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For my fellow Gamers Out There... Discounts and Tips

Woots
Level 11

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I figure all of us RoG here are "gamers" at heart , even if we pretend to do grown up stuff on our fancy hardware too between gaming sessions. 🙂

I have Jedi level "Discount-Fu" skills when it comes to finding games at rock bottom prices and tips for getting the prices even lower still.

Many of us all know and love Steam for their epic Summer and Winter Season super sales. However, if you are in the know, you can get these kind of insane deals every single week all year around and not have to wait 6 months for Papa Gabe to shower us in discounts. The way you do this, is buy from a short list of handpicked top game sites and register them on steam, but you gotta know when they have bundles and price drops otherwise there isn't any savings.


[/HR]I want to preface this by saying this is for people who like to own their games 100% legit and support their publishers and also enjoy "collecting" games for their digital library. Yet you still want to do it on a budget. Everything here is above board and I go out of my way to make sure it is before hand so if you are of the same mind set, rest easy I got your back! :eek:
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First and foremost the absolute best place to get up to date daily game
sales info is a small reddit.com group called /r/gamedeals


http://www.reddit.com/r/GameDeals

:cool: BOOKMARK THIS & VISIT IT EVERYDAY! :cool:


It is probably been the best resource I found in last 2 years for secret mini sales and insider coupons right from the source. Reps/Managers from Amazon, Greenman Gaming, GoG and Gamers Gate usually post their own coupon codes on this subreddit so you can get extra 20-25% off coupons that stack ON TOP of a 24 hour sale price and this is the place to be in the know for that. The users also of course post amazing deals here too and the Managers/users usually mention a coupon in the posts so keep and eye out.

Here is a post from the mods regarding the rules/nature of this group... so this group is all pretty much in the same mindset of myself. Keep the riff raff out and keep the everything above board at all times... it's a safe place.
http://www.reddit.com/r/GameDeals/comments/11l1q5/reminder_gamedeals_is_a_place_for_legitimate_game/


Then there are the aggregation sites that do all the data monitoring for price drops. Here are some of my faves.

This monitors ALL of my favorite discount game sites.
http://www.cheapshark.com/browse.php


This is Steam only.
http://steamalerts.com/




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I would like to note I have a lot of experience buying Steam and Origin games with these sites listed below. If they are listed... they are 100% legit and Origin and Steam likes them. If a site isn't listed here it likely is a gray market site (which I will not list).. or I simply have no experience with it.

Things to pay attention to when buying games from other vendors:



  • Make sure, if you use Steam primarily, that the game says "Steamworks" or "Requires Steam For Activation" or the CD Key will not register on Steam.
  • Make sure, if you use Origin, the game says "Requires Origin to play"... or the Key will not register on Origin.
  • EA games purchased anywhere other than Steam will never register on Steam... they usually are stand alone or register on Origin only. If you want an EA game on your steam account, you will need to wait for Valve to put it on sale (any new EA games developed after the steam/origin split took place.. will never be on steam.)
  • Ubisoft games generally speaking are the same way. If you buy them offsite most of them register on Uplay or Origin, but not on Steam. If you want Ubisoft games on steam.. wait for steam sale.
  • If you are the type of player who prefers your games free 100% of all DRM and you hate Steam/Origin I recommend you shop at GoG.com all their games are 100% offline DRM free games. Also, on rare occasion Amazon Sales Manager works with developers to sell DRM stripped versions of games on their site (even from the notoriously heavy handed Ubisoft) so you can enjoy some offline goodness. Just keep in mind all these DRM stripped games have no CD keys so you are never going to be able to register them on Steam/Origin.



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Woots
Level 11
Sites I have experience with and recommend:



Greenman Gaming

(Sells:Steam/Origin/Stand Alone Games)
Great for rock bottom Pre-Order prices 40-50% off with stacked coupons & deals
.


  • www.Greenmangaming.com

    • GMG is a great UK company that sells games all over world, they have a proper Region Lock cd-key setup so buying games in USA is perfectly legit and prices and NA region locks work fine. I own 9 games from them now, all register on Steam/Origin (depending on game) without issues, they often have some of the better prices on brand new game pre-orders since you can get 60 buck games for 30-35 bucks with their coupons if you time your pre-order right.





Amazon

(Sells: Steam/Origin/Uplay/Stand Alone/DRM Free Games)
Great for amazing bundle deals, best bundle prices on net when timed right and stacked with coupons.



  • http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=2445220011

    • Amazon's sale manager has been going out of their way this whole last year to out do Steam at every turn and many times they have. Just yesterday they had a 10 dollar Squaresoft bundle with like 7 games all register on steam among the titles was collector edition of Deus Ex Human Rev with all extra DLC along with Just Cause 2 and many others. These are the kind of amazing deals that happen at amazon these days...stick close to that reddit link above to watch for it. Just pay close attention if the game you want is Steam/Origin or Amazon download only... they sell all 3 and not all games can be registered on your fave cloud service (read amazon comments or reddit to verify)





Gamers Gate

(Sells: Steam/Origin/Uplay/Stand Alone Games)
Good bundle and title deals with lots of off beat titles you don't usually find.



