The next generation of consoles is coming out in the next year or two, so we're seeing the lull in between the death of the 7th generation and the birth of the 8th. I'm sure it will pick back up once the PS4 and 720 come out but for now PC is the king of this playground.

As for disappointing gaming purchases, I got the Gothic bundle in a Steam sale only to find that the second would not work....even though Steam forums said the problem had been solved. So, I had to buy another copy from GOG, a waste of money and my last Steam purchase.

Let's see
Assassin's Creed - GOG version
It wasn't exactly DRM-Free version and i had to prevent the game accessing internet

Final Fantasy VII - Re-Release
Can't even play the damn game because of the limited activations :(

So no one bought the bundle after the extras were revealed? Even before that bought it before were expecting something extra probably coming afterwards.

Ok and you noticed yourself how the Titan Quest pricing goes. From my point of view, people who are interested in the game want the expansion pack too (making getting the base game from the THQ bundle obsolete), while those who are not interested in the game... well, including the base game to the bundle was largely irrelevant to them as well.

No, I didn't say the base game alone is not worth it. I said that in case you wanted to buy any additional content to it, suddenly you see you actually save money by just buying the SR3 complete bundle from Steam, again making getting the base game from the Humble THQ Bundle irrelevant.

As for the extra content "not needed", define when extra content is "needed" then? I can't think of even one game that can't be played without expansion packs etc.

If the content was really useless and even makes the base game worse as you say, I'm not surprised THQ went belly up. They shouldn't piss on their customers like that.

That's certainly interesting, as most people probably expect a game to get better with extra content they buy for it, not worse. And that is also very unfortunate because as we already know, trying to cherry-pick SR3 DLCs ends up costing much more than just buying the full package in one swoop.

This just underscores what I complained earlier about the DLC madness in modern games: buying them is nowadays quite a lot work, if you really have to get to know each of the dozen DLCs inside out before you dare to buy them. In the old days it was easier because games wouldn't normally receive more than one or two expansion pack at most. And I don't remember games getting worse due to expansion packs either.

Maybe you should have left my original message in the quote, because I said right in the beginning: I still say that the way SR3 and Titan Quest were handled in that bundle was mostly a case of bullshit marketing, due to the way the rest of the game content is priced on Steam. Especially considering that they were the very games you got if you paid over the average.

I guess it would have been similar if GOG had released the missing expansion packs for Wing Commander 1-2 etc. as extra purchaseable DLC items for the base games, and also as bundles which include both the base game and the expansions. And then priced them so that the people who had already bought the base WC games, would not save any money by trying to buy the mission packs separately afterwards.

Of course also in that case you could have said that the Wing Commander games are full games even without the mission packs, the extra content is not really needed in the cosmical scale of things.

Actually, nine games. All of which are very good if not excellent without any DLC/expansion packs.

I'm always surprised how cheap people can be.
I believe that we have seen the end of the current console market. Future consoles will be more like the Wii, less graphical hungry and more about interface innovations or seamlessly integrate PC gaming like Steam already does it.

Microsoft and especially Sony have to much on their hands right now to launch something similar to the PS3 or XBox 360.

Damn, I totally forgot this. While the jury is still out on how good it actually will be, the first spoils are already great (eg FTL). Can't wait for Shadowrun.

I just checked my budget. I spend more on Kickstarters this year than on games (excluding bundles, I list those under charity). Truly a marvellous year.

Call of Juarez: The Cartel got if for £2 and think i have been ripped off so far one of the worst games i have bought in 2012.
Blades of Time started ok then it just got annoying and the voice acting i was never more satisfied of killing my character than in that game just to shut her up.

As said, games with DRM are worth less to me than DRM-free games. I don't pirate them and I pay the asking price, but I don't feel bad for not specifically supporting DRM-gaming by shelling out money over the minimum for them. Too bad I overpaid for the Humble THQ Bundle. :(

After all, each time I buy a DRM game sends the wrong signal to publishers that I'd approve DRM. Better to try to control the damage at least a bit, by paying as little as possible. If the publishers want me to pay higher margins, they are free to release them DRM-free too. ;-P After all, I haven't complained even if some of the games in GOG may cost a bit more than e.g. in Steam.

As for being cheap, you didn't by any chance at least try to take advantage of either the recent GamersGate or Gamestop (Far Cry bundle) mis-pricings? I didn't, but I did notice you had apparently acquired Doom 3 BFG edition right after the GG deal.

I have to agree with SimonG that 2012 was a very good year for PC gaming. There were plenty of really good games, and far more pleasant surprises than disappointments, at least for me.

Since I'm good at avoiding games I'm pretty sure I won't enjoy, the only disappointments I've had this year, Warlock: Master of the Arcane and Risen 2, were games for which I probably had unrealistic expectations, i.e. I thought they'd be great and they "only" turned out to be good games.

Random encounters should be the least of your worries to those games man, don't let it alienate you.

Could you say more about this? A quick perusal of the forum and a google search didn't reveal any info. I was hoping to add this to my library. Thanks. :)

Cute.

You want to see my GMG receipt?

I got 30 hours with running around naked and beating up hookers with a huge purple dildo alone....

Edit: without coop and hooker beating the game with (all dlc) took me 36 hours to 90% completion.

Sniper Elite V2, without any shred of doubt.

I paid full price for that piece of turd..

Ouch, I feel you. I actually pirated the game because the demo was a bit to linear for me. My fear was confirmed. Played three or four missions and then ditched it. Damn, simply a revamp of the original with some of the SE II features would have sold the game for me. But a corridor sniper shooter, hell no.