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SavyCharts: January 2012

Lewie Procter — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:42:30 +0000

It’s been a rather quiet month on the new releases front, as January often is, so this month has mostly been about games from last year getting reduced. It looks like a couple of high profile preorders have attracted plenty of attention too. I’m also fairly sure that this is the first month since I’ve been compiling these charts that a PSN game has been at the top of the PS3 chart. Read on to see what’s been most popular on SavyGamer this January:

Most popular deal posts: Multiformat
1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PC – £6.85
2. Borderlands, PC – £1.99
3. Saints Row: The Third, PC – £11.99
4. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PC – £7.99
5. Dreamcast Collection, PC – £2.84
6. Swift*Stitch, PC – 67p
7. Final Fantasy 7, PS3 – £3.99 on PSN
8. Batman: Arkham City, PC – £16.30
9. Serious Sam 3: BFE, PC – £10.19
10. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, PC – £9.99 delivered

PC top 5
1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PC – £6.85
2. Borderlands, PC – £1.99
3. Saints Row: The Third, PC – £11.99
4. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PC – £7.99
5. Dreamcast Collection, PC – £2.84

PS3 top 5
1. Final Fantasy 7, PS3 – £3.99 on PSN
2. Dark Souls, PS3 – £14.95 delivered
3. Mass Effect 3, PS3 – £29.97 delivered
4. Fallout: New Vegas [Ultimate Edition], PS3 – £19.22 delivered
5. Hunted: The Demons Forge, PS3 – £4.98 delivered

Xbox 360 top 5
1. Crysis 2, Xbox 360 – £6.60 delivered
2. Dark Souls, Xbox 360 – £14.95 delivered
3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 – £19.98 delivered
4. Sonic Generations, Xbox 360 – £8.99 delivered
5. Gears of War 3, Xbox 360 – £13.42 delivered

Most popular games by search
1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
2. Battlefield 3
3. Saints Row: The Third
4. Anno 2070
5. Dark Souls
6. Batman: Arkham City
7. Rage
8. FIFA 12
9. The Old Republic
10. Dead Island

Another new thing I am doing

Lewie Procter — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:46:41 +0000

If you’re following me on twitter, no doubt you’ve seen me going on about this since late last year, but if not, this will probably be news to you.

I’m a member of the inaugural BAFTA Youth Board, a team of young people BAFTA have assembled (in their words) “to discuss BAFTA’s Learning & Events programme, Communications and Awards Ceremonies and their relevance for young people in today’s competitive jobs market.” I mainly just pleased that they still considered me to be a youth.

As one of the two games people on the board of 18 members, it’s a fair old bit of responsibility. We’ve already met once, and are going to meeting throughout 2012 to discuss all sorts of things. Hopefully you’ll all keep an eye on BAFTA’s activities, particularly the games awards in March, and send any thoughts or feedback you have my way.

Details on the BAFTA Youth Board here, including all the interesting people that make up the rest of the board.

Savy Market Share: Retailers 2011

Lewie Procter — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:24:54 +0000

Since I’m always fascinated by the data generated by SavyGamer users, today I’ve had a poke through my records for the split of purchases for different retailers, and compiled a chart of where everyone spent the most on SavyGamer deals. A few qualifiers though: The data only includes places that do affiliate links, so there are some big omissions (Steam for one), also some of these retailers only serve the UK, whereas others will deliver to a range of international markets too. I’ve ranked the retailers in order, and listed what percentage of the total spend of SavyGamer users they had in 2012.

1. Tesco – 23.6%
2. Amazon – 22.64%
3. GAME – 13.09%
4. ASDA – 7.62%
5. play.com – 7.3%
6. The Hut – 5.55%
7. Zavvi – 5.03%
8. Gamestation – 4.4%
9. Gameplay – 3.2%
10. HMV – 2.9%
11. ShopTo.Net – 1.44%
12. GamersGate – 0.7%
13. The Game Collection – 0.68%
14. Coolshop – 0.65%
15. Best Buy UK – 0.4%
16. Origin/EA Store – 0.21%
17. Direct2Drive – 0.19%
18. Choices UK – 0.14%
19. Bee.com – 0.13%
20. PC World – 0.077%
21. Dixons – 0.022%
22. Woolworths – 0.017%
23. Sendit – 0.0086%
24. Currys – 0.0048%

I hope you find that somewhat interesting, I thought it was worth sharing. Any interesting trends you noticed? Surprised to see Tesco at number 1?

