xkcd

by **pseudoidiot** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 6:37 pm UTC

Basically the same way every other promotion in the world works. % off, BOYO, whatever.

by **Xeio** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 7:05 pm UTC

Menacing Spike wrote:Would you guys know if those are temporarily free or permanently so?

They are permanent, and even if they weren't downloadable forever, there is no DRM on GoG so you could download the installer and keep it forever.

by **New User** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 8:42 pm UTC

Sometimes they have games offered free temporarily. When this happens, if you get the game then it's added to your account as a purchased game on GOG.com. Even if you don't download the installer, it's considered to be purchased by you, so if the promotional event ends and the game is no longer offered free by GOG, you can still log in and download it anytime.

by **Jorpho** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 3:55 am UTC

Menacing Spike wrote:Would you guys know if those are temporarily free or permanently so? If so, what do they gain by offering free shit?

Beneath a Steel Sky, Lure of the Temptress, Tyrian 2000, and Ultima 4 were all independently and legally given away as genuine freeware long before GOG came into existence (as opposed to "hay gaiz here's a game that's really old so now it's fwee!" freeware), and their continuing legal availability one one form or another is by no means contingent on the continued existence of GOG. I'm not sure what the story behind Dragonsphere is; that's a relatively recent development.

Of course, by offering them on GOG, they get to say, "Sign up for GOG! We'll give you some games for free!" Other sites have done the same. They serve as examples of the convenience of their DRM-free offerings, too. (Last time I checked, though, Teenagent was still packaged with DOSBox rather than ScummVM, which runs it much more smoothly. Very odd, that.)

As for Fallout, I have no idea what's going on there; they don't seem to have made any news post explaining why they're giving it away, how long it will be given away, and what might be coming next.

by **Xeio** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 4:18 am UTC

It was part of CD Project drumming up interest for the new "dark souls inspired" game they just announced. Not much details on it I believe though and it won't be due out till next year.

There's been a few other free GoG games though, I have Empire Earth and Broken Sword in my account which I never bought (I've only bought The Witcher 2 and The Earth 2150 Trilogy on there). So they do things like this on occasion.

by **Jorpho** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 6:28 am UTC

Oh, I thought you had to log in manually to get those. (Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games and Tex Murphy 1+2 were also free giveaways at one point.)

by **Xeio** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 1:23 pm UTC

Jorpho wrote:Oh, I thought you had to log in manually to get those. (Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games and Tex Murphy 1+2 were also free giveaways at one point.)

I might have done a click-through for them, I don't remember. But I just meant that this isn't the first time they've given away games.

by **Felstaff** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:47 am UTC

Anyone else get on the DotA2 beta? When I applied for the beta, (months ago?), when all the questions came up, they were all like "we need people who played and enjoyed the original DotA" (which doesn't really sound like me) and all the questions were DotA-related. My answers (paraphrased from memory):

"What's your current MMOBA game and why?"

I've been playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook for, like, three years now. Even though it's strictly not a multi-player battle arena, I do pretend that some jewels are my Facebook friends, and I enjoy destroying them all.

What do you think about Dota 2 presented on Gamescom?

I thought that was "Gamescum", and was shocked that such a site could exist. I'm sure DotA2 presented itself very well on Gamescom. It may have bought flowers and chocolates and scrubbed up well? I don't know, I'm not a doctor.

What's the thing you like the most, and thing you dislike the most in Dota 2?

The pronunciation, I suppose. "Doe-Tah-Too". It sounds like one of George Lucas' droids. I would probably think you should come up with actual words to go with that acronym, as there's no evidence that DotA2 stands for anything. How about Don't Overlook The Acronym?

What do you think will happen to DotA (1) after Dota 2 is released?

A quaint country retirement home, like Musty Pines, where it can live out the rest of its days shouting at furniture and mistrusting pigeons.

And so on.

Anyway, I got in! Do they read these things?

by **existential_elevator** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:30 am UTC

Much like the rest of us, they probably couldn't refuse such a glorious bastard as yourself <3

by **Xeio** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:46 pm UTC

Pretty decent sale going on at Impluse*.

$20 Dragon Age 2 + Origins (If somehow you still don't have origins)
$10 Deus Ex: Human Revolution (15 for deluxe)
$25 Assassins Creed: Revelations

And some others

*Apparently Gamestop has finally integrated Impulse into their main site for the digital distributions. And you can buy the digital versions at a physical store. Why? I dunno, but you can.

by **Jorpho** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:41 am UTC

Noitu Love 2 is on sale on Steam at the moment. It is quite the darling of the indie scene.
http://hardcoregaming101.net/noitulove/noitulove.htm

It used to be only available on Direct2Drive – where I bought it for twice the price, as I assumed it was never going to show up anywhere else...

by **Jorpho** » Fri May 11, 2012 4:46 am UTC

So along with the many various other bundles that have been coming out left and right (I might suggest http://indiebundles.tumblr.com or http://www.indiegamebundles.com/ ), http://www.indiegala.com is drawing to a close this week.

