Last winter Valve held a ‘treasure hunt’ and rewarded diligent seekers with ‘treasure hats’. Those who bought dozens of new games, and spent hours playing them, received 100% more octopus on their hats than those of us who were poorer and Irisher. Then in the spring, they let us earn virtual potatoes to help boot up GLaDOS faster. (The result? Portal 2 was released on steam like an hour early.)
When summer arrived, Valve unveiled their biggest event yet. Their summer camp event rewarded happy campers with DLC from a whole range of different games. We got rad shades for TF2 and a level for Majicka. New characters in Killing Floor and lobster bibs in Monday Night Combat. Actually, one of the rewards was a game.
Now it’s winter again, and for the last few days the Internet has been buzzing about Valve’s inevitable winter sale and treasure hunt/camp event. There’s even a wikia devoted to all of the achievements that are supposedly tied to the steam winter sale and event.
You may have also noticed about a hundred of your steam games suddenly sucking down tiny little updates recently, which we can only assume corresponds to winter event
content/achievements.
If you don’t own many (or even any) of the games tied to the event, don’t worry! Valve will almost certainly provide you with the opportunity to pay small amounts of dollars for each as the Steam winter sale rolls on.
Of course, that also means if you’ve been eyeing any of the games listed in the above-linked wikia, you might want to hold off for a bit. Because they’re probably going on sale before too long.
If anyone is curious, it's actually possible to earn all these new achievements already. I had already satisfied the requirements for the space chem one, so I just booted up space chem and got the achievement.
I love and dredd this part of the year. There is so much I want, and so little cash that I have. I have at least $50 to spend, with an extra $50 hopefully after Christmas. Will be watching at 10AM PST this morning to see if it kicks off.
It has begun.
Has anyone actually been able to access their inventory to see what the 'gift' is? Mine keeps 503'ing.
I'm having that problem right now, actually.
People have been reporting gifts like '25% off any game' and '50% off any valve game'
also some people have claimed to receive free copies of portal, half life 2, etc
still can't even get my inventory to load properly (it has loaded a few times, but shows only my tf2 and spiral knights items)
I'm still getting a ton of errors on the site. If I can load the main page, good for me, but clicking on anything just gives me another error page.
Hopefully by the time I get over to Surrey it'll be working again so I don't miss anything (I can't wait until I'm back in the Okanagan on Thursday as I'll have missed a few daily deals by then).
Yeah, I cannot get the gift page to load either right now. Something tells me that Steam is getting crushed right now. As for the daily deals - Portal 2 is good if you don't have it yet (not sure who doesn't), and I am a bit torn on Orcs Must Die as a purchase. I have a bunch of $2.00 stuff on my wish list right now that I am probably going to pick up at some point, but I am waiting to see if any of it hit the daily deals.
Curious to see what others are going to do with their cash on Steam. Right now, I am waiting for DiRT 3 to go a bit lower along with Dead Rising 2: Off the Record. Also want to get the DLC for Deus Ex Human Revolution and some of the missing DLC for Fallout New Vegas and Borderlands. MIssing one DLC pack each. ALso want to get some of the DLC for Mafia II. Cold Fear would be nice at a cheaper price point for me. Wanted to get it when it was a daily deal a few weeks back, but Steam would not let me purchase it. Come on Steam, Load already!
I show a Steam gift by the way, but when I look at the tab, it says I have no items to display. Same goes for all the other tabs. They show I have stuff, but they all say I have no gifts to view.
Looks like I got into my inventory. I got 33% off any Valve item, and 50% off a copy of Demolition Inc. BFD.
exciting
i got 33% off a valve game (valid january 2nd through march something, not valid on games released after january 2nd)
how did you get two things
Dunno. Maybe I've had it for awhile and didn't realize?
Man, I only have 25% off any Valve game through to March.
This is the worst Christmas sale ever.
What a weird event. Last year, treasure hunters got a tf2 hat. Last summer, campers got a whole bunch of little DLCs and etc.
This year, we're getting coupons that are essentially worthless (i.e. valve games are all like 50-75% off right now, why wait until after january 2nd to use a coupon and pay more)
My inventory still shows nothing.
sorry to ruin the suspense
you also have a tf2 treasure hat
I got a free copy of Half Life 2: Episode 1 for my gift. I would rather have the coupon as I own it already. Anyone here need a copy of Half Life 2: Episode 1? If so, it is yours.
Bah, 33% off is a nice gesture, I guess, but kind of useless when you already own every Valve game.
