Death Jr: Root of Evil, Wii - £5.99 delivered
Possible SavyGamer downtime
I'm doing some complicated behind the scenes stuff that may result in some downtime at some point in the near future. If I do go away, it won't be for too long (hopefully). You can just fill your time by buying some games at RRP or something. <3
Edit: Right, that should be it, went down for a little while, but we're back in business now.
Also, Some of you who tried to email me might have noticed my email being broken, should be fixed now.
£3 off £35 at Zavvi mark 2
Update: I've reposted this with a bunch of great new deals added.
There is currently a £3 off £35 code for Zavvi, add promo code "ZWalk" to any order totalling £35 or more to receive your discount.
Here are some games which you might want to consider getting with this discount:
Xbox 360
LEGO Rock Band - £32.95
Borderlands - £29.95
Dark Void - £28.95
Dead Rising 2 - £27.95
Red Faction: Guerilla - £17.95
2,100 MS Points - £15.95
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - £15.95
Tomb Raider: Underworld - £8.95
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames - £8.95
Skate - £5.95
Stuntman: Ignition - £4.95
PS3
LEGO Rock Band - £32.95
Borderlands - £29.95
Dark Void - £28.95
£20 PSN Card - £15.95
Disgaea 3: Absence Of Justice - £14.95
Fuel - £12.95
First Encounter Assault Recon 2: Project Origin - £11.95
Overlord 2 - £11.95
Wii
LEGO Rock Band - £27.95
MadWorld - £11.95
House of the Dead: Overkill - £9.95
House of the Dead: Overkill Hand Cannon - £8.95
Minon: Everyday Hero - £7.95
PC
World of Warcaft: Cataclysm - £24.95
Dark Void - £23.95
Batman: Arkham Asylum - £23.95
Resident Evil 5 - £17.95
Tropico 3 - £17.95
Ghostbusters - £17.95
ARMA 2 - £15.95
X3 Gold Edition - £12.95
Dead Space - £7.95
Civilization IV: Complete (Missing Colonization) - £7.95
Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor - £7.65
S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky - £5.95
Crysis - £5.95
Blacksite - £3.95
PSP
Gran Tourismo - £17.95
Motorstorm: Arctic Edge - £17.95
Dissidia: Final Fantasy - £17.95
Little Big Planet - £17.95
Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny - £16.95
MGS: Portable Ops/Silent Hill Origins - £14.95
Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters - £7.95
Killzone: Liberation - £6.95
Every Extend Extra - £4.95
DS
Phantasy Star Zero - £24.95
Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days - £17.95
Space Invaders Extreme 2 - £12.95
Lock's Quest - £8.95
New International Track and Field - £5.95
Dawn of War Shenanigans on Steam
In case anyone is thinking of buying the Dawn of War complete pack on Steam, I'd suggest you take pause for a moment.
The pack costs £32.46, and comes with DOW1: Gold Edition, Dark Crusade, Soulstorm and DOW2.
The individual components bought separately cost:
DOW1: Platinum Edition (Gold + Dark Crusade) - £8.49
Soulstorm - £8.49
Dawn of War 2 - £9.99
A total of £26.97, a whole £5.49 cheaper than buying the package deal.
I think THQ need to hire a new person to be responsible for their Steam pricing. Cheers to @Driaden for the tip off on this.
Fallout 3, GOTY Edition, PS3 - £28.99
Fallout 3, GOTY Edition, PS3 - £28.99 delivered
This includes all 5 pieces of DLC, which cost roughly £30 separately. I can vouch for at least 3 of the 5 being great (Operation Anchorage is only OK, and I've not played Mothership Zeta).
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - £34.73
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - £34.73 delivered
Apply code "HWalk" to get £3 off.
Fallout 3, GOTY Edition, PC - £17.48
Fallout 3, GOTY Edition, PC - £17.48 delivered
This includes all 5 pieces of DLC, which cost roughly £30 seperately. I can vouch for at least 3 of the 5 being great (Operation Anchorage is only OK, and I've not played Mothership Zeta).
Maths with THQ
Red Faction Guerilla is this week's weekend special on Steam. This game normally costs £34.99/€49.99/$39.99 on steam, but the weekend special has brought the price of Red Faction Guerilla down by 25%. It is now £26.24/€37.49/$29.99. The UK and EU price of the game is still higher when it is on weekend special than the standard USA price.
To add insult to injury, Saints Row 2, a game by not only the same publisher, but the same developer, is priced much more sensibly at £14.99/€19.99/$29.99.
This table shows the prices for the two THQ/Volition games on Steam in the three regions and three currencies:
The astronomical inconsistency in international pricing between these two games is certainly frustrating. You have to assume that THQ have chosen this pricing strategy simply because it will make them more money. It is essentially price discrimination, the equivalent of looking at customers walk into a shop, and gauging how much to charge them based on how rich they appear.
