ALL week, EA Steam Deals

jiminator said:
At $5 to $10 a lot of people will re-buy games they already have, to put them on steam. I know I do.
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I never fully understood why people would re-buy games they already have just so they can put them on steam. Isn't it cheaper to just make backup copies of their game disc? I guess I'm just a bit of a scrooge and go out of my way to save $5-10 bucks on a game.
 
Howie said:
I never fully understood why people would re-buy games they already have just so they can put them on steam. Isn't it cheaper to just make backup copies of their game disc? I guess I'm just a bit of a scrooge and go out of my way to save $5-10 bucks on a game.
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I dont normally do it but at 5 bucks I can see why some people do. no discs to worry about, no looking for patches and its nice having everything in one place. the main reason I dont do it is because I usually never replay a game after I finish it anyway.
 
pulled out my MDR-V900s and eyefinity and dug into dead space, now i have this feeling i won't be sleeping for a while, it's 5:09 am right now and bricks have been shat.


well played. :D
 
Tolyngee said:
But part of the plus for devs is that once a game's sold to you on Steam, the trade of it ends there.

ME and ME1 may be only $5, but they've been available before in physical media that you can sell afterwards for the same price. You're out less than $5, and when you sold it, you got that cash and not the devs/pubs through the sale on Steam.
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But why is that a bad thing? I don't see why I should want the developer/publisher of a game I like enough to buy NOT to get paid? That doesn't make any sense to me.
 
I think Tolyngee's point is that Steam and the like are effectively removing the right to resale that's allowed by the first sale doctrine. I won't dispute that Steam is convenient and the games do get quite cheap but the fact that I'm losing my right to resell my purchase just doesn't sit well with me.
 
jiminator said:
not sure about your point, convoluted at best. are you complaining there should be more sales or what?
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I think his point was that it's more advantageous for Devs/pubs to allow Steam to massively discount their semi-older games because Steam doesn't allow for re-sale.

I know that I have bought games from Amazon simply because they were $10 or $15 cheaper than Steam. It's a rare event, sure, but it does happen. Now I can take that copy of the game and sell it on the FS forum. And then whoever buys it can sell it. And so on. Only my original sale gives the devs/pubs any money, the rest are all grey market.

On the other hand, if Steam had priced the game competitively with its regular price or if it had a sale on the game, I would have bought it from Steam. It's reasonable to assume the other people who would have bought the game from me would buy the game on Steam, too, as they only wanted the game at a reduced price. Now all of those sales benefit devs/pubs.

For example, my copies of WaW and CoD4 are from the FS forum when someone let them go for a song. They're still $30 each on Steam, and I didn't pay $30 combined for both games. Now if Steam put them on sale for $5 each? I'd probably buy backups. Or if they had them on sale for $15 before I got my used copies? I would have bit. But, as it stands, Activision gets none of my money (which isn't a bad thing).
 
Neb said:
I think Tolyngee's point is that Steam and the like are effectively removing the right to resale that's allowed by the first sale doctrine. I won't dispute that Steam is convenient and the games do get quite cheap but the fact that I'm losing my right to resell my purchase just doesn't sit well with me.
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People always say that. Why do you buys games to resell them? Thats such a horrible investment. You lose too much. Its not like you ever gain anything. You buy a game to play it not sell it. This isn't a car of stocks.
 
The idea isn't to buy the game to resell it, it's to buy the game to play it, then sell it so someone else can enjoy it while you get some of your money back. Personally I like to play through single player games just one time, any more and I get bored too quickly.
 
ugh you guys give me such a headache arguing over steam. Don't like it don't buy it no one cares about your politics.

EDit: Except the other guys like you that want to argue politics.
 
King Icewind: What ighardcore said. A good portion of the games I buy I play once or twice at most, then I'm done. It's nice to be able to sell that game to someone else so they get a bit of a discount and I get some money back rather than have it sit on a shelf forever (or in the steam world a digital shelf?).

Back on topic: I bit on the ME2 deal...couldn't resist :)
 
jiminator said:
not sure about your point, convoluted at best. are you complaining there should be more sales or what?

there is another factor to consider. At $5 to $10 a lot of people will re-buy games they already have, to put them on steam. I know I do. Steam adds value beyond a physical copy. Yeah, you can do amazon for $8, but then your game is forever tied to the disk. Lose the disk, reinstall windows, etc. Gone. True, most people play a game and thats it. With steam the option is always there. With physical media, not so much.
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I find that a really interesting point of view, as one of the reasons I avoid buying things on steam and to some degree impulse is that if they go away my games go away.

But then, I still have my original MOO and MOO2 cds and even the instruction booklets. Still break them out and play them from time to time. Will steam/impulse still be there in 15 years like my CDs still are? I dunno. Noone does.

