The steam christmas sale has BEGUN

[champloo]

I've read on some thread on their support forums that apparently Steam locks out credit cards of users that suddenly start buying loads of games, contrary to their usual purchasing habits, in case the account has been hijacked or the card stolen. This is of course exactly what I have done, as I've never bought a game on Steam before until these holiday sales where I suddenly bought a SHITLOAD every day. I don't know if this is true, but my card company says everything is fine and every other sites accept my card just fine, so I sent off an annoyed message to their support department, making special note of the fact that I'm now missing out on all the deals that I especially saved for the last day.

I see. I'll send them an email as well in that case. Thanks.

[Mr. Gerbik]

I see. I'll send them an email as well in that case. Thanks.

Even if the info I read on their forums is bullshit, it does seem to be the best option since my card is definitely fine and therefore it's most likely something on their end.

Whatever it is, I want them to fix it asap since this would never have happen with old-fashioned physical products! Yet another good argument against digital download services

[therealjohnpeat]

Well that's my Sale purchases finalised - in total I grabbed

Borderlands - £20 isn't cheap (it's as cheap as £13 online) but I like Steam and it likes me

Foreign Legion: Buckets of Blood

Killing Floor (runs like crap on this PC but I couldn't resist as I love the idea and a new PC is en-route)

Unreal Deal (which run beautifully - as does Borderlands - and yet they AND KF are Unreal engine, so go figure)

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (hard to resist under £3!!)

STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl (ditto)

FUEL (ditto)

and then finally - for future entertainment and well under a £10 for the lot...

Shadowgrounds/Shadowgrounds/ Survivor (mainly for the Survival Mode which I loved in the demo)

Harvest: Massive Encounter (because it looks fun)

Time Gentlemen, Please! (because BTDT made me laugh more than anything else in 2009)

Nation Red (because I'm a mug for shooters)

TYAGN

[stefcha]

14.5GB for The Witcher!? Jesus wept, what on earth is going on with PC gaming these days? Thank christ my smaller capacity HD gave up the ghost the other week to be replaced by something double the size or I'd be well up the chuff.

edit: And I forgot that I've got to actually download the bastard too! Mass Effect appears to have been 10GB as well, blimey.

[Spacehost]

I wound up getting L4D2 and having a superb first game with a US player who knew what he was doing and helped me clear the first chapter of the campaign. Add me, kids- I'm Hyperspacey.

[routeburn]

I've noticed that Aion:Standard Edition has been floating around middle of the Steam Top 10 sales over the Christmas period. It's only reduced from $49 to $44 (at least in my region), but I'm curious why this is selling so well. Is it being heavily discounted in other regions, or is there a Christmas rush on for Aion?

[revlob]

Whatever it is, I want them to fix it asap since this would never have happen with old-fashioned physical products! Yet another good argument against digital download services

In Steam's defence I doubt Game would let you walk out of their shop with a product if your card wasn't being accepted.

[Mr. Gerbik]

In Steam's defence I doubt Game would let you walk out of their shop with a product if your card wasn't being accepted.

True, but then I never use my credit card in an actual shop so it would never be a problem

I do hope they fix this eventually because now that I've gotten used to buying PC games through Steam I don't want to go back to the old ways anymore tbh

Edit: and Game would never refuse my credit card simply because I bought too much too often!

[vcassano]

I've noticed that Aion:Standard Edition has been floating around middle of the Steam Top 10 sales over the Christmas period. It's only reduced from $49 to $44 (at least in my region), but I'm curious why this is selling so well. Is it being heavily discounted in other regions, or is there a Christmas rush on for Aion?

I believe the chart measures revenue, not individual sales.

[routeburn]

I believe the chart measures revenue, not individual sales.

I think it does, yes. I'm surprised Aion is up there with other heavily discounted packages around the same price (40-odd dollars).

[Rudi von Starnberg]

14.5GB for The Witcher!? Jesus wept, what on earth is going on with PC gaming these days? Thank christ my smaller capacity HD gave up the ghost the other week to be replaced by something double the size or I'd be well up the chuff.

edit: And I forgot that I've got to actually download the bastard too! Mass Effect appears to have been 10GB as well, blimey.

Games are only going to increase in size, as textures get more detailed and sound libraries get bigger and bigger! Just be thankful you'll be playing these huge games on PC so can have it all on your hard drive for quick access instead of having to wait for a much slower disc drive to uncompress stuff and load it.

[ah]

i was gutted when STALKER was 5GB (though i was expecting it) and i had to wait overnight before installing it. will definitely be sticking to buying discs for big games for the forseeable future (except when they cost £2 of course!).

[therealjohnpeat]

I believe the chart measures revenue, not individual sales.

I've asked this before and I'll ask it again - citation needed for this...

When they put C&C RA into the daily deal, several other C&C games wandered into the Top 20 at the same time - and most if not all of the daily deals got into the chart and stayed there from that point on (even when they returned to a higher price).

If it was revenue (either Steam's or the publishers or just raw sales money) the daily deals would fall out once they stopped - but they didn't.

As for if/why AION is selling - it's one of those games which haunts the chart in a suspicious way - like MW2. Steam released MW2 days after everyone else was already playing it so I seriously doubt they've sold all that many copies compared to retail - but it still sits there looking like a big seller regardless.

I genuinely think the Steam chart is a fix/the games they're promoting the most and not a reflection of actual popularity tho.

[therealjohnpeat]

i was gutted when STALKER was 5GB (though i was expecting it) and i had to wait overnight before installing it. will definitely be sticking to buying discs for big games for the forseeable future (except when they cost £2 of course!).