(I realize I could use it to buy a gift, but if it's not good for sale prices then it's really useless, as they all come on sale for more than 33% off every other month)
I believe they're good for sale prices, just not THIS sale
i.e. if l4d went on sale for 50% off next month, you could use your coupon to get an additional 33% off
Coupons are valid on discounted items unless specified otherwise.
Seriously, why do I only get 25% off and you guys get 33%? It must be random, or OR it might be Steam's way of telling me to go fuck myself.
I got a 33% off Steam Title coupon - but the only Steam title I don't own (and have any "interest" in) is Left 4 Dead 1. Currently its sitting at $9.99, so I guess that means it would go down to $6.66. Still a good price, but I'll see if it gets lower.
As for the achievement portion of the contest - I don't have any of those games so I guess I'm out of the hunt today. Perhaps they'll add some games I do have during tomorrow's update.
coupons aren't good until after this sale is over, it says right on the coupons that they are valid starting january 2nd
also several times in this thread
also if you follow the link in the original post (to the wikia wiki) you can see a list of all the games / achievements that will be included in the event
I got a 50% off coupon.
Obviously Steam loves me more than all you LOSERS.
Suck it.
I didn't get jack.
BTW screw the Poker Night at the Inventory achievement. You need to win a hand getting a three of a kind with three kings. I got a full house, three kings and 2 of something else, and I didn't get credit since I didn't get a three of a kind (and the opponent I beat had crap).
And trying to play Portal 2 on high causes my laptop to crash more often than not.
Got a gift copy of Bunch of Heroes from Zzombie just now. Wanted to try installing it to get the achievement for the holiday sales, but I'm having a hard time even keeping Steam connected, let alone loading pages. Nothing but 503 errors.
And of course Steam is trying to update like 5 games at once on top of that.
Can I go back and get the achievement for it later?
I'll probably do it once I get back from my trip, unless I feel the need to get a break from inlaws and rub out some quick achievements. So maybe I will do it tonight, if it ever downloads of course.
marlin your post lacks meat
please revise
do not even think about resubmitting until you have at least 3 paragraphs
Does anyone know anybody that wants Half Life 2: Episode 1. I am willing to give it away. I would rather have those coupons than a game I already own. So far, this holiday event on Steam sucks. How bad is it when you cannot even give away a game for a lump of coal.
why would you want a coupon for a valve game that lets you buy the valve game two weeks from now at a higher price than you would pay right now
Error 503 Service Unavailable
Service UnavailableGuru Meditation:
XID: 531374211Varnish cache server
I'm not super familiar with cache servers, but I don't know what letting it become enlightened and making it shiny's gonna do.
home > oops
oops, sorry
Well it's pretty clear that they're doing all of this to promote their recent changes to the client that allows for coupons. But yeah, it's not exactly winning over many people, as using the coupons in 2 weeks will cost you more than buying the stuff on sale now. That plus they still haven't given me anything. I guess having only 150 games makes me too casual of a user for them!
Right now, Steam seems to be overloaded with the Holiday Sale and the contest stuff. You would think they would be prepared after seeing the response to past sales and the chatter in their own forums leading up to the sale, but nope, they have not.
Also, as a side note, it appears that Poker Night at the Inventory was patched so you can get the three kings with any hand that holds three kings as long as you win. SO a full house with three kings will net you the achievement. They also added the 12 Days of Chirstmas for winning 12 hands. Guess too many people were complaining about the horror of listening to Tycho's same banter for hours on end trying to get this stupid achievement.
Picked up Costume Quest (I now have three versions) mostly for the DLC, which comes with the PC Version.
Also nabbed Dredmor's DLC for 74 cents. Hilariously, the 'bundle' costs $3.75, nearly twice as much as buying the game and DLC separately. Guess someone screwed up.
cars I'll wait times because of the warehouse ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo. who cheap ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo woohoo up 1
progeny lacks meat
please feed food until requisite meat level is reached
So I couldn't complete yesterday's "check your inventory" achievement because Steam is soooo hammered that they didn't put my gift there until right now, so I can't get the extra gift. I guess that it's unachieveable for me. Anyway, my gift is Half Life, the original. Does anyone want it? Did anyone NOT buy it during the multiple times it was $1?
I want to get recettear, but wasn't it like $2.50 last year? Does anyone remember?
Only having one gift instead of two is the result of ??? (some people got two, some people got one, doesn't seem to be any logic to it)
also, it looks like they're doing "free" achievements differently this time around
during the treasure hunt and summer camp events, the freebies were all steam related (comment on a profile, upload a video, etc)
near as I can figure, the 'free' achievement today is probably the spiral knights one. so I guess look forward to more achievements from f2p games in the coming days.
ok I've actually got a coupon and a piece of coal now even though I haven't done any achievements from today
I also have coal now.
