Yeah seems kinda silly to release it full price then slam 50% off a couple of weeks later.

I don't think rockstar really cared though, the games been out for a while now on PS3 and 360, they probably think that people who wanted it have already got it now and probably didn't think PC sales would compare to the Consoles sales.

IIRC, Valve slowly started ramping up their sales after they tried a 50% off sale for L4D (when it was relatively new) as an experiment and had huge success.

http://www.shacknews.com/article/57308/valve-left-4-dead-half

Yeah, say what you will about Valve and Steam but we definitely have them to thank for the crazy DD sales.

I am not sure nor I have any concrete information, but I suspect Valve contacts the relevant company and suggests a discount for a single day or a weekend - it could happen vice versa as well but as I said, I do not know - perhaps Bansama know ssomething more about it. Obviously these sales work for all parties involved (Valve, company, customers), else they wouldn't be so frequent.

Difference of semantics. What I meant by always on is you always have to have steam running to run your steam game, unless you modify the game client.

What do I think of Steam?

Ill let you know when I find out if they think they are above European Laws that govern money wrongfully taken from peoples accounts.

I think that frequent sales are solely a modern marketing weapon to overload a human mind and confuse it and trick it into buying things that he might not even be interested in. The more sales, the harder to compare and then the time pressure and you never know if ever this game will be so cheap again (it will) and for this price together with this other game, that I don't really like but maybe it's good, and for 50% off, saves me 10$ compared to "the full price" and oh a sale, attention, attention, everybody get crazy now about these crazy (calculated) prices...

This whole sales thing only works if you guys buy more things than you would otherwise, more games than you play. And my experience with the sales here tells me that this is true.

Yeah, but the money I spent on deals that normally wouldn't interest me each month is less than the money I spent on alcohol I can't remember drinking. Therefore I'm good.

I'll be interested to hear. In the US they close the account and take back all the games if the bank issues a chargeback regardless of whether or not Steam is in the wrong. Or at least that's what I've heard, never tried.

After pointing out that replacing real money with steams imaginary money (if it were a small amount I wouldnt mind but this was not a small amount) was not good enough and providing links to laws both in europe and the UK (distance selling and those governing taking unauthorized payments and also legal definitions used in previous cases that cover theft and fraud)

Also advising that if they do not refund it I will contact the bank to get the money back that way, pre empting thier retaliation of Steam locking the account and removing the ability to play games I pointed out that doing that would make it extremely hard to maintain the theory that "steam is not DRM" and that id be more than willing to make a fair few accounts at various forums that allow the use of pastebin and that im sure google translate can help breach the non English speaking barrier.

Amazingly my steam forum ID is no longer recognised (might be coincidence) but I got the refund notification with the following message:

[i]Hello My name here

As requested, we have processed the refunds to your account.

Your bank or credit card issuer will return the funds to your account - please allow 3-5 business days for the funds to be posted.[/i]

I've not really read this thread but I didn't want to start a new one just to say that's I've just bought Cthulhu Saves the World & Breath of Death VII double pack for, like, 68p in the sale
No idea whether they're any good or not but, as I say, 68p!! They seem to be retro-style j-style RPG thingies

This is how you deal with Steam. If they treat you well, you buy their games and everything is good and well.

If they try to f*ck you up, you show them that consumer rights are little bit better cared for in Europe than in the US.

This post gave me a nice and fuzzy feeling in my stomach. I hate this "roll over and die" attitude I have so often encountered...

That's what I would expect. However the UK actually has consumer protection laws so it might turn out better than it would in the US.

In the US, I would have to take Valve to court if something like this happened and it probably wouldn't end well.

"Steam is too busy to allow you to play the games that you've bought. However, you can buy other games without problems."

That is what I think.