Posted 09/21/09 at 09:02:58 PM by Nathan Grayson

 It’s Monday, and while normally, that just means the weekend is over and your smile is dead, for the next few weeks, it also means that Direct2Drive’s discounting new batches of games. Hooray!

This week, the five dollar frenzy continues with an influx of MMOs, RPGs, and – for some reason – Assassin’s Creed and GTA: Vice City. But whatever – we’re not complaining. The full list of additions is as follows:

• Neverwinter Nights 2
• Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir
• Assassin's Creed Director's Cut
• Elven Legacy
• EVE Online
• Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
• Titan Quest Bundle
• Planetside: Aftershock
• Drakensang: The Dark Eye
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

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Posted 09/17/09 at 06:50:38 PM by Pulkit Chandna

A couple of weeks after eBay agreed to sell 65% of Skype to a group of investors, the founders of Skype, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, contrived to gatecrash eBay’s party. Joltid, a company in which the two Skype founders are stakeholders, filed a copyright lawsuit on Wednesday against Skype. Skype's founders retained control over the peer-to-peer technology at the VoIP client’s core even after selling Skype to eBay for $2.6 billion. They had agreed to license the source code to eBay.

Joltid has accused eBay of unlawfully modifying and sharing the source code. An adverse decision could even force eBay to shut down Skype until it can come up with an alternative version. The San Jose-based internet company has said that it is making arrangements to face any such eventuality. However, the presence of a contingency plan should not be construed as a lack of confidence on its part. “We remain on track to close the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2009,” an eBay spokesperson said.

Analyst Jeffrey Lindsay of Sanford C. Bernstein believes he has pinned down Joltid’s real motive behind the lawsuit. According to Jeffrey, Joltid is still smarting from its failed bid to buy back Skype earlier this year. And that it now wants to preclude the sale of Skype until it is presented with “a financial settlement or the opportunity to buy the business back themselves at a lower price than Silver Lake, et al are offering."

This lawsuit is an extension of Joltid’s legal onslaught against eBay – and Skype’s potential buyers. It fired the first salvo in March, when it filed a similar case against eBay in a London court.

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Posted 09/14/09 at 10:55:27 PM by Nathan Grayson

Direct2Drive’s throwing a big bash for its fifth anniversary, and boy howdy are the goodie bags sweet. More than 50 games – ranging from BioShock to Thief: Deadly Shadows to X-Com – are having their price tags slashed down to $5.00. How can you say “no” to that? You can’t. Hell, we’ve already not said “no” to it four or five times.

Over the next few weeks, D2D will be adding more fuel to this money-saving fire, going by a genre theme. So, next week you can expect a spat of nearly-free RPGs and MMOs, and the week after that, it’s indie games, etc.

Now go! Take advantage of Direct2Drive’s momentary celebration-fueled lapse of sanity. It may sound cliché, but these prices really are cuuuurazy.

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Posted 02/26/09 at 02:38:07 AM by Nathan Grayson

When you’re playing a Scout, you have to be nimble, quick, and able to jump over candle sticks burning metal death at a moment’s notice, so shedding a few pounds probably isn’t a bad idea.

With that in mind, in honor of its recently released Scout update, Valve has decided to lop a few digits off TF2’s already trim (and even a tad sexy) price tag. To be honest, we’re not sure if it’s healthy, but then, who are we to judge?

The sale runs until Friday and sees Valve’s Crayola-tinged diatribe about the horrors of war drop down to a mere $10. Not jumping on this would probably be one of the biggest mistakes of your life. Your future wife can wait.

And really, what else are you going to buy for ten smackaroos? Oh, right.  

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Posted 01/27/09 at 09:45:11 AM by Paul Lilly

Tech vultures looking to barnstorm their nearest Circuit City in hopes of plucking the electronics chain's low cost remains are instead finding themselves leaving empty handed. It's not that all the good deals have already been picked over, but there just aren't very many good deals to begin with.

Consumer investigative reporter Nydia Han for ABC Action News sent a camera crew into a local Circuit City to compare the bankrupt chain's liquidation prices to that of Best Buy and other stores. The crew examined 25 items ranging from DVDs to big screen TVs, and in many cases, Circuit City's sales prices ended up being higher. Examples include a TomTom GPS marked down to $180 versus $150 at Best Buy, and a 42-inch Plasma TV marked down to $900 versus $850. Of the 25 items, ABC Action News says 10 of them were cheaper at Best Buy, with other items selling for less at discount chains like Wal-Mart. And all of them could be bought for less online.

According to ABC News, liquidators tasked with getting as much money as possible from store closings are allowed to raise marked prices and bring in outside merchandise. To drive the point home, ABC showed a Sony laptop selling for $800 before the liquidation sale, but now sports a price tag showing it marked down to $837 from it's 'regular price' of $930.

Watch the video here, then hit the jump and tell us if you've found any notable deals at your local Circuit City.

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Posted 01/18/09 at 07:07:24 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Circuit City announced on Friday that it will close all of its remaining 567 US stores. As a direct result of the retail chain's closure 34,000 people have been rendered jobless.The company had been in talks with a few potential buyers for quite sometime. In fact, the parleys reportedly  went beyond midnight Thursday. However, as the discussions bore no fruits Circuit City was left with no other choice but to liquidate itself. Circuit City is currently offering discounts of up to 30% - which might be revised later - as part of its liquidation sale. Cnet’s Brooke Crothers’ described the situation inside the Circuit City store he visited as chaotic.

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Posted 01/17/09 at 01:04:09 AM by Nathan Grayson

Well, select RPGs, anyway. Still though, this weekend’s Good Old Games promotion trims the pointy edges off quite the haul of excellent role-playing games. Standouts include Fallouts 1, 2, and Tactics, Arx Fatalis and Gothic.

In order to reap the sale’s benefits, you need only peruse GOG’s list, drop selected games into your cart, and enter the promo code “PROMO1” for 15% off whichever RPGs you purchase. Or not. Alternatively, you can damn The Man and his Rules by ignoring the list and forcing the promo code to dance its wicked, mostly forbidden mating ritual with random games until you find something that works. It’s your promo code now; use it however you please!
 
The deal ends at 23:59 EDT on Monday. Follow the link for the full list of applicable games – but only if you’re a total bore and a bit of a killjoy.

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Posted 01/12/09 at 06:18:05 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Blighted electronic retail chain Circuit City is in discussions with several interested buyers, the company’s CEO Jim Marcum revealed to its employees in a letter. He also informed them about the likely course of action for Circuit City, which has filed a motion with the Bankruptcy Court seeking permission “for a process that formally puts the company up for sale.”

Marcum wrote that parleys with interested buyers have been focused on a “going concern” transaction, whereby the buyer will not dismantle Circuit City’s business, but just reorganize it. If the company fails to secure a sales agreement by the 16th, it will have to be liquidated. He asked employees to stay focused on the job at hand and work hard.

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