No Man's Sky

[mmosu]

It's ok Art, I'll be waiting for you at the center  8-X  ;D

[Art Blade]

 :-X :-()

[nexor]

I may need some confirmation on this:

I went into my local gaming shop today with the intention of pre-ordering NMS, only to be told that the retail version of the game will be PlayStation-only, and that if I want a PC version I will have to go through Steam to get it. If I have to go through Steam I will, but I'd rather have a disk.

I also prefer having the disk, but looking at the price of new games lately, then getting it via Steam is starting to make sense   :-\\

[Art Blade]

steam special offers are really worth looking for. Somewhat recent games for like $5, your local dealer can't beat that. Or 20 to 50 and sometimes 80 percent off for recent games.. something you really have to take on board as the money you can save taking an offer like that can be spent on the next game..  :)

[fragger]

I must admit, I don't feel as badly towards Steam as I used to. But that was more due to my lousy former ISP.

Even so, they still owe me a game for wiping Deus Ex: Human Revolution off my PC \:/ I was done with the game anyway, but that really isn't the point...

[mandru]

A principal stronger in me than my dislike of Steam is avoiding using a credit card over the internet.

So a NMS purchase through Steam is out of the picture unless there's an option to arrange payment through PayPal.

[nexor]

Just checked on Steam, ZAR 599.00 Bloody hell!!!!!!  :o

[Art Blade]

avoiding using a credit card over the internet

That has been my concern. You'll be surprised to learn that valve/steam came up with an even a simpler method than paypal.

Check your local dealers (yes, local, physical, as in real shops) for steam cards. Hell, I can even buy them at my local supermarket. It's a prepaid card system. You buy cards for say 10, 20, 50 or 100 dollars just the same you would for a mobile phone. The person at the checkout will have to activate that card (for that matter there is a bar code on the back of it) when you buy it and at home you scrape off some sort of rubber layer that covers your steam redeem code. Go to your steam account, there is a "steam wallet" that you can load up with that redeem code. After that, you'll see the amount of money on your screen all the time when looking at your steam account.

So you get a 1:1 payment without anyone on the net using ANY personal data of yours.  :-D That's how I buy my games on steam.

[Dweller_Benthos]

I think my Steam account is just linked to my Paypal, I don't know, I click the buy button and the game is mine.... who knows where the money comes from? hehe

[Art Blade]

hehe  :-D Yeah, that is also possible. They're good at getting our money, aren't they :)

[PZ]

I agree about the spectacular deals.  Quite some time ago I saw Assassin's Creed Revelations on sale for $4.99.  It is still $18.99 at most places I checked.  I just happened to play a couple of hours in AC Brotherhood yesterday and recalled why I liked the Ezio games so much.

The Steam sales are dynamite, and it is worth checking on a regular basis.

[Binnatics]

Totally agree on the subject of Steam sales. And indeed, there are more ways to pay Steam for purchases. I use something that's called iDeal, a European (I think) way of according internet payments directly from your local bank using the Bank's security measures, which are good. I don't trust Paypal since someone once managed to create a paypal account on my wifes name linked to her bank account or credit card without her knowing. We found out and luckily the bank secured the expenses, but Paypal? No thank you.

[nexor]

We only have a direct Credit Card payment facility from here, and I don't think I'm gonna pay 600 bucks for a game  :o

[mmosu]

I think my Steam account is just linked to my Paypal, I don't know, I click the buy button and the game is mine.... who knows where the money comes from? hehe

Every time D_B buys a game some kid in China is like "What the ¥£€$?!!!"

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah, that would be nice, but no, it's my Paypal account.

[nexor]

 

[Art Blade]

 

[Binnatics]

We only have a direct Credit Card payment facility from here, and I don't think I'm gonna pay 600 bucks for a game  :o

Well, I keep having to use the converter for your ZAR amounts but we pay almost the double here, on Steam. So I don't think you're charged that extraordinary ;)

[fragger]

Steam price is $59.99 USD, which currently converts to about $83.43 AUD. That's about normal for a new major release game here, typically they go from between $80 to $100 AUD in the shops.

My preference for a physical product is mainly due to the fact that a game download uses up a substantial chunk of my data allowance, so I end up sort of paying for it there as well. But I don't think I'll have a choice this time around - I'll have to go through Steam if I want to play NMS.

[mmosu]

I always forget that some products cost drastically different amounts in other parts of the world. Out of curiosity, what's a gallon of gasoline going for in all of your corners these days?

[fragger]

In Australia petrol is sold by the litre (1 U.S. liquid gallon = approx 3.785 litres). it varies widely and fluctuates a lot. Generally, on average, we pay around $1.40 AUD per litre, which converts to about $5.30 AUD (or $3.82 USD) per U.S. gallon, according to present currency conversion rates.

There is, ostensibly, a weekly "price cycle", and even then the prices vary widely. We'll be paying $1.25 per litre one week, $1.50 the next, then $1.35 the week after that, and so on. And it's not uniform - I can go to a Shell station just up the road from home and see regular unleaded being sold for $1.32, then I'll go a few more kays up the road and see the same fuel being sold for $1.39 - at another Shell! It's nuts. There is a "regulatory" board, the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) which keeps a check on these arbitrary fluctuations, but it's a toothless tiger. They can monitor prices but they can't do anything to actually regulate them. In other words: they cry foul about gouging and profiteering while the petrol companies just ignore them and do whatever they damn well please ::)

[Art Blade]

doing all the conversions, about 5.5 USD

[PZ]

Bargain here - $2.20/gallon.  They raised the price because of summer travel.  Was $1.92/gallon 6 weeks ago

[Binnatics]

In Holland it's about the same price as in Germany, few cents more. We pay a lot of taxes here

[mmosu]

Excellent answers, you guys even did the math for me  :-X
Of course what I see locally is similar to PZ. I suspect we'll see a bit of a spike in the next day or so as we're entering Memorial Day weekend, and many Americans will be traveling as a result. However, it still never ceases to amaze me how many factors affect the price of oil. Hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico? Gas prices go up. Next summer, very similar storms in practically the same place - nothin'  :knockout
I never found any confirmation of this, but I heard that the dip in fuel prices America saw last summer was in part due to the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia releasing a large quantity of oil into the market to drive the price down. Supposedly he did this to screw over a rival whose personal economy was more dependent on oil prices than his own, not to benefit vacationers in the United States