Valve Summer Camp Sale, Day 3

Michael Wilson 2 Jul, 2011 at 6:05pm ET Article published in Gaming

As the summer heats up so are the deals on Steam. Today marks the third day of the Summer Camp sale and it is starting to feel Steamy. Everything that is a featured today is at least 50%.

If your interests include being a boy with no skin, transforming into a dragon in the middle ages, zombies, and shooting things in the face, then today can feel like your birthday—except you have to pay for all of your presents, none of your friends are around to celebrate with you, and your parents might be concerned about you since you won’t be leaving the house all weekend. The game on sale today that will bring the most tears per dollar is Half-Life 2 Episode Two—$1.99 for the game or $9.99 for all of the Half-Life games and Team Fortress. Besides the incredible story and heart-wrenching scenes, the game will leave you crying for months, asking Gabe why he hasn’t produced the conclusion to the story.

Today is the day if you see anything featured that you have had a desire for (except Fable III). I am torn for my pick of the day between Aliens vs Predators and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Both are solid FPS titles, where AvP brings an enjoyable storyline along with interesting mechanics/tactics as you switch between human, alien, and predator. However, if you are wanting a little less story and more hours combined with online play buy Bad Company 2 because after the 5-7 single player is over, expect to put in at least 50 hours online before you think of giving it a break. Both have DLC but if you want to pick up the core game and DLC it will cost you under $10 for either set.

Today is also the first chance you have had to claim a prize from the Summer Camp Prize Booth without playing any games. Each day there are “free” tickets to get which have ranged from connecting your Steam account to your Facebook account, joining a Steam group, and writing on a friend’s wall. All prizes cost three tickets which means you might get 3 prizes without any real effort, assuming the trend continues. Have no fear if you link your Facebook account into Steam you can quickly remove the linkage and keep the ticket. Missing some tickets on a day does not prevent you from going back and getting them so keep at it unless it is Super Meat Boy—then you better just give up, take 12 Tylenol PM, and wait for the sale to be over.

Comments

7 Jul 2011 ~ 3:08pm Cliff_Forster I'm wondering, if I buy the Valve complete pack, basically just to pick up Portal 2 and Day of Defeat, will I be able to gift the rest of the content? Anybody know?
7 Jul 2011 ~ 3:15pm Winfrey It worked that way with the Orange Box when I bought it. I still have the gift copies of HL2 and HL2 episode 1.
7 Jul 2011 ~ 3:22pm Basil Only Half-Life 2 & Episode 1.

DoW2 does it with a purchase of Gold Edition and L4D does it with a L4D + L4D2 bundle purchase.
7 Jul 2011 ~ 6:09pm Snarkasm Generally speaking, you don't get to gift anything unless it explicitly spells it out in the sale.
7 Jul 2011 ~ 10:19pm Cliff_Forster I suppose I should clarify, I meant the duplicate titiles. I have the entire HL series, and L4D and L4D2 and Portal, and Counterstrike, yadda, yadda, so on so forth. I'd gladly spend the extra $15 that package would cost vs. just Portal 2 if I could gift the extra stuff. Hell, I may do it just to see what happens.
7 Jul 2011 ~ 10:31pm Thrax Unless the bundle specifically states that you can gift a title, you will be unable to do anything with any duplicates you may acquire by buying a game you already have as part of a larger bundle.