Online Game Deals - Steam, Amazon, Origin, GOG, Humble Bundles

^ Really nice of the HB guys to add this feature!

I did buy this bundle and I do know that you are required to login to Steam via HB to activate your games but even so, I'm still a bit wary about the whole "gifting" & "personal use" terminology on the HB site. Remember, HB's TOS have absolutely nothing to do with Steams SSA/TOS. As these are Steam games, when you register them, you are bound by the Steam SSA/TOS, regardless of what the HB one might state.

So what constitutes "personal use"? Is gifting "personal use"? Is "personal use" only about giving something for "free" rather than for cash/trade? If so, I wish Steam/Valve would clarify that somewhere.

This sort of "gifting" seems out of sync with the otherwise completely one sided, anti-consumer Steam SSA/TOS. After all, Steam blatantly refuses to give you "additional" copies of existing games when bought in bundles or packs, even when both the original game and the new ones are bought directly off the Steam store. The only exception to this so far have been Valve's own games & a couple of others.

So is this some new direction Steam is taking? If so - GREAT!

In that case, they should add this "feature" to purchases from the Steam store as well and make an official link clarifying the same on the Steam website.

I have at least 15-20 Steam games I could "gift" (as in - duplicate copies) that I have collected over the years but never redeemed as I already own them. AFAIK, this sort of "gifting extra copies of previously owned games" is not allowed by the Steam SSA/TOS. If it was, it would be allowed on the Steam store as well. The fact is, its not apart from the few exceptions I mentioned above.

If you recall with earlier bundles, Steam in fact tried to put a stop to "gifting" (read "side trading") extra copies by "forcing" a single serial for multiple games. This was done explicitly to disallow users to gift away "duplicate" copies of games they already owned on Steam.

Until I see an "official" Steam page that specifically states that gifting of "previously purchased select games" from a pack/bundle is explicitly allowed I would always be a bit wary.

The day this happens, I would gladly give away my extra Steam keys to TE users & friends...
 
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I think it would be better to merge this with the Steam/GoG deals thread AND bring that thread to the Hot Deals section since its more about deals, anyways.
 
Paid for it. Not sure what to do with it. I see that I've received an email with the link to the keys. Didn't click that since I am currently in the office and I might not be able to see it. Will check at home.

A question related to Steam - Can I download those game installers for later use ? I use SSD and can't have the games always installed on my system. I play and then uninstall them. Whenever I want to play them again (generally happens twice in a year :p), I install them again. It wouldn't be great if I'll have to download the whole setup again.
 
Vasishta.Sushant said:
Paid for it. Not sure what to do with it. I see that I've received an email with the link to the keys. Didn't click that since I am currently in the office and I might not be able to see it. Will check at home.

A question related to Steam - Can I download those game installers for later use ? I use SSD and can't have the games always installed on my system. I play and then uninstall them. Whenever I want to play them again (generally happens twice in a year :p), I install them again. It wouldn't be great if I'll have to download the whole setup again.
Click to expand...

There's a backup option inside steam client.
 
Rickyk said:
I did buy this bundle and I do know that you are required to login to Steam via HB to activate your games but even so, I'm still a bit wary about the whole "gifting" & "personal use" terminology on the HB site. Remember, HB's TOS have absolutely nothing to do with Steams SSA/TOS. As these are Steam games, when you register them, you are bound by the Steam SSA/TOS, regardless of what the HB one might state.

So what constitutes "personal use"? Is gifting "personal use"? Is "personal use" only about giving something for "free" rather than for cash/trade? If so, I wish Steam/Valve would clarify that somewhere.

This sort of "gifting" seems out of sync with the otherwise completely one sided, anti-consumer Steam SSA/TOS. After all, Steam blatantly refuses to give you "additional" copies of existing games when bought in bundles or packs, even when both the original game and the new ones are bought directly off the Steam store. The only exception to this so far have been Valve's own games & a couple of others.
Click to expand...
Hmm... Steam has no problems if you want to gift or trade games etc. That is why they started inventory trading of games, didn't they? As for getting extra copies of games that you already have, that is upto the games publishers to decide.
In any case, none of that applies here. You can buy any number of bundles. Steam only comes into picture when you actually click on the button to add the game to your id. If you don't want to add to your id, give it to someone else, then steam will add to your their id. I don't think steam can differentiate if that specific person bought the bundle or someone else bought it for him etc. Steam does not keep track of Hunble bundle sales.

Rickyk said:
In that case, they should add this "feature" to purchases from the Steam store as well and make an official link clarifying the same on the Steam website.

I have at least 15-20 Steam games I could "gift" (as in - duplicate copies) that I have collected over the years but never redeemed as I already own them. AFAIK, this sort of "gifting extra copies of previously owned games" is not allowed by the Steam SSA/TOS. If it was, it would be allowed on the Steam store as well. The fact is, its not apart from the few exceptions I mentioned above.

If you recall with earlier bundles, Steam in fact tried to put a stop to "gifting" (read "side trading") extra copies by "forcing" a single serial for multiple games. This was done explicitly to disallow users to gift away "duplicate" copies of games they already owned on Steam.

Until I see an "official" Steam page that specifically states that gifting of "previously purchased select games" from a pack/bundle is explicitly allowed I would always be a bit wary.

The day this happens, I would gladly give away my extra Steam keys to TE users & friends...
Click to expand...

