Current game sales

I don't think many of my multitude of readers - heh, heh - are gamers, but just in case, I did want to mention some great 4th of July game sales:

GOG.com is having a sale on old Interplay games, with 32 games being sold for only $2.99 each. Note that these should be ready to play on modern computers, too. (Often, I'll buy a game I already own from GOG.com, just to avoid the hassle of trying to get it to run.)

There are a lot of good games there, I'm sure, but the two I'd especially recommend are Fallout 1 and Fallout 2. They're really great games, and for less than $3 each, how can you go wrong? Of course, they're old games, without the fancy graphics you might expect these days. But their gameplay is superb.

Well, if you're not sure, check out the screenshots and the reviews at GOG.com. Note that each game is rated five out of five stars by nearly 10,000 gamers. True, that doesn't mean you'll like them. Tastes vary. But for less than $3, you're not risking much.

This sale at GOG.com ends at midnight Monday, so don't procrastinate too long. (Otherwise, you'd have to pay nearly $6 each for two of the greatest games of all-time. Terrible, huh?)

GamersGate is having sales this week, too. Civilization V will apparently be on sale for 50% off tomorrow (so, $25 then?). That's the newest version of Civilization, and I haven't played it yet. But I consider Civilization II to be possibly the greatest game ever made.

Civ IV was good, but I suspect I'd just played Civ II for too many years. (Still, if you want to try that one, it's on sale - the Complete Edition - at Impulse for $9.99.) I really don't know much about Civ V, so you'll have to decide on that one for yourself.

On Sunday, the X-Com Complete Pack will be on sale for 75% off. Right now, it's on sale for 50% off, making it $14.95, so you do the math. The pack includes five games, including X-Com: UFO Defense, which to my mind is the one game that rivals Civ II for the best game of all time.

I was disappointed in the sequels, for one reason or another (they're good, but not great), but the original is a game that should not be missed. If you'd rather just buy that one, the everyday price is $5.95 at GamersGate (I don't know if it's going to go on sale, too, or not).

But you can also buy it on Steam, during their summer sale, for only $3.34 (33% off their normal price of $4.99). The X-Com Complete Pack there is $10.04.

Now I've never bought old games from Steam or GamersGate, but I believe that they're ready to play on modern computers, too, just like those from GOG.com. Well, that's not entirely accurate. GamersGate specifically warns that X-Com: UFO Defense will not work in Windows 7. So if you're still using Windows XP, like me, you might want to play it now, while you can.

[Edit: I did buy X-Com from Steam, and it works great on Windows XP, with absolutely no setup required. Just click the shortcut and play. But note that you'll have to download the manual separately, if you haven't played the game before.]

I've got to say that I'm strongly tempted to buy both Fallout games and X-Com: UFO Defense, even though I already own them - just for the convenience. They are really three of the all-time great computer games, at or near the top of nearly every ranking of great games. You can buy fancier games these days, but better? I don't think so.

And note that all three games are science fiction games. Games - RPGs, at least - seem to be dominated by fantasy settngs. So I think it's especially noteworthy when great games use SF themes. And these are great games.