I just a few days ago went through all of my old Humble Bundle links to check on Steam key redemptions, so I've got Dungeons of Dredmor, and Psychonauts. Anyone know how long the "Holiday Dinner" achievement might take?
psychonauts was in a humble bundle? when?
No, I got Psychonauts for about two fiddy. Edit: Minus the fiddy.
I have copies of Half-Life 2 and HL2:Episode 1 to gift also.
(I mean I've had them for awhile but still)
You've had them for awhile because everyone has them. You will never get rid of them.
have a copy of portal to gift
don't even know why I have it
can't get rid of it either
Boo, I can't get the Psychonauts achievement easily as all my saves are in the latter half of the game (at night) and birds only show up in the daytime.
Don't feel like playing through the first couple of levels just to get the pyro skill so |I can burn them for a roast. Bah.
If you have Dungeon Defenders the recent update added a Christmas theme to the tavern. In there you'll find a tree with presents containing close to 20 million in mana.
hey guys did you know steam games sometimes update
it's the most goddamn awful thing in the world, I tells ya
I always get nervous when Steam isn't updating something. I always think my internet has died.
(my fault for having hundreds of games installed I guess)
When you're not on the best connection for downloading shit, and even updates can take awhile if they're big enough, and you have several games trying to update several times a day (none of which will update if you're in game), it gets annoying.
Just got coal. Yay.
I'm actually way into trying to get these achievements this time around. I guess it helps that I have a shitload of free time at my disposal now that I'm not working.
marlin I'm pretty sure you're the only one whose tf2 updates eight times in one day
oh good
Today's deals:
Batman: Arkham City - $24.99 (50% off)
Neverwinter Nights 2 Platinum - $4.99 (75% off)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise - 75% off
Grotesque Tactics franchise - 75% off
Mount & Blade franchise - 75% off
Sherlock Holmes franchise - 75% off
Defense Grid: The Awakening - $2.49 (75% off)
F1 2011 - $24.99 (50% off)
Jurassic Park: The Game - $14.99 (50% off)
Payday: The Heist - $9.99 (50% off)
Monday Night Combat - $2.49 (75% off)
Swords & Soldiers - $2.49 (75% off)
Debating purchasing Arkham City. Not a bad price.
Thinking about getting Defense Grid. Several of you guys own it, is it good?
http://www.mediafire.com/?73rlq7b1h57ub8b
Yes, it makes you a cheat, but hey, I am sure most of us are going to play the games right at some point.
So Jon did you flat out reject my gift of Psychonauts or is Steam just being retarded?
btw, thanks for the gift Bio. I really have wanted a digital version of Psychonauts for some time, as my discs will not seem to load under Windows 7 64bit. Now I just have to find the time after the beginning of the year to play it. Cannot wait for the Milkman level, and I am still dreading the Meat Market finale.
Oh fuck thanks for reminding me of Meat Market. God that is one of the worst levels in any game ever. In fact, now that I think about it, I'm not even sure I ever beat the game proper because of that stupid level, though this was years ago and I can't remember.
I bought it for myself simply to play through The Milkman Conspiracy again.
I am finally back online and ready to online and whatnot!
Anyone want a FREE copy of Vegas: Make it Big? I just won it via the Holiday Sale and I really have no want or need for it. You know, considering I don't gamble.
Develop a state-of-the art Las Vegas resort complex, using all the money and management skill you can. Customers on the living, breathing Las Vegas boulevard are Notoriously hard to satisfy - can you win the hearts and wallets of Vegas? Amazing real-time 3D graphics show off your resort to the max.
Defense Grid is one of the best tower defense games out there.
As for Psychonauts, I may just download the profiles. I will replay it eventually because the Milkman level OWNS. But yeah, that last level did leave a bad taste to finish off the game.
I also have a 50% coupon for LIMBO. Who wants a copy of LIMBO?
Blur is $5 today, which is better than people think it is imo. Brink is already down to $5. The ME games are $5 each.
Amazon has Shogun 2 for $7.49 and all the DLC is 80% off. Each comes iwth Steam codes. Renegade Ops is also $2.99 with all the DLC and comes with a Steam code. Finally Gamersgate has Deus Ex and all of its DLC for 80% off. Not too shabby for a hell of a game and of course, they just give you Steam codes.
we're at the airport and might be snowed in can someone hook me up with a copy of blur and I will buy a game for you when I get back?