Based on traffic to posts about games on Steam, I am fairly confident that they would be high up on this list, if not at or near the top. It’s worth noting that GAME group would be at 20.69% and The Hut Group at 11% when you combine their constituent parts.

I’ll do this next year too, I reckon.

SavyCharts: December 2011

Lewie Procter — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:19:22 +0000

With 2011 done and dusted, it’s an appropriate time to take a look at which deals attracted the most attention during the always busy Christmas period. Here’s the December SavyCharts, a record of the most popular deals posted on SavyGamer from last month:

Most popular deal posts: Multiformat
1. Saints Row: The Third, Professor Genki’s Pre-Order Pack & DLC Season Pass, PC – £14.99
2. Crysis 2, PC – £3.75
3. Saints Row: The Third, PC – £13.99
4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, PC – £19.99 delivered
5. Saints Row: The Third, PC – £14.50
6. Batman: Arkham City, PC – £11.98
7. Saints Row: The Third, PC – £9.99 delivered
8. Brink, PC – £3.74
9. Serious Sam 3: BFE – £7.49
10. Limbo, PC – £1.75

PC top 5
1. Saints Row: The Third, Professor Genki’s Pre-Order Pack & DLC Season Pass, PC – £14.99
2. Crysis 2, PC – £3.75
3. Saints Row: The Third, PC – £13.99
4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, PC – £19.99 delivered
5. Saints Row: The Third, PC – £14.50

PS3 top 5
1. Rock Band 3 & Keyboard, PS3 – £19.97 collect in store
2. God of War 3, PS3 – £2.99 in store at GAME
3. Batman: Arkham City, PS3 – £17.99 delivered
4. Killzone 3, PS3 – £9.99 delivered
5. Gran Turismo 5, PS3 – £9.97 delivered

Xbox 360 top 5
1. Rock Band 3 & Keyboard, Xbox 360 – £19.97 collect in store
2. Saints Row: The Third [Professor Genki Edition], Xbox 360 – £19.99 delivered
3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Xbox 360 – £22.49 delivered
4. Mirror’s Edge, Xbox 360 – £1.79 delivered
5. Batman: Arkham City, Xbox 360 – £17.99 delivered

Most popular games by search
1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
2. Saints Row: The Third
3. Battlefield 3
4. Dark Souls
5. Batman: Arkham City
6. Star Wars: The Old Republic
7. Uncharted 3
8. Rage
9. Anno 2070
10. Dead Island

Grainger Games Coupon Glitch

Lewie Procter — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 01:18:29 +0000

Everyone’s favourite Northern games retailer Grainger Games have got a coupon for 10% off preowned games, accessories and consoles. If you apply coupon “MERRYXMAS”, you get 10% off.

However, they have accidentally set it up so that the coupon applies the discount to your current basket contents, then you can modify your basket, without it updating the discount to reflect the new contents.

You could, for example, add all of the used consoles they have in stock here, apply the coupon, then remove all the consoles but one, to get a massive discount applied to the console.

Have fun, they might update the website in the morning.

Merry Christmas From SavyGamer

Lewie Procter — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 23:59:32 +0000

Happy 25th day of the 12th month, fellow human beings. I thought it was appropriate to momentarily take pause from my quest to find all of the cheap games to deliver a soppy Christmas message.

Whatever your plans are, I hope you have a lovely Christmas, and that you and your loved ones stay safe. Have fun stuffing your tummies with delicious Christmas food and drink!

2011 marks the year where SavyGamer has developed from being a fun hobby with an ambition for the future, to a proper job that I earn a humble but comfortable living from (alongside my other work). As such, in January I’m going to be making the bold step of moving out of my parents house into a nice little flat in London, and it’s you lot who are going to be paying my rent (mostly). Thanks for that!

As we enter SavyGamer’s 5th year (The 5th anniversary is the 3rd of May, mark your calenders), I suppose I should reassure you all that I am in this for the long haul. I’m totally committed to the cause of video game frugality, and really my brain isn’t assembled in the right way to cope with many proper jobs, so I don’t know what else I could possibly do. You can expect this site to have a long and healthy life into the future, and in fact, I’d say I’m just getting started.

