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The 2012 Steam Summer Sale Is Here!

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After being delayed for nearly half a month, the 2012 edition of the Steam Summer Sale is finally upon us. Your wallet is now shaking in fear.

The 2012 Steam Summer Sale Is Here!

Lasting from today, the 12th of July, to the 22nd of July, the Summer Sale offers us 10 straight days of colossal game discounts. Day 1 of the Summer Sale brings us solid Daily Deals for the following games:

Each of these is on sale for at least -50% of their regular price, so jump in! In addition, Valve is introducing Flash Deals, which are super-fast discounts that only last for a matter of hours. This is the first round of Flash Deals:

However, each Flash Deal lasts a different amount of time than the other Flash Deals in the same round as it. Therefore, the Flash Deal closest to ending is currently the Deus Ex series, and the one farthest from ending is Rayman: Origins.

And as usual, there’s also a wide variety of franchise/publisher collections on sale, including the glorious Valve Complete Pack. If you plan on getting these in the sale, I’d recommend jumping on them as soon as possible, so as to get them out of the way.

But wait – there’s more! Every day, there will be a series of Community Choice Votes, in which Steam users will have to choose between three different game deals – 8 hours later, the game deal with the most votes will become a Community’s Choice Deal, but only for the next 8 hours.

In the first Community Choice Vote, Steam gamers had to choose between: Batman: Arkham City for 66%; The Witcher 2 for 60%; and Saints’ Row 3 for 75%. The winner was, of course, Saints’ Row 3, with 36% of the votes. It is now on sale, and a new Community Choice Vote has just begun. Check it out, and keep in mind that it’s set to end in little over 7 hours.

Also being introduced with the Summer Sale is a new Steam Community feature – Badges. They show up on the right of your Steam profile page, and they track various tasks/objectives that you’ve accomplished in the past.

Remember how, during Potato Fools’ Day, the number of potatoes you had attained was displayed on your profile? Or how, during the 2011 Summer Sale, the number of summer tickets you’d obtained was also displayed on your profile? Well, this is a permanent, more official and standardized iteration of those ideas.

Currently, there are 7 badges:

  • Years of Service” is awarded to all Steam users and reflects their Steam account’s years in existence (there are 8 levels for this badge, and your badge will level up as it hits a new account anniversary).
  • Four badges are awarded for participation in past Steam events (the 2010 Treasure Hunt; the 2011 Potato Fools’ Day; the 2011 Summer Camp; and the 2011 Holiday Sale). As a result, Golden Potatoes no longer exist. I think this might just be the worst thing Valve has ever done since announcing Left 4 Dead 2.
  • Pillar of Community” is awarded for accomplishing 14 Community-related tasks.
  • Steam Summer Sale 2012″ is awarded for accomplishing 3 sale-related tasks. It has three levels, the first being “Junior Architect”. After that, it levels up every two tasks, until all 7 tasks have been completed and the badge reaches its highest level.

Meanwhile, in Team Fortress 2, Valve is also throwing a Mann Co Store Summer Sale, on some of this year’s community Workshop items, as well as an assortment of other goodies such as item tags, weapons, item bundles, and hats. Just like the main Summer Sale, this one ends on the 22nd of July.

All in all, the stage is set for the annual sacrifice of the wallet. It cannot be stopped, the Steam gods must be appeased. The only question is: are you going to play that which you buy?

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11 Comments

  1. I’ve been told that there is a special version of the badge for those who had the golden potato, and also that my half-baked potato is not the base version either. I haven’t looked at anyone else’s profile to confirm, though.

  2. Well, they do have a badge for those who participated in the Potato Sack, and it shows how many potatoes you collected…but I liked the golden potatoes better

  3. I would suggest something slightly different from what vic said in the post. Vic “recommend[s] jumping on [the publisher packs] as soon as possible”. This is a bad idea… unless you want EVERY game in the pack. The individual games will likely go on sale through the daily/flash deals throughout the 10 days. If you want to buy a publisher pack I suggest waiting until the LAST day, in case the games you want go for cheaper throughout the week.

    • I said “if you plan on getting these”, as in if someone wants the entire collection. In that case, they would be saving a lot more by simply buying the packs – they are going for some spectacular prices, considering the number of games within.

  4. “— Golden Potatoes no longer exist. I think this might just be the worst thing Valve has ever done since announcing Left 4 Dead 2.”

    I never got the GP, so please tell me, why is this so bad?

  5. Here lies my wallet.

    RIP

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