Man I only needed one more coal to be able to craft coal, so I decided to do the spiral knights achievment. It apparently took me almost an hour, because it kept sending me to levels without snow. ALSO, I nearly ran out of dang crowns (I had 1,000 crowns to start with, and got down to zero, but luckily was able to win that match and had enough for one last match, which ended up being the snow level (which I also won)
then I crafted the coal
and I got a 50% off coupon for dang 'hacker evolution'
from now on I'm trading my coal to people for refined metal
Wow, the price on Rage dropped quickly--$30 regular, down to $15 today.
I bought Aliens vs Predator and that weird indy Deus Ex game for 6 combined.
Not sure if I made a good decision or not.
Anyone want to do a trade for the objective today? Will it let us do a 1-1 trade on a piece of coal? I figure that would be the easiest thing to do.
you can trade coal, dumb coupons, etc
but trading is super messed up right now
who would have expected it (apparently not valve)
I haven't even been able to access my inventory today, let alone start trading things.
Steam keeps eating up my Portal 2 items.
Skyrim for $40.
I picked it up, because obviously.
There's some others there but SKYRIM
Cool I just won a game. Flight Control HD, which I didn't have, for doing the And Yet it Moves achievement.
I've only gotten coal so far. And the 7 coal I did transform into a prize, I ended up with a 25% off coupon for an Ubisoft game.
Whee?
Also won a 33% off Tropico 4 coupon, although if I wanted to buy it I don't think it'll get anywhere near the $10 it hit the other day for at least a year. Go me.
I'm going to buy you the stupidest five dollar game possible tomorrow just to illustrate this.
Nan-cy Drew! Nan-cy Drew! Nan-cy Drew!
I think I am going to start referring to you as Nancy hope you don't mind, Nancy.
i was suggesting nancy drew as a dumb steam game y'all i mean nancy drew is kinda dumb
Oh I can do better than that, you haven't begun to see me get dumb yet!
faits help me lrn 2 steam so I can give Lae a dumb game
god marlin why are you so bad at this
FINE HERE
http://store.steampowered.com/app/41740/
I'm sorry that's not dumb enough.
Flight Control is a solid game, thoug I think it's probably better on touch devices.
but do you own bad rats
I won universe sandbox a few days ago. So I'm happy with my results overall.
can't remember if I mentioned, but when I crafted seven coal I got a coupon for hacker evolution (wowowo)
Nice, just won a copy of Deux Ex: Human Revolution after doing the Defense Grid achievement. I was hoping for The Witcher 2, but maybe I can trade for it (already own HR on Steam).
Or I could just give it away.
Also, playing Hard Reset has made me realize what a pain this NVidia Optimus thing is - the game would refuse to switch over to that card and instead kept running on the integrated Intel thing. It's a pretty demanding game, all told, so getting the achievement was kind of fun when the game ran at about 5fps.
So Jon sent me Batman AA as a gift (thanks!), so I went and bought him Call of Cthulhu as a gift in return since it was on the top of his list. Then I checked my Steam inventory and found out that I didn't get a lump of coal for the 10 wishlist achievement... it gave me Call of Cthulhu. I wish these things actually showed up as new inventory items. Since I really have no interest in the game, does anyone want it?
what a weird coincidence
Arkham Asylum is fantastic.
In doing some achievements, too, I realized that PAYDAY is pretty neat as well...sort of a Left 4 Dead type co-op feel but instead of playing inside Dawn of the Dead you're playing inside Heat.
And after finishing the Killing Floor achievement I realized I had won Bad Rats. I have no idea what the fuck Bad Rats is.
I'm watching the trailer on steam and it looks terrifying
[youtube]2sZTN-YIKf4[/youtube]
Haha that game looks horrible. I'm sorry you won that game Lae.
And I need to install PAYDAY at some point.
I just crafted seven more coal
got amnesia
not sure if want
I don't like being scared
why do you think I like RE5 so much
Well I am sure someone has something worth trading for. Just make a trade.
I'm sorry you won the Worst Game, lae
I think I "won" a 25% off Valve coupon with my Defense Grid achievement. I guess I can buy.... hrm... uh... Team Fortress Classic? I'm really having trouble thinking of any other Valve game I don't own.
Call of Cthuhlu seems to have disappeared from my inventory. Hopefully it's just one of the frequent Steam display bugs, as a friend really wants to give it a try.
Others who also probably own every single Valve game already.
There is certainly a law of diminishing returns where everyone is getting pretty much everything.