I don't know exactly what we should be doing here. How steam used to work, where everyone paid in dollars exchanged into their currency at the exchange rate when the transaction occurs seems like it might be better for most people outside of the USA, although as SR2 proves this is not always the case.
How steam currently works is that the publisher sets a specific price for each region. These prices are generally roughly comparable to each other based on exchange rates at the time, however, if the publisher wants to charge more in one region, they are completely allowed to do so.
Were it up to me, I would still allow this practise, however, I would also regulate it a bit more. I would say some kind of rule where no game was allowed to be sold for (say) 10% +/- the price of the same game in another region, and could be reviewed monthly with regard to currency fluctuations. This would give publishers a margin for error, but prevent them gouging different regions just because they can.
Perhaps the whole thing is academic anyway, since RFG is far cheaper to get at retail:
Red Faction: Guerilla, PC - £17.99 delivered
Xbox 360 Elite, Pure, LEGO Batman & an extra controller - £127.02
Xbox 360 Elite, Wireless Controller, Pure, LEGO Batman - £127.02 delivered
Add the Xbox 360 Elite and Wireless Entertainment Pack to your basket, and at checkout, the price will resolve to £127.02.
I believe the reason this happens is because the site is coded to deduct the price of the Entertainment Pack from the price of the console, but the Pack has been mispriced. As retailers aren't required to honour misprices, this order is likely to be cancelled. Undoubtedly worth it if it isn't, though.
In light of the postal strike affecting the UK within the next week, I advise anyone who hasn't already signed up for the free trial of Amazon Prime that they offer at checkout to do so, or to pay for faster shipping in addition to the console price in order to ensure reliable delivery. If you do sign up for Prime, ensure that you've unchecked the rebilling option in the settings, or after the trial is up you'll automatically be billed.
- Will Templeton
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, PC - £4.13
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, PC - £4.13 delivered
Amazon have dropped the £5 minimum spend for free P&P, now all items get free super saver delivery.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, PC - £1.66
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, PC - £1.66 delivered
Amazon have dropped the £5 minimum spend for free P&P, now all items get free super saver delivery.
Alone in the Dark, Xbox 360 - £3
Alone in the Dark, Xbox 360 - £3 Preowned in GAME
It wasn't this price on the system, but it was stickered at this price. Not sure if this is nationwide or not.
Picross DS, DS - £6.99
Picross DS, DS - £6.99 delivered
Excellent little puzzle game this, bizarrely addictive.
Civilization IV [Complete], PC - £12.49
Civilization IV [Complete], PC - £12.49
This includes all three expansions. Part of THQ's week of special offers on Steam.
Weapon of Choice, Xbox 360 - 240 MS Points
Weapon of Choice, Xbox 360 - 240 MS Points
Permanent price drop from 400 MS Points.
World of Goo, PC/Mac/Linux - $Whatever you want
World of Goo, PC/Mac/Linux - $Whatever you want
I just got it for $0.01 (It's not that I'm cheap, I already own it on the Wii and on Steam, but now I can get the Linux version too)
One of the best games in a very long time. My review here.
Mirror's Edge, Dead Space + Mercenaries 2, PC - Free
Mirror's Edge, Dead Space + Mercenaries 2, PC - Free
Seems like there is a problem with EA Store at the minute. Add these three games to your basket, and it should come up free.
Mirror's Edge
Dead Space
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
In my experimentation, I can find only these games that work, let me know if you find any more. Enjoy, the first two I can vouch for being excellent games.
I'd download and activate them as soon as possible, who knows if EA will revoke them.
Update: Just in case anyone from outside of the UK is trying this, it appears to be only working in the UK store.
Update2: Seems that the download for Mirror's Edge includes the soundtrack too.
First Encounter Assault Recon 2: Project Origin, PS3 - £9.99
First Encounter Assault Recon 2: Project Origin, PS3 - £9.99 delivered
Atomhex, Xbox 360 - Review
Atomhex, Xbox 360 - 80MS Points
Review by LewieP
Dual Stick shooters have seen a bit of a wonderful resurgence in the last few years, and you can very easily track it back to the release of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved on the Xbox Live Arcade.
A guy called Marco Incitti decided to make a clone of Retro Evolved for the PC, and make a freely downloadable title on his web site. I played it, and it was pretty damn good. Whilst at a cursory glance it did look feel and play in a very similar fashion to Retro Evolved, there was actually a lot more to it, with new and different mechanics that massively change how you play the game.
