PC Gamers - Where do you buy your games?

Gummy Panda

As most know, steam is extremely uncompetitive in pricing for new releases. Game/Gamestop/Smyths have a reduced PC sections which aren't even full of different games. Majority of the time its multiple cases spread across a shelf for the same game e.g. WoW. G2play is dodgey with keys been made invalid and steam advising not to use them.

So today I decided I wanted to play Just Cause 2. Its €50 on steam :eek: I check direct2drive.eu and they don't sell it. I check Amazon.co.uk and its £17 which is a nice price. Under the £25 for free delivery so I'll have to pay postage (£5) and wait 2-3 days.

I decide to check around for a digital distribution method that was cheap. I find gamesplanet and they were selling it for £25 but i could either activate it through their DRM system or use the code in steam. Awesome i can download it through steam without buying it from them and don't have to wait for postage from amazon. I make my order and at the end it says they need to security check my account. This takes 8 hours before i get the game code :mad:

So where do you buy your games and is their alternative digital stores that i don't know of?


tl;dr version: Where do you buy your games and does anyone sell legit steam codes for games?

gizmo

GAME over here still have a decent enough selection of games so I'll pop in there once every so often to check them out. Their online store has a far better selection of course and delivery to Ireland isn't that bad either as far as I can remember.

Play.com and Shopto.net are the two others I frequent the most often when in the market.

VenomIreland

STEAM, GAME (rarely), Gamestop (rarely), play.com (often) and Amazon.co.uk (sometimes.

oceanclub

Steam for the deals, online retail for new releases/sales (use www.gamestracker.com to get the best prices), GOG.com for the occasional oldie, once in a very blue moon over-the-counter retail (GAME occasionally have a good deal, such as Wolfenstein for the less than a tenner, and L4D2 at Xmas for around €25).

I occasionally look in Gamespot, which is an exercise in optimism over experience.

Just Cause 2 was only £12.95 on Zaavi last month but looks like it's gone back up a few quid unfortunately!

(Brilliant game and worth every penny.)

P.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

I stopped buying new games due to the amount of money I wasted. Even games for 40 euro I wouldn't buy right away. You know, spending 50+ on a game and completing the damned thing in one night. Oh but there's acheivements and an uber l33t omg!!!11 mode, which I couldn't care less about. So I wait for good deals on steam or I swap games with mates, which seems to work out good for all. Would be great to set up some sort of swapping scheme. I know copyright and all that rubbish, but really.

VenomIreland

Oh, I also sometimes buy old games from www.gog.com

I got a couple of gems from there for less than a tenner (in some cases less than a fiver) each!

cherryghost

Steam games when on sale

Other than that, play.com, or sometimes GAME or Gamestop

Monotype

Rarely in game and less often again in gamestop in person - you get strange looks when you buy PC games! :rolleyes:
-"You need a good computer to run that game"
---"Yeah, that's fine, thanks"
-"We don't accept returns with PC games"
---"Yeah, whatever"

Mostly online via post - sendit, game, asda, play, amazon.

Occasionally digital distribution - Indy games, steam (only in worthwhile sales).

Kiith

I tend to get them from Direct2Drive or Steam, simply for the convienence on not having to go get them. Ocassionally pick them up in Game or HMV, if i see any bargains.

Destiny Salty Track-and-field wrote: »

I stopped buying new games due to the amount of money I wasted. Even games for 40 euro I wouldn't buy right away. You know, spending 50+ on a game and completing the damned thing in one night. Oh but there's acheivements and an uber l33t omg!!!11 mode, which I couldn't care less about. So I wait for good deals on steam or I swap games with mates, which seems to work out good for all. Would be great to set up some sort of swapping scheme. I know copyright and all that rubbish, but really.

Translation - I pirate them :P

Yakult

Its becoming hard to swap any PC games these days. You can re-register them due to steam etc.

But yea, I buy them from Steam depending on price, GAME.co.uk and D2d

Mataguri

I buy all my PC games from Steam now. I dont mind paying a premium for the service provided.

Unknown Unknown

I buy them in hmv or GameStop. Hmv is mostly cheaper, sometimes xtravision but its not as handy. Can be big difference in price between hmv and gamestop even tough they near each other in shopping center, pays to check all shops first. I also got Mario galaxy 2 cheap in Tesco.

Dara Robinson

Does anyone check out the Steam "Deals" against other prices when they have them on? Steam are supposed to be relatively expensive even when they have sales on

VenomIreland

Wait a second, HMV sell PC games?

VenomIreland

Dara Robinson wrote: »

Does anyone check out the Steam "Deals" against other prices when they have them on? Steam are supposed to be relatively expensive even when they have sales on

I nabbed Mass Effect for 4 euro in a sale :P

Unknown Unknown

2 venom ireland yes but not as many as for consoles.

oceanclub

VenomIreland wrote: »

Wait a seco, HMV sell PC games?