Update your wish lists with the sales, folks. Makes it way easier on everyone
I've got some really weird coupons so far (and games if you include Bad Rats, which I still haven't mustered up the courage to install). I've got 20 objectives done as of last night and won these:
-Deux Ex: Human Revolution
-Bad Rats
-Overlord Complete Pack
-14 coal (transformed them into two crappy coupons)
-33% off Valve
-33% off Tropico 4
-25% off Ubisoft
-75% off Risen
-50% off Trauma (utterly useless even with a future sale as it's already 75% off as a non daily christmas deal)
-50% off Rockstar Games
The last one is kind of interesting for LA Noire, as it'll make a really good deal if it comes on sale any time during the coupon period.
I'll figure out what to do with any games I win when the sale is over - you guys here will probably benefit from it, though.
Before the Thanksgiving sale started, I had 59 Steam games. The copy of Killing Floor that Lae just gifted me puts my library at 87, not counting DLC. These sales turn us all into purchasing maniacs. I won't even be able to install all the games I've bought/received until I buy a new laptop. I simply don't have any room left.
Beyond the initial copy of Half Life 2: Episode 1 that I got for the first achievement, all I have received is coal and coupons. I refined seven coal and got....a coupon. So far, this holiday gift bag has been terrible to me. Worst one so far - I got the acheivement for Beat Hazard and in return, got a coupon for 50% off Beat Hazard Complete. Really Valve, can't you do something about this random prize deal so I don't get coupons for games I own, or getting a coupon for the same game I just unlocked the achievement in to get a prize?
So far, I have got the following:
Half Life 2: Episode 1
11 Coal (refined seven already)
25% off Deep Silver Game
50% off Serious Sam First Encounter HD (already own the game, if anyone wants this)
50% off Revenge of the Titans
50% off LA Noire (already own on Xbox 360, but might use it if it ever goes 50% off at some point before March 31st)
25% off Batman Arkham City (probably the best one of the lot)
50% off Lost Horizon (Already reviewed this and have no desire to play it again, so up for grabs if anyone wants it)
25% off Lord of the Rings: War of the North (anyone want this)
50% off APEX (WTF is this?)
50% off Beat Hazard Complete (already own this, anyone want the coupon)
50% off Atom Zombie Smasher (any good?)
Hope you have better luck than I have (Seems like Lae has)
Oh, and did the recommendation thing this morning and got.....ANOTHER PIECE OF FRIGGIN COAL
Hmm, I got a forgotten password e-mail from Steam. I hope no one is trying to get into my account.
As for the sale. I just picked up Republic Commando, I for some reason have always wanted to try the game out. I'm thinking about picking up Bastion while the daily price is still effective. Rock of Ages also looks interesting. I now have 7 coal and 1 coupon in my inventory.
Owned, bitch (enjoy, and thanks again for Blur)
I just crafted a 50% off jamestown coupon
I just traded a friend some coupons for spare coal, crafted and got a great 66% off Two Worlds II. I have no luck with anything in this gift sale. Yes, I am whining and I would love some cheese to go with it.
how do i trade? i've got terrible coupons!
why would anyone trade their coal for terrible coupons it seems like a weird idea
coal can be crafted
it can serve as entries into the grand prize drawing
it can be traded for 1 refined team fortress 2 metal
which can be traded for hats
I should really thank Jon, as he gave me Arkham Asylum as well. Unfortunately, trying to jump through the hoops and actually play the game is proving problematic, and I may write in to see about a refund.
You know, when i bought the game last year, it was through GFW, and while I suspect it ran kind of molasses-y, it was still quite playable, and I had no ohter problems. Not sure how it translates to Steam, though.
The demo ran, and looked alright at 1920x1080 low. I have not been able to actually play the full version yet. There's still a few things I can try, but I don't know how much more time I'm willing to devote to this chore.
I managed to run the Steam version okay back when it ran out, although I haven't tried on slightly less beefy hardware (like my laptop).
I also know from my Dirt 3 experience that GFWL can be a pain in the ass, although in Arkham's case at least I didn't have a save corrupt on me.
If Dirt 2 taught me one thing, it was manually save every time before you exited the game. Had the corrupt save once and spent an afternoon tracking down and implementing the fix. Have been doing manual saves before quitting out of Dirt 3 because of that same issue.
I've got Batman AA on disc - and the only part that runs like crap is signing into Live, and by "runs like crap" I mean it takes a full minute or two to log in - otherwise the game runs super smooth.
I have never really had any issues with GFW Live until my last rebuild on my PC a few weeks ago. I ended up having to delete the Live Trust Relationship in Windows 7 and then reinstall the GFW Client. It worked perfectly after that. Come to find out it happened when I installed an older GFW Game after a new one and it overwrote the new version with the old one. Another reason for why I should never play Universe at War: Earth Assault again.
