Damn it, Steam!

For those who even remotely know or care about gaming, you would know that Steam is currently having their Summer Sale (lol, America) - and as a result selling games ridiculously cheap. This is both a boon and a curse.

For starters, it is obviously a good thing due to cheap games! Never complain about cheap games (unless they're terrible, anyway)! I've managed to buy a fair few games off Steam in the last few days, and likely will continue to for the next few days until the sale is over. Magicka with all the DLC for $8! Monkey Island remakes for $8 (both together in a pack!) Dwarfs?! for $5! (don't buy it, its a trap) I believe The Witcher 2 was up for $50 at one stage... not bad for a brand new game.

Don't ask me to recall my purchase list - I've forgotten big chunks of it because there are so many. I recall picking up Frozen Synapse though (and it comes with two copies... anyone want a copy?).

And this is where part of the curse lies. I already had a ridiculous backlog of games I'd never finished. What better way to make this pile larger than for Steam to have a sale!

On the other hand, Steam has also put up a competition where each day there are specific achievements for specific games. Each achievement earnt gives you a ticket in the major draw - the prize being the top ten games o your wishlist. Once I saw this, I started working on the achievements they specified (at least, the ones I could do for the games I already owned), and have so far earnt 16 tickets. As an added bonus these tickets can be redeemed for extra free DLC for certain games (and they don't destroy your entries into the draw).
While I'm not typically an "achievement whore", if they are usable for something tangible then I'm all over it. I've averaged 3-4 tickets a day so far, though this will likely drop over the weekend when I stay at Spritza's place. Well, that's assuming I get over this cold (I'm still sick, to a degree >_<).
It's also quite nice having Steam tell me what to play - even if it is for a short period of time. It's reminding me that I have some great games that I've been neglecting (and not necessarily long ones either). For example, last night, I was working on achievements for Trine, Zombie Driver and Serious Sam HD. I had already finished Serious Sam, but I had completely forgotten how good the other two games were (particularly Trine)!

On the other hand...

Creddit where its due: MrGestore of Reddit

Chime

Today, I bought a game off Steam cheaply. I played it for the last 30 minutes or so, and I figured I'd share my experience with you all.

The game is called Chime, and set me back merely $5 - quite cheap for a game. Cheap enough for you to think its an indie title. A thought which is entirely accurate. However, indie games does not always mean cheap and crap games. In fact, quite a lot of indie games reach levels of awesome that the AAA titles can never aspire to, simply because indie developers are more willing to take risks, and do something different than to make generic shooter #357.

I'm looking at YOU, Bungie.

But I digress. This was not to be a tirade defending indie games, this was to bring some attention to Chime. This game is great.

It is slightly confusing to play at first, because it has quite an odd idea behind it. It is a puzzle music game.

I'll let that sink in for a moment. Not a music action game like Beat Hazard, or a rhythm action game like Beatmania, Amplitude, Guitar Hero, DJ Max, etc. A music puzzler.

The idea behind the game is that you are given a large grid, and blocks to fill it. The block are different shapes and sizes, and your job is to arrange them as neatly and quickly as you can to form quads. A quad being a square that is 3x3 or more, or a rectangle of similar minimum size. As you make more quads, your coverage of the grid is increased, which will allow you to complete the level and move on once the timer runs out.

The interesting part here, is that each level is a song, and the amount of the song that you can actually hear is dependant on how much grid coverage you attain.

After a little bit, the square you place get stamped into the grid, and you can place new ones over the top - so if you mess up you can make the coverage work better. When the time runs out, 50% coverage will unlock a new level, while 100% coverage will give you a bonus of some kind. I've not obtained it in my short attempt yet, so I cannot say what happens. Mainly because I don't know.

It's like a demeted, awesome, musical game of tetris, and I love it. That is all.

Why Steam whyyyyyy?!?!?

Steam is having sales again. I regard this as simultaneously a blessing and a curse. The reason for this is timing.

As you would likely know, it is practically Christmas. This means that, for most people in Western countries, that they have spent copious amounts of money on presents for people. I know I have!

In addition to this, I have spent a large chunk of money within the last two days for doctors and dieticians. While I would hardly call myself penniless, I am in a state where I am very careful about what I buy in terms of leisure items, since I want to actually save some money for holidays next year (Melbourne and Japan are the planned ones).

So of course, this means that Steam must have a sale. Its always the same pattern - Steam has a crazy multiple day sale where most games have hefty discounts when I either have no money at all, or am unwilling to spend much.

Why do they do this? They seem to have an uncanny ability to make games stupidly cheap, stupidly easy to acquire (I mean cme on, just download the thing once you've paid!), and stupidly tempting, at times when buying games is the last thing you should be doing!

Despite this, I bought Deus Ex collection yesterday for $3, and Super Meat Boy for about the same price.

Damn you Steam!