Thank you dearly for your continued patronage of SavyGamer, your words of encouragement and support, and for spreading the SavyGamer name about. Don’t think it goes unappreciated. Extra special thanks to all the SavyGamer subscribers. You’re the best.

More love than you’ll ever realise,
Lewie Procter

Aren’t Will & Tony doing a brilliant job of the Steam sale this year?

One Savy Left Or Something

Lewie Procter — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:18:52 +0000

Check it out kids, I was on the radio the other day. Here’s the evidence of said radio appearance. I hope you don’t think I sound like an idiot.

SavyCharts: November 2011

Lewie Procter — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:34:28 +0000

As we enter the final month of the year, the serious discounts are flying thick and fast. Most of the big games of the year have been released now, but we’re bound to see more heavy discounting in the run up to Christmas. Here’s my rundown of the most popular deals posts on SavyGamer from November.

Most popular deal posts: Multiformat
1. Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box, PC – Free
2. Batman: Arkham City, PC – £14.95 delivered
3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, PC – £24.98 delivered
4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, PC – £22.30 delivered
5. Rage [Anarchy Edition] – £13.99
6. Saints Row: The Third [Professor Genki Limited Edition], PC – £18.90 delivered
7. Medal of Honor, PC – £3.75
8. The A.Typical RPG, PC – 66p
9. AssBro, PC – £5 delivered
10. Dead Space 2, PC – £3.74

PC top 5
1. Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box, PC – Free
2. Batman: Arkham City, PC – £14.95 delivered
3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, PC – £24.98 delivered
4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, PC – £22.30 delivered
5. Rage [Anarchy Edition] – £13.99

PS3 top 5
1. Prince Of Persia Trilogy HD, PS3 – £4.99 delivered
2. ICO & Shadow Of The Colossus HD, PS3 – £17.99 delivered
3. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, PS3 – £22.97 delivered
4. Demon’s Souls, PS3 – £11 delivered
5. Modern Warfare 3, PS3 – £30 delivered

Xbox 360 top 5
1. AssRev [Collector's Edition], Xbox 360 – £29.99 delivered
2. Modern Warfare 3, Xbox 360 – £30 delivered
3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Xbox 360 – £30.38 delivered
4. Child Of Eden, Xbox 360 – £5 delivered
5. Sonic Generations [Special Edition], Xbox 360 – £18.99 delivered

Most popular games by search
1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
2. Battlefield 3
3. Saint’s Row: The Third
4. Modern Warfare 3
5. Batman: Arkham City
6. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
7. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
8. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
9. Rage
10. Uncharted 3

Declaration Of Interest: Indie Royale

Lewie Procter — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:44:10 +0000

Starting today, I am employed by the digital distributor Indie Royale in a support/community role. I will also be writing for INDIE GAMES: THE WEBLOG, which is part of the same company.

SavyGamer has always been fiercely independent, and will continue to be so, as long as I’m in charge.

This is a part time position, and will still leave me plenty of time to run SavyGamer.

What games do you want me to look out for good prices on this Christmas?

Lewie Procter — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:21:49 +0000

Christmas is a time of year when the many retailers of the land reduce their prices to tempt you to send money their way. It’s also a time of year people might have presents to buy, and hints to drop to loved ones about presents they want for themselves.

I’m going to be doing my best to catalogue the best deals available, as always, but if there are any specific things that you’d like me to keep an eye out for discounts on, let me know in the comments and I will do my best to help you out. Make sure to include what format you are after with any game requests.

Then make sure you’re subscribed to SavyGamer (either by RSS or Twitter), and I’ll post the best deals for people’s request as I see them. It’ll be a Christmas miracle.

SavyCharts: October 2011

Lewie Procter — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:44:29 +0000

It’s been a busy month for SavyGamer, with lots of big releases either having just come out, or fast approaching on the horizon. But which deals were the most popular this month? We’ll I’ve delved into the mass of data generated by SavyGamer users, and compiled a chart highlighting which games have caught your attention the most. Here’s October’s SavyCharts:

Most popular deal posts: Multiformat
1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PC – £9.99
2. Batman: Arkham City, PC – £14.95 delivered
3. Battlefield 3 [Limited Edition], PC – £25.17 delivered
4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, PC – £25.09 delivered
5. Child of Eden, Xbox 360 – £7.50
6. Batman: Arkham City, Xbox 360 – £30.39 delivered
7. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, PC – £24.85 delivered
8. Project Zomboid, PC/Mac/Linux – £4.99
9. Grand Theft Auto: The Complete Package, PC – £8.74
10. Dino Run SE, PC/Linux/Mac – Free