I had a corrupted Dirt 3 save, but I think that had more to do with my dying video card crashing my system randomly (and one "random" was right during an autosave). Otherwise, GFWL works ok for me. However, I can no longer load up Viva Pinata. I even deleted it and redownloaded it and it still crashes the moment I try to run it. Oh well, seems I lost $1 on that one, for now.
Oh yeah, I forgot. I had trouble with GFWL with HALO 2: COMBAT EVOLVEDER. I think it was the first GFWL game, and I picked it up years later, at which time the GFWL client was patched and upgraded. Basically games don't work unless you have the latest client, but Halo 2 seemed to really want some obsolete files that GFWL doesn't use anymore, or something like that. Took me like an hour to get the game to actually work.
In regards to Viva Pinata, you might try deleting the configuration file. Sometimes, if you have changed any hardware from the last time you had it installed, it might be trying to load with an old video card or sound card of some kind. I have had that problem with The Club. Had to find the save folder in My Documents and then kill the cfg file. Then it booted no problem with the default settings. Then I just had to go back and set it up for the new hardware. GTA IV also had issues with that and both of these games are GFW Live games.
Food for thought.
Actually, that worked, thanks! There were a ton of cfg files scattered all over the place but one of them actually worked. Boo on the game for only supporting 720 in widescreen, oh well.
Oddly, GTA4 didn't have any trouble with me switching out my GPU.
Also, I do recall yet another problem with Halo 2 (no wonder Bungie pretends it doesn't exist). Twice the game froze up my system. When I came back, I could start at the most recent checkpoint, but the save data didn't sync up with what GFWL had on record so I had to restart the level all over again if I wanted achievements. Of course this would happen right at the end of a level too.
Viva Pinata should support higher resolutions that 720, as I have mine set to 1920x1200. I will check tonight to make sure that I have it set to that and see what resolutions are supported.
Man the last page of this thread just reminds me why I don't play PC games.
Yuck.
I thought you didn't play pc games because you can't find the install button?
Games for Windows Live, on the other hand, blows.
steam owns
all of your games
that you "subscribed to" through it
If Steam really owned, they would tell publishers to go fuck themselves with 3 extra layers of DRM on top of the Steam client and account.
some games on steam also require you sign into gfwl weren't you just bitching about gfwl marlin
Nothing terribly interesting for me the past few days. But then again, I've been soured.
Tried to run Arkham Asylum again today. GFWL still would not update, or download my profile properly. Told me to delete the profile and try again, without giving any hint about how to do such a thing.
The past few times I've tried this, I've quit out of the game, and it's locked up my system. This is with as low of settings as I can get--640x480, everything off or low, windowed mode... Today, all the same, except full screen. I quit, and let it run. It took 13 minutes of blank screen before I got back to Windows.
Also, you don't actually have an option to Exit to Desktop until you've started the game. I assume this changes once you've gotten past the intro and saved the game, except I can't save the game because GFWL isn't working. Waste my time loading and skipping two or three cutscenes--twice--before I figure it out.
I've e-mailed for a refund for Jon.
Also, saw a relevant thing last night:
(Take on this: http://www.explosm.net/comics/1881/)
So the gift pile cheevo for Binding of Isaac is apparently broken. Lots of people are accomplishing it, but it's not unlocking. One guy sent a message to the devs on Twitter, only to be told it's a player problem.
So one player (somehow) figured out that the code for reporting cheevos in the game is broken, and wrote his own fix for it. Nice job, half of Team Meat. Between that and berating folks in the PC version of Super Meat Boy that gamepads are best, but then making it nigh impossible to actually get a gamepad to work in the game, well, I am pretty put off by the whole thing.
I've really just had enough by now, to the point I want to return my copy of Arkham City too. If they deny the refund, I'll maybe keep trying anew, until I run out of SecuROM activations, and give up video games altogether.
Will take you 30 seconds to fix this. Took me a lot longer because I had to Google how to play Arkham offline and go through several forums until someone pointed out that you can create an offline profile, then I had to Google how to do that, but once I watched that short video and realized you just have to scroll to the bottom and click on that tiny link, it took maybe 30 seconds to create a new offline profile, delete my other profile and load up the game.
SO STOP WHINING AND GO BATMAN SOME PEOPLE
but his achievements
Yeah achievements are super important. I won't be able to like myself as a person until I get every achievement in Left 4 Dead.
34 objectives completed now (this is sad both in terms of my free time and how many goddamn games I own on Steam).
