Oh grow up. The only thing worse than what you believe me to be is someone who hounds such a person with meaningless harassment.
Oh no, he admits that Steam is a solid service but is wary of the long-term consequences of its DRM model! He must be crazy! Let me post absurd comments to save the universe from his madness! Cell phone companies sell phones at a loss in order to reap the benefits of service contracts. It is normal for a service provider to attempt to lure in new users with attractive deals if loyalty or dependence can be established. But no, that isn't retail 101, that's tinfoil hattery and crop circles!

Please, this isn't an anti-steam thread. Lets try to stay on topic.

Yes, definitely. It's the hallmark of big sales outlets, be it for digital or physical media.
I used to work at a big sports warehouse, and we'd sell certain items with a loss on purpose just to draw in the customers. Turns out that it pays off in the long term due to expanded customer base and moresales.
One of the keys in Steams sales model for this holiday sale is moresales - that's when you lure in somebody for a 75% off deal, which you're actually pushing at a loss, but that customer spots something else you're selling with a profit that he buys in the same order. It might be some other game that's 25% off - that you're still selling with maybe a 15% profit on. Net effect is often a profit.

One of the best modern games I've played. Great production values, great gameplay, many units to choose from. Spells are fun especially when you can combine the use of them for good effect. Fights are fun and require strategy against different armies. Armoured Princess is the 2nd game which adds even more stuff.

Let me temper this with a positive but critical review. I enjoyed King's Bounty, but it is flawed in its difficulty and progression. You may tire of the many trips you take to replenish your troops, or the countless similar battles you must endure in order to reach a level sufficient for continuing the main quest. Yes, the combat system is smart and tacticians will love the game.
The game is quite long, so you get a lot of time for your money, but not every moment you spend playing the game will be fun. That said, if you like tactical RPGs, buy it, but do not expect perfection.

Come to think of it, they got an extra sale from me thanks to the Broken Sword games. I only wanted the LucasArts set.
Huh.

As usual.

Since Steam is able to collect so many statistics they can provide publishers with a lot of interesting data. I read somewhere where they discussed sales and how the units sold passed even launch sale numbers for many older titles.
I also believe I saw one statistic point out at certain price points they get people to buy games they never intended to buy. Crazy still, once the people own the game they don't even play it much.
I know this has happened to me on many sale titles. I know I've bought many games on D2D and Steam sales thinking "eh...its the price of a game rental anyway."

Well it also helps that the large chunk of Steam's catalog isn't region restricted. And while D2D and may be offering up the same games for sale, they're limiting the market they can sell to with the restrictions they have in place.
The Lucas Art's stuff for example, worldwide on Steam (with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 titles) but regionally restricted to NA/UK (possibly the EU as well) on D2D. Of course Steam will see more sales in such cases -- that and they have the "I want my games only on Steam" fanboy mentality working in their favor.

Yep, those fanboys and their "holly Steam" ideas.
about the region restrictions: Maybe Valve offered more % for Lucas Arts than D2D.

Not really so, with Max Sacrifice, Spirit Rage: Timeback, Hypnosis Resurrection and Dryads, I can sometimes even gain troops after a battle. Either lose a few troops, or lose nothing at all or gain troops. You'll need to replenish your troops quite a bit at the start but once you unlock the above said abilities and spells, you can conserve alot of stuff.
I'm Level 26 and still having a blast playing. The only problem I have with the game is that it doesn't have much of a story.

New Steam daily deals are up:
Universe at War: Earth Assault $4.99
Prototype $19.99
Star Wars Premier Pack $24.99
LUMINES Base+Advance Pack $2.99
Dragon Age: Origins Digital Deluxe Edition $48.74
Dragon Age: Origins $37.49
Torchlight $4.99

Today's deals:
Dragon Age - 25% off (normal game and digital deluxe edition)
Torchlight - a WHOPPING 75% off
Lumines Base + Advance Pack - 80% off
Prototype - 50% off
Universe at War: Earth Assault - 75% off
Star Wars Premier Pack - 75% off
A couple of sweet deals there, although DA:O even at a 25% discount is STILL more expensive than just going to my local store and buying it retail.

Seems that the Star Wars pack is 75% off in Europe but only 33% off in the US.
Edit: Apparently this was a bug, and KOTOR is now included in the SW pack.