Alpha Protocol - Sale @ GamersGate

I also had to use that offer on Steam. Now I have Alpha Protocol and the new Sam & Max season. I'm afraid what the next offers will be, not mention when the Christmas sales come again. :z

Edit: And now the Deus Ex collection. Evil Steam.

It's certainly not the best game ever made, but in my opinion it was scapegoated by the majority of the press for Obsidians previous shoddy work rather than its own flaws. I enjoyed it for what it was.

Originally Posted by tolknaz
It's certainly not the best game ever made, but in my opinion it was scapegoated by the majority of the press for Obsidians previous shoddy work rather than its own flaws. I enjoyed it for what it was.

So far I find it quite frustrating. I am only up to the tutorial training missions but already the checkpoint system pisses me off to the max. Also UI choices like being given a choice in conversations but no indication if right or left means yes or no, just a dumb design decision.

I've been away for a few days, so this is late.

@Moriendor, why news? It was a good deal in my book. Amazon doesn't ship games to AU, so I don't (and won't) ever look there. I can't possibly have local knowledge for all our readers but it certainly was the best digital deal at the time.

@pox67, I can certainly appreciate the checkpoint system is a pain in the ass but you never lose very much. The conversation choices are all about attitude, not the "right" choice, so it isn't really a UI issue.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
@pox67, I can certainly appreciate the checkpoint system is a pain in the ass but you never lose very much. The conversation choices are all about attitude, not the "right" choice, so it isn't really a UI issue.

Checkpoints are a personal choice so I'll leave that alone now.

The conversation issue came about as I enabled AA in the nvidia console. That was one of the first things I did as the game is pretty ugly without it. I just learnt on the Steam forums that doing that takes away the font from conversations. Thus all I saw were 2, 3 or 4 dots I could highlight in conversations - I thought you had to kind of guess the response!

Now I am back to an uglier game but at least I know what the hell is going on!

Originally Posted by pox67
The conversation issue came about as I enabled AA in the nvidia console. That was one of the first things I did as the game is pretty ugly without it. I just learnt on the Steam forums that doing that takes away the font from conversations. Thus all I saw were 2, 3 or 4 dots I could highlight in conversations - I thought you had to kind of guess the response!

I experienced the same bug…

Well, that makes sense then!

Originally Posted by Dhruin
@Moriendor, why news? It was a good deal in my book. Amazon doesn't ship games to AU, so I don't (and won't) ever look there. I can't possibly have local knowledge for all our readers but it certainly was the best digital deal at the time.

OK, I was just wondering why the GG "deal" got singled out when it was -at least compared to retail in the US and in Europe- not even really that much of a "deal" to begin with. Maybe you should add a "for the retail-impaired" disclaimer next time or something like that . I mean it seemed a little strange since you guys are usually hesitant to post about GOG deals because of the GOG banner on the main page but then on the other hand GG basically got a free ad via that newsbit. Maybe to keep things more fair or neutral it would be a good idea to bundle the deals of the day or the week in a Blue's News-like on sale listing where digital distribution and retail deals get treated somewhat equally.

It's no bias. We don't hunt for deals. If we don't know it we can't post it.

Originally Posted by Moriendor
OK, I was just wondering why the GG "deal" got singled out when it was -at least compared to retail in the US and in Europe- not even really that much of a "deal" to begin with. Maybe you should add a "for the retail-impaired" disclaimer next time or something like that

I can't speak for the rest of the team, but I only post GOG, Impulse, Steam and GamersGate deals because they normally offer their games to anyone in the world. I'll post the occasional NA only sale from Impulse or Steam, but it has to be a really good sale.

BTW, I did post a list from Kotaku on some major sales going on at some retail stores. I posted that because Kotaku is one of the sites I check everyday for RPG related news.

To be really honest, for my taste, it is getting a tiny bit too much, the news on "deals".
But this is nothing but my personal opinion.

"Thanksgiving week" is all I got to say about that.

EDIT- No, I do have something to add. Mythros did post some real newsbits yesterday as for me I had a hard time finding much. I tried to bring anything but sales going on.

Really, I looked everywhere I knew of. All of the dozens of sites while still trying to get ready for an extremely important event this Monday. It's so important that if I don't do well I might get fired and yet I did search because I didn't want you guys to be hanging here with nothing.

I did find some CDP conference videos that I did my best to write down all the features in there so no one would have to watch those videos if they didn't want to get spoiled.

There were other rpg related newsbits as well, but it is Thanksgiving after all and there are a ton of sales going on. I'm not going to pass on those.

You send me a PM or contact rpgwatch with any RPG news and I'll make sure it gets up there right away.

Originally Posted by Moriendor
OK, I was just wondering why the GG "deal" got singled out when it was -at least compared to retail in the US and in Europe- not even really that much of a "deal" to begin with. Maybe you should add a "for the retail-impaired" disclaimer next time or something like that . I mean it seemed a little strange since you guys are usually hesitant to post about GOG deals because of the GOG banner on the main page but then on the other hand GG basically got a free ad via that newsbit. Maybe to keep things more fair or neutral it would be a good idea to bundle the deals of the day or the week in a Blue's News-like on sale listing where digital distribution and retail deals get treated somewhat equally.

Every post we make is essentially a free ad, no? Every post on every games news site is essentially a free ad.

I can't possibly spend the time to search out deals across the board - the ones I post are sent in or come to my attention online. For example, this one came from QT3, where someone obviously thought it was a good deal:

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-t…=42943&page=53

Actually, had I done more checking, I still would have concluded it was a good deal. I don't ever look at Amazon because they don't cover my market (sorry, can't help having some sort of local perspective).

