Let's face it: Being a gamer is not a cheap hobby. First of all, you have to purchase the hardware that your games run on. Your selections usually run from Nintendo's broadly-advertised-but-low-tech Wii to Sony's niche-audience-but-high-tech Playstation 3 (or at least that's been the general trend for the past 6 years or so). I know it's the Holiday season, but discounts aside, when you suddenly decide that you're interested in playing video games, you'd better have your checkbook or credit card ready in your gun holster to burn away up to $300, and you'd be grateful that you weren't buying it when they first came out. Playstation 3 for $600? Damn!
Even the handheld scene is on the pricey side, with hardware reaching higher than $100 and games at $30 or more. Even back a couple of decades ago with the Nintendo Entertainment System, games were 40-$50!
Fortunately, it's almost 2012. Why is that a good thing? Because we have something called the internet here in the 21st century, and it, along with infamous software developer Valve, have created an online store for the distribution of games on the PC and Mac, and it is simply known as Steam.
Now, if you've been living under a rock for the past 10 years or so, then first of all, get off your lazy ass and spend some more time on the internet and more time using that aforementioned plastic box you paid big bucks for. Secondly, you need to discover this amazing web service. Valve Software, developers of well-known franchises such as Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, Half-Life, and Portal, somehow find enough time and people to maintain this wonderful service on top of making amazing video games.
If you're familiar with online shopping (see the previous "living under a rock" comment"), then you'll feel right at home. It's as simple as adding a product to your virtual shopping cart and checking out. After you purchase your game(s), you can choose to keep the software for yourself or to gift it to another user on the Steam Network. The only difference between say, Amazon.com and this is (aside from the obvious) is that once you purchase software, you download the game(s) directly to your computer. Awesome? Damn right.
What does this have to do with games being expensive? Easy! Valve holds annual sales in Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, as well as daily deals, mid-week deals, and weekend deals on random games. The deals are usually better than you could find anywhere else, ranging from 50-75% off!
Now, the service isn't all entirely perfect. During the huge sales (like the one going on right now), there tends to be a lot of traffic around the site, especially when the loads of new daily deals are announced each day at 10am Pacific Time. Some features on the site may run very slowly or may just flat out not work, even for hours on end. You probably want to be familiar with gaming on the PC or Mac too, as it's your only option here. There's also the issue of not being able to return games with a copy of the receipt you receive, just like retail locations can do, but these are mere nitpicks compared to everything else that Valve has done with this online store.
If you haven't heard of or signed up for Steam yet, you need to fix that. It's one of the greatest things ever to happen to a gamer considering the stubborn prices that we have had to deal with for decades now. To have a service like this available to gamers worldwide is surely an accomplishment worthy of our praise, and if we must throw our money in someone's face in order to entertain ourselves, then it might as well be the guys that, according to Valve founder Gabe Newell, created a "greater service value than pirates".
With that said, have a happy holiday and a great new year. :)
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