We are now officially a full holiday weekend into the Steam Winter sale, and I can say that I've exercised a great deal of restraint up to this point (relatively speaking of course). At times the discounts have proven to be just a bit too enticing. When titles are being offered at a price less than the cost of lunch at work, it's easy for me to justify starving myself throughout the day in order to fund the purchase of a new game. As a direct result of my own twisted logic, Steam gets a sale, developers and publishers make some dough, and I get a shiny new game at an exceedingly reasonable price. Everyone wins! Except my decidedly malnourished body and digestive system of course. Let's get on with the list.
Winter Sale Purchases (so far):
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Intrusion 2 - I briefly mentioned this game in my previous blog entry. Apparently, it lets me re-enact my childhood He-Man fantasies by granting me the ability to ride giant wolves into battle. Granted, wolves are not BattleCat, but they're as close as I'm going to get until someone actually takes the initiative and crafts a worthwhile He-Man/Masters of the Universe game.
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Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 - It is probably a felony and a jail-able offense in some countries for me to not have played at least one of these titles to completion. When you start to have kids, RPG's, having the tendency to be magnificent time sinks, generally are the first genre that hits the chopping block when you have limited playing time.
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Jet Set Radio - I bought JSR, so I could longingly reminisce about a time when Sega made truly worthwhile games. It's like a trophy that sits on my fireplace mantle, except it only exists digitally, instead residing comfortably in my Steam Library. I remember when a new Sega game was an event, and quite frankly, it's a bit of a shame that many gamers will grow up not knowing and appreciating the collective importance of Sega's prior creative output.
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They Bleed Pixels Collector's Edition - Just watch the trailer and try to tell me that's not worth $2.50.
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The Walking Dead Season 1 - For a limited time, Steam is offering all of season one (5 episodes) for $12.49. This is the title that won the most prestigious imaginary game award in the known universe, thedogbarks Game of the Year Award. After reading his blog entry and seeing the sale price, I clicked purchase quicker than you can say "If I end up disappointed, thedogbarks most definitely owes me $12.49."
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McPixel - This is essentially the PC/indie version of WarioWare, and last time I checked you have no soul if you dislike the WarioWare games. At $2.49, this was too interesting to pass up. One other note: this was also purchased for posterity, as McPixel was the first game to ever complete the Steam Greenlight gauntlet and make it to a full release. I just think that's kind of cool.
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30 Flights of Loving - It's totally different than anything you've ever played before. Just read 1up's recent write-up here.
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Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD Revert Pack - Fuck you, Activision. I purchased Tony Hawk HD at a discount in the twilight of the recent Steam Autumn sale only to get a notification two days later that the revert pack DLC was now available for an additional five dollars. Though this practice epitomizes the concept of "nickel and dime DLC," I still found myself unable to resist the sweet siren song of the revert. This transaction made me feel dirty, like it occurred in a back alley behind a strip club instead of over magical interweb tubes. I felt like I needed an Ace Ventura style shower after clicking the purchase button and couldn't look my wife in the eyes for the rest of the night afterwards. I'm not proud of it.
Future Steam Sale Hopefuls:
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Air Buccaneers - AB features online team-based, multiplayer blimp combat. I've read at various outlets online that it's a bit rough around the edges and can have the occasional bug, but in the game's defense, did you just read the previous sentence where I say that it features online team-based, multiplayer blimp combat? What more do you need to know really?
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Primordia - A point and click adventure game with a uniquely dark art style. Purchasing would help me feel like I am doing my part to preserve the adventure game genre (see also Deponia; also see The Book of Unwritten Tales).
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Half-Life Episode 3 - Hah! Just seeing if you're still paying attention.
Scott's "Cheating on Steam" Purchases (chronicling purchases through alternative digital distribution channels):
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Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (PC Digital Download) - Amazon's sale price was $5 cheaper than what was offered in the Steam Winter Sale. Coupled with my PS3 copy of Dark Souls, this now makes two copies of the game that I have yet to play!
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Humble Indie Bundle 7 - Seriously, just buy it. If you don't buy Humble Bundles, you are a soulless heathen destined to burn in the fiery depths of hell for all eternity. Support your independent developers, folks. This latest bundle even includes a DRM-free downloadable copy of Indie Game: The Movie.
Please bear in mind this damage report is only current through today, and I can make no guarantees as the Winter Sale unyieldingly marches on towards the New Year with new voting and flash sale temptations awaiting every 8 hours or so. Pulling myself away from the computer to minimize wallet damage has proven to be a fruitless endeavor as well, since Steam sales can now deviously stalk you via the Steam mobile app on your tablet and smart phone. I should really just save myself some work and set up some kind of dedicated Steam "Flex Spending" account to automatically deduct money from each of my paychecks. It would be way more efficient at this point.
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