HL2 on sale at Fry's today (Friday) only for $29.99

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..........only a few hours left ( West Coast USA). Regular Price
$54.99. Stock on hand only. No rain-checks. Lowest price I have seen.
Fry's had it on sale a few weeks ago at $39.99.

Also, my local EBX is selling off its last 5 copies of the HL2
Collector's Edition for $29.99 each. They have limited space for
storage in this particular store and these boxes have been hanging
around for the past couple of months.

Regardless of the insistence of others on this newsgroup, neither
Valve nor any other game publisher control game-retail prices at least
here in the US. This type if price-fixing activity is part of the
contract-terms of franchised businesses, such as McDonald's, not
independent retailers. If the retailer chooses to sell at a low margin
or as a loss-leader, or want to clear their stock - so be it....

Price on www.steampowered.com is STILL $49.99....5 months
after release.

Everybody still in favor of on-line game downloads only and no
(competitive) retail sales, please raise your right-hand to receive
your dunce's cap...

Since both the Xbox360 and the PS3 will be highly-oriented towards
downloaded content, maybe Valve's download model will
work there ( and they won't need Steam' custom security either ).
However, any company who relies solely on download to sell
PC games is setting themselves up for failure. And if Valve go into
the retail market and try to over-ride the retailer in setting actual
selling-prices, they are doomed to failure, they do not have
sufficient clout.

John Lewis

 

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John Lewis wrote:

> .........only a few hours left ( West Coast USA). Regular Price
> $54.99. Stock on hand only. No rain-checks. Lowest price I have seen.
> Fry's had it on sale a few weeks ago at $39.99.
>
> Also, my local EBX is selling off its last 5 copies of the HL2
> Collector's Edition for $29.99 each. They have limited space for
> storage in this particular store and these boxes have been hanging
> around for the past couple of months.

Considering these specialty game stores like Gamestop, Babbages, EB keeps
shrinking their shelf space for PC games it isn't surprising they are
getting rid of them. They need to make room for the newer games. In a few
months they will do the same thing to those games. I don't know why any PC
gamer would want to shop there, the selection is awful. I rather stick with
CompUSA and Best Buy to purchase PC games.

> Regardless of the insistence of others on this newsgroup, neither
> Valve nor any other game publisher control game-retail prices at least
> here in the US. This type if price-fixing activity is part of the
> contract-terms of franchised businesses, such as McDonald's, not
> independent retailers. If the retailer chooses to sell at a low margin
> or as a loss-leader, or want to clear their stock - so be it....
>
> Price on www.steampowered.com is STILL $49.99....5 months
> after release.
>
> Everybody still in favor of on-line game downloads only and no
> (competitive) retail sales, please raise your right-hand to receive
> your dunce's cap...
>
> Since both the Xbox360 and the PS3 will be highly-oriented towards
> downloaded content, maybe Valve's download model will
> work there ( and they won't need Steam' custom security either ).
> However, any company who relies solely on download to sell
> PC games is setting themselves up for failure. And if Valve go into
> the retail market and try to over-ride the retailer in setting actual
> selling-prices, they are doomed to failure, they do not have
> sufficient clout.
>
> John Lewis

 

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On Fri, 20 May 2005 20:33:52 -0600, "Hank the Rapper"
<xflopgoon@REMOVEyahoo.com> wrote:

>John Lewis wrote:
>
>> .........only a few hours left ( West Coast USA). Regular Price
>> $54.99. Stock on hand only. No rain-checks. Lowest price I have seen.
>> Fry's had it on sale a few weeks ago at $39.99.
>>
>> Also, my local EBX is selling off its last 5 copies of the HL2
>> Collector's Edition for $29.99 each. They have limited space for
>> storage in this particular store and these boxes have been hanging
>> around for the past couple of months.
>
>Considering these specialty game stores like Gamestop, Babbages, EB

Gamestop, Babbages and EBX are now just one happy family with
considerable purchasing leverage.