That said, I'll give them money for heavily discounted titles... but if I'm paying anything halfway near full price I'm wanting physical media that's without draconian DRM. Anything else is really just a lease for an undertermined period of time.
 
Again, disappointed with the Dragon Age pricing. I think I still might get the combo pack of DA and DA: Awakening though because I have a brand new DA: Awakening physical copy I can sell to offset the cost and eat the rest. I really have come to hate physical PC games in the house...it's getting to the point where if it's not on Steam I forget I have it, or just can't be bothered finding the disc, putting it in the computer to play, etc.
 
Steam just owned my CC. Mass Effect 1+2, Dragon Age Origins + Awakening, and FO3 last week. I'm set for a while now :D
 
I paid full price for the two of them and was happy with it. This is a great price imo. If you don't already own them. I didn't expect 50% or greater cause it is a great game.
 
Khanmots said:
one of the reasons I avoid buying things on steam and to some degree impulse is that if they go away my games go away.

Will steam/impulse still be there in 15 years like my CDs still are? I dunno. Noone does.

I'm wanting physical media that's without draconian DRM.
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DRM's draconian either format.

My place burning down or burglarized is more likely than Steam burning down or being burglarized, so Steam's a safer bet.

But one thing that just crossed my mind is that perhaps Steam should consider a pre-sale pre-order sale. Say you want a game at $5? Steam won't have it at that 'til the Holiday? Pre-order it today at $5, and it just doesn't unlock 'til Dec 25th. Devs/pubs get my money right now, and I still get it for $5. Decide in August you really want to play that game NOW??? Your $5 you put down is credited towards whatever the full price of it is in August. You aren't out any extra dough, devs/pubs aren't out any dough, and they still got that initial $5 sooner.

Well, DA sales are finally up. Both are almost $30 each. No sale.
 
This is about what I expected. EA has avoided big steam discounts on Dragon Age, so I'm going to jump on the combo pack.
 
Bah. I was kinda hoping Steam would have both DAO and Awakening together in a pack for $30. I already own the DDE of the original game through Impulse so I really just need the expansion, but since Steam is utterly retarded with expansions I'd have to get both so I was hoping it would be cheap. At the price they want I might as well buy the damn expansion at the store for $40, which I refuse to do. I'm not paying that much for it, ever.
 
Completely crap DAO sale, not biting and I was thinking about buying two copies for me and the wife.

Guess I'm waiting for a real sale.
 
King Icewind said:
People always say that. Why do you buys games to resell them? Thats such a horrible investment. You lose too much. Its not like you ever gain anything. You buy a game to play it not sell it. This isn't a car of stocks.
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Once you play it how likely are you to play it again? I don't mind losing out on re-sale if the game is 5-20 bucks. If a game is 50-60 then I'll wait.
 
with pc games I always wait to till their on sale and $30 is the most I will ever spend anymore. I only play single player and rarely ever play any portion of a game after I beat it so the cheaper the better. plus while I wait for a sale the game will usually be patched up if need be.
 
pigwalk said:
Once you play it how likely are you to play it again? I don't mind losing out on re-sale if the game is 5-20 bucks. If a game is 50-60 then I'll wait.
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Right away or years later? I hate selling my PC games. The price you get sucks and I don't feel its worth the hassle to bother. If I can get a title digitally I would rather do it that way instead of dealing with physical copies. They're not worth collecting anymore since most box are is freaking ugly these days and having a bunch of DVD sized PC game boxes is boring. So since I don't care about re-selling or collecting modern games I simply don't feel burdened by buying digitally and losing that ability. There are only a couple games I regret buying digitally.
 
I think i'll pass on today's DA:O sale on steam. I could pick up the retail version for the same pruice or even much less.
 
I don't know about the whole first sale doctrine. I mean I personally am totally against any DRM used to "create more sales". All the same, if we want to continue enjoying good games the developers have to get paid to make them.

For instance, if you go see a movie you will probably pay $10 to $25 per person for the experience. That is for a couple of hours where the movie hopefully does not suck. There is no right of anything.

Games also can be said to provide a similar "experience". The difference is that at a minimum they give from 6 hours to 20 hours or great ones in the 100s of hours of fun.

Strange to think that people will spend $20 for a couple of hours at a movie that hopefully does not suck, but have a problem with $40 for a game.

Anyway if you bought the game, experienced it, why should you be able to sell it to another person, to give them the same experience? Effectively you have already used your license.
A game often costs millions of dollars to make. It is not a disk and a book, those expenses are trivial compared to the costs of creating the content.

