Bargain Thread 2011 Edition

Alistair · 2011-10-22T06:42:25.000Z

But they expect you to take some kind of physical object actually into your own home. I can’t believe publishers have started pulling this shit.

Clay · 2011-10-22T06:51:34.000Z

I just noticed that Trine is $1.99 on the Mac App Store for a limited time, for anybody with a Mac. Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trine/id411903084?mt=12

Mr_Bismarck · 2011-10-22T06:52:58.000Z

If you’re feeling brave, a Skyrim steam code is $34.99 on IntKeys.

kerzain · 2011-10-22T07:06:59.000Z

Mr Bismarck:

If you’re feeling brave, a Skyrim steam code is $34.99 on IntKeys.

Yea, this is real nice (Intkeys user agreement):

Intkeys:

Your use of the Service is at your sole risk. The Service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without any warranty or condition, express, implied or statutory including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness of particular purpose.

Dunno how they expect that to be interpreted, but it looks to me like they can just take your money and run if they can’t provide a working code. I gamble not.

Warning · 2011-10-22T07:57:37.000Z

So I got Dragon Age II from Origin for $8 and it seemed to work well but I was surprised to find it was version 1.00. I had to download the latest patch from the official website and apply it.

Does Steam just have me spoiled? I really was baffled that Origin doesn’t patch the games it distributes.

kerzain · 2011-10-22T08:24:36.000Z

I didn’t know that about Origin, thanks for the meta.

Nephrinn · 2011-10-22T09:08:11.000Z

kerzain:

Yea, this is real nice (Intkeys user agreement):

Dunno how they expect that to be interpreted, but it looks to me like they can just take your money and run if they can’t provide a working code. I gamble not.

It is a gamble, sure. But not all key vendors are out to steal your money. I’ve had success with MW2 and BFBC2, snagging them for $20 a piece the day they came out.

Probably not appropriate to be directing people to these sites as bargain deals though.

Telefrog · 2011-10-22T09:47:15.000Z

Hard Reset $14.98 at Greenmangaming.

Green Man Gaming

Hard Reset

Take control of Major Fletcher in the cyberpunk city of Bezoar and dive into the action of a beautifully crafted world.

Registers on Steam

Kadath · 2011-10-22T10:06:40.000Z

If you buy 1 year sub to WOW you get Diablo3 for free, yours to keep even when your sub ends. You also get a special mount and expansion (not diablo) beta access.

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&tag=D3WoWFAQ&rhtml=true

If you buy the collectors edition on your own later, you can tie your key to get the special in game stuff to your account and it extends your sub by four months to WOW. That’s about right for 4x$15 months but that part of it seemed a little cheesy to me.

I don’t play wow but thought it deserved a mention here in Bargain Thread

Alistair · 2011-10-22T10:21:46.000Z

Who are Green Man Gaming and why are they so cheap…?

Moggraider · 2011-10-22T10:26:51.000Z

Dude, WoW has a new race of monk pandas? This shit seems like self-parody.

Ezdaar · 2011-10-22T10:34:31.000Z

Nephrinn:

It is a gamble, sure. But not all key vendors are out to steal your money. I’ve had success with MW2 and BFBC2, snagging them for $20 a piece the day they came out.

Probably not appropriate to be directing people to these sites as bargain deals though.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I tried a similar site once (not Intkeys but one just like it). It was an EA game and it worked fine until one day my EA account was banned. Turns out the key had been bought from Direct2Drive using a stolen credit card and then sold to the key vendor. The credit card company told Direct2Drive who told EA who then closed my account. Luckily they sorted it all out for me and nothing was hurt in the long run, but it was a big hassle. Naturally the key vendor never gave me a refund.

Creole_Ned · 2011-10-22T10:45:31.000Z

Steam strangely has two daily deals listed for October 22nd. Neither game page is showing the discount for me so I present this large jpg instead!

EDIT: Sacraboar is now showing the discount on its page, $3.06 (66% off). “Sacraboar is an RTS game in which players have to capture their opponent’s boar trophy.”