Traded away the 75% off Risen coupon for a 50% off Duels of the Planeswalker as I can't see myself ever buying Risen and it's far better off in someone's hands who will enjoy it. That brings my haul up to:
-Deux Ex: Human Revolution
-Bad Rats (sweet jesus this game looks terrible, I should really redeem it and post impressions)
-Overlord Collection
-Anomaly: Warzone Earth (hilariously I got this after completing the present achievement in Anomaly...)
-Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (yeah I have no idea what this is either)
-33% off Valve
-33% off Tropico 4
-25% off Ubisoft
-50% off Trauma
-50% off Rockstar Games
-50% off Total War Shogun2
-25% off 2K
-50% off Osmos
If any of the game-specific coupons interest anyone you're welcome to them. Deux Ex I'll be giving away at some point too.
Only ones I can see myself using are the publisher coupons, but they'll only really be useful during a mid week or weekend sale of one of their games, as their current catalogues are on sale for at least that much right now. Makes the coupons kind of pointless (Tropico 4 is the worst as it went on sale 66% or 75% off during this winter event already).
I am up to 28 and am still getting coal and coupons. No games to speak of.
verry muck
verry good!!
My original goal was to earn an achievement on every game that I owned or had access to (free ones, Steam goals, etc), without resorting to cheating.
Don't think that's going to happen. The Super Meat Boy one is ridiculous. Binding of Isaac is so random it's nearly impossible.
The Toki Tori achievement is less than fun as well, although at least it's doable. Same with Dungeon Defenders (you're going to need at least a level 30 character and I only have an 8 - and not on the achievement server, no less, so I'd have to start over). Bunch of Heroes looks like a ton of fun but its achievement is supposed to be painfully hard.
A lot of the free achievements look to be in games that suck, too. Rusty Hearts was the only one there that I earned (other than TF2) because I had played it before.
Won Lightfish.
I have no damn clue what Lightfish is. It looks better than Bad Rats, though (but what wouldn't).
I'm also starting to develop a real appreciation for games that support Steam Cloud and a real hatred of ones that don't (hi Binding of Isaac, even though you say you do). Swapping between my laptop and desktop is easy for games like Sanctum, which save and update immediately on close and I can just pop over and resume my game on the other computer.
Steam Cloud is nice. The new Live Cloud is nice too, though once you stop paying it seems you lose access to your saves.
I have this feeling that buying a ton of games on Steam while they are on sale and then never playing any of them is a widespread problem and not localized to just our little group. It almost seems like these "achievement" hunts that Steam puts on are a way to get people to actually play the games they've purchased so that they can earn MORE games to purchase and never play. Hmm. This requires some investigation... where are the Hardy Brothers when you need them?
The Binding of Isaac is broken, actually, in that it doesn't report cheevos to the Steam servers. One of the community members wrote a fix for it on Windows, but it continues to be broken on OSX. Of course, because it doesn't communicate with Steam servers, it doesn't sync to the Steam cloud, so if you did score anything in OSX, it will not carry over and activate once you set up the fix on a Windows machine. To date there's been no response to this from the official devs except to say that it's probably the players' fault.
In saying all this, I got that game's cheevo twice. And now, barring other Steam sales like this, I probably won't play it again. Broken-ass, offensive game from a chilly, rude developer equals my antipathy.
All the achievements or just the Christmas one? I've played a good chunk of the game before (10 hours I think) and I've earned a bunch of the achievements along the way without issue.
That almost feels like an accomplishment.
I "won" another Valve coupon!
rad
œ
I got two 50% off Valve coupons to go with my 33% Valve coupon. Great. :/
I wish you could craft coupons into something worthwhile.
Yeah, I had been lucky in avoiding Valve coupons, but now I have got one from crafting today and one from finishing the Puzzle Agent 2 achievement. Great. the one thing more worthless than Humble Bundle keys are Valve Coupons. What am I supposed to buy with these things, Team Fortress Classic?
Oh and it's on sale for 50% off right now, so my options would be to buy it now for $4.99 in order to do the objectives, and essentially waste the one use I have for a Valve coupon, or wait until I can use my coupon to get it for the same exact price, at which point I can't do the objectives. I'd bite the bullet and get it now just for the objectives, but I'm absolutely convinced I'll just get another fucking Valve coupon.
So yeah they could have handled this better. Of course, we are bitching about a company that constantly hooks us up with free/super cheap shit, so maybe one of us should submit this whole thread to whitewhine.com
Won another valve coupon here. Tried to start work on the Jamestown achievement, but the game runs TERRIBLY. It seems that updated Catalyst drivers don't play nice with the game. Boo.
Yeah, I'm pretty surprised. It is kind of a low-tech game that runs pretty well on a lot of systems.