PC top 5
1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PC – £9.99
2. Batman: Arkham City, PC – £14.95 delivered
3. Battlefield 3 [Limited Edition], PC – £25.17 delivered
4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, PC – £25.09 delivered
5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, PC – £24.85 delivered

PS3 top 5
1. ICO & Shadow Of The Colossus HD, PS3 – £17.99 delivered
2. Battlefield 3 [Limited Edition], PS3 – £30.57 delivered
3. Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, PS3 – £25.20 delivered
4. Little Big Planet 2, PS3 – £10.10 delivered
5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PS3 – £14.85 delivered

Xbox 360 top 5
1. Child of Eden, Xbox 360 – £7.50
2. Batman: Arkham City, Xbox 360 – £30.39 delivered
3. Battlefield 3 [Limited Edition], Xbox 360 – £30.57 delivered
4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Xbox 360 – £31.47 delivered
5. Battlefield 3 [Limited Edition], Xbox 360 – £31.99 delivered

Most popular games by search
1. Battlefield 3
2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
3. Dark Souls
4. Rage
5. Batman: Arkham City
6. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
7. Dead Island
8. Modern Warfare 3
9. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
10. Football Manager 2012

SavyCharts: September 2011

Lewie Procter — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 21:40:02 +0000

I’ve just finished scouring the data generated by SavyGamer users for the month of September, and there’s some interesting trends. Here’s an info dump of the most popular gaming deal posts on SavyGamer over the last month, and a chart of the most popular games by search. The number one slot may come as a surprise to you, but whilst this fantastic launch offer is obviously attracting a lot of attention, it remains to be seen if they will be able to maintain continued interest. Here’s the September SavyCharts:

Most popular deal posts: Multiformat
1. Any game for £1, OnLive
2. Portal, PC/Mac – Free
3. Dawn Of War II Retribution [Collector's Edition], PC – £7.99 delivered
4. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PC – £16.58 via serial reseller
5. Time Gentlemen, Please!, PC – 43p
6. Frozen Synapse, PC/Mac/Linux – Pay What You Want
7. Paradox Complete Pack, PC – £74.99
8. Indie Strategy Bundle, PC – £6.99
9. CODBLOPS: Rezurrection, PC – £4.99
10. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PC – £19.96 delivered

PC top 5
1. Portal, PC/Mac – Free
2. Dawn Of War II Retribution [Collector's Edition], PC – £7.99 delivered
3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PC – £16.58 via serial reseller
4. Time Gentlemen, Please!, PC – 43p
5. Frozen Synapse, PC/Mac/Linux – Pay What You Want

PS3 top 5
1. Dark Souls [Limited Edition], PS3 – £28.99 delivered
2. Bulletstorm, PS3 – £7.85 delivered
3. Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, PS3 – £26.99 delivered
4. Yakuza 4, PS3 – £10.99 delivered
5. ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection, PS3 – £24.99 delivered

Xbox 360 top 5
1. Red Dead Redemption [Goatee Edition], Xbox 360 – £24.85 delivered
2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution [Limited Edition], Xbox 360 – £24.99 delivered
3. Gears Of War 3 + 800 MS Points, Xbox 360 – £39.90 delivered
4. Shadows of the Damned, Xbox 360 – £15 delivered
5. Child of Eden, Xbox 360 – £10 delivered

Most popular games by search
1. Dead Island
2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
4. Battlefield 3
5. Dark Souls
6. Space Marine
7. Torchlight
8. Rage
9. Fifa 12
10. Gears of War 3

SavyCharts: August 2011

Lewie Procter — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:14:32 +0000

As introduced last month, here’s the regular monthly chart of which SavyGamer deals have been most popular. Deus Ex: Human Revolution has been the most sought after game by SavyGamers in August, and the PC is totally dominating the top ten. Part of the reason for the popularity of the PC amongst SavyGamers will be because of my close relationship with RPS, but also I think there is more to it than that. What’s your theory?

Here’s the August charts:

Most popular deal posts: Multiformat
1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution [Augmented Edition], PC – £24.97 delivered
2. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, PC – £11.40
3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PC – £19.99
4. Humble Indie Bundle 3
5. Magicka + Magicka: Vietnam, PC – £1.99
6. Super Meat Boy [Ultra Edition], PC – £12.85 delivered
7. Pirates of Black Cove, PC – £1.99
8. Borderlands [Goatee Edition], PC – £4.99
9. Saints Row 2, PC – £1.74
10. AssBro, PC – £6.99 delivered

PC top 5
1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution [Augmented Edition], PC – £24.97 delivered
2. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, PC – £11.40
3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PC – £19.99
4. Humble Indie Bundle 3
5. Magicka + Magicka: Vietnam, PC – £1.99

PS3 top 5
1. Child of Eden, PS3 – £13.85 delivered
2. God of War HD Collection Volume 2, PS3 – £22.97 delivered
3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution [Augmented Edition], PS3 – £41.85 delivered
4. Homefront [Resistance Edition], PS3 – £4.97 delivered
5. Battlefield 3 [Limited Edition], PS3 – £34.90 delivered

Xbox 360 top 5
1. Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Xbox 360 – £28.85 delivered
2. Driver: San Francisco [Special Edition], Xbox 360 – £21.97 delivered
3. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Xbox 360 – £27.78 delivered
4. Battlefield 3 [Limited Edition], Xbox 360 – £34.90 delivered
5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution [Augmented Edition], Xbox 360 – £41.85 delivered

Most popular games by search
1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
3. Battlefield 3
4. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
5. RAGE
6. Dark Souls
7. Brink
8. Dead Island
9. Frozen Synapse
10. Portal 2

SavyCharts: July 2011

Lewie Procter — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:24:20 +0000

Here’s a new thing for you. I can be a bit a of a nut when it comes to looking at analytics and other such data, and I thought you lot might enjoy having a poke around at the wealth of data generated by SavyGamer users. Welcome to SavyCharts, where I track what games are most popular amongst SavyGamers. I might expand it to include other data later on, but for now I’m planning on putting out a monthly chart of which deal posts have been most popular (measured by pageviews), and which games are being searched for the most. Hopefully you might find this of interest.

For the most popular posts, I am only including posts that are for an individual game (or pack of games), so the most popular post by far in July was the Steam Summer sale, but I’ve excluded that because it doesn’t seem worth comparing to other games. I’m also just charting software here, not hardware or accessories. If any of the deals are still available, I will include links.

Here’s the July charts:

Most popular deal posts: Multiformat
1. Dark Souls [Limited Edition], PS3 – £23.89 delivered
2. Mass Effect 3, PC- £14.99 delivered
3. Total War: Empire: Total War & Total War: Napoleon: Total War [Goatee Edition], PC – 47p collect in store
4. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, PC – £3.74
5. Dungeon Siege 3 [Limited Edition], PC – £8.98 delivered
6. Assassin’s Creed 2 [Digital Deluxe Edition], PC – £3.74
7. Battlefield 3: [Limited Edition], PC – £23.19 delivered
8. Brink [Special Edition], PC – £7.98 delivered
9. Cthulhu Saves the World & Breath of Death VII: The Beginning, PC – £1.79
10. Battlefield 3 [Limited Edition], PC – £22.96 delivered

PC top 5
1. Mass Effect 3, PC- £14.99 delivered
2. Total War: Empire: Total War & Total War: Napoleon: Total War [Goatee Edition], PC – 47p collect in store
3. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, PC – £3.74
4. Dungeon Siege 3 [Limited Edition], PC – £8.98 delivered
5. Assassin’s Creed 2 [Digital Deluxe Edition], PC – £3.74

PS3 top 5
1. Dark Souls [Limited Edition], PS3 – £23.89 delivered
2. Infamous 2, PS3 – £15 delivered
3. Child Of Eden, PS3 – £14.99 delivered
4. The Tomb Raider Trilogy, PS3 – £9.99 delivered
5. ICO & Shadow Of The Colossus Collection, PS3 – £21.59 delivered

Xbox 360 top 5
1. Dark Souls [Limited Edition], Xbox 360 – £23.89 delivered
2. Silent Hill HD Collection, Xbox 360 – £17.85 delivered (I later discovered that this game doesn’t actually exist, it’s PS3 exclusive).
3. Portal 2, Xbox 360 – £16.25 delivered
4. Battlefield 3 [Limited Edition], Xbox 360 – £28.91 delivered
5