Too Old-School/Cheap?

I had a conversation with a co-worker the other day concerning the  Steam Holiday Sale.  I was spreading the Steam-love, telling him some of the great deals I had seen online (specifically Dead Space 2, Avadon, and the GTA Bundle).  He looked amused at my glee (I love spreading cheapness) and replied, "gravy, you're too old school, man."

This surprised me.  "What do you mean?  Most of those games were released this year"

"But they are all played out.  You've talked about both Skyrim and Saint's Row 3.  Why don't you just get one of those?  And Avadon?  A turn-based game?"

This required a bit of thought.  "If I wait I can get them cheaper.  By this time next year Saint's Row 3 at the very least will be $15 on sale, and if Skyrim doesn't some out with an expansion pack it will be too.  Also, back off of Avadon.  If you tried the demo you would see why I like that companies' games."

"So you're just a cheap-ass, then.  You don't want to support a game while it is hot."

"A cheap-ass?  No.  Yes.  Let me explain: I am both old school and a cheap-ass, I don't see the value of jumping into a game at a $59 price point.  That doesn't mean I'm not supporting the game (it's not like I'm buying them used), but I like to put more value on my money."

"What about the multiplayer component you are missing-"

"I don't care about multiplayer.  Get back to work."

I don't care about multiplayer.  I haven't cared since I took advantage of a 48 hour Gold Pass on Xbox Live and was asked nearly continuously if I was a "Nigger", a "Spic", and a "Faggot", all because I was actually competent at the game (which was the original Saint's Row, by the way).  That was enough for me.  Ever since voice chat has become a norm in multiplayer games it I've been turned off by what I've heard.  My coworker doesn't see this, as he is a professional gamer (on the side) and generally only practices and competes on closed servers, so any verbal jocularity he experiences in these environments can be put down to verbal sparring, instead of a hate filled rant because I played better than my opponent for five minutes.  At this statement many would no doubt berate me, saying that this is how things are now, so I need to cheerup or piss off.  I've opted to piss off.

And old school?  Proud of it.  The day I can no longer play a game for the old school content that it offers, be it story, gameplay, controls, or graphics, is the day that I tell the whole gaming world to piss off.

A Sad Time To Be Broke

This past week has seen some of the best sales for digital games in memory.   Period.  Are you an iOS gamer?  Pretty much every game that is worth buying in the Apple App Store (with a few notable exceptions) has seen some sort of discount, from the drop of recent release GTA 3 ($4.99 to $2.99) to the $.99 sales seen at Gameloft and EA.  The real deals, however, are on Steam.  The Steam Holiday Sale is in full swing, and since it has started we have seen some excellent deals that just couldn't be passed up.

Unless you are me.  Sigh.

Well, it's not like I planned on this.  True, I knew exactly when this was happening (I bought a small, yet quite enjoyable gaggle of games last Holiday Sale), so I have no excuse there.  I just ran out of money, I guess.

Sigh.

I think for next year I might just add about $100 to my Steam Wallet (something I didn't know about until recently) so that next year my pity-party won't be as grand.  End of complaining.

This day marks the last day of the Steam Holiday Sale, so if there is anything you want, I suggest you do it.  Vamanos.

GTA 3? Again?

 So I'm not sure how this happened, but I somehow managed to miss the fact that Grand Theft Auto 3 has landed in the App Store.  You know, life was just so less complicated before twenty minutes ago.  Here I was, getting ready to dump Alan Wake into my Xbox, when I noticed that the damn game was $4.99, which is exactly $5 less than Chinatown Wars (and $2 less than Infinity Blade II).  Dammit.  Do I really need this game?  After 3.4 second of deliberation I can confidently say "yes" to that question.  The only real issue is how I am going to explain this to my wife...

Retraction?

So I feel like I need to say something about games.  I love games, but I really love getting deals on games.  Weird, I know, but very true.  Just recently Steam launched this years Autumn Sale (did they gave one last year?), where many of the games may be purchased at a reduced price.  For someone like me (who is cheap) this is most decidedly a recipe for heartburn.  What do I get?  Whatever is cheap.  What makes this job easier is that my supply of dead presidents is much lower this time of year than normal, so choosing is just a bit easier than say, during the Tax Refund Steam Sale (come on, Steam, you need to do this).

The first thing I noticed is that the two games I want are not on sale.  This is expected, as each seems to be quite popular in its own right.  Despite my own initial hype, I think (read: might) be able to wait for this.  Maybe.  Anyways, I've been spending a bit of time adding and deleting games from my cart of Steam, trying to get the perfect combination of awesome games to satisfy my cheapness-palette and not offend my bank account.  Unlike last year, I don't necessarily feel an attraction to games that have a larger full price-to-sale price ratio, which will no doubt guarantee more of these games being played, which will in turn make the argument for buying games during the inevitable Steam Christmas Sale.

I have my eyes on a small number of cheap-but-fun games, some of which are on my Steam wish list.  A few, such as Dead Island (which is 50% off normal pricing), will not be considered at this time.  So far I have:

• Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth - $4.99
• Avadon - $4.99
• Mass Effect - $4.99
• Mass Effect 2 - $4.99
• Cthulhu Saves the World & Breath of Death VII Double Pack - $1.00
• Saints Row 2 - $7.49
• Amnesia - $9.99

 I know, having two Cthulhu mythos games on one list might be much, but based on the reviews and videos of Dark Corners of the Earth, I am willing to take this chance.  The total so far for this list is $38.44.  Ideally, I would like to have this sub-twenty bucks.  So far the Saints Row 2, Cthulhu Saves the World, and Avadon are must-buys and I am currently reviewing videos and general opinions to help me decide about the rest.

The saddest part is I'm enjoying the whole consideration process so much that I'm beginning to doubt that my ability to enjoy playing the games will be less.