Yup!



P.

Dara Robinson

VenomIreland wrote: »

Wait a seco, HMV sell PC games?

Yes but their selection is horrific, its 2 sides of a very small shelving unit. Thats the extent. Where as for console they have 2/3 or 1/2 the basement

wyrn

+1 for Steam Sales. The odd time I'd buy a game from GAME but only when it's dropped in price.

Side note: Deus Ex is on sale (€2.49) for 24hours on Steam - is it worth it?
(Ok I know it's cheap but I'm not a great gamer, I'm terrible it take forever for me to play a game on super easy mode I've been years on Half-Life)

P.S. Also bought Mass Effect & Mirror's Edge on Steam's EA Sale.

Fanny Cradock

wyrn wrote: »

+1 for Steam Sales. The odd time I'd buy a game from GAME but only when it's dropped in price.

Side note: Deus Ex is on sale (€2.49) for 24hours on Steam - is it worth it?
(Ok I know it's cheap but I'm not a great gamer, I'm terrible it take forever for me to play a game on super easy mode I've been years on Half-Life)

P.S. Also bought Mass Effect & Mirror's Edge on Steam's EA Sale.

Is it worth it? It is €2.50. There isn't much to agonise over. You can see yourself in the link you provided that it has a metacritic score (aggregate of scores for reviews) of 90% from critics and 95 from users. Make of that what you will.

wyrn

Ha ha! I've been "add to basket" happy all week with my credit card.
Like I said I buy games and it takes me forever to finish. I still haven't touches L4D2 yet and add to that very slowwwwwwwwww midband.

Just curious.

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Is it worth it? It is €2.50. There isn't much to agonise over. You can see yourself in the link you provided that it has a metacritic score (aggregate of scores for reviews) of 90% from critics and 95 from users. Make of that what you will.

Coriolanus

Get it. Afaik there's a texture pack floating around the web somewhere for it to update the graphics a bit. It's pretty much a classic.

Anyway, I buy from Steam a lot, GAME rarely and other than that play.com.

I don't buy new games any more though, pretty much wait 6 months for it to be patched etc.

folan

Gamestop do PC games? last time i was in there it was wall to wall preowned games for consoles (im kinda joking but not really, I hate that shop!)

I buy from steam or amazon. Rarely anywhere else.

Antar Bolaeisk

Steam mainly, I think the last box copy of a game I bought was Batman Arkham Asylum for under £20 at coolshop.co.uk

Direct2Drive: Sometimes
Impulse: Rarely (they tend to have a poor selection of games)
Amazon/Play/Other extremely rare

Anyone who pays full price for a game on Steam is mad, wait a few weeks and it'll eventually go on sale. I think the only games I bought at launch on Steam were L4D2 and Boshock 2 as they both had great prices for the 4 pack. My general rule is to never spend more than €20 on a game.

robby^5

I'll generally but most new releases from play.com, they're pretty cheap and they usually carry the pre-order bonuses/exclusives. Other than that I'll always check out a steam sale for a good deal.

Monotype

folan wrote: »

Gamestop do PC games? last time i was in there it was wall to wall preowned games for consoles (im kinda joking but not really, I hate that shop!)

Some gamestops only do console games. In Dublin, the one on Henry st. has console only while Liffey st. has a few PC games... or that was the case when I was in there over two years ago.

oceanclub wrote: »

Yup!



P.

Haha, that's pretty much it alright. They were probably joking. Or maybe it really did reflect their sales. Usually when you go in there's probably about 20 games, including world of warcraft and expansions, a few new releases and a few random games. You wouldn't want to be actually looking for something going in there.

Polar101

I buy all my PC games on Steam (sales) and thehut.com/play.com for new releases.

Last purchase was Majesty 2 for €7.50 on Steam, 24 hours played so far - best value ever.

Sephiroth_dude

In the last month or 2 I have been getting them from zavvi.co.uk,they appear to be far cheaper than amazon or play but the one thing that puts me off is that the delievery is really slow.So lately I've been going to gamestop and game.Gonna try these guys at some stage www.coolshop.co.uk.

podgemonster

Was looking at secondhand copies of Half-life 2 on Amazon.com and a comment said not to buy second hand games because you won't have a steam authorization code or something along those lines.

is this true?

oceanclub

podgemonster wrote: »

Was looking at secondhand copies of Half-life 2 on Amazon.com and a comment said not to buy second hand games because you won't have a steam authorization code or something along those lines.

is this true?

Yup; when you install Half-Life 2 on Steam, the key is tied to that Steam account. If you try to use the same key again, it'll be refused. Half-Life 2 comes up regularly in Steam sales for little or nothing anyway/

P.

Blowfish

I deliberately stay at least 6 months behind the release dates for most games so I can get lots of stuff cheap from Steam. I've Mass Effect (€4), Bioshock (€7) and Bioshock 2 (€15) to look forward to at the minute.