  • http://www.gamersgate.com/

    • Gamer's Gate is a lot like GMG, but they tend to have super mega pack sales which are amazing. I once bought 86 game IC gaming pack from them for 20 bucks... 86 games for 20 bucks... and I would say 20+ of them were bigger titles.. non were junky mini games. Probably among one of the more amazing game deals I found in last years especially since Steam super sale sold many of the games I got in this bundle for 10-20 a piece at that time. Just Note about GG....They rarely register on steam/origin ...so just watch out for that. Pay close attention to their info in the description to it saying "Steamworks" or "Origin" before you buy, otherwise it is a non Steam/Origin game. Most Gamers Gate games are stand alone only (which is fine when the deals are insanely amazing)





GOG

(Sells: 100% DRM Free Games)
100% DRM free and 100% legit...in a DRM everything world... enough said!



  • http://www.gog.com/

    • GOG is a great way to play many classic games without the DRM. They are 100% legit and very trusted. Their prices are not really the best in town, but they do have sales sometimes where they give large packs of games away on the cheap and even on rare occasion they give some of their titles away free. If you like classic DOS games or classic windows 95 games and you wanna go old school their games have built in DOS/Win95 emulators so you can run them in our fancy modern win7/8 64 bit OS's without hiccups. To me the lure of this company is the extra attention they give with their games. Like when you buy classic Fallout games they include soundtracks, wallpapers, manual, fallout bible, avatars, reference cards, etc etc... they just take the extra time to be classy with their sales and add extra value something you don't see much now a days. It should go without saying no GOG games registers on any 3rd party site... they are all 100% DRM free and stand alone.





Gamefly

(Sells: Steam/Origin/Uplay/Stand Alone Games)
Decent deals on occasion, big rental game company new to game sales.


  • http://www.gamefly.com/download-games/

    • This rental service recently acquired the DRM free game download service called Direct2Drive (you may remember this company). Since then, they now sell PC games and rent PC games. They recently have been having tons of sales, sometimes competitive. They are legit and worth a buy if you find a deal. Just make sure it registers on Steam/Origin if that is what you want.





Gamestop (Impulse)

(Sells: Steam/Origin/Uplay/Stand Alone Games)
Big game retailer in malls, they have a download service called Impulse (it's like a Steam/Origin service)


  • http://www.impulsedriven.com/

    • They have decent deals on occasion. Just watch to make sure your game registers on steam/origin if that is what you want. Since Impulse is a cloud download service just like Origin and Steam, they do compete. They do sell a lot of Steam and Origin games though (just read the info before you buy to make sure!)





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Charity Bundle Sites:


A big thing on the net lately is Indie developers gathering together to sell their games together in big bundles for different causes (sometimes their own cause of paying the rent). Instead of buying them all on Steam for 10-15 dollars each you can buy a huge bundle of many indie games for 1-5 dollars usually. It's a huge value if you love the games in the bundle.

These bundle usually have games that they give you multiple keys to register on many different platforms so it really is a great deal for the money. Depending on bundle you usually get like 5-20 items and games in the package.

The price is the best part. Many times it's "pay what you want", yes as in 1 dollar for 10 games sometimes or be nice and pay 100 bucks.. it's the honor system.

Bundles Facts:


  • Most Bundle Sites have a "Pay what you want" donation structure ($1)

  • A few of them have a "pay the going average" or "pay the minimum" donation structure (usually these are both around $3-6)

  • Most Bundle Sites have bonus items that get unlocked as the community donates more money as a group.

  • Bundle deals usually last 1-2 weeks in duration before coming to an end.
  • Most Bundle sites give multiple keys/versions away for their indie games (Desura/Steam/DRM Free) be sure to read details on each deal for each game.

My recommendation is wait until the last 24 hours of the bundle sale before you donate. This way you know exactly what you are getting with all the unlocks and there is no disappointment or surprises. Please note: I don't want to discourage early donations if you want to be charitable, it also helps the community get to the next unlocked item tier.


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Here are a few of the popular charity bundle sites.

Humble Bundle


  • http://www.humblebundle.com/

    • This is probably the most popular and I love their bundles. They usually always have a nice set of games you really like and all with steam keys usually.




Indie Royale



  • http://www.indieroyale.com/

    • This bundle site got a lot of traction over the last year it's now up there with humble bundle in popularity. They have lots of steam key games. The way they work their donations is you are allowed to bid the current set minimum. If people donate a lot of money they drive price down for other people. If lots fo people bid minimum the price goes up. From experience the price usually hovers around 3-6 dollars per bundle.





Indie Gala



  • http://www.indiegala.com/

    • Another site that allows you to set your own custom donation price ($1 for the bundle for example). They usually have bonus games if you pay more then the average. They also usually have great Steam key games in the bundles. Below is a link to upcoming bundles.






