The Value Play: Sony's Summer Sale

Tags:

Official logo of the PlayStation NetworkImage via Wikipedia

I’m cheap. I’ll admit that. I really don’t like paying full price for my games (ask me how I got Fallout 3 for $20), so when I see the word “SALE”, its always worth at least a look. So, let’s say hello to Sony’s PS3 Summer sale.

Each of the games in the Summer Sale are $5 less than their normal price (except for Flock, which is $7.50 off), making them almost all good values. Whether they are good buys though, that’s another question. So, what’s up on sale this week, and how do they stack up?

  • Brain Challenge $4.99 – These kinds of games have no interest for me, but for $5, you could do a whole lot worse.
  • Crash Commando $4.99 – I played the demo. It was okay, but didn’t really excite me.
  • Flock $7.49 – Yawn.
  • Pixeljunk Eden $4.99 – Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. PixelJunk seems to hit a good standard of quality for all their games, and at $5, this is probably a must-buy.
  • Savage Moon $4.99 – Do you like tower defense games? Cuz that’s what Savage Moon is. Sure, it’s prettier than your average flash game, but it’s still a tower defense game, with a Starship Troopers-ish vibe. Fortunately, I kinda like tower defense games, so I can see dropping $5 on this and being very happy.
  • Wipeout $14.99 – The HD update of the longtime Playstation favorite futuristic racing game. It looks and feels great, and provides a good level of challenge. There is a demo, if you’re not sure whether it’s the right game for you.
  • NHL 3 on 3 arcade $4.99 -I have one hang-up with this game. There’s a clause on the purchase screen that basically says EA will turn the online servers off at some point on this one. And since it looks to be all about the on-line play, seems like I can do better with my $5 than this, even though it is a fun, simple arcade version of pond hockey.

In the end, I think I’ll definitely drop $5 for Savage Moon, probably spend $5 for Pixeljunk Eden. For that price, I should get my money’s worth, plus there’s always the added lure of trophies. Wipeout is tempting, but I think the $15 would be better spent elsewhere, and with NHL arcade, I’ll just wait for a version that makes it easier to play with your PSN friends.

But here’s a question I have: why should this be limited to a few games for one week? Why can’t Sony make PSN even more appealing by offering sale items every week. XBox Live has their deals of the week, and it’s a great way to raise the profile of older games and DLC. But hey, who am I to tell Sony how to run their business. They know what they are doing. They brought us Home.

As a final note, the last time they had a sale, I bought PAIN. It was only $5. Still don’t think I’ve played it enough to warrant the purchase price. So buyer beware when it comes to sales.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]