> keeps
>shrinking their shelf space for PC games it isn't surprising they are
>getting rid of them. They need to make room for the newer games. In a few
>months they will do the same thing to those games. I don't know why any PC
>gamer would want to shop there, the selection is awful. I rather stick with
>CompUSA and Best Buy to purchase PC games.

Ah... but Best Buy and CompUSA do not trade/sell used games. And
they just rotate through current new PC titles with a few (10-20)
budget-selections. EBX has about 40 (new) budget-selections of PC
titles on show at any time in the sub-$19.99 group.

Actually the local EBX has just expanded the shelf-space for both new
and used PC games. Let's see what the acquisition by
GameStop/Babbage's will do to their stock-priorities over the next few
months.

John Lewis

 

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John Lewis wrote:

> Ah... but Best Buy and CompUSA do not trade/sell used games. And
> they just rotate through current new PC titles with a few (10-20)
> budget-selections. EBX has about 40 (new) budget-selections of PC
> titles on show at any time in the sub-$19.99 group.

Does your EBX all you to trade in used PC games because mine don't?

> Actually the local EBX has just expanded the shelf-space for both new
> and used PC games. Let's see what the acquisition by
> GameStop/Babbage's will do to their stock-priorities over the next few
> months.

Yours must be better than mine because the one near me have two small
shelves
for PC games and that's it. They used to have four but the turned the other
two to hold used DVDs.

 

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John Lewis wrote:
> Also, my local EBX is selling off its last 5 copies of the HL2
Collector's Edition for $29.99 each.

-mighty tempting at that price despite the inclusion instrusive
software that is Steam.

--
Best Regards, mattchu
np:

 

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I heard that "Sleepy" <nospam@here.com> said:


>That $49.99 plus the hidden extra cost of downloading it (or is your
>broadband free)

Erm... no, it's not free, but it's a fixed cost of living. SO how is
it a cost?

> and the extra cost of backing it up on to CDRs for
>safety.

Why would I do that? I can just repull if the game gets lost. Just
like all games, I occasionally copy the save dir to another box.

 

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John Lewis wrote:
>
> I shall continue to give a miss to any single-player game that
> requires on-line registration/decryption to install and play the
> game. Smart on-disk protection is just fine by me. I do not
> mind having the master CD/DVD in the drive.

This astonishes me. I *hate* having to dig our a DVD/CD to play a game.
IMO, that's intrusive.

 

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Thusly Walter Mitty <mitticus@gmail.com> Spake Unto All:

>John Lewis wrote:
>>
>> I shall continue to give a miss to any single-player game that
>> requires on-line registration/decryption to install and play the
>> game. Smart on-disk protection is just fine by me. I do not
>> mind having the master CD/DVD in the drive.
>
>This astonishes me. I *hate* having to dig our a DVD/CD to play a game.
>IMO, that's intrusive.

Same here. I don't mind online registration to play, I much prefer it
to disk-based protection.
Then again I have broadband, so I'm always connected, whereas my CD's
are buried somewhere in the stacks in the bookshelf beside me.

 

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On Mon, 23 May 2005 13:27:43 +0200, Mean_Chlorine
<mike_noren2002@NOSPAMyahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>Thusly Walter Mitty <mitticus@gmail.com> Spake Unto All:
>
>>John Lewis wrote:
>>>
>>> I shall continue to give a miss to any single-player game that
>>> requires on-line registration/decryption to install and play the
>>> game. Smart on-disk protection is just fine by me. I do not
>>> mind having the master CD/DVD in the drive.
>>
>>This astonishes me. I *hate* having to dig our a DVD/CD to play a game.
>>IMO, that's intrusive.
>
>Same here. I don't mind online registration to play, I much prefer it
>to disk-based protection.
>Then again I have broadband, so I'm always connected,

Must have your own private jet and a satellite-dish on your
camper/trailer... Oh, I forgot... you can play HL2 in "off-line" (sic)

mode..if you remember to connect up and enable it on your mobile
computer....... if Valve doesn't terminate "off-line mode" some day
hidden in an 'update patch'...nice to have that friendly umbilical
cord to Gabe... no wonder he is becoming rather large....

