The wonderful thing about PC games is the competition among online retailers and the lower than console prices charged for most games. While Xbox Live now has older full price games for download they’re usually given a premium price too. Steam and the other online PC game stores regularly have sales where even big name games are offered at a discount.
Here are a few links for keeping track of what sales are going on plus price comparison sites:
- First up is Steamprices.com where you can compare the prices of most games in Euro, Sterling and US Dollars. What becomes obvious is that people paying in Euros are over charged more often than not. Boo!
- Steamgamesales.com and Didimatic.com are great for tracking what’s on sale on Steam and other online stores. You can subscribe to both in your RSS reader but the former being better because you can limit it to regional sales.
- The Big Download Blog is a great resource too, listing the bigger sales in the main stores and elsewhere. Worth subbing to that too.
- Finally, there are online stores where you can buy CD keys cheaply. These stores buy the keys in less expensive regions and then allow people in richer areas to buy these legitimate keys at knock down prices. Here’s a thread on boards.ie about them. I haven’t tried them and responses are mixed. Buyer Beware!
Oh, if you know someone in another region served by Steam and the prices there are cheaper you could ask them to buy games for you and then pay them via PayPal for the gift. Thanks Alex, I owe you a few drinks next time we meet! 
4 Comments
dvotee (51 comments.) on March 30, 2011 at 11:05 am.
Not sure if I will buy much on Steam seeing as my comp seems quite laggy as it could be a waste of money ;(
Donncha (675 comments.) on March 30, 2011 at 2:49 pm.
Check out can you run it in IE. It’ll download an ActiveX component that tests your system and tells you if it’s fast enough to run the game you’re interested in.
My machine is fast enough to run the original Crysis but only manages a third of the way between min and recommended for Bad Company 2. The video card lets it down. Still playable though!
David Nicol (210 comments.) on March 30, 2011 at 5:57 pm.
Thanks for that Donncha. Very useful. Will use this.
getcrackin (57 comments.) on March 30, 2011 at 7:30 pm.
What I want to know is, how much for zee vimen? ;P