Dude, you are confusing Steam and Humble Bundle. Until now, Humble Bundle was just selling keys. Right from the very first HIB, they have been giving only BUNDLED keys which was changed just recently. Those bundled keys behaved in the standard no-extra-copy-if-you-already-own-the-game way. This is not a steam thing, this is more of a Humble Bundle thing. Then recently Humble started giving individual keys, but with the condition that people should not share the keys. You technically could, but they requested you to no to. Now, finally they have further eased the policy by allowing you to gift away individual games from a bundle. All of this is from Humble Bundle guys. Nothing to do with Steam TOS etc. Also, I do not recall any incident where steam tried to stop trading. Can you point out when this was? Anyway, you will not get any clarification about Humble Bundles from steam's side. For most of the Humble Bundles steam is just one of the delivery methods. Most of the Bundles till now have been giving completely DRM-free executables.
 
Vasishta.Sushant said:
Paid for it. Not sure what to do with it. I see that I've received an email with the link to the keys. Didn't click that since I am currently in the office and I might not be able to see it. Will check at home.

A question related to Steam - Can I download those game installers for later use ? I use SSD and can't have the games always installed on my system. I play and then uninstall them. Whenever I want to play them again (generally happens twice in a year :p), I install them again. It wouldn't be great if I'll have to download the whole setup again.
Click to expand...

The email link takes you to a webpage where the games are listed, Click Redeem to view your keys,
Now launch Steam client and use these codes to add the game to your library. AFAIK these codes don't expire so you can use them on later date also.

Backup steamapps folder <game specific folders> onto another drive and restore them when you want to play.
You can also create virtual link between your SSD and an HDD and steam client wont know the difference. There are many tricks to do this ,, Google-fu.
 
My PC just have one 120GB SSD. All my other data stays on a network drive. I don't think shortcuts/softlinks would work good. I'll see if I can just copy them back for later use.
 
pretttt said:
Then recently Humble started giving individual keys, but with the condition that people should not share the keys. You technically could, but they requested you to not to.
Click to expand...

So "sharing" (ie. giving away) keys from earlier bundles was actually not permitted. This mean that all the people who have done so earlier were in fact wrong in doing so and that technically, I shouldn't give keys away from earlier HBundles?

pretttt said:
Now, finally they have further eased the policy by allowing you to gift away individual games from a bundle. All of this is from Humble Bundle guys. Nothing to do with Steam TOS etc.
Click to expand...

I see. So its the Pubs/Devs who have changed their policy with the current bundle and its nothing to do with Steam. That sounds logical. I wish more pubs/devs would do this not just for HB offers but for game packs/bundles bought for any and all DD services that register on Steam. Still, good to know. Thanks for the clarification.

Couple of other VFM Bundles that I think haven't been mentioned so far -

Bundle Stars Bloodbath-Bundle for just $2.99 (Offer expires in 7 days)
Games included -
  1. Necrovision (Steam)
  2. Necrovision : Lost Company (Steam)
  3. Clutch (Steam)
  4. The Void (Steam)
  5. 99 Levels To Hell (Desura)
  6. Zombie Bowl-O-Rama (Steam)
Highly recommend this bundle even if its simply for the two Necrovision games.
Link - http://www.bundlestars.com/all-bundles/Bloodbath-Bundle/

Bundle Stars Bloodbath The Superpower Sims Bundle for $4.79 (Offer expires in 12 days)
Games included (All Steam redeemable) -
  1. Agricultural Simulator 2011: Extended Edition
  2. Air Conflicts: Secret Wars
  3. Euro Truck Simulator
  4. GT Legends (Metascore 84/100)
  5. GTR - FIA GT Racing Game
  6. IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 (Metascore 86/100)
  7. Rig 'n' Roll
  8. Trainz Simulator 12
  9. Trainz Simulator: Murchison 2
Link - http://www.bundlestars.com/all-bundles/superpower-sims-Bundle/
 
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Rickyk said:
So "sharing" (ie. giving away) keys from earlier bundles was actually not permitted. This mean that all the people who have done so earlier were in fact wrong in doing so and that technically, I shouldn't give keys away from earlier HBundles?
Click to expand...
Correct. You could give the full bundle (meaning below average key+above average key+extra games key) to one person if you wanted. But, you were not supposed to share individual keys from the same bundle. So, either gift the whole bundle or don't give anything at all. This policy is changed now. Hope this clarifies all your doubts. :)
 
By implementing this new system of gifting and providing individual steam keys HB may lose some sales but, overall it will help people to share there existing game with friends...
 
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Deus Ex: Human Revolution Upgrade to Director’s Cut offer on Steam


If you don't own Deus Ex:HR, the Directors Cut will costs $20.
If you already own Deus Ex:HR, upgrade to the Directors Cut for $10 (50% off)
If you already own Deus Ex:HR & the Missing Link DLC, the upgrade is $5 (75% off)

"Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut has been fully augmented to include Tongs’s Rescue mission and the entire Missing Link chapter which have been integrated seamlessly into the narrative flow as well as all of the original pre-order and bonus weapons. Fan features like the 45 minute “making of” video, over 8 hours of developer commentary, the official strategy guide, and New Game+ have also been added to the Director’s Cut.

Boss fights have been completely overhauled and redesigned with new maps and mechanics to support each one of the gameplay pillars: Action, Stealth, and Hacking. Major enhancements have also been made to the game including a rebalanced energy system, updated enemy A.I., and striking visual improvements which make this edition the best looking and most immersive Deus Ex experience available."

Note that some users have complained that the The Directors Cut has performance issues when compared to the original. Also note that buying the Directors Cut will not remove the older version of Deus Ex from the Steam Client so you will see two separate entries for the game. This is also why "Saved Games" will not carry over between versions.

Lastly, some "extras" appear to be missing from the Directors Cut in comparison to the Augmented Edition.

These are the 40-page Artbook, the soundtrack by Michael McCann, the Motion Comic & the animated storyboard. I assume they are missing because they are not mentioned anywhere on the Steam store page for the game...

Link -
http://store.steampowered.com/app/238010/
 
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