.... and connected to what anyway....thin-air ( another name for
the Valve authentication-server) ??

Valve gets bought, goes bust, gets out of the PC business... and
pensions off their servers, you can use your install-CDs as
wall-paper, if you can find them in your pile. No guarantee in the
HL2 EULA that Valve will release HL2 decryption tooling if they
cease on-line validation.

Me, I am one of those who like to re-play classic single-player games
in my collection, especially when there is a dearth of really good,
new games, such as during the past few months.... No problem
finding the CDs, update patches, and manuals.

John Lewis

> whereas my CD's
>are buried somewhere in the stacks in the bookshelf beside me.
>

 

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Thusly john.dsl@verizon.net (John Lewis) Spake Unto All:

>>Same here. I don't mind online registration to play, I much prefer it
>>to disk-based protection.
>>Then again I have broadband, so I'm always connected,
>
>Must have your own private jet and a satellite-dish on your
>camper/trailer... Oh, I forgot... you can play HL2 in "off-line" (sic)

I have 10MBit full duplex. I'm an LPB (yeah you know me).

>mode..if you remember to connect up and enable it on your mobile
>computer....... if Valve doesn't terminate "off-line mode" some day
>hidden in an 'update patch'...nice to have that friendly umbilical
>cord to Gabe... no wonder he is becoming rather large....
>
>... and connected to what anyway....thin-air ( another name for
>the Valve authentication-server) ??

Wow.
Alcohol and posting does not mix. But by now you know that.

>Valve gets bought, goes bust, gets out of the PC business... and
>pensions off their servers, you can use your install-CDs as
>wall-paper, if you can find them in your pile. No guarantee in the
>HL2 EULA that Valve will release HL2 decryption tooling if they
>cease on-line validation.

What do I care. I pay, I play, I move on. It is completely irrelevant
to me if, five years down the road, your prophetic vision comes true,
Valve goes belly up, and I'd have to visit cracks.da.ru to play HL2
ever again.

>Me, I am one of those who like to re-play classic single-player games
>in my collection, especially when there is a dearth of really good,
>new games, such as during the past few months.... No problem
>finding the CDs, update patches, and manuals.

Then don't play HL2, but don't bitch to me about YOUR choice.

 

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On Mon, 23 May 2005 21:25:14 +0200, Mean_Chlorine
<mike_noren2002@NOSPAMyahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>
>Then don't play HL2, but don't bitch to me about YOUR choice.
>


I don't, didn't and won't until:-

(a) the price is $19.99 or less--- I don't want to
overfeed Gabe.

(b) the single-player part of the game does not require
on-line authentication/decryption to install and play.

John Lewis

 

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John Lewis wrote:

>
> I don't, didn't and won't until:-
>
> (a) the price is $19.99 or less--- I don't want to
> overfeed Gabe.
>

People like you are not real gamers : you are a parasite.

 

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On Tue, 24 May 2005 13:07:42 +0200, Walter Mitty <mitticus@gmail.com>
wrote:

>John Lewis wrote:
>
>>
>> I don't, didn't and won't until:-
>>
>> (a) the price is $19.99 or less--- I don't want to
>> overfeed Gabe.
>>
>
>People like you are not real gamers : you are a parasite.

Did I hear a parasitic echo in this thread ? You and
"would-be sailor" are not the same person by any chance ?
"Geat minds think alike, but........... ". Shall I finish the quote
for you ?

Just for your information, I shall be buying a full-priced game
today that I pre-ordered a couple of weeks ago, and
another pre-ordered (at full price) in late June.

Of my moderately extensive PC-games collection, about 10% were
full-priced, pre-ordered or purchased within a few days of release,
another 30% were purchased new sale-priced or price-matched,
another 10% from the bargain-bin and 50% purchased used.

How about your games collection and its cost-breakdown ?

John Lewis