toblix

Steam Summer Getaway Sale

Recommended Posts

I bought:

 

Fallout: New Vegas

Torchlight 2

 

I'm pretty cheap. Especially considering I bought the latter game with money I got from selling trading cards and my old TF2 crap in the Steam marketplace. But it feels nice that I basically got a free video game by playing video games. I could get used to it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Gah! The Ys games all just went on sale for half what their already discounted price was during the actual Steam sale. Oath and Origins can be had together for just ten bucks now.

 

Well, those games are pretty damn cool, if anybody's interested. (Probably don't worry about the Chronicles collection, though Ys 2 is pretty rad.)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Drunk me made some really questionable purchases on Friday night.  That guy is a dick.  For some reason he thought Euro Truck Simulator would be a riot, along with all of the Hitman games.  I don't even like the Hitman games.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 is fucking awesome. I've played like 30 hours of it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yea, that game is way more fun than I ever thought it could be. Extra fun if you don't live in Europe and you don't really know any of the signs. If you're American, you're probably gonna feel claustrophobic on a lot of the highways!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I find myself buying fewer and fewer games during the Steam sales specifically because on top of my mostly negative view of Valve these days, I find the sales themselves a little sleazy. Here's 25% off! Except at some point we're going to drop the price even further for a small amount of time, so get ready to feel like a sucker! And we're going to give you random collectibles for spending money that do nothing but get you points that also don't matter, but you have to get them all and you have to spend more money to do it!

 

I feel like they're no longer even trying to hide being manipulative any more. I basically restrict myself to my pre-existing wishlist, and even then I only end up buying a couple of things.

 

Honestly if I found something that handled updates and kept the game list as attractive and manageable, I'd liberate as much as I could and ditch Steam in a heartbeat. Thanks to Greenlight, most things are in multiple storefronts these days.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't get what all the fuss is about with Valve adding all the meaningless incentivization into Steam. Trading cards, cheeves, whatever - if you don't like it, don't worry about it! It's all completely optional, and if you have no interest in participating in any of it, you can still buy the same games for the same (deeply discounted) prices as everyone else! Hell, you can get games for cheaper, by selling off all your cards instead of crafting badges.

It just seems ridiculous to me to get so upset over a completely voluntary addition to a service that is otherwise fantastic for it's main purpose (that of digital distribution of games).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think that kind of audience engagement is increasingly important to Valve as companies consider digital distribution of their own, or as consoles evolve into PCs with built in digital distribution. If Steam keeps players engaged with a number of +social systems it will be harder for publishers to look elsewhere. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There are plenty of valid concerns in the Steam Trading Card thread you've been posting in, Niyeaux.

 

So how about an invalid concern?  Gabe Newell is literally Satan! Blarg blarg blarg!

Hehe. "Valid."

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't get what all the fuss is about with Valve adding all the meaningless incentivization into Steam. Trading cards, cheeves, whatever - if you don't like it, don't worry about it! It's all completely optional, and if you have no interest in participating in any of it, you can still buy the same games for the same (deeply discounted) prices as everyone else! Hell, you can get games for cheaper, by selling off all your cards instead of crafting badges.

It just seems ridiculous to me to get so upset over a completely voluntary addition to a service that is otherwise fantastic for it's main purpose (that of digital distribution of games).

 

Let me explain by way of analogy: I may well be able to get quite a cheap, good quality used car from a dodgy-looking used car salesman, but there'll always be that voice in the back of my mind saying that I simply haven't worked out how I'm getting screwed yet.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've never seen Valve as a dodgy-looking company, though. They're pretty transparent about their objectives as a company, and they've managed to make some of the best PC games of the last couple decades to boot.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

But they might be selling you FAULTY WARES built by CHILD LABOR or maybe even STOLEN GOODS.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Let me explain by way of analogy: I may well be able to get quite a cheap, good quality used car from a dodgy-looking used car salesman, but there'll always be that voice in the back of my mind saying that I simply haven't worked out how I'm getting screwed yet.