PC games tend to have larger downloads because there's more stuff needed to cover all the hardware combinations and developers can be lazy about not compressing/lowering video/audio quality etc.

A game like Stalker sprawls likely more to the "it's been 9 years - ffs just ship it" factor - that and large patches probably delivered alongside the original content. The Witcher is packed-to-the-teeth with video and high quality multi-language audio but 15Gb is more than WOW+2 expansions, it's a whopper for sure

Console games have a physical 9Gb limit and getting under 4.7Gb saves money (DVD9 being more expensive to dupe and more prone to errors) and so I imagine there's far more pressure not to waste it in that world tho.

I do think Steam should list the DL size on the shop page - there's probably a tonne of people avoid services like Steam because downloading 5GB is a major thing for them (my mate stuck with a <1Mbps connection for example) - certainly it would be nice to know.

[Rev]

I got the Tell Tale games pack, each episode of those is about 300MB. Much better.

Apart from the fact there are about 30 of them.

[Radish]

When they put C&C RA into the daily deal, several other C&C games wandered into the Top 20 at the same time - and most if not all of the daily deals got into the chart and stayed there from that point on (even when they returned to a higher price)

That was probably because all C&C games had ~75% off, not just RA3.

[ah]

I do think Steam should list the DL size on the shop page - there's probably a tonne of people avoid services like Steam because downloading 5GB is a major thing for them (my mate stuck with a <1Mbps connection for example) - certainly it would be nice to know.

i figure maybe they're worried it would have an overall negative effect on sales - some people would avoid games that are "too big" to download, others would avoid games that are "too small" to justify their price, and those two groups outweigh the people who steer clear because the game size isn't published. but it would definitely help me out to know in advance. i guess i can always just ask someone who's already bought it.

[therealjohnpeat]

Not sure on the 'too big' - I reckon if you bought something, discovered it was mahoosive and contacted CS, they'd refund you (if you'd never downloaded it).

The 'too small' thing is probably right tho - people aghast that a game could be just a few 100s of mbs and still decent

[champloo]

Even if the info I read on their forums is bullshit, it does seem to be the best option since my card is definitely fine and therefore it's most likely something on their end.

You'd think they would take into account the fact that sales are going to drastically increase during the sale, and not block customers from purchasing on account of that. I didn't realise I had bought that much.

I'm probably pushing my luck, but if I sent someone the money via paypal first, would they mind gifting me a few games? I'd put a few extra quid on top, of course.

[Mr. Gerbik]

You'd think they would take into account the fact that sales are going to drastically increase during the sale, and not block customers from purchasing on account of that. I didn't realise I had bought that much.

Exactly what I was thinking. I mean, customers buying more than usual during a Holiday sales blowout? Well, I never!

I haven't heard back from them yet btw, have you?

I'm probably pushing my luck, but if I sent someone the money via paypal first, would they mind gifting me a few games? I'd put a few extra quid on top, of course.

I see that you've also noticed that the timer is running out and we're going to miss out on all the deals we left for the last day

One hour and 45 minutes left

[champloo]

Exactly what I was thinking. I mean, customers buying more than usual during a Holiday sales blowout? Well, I never!

I haven't heard back from them yet btw, have you?

I see that you've also noticed that the timer is running out and we're going to miss out on all the deals we left for the last day

One hour and 45 minutes left

No I haven't heard back, but I only emailed them this morning. There are people on the steam forums who emailed a couple of days back about the same issue and haven't had a reply, so I won't be expecting one soon.

It's annoying, as I saved quite a few games for the last day as you say, but they'll probably be back in the sale next christmas, and I've got enough to keep me busy till then!

[Rev]

You'd think they would take into account the fact that sales are going to drastically increase during the sale, and not block customers from purchasing on account of that. I didn't realise I had bought that much.

I'm probably pushing my luck, but if I sent someone the money via paypal first, would they mind gifting me a few games? I'd put a few extra quid on top, of course.

I'm guessing there is something obvious why this won't work, but put money in your paypal account, set-up a new steam account and gift it to your original account?

[champloo]

I'm guessing there is something obvious why this won't work, but put money in your paypal account, set-up a new steam account and gift it to your original account?

I imagine multiple accounts aren't allowed? I'd have to enter in the same details, paypal account etc that I use with my current one. Seems a bit risky.

[Uzi]

Guys with the card problems, you don't have paypal? Steams card limiting shouldn't work on that

[champloo]

Guys with the card problems, you don't have paypal? Steams card limiting shouldn't work on that

It does. I can't pay with any method.

I can see why they've done it. I set up my steam account years ago, but never really used it until a few months back when I got a new computer, and since then I've bought a stupid amount of games. It obviously looks a bit suspicious.

It isn't a big deal, as I got most of what I was after before they blocked me.

[mogawoods]

Anyone who hasn't bought Defense Grid for £1.75 (and isn't having problems with credit cards ) needs to jump on that shit right now before the sale ends. Awesome game. Twenty-five minutes left!

[Valiant]

These download speeds are still an absolute joke 75 KB/S for Red Alert 3 at 40 percent. It takes me about 48 hrs to download one game!

[Rudi von Starnberg]

I've got a terribly slow connection (1 meg at best) and I'm getting 110kbps for Crysis right now. So... sorry?

[Rev]

I imagine multiple accounts aren't allowed? I'd have to enter in the same details, paypal account etc that I use with my current one. Seems a bit risky.

If you only use it for five minutes they probably won't care/notice. People in the same house would want different accounts, but might want to use the same payment method I'd think.

It might just say "this account is already in use" but I doubt it.

(Is this too late?)

[Vimster]

I was just contemplating what game I could snatch before the deadline was up and saw it was 1 minute to go.

Bye bye, deals. Time to get playing.