It's the most wonderful time of the year (Steam summer sale)

[Josef K]

The annual wallet raping has begun albeit with massive network problems. Anyone been able to take advantage of the tasty bargains yet?

[madhair60]

Boy, if this sale had come when I had money in late June like it usually does then maybe I wouldn't be sat here offering sex for Paypal.

I think this is the worst thing that has ever happened.  A Steam sale, and I have no money.  Imagine it.

[wasp_f15ting]

Baaahh steaming ballsack!! I hope shogun stays like that till tomorrow night my wallet is coming out to get raped.

[Steve Lampkins]

Please vote for SR3 deal. Thanks.

[waste of chops]

Remember the golden rule of the Steam sale: if it's not a daily deal, wait until the end of the sale before you buy it in case it gets even cheaper.

[Dark Sky]

"Sorry

The Steam Store is experiencing some heavy load right now. Please try again later."

[Theremin]

"There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance."

Dammit. Anyone else encountering something similar?

[Dark Sky]

I just managed to buy Terraria for £1.49 and it went okay!  There must be so much traffic, hence the glitches

Also just bought Legend of Grimrock for £4 (daily deal), the Deus Ex 3 DLC "Missing Link" for £2.24 (flash sale, ends in an hour or so), and the complete Cyan collection for £9.99...which is brill, really, because although I have MYST and Riven and realMYST, I've always wanted their earlier children's games, and I don't have the complete URU or MYST V.  So I'm rather chuffed about that.

Hurrah!

[Famous Mortimer]

Please don't buy things from Steam, cos they're a crock of shit and when you have a problem with something you've bought from them, then they will never give you anything remotely approaching support.

[madhair60]

Please don't buy things from Steam, cos they're a crock of shit and when you have a problem with something you've bought from them, then they will never give you anything remotely approaching support.

I've contacted support about 8 times and never found them any less than excellent.

[Famous Mortimer]

I've contacted support about 8 times and never found them any less than excellent.

Do you want to ask them for my £30 back then? Perhaps it's just me they don't like.

[Dark Sky]

I love Steam, I think it's an excellent platform and has done wonders for PC gaming.

Never had a problem with them, though.  What happened, Famous Mortimer?  Tell us the whole story.

[Famous Mortimer]

Bought Max Payne 3, and every time I tried to start it, it just froze my laptop. I checked their site, and tried all their recommended trouble-shoots for it. Then I checked their forums and found hundreds of people had the same problem, to the extent there was already a community fix for something that Steam weren't sorting out. Tried that, didn't work either.

So I went on their complaints bit and asked for more help, they just repeated the stuff that had already been on the website, and told me to contact Rockstar. I said I'd not bought it from Rockstar, I'd bought it from them - if I'd gone to Gamestation and bought it and it didn't work, it's not like they'd say "nah mate, Rockstar is in London, you need to take it there". I quoted them the relevant bits and pieces of law, including the online cooling off period (which they'd delayed in answering me, so had elapsed), but they kept saying "it's nothing to do with us, go to Rockstar". Then I got annoyed after the fifth exchange, and told them to sod off.

My computer has more than enough power to play the game, so it's not that.

I imagine as long as you're not asking for a refund, they're absolutely lovely to you, but I'm just not prepared to lay any money down for any of their games again if this is the response to "something you sold me doesn't work and I want my money back".

Sorry, this is the second thread about Steam I've derailed with my grumbling, your consumer choices are your own and I'll shut up.

[Wilbur]

Well I think that is poor customer service and people shouldnt have to put up with that but its so common now that I am surprised when I actually get good customer service. I suppose with it being Steam you cant just sell it on either. I'd be irritated as well.

[Dark Sky]

Max Payne 3

Oh yeah, I remember someone complaining about it not working in the MP3 thread...that must've been you.  I spent an hour or so looking up fixes and stuff but everything just rehashed what was in the Steam thread which you'd already tried.

I honestly don't know what the Steam small-print is like.  Certainly if you buy a PC game from a shop you're verbally told that you can't bring it back if the cellophane has been opened.  PC games are a bit of a risky purchase because you can have perfect specs yet for some unknown reason a piece of software won't run properly.  You'd think Steam, with its DRM, would be happier with refunding games which don't work.  Presumably their attitude is, if it doesn't work, it's the fault of the developer.

Speaking of which, has there not been a patch or anything to fix the MP3 problem?

[wasp_f15ting]

Got Shogun 2, Trine 1 & 2 thus far.. dunno what else to buy..

[The Region Legion]

Bit of a stonking deal on Alan Wake - either the game for £5.74, the game + collectors edition crap for £6.74.... OR... the game, collectors edition crap AND the recently released essentially-entirely-new game Alan Wake: American Nightmare for £7.74!

