The Steam Summer Sale started on Thursday last week. Some years I don’t see much that I want, either because the selection isn’t that great or I’m not in a gaming mood, but this year no matter how hard I tried to avert my eyes from the screen I could not avoid the sweet, sweet siren song of cheap games. So many games.
What I have bought so far
The Witcher 2 – I’ve been looking for an RPG to sink my teeth into*, and a number of guildies recommended this. It looks dark and gritty in the preview videos, which I like. A few reviewers complain about the kludgy controls, but I’m sure it’s manageable. However, in retrospect I’m a little disappointed that I bought this. I’m sure it will be a fine game, but it’s too new to have a dramatic price discount. I usually have a rule that I won’t spend more than $15 on a game during a Steam sale, and I should have stuck to it.
* I already had Mass Effect 2, which I’ve started twice now and only gotten maybe a third of the way through. For some reason, I just can’t get into it. I mean, I love my Shephard (her name is January), I like Garrus, I like space adventure, and I know that ME2 is considered one of Bioware’s greatest games, but man.. I just never feel inspired to sit down and play it. Maybe there’s something wrong with me.
KOTOR – The classic! I bought this in part because SW:TOR is around the corner, but mostly because it has a great reputation. KOTOR is pretty old by this point, but I know it was a seminal gaming experience for a number of people. I bought it for $2.49, which is about the same as the cup of coffee I get every day before work. Now that’s value!
Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and Half-Life 2: Episode 2 – I bought Half-Life 2 for $3.50 last year during the summer sale. I have yet to play it, although I did watch someone play through it back in the day so I’m not a complete luddite. However, I will not let a little thing like never playing the original stop me from buying cheap expansion packs! This year I picked up Episodes One and Two for a grand total of $4. One day I might even play them. I know they will be good.
Dragon Age: Origins – Ultimate Edition – Finally, a game I have played! In fact, I played it when it first came out. On disc. So yes, I paid $10 to own a digital, Steam-friendly version of DA:O. Don’t judge me! (This set also comes with the expansion and all the DLCs, so it was actually a heck of a deal.) You probably have played this game already, but if you haven’t and you like dense RPGs it is hellaciously good.
What I have not bought so far
Assassins Creed: Brotherhood and Fallout: New Vegas – Ohhh, how I have stared longingly at both of these games on their respective sale days, but I have already bought more games than I will ever, ever play and I am saving the rest of my piggy bank for what I hope will be a great deal on Civilization V.
What I played this weekend
There are so many new games in my Steam library, not to mention the ones I bought in previous sales and Humble Bundle indie games that I have never played. Plus I had a lot of free time this weekend! So what did I end up playing? Team Fortress 2. Which.. I’ve owned for a million years and is free now anyway. Sigh.
(Seriously, y’all, the TF2 servers are packed full of new players who are just begging to be air blasted off a cliff by a pyro wearing a road cone as a hat. Some things are greater than us all!)
So in short: Damn you, Steam and Valve, for putting games on sale for so cheap that I cannot help but buy them, and for making games so good that I cannot stop playing them.
You’ve probably heard the apocryphal story about police catching a criminal by telling him he has to come to some location to pick up a prize. Garry’s Mod author Garry Newman has almost certainly heard it before — he just caught 2100 software pirates in a matter of hours by having them report themselves to Steam!
Garry’s Mod is a fantastic sandbox game that works off of Valve’s Source, and it’s very popular for making improbable Half-Life and Team Fortress 2 screenshots. (And it’s only $10.) The latest update for the game caused an error message for some folks — something about a problem shading polygons, with an error code. It turns out only pirated copies of the software will throw that error, and the code is in fact a hidden version of the offender’s Steam ID.
Pirates posted their error to the official Steam forums asking for help, including their account ID, and in turn were swiftly banned. Nicely done, Garry!
I believe this was made in proper 3D modeling software and not Garry’s Mod, but it’s what I think about every time someone mentions customizing Valve property:
Geisha Boy from the TF2 Wiki
Sure you can shoot people in the game, but really this move just cements Team Fortress 2′s legacy as the ultimate hat economy simulator. (Are you a victim of the virtual economy? Try this “Definitive TF2 Trading Guide“.)
PS: In all seriousness, please consider donating to the Japan quake/tsunami relief efforts over at the Red Cross.