It looks like with their gift bundle thing, you can purchase three copies for the price of two, so... anyone interested in paying $3.33 for this bundle? It is, I'll admit, not a particularly good one:
Steel Storm
Alien Shooter
A.R.E.S.
Alien Shooter2
Really Big Sky
Disciples II*
Altitude*
WAKE
Lunnye Devitsy

by **Xeio** » Fri May 18, 2012 5:27 pm UTC

http://www.gog.com/promo/ea_worlds

Why do you do this to me GoG! I just got Diablo 3/2 today! I can't be buying more of your games!

by **Radical_Initiator** » Fri May 18, 2012 8:01 pm UTC

Xeio wrote:http://www.gog.com/promo/ea_worlds

Why do you do this to me GoG! I just got Diablo 3/2 today! I can't be buying more of your games!

Oh snap! Populous II? For $3? Alpha Centauri, too? DO IT NOW.

Still wish someone would offer Alien Crossfire.

by **Jorpho** » Sat May 19, 2012 1:48 am UTC

Alien Crossfire is still available at http://www.mastertronic.com/productSold ... tLabelID=1 , which I believe will even ship internationally. (You'd think if they could nail down the licensing issues that GOG ought to be able to do the same. Maybe some day.)

Which would you recommend: Populous 1 or Populous 2? It's something I've been meaning to poke at for a while.

by **Radical_Initiator** » Sat May 19, 2012 3:21 am UTC

Jorpho wrote:Alien Crossfire is still available at http://www.mastertronic.com/productSold ... tLabelID=1 , which I believe will even ship internationally. (You'd think if they could nail down the licensing issues that GOG ought to be able to do the same. Maybe some day.)

Which would you recommend: Populous 1 or Populous 2? It's something I've been meaning to poke at for a while.

Thanks for the link for SMAC; even with the shipping (more than half as much as the game itself), I'd say it's still worth it.

As for Populous, personally, I can only speak for 2, which I would highly recommend regardless of whether 1 is good. Everything I heard, though, suggests that 2 was a substantial improvement on the original's already-great gameplay.

by **Jack21222** » Tue May 29, 2012 10:10 pm UTC

There's a new game "free rental" distribution system called VOID by gamersgate. Has anybody else tried this?

How it works is you sign up for free and you get one game "slot" to download. Every time you load the game, you have to watch a 60 second ad before playing, but it's otherwise free. Also, if you want to change games, there's a waiting period of something like 10 days. You can pay money to "upgrade" these slots.

I just signed up, but the game catalog they have there is TERRIBLE. I've only heard of the smallest handful of these games, and the ones I haven't heard of get horrible reviews everywhere. You know how most games still score at least a 6 or a 7 out of 10 in reviews, even if they're not that good? Yeah, these are scoring 3s and 4s. No wonder they're letting us play them for free.

The few games I've heard of are quite old. Majesty is on there, which was an awesome game back in its day, but its day was a decade ago. Europa Universalis is on there, but now they're on the 3rd installment of the series, and even that's fairly old. The rest is a selection of poorly-translated Russian games and games they couldn't sell for 2 dollars if they tried.

Have I missed any hidden gems in this service?

by **SirBryghtside** » Tue May 29, 2012 11:29 pm UTC

Damn, the front page of that website looks like the PC section at GAME.

...that's not a good thing.

by **novax6** » Wed May 30, 2012 1:58 am UTC

The Paradox pack deal at amazon, $12 for a bunch of good paradox games, is worth it for Crusader Kings 2 alone IMO, which is still $30 or so on steam i believe.

Very fun game so far, much better than some of their other strategy games i've tried.

by **Endless Mike** » Wed May 30, 2012 12:24 pm UTC

Xeio wrote:*Apparently Gamestop has finally integrated Impulse into their main site for the digital distributions. And you can buy the digital versions at a physical store. Why? I dunno, but you can.

There's lots of reasons. Most come down to "don't have access to a credit card to make purchases online" though. Basically, it's so kids can buy digital games, but I question how big that market is. There's also potential that someone trading in some physical games could impulse buy a PC game with the credit. From a more business-oriented side, it means Gamestop can claim a bigger stock since the cards take up basically no space.

by **Jorpho** » Thu May 31, 2012 3:15 am UTC

The crazy thing is that apparently Gamestop is also selling Steam gift cards, which seems to be counterintuitive.

Have I mentioned http://www.indiegamebundles.com before? There's too many of the buggers out now.

by **SurgicalSteel** » Thu May 31, 2012 3:50 am UTC

Xeio wrote:*Apparently Gamestop has finally integrated Impulse into their main site for the digital distributions. And you can buy the digital versions at a physical store. Why? I dunno, but you can.

The convenience of owning things in a digital format combined with the enjoyment of "lets get out of the house and browse the aisles a bit. maybe do a bit of socializing."

by **EdgarJPublius** » Thu May 31, 2012 4:42 am UTC

Jorpho wrote:The crazy thing is that apparently Gamestop is also selling Steam gift cards, which seems to be counterintuitive.

Have I mentioned http://www.indiegamebundles.com before? There's too many of the buggers out now.