Anyway, do I think games are initially overpriced? yes. Do I think the used game market is worse for developers than piracy? yes. Do I think developers need to eat? yes. Steam to me is a pretty good solution for all these reasons.
 
jiminator said:
I don't know about the whole first sale doctrine. I mean I personally am totally against any DRM used to "create more sales". All the same, if we want to continue enjoying good games the developers have to get paid to make them.

For instance, if you go see a movie you will probably pay $10 to $25 per person for the experience. That is for a couple of hours where the movie hopefully does not suck. There is no right of anything.

Games also can be said to provide a similar "experience". The difference is that at a minimum they give from 6 hours to 20 hours or great ones in the 100s of hours of fun.

Strange to think that people will spend $20 for a couple of hours at a movie that hopefully does not suck, but have a problem with $40 for a game.

Anyway if you bought the game, experienced it, why should you be able to sell it to another person, to give them the same experience? Effectively you have already used your license.
A game often costs millions of dollars to make. It is not a disk and a book, those expenses are trivial compared to the costs of creating the content.

Anyway, do I think games are initially overpriced? yes. Do I think the used game market is worse for developers than piracy? yes. Do I think developers need to eat? yes. Steam to me is a pretty good solution for all these reasons.
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Why in the world would you compare going to the movie theatre to buying video games? It doesn't make sense, at all. A better comparison would be going to the movies and the arcade... then now compare buying a movie on DVD to a video game.
 
I really want to play DA:O, but at that price I'll just Goozex a used copy. Only 550 points. Is there any unlockable DLC you'd lose out on getting it used?
 
pigwalk said:
I really want to play DA:O, but at that price I'll just Goozex a used copy. Only 550 points. Is there any unlockable DLC you'd lose out on getting it used?
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There was some that came with the Collector's Edition that I believe runs about $10. Forget what it was called, but you find a Golem of some sort. He's kind of an ass character wise and a decent tank game play wise. I've enjoyed that bit of content, but it's definitely not necessary.
 
hmmm, i think that's a fair price for Dragon Age. the game is a ton of fun and very long. i heard that the average first playthrough takes about 50 hours, but with all the extra stuff you can do, it was advertised as having 120 hours of gameplay.

so, twenty something bucks is not worth 50-120 hours of awesome gameplay and story?
 
The combo deal for both games is decent. My first playthrough took a little over 80 hours so it is worth it if you don't haven't played the game yet. I was hoping for a smashing deal on Awakenings, but looks like I'll be waiting a bit longer to get it.
 
jiminator said:
Strange to think that people have a problem with $40 for a game.
Anyway, do I think games are initially overpriced? yes.
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You just spent that post contradicting yourself. You don't understand why people think games are overpriced, when you yourself feel they are overpriced?

So, you don't even... understand yourself?

FWIW - you mention at every opportunity movies sucking, but don't give the possibility for a game sucking?

The biggest problem compared to the beginning of it all is that the market is saturated. A dozen or so years ago there was Quake 1/2, Unreal and HL. After you bought those, almost everything afterwards were mods. Hundreds if not thousands of hours of replay value for $40. The original Doom1/2 have like a billion PWADS out there. If even a fraction of those are good, that's probably a thousand PWADS. I know I've put a thousand hours of gameplay into Doom. Hard to say that about games today.
 
I don't own either game, but I don't know if it's worth the $48 for both. What do you guys think? Or should I just get Origins now and wait for a winter sale on Awakening?
 
illybang said:
so, twenty something bucks is not worth 50-120 hours of awesome gameplay and story?
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I have way too much of a backlog to play it right now anyway, if I was hungry for a game to play right now I'd jump on it. In my current situation though, I can wait and hopefully end up with a boxed/used copy for the same price (or less) further down the road.
 
Despite an honest effort to save money, and after already buying mirrors edge, mass effect 1 & 2, and a large steam backlog... I think I'm buying the collection after work. :sigh
 
I'm bummed about the deal on Dragon Age. Why end the week with the weakest discounts so far? IMHO, EA would have done better to finish with the best deal (50% or so) so that people like me who bought stuff along the way would have had a hard time saying no. As it is, I'm waiting till Christmas.
 
Gabriel said:
I don't own either game, but I don't know if it's worth the $48 for both. What do you guys think? Or should I just get Origins now and wait for a winter sale on Awakening?
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DA:O took me ~40 hours to beat. It is fucking immersive as hell. It's kinda like LOTR, lots of strategy in placement and you can definitely do other runs through the story like in WoW. You can play once as a poor elf rogue and then again as a noble human warrior. I personally went through the game the first time as a mage.

I haven't played Awakening yet but they can't really go wrong after origins.

For the price, it's definitely worth it.
 
I bit. Been needing a decent RPG for awhile and this looks good. Any suggestions on best/funnest class?
 
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