Groupees



  • http://www.groupees.com/

    • These guys have a nice mix of Steam/Desura keys & DRM Free games and often have a minimum of $1 dollar bid donation structure (or pay what you want).






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Woots wrote:
Reserving this slot for future possible updates


Are you sure you're going to need it? 😄
I am disturbed because I cannot break my system...found out there were others trying to cope! We have a support group on here, if your system will not break, please join!
http://rog.asus.com/forum/group.php?groupid=16
We now have 178 people whose systems will not break! Yippee! 🙂
LINUX Users, we have a group!
http://rog.asus.com/forum/group.php?groupid=23

dstrakele wrote:
WOW! I'm not even a gamer and I found your post impressive as hell....

The Forum won't let me Rep you anymore, so I guess I'll just have to mail ya some cash!


Thank you!

Zygomorphic wrote:
Are you sure you're going to need it? 😄


I was actually laughing about this... until I just did a few more updates and I actually hit the 10,000 character limit lol

So turns out I will need that reserved post 😄
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Woots wrote:
So turns out I will need that reserved post 😄


Off topic, but moderators can copy posts with the post time preserved so if you ever need more room I can make it happen 🙂 As an example I added a 3rd post in case you need it.
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…

Just a head up to people not aware of this. Be sure to tune into this broadcast once every friday.
http://www.gamespot.com/shows/black-fridays/

They are hosting a handful of good gaming deals each Friday. There have been a few great buys since they started this a few weeks ago.

It is worth checking out. Just be sure you make your wove within the same evening this deal is hosted because Saturday morning the next day the deal will be gone.
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Woots
Level 11
FAQ:



Q: Why would you get banned with some CD-Key sites but not all?
A: CD-Key Sites that sell region free codes or region unlocked codes are codes that do not comply with Steam/Origin rules. They will work and people get lucky to go unnoticed but bans have happened as a result.

Region locked codes comply with publisher pricing structures which is what Steam/Origin is forced to comply to as well. If you are from US get North American (NA) keys. If you are from UK get Uk codes, Australia get Australian codes... etc etc.

Q: So the sites above will not get me banned?
A: No they will not. They are 100% legit. They sell ONLY region locked codes.

The sites listed above auto detect your location based on IP address and only sell region locked codes based on your location. Shady Sites often state "region unlocked" codes. If you see "region unlocked", just don't bother buying it.

Q: Why are these prices so cheap, It can't be legit can it?
A: Just like Steam is able to have super sales twice a year. Everyone can have sales. Often times the owners/managers of these businesses work with the publishers of game companies to authorize special pricing for a limited time. This is why these super sales are very short time frames 1-5 days usually.

The coupon codes are often a cherry on-top given by the site owners to encourage a little incentive over their competition. (Amazon and Greenman Gaming are both great for coupons stacking on top of these super sale and bundle prices. Together with the sales they make for some of the most amazing prices in gaming.. even lower than Steams sales.. in fact most of my best gaming deals in last 2 years were not on Steams Summer/Winter sale.. I am actually starting to not care about Steams sales anymore since they are rarely great deals compared to what I can get elsewhere)




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Avoid The Shady Discount Key Sites!!!


If you decided to look for CD-Key sales sites outside of the list I recommend above.. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE follow these rules so you do not risk getting banned on your Steam/Origin account.


Extra Info:


  • Never buy country code unlocked cd-keys from fly by night cd-key clearing house sites (these are considered gray market keys and I know steam frowns upon it. Sadly, these are cheapest key prices, but just don't buy them... none of these sites I list here ever sell "region unlocked" keys. Not worth the drama or risk of getting banned. The keys you buy from the sites I recommend here are "Region Locked" codes and are 100% legit and you will never ever be banned.)

    Just a side note on these region unlocked keys. They will register on origin and steam since they are still legit. However, the problem is is origin or steam catches wind of it (you get flagged)...you will be banned. People have been banned for region unlocked keys. The problem stems from the fact that these keys need to follow pricing guidelines from the developer so each region gets different prices. If you buy your key for your region it's legit and you are doing it above board. The sites that sell no region lock are super cheap cause they buy their codes in bulk from the cheapest regions in work.. mark them up a couple bucks and resell them to whoever buys them. I have read stories of people who managed to do this for quite some time without Steam caring then one day they were banned. So please just avoid them and stick to the sites listed above... With the kinda sales you find every week the prices will be so low it won't mater anyway... it's best of both worlds.. lowest prices and 100% legit.



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I will try to update this thread more later on.

I hope this is a good head start for everyone! Have fun out there.


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HARDWARE SALES:


Here is a lil cherry on top since I got the thread formed.

For hardware deal sales also check this sub reddit

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/
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xeromist
Moderator
It's a good list so far. 🙂
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…

Woots. You sir, totally rock! Thank you very very much! 😄

Woots
Level 11
Happy to help! I know everyone here on this forum are gamers at heart.. I realize this is slightly off topic. However, it still seems appropriate given our unified hobby here.
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