Of course, I have a similar issue with Trine, and it's not really crazy high-tech either.
I'm still one of those crazy stubborn people who won't update video drives unless something's running badly. I remember on my old Dell laptop, fresh sets of drivers would usually cause more problems than anything.
Although I would kill for some driver updates for my current laptop - this whole Optimus thing does not work very well.
Also, it seems I own every game required for today's set of achievements, but I won't get the last one.
Why? Because Magicka is a filthy, steaming pile of shit. It looks like it should be fun, and the concept is interesting, but actually playing the game is painful.
(the game also only runs in a window and the developers have known about the issue since it launched - if I go fullscreen, I get stuttering every second or so, making the game nearly unplayable)
Going to try to get other cheevos. Hoard and Greed are my next two tries.
Anyone need/want some coal? I want to pick up the Kain and Raziel character pack for Guardian of Light but because I'm tethering I can't do any secure transactions on Steam (or load up my Gmail or visit G+, etc) without paying like $30 for the 'full' version of this tether app which is lol.
The character pack is $2.33. If someone wants to pick that up and send it my way, they can have whatever they want in my inventory, not that there's much in there that's all exciting. In fact most of it probably isn't worth the $2.33, except for KotOR which I bought for $2.49 BUT NO ONE WANTS THAT APPARENTLY.
I won a copy of Half Life Episode 2. *shrug* not so bad.
Unless you don't already own in, in which case you just won the best game you'll play in a long time.
I was never a big fan of Half Life. Too much platforming, and then I was jumping across these space manta rays or whatever, and I was pretty weirded out. I never beat Half-Life 2, but I liked it all right, so another volume of that isn't terrible.
In fact, it's much better than what I got for turning in my coal - 50% Valve software. You bastards!
Luckily for you they're probably going to announce Half Life 3 soon.
I finally found someone to take my Half Life 2: Episode 1 gift. Now if only I could get someone to jump onboard for the Jedi Knight bundle.
I thought I would also mention that while I have spent near $100 on this year's sales, I have probably nabbed over 70 games with that amount. Not too bad if I say so myself. Of course, this ends my spending for the year until June when the next big sale comes down the pipe. I do have to admit that I have come close to buying LA Noire, again (own it on the 360), but I really did not enjoy it. Lots of pleasant surprises all around this year during the sale.
seventy games for 100 dollars seems like a really good deal
until you realize that you probably just bought ~65 games
you will never play
If I only played the games I acquired over this sale, once, in order, I'd still have enough to keep me occupied until the summer sale. Since I won't do that, and will obviously keep playing L4D 15 hours a week, I'm probably going to have to skip the Summer sale.
But of course I won't do that, especially if my financial situation improves as it's expected to.
I spent $43 including gifts, which is a little more than I had hoped for (I initially set a budget of $30). I'm also really tempted by the indie Serious Sam games on sale again today, especially the gun stacker one.
I sort of enjoyed LA Noire and playing it again for $12.50 (includign the DLC I never saw) is tempting...except I read that it's nearly as bad a port as GTA4 and I want no damn part of that.
I'll wait until the PS3 complete edition hits $20 or less.
Double post.
Well I went back and mopped up achievements in games I had (well minus ones that are a pain like Magika or ones I'd need to grind a lot for like Dungeon Defenders). Crafted coal once. Ended up with:
6 Coal
Half Life 1
25% off a Valve game
25% off a Valve game
33% off a Valve game
50% off a Valve game
50% off Cthulhu Saves the World Breath of Death VII Double Pack
So yeah, if anyone wants those coupons or HL1 itself...
Well I went back and mopped up achievements in games I had (well minus ones that are a pain like Magika or ones I'd need to grind a lot for like Dungeon Defenders). Crafted coal once. Ended up with:
6 Coal
Half Life 1
25% off a Valve game
25% off a Valve game
33% off a Valve game
50% off a Valve game
50% off Cthulhu Saves the World Breath of Death VII Double Pack
So yeah, if anyone wants those coupons or HL1 itself...
So I did the Jamestown objective, and did it about four times, and got the game to say the achievement unlocked two of those times, but Valve still isn't giving me anything for it.
Sweet. Of course with my luck I would have won another Valve coupon anyway.
So I did the Jamestown objective, and did it about four times, and got the game to say the achievement unlocked two of those times, but Valve still isn't giving me anything for it.
Sweet. Of course with my luck I would have won another Valve coupon anyway.
They are only giving out Valve coupons and games or coal for the objectives now.
Just having Valve acknowledge that I completed the fucking thing would be nice. Oh well.