I’ve always hoped someone would make an RTS about boar trophies and here we are!

YgpDb.jpg690×780

Kaliante · 2011-10-22T11:11:40.000Z

Nephrinn:

It is a gamble, sure. But not all key vendors are out to steal your money. I’ve had success with MW2 and BFBC2, snagging them for $20 a piece the day they came out.

Probably not appropriate to be directing people to these sites as bargain deals though.

Well, someone mentioned Intkeys some time ago in the thread. I looked at the site back then and it seems that many of the keys are only region free after you activate them on Steam via a VPN they direct you to that spoofs a Russian IP (or they “allow” you to send them your Steam logon information and they do it for you). I have no idea whether that is legal, but I have no desire to mislead Valve about my location just to save a few bucks on a video game.

Some of their keys do seem to be truly region free, such as Battlefield 3. However, even for those games you still need to decide whether you want to patronize a business that frequently encourages providing false information when using the keys they sell.

Kal

Martal · 2011-10-22T12:26:27.000Z

I know the horrors of GTA 4’s PC port are legendary, so I wanted to make sure. I have a fairly old PC (a three core AMD processor that runs at 2.1 GHZ and a 3870. Ram should be fine). Should I be able to get an adequate experience with this hardware? Not trying to max it, just have it comparable with the console versions.

kerzain · 2011-10-22T12:29:51.000Z

GTA4 has notoriously bad PC performance. Not to be a downer, but it’s probably going to run like a pig, and won’t look or play anywhere near as good as it would on a console. This is one of the few instances where I’d push someone away from the PC version of anything.

kerzain · 2011-10-22T12:38:13.000Z

Creole Ned:

Steam strangely has two daily deals listed for October 22nd. Neither game page is showing the discount for me so I present this large jpg instead!

Scaraboar is finally reflecting the discount, but Hydrophobia still looks full price. There’s also the 66% off Weekend Deal for Alice: Madness Returns, and all GTA games, currently running too.

Creole_Ned · 2011-10-22T12:41:43.000Z

I noticed the same and amended my post. I’m still not sure what the status of Hydrophobia is. Maybe they posted the news item a day early in error?

Also, GTA4 runs much better now on the PC after being patched up. It would probably still chug on a mid-range PC and Martal’s may fall into that category, so I’d conditionally agree that he might want to stay away from it. On the other hand, for $12.49 you get every GTA game and only 4 is likely to present any performance issues.

triggercut · 2011-10-22T12:43:57.000Z

kerzain:

GTA4 has notoriously bad PC performance. Not to be a downer, but it’s probably going to run like a pig, and won’t look or play anywhere near as good as it would on a console. This is one of the few instances where I’d push someone away from the PC version of anything.

This is incorrect now, and a comment made by someone who is ignorant of what’s happened with GTA IV PC since it first came out.

If you have a quad-core CPU, more than 4 gb RAM, and a DX10 card with at least 512gb VRAM, you can disregard it.

Rockstar has been damned solid with post-release support of GTA IV. The Mod community for the game is incredibly active as well. If you head over to Rock Paper Shotgun and search for GTA IV mods, you’ll hook into mods that take a pretty game and make it jaw-dropping.

If you have an up-to-date modern-ish rig I think the console is the WORST way to play GTA IV. Get a wired 360 gamepad hooked into your PC and you’ll experience what is, hands-down, the BEST way to play the game.

EDIT: For Martal–your rig is showing a lot of age, sadly. If you’ve no way to upgrade from a 3870 card, stick to the console version.

Cobra · 2011-10-22T12:46:15.000Z

Warning:

So I got Dragon Age II from Origin for $8 and it seemed to work well but I was surprised to find it was version 1.00. I had to download the latest patch from the official website and apply it.

Does Steam just have me spoiled? I really was baffled that Origin doesn’t patch the games it distributes.

I had the exact same problem. Pretty stupid.