1981

I purchased this mouse after my Razer Deathadder failed to respond consistently to left clicks after a year, and I love it. And the textured sides eliminate sweating on the fingers.

I liked the feel of this mouse, but it lacked weight and the drivers sucked. Also, see above for its poor longevity. I’d recommend against purchasing it.

1982

Oh I agree on the pricing and availability. That’s why I own a ton of other games on Steam and similar services. I would not have bought half or more of those if I had to try to find box copies in bargain bins or off Ebay. I love the digital distribution revolution for bringing me lots of older and/or quirkier titles at bargain bin prices. It’s the handful of games I consider my own personal classics that I want to have physical boxed copies of, partly because I can rest assured my copy will never disappear if a digital distribution site goes under, and partly because I’m old school and grew up with that feeling of joy that came from occasionally taking the box/manual/inserts down off the shelf and simply handling them.

By “good thing” I simply am referring to the ongoing rift between EA and Steam and not having to worry about availability and DLC because I have the retail boxed copy. As you mention though, there is the drawback of EA server authentication. I suppose if EA ever goes under my boxed copy will become rather worthless, at least until someone hacks the verification.

1983

I got a G500 a few months ago after my last mouse died. Easily the best mouse I’ve ever used. I’m actually considering buying myself one for work, it’s that awesome.

1984

I’ve used my G9 longer than I have any other mouse I’ve owned (three years or so now) for hours and hours per day and it’s still going strong. That little thumbrest is a godsend.

1985

Yeah I am replacing a 2009 Razer DeathAdder, its 2 years and 1 month old, so of course out of warranty. And the middle click was showing issues 6+ months ago.

While Razer products are cool looking and work well, they do not last long under daily use.

This is the third Razer mouse I have replaced in 5 years. :|

1986

Not 100% sure on this, but i was under the impression that if EA yanks their servers for these two games, it’s the DLC we couldn’t access not the core game. Any game that didn’t have DLC in it, I could still play if I couldn’t hook-up with EA.

I’ve been using my Diamondback for a few years now… love Razer mice. Anyone else who sits at my desk seems to get overwhelmed with my fast setting.

1987

Steam’s Midweek Madness is half off on Magic: The Gathering 2012along with all of its DLC. Base game for $5, Deck unlock bundle for $4, or complete bundle with game, deck unlocks, foil conversions, and the soon-to-release expansion for $18.

I’ve been waiting for a sale on this, but now am torn between getting just the game or spending the extra $13 for the whole package.

1988

Haven’t had an issue with my 2yo Razer with daily use. I’ve tried different gaming mice, but I just like the feel of this one best.

1989

Same here. 3 years with my DeathAdder and counting.
It was my first ever real gaming mouse and I love it since I bought it
(used Microsoft Optical mice before for years).

1990

Sweet. Been waiting for this to go on sale. Thanks for posting it.

EDIT: Looking at the bundles, it appears the Deluxe Edition is just a bunch of ridiculous foils and deck unlocks. I can’t tell if the forthcoming expansion is $4.99 or $9.99, and I don’t want all that other stuff in deluxe, so it looks like the best bet is to buy the base game and get the expansion separately (or wait until it inevitably drops in price)…

1991

Will someone who likes Spectromancer like Magic: the Gathering 2012?

1992

Very possibly. For $5 you really can’t go wrong, even though Planeswalkers has no deckbuilding (which is about 80% of the charm of Magic).

1993

Depends on how picky they are. I quite like Spectromancer but hate Magic. It’s a bit of the old strategy vs luck debate.

1994

Well, I ended up up picking up the $17.99 bundle x 2, one each for myself and the wife. Although I like the idea of deck building, I know it’s not something she would enjoy (she likes the randomness of Spectromancer, makes for quicker games, without having to put too much effort into deck building), so if this version of Magic doesn’t feature it then it’s actually a selling point for me.

I’m not all that great at Spectromancer, but have like 80 hours played. If you ever see me online in Steam feel free to invite me to a game.

1995

Ooh, thanks for pointing that out. I had been reading “full deck” as adding a whole new deck to the game, which seemed worthwhile. Looking more closely, though, it seems to be just a cheat to unlock all the add-in cards you would get by playing the deck anyway.

(Contains no new content. This content is also available through game play.)

Knowing that, the $5 version definitely seems like the way to go.

1996

But foils are shiny!

1997

Very likely. You know how you have 5 columns of cards in Spectromancer? Imagine getting rid of 3 of the 4 common columns, and then getting more cards from the other 2. And then, instead of getting mana automatically each turn, you get even more cards that you must play for mana.

There’s no steam demo, but this game is on XBLA, so you can demo it on your 360.

Hey the free foil card offer is still available!

1998

Once again: Just pick up the base game and the expansion tomorrow/when it goes on sale. All the DLC is either cosmetic (Some cards will get a golden sparkling border) and actually robs you of some of the gameplay (each of the 10 decks has 15 locked cards, which you can mix and match with the base deck which you would usually unlock by winning duels. The DLC unlocks all of them from the beginning).

But if you are a fan of strategic cardgames definitely pick it up. It’s much improved compared to the 2009 version with some really fun decks.

1999

Unlocking the extras from the get so is a selling point for us, since my wife isn’t as prolific a gamer as I am we’ll be on equal footing from the start. Unless this stuff is all unlocked by default in PvP matches or something, and only applies to the single player campaign (which is how Spectromancer does it), I’d rather just have access to it from the get go for a few bucks.

I gotta say though, the foils in this game are fugly compared to the ones in the CCG Legends of Norrath (which is a spectacular game, though stupidly expensive and cost prohibitive to play).

2000

Thanks for pointing that out. Deck building really is most of the game for me, actual execution has never been that interesting.