Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   Anonymous
   Unregistered

   Well this seems rather fantastic, unless in my doe-eyed naivety I’ve missed how it is instead sinister and terrible. Amazon US have launched an Indie Games channel. They say,

   “The Amazon Indie Games Store helps independent game developers reach more customers, and helps customers learn about more creative games and the people and processes behind building those games.”

   Which is great – if you’re in North America.

   Accompanying this launch are a bundle of bundles, with 100% of the sales going to the developers. There’s a Double Fine bundle in there, a Cavern Of Fire pack containing Galaxy On Fire 2, Little Inferno, The Cave, Sol Survivor and Strike Suit Zero, and lots of other selections. That latter pack costs only $10, the same for the seemingly unofficial Double Fine collection. Ten bucks!

   All the BIT.TRIP games are in there, for $5 each at the moment, or all four for 10. But it’s not all bundles. Think of a indie game of note and chances are you’ll find it on there. Hotline Miami is currently $5, Don’t Starve is selling for $12, and the mighty McPixel is $2.50. Oh, and FTL for $5.

   You also get a copy of Huntsman: The Orphanage, Dynasty Of Duck, and The Curse Of Nordic Cove if you buy anything at all before the 10th.

   The catch (that everyone else seems to have missed) – this is currently for US customers only. Try to buy from outside there, and it’ll refuse. Even if you’re just buying a download code for a different store. Hopefully we’ll see other nations’ stores catching up soon, although history tends to suggest it’s a very slow process for Amazon.

   article

   Amazon Indie Games

   Posted 10 years ago #
2. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   The catch (that everyone else seems to have missed) – this is currently for US customers only.

   http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1689734

   after sending an email to Amazon.com to understand the reasons behind this, here's the answer:

   Due to import/export laws and other restrictions, Game/Software Downloads can only be purchased by customers connecting to the Internet from a location in the United States specifically the 48 contiguous states, Alaska, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia.

   Its not a law in itself, just a publishing/distribution agreement (so they would be breaking the law if they broke their contractual agreements). Occasionally the rights to distribute (ie sell) a game in different regions is sold to different distribution companies that have more experiences or resources already allocated in that region. Therefore, theres two reasons why you have experienced this:

   1. Amazon is carrying out a blanket policy of selling games in the US region only because for whatever reason they can't or choose not to restrict purchases on a game by game agreement basis.

   http://www.ghacks.net/2012/06/30/how-to-purchase-digital-games-at-amazon-from-outside-the-us/

   You have multiple options to get a US address. You can use a service like Borderlinx which will create one for you after you sign-up

   Once you have added the US address to your account and linked a credit card to it, you can start making purchases.

   Posted 10 years ago #
3. 

   Whiterabbit-uk
   Games Guru

   They are probably mad at the UK becaus e of the tax scandle that's come out recently, lol. It's been disclodsed that Amazon, one of the big Coffee house giants, as well as other multinational companies have been paying virtually no tax in the UK, despite gaining massive sales worth billions of pounds.

   To be honest there's enough game deals around for everyone to find something they want. I'm still amazed that many of these games have only recently been released and are already appearing in these bundles.9e.g. Strike Suit Zero, which i backed via Kickstarter and only complete funding 7 months ago and was still unreleased until a few months ago. Little Inferno was only released a few months ago as well as The Cave and I only recently paid full price for Galaxy on Fire 2.

   Still, I think all of these games are worth full price so I should really stop my whining, lol. I'm sure each of us has a different perspective on the worth of these games. I think because I was a youth before computer games became a reality (I played Space Invaders and the original Arkanoid when I was an 18 year old student), I see the present batch of games as amazing achievements, works of art and worth loads of money. When I compare how much I paid for my first computer game, in real terms it was equivalent to around £160 in today's money and all it was was a computerised text adventure called The Island of Artuan, a child could easily program it today.

   Posted 10 years ago #
4. 

   Campy
   Member

   Looks interesting. Does anyone know how this works when they say "(online game code)"? For example in the Double Fine Bundle all of the games say that. Then Brutal Legends, Iron Brigade and The Cave all show download size of 3 kb. The other three game also say "online game code), but then show much bigger download sizes. I am thinking that perhaps for the first three we get activation codes (Steam codes?) for all games and for other three we get activation codes plus can directly download the games. Other games and bundles are similar. Anyone know how this works?

   WR, I agree about the current wealth of games. I hadn't even heard of "The Island of Artuan", but it looks like you can still find it thanks to the internet. I remember the Scott Adams text adventure games which are easily available online like on his website.

   £160! Assuming you got this in 1984 when it came out then with 141% (£1 in 1984 would cost £2.41 1n 2013) that means you spent £66 (or over $100) for a text adventure back then. Hopefully something is off with the math, but the principle is the same. We are getting crazy bargains today! Sometimes I also look at it as cost per hour of entertainment and games are incredibly cheap.

   Posted 10 years ago #
5. 

