games-for-windows-marketplace posts

Getting something for nothing is always a good thing and we have that in today's PC game sales deals.

• Amazon.com's next free casual game is Cake Mania. You can download the game, nomally priced at $9.99, free of charge for today only.
• Steam has Mount and Blade and Mount and Blade Warband on sale this weekend for 80 percent off each.
• Direct2Drive has Napoleon Total War on sale for today only for $12.49.
• Games For Windows Marketplace has Flatout Ultimate Carnage on sale this next week for $4.99.
• Impulse has Cryostasis on sale for today only for just $3.49.

In a major about face for Microsoft, the publisher announced today that the upcoming PC version of developer Lionhead's fantasy RPG Fable III will be made available for purchase and download via Valve's Steam service as well as Microsoft's own Games For Windows Marketplace web site. Fable III will be the first Microsoft published game to be sold on Steam.

Microsoft and Valve have been rivals in the PC game download business as well as for extra PC game services (Steamworks vs Games For Windows Live) so Fable III's appearance on Steam is a pretty huge change of pace for Microsoft. The game will be made available for pre-orders later today on both Steam and Games For Windows Marketplace. Games For Windows Marketplace will offer Fable - The Lost Chapters, the PC port of the first game in the series, for free as a pre-order special. In addition Steam pre-orders will also get the exclusive Rebel's Weapon & Tattoo Pack, which adds four exclusive weapons and five character tattoos. The game will be released via these outlets and via retail stores on May 17.

Update: Games For Windows Live has now put up its pre-order page for Fable 3 as has Steam with its own Fable 3 pre-order page.

Today's newly revealed PC game sales have hit the net and they are all pretty good, thank you very much:

• Steam concludes its 2K Games sales event with a one day sale of Civilization V. You can get the game and also all of its DLC packs for 40 percent off.
• Steam's weekend sale is a bundle of four games in the Splinter Cell series on sale for $25.98.
• Direct2Drive has BioShock 2 on sale for today only for just $4.95.
• Impulse has a number of games on sale this weekend including Star Ruler for just $10. It also has And Yet It Moves on sale for today only for just $3.99.
• Games For Windows Marketplace has Lego Harry Potter Year 1-4 on sale for the next week for $14.99.

Thursday is usually the day when most weekend PC game sales pop up and today is no exception.

• Steam has collected four Ubisoft games (Assassin's Creed, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Far Cry 2 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2) in one bundle for $12.99 this weekend only.
• Direct2Drive has a weekend sale of its RPG titles for 20 percent off if you put in the promo code "burnout" at checkout.
• Impulse has a number of games on sale this weekend including Medal of Honor (2010) for $14.99. The adventure game Darkness Within is also on sale for $3.74 for today only.
• GamersGate has a lot of racing games on sale this weekend.
• Games For Windows Marketplace has F1 2010 on sale for the next week for $19.99.

Do you have a couple of saw bucks in your bank account? Then you might be interested in some of today's mid-week PC game deals.

• Steam has put Valve's final (so far) Half-Life game, Half-Life 2 Episode 2, on sale from now until Thursday for a mere $1.99.
• Direct2Drive continues to offer three games for $1.99 that will stay at that price for Tuesday only. This week you can get Space Giraffe, Fishdom and Westward for that price.
• Impulse has put the original Men of War on sale for today only. While it's not a $1.99 game it's still a pretty good deal, it's priced at $3.74.
• Don't forget that Games For Windows Marketplace is giving away a free copy of the PC version of Gears of War when you purchase Bulletstorm from the site for the next two week.

Bulletstorm is due for release this Tuesday but if you haven't used your hard earned money yet to purchase the over-the-top shooter you may want to wait until next week. Microsoft has announced that starting on Tuesday and running for the next two weeks anyone who purchases Bulletstorm from the Games For Windows web site gets a free copy of the PC port of Gears of War, a $19.99 value.

Ironically the PC port of Gears of War, which came out in 2007, was the first collaboration between Bulletstorm co-creators Epic Games and People Can Fly who worked together to add content and convert the Xbox 360 game to the PC. It's also the last PC game Microsoft has published although we are still awaiting word on when the PC port of Fable 3 will be released.

[Via email press release]

President's Day is coming up on Monday which means a lucky few in the US get a three day weekend. With that in mind it looks like there are a few more interesting weekend PC game sales in this week's line up:

• Direct2Drive has a special 20 percent sale for all of its game titles this weekend. The discount is taken when you put in the promo code "hailtothechief" at checkout.
• Steam has Supreme Commander 2 on sale today only for just $3.74. It also has the game's Infinite War Battle Pack on sale as well for $2.49.
• Impulse has King's Bounty Platinum Pack on sale today only for $9.
• Impulse also has a number of games on sale this weekend including Command and Conquer 4 for $9.99.
• GamersGate has a boatload of games on sale this weekend including Age of Wonders for $3 and Trine for $9.98.
• The Games for Windows Marketplace web site has 4 Elements on sale for the next week for $4.99.

As the week heads into the weekend PC game download sites are offering their usual price cuts on select titles. Here's what we have currently:

• Steam has cut the price of Tom Clancy's HAWX 2 this weekend down to $24.99. The Open Skies DLC also has a price cut to $4.99.
• Direct2Drive has Civilization IV The Complete Edition on sale for today only for just $9.95.
• Impulse has a number of games on sale this weekend including Dead Rising 2 for $19.95.
• GamersGate also has a number of games on sale this weekend including Aliens Vs Predator for $6.78.
• Games For Windows Marketplace has Street Fighter IV on sale this weekend for $14.99.

Hump day this week also means just two more days until New Year's Eve. Are you going to be partying like it's, well, 2010? Before you head to your local ball drop consider checking out some more PC game download sales.

• From now until January 2, all of PopCap's PC and Mac games (with the exception of Bejeweled 3 and game bundles) are on sale for 50 percent off their normal price.
• Impulse has Victoria Complete on sale today only for just $4.99.
• GamersGate has Planet Alcatraz on sale for today only for $5.99.
• Direct2Drive has Assassin's Creed 2 on sale today only for $14.95.
• The Games For Windows Marketplace web site has Cubis Gold 2 on sale today only for $4.99.

Update: The Assassin's Creed II sale is over but you can now get Dawn of Discovery Gold Edition from now until 1 pm Thursday for $14.95.

Microsoft has made a few inroads back into the PC gaming industry in 2010. It revamped its Games For Windows web site and turned it into a PC game download store. More notably it announced plans to publish new PC games such as Age of Empires Online and others.

Now a new report on the TechRadar.com web site, using unnamed sources, claims that Microsoft will use the next version of its Windows operating system, Windows 8, to make a renewed effort for PC gamaing. The unnamed source is quoted in the article as saying, "Windows 8 will represent a real new push into PC gaming. Gaming will be a key component for the whole OS." Details on exactly how this will happen with Windows 8 were not made available. However, the article claims the just announced hiring of former VoodooPC founder Rahul Sood to Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment division shows how serious the company is on getting back its PC game audience.