Then, quite possibly since there was a PC port of Retro Evolved in the pipeline, Bizarre contacted him saying:
"We're beginning to feel the effects of the Geometry Wars clones on our sales via Microsoft now and are beginning a process to begin to more robustly protect our copyright and intellectual property.
Therefore, I'd like to ask you in an amicable fashion to stop infringing our IP and pull the game 'Grid Wars' from the internet for download.
I hope you understand and are able to do this without us having to take further steps."
Which was a pretty big mistake in my opinion. They were right to defend their IP, but they missed an opportunity by not offering him a job.
Marco did the right thing and took Grid Wars down (but if you interested, I bet you can find it somewhere in the internet's shadier corners), and set to work making his own completely original game. Atomhex is the end product.
It is a pretty crowded market place, and to stand out you need to have a least one major unique selling point. Atomhex has several, but quite possibly it being only 80 MS Points is the biggest. Frankly I think Atomhex is largely under priced. 240 would still be an excellent price for it.
It's a thinking persons dual stick shooter, which is essentially code for meaning "Shooting everything is not the best route to success".
The gameplay is about as complicated to describe as it is to play. There are several types of "enemies" all with very specific behaviour.
Firstly, there are atoms, these are innocuous floating things that if you touch, bounce off you. You get a few points for shooting one of these. If two of them touch, they will transform into a nasty enemy which will (temporarily) remove your ability to shoot if it gets you, then set a trap.
Then there are Hex. These are coloured dots with a small force field. If you shoot its force field, you can then absorb it for points, and it will also change your bullets to be the same colour as it. If a Hex absorbs an atom, it will then emit enemies.
The more atoms a hex absorbs, the nastier the enemies is shoots out. A hex that has absorbed at least one atom is only vulnerable to bullets the same colour as it.
Also - when a hex absorbs 6 atoms, the whole screen is cleared, and you zoom in to it for sort of a boss battle, called going "subatomic".
That lot all sounds fairly convoluted, because it is. I've not even touched on the powerups, chaining, or multipliers.
Don't take that as a complaint though. It's a solidly made shooter that does take time to learn how to play, but the important thing is that it is still fun to play even as a dumb shooter. You could switch off the mathsy high score calculating part of your brain and still have a lot of fun with Atomhex.
It is pretty, sounds great and costs 80ms points. I swear if I see anyone with Avatar clothing they have paid for who has not bought this I'll probably cry.
It's everything the Xbox indie games should be. Original ideas, well executed, and lots of personality. Give the demo a go at least I think.
Civilization IV [Complete], PC - £7.73
Civilization IV [Complete], PC - £7.73 delivered
Comes with Warlords and Beyond the Sword, but not Colonization.
FIFA 2010, PS3/Xbox 360 - £23.47
FIFA 2010, PS3/Xbox 360 - £23.47
Tesco are selling it for £24.97, PC World are selling it for £39.99. Get it for this price using PC Worlds price match policy.
Update: Currys should do it too.
Update2: Asda and Toys R Us are selling it for £24.97 and £24.95 respectively in case your local Tesco is out of stock.
Fable II: Episode 1, Xbox 360 - Free
Fable II: Episode 1, Xbox 360 - Free
The first episode of Fable II has just gone up on Live. Essentially you get a portion of the game as an extended demo, and you can buy the additional episodes a la carte from inside the game. Note that this is no different to the disc version of Fable II.
If you like the free episode, the cheapest price for the disc version is £15.91 here, which works out a lot cheaper than buying each episode individually.
The Shivah, PC - Free
The Shivah, PC - Free
Enter code "FreeShivah" to get this game for free, and pick "credit card" at the checkout (the price will be £0.00, so it won't even ask for credit card details).
Cheers to Martin for the tip off.
Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner, PS2 - £14.95
Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner, PS2 - £14.95 delivered
20% off at Impulse
Using the coupon "SURVEY-2009" you can get 20% off any purchase (minimum order of £4.91) at Impulse.
Here are some bargains I'd recommend:
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity - £7.34
AI War: Fleet Command - £9.82
And yet it moves - £6.39
Braid - £7.34
Bullet Candy - £1.96 (need to buy something else to bump it over £4.91)
Capitalism 2 - £3.43 (need to buy something else to bump it over £4.91)
Caster - £2.45 (need to buy something else to bump it over £4.91)
Chains - £3.93
Children of the Nile: Complete - £12.27
Democracy 2 - £11.27
Fairy Tales - Three Heroes - £9.82
GalCiv 2: Ultimate Edition - £19.62
Gratuitous Space Battles - £9.80
Kudos 2 - £7.34
Majesty 2 - £23.99
Scrapland - £3.43
Sins of a Solar Empire bundle - £17.17
The Spirit Engine 2 - £7.36
Let me know if I have missed anything particularly essential, and cheers to Alex for the tip off. Not sure if it is one time use of not, but it seems to let you put a ton of items in your basket and get 20% off all of them, so maybe get anything you might want in the future now. Not sure if/when it will expire either.
