July 4 - July 9

Section: 

It was noon today before I really registered in my head that it was a Tuesday instead of a Monday. Somehow I interpret that as meaning the 3-day weekend felt on an instinctive level exactly as long as a regular 2-day weekend. There is something intensely disappointing about that.

Either way, the games business seems as a whole to be taking the week off, as the release list is rather Spartan. I could talk about Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon or Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition on the PC, but honestly the real story remains the Steam Summer Sale. If you are going to spend your hard-earned greenbacks on games this week, it's hard to find better bang for the buck.

The nicest thing about the Steam Sales to me, though, is the impact it is having on other methods of digital distribution. I noticed this week that even EA's Origin store had some pretty dramatic discounts on games. The idea of sale prices on games is still a relatively new one, but from the outside looking in it feels like it's been a huge success. For me the result has been almost 12 hours spent with Assassin's Creed II this week, which I picked up for basically seven dollars.

From a fun/dollar point of view, it's probably the best money I've spent this year.

PC
- Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition

Xbox 360
- Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon
- Dead Block (XBLA)
- Deadliest Warrior: Legends (XBLA)

PlayStation 3
- Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon
- Deadliest Warrior: Legends (PSN)
- Resistance Greatest Hits Dual Pack

Wii
- JustJam (WiiWare)

Nintendo 3DS
- Jewel Keepers: Easter Island (eShop)

Ninendo DS
- Mystery Quest: Curse of the Ancient Spirits
- Jewel Keepers: Easter Island (DSiWare)

Comments

Easy choice for a long, dry summer. I'll be breaking 300 games on my account in a few days probably. I like that among Goodjers, I am still somewhat of a lightweight!

From a fun/dollar point of view, it's probably the best money I've spent this year.

So you haven't bought Frozen Synapse, yet? Get thee back to the Steam sale!

The Witcher 2 and Rift both found their way into my Steam cart this weekend.

I am surprised that I did not hear more about The Witcher 2's gameplay that feels more console fighter than action-RPG. I like it more than I did the first game's combat.

Rift is very WoW-like, but luckily there are enough differences (some subtle, some dramatic) to keep my attention for 25+ hours over the course of three days. I suppose this game will fill my MMO quota until Guild Wars 2 or The Old Republic. I love the Soul system, which allows you to essentially by three classes at once, and allows you to choose between all eight within your archetype.

And of course, the summer sale thread.

July 8: Battleship Galaxies

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/93538/battleship-galaxies-the-saturn-offensive-game-set

To those of you who missed the discussion of it both on GWJ and on Three Moves Ahead, it's not pathetic old Battleship; it's the board game incarnation of Sins of a Solar Empire.

I see a lot of good games on sale, but nothing that tickles my fancy at the moment. Maybe steam will surprise me at the last day of the sale.

Keithustus wrote:

July 8: Battleship Galaxies

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/93538/battleship-galaxies-the-saturn-offensive-game-set

To those of you who missed the discussion of it both on GWJ and on Three Moves Ahead, it's not pathetic old Battleship; it's the board game incarnation of Sins of a Solar Empire.

I just saw this one on display in a store window. I guess I should have expected a game with lots of plastic minis to not be cheap, but at $65, I had sticker shock.