Spent a nice hour or two just paging through the possibilities, writing down all those that looked interesting. Why write it down? Cos the Steam wishlist is not powerful enough to record all the data I desire and require when figuring out what to buy.
I know, sounds very crazy, but I make tables and use spreadsheets in order to help me picture the bargains I could possibly achieve from the Steam sale, while still remaining within a semblance of budget.
The list started out with over 30+ options, but is slowly being whittled down now.
One of the easiest ways to prune back the list is to look at the discount value being offered. 33% or less, forget it. Some day, during a daily deal, it will drop to 50 or 75%, guaranteed.
50% options are trickier. Some may be as good as it gets. Some may still yet drop to 75% if one waits long enough, or waits for a daily deal - which might be coming in the next few days as Christmas and New Year's eve forms the holiday period.
75% and up options are the most worth considering. Of the lot that only stir a modicrum of interest, check if there's a demo so that one can try it out and make a judgement then.
I've been staring at a lot of indie options this Christmas. Seems like the indie games are more interesting and more off the beaten path. Maybe they are also just shorter, smaller games that I think might fit on my hard disk.
Truth is, I just spent the other half of my free time off Steam and reading WoW Cataclysm hunter guides voraciously. Uh oh. I still don't think I can conceivably commit to raids, dungeons or arenas, but a long term uber-casual goal of playing endless games of Battlegrounds is starting to coalesce. I might change my mind the moment I hit the more hardcore level brackets, but at level 35-40 and 40-45, I have been having a tremendous amount of fun.
Thing is, I don't do too badly when faced with uber-casual random opposition. A simple sense of tactics and being only in places where one outnumbers the enemy and quick respawns on death when you do die tends to yield passably pleasing results. I liked TFC, I liked Natural Selection, and I like Global Agenda. Also, I do like Arathi Basin. Heh.
It also helps when you're playing a ranged class with a pet that is almost as annoying as a feral druid. Maybe it's just awful class balance of Blizzard in the mid-levels. Only paladins and the odd warlock and being outnumbered take me down.
I keep feeling oddly guilty about Guild Wars. There's so much I could be doing there. Except I have to unlock shit I've already done on another character in order to do those things. And that's ridiculously time-consuming, and brain-taxing to attempt at 9pm in the night.
Perhaps if I attempt taking some leave next week, and having a stretch of uninterrupted days to plow through it, I might. Or I might just keep gaining 2-3 levels in WoW every night, clawing my ding-addicted butt up to level 85... where I promptly start another alt to check out the other zones I haven't seen yet. (Or quit for a long extended break having finally gotten tired of being asked to mindlessly kill 10-15 of every shape, size and skin of creature around.)
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| Buying games on Steam is serious business! |
This is my list minus some no-way not-now culling.
Blueberry garden is going for 99 cents, I have been -waiting- for that game for a very long time now. Picking that up tonight. No way it's going any cheaper on a daily deal.
The most expensive thing on the list is Fallout 3. Fallout 3? Don't I already have Fallout 3? Um, yes, I do. But I can't find the CD anymore, and without the stupid CD in the drive, I can't play a game I already own. :(
Infuriating, yes. As the GOTY edition, it comes with 5 packs of DLC that I don't have, which should technically be worth $4 each....says the rationalization part of me who kinda wants to play the game again, attempting to convince the miserly part of me that is really miffed at buying games repeatedly...
...Already we have to buy games for the PC, and for the iPad or the Xbox or the PS3 separately. I have multiple copies of Mass Effect on PC and Steam now. I have Steam and iPad copies of Plants vs Zombies. I own a PC copy of Morrowind and a Steam copy with DLC. With the Humble Indie Bundle #2, I have Steam and PC standalone versions of Braid, Osmos and Machinarium.
Will this insanity never end?
But I really really CANNOT find the goddamn @)(&@#! Fallout 3 disc anymore. :(
(And no, not downloading a no-cd crack. I just don't trust those types of websites anymore, too easy for 'em to put other things in the crack and in the website scripts to hijack other things...)
Mafia, being a more popular type game by a more popular type of bulk publisher, has a chance of dropping cheaper in a daily deal. Gonna wait on that one.
I have been waiting endlessly for Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble to drop in price for a very long time now. Thing is, it may drop further. I just don't know how much longer I can wait. I may end up doing a Torchlight - buying it at 50% off, playing it to sate the urge, knowing full well that by the time my urge is finally sated, it'll be on 75% off. Ie. paying a premium to get some peace of mind.
The rest are a TON of indie games, some more attractive than others. I'm about convinced to get the packs. Each game is about a buck, even though I already own a few of those. They're not going down any further, it's about as cheap as it gets.
The blue highlighted stuff are interesting, but I think they stand a chance of dropping further in a later sale, be it summer or next winter. The good news is all of them have demos, so I will try them out and see if I want to play 'em now or later.
Ironically, I think we have arrived, at the future of gaming. Games will cost $1 - 5 bucks as a microtransaction, often created by independents, with the most popular ones being worth $10-15, scoring via word of mouth through social media and meme fads. The price I'm willing to pay on Steam, is about the same as what I am willing to pay for games on my iPad.
Big publishers who make big name games and big name sequels will continue on their blockbluster titles, releasing them for $50-60 a pop, and then dropping the price to $20-30 a year or two later, and then to $5-15 or bundling them later.
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