PlayTV, PS3 - £39.99
Space Invaders Extreme 2, DS - £12.95
Space Invaders Extreme 2, DS - £12.95 delivered
£12.95 for the sequel to one of last years best DS games? Yes please.
Cheap Rock Band Drums
It seems with the release of Beatles: Rock Band, you can get Rock Band drums for cheap!
I just picked up a set of Xbox 360 drums from Tesco for £17.87. They weren't priced up at that price, but scanned at that when I took them to the till.
I've also just seen Wii and PS3/PS2 drums for £20 in my Local GAME.
The 360 and PS3/PS3 drums will work with all Rock Band/Guitar Hero games that support drums, but the Wii drums won't work with GH:WT (not sure about other GH games), but work with both Rock Band 1, 2 and Beatles.
Batman: Arkham Asylum, PS3 - £26.79
Batman: Arkham Asylum, PS3 - £26.79
It is £27.99 in store at GAME, and £39.99 at PC World, so you can get it for this price at PC World via their price match policy.
Direct2Drive £5 game sale: Week 3
The next round of games are up on D2D, this week it's RPGs.
There are a few classic RPGs available. Like Grand Theft Auto 3 and Penumbra...
Here's the full selection.
We aren't allowed to have Neverwinter Nights 2 or Assassin's Creed, they are only for the USA people.
I've updated the "Games to not buy any time soon" list accordingly.
Pinball FX, XBLA - 400 MS Points
Pinball FX, XBLA - 400 MS Points
This weeks deal of the week, for gold subscribers only.
Batman: Arkham Asylum - I made a silly mistake
Update: I completely misread the gamersgate press release. I thought they were doing a pretty good promotion, instead they are doing a shit one.
Sega Superstar Tennis, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, Xbox 360 - £16.99
Sega Superstar Tennis, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, Xbox 360 - £16.99 collect in store.
Qubed, Xbox 360 - £17.63
Qubed, Xbox 360 - £17.63 delivered
This is a retail disc that features 3 of Q? Entertainments XBLA games on it. You get Lumines Live!, RezHD and Every Extend Extra Extreme. Lumines Live! also comes with 1,950 MS points worth of DLC included.
The whole package would cost 4,350 MS points if bought from the Live Marketplace, equivalent to around £31, based on 21,00 MS points for £15.
Tales of Monkey Island Episode 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, PC - Free
Tales of Monkey Island Episode 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, PC - Free
Today only, to celebrate International Talk Like A Pirate Day (or Worldwide D&D Game Day, or Rosh Hashanah, or whatever), the first episode of the new Monkey Island series is free to download. Make sure you notice the mailing list opt-out underneath the big 'GET YOUR FREE GAME!' button.
The Secret of Monkey Island SE, iPhone/iPod Touch - £2.39
The Secret of Monkey Island SE, iPhone/iPod Touch - £2.39
Half price for a limited time only. This is almost identical to the version available on Xbox Live Arcade, including full voice acting and both the remastered and original game versions, the only difference being a slight resolution drop.
MAG beta code contest
I have five beta codes for MAG to give away! Simply head over to my website Continue or Quit and follow the instructions.
The contest ends at 6PM on Saturday 19th.
Update: The contest has ended. To see the winning entries, visit the article on Continue or Quit.
Halo 3: ODST, Xbox 360 - £29.85
Halo 3: ODST, Xbox 360 - £29.85 delivered
Technically, this isn't the cheapest price for ODST, by about 20p. However, ShopTo ship their stock via next-day recorded delivery as soon as they get it, and according to reports, they've got stock now. If you order before 5:30pm today, you'll get it tomorrow morning, four full days before the release date of next Tuesday.
You'll also get the code for Johnson in Firefight, so you're not missing out on anything from other retailers. Worth 20p, I feel.
UPDATE: The official word from ShopTo is that they are charging people today but not shipping until tomorrow. People are still getting shipping confirmation emails, however.
The Conduit [Special Edition], Wii - £17.99
The Conduit [Special Edition], Wii - £17.99 delivered
Still not worth it
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast [Limited Edition], Xbox 360 - £32.99
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast [Limited Edition], Xbox 360 - £32.99 delivered
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast [Limited Edition], PS3 - £34.96
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast [Limited Edition], PS3 - £34.96 delivered
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion [GOTY Edition], PS3 - £9.49
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion [GOTY Edition], PS3 - £9.49 delivered
Company Of Heroes: Anthology, PC - £17.99
Company Of Heroes: Anthology, PC - £17.99 delivered
Includes the original game, Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor.
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