 

but that car is 100% guaranteed  to be in perfect working condition and if a design flaw is later found it will be automatically fixed for free, so it doesn't matter if the dodgy salesman thinks an air freshener is a free extra, the car is going to be perfect anyway

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

...I don't understand where you're going with that analogy. Is this about warranties? Are you saying a used car is going to be in perfect working order? I was trying to express that even if I'm not taken in by manipulative tactics I'd prefer to deal with someone who doesn't try them.

Incidentally, if a game doesn't work for you on Steam you're SOL. Or if it crashes 40 minutes in like one game I have does.

I have had difficulty reconciling Valve as good guys with the frequent stories of people having their Steam account suspended for no reason and not being able to get it back until it makes Kotaku, the creepy manipulative summer sale achievements (and now trading cards, with their random reward schedules to make them as Skinner-boxy as possible), the insertion of a no-class-action clause in the subscriber agreement, the fact that they have a subscriber agreement specifically so they're technically not a store and thus don't have to provide standard consumer protections like refunds of broken goods, Greenlight, the firing of Jeri Ellsworth, the Valve employee handbook filtered through this lens and the idea that if I put 150 of the finest minds in entertainment in a building and gave them nigh-unlimited resources for ten years I'd probably hope for more than a couple of pretty great games, albeit ones where most of the core ideas came from elsewhere. So I don't! I assume they're just like every other company and suddenly they make me pretty uncomfortable.

Gabe, though, Gabe is great. I like Gabe a lot, he is clearly a ferociously smart man! But Valve is not Gabe, and if Gabe left Valve and started a new company I'd like that new company a whole lot I'd bet. (I strongly disagree with the idea that they're transparent about their objectives - why say they were going big into hardware and then fire their hardware team? also whur is hl3 u guys)

Honestly I think the problem is that Valve like to get quantified data of everything and they have determined that this is effective without anyone going 'yes but is it ethical'.

 

But listen I understand that no-one else finds my bile about Valve particularly entertaining so I'm happy to let it rest.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Incidentally, if a game doesn't work for you on Steam you're SOL. Or if it crashes 40 minutes in like one game I have does.

That's not even remotely true. There are cases of people getting refunded for busted games.

 

You're just a big ol' baby what can't handle things you don't like. So there!!

 

Protip: a company is allowed to make money.

 

I think my problem is you're essentially comparing Valve to manipulate free-to-play social/mobile game developers. I've been at one of THOSE companies for the past year (before getting laid off two days ago, thank fucking god), and you're saying the same stuff I've been saying about that company since a month after I started. THOSE companies are manipulative and don't give a flying rat's ass about delivering good products, as long as they can make money. They do nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, unless it's guaranteed to pay off in the short term. They talk a big game of striving to make the best video game they can, but really only bother to implement features as barebones as possible without driving away their whales. Gotta keep dat sweet, sweet ARPDAU as high as possible! Bonus if they can do it for cheap and do it for years straight (which they do!). That you keep accusing Valve of similar exploitative practices without acknowledging the many, many, many great things they've also done is goddamn gross - not to mention that even the "exploitative" things they do are still really cool if you bother to look at it as a fun side project instead thinking you're forced to dive headfirst into the deep side of a pool filled with landmines - and I don't know how you can tolerate any business at all with that kind of attitude.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

...I don't understand where you're going with that analogy. Is this about warranties? Are you saying a used car is going to be in perfect working order? I was trying to express that even if I'm not taken in by manipulative tactics I'd prefer to deal with someone who doesn't try them.

 

 

sort of, but i really mean that it doesn't matter if you think the salesman is using manipulative tactics if you actually get exactly what you want and for a good price

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

you'll get a special gift from Valve when your account turns 10

Elmuerte, I have come to expose you as the sick twisted liar that you are. On the 27th of October my account turned 10 and I received no such special gift. Feel the shame, you sicko. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now