Caught the Steam Bug

Wow, talk about an effective sale. If you haven’t noticed — and if you play anything other than MMOs, you probably have — Steam is running a huge holiday sale. All of the price cuts are big but some go beyond that into the realm of “crazy cheap.” We’re talking $30 games for six bucks.

I’ve been on the internet for a while, so I’ve heard about these sales before but never really took the bait. Honestly, I didn’t understand it. People would talk about how “insane” their price cuts were, but anytime I looked it was like 20% off a game I had no interest in anyways. This time is different. They’re offering price cuts on almost everything — to the point where I’m buying things I never would have before. That’s effective marketing.

This last week I picked up three games. I grabbed Wings of Prey, a game I’d played the demo of a while back and enjoyed; Battlefield: Bad  Company 2, a game so frustratingly “realistic” that I traded in my console version — it was six dollars, how could I not get it again?; and The Witcher, which I’d heard good things about, but never really gave much thought. Out of those, I’ve played Bad Company 2. And yes, it’s just as frustrating as it ever was, compounded by the fact that I’m totally new to PC shooters. The Witcher was a massive 15GB install, so that’s just finishing up downloading. Wings of Prey I honestly don’t feel much compulsion to load up, but someday I will and that’s the point.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, go over and have a look. You can get Mass Effect 2 for $10. That alone makes the sale worthwhile.

*Note – They update their sales every day at noon (EST) so keep checking back.