Figure it's not going to get any better than 75% off even if it does go into a daily deal, so it has become my first purchase of the summer sale. Hooray!

[eluc55]

Just brought GTA4, Portal 1 & 2, Half Life 2 and Left for Dead 2, so my mate and I could play co-op.

I've never played any of them before, stupidly.

I actually wanted to buy The Darkness 2 and GTA3 as well, but I fucked up my date of birth [nb]leaving the year as 2012[/nb] and now it thinks I'm a baby and won't let me buy them.

[madhair60]

You guys don't know about the "WAIT FOR THE DAILY DEALS" rule?  I guess if you wanna play co-op right fucking now...

Snark aside, you will have shit-tons of fun with GTA 4.  Online in free mode it is just so fucking good.  Definitely play Portal 2 in single player too, if you haven't.

[mikeyg27]

The Half-Life series was on a flash deal, I bought Episodes 1 & 2 last night at 75% off.

Incidentally, these flash deals are borderline evil. They just MAKE[nb]No willpower at all here, I'm afraid...[/nb] you check on the site every six hours instead of once a day.

[Wilbur]

So is MP3 worth £15 ?

[Beagle 2]

I just bought all the half life 2 episodes & team fortress & portal for £7.49. I've no idea if that's good or not, but it'll certainly keep me quiet for a while!

[samadriel]

Well, TF2's free these days, but that's still good.

[Dark Sky]

So is MP3 worth £15 ?

If you can wait six to twelve months to play it, I'd wait.  It's bound to drop further in price.  I did enjoy it, but it didn't leap out as a must-play.

Just brought GTA4, Portal 1 & 2, Half Life 2 and Left for Dead 2, so my mate and I could play co-op.

I've never played any of them before, stupidly.

Half Life 2 is a high quality FPS.  Doesn't do anything original, but it's very well done.  The way they're selling Portal 2 for only a few pounds actually disgusts me, because that game is so good it should have a price tag of at least £20.  But it's also not quite as perfect as Portal 1; enjoy them, they're wonderful games!  And the co-op in Portal 2 is excellent.

I actually wanted to buy The Darkness 2 and GTA3 as well, but I fucked up my date of birth [nb]leaving the year as 2012[/nb] and now it thinks I'm a baby and won't let me buy them.

Urgh I did that once.  Can't remember how I fixed it...  Try exiting Steam, then clearing your browser cache and cookies, then loading it up again.  Might sort it.

[jutl]

Half Life 2 is a high quality FPS.  Doesn't do anything original, but it's very well done.

The gravity gun was fairly original back when it was released.

[samadriel]

The important thing HL2 gets right is the balance between environmental puzzling and gunplay.  Games like Doom 3 or Bioshock which only contain the latter turn into a real grind, where you're doing the same thing hour after hour; HL2 usually keeps you busy with different things to do between the gunfights.

[wasp_f15ting]

I just got dead island.. these prices are so lovely.. I wish everyone could be a PC gamer. :)

[wasp_f15ting]

So is MP3 worth £15 ?

Indeed! Great great game, good set pieces and the story is pretty interesting too. For that price it is a real bargain.

[Dark Sky]

The gravity gun was fairly original back when it was released.

Very good point!  I've played so many games which have ripped it off I forgot it got there first.

The important thing HL2 gets right is the balance between environmental puzzling and gunplay.  Games like Doom 3 or Bioshock which only contain the latter turn into a real grind, where you're doing the same thing hour after hour; HL2 usually keeps you busy with different things to do between the gunfights.

HL2 definitely has a very carefully metered flow to it, though some of the driving sections went on far too long, I think.  But there's a surprising amount of variety in it without it resorting to "minigames" (driving sequences aside) as a lot of modern shooters do.  Bloody minigames.

I've heard that DOOM 3 gets repetitive (though I've not played much of it).  But I do refute that Bioshock is simply repetitive gunplay, though; I personally think Bioshock has much more depth than HL2, with the RPG elements providing more to the gameplay beyond just shooting, the design work being a lot more imaginative and nuanced, the concept of the game being vastly more original, the atmosphere being far more involving, and the story far more compelling and exciting.  Plus I adore the political/philosophical themes which underpin the whole story, environment and characters. 

(So saying, its dashed off sequel, made without control of auteur Ken Levine, simply did "more of the same" with a lesser story, and is certainly guilty of the charges.)

[Dark Sky]

I just got dead island.. these prices are so lovely..

If it drops any more in price I'll definitely get that one.  Come on you 75% offs!

I wish everyone could be a PC gamer. :)

But but but how would I feel superior to anyone else then...?!