel bad about.

http://lambentstew.com/webblog/miniproject/steamanalysis?steamid=JimD

(that plants vs zombies play time wasn't me btw, honest)

Hah, I have similar imbalance towards Arkham City, though it won't take my steam ID (afarrell2 if any of you are friend-short) and I've forgotten my number.

<a href="http://lambentstew.com/webblog/miniproject/steamanalysis?profileid=76561197969541655";>Here y'go</a> - lol @ the multiple AAA titles that it is (accurately) highlighting that I've never touched.

Also lol @ the 1-year anniversary of my ILX return still not bringing me any closer to clicking the 'Convert Simple HTML to BBcode' button.

i'm gonna say that i played the everloving shit outta plants v zombies
like i got every "achievement"

~ask me about moustache mode!~

sadly, yes.

this looks cool:

http://www.amazon.com/Storming-Burning-Reflecting-Sabotaging-Download/dp/B008GWJKE6

1. Bulletstorm [Download]
3.3 out of 5 stars (75) 10 GB $15.74
2. Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box [Download]
3.5 out of 5 stars (11) 2.9 GB $14.79
3. Mercenaries 2: World In Flames [Download]
No reviews 5.4 GB $7.96
4. Mirror's Edge [Download]
3.6 out of 5 stars (80) 5800 MB $14.75
5. The Saboteur [Download]

Bought it for Mirrors Edge & Bulletstorm, but the whole thing is $15

rumored indie bundles for upcoming Steam sale, probably starting 12th July

Indie Bundle Day 1 - The Baconing, EDGE, Anomaly Warzone Earth, Cave Story +, Lone Survivor
Indie Bundle Day 2 - Universe Sandbox, E.Y.E, Oil Rush, Botanicula, Splice
Indie Bundle Day 3 - Braid, Bit Trip Bat, Runespell Overture, Bunch of Heroes, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
Indie Bundle Day 4 - Atom Zombie Smasher, Sanctum, Blocks That Matter, Sword and Sowrcery (& soundtrack), A Valley Without Wind
Indie Bundle Day 5 - Audiosurf, Greed Corp, Gemini Rue, The Tiny Bang Story, Ys: The Oath in Felghana
Indie Bundle Day 6 - DEFCON, Awesome, SpaceChem, TRAUMA, Ticket to Ride
Indie Bundle Day 7 - Zombie Driver, Dungeons of Dredmor, Vessel, Avadon: The Black Fortress, QUBE
Indie Bundle Day 8 - Wings of Prey, Hoard, Swords and Soldiers, Demolition Inc, Sol Exodus
Indie Bundle Day 9 - Zeno Clash, VVVVVV, Revenge of the Titans, Jamestown, Capsized
Indie Bundle Day 10 - Machinarium, Eufloria, Beat Hazard, Bit Trip Runner, All Zombies Must Die
Indie Bundle Day 11 - World of Goo, Star Ruler, Hydrophobia, Orion, Waveform

Fuuuuuuuck I'm gonna spend more money on games I don't play aren't I?

the shame... the shame

(kinda hoping that if you get these bundles you can gift extra copies, since i already own like 50% of those games -_-)

Cheap Ass Gamer ‏@videogamedeals

25% off all games this weekend with coupon code 25OFF-ALLTH-EGAME at Green Man Gaming http://ow.ly/c51lR

Thinking of picking up one of the Amazon specials just to get Darksiders cheap

but.. IT'S COMING

IT'S HERE

ooh, legend of grimrock for 6 bucks
i was holding out for ipad really but still

I was gunna say, it's past 10 o'clock west coast time. Let's do this.

The "which massive cut to a current AAA title would you like to see next?" on the front page is great - this is proper Crazy Larry's House of Games territory

anyone play Crusader Kings II? Thankfully, the Mac options are much smaller so I have less to be tempted by. However, this looks interesting but I've never played a Paradox game and have heard the learning curve can be a bit much.

i am a big eu3 fan but i couldn't get into ck2. i dunno, it's dynastic but in a totally personality free way. i was not sure what the appeal was supposed to be.

it did inspire me to play eu3 again of course, and lose another hundred hours of my life down that hole

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CK2 is great if you want to get into dynastic conquest, I guess. I need to play a proper tutorial to get really into it.

Obviously if anyone here hasn't player Portal 2, £3.74 or equivalent is an insanely good price for ILG's second favourite game of 2011.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-11-valve-counters-eas-steam-sales-cheapen-intellectual-property-accusation

A megacorp got butthurt about Steam sales and decides to go the sour grapes route.

Would I be better off trying EU3? That's on sale too. Is their a good place to start with the Paradox style games?

The publisher packs look so big and unwieldy that I can't imagine wanting to go for any of them. I've already

Tho it's cool to see that you can get Virtua Fighter 2 from Sega there.

Somebody tell me about Mount & Blade: War Band. Is it multiplayer only? I'd get it just for the Napoleonic expansion.

Yeah odd that the next thing EA did after that was gouging sales on Origin

xp Warband is multiplayer-focused, but there are subtle tweaks and extras added to the single player. Still no "real" single player or questing. Maybe I'll get Napoleonic if it goes cheaper on a daily deal. But OTOH, I think maybe I've milked as much as I can out of Mount and Blade.

um anyone know if Magical Diary any good

50% off Analogue: A Hate Story

strongly tempted

So much stuff on steam now, a lot maybe falls through the cracks? Here's a few deals to take a look at...

Pixeljunk Eden - $2.00
Unique, beautiful platform game. PC version supposedly has improved controls and difficulty curve.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/105800/

Serious Sam: Random Encounter - $1.69
I've been meaning to pick up the RPG shooter(?) by the team that made Super Crate Box. Looks crazy!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/201480/

Bit.Trip.Runner - $2.49 (may get cheaper?)
Fantastic memorization platformer. Extremely challenging.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/63710/

also Legend of Grimrock for $6.00 is pretty much a must buy if you haven't already.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/207170/

as the SA Steam thread says, WAIT FOR THE DAILY DEAL.

But I went ahead and bought Stacking anyway, since its just seven fiddy.

i'll wait for a daily on analogue, otherwise it's last day

grimrock, i'm pretty tempted, but no mac means i'll probably never play at this pt

thumbs up on bit.trip.runner, very cool, but almost certainly gonna be a daily deal

Spacechem $2.50 for the next hour - easy recommendation
Can anyone recommend the Back to the Future game?

I can not recommend it unless you love the telltale style

i'm kinda 50/50 on it, so... i guess not. i'm thinking about getting that Walking Dead game if it goes daily

i still need to finish playing all those Sam & Max's. For some reason, the jokes seem far slower in coming than the lucasarts original.

or the comics, even.

the comics were crazy tho! but you're right, everything feels slower

I think Steve Purcell is still out there working at Pixar, which is perfect if you think about it

Trine 2 under $4 right now.

- bought Legend of Grimrock
- forgot to buy SpaceChem in the flash sale, annoyed even though I didn't really like the demo
- got excited about a Telltale Collection which was slightly cheaper than the complete set was at Christmas and then realised it isn't the complete set, not buying that
- thinking of maybe picking up Indie Game: The Movie or Civ 3 ($2.50 I guess? £1.49 anyway) before the end of the summer sale

zappi's rumours were correct about the first indie bundle, so, assuming the others are right too, any thoughts on their contents? I have one game from pretty much each bundle, so they're still potentially a good deal