Selling steam gift cards is perfectly in line with Gamestop's business model. It gets non-gamers in the door (buying gifts for gamer friends/family) where they can be targeted for up-sells and generally fleeced. I'm sure they've got plenty of services/products the sales-people are trained to push on anyone buying these gift-cards.

by **Jorpho** » Thu May 31, 2012 12:57 pm UTC

But why wouldn't they sell gift cards for their own digital download service instead of for the competition?

by **Jesse** » Thu May 31, 2012 1:06 pm UTC

Jorpho wrote:But why wouldn't they sell gift cards for their own digital download service instead of for the competition?

Because they still make money from those Steam gift cards, I would imagine.

by **Xeio** » Thu May 31, 2012 1:18 pm UTC

Jorpho wrote:But why wouldn't they sell gift cards for their own digital download service instead of for the competition?

You can use gamestop gift cards to buy off Impulse/"GameStop".

Really, this is just a way for them to make some money off of people that would likely otherwise never set foot inside a Gamestop store (steam customers).

by **NoodleIncident** » Thu May 31, 2012 2:15 pm UTC

Anyone know if they'll let me buy Steam gift cards using Gamestop gift cards? Got one that I'll never spend otherwise, thanks to Amazon and Steam.

by **SecondTalon** » Thu May 31, 2012 5:03 pm UTC

Jorpho wrote:The crazy thing is that apparently Gamestop is also selling Steam gift cards, which seems to be counterintuitive.

Have I mentioned http://www.indiegamebundles.com before? There's too many of the buggers out now.

why do grocery stores sell gift cards for restaurants?
Odds are it works something like this - GameStop buys a $50 Steam Card for $35. Person buys the card for $50, and it's used to buy $47.50 in merchandise.

GameStop is still making money in this. Also, it lets them stay relevant in the computer gaming world. I can't speak for elsewhere, but here? Fucking Wal-Mart has a larger, more diverse, more interesting selection of PC titles than GameStop. My local Gamestops basically just sell WoW expansions.

by **Endless Mike** » Thu May 31, 2012 5:31 pm UTC

Yeah, my local Gamestop's PC "section" is literally a support pillar in the middle of the store covered in WoW and other MMOs. (I think I saw a Tabula Rasa box.)

On topic, the new Humble Bundle is fucking fantastic.

by **Box Boy** » Thu May 31, 2012 6:59 pm UTC

seconding the Humble Indie Bundle in case someone scrolls past it thinking it's not for them - do it.

go give them your money.

it's worth it for the games if not the charity.

by **Will** » Thu May 31, 2012 7:17 pm UTC

Yeah, I just came in here to mention the Humble Bundle. Bastion's soundtrack alone was worth it for me; plus I've been meaning to play both Amnesia and Psychonauts.

by **bigglesworth** » Thu May 31, 2012 8:24 pm UTC

Worms Reloaded is on sale 66% off. Great game, and one which I'd love for there to be a bit of an xkcd multiplayer scene for. Oh, and free weekend for it apparently.

by **Jorpho** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 5:35 am UTC

Alas, I once again have nearly everything in the Humble Bundle, except for Sword & Sworcery . But the minimum is low, so that's OK.

by **eSOANEM** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 10:13 am UTC

bigglesworth wrote:Worms Reloaded is on sale 66% off. Great game, and one which I'd love for there to be a bit of an xkcd multiplayer scene for. Oh, and free weekend for it apparently.

It is an awesome game. So far I've only played against my friends on the same laptop, playing other people over t'internetz would be fun.

by **SlyReaper** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:40 am UTC

Sword Of The Stars II is on sale at the moment at 75% off on Steam. It's tempting.

On the one hand, the Metacritic reviews are terrible. On the other hand, those negative reviews seem to be mostly centered around game-breaking bugs on launch day, but which have been patched by now. Is it worth a punt?

by **Dark567** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 8:27 pm UTC

GOG.com has half off the Wing Commander and Ultima series,two of my personal favorites:
http://www.gog.com/promo/ultima_wing_commander

by **PhoenixEnigma** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:23 am UTC

Steam's midweek deal is a bundle of space-themed games. Universe Sandbox has been on my wishlist for a while, so it caught my eye. Anyone know if the other games (Lunar Flight, Gratuitous Space Battles, Shattered Horizon, and Stellar Impact) are any good?

by **Will** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:28 am UTC

Lunar Flight's bad-ass, if you're into sims. It's *very* tough, but a lot of fun once you get it down.

by **bigglesworth** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:39 am UTC

Gratuitous Space Battles is pretty meh. Fun for a little while to watch the (yes, gratuitous) pretty space battles but the campaign is buggy and doesn't make much sense.

by **Soralin** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:38 am UTC

The Humble Indie Bundle just added Braid, Super Meat Boy, and Lone Survivor to it's bundle, for amounts over the average: http://www.humblebundle.com/

So together:

Psychonauts
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
LIMBO
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
Bastion
Lone Survivor
Braid
Super Meat Boy

That's just insanely good.

Who is online