I go by this rule of thumb:

If I am not going to play it online (multiplayer) then why rush, just wait for the gold/goty edition which will have the expansion packed with it, or wait till the normal game ends up on sale in a retail store or online.

If there is just a must have pre-order item, if it is for multiplayer, I skip. For single player, if it puts back in content that should have come with the 2 hour playtime single player campaign, I think about it.

I have been screwed over by Sega's Total War series of games way too much. I buy the Limited/Collectors/Special Editions, ranging from $59.99 to $79.99 only to see all the "exclusive" content end up as DLC 6 months later. Personally they need to stop doing all this exclusive non-sense. Sell the normal game, and put the "exclusives" as DLC instead. That way users can pick and choose what they get in these overpriced editions or at least allow these versions to remain on sale for the life of the product so one can pick it up on sale instead.

Also loved the idea someone had in PCGamer, perhaps sell the multiplayer as an unlockable pay code. That way if you want the multiplayer you can buy it and they still get your money for the short-short single player game since we know they spent most of the time focused on the mp aspect of the game.

Why down on MP? I don't have a sponsor who will pay me to be a pro at a game and I want a life outside of gaming (thinking about those pro-teams with big name sponsors that make you play 18 hours a day for practice). So I can't spend time playing all the new games and then specialize in just one game and one game only. Plus you can't get assurances of security of your data anymore in the multiplayer databases of EA and others, to take a step in your own security and don't play online. I know Blizzard has got to be the #1 most wanted to be broken into site, with over 10 million subscribers. IF you do play online, buy those pre-paid cards for the games, then all you lose is your name, age, birthdate, e-mail, home address, phone number and a 30-day pre-paid membership.

Your argument has a sever flaw compard to games: that is the number of units sold.
A $1 game selling 50.000 Units distributed digitally for 1 year work, gives you a nice income as a indie developer. Moving the same units for $5 and you can run a small company.
If you don´t care about moving units when producing a game you have the wrong job. So the $5 sales model totally works.
PS: It´s all about reaching your target audience to succeed. Introversion and Frictional can tell a stroy about that.

No it's not a flaw because there's absolutely no dependence on the value of things to me, as an individual human/gamer and the number of units sold. Of course there's a dependence on the price developers may be able to sell their products but it's not related to the value from a users point of view because if this would be true it would have to be so for the inverse case too - and you would have to value any product with very low sales numbers very high, independent of it's real value.
Again it doesn't matter why the sales are low and there's no relation to the value (besides if it's something very special only a very few users *need* but we're talking about luxury entertainment goods)

UbiShop EU

25% off for all games
http://shop.ubi.com/store/ubiemea/en_IE/home

THQ UK
http://store.thq.com/store/thq/en_GB/pd/Warhammer-40000-Space-Marine/productID.220503700
http://store.thq.com/store/thq/en_GB/pd/Red-Faction-Armageddon/productID.202591600

DotEmu is offering all Cossaks pack for $5.
http://www.dotemu.com/en/download-game/594/all-cossacks-and-american-conquest-series

Yes, there is no inherent connection between personal value and units sold.
Save a psychological one e.g. Top Ten Hits, Arts, rare Wine or cars.
But you know there are irresversable deductions, like: All piano players are human but not all humans are piano players. There is no rule for a argument to have to work in reverse.

I see what you're getting at.
But I do not value the price of games against my WORK time. I value games against my SPARE time. Which is MUCH more valuable than my work time.

And therefore has a much severe ratio. Like 1 hour of gameplay that is FUN is worth $1 to me on average with some expection. And quite some games are not worth even that to me. Because exactly as, you said gamingis a LUXURY, not a right.

:)

PS:
And to the otther so for expanding the OT Time!

Ups yep - got quite OT - just to get to end this. I confirm it's about the time you have - and I'm not against sales prices - in fact I probably bought 1000 games at fullprice (I started about 30 years ago on the VCS 2600) but easily the same amount on various sales, budget rereleases etc. and I too value stuff on various ways - I'm not only a gamer but I guess also a kind of game collector/addict so I of course I like sales too (otherwise I wouldn't know this thread :-))
The comparison with one's own work time was just meant to get a different perspective on the exceptional cheap prices the game's are sold during sales and in bundles.

Back to topic ... the new bundle at www.indieroyale.com is available for preorder and as it sounds chances are, it'll include a bundle of the Blackwell adventures.

You´re cool!
Do you know for sure Blackwell is featured? the desciption is hinting but not stating.
Since Blackwell is also coming to Steam I might be very interested besides that I already have the Collectors DVD, talking about value ;)

Tbh, i just want it on Steam. I know, i know, the DRM Free thing is swell and all, i just like my games tied to one place. Steam and GoG are my only two DD for the most part. Do i lose out because of it, yeah sometimes, but just means i dont have very far to go when i want to play something.

For Polish members: Witcher 2 box for 59 PLN ($17)
http://www.groupon.pl/deals/lublin/cdproject-shopping/2054641?nlp=&CID=PL_CRM_1_0_0_344&a=413

I'm not sure, it's just a guess but given the guys at neogaf noticed the Blackwell bundle in the Steam registry and they guessed it's in the next royale bundle too I think the chances are pretty good. Given Gemini Rue was in the first bundle, IMO, increases the chance even more.

Thats correct. I try to buy as many games that i can for cheap to last until the next major sale (summer). If i paid $60 for a new game, then i can only buy 4 games. At $5 or less, i can buy between 50-75 games. And i dont pay $5 for just any game, oh no, they have to be AAA titles likes Mass Effect, Dead Space, Resident Evil 5, Metro 2033, etc. Now if i see an OK game for $2.50, i might buy it like Medieval2 Total War Gold which i did buy at GG back in October.

Steam daily deal : L4D2

Bummer , another one I already have .. :(

Steam is showing Killing Floor to be $3.74, but Didimatic and RPS say it's $5. What does it show for the rest of you?