Gamestop is $29.99 - they are the largest US games retailer, yes?

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-t…=42943&page=53

GoGamer is popular, I believe. $19.90…not bad.

http://www.gogamer.com/searchresults…4758&x=34&y=15

I often used to import from Game UK…22.99 pound, which is $30 for me.

http://www.game.co.uk/Games/PC-Games…alpha+protocol

Actually, your original post that many places have it for 15 pound or Euro is not a good deal to me because of the conversion. So, honestly, other than you obviously look at some place I don't or can't from here, it was a good deal. It then dropped to half that again!

Monopolisation (or, in my eyes, rather an "Oligopolisation") through downloadable games service providers : http://www.gamestar.de/kolumnen/2319582/steam.html

Google translation :

Übersetzung von Deutsch nach Englisch
Column: Steam & Co.
Why do we lose the Download Monopoly

Favorable as the deals never seem to Christmas for online retailers like Steam & Co to be. But are they really?

Daniel Raumer |

Date: 26.11.2010

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Around the Thanksgiving weekend in late November (in the U.S. traditionally the prelude to Weihnachstgeschäft) attract portals such as Steam, PlayStation Network or Xbox Marketplace again with discounts on their downloads. It sounds superficially not bad. What we often forget this game buyer: conceal such loss leaders, that the prices to Web sites on average are higher, even in the budget area.

The classic packed game in single-or mail order goes through in his life a price spiral downward, depending on buyer interest, more or less quickly: After a few months, the sale price often halved from 50 to 25 €, and he later drops to 10 € and less . Through the colorful competition in the supply margin trading is flexible, but that traders catch customers or want to get rid of remaining stock, which further depressed prices.

Steam & Co.: Steam attracted to the holiday season with special offers. Steam attracted to Christmas with special offers. Now is not that online platforms such as Steam would not even reduce prices. Steam is actually older titles from the original price after a time down to 30 €. There they can persist long term, even if in the classical trade have long been very different thresholds. Who the one year old Dragon Age: Origins "and" Need for Speed: Shift on Steam instead of buying the online shipping, pay (postage included) are currently on average 25 € for Bioshock 2 is 15th He who seeks finds something even deeper deals. Modern Warfare 2 costs as box currently around 35 €. Steam customers can only dream of such a price: you shell out for as it was 60 € for the shooter, the same as for the successor to Black Ops.

The inexpensive weekend offers and Thanksgiving specials from Steam is great, no doubt bargain. But they are just crumbs, because behind the fast download rates back to the old level. This is usually significantly above the free market.

For download, seems to be the traditional market mechanism of pricing on supply and demand to be overridden. Why? Because the industries create de facto monopolies on technological islands. App Store, PSN and Xbox Marketplace are only apparently competing with each other. As soon as I use the hardware of a manufacturer, I am dependent, at least for downloads at the mercy of the associated digital offering. The disadvantages are reflected in higher average prices. And, although downloads are free of storage space, no postage is obtained, there are no packing charges.

Steam & Co.: Call of Duty 2 is available at online retailers are still only at the original price. Call of Duty 2 is available at online retailers are still only at the original price. On the PC, it just looks superficially better than monopoly on platforms. Here we have players at the moment but next to other providers such as Steam Load Games, Gamers Gate, pulses or other choices, but who for one of them decides to remain faithful to this rule. For bound by additional services such as gaming and friends lists that libraries provide their clients in itself, also has many juggling multiple user accounts to painfully. And should prevail in the near future streaming services like OnLive Gaikai or so would be established on the PC monopoly Islands.

At least for now, everything indicates that the classical disc is on the way out - no downloads or streams are the future. That would not be so problematic if it also were a variety of competition from various providers. De facto, however a few companies dominate the market. You set the price. "You want to play the new Call of Duty? All right, is 90 €. How that is too expensive, you want to wait until it gets cheaper? Good luck, because that will not be cheaper for us! "

The mine in the "brave new world download pay 'with no disk until further our customers. Competition is good here just the business. Sounds corny, but it is probably truer than ever.

*sigh* The article compares closed platforms like PSN and Live against an open, universal market and then makes all sorts of assumptions.

If you don't like Steam or Direct2Drive or Gamersgate or Impulse or Metaboli or GOG or Beamdog or the individual publisher and developer sites like EA.com or even The Larian Vault, then buy a retail version.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
If you don't like Steam … then buy a retail version.

That's fine except some games require Steam (and I assume the others) for the retail versions. Fallout New Vegas for instance.

And a few are never sold via retail.

Originally Posted by BillSeurer
That's fine except some games require Steam (and I assume the others) for the retail versions. Fallout New Vegas for instance.

Irrelevant for the point of the article. You can buy retail versions, so there is no pricing "monopoly", which is the (erroneous) point of the article. Steam is used to deliver Achievements, patches and piracy protection but you can buy the game anywhere from - even "competitors" to Steam like Direct2Drive.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
And a few are never sold via retail.

And some are never sold via digital delivery. The only time games are not released at retail is when they are indie titles that could not command retail shelf space or when an international publisher is unable to negotiate an agreement, usually because of the perceived weakness of their offering. In both cases, the game would not be available if not for digital delivery (where such exists). Can you produce evidence otherwise?

Don't forget that, in terms of digital stores, it's usually the publisher that sets the price and not the store.

Digital is both good and bad, and I wish publishers would really get their act together and properly use it. Yes, EA, that means get stuff on Gog.