   Anonymous
   Unregistered

   Moneysaver: The New Amazon Indie Store, Over 100 Games On Sale

   Amazon has launched a brand new indie store, and we've got your first coverage right here.

   Amazon is going beyond just having awesome sales with the opening of their indie shop. The retailer is running a sweet promotion until July 17th where anyone who buys a game from their indie store will receive three free games. These three games will rotate, and of course, the Moneysaver will keep you posted on which three are currently on offer. The current trio is:
   • Dynasty of Dusk
   • The Curse of Nordic Cove
   • Huntsman: The Orphange

   But it gets even better. Amazon will sell a set of indie bundles that also rotate over time. These bundles will be priced at $10 and will consist of either 5 or 10 games. When you purchase one of these bundles, 100% of the revenue goes to the developers. Check out their indie developer spotlights.

   Ok, enough preamble, listed below are some of our favorite picks from the long lists of items on sale. Games are Steam unless otherwise noted, prices are 50% off of retail unless otherwise noted, and the majority of the titles are playable on Mac as well as PC. Indie up. Full List.
   Individual Games

   • Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien ($11) | Normally $15 | But wait, buy this Bit.Trip Bundle below and you'll get Runner2 for $3.50
   • Bit.Trip Core + Beat + Void + Runner ($10)

   • Stealth Bastard Deluxe ($5) | DLC also on sale.

   • Don't Starve ($12) | Normally $15

   • FTL: Faster than Light ($5) | Normally $10 | Absolute must-play.

   • Chivalry: Medieval Warfare ($12.50)

   • Brutal Legend ($7) | Normally $20 | Other Double Fine games also discounted.

   • Castle Crashers ($10) | Normally $15 | If you somehow haven't played this by now, it is incredibly fun.

   • Shatter ($5) | Fantastic game.

   • Puddle ($4.50)

   • Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack ($4) | This is from the Guacamelee! guys

   • McPixel ($2.50)

   • They Bleed Pixels ($3.40) | Normally $10

   • Trine ($1.25) | Normally $5
   Bundles

   • Iron Brigade + Stealth Bastard Deluxe + The Cave + Galaxy on Fire 2 + Mutant Mudds ($10) | I like this bundle, kind of made up of stuff that's dodged other bundles in the past.

   • Costume Quest + Stacking + Brutal Legend + Psychonauts + Iron Brigade ($10)

   via kotaku

   article

   Amazon Indie Games offers bundles, free games and special sales

   by Jessica Conditt Writer RSS (10 hours ago)
   0
   Amazon Indie Store
   Amazon launched an indie games store featuring special sales on independent games, currently hosting more than 400 titles from 100 developers. Amazon's Indie Games hub will have a rolling deal that automatically grants customers a selection of free games – the first offer runs from today to June 10 and it offers Dynasty of Dusk, Huntsman: The Orphanage, and The Curse of Nordic Cove for free when buying any indie game. A new free-games deal starts June 11.

   There's also a bundle page, and Amazon sends 100 percent of the profit generated from these sales straight to the developers themselves. Current bundles include the Gaijin Tripped Out Pack with games in the Bit.Trip series and the Oh So Fine and Dandy Bundle, a collection of Double Fine games. Each bundle is $10.

   Amazon will feature a new indie developer each week in its Indie Spotlight, starting with Gaijin Games. To kick off the Indie Games store, more than 200 indie games are up to 75 percent off through June 23 on Amazon. Happy shopping.

   via Joystiq

   Posted 10 years ago #
6. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   To be honest there's enough game deals around for everyone to find something they want.

   True... That's why just the links & no editorializing -- I know, quite a rarity. :)

   Posted 10 years ago #
7. 

   Campy
   Member

   Well, I decided to get the "Oh So Fine and Dandy Bundle" (Costume Quest + Stacking + Brutal Legend + Psychonauts + Iron Brigade + The Cave for $9.99) even though I already had 3 of the games. So, I thought I would describe how this process worked.

   After ordering I received an e-mail with product codes for each of the six games and these codes activate the games on Steam. I also got separate e-mails for each of the three bonus games that you currently that you currently get for ordering from the Amazon Indie Store. You then have to follow a link in each e-mail to the purchase page for that game. You then click on the button to buy and the next page shows that the price has been discounted to $0 at which point you then click to purchase. Then you get another e-mail with your receipt for that game. You then go to the Amazon "Your Games and Software" page and the games will be listed.

   The current free games are Dynasty of Dusk, The Curse of Nordic Cove, and Huntsman - The Orphanage. For the first two you can download the Amazon Downloader that allows you to then download those games. The third one is actually a pre-order for a game that is supposed to be available on September 6th. It appears that at that time we will get another e-mail with an online game code that I assume will work with Steam.

   This process was a little convoluted (to get the free games). I wish they had just sent me one e-mail with 9 Steam codes or a combination of codes and direct download links. However, it all seems to work and is a pretty good price for a lot of product.

   Posted 10 years ago #

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