theslitherydeee: They aren't doing themselves any favors. I don't buy their games when they come out because I don't want to be screwed by all the DLC later. So I just find another game to play and then buy it when they make a GOTY edition.

Smannesman: The Tex Murphy series is on sale on Steam, 50% off and the complete pack for $14.99.
A bit of a misnomer since the new one is not included, but all the classics are (I think).

blotunga: I don't agree. I think it's a great strategy. People who can afford 50-60 euros for a game can buy it at release and as the price comes down, other people can afford the game too. I'd never pay 50 euros for a game, but at around 8 euros I can also buy great relatively new games.

Gonchi: That's new, never seen it or heard of a Steam key that only activates in NA before.

EDIT: Well, no, I recall now that Dead Island was NA only too. Still, this disclaimer is new to me.

Tarnicus: That disclaimer is new but region locked Steam codes are not. What I find interesting about this is that Drakensang: The River of Time does not have that disclaimer on Amazon, yet the game is unavailable on Steam in my region and yet the code purchased from Amazon works on Steam for me.

I'll have to keep an eye out for the disclaimer before making any purchases from Amazon. I will say that Amazon are exceptional with their customer service for refunds and exchanges from my experience. I have dealt with them a few times, and in one case they allowed me to swap my non-Steam version for a Steam one when the Steam one went on sale AFTER I purchased the original version.

DarkoD13: Concerning the "Requires Steam Client to activate. Steam key only valid in North America." for some of Amazon's digital games, it's not always true. There was the same warning for NBA 2K14 and it was completely region-free. I'd recommend checking places like reddit to see if the game you're interested in is region-restricted or not.

Niggles: Anyone found any deals on the Van Helsing franchise lately?

Gonchi: I've had nothing but good experiences with Amazon. Always provided a replacement or refund whenever I've had an issue with a purchase.

Tarnicus: Currently on sale on Gamersgate Van Helsing

Cheaper on the US than UK site of GG :)

madth3: Ninja'd by Impaler26 and dyscoed about 12 hours ago :)

Tarnicus: That disclaimer is new but region locked Steam codes are not. What I find interesting about this is that Drakensang: The River of Time does not have that disclaimer on Amazon, yet the game is unavailable on Steam in my region and yet the code purchased from Amazon works on Steam for me.

Psyringe: Drakensang is a special case because the distribution rights are messed up. The publisher probably doesn't have a license to sell the game in Australia, but still likes to pocket the profit from Australian customers who pretend to be Americans.

In most other cases, publisher have an incentive to actually block their NA keys in Australia, because they want to sell their game in Australia for more money.

Tarnicus: The majority of Steam codes sold on Amazon are region free. The warning that was mentioned above appears to be a new addition, although someone above mentioned it had been implemented a few months ago.

I'd never pretend to be an American (citizenship is not required to access Amazon.com digital stores) but I do like my second residence in Colorado at a particular McDonalds :P It used to be in Phoenix (a place I have actually spent time in) but wasn't happy paying sales tax. The US government (like ours) funds enough bullshit in the world without me chipping in to support them :)

skeletonbow: I got this bundle from Greenmangaming last November for $6.99 USD which was a great deal. I'm sure it'll come on sale for that price again in the future likely also. A couple of things to note about the collection is that GTA1 and GTA2 were not advertised anywhere visible as being part of the collection or mentioned anywhere, but once I redeemed the codes they showed up in my account more or less as bonus goodies. Not sure why they did not advertise them as being part of the collection as they were there and work though. Got sore hands playing GTA1 multiplayer with a buddy. ;) The second thing to note, is that GTA4 and its expansion packs have the most insane draconian DRM ever made. In addition to having Steamworks DRM, the game requires you to create an account on Rockstar Social Club, create an account on Microsoft Xbox Live which in turn requires you to create a Microsoft Live general account if you don't already have one, then it requires you install the Windows Live Marketplace and GFWL client or whatever it is called, and if I remember correctly it requires you install Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, several versions of .NET also if they aren't already installed. The game also uses SecuROM. When you play the game you not only have to log into Steam, but you then have to log into Rockstar Social Club, and then after that you have to log into Windows Live and you have to enter the game registration key. 3 logins and a CD key every time you want to play the game! Now, Steam tries to automate the game key submission and it usually works after you've entered it once and successfully logged into GFWL, but it took me a while to be able to get the game running properly because Rockstar Social and GFWL are very unreliable and the services go down very often so you might not even be able to log in to play the game. If you can't log into GFWL for any reason, you can still play the game potentially but any progress you make is lost as it saves your games in the cloud on GFWL.

Rockstar has not announced any plans of removing GFWL to this date that I'm aware of, and it is widely discussed online that GFWL is getting shut down on July 1, 2015 which if true means that GTA4 may no longer be playable after that date without using 3rd party cracks and hacking utilities to play a game you paid money for.

Having said that, all of these games are awesome for the timeframe in which they were released and they're all still immensely fun to play. Whether it is worth it to buy them depends on whether you want to support Rockstar and reward them for the draconian DRM present on GTA4 and the expansion pack or not and think you'll get your money's worth out of the games as a whole. If I did not already own this pack, I don't think I would buy it simply due to the tremendously horrible experience with the GTA4 DRM and I wouldn't want to reward Rockstar with my money for that. Sadly, this is one game pack that I bought on a whim without doing my research on DRM first and found out later just how bad the DRM was.

GTA1 and GTA2 have no DRM at all that I'm aware of. I don't think GTA3, Vice City or San Andreas have any significant DRM either or at least nothing that caused me any grief, but GTA4's DRM has become the award winning worst-DRM-ever I've ever experienced and has bumped the original "Alone in the Dark 2" down to second place. ;o) (The GOG version of AITD2 is DRM-free but they include the copy protection stuff with the game IIRC just for documentive historical preservation which is cool.)

Anyhow, having said all of that and at risk of sending mixed messages ... I am playing GTA4 right now with a Logitech G27 racing wheel and it is a pretty damned awesome game, but caveat emptor on the DRM hassles! ;o)

(Edited to make correction of store purchase from Greenmangaming)

genkicolleen: That is SO weird! I was just playing Faerie Solitaire not ten minutes ago~! lol~

EDIT: Oh, and it has trading cards, by the way :D