For those not aware, Crysis 2 was pulled from Steam due to EA and Valve acting like small children. So if you have it in your Top 10 Wishlist, you’ll need to replace it with something else or there’s a chance you might not win. The rules aren’t exactly clear on what happens in such an event. I’d assume the 11th item is selected, but better to be safe than disqualified.

Anyway, here are my recommendations:

Counter-Strike: Source
Company of Heroes
Lara Croft Franchise
Audiosurf
Quake Collection
Command & Conquer Franchise

And today’s freebie is: Download a trailer and then play it. Any trailer will do. I recall Valve attempting this the last time they had a similar contest and had to redact the particular event due to technical issues, so it was inevitable for it to come up again this time around.

I’ve been wanting to nuke zombies for a while and Atom Zombie Smasher claims to offer me that chance. It looks fun and appears it will run on pretty much any computer. But you really have to love surf guitar music since this game is chock full of it, which is humorously suitable for an indie title like this. The zombies and other units appear to just be dots on the screen, which probably puts this game into the E10+ (Everyone 10+) category even though there will likely never be an ESRB rating for the game. (After all, ESRB ratings are not exactly cheap.) If the game is purchased through Steam, then there are Steam achievements and the game is available for both the PC and Mac platforms thanks to SteamPlay. And there appears to also be a version for Linux and a demo for each major platform.

This game is actually similar in nature to a video game I dreamed up a couple of years ago. So when this showed up and I saw just the trailer, I naturally fell in love with the concept of the game. Whether or not it plays out somewhat like what I envisioned is another story. But it is hard to go wrong with a game that offers both atomic bombs and zombies in a single package. I’ll be trying out the demo tonight to see what it is like and there is a pretty good chance I’ll pick up the full game while it is on sale.

• Suggestive Behavior – Write a recommendation (freebie – as long as you have one Steam game – demos might work?)
• Made in the USA – Become a Founding Father in Empire: Total War ($14.99)
• Buzz the Tower – Set a leaderboard score of at least 37 for ‘Beach’ in Flight Control HD ($2.49)
• Overachiever – Played at least 15 games or demos since March 2009 (When Steam began recording playtime) (free)

The first one is pretty easy to get. The fourth one may require some effort – I got it automatically today upon logging into Steam. I recommend going the demo route. You should play the UnderGarden demo if you haven’t already. It will count as one game of the fifteen AND complete the “Go To Your Happy Place” objective as well. If you need help finding demos worth playing on Steam, this might help. The only real limitation is the download speed of your Internet connection. Better get started now because those are some big downloads.

I didn’t get the UnderGarden objective with the demo until I had played it for a while. Starting and then immediately exiting the game doesn’t appear to count. If you want to be lazy, you can start the game, wander off to do something else for 15-20 minutes, and then exit the game. Repeat with the next game. Steam can’t tell if you were actually playing the game or just idle on main menu. Although, now that I’ve mentioned it here, someone at Valve will probably modify the Steam client/SDK to prevent this from happening in the future.

• Smack Talker – Post a comment on a friend’s Steam Community profile page (free)
• One-Hit Wonder – Build a Wonder in Civilization V ($37.49)
• Road Rage – Set a leaderboard score of at least 10,515 for ‘Slaughter, City Center’ in Zombie Driver ($2.50)
• Butter Me Up – Build Me Up Buttercup in Bob came in Pieces ($2.50)

One of my new “friends” keeps having ADHD episodes and jumping between games every couple of minutes. I kind of feel sorry for the person even though the popup is quite distracting.

The first four objectives are:

• Self Portrait – Set up an avatar (free)
• Got Tanked? – Become a Desert Fox in R.U.S.E. ($33.49)
• Up the Ante – Unlock The Iron Curtain in Poker Night at the Inventory ($2.99)
• More Cowbell – Set a leaderboard score of at least 1,124,400 in easy mode for the ‘Paul Hartnoll’ level in Chime ($1.99)

So, let’s assume that within each 48 hour period, there is one free item. There are seven 48-hour periods. So, during three of the periods, in order to have a chance at the grand prize, something that costs money will have to be played. It looks like this event is also being bundled with deals.

The correct approach to the treasure hunt is probably to buy games at great prices, have fun playing them, and then possibly win other stuff too. If you buy the game to “win” the treasure hunt, you bought the game for the wrong reason.

Although, it might be tempting to do them all because it says, “Each objective you complete gains you another entry in to this drawing. Unlock all 4 for the best chance to win!”

Left 4 Dead 2
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Galcon Fusion (Not as cheap as it was in that Indie Action Pack from a couple days ago)
Supreme Commander 2
King’s Bounty – Platinum Edition
Indie Pulse Pack
Counter-Strike: Source (6 Pack)
NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits (10 Pack)
Red Faction: Guerrilla (8 Pack)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City (Both the individual game and pack)

Left 4 Dead 2 is probably about as cheap as a single licensed copy will get. Assuming, of course, that you want to play with real people – the bots are not nearly as fun or intelligent. So, I’d say this is the balance point to buy at if you were planning on ever getting it. It will probably show up again on sale around Christmas but the price could be anything.

Torchlight (Great deal here on a fantastic game)
Portal (6 Pack)
Warhammer 40K II – Gold Edition
Machinarium
Tropico 3 – Gold Edition
Indie Clever Pack (Not my cup of tea but might be yours)
Empire: Total War (Both the individual game and pack)
Burnout Paradise: Ultimate Box (I’m pretty sure there was a better deal on this a while back)

The Freedom Force (10 Pack) game may seem enticing but be forewarned that the game was released in 2002 and last patched in 2005. Lots of people in the Steam forums complaining about it not working quite right under the latest incarnations of Windows (e.g. Windows 7). Some people say the game was always buggy. It has good Metacritic ratings but I’ve found buggy games aren’t always worth the effort. Good price though.

R.U.S.E. claims to be all about deceiving your enemy long enough for you to build up a massive surprise attack at the end that wins the battle. I was under the impression that most real-time strategy games already attempted to be about that sort of thing but whatever. The trailer looks pretty though:

Learn more about R.U.S.E. and begin pre-loading for the Free Weekend.

I’m not a huge fan of real-time strategy games but, hey, this one is free this weekend until Sunday afternoon. Hopefully the multiplayer mode also includes a skirmish mode against the computer A.I. so I can at least not get beaten repeatedly right away.

The only downside I see is that the DRM on this game is overkill. Steam + additional DRM is totally unnecessary. Free weekend games are awesome though so the DRM doesn’t really matter.

This is obviously a ploy to gain pre-order sales but also has benefits for Ubisoft and gamers alike. You get to play part of the game right away, the online servers get a good workout, and the developers get one last chance to fix bugs prior to launch. Basically, I see this as a win-win for everyone.

What do you think?

Does this look like a fun game?

Are there too many real-time strategy games out there or not enough?

First up, Steam is completely revamping its client. I love the fact that a single piece of software is all I have to install to have my entire game library at my fingertips (I’ve been avoiding installing other DRM game clients). Steam does that wonderful bit of convenience for me but, over the past couple years, the game library has gotten a bit unwieldy. The new client has two features that I’m really excited about: Game groups and better Achievement tracking. Okay, okay. I’m only really interested in grouping. What I want to do is group games by year released. And if I can then subgroup by genre, even better – but it doesn’t look like I can do that, so I’m not holding my breath. Achievements are fun to get but planning to achieve an achievement is a bit much.

Now onto the games. Direct2Drive (a completely different DRM client) is continuing Spring Gamez with Week 2 of deals. Here’s the list of games at or above a 75% Metacritic rating, less than $20, and a release date of at least 2003:

Supreme Commander Gold (84%) – $7.50
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (90%) – $4.95
Total War Collection (72% to 91%) – $44.95
Men of War (78%) – $2.50
The Path (76%) – $4.95
Capitalism 2 (85%) – $4.95
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! — A Reckless Disregard for Gravity (83%) – $1.95

What do you think about the new Steam client?

What games are you going to pick up from Direct2Drive?

Does it bother you to have more than one DRM game client installed?

Slide 1 of 3.
Spend $75 or more, get $15 back.
Source: Direct2DriveSlide 2 of 3.
Mass Effect
Source: Metacritic.com box shotSlide 3 of 3.
THQ Ultimate Bundle
Source: Impulse Driven box shot

Direct2Drive Spring Sale (PC)
Atari 2010 Spring Bundle (most of the games are about 75%) – $74.95
Dirt 2 (87%) – $9.95
King’s Bounty Gold Edition (82%, 84%) – $14.95
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (76%) – $4.95
Battlestations: Pacific (75%) – $17.95
Fallout 3 (81%) – $14.95
Tropico 3 (79%) – $14.95
GUN (75%) – $9.95
Just Cause (77%) – $7.95
Genre: Varied
ESRB: Varied [Mostly M (Mature)]
(Buy $75 or more and get $15 credit on May 10 – credit valid only from May 10 through June 8.)

Mass Effect (PC, 2008) – 86%, Rank #178
$9.99
Genre: Action, Role-Playing Game
ESRB: M (Mature)

THQ Ultimate Bundle (PC)
Company of Heroes (PC, 2006) – 91%, Rank #28
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts (PC, 2007) – 87%, Rank #145
Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor (PC, 2009) – 68%, Rank #1271
Full Spectrum Warrior (PC, 2004) – 79%, Rank #604
Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (PC, 2007) – 56%, Rank #1802
Red Faction (PC, 2001) – 80%, Rank #516
Red Faction II (PC, 2003) – 61%, Rank #1607
Red Faction: Guerrilla (PC, 2009) – 84%, Rank #284
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl (PC, 2007) – 81%, Rank #447
Supreme Commander (PC, 2007) – 84%, Rank #263
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance (PC, 2007) – 84%, Rank #279
Titan Quest (PC, 2006) – 79%, Rank #585
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne (PC, 2007) – 82%, Rank #392
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (PC, 2004) – 87%, Rank #140
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Winter Assault (PC, 2005) – 85%, Rank #204
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade (PC, 2006) – 88%, Rank #118
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Soulstorm (PC, 2008) – 75%, Rank #835
World of Zoo (PC) – Unranked
$99.99
Genre: Various (Mostly Real-Time Strategy)
ESRB: Various (Mostly M (Mature))

Percentages and ranks come from Metacritic.com game scores. It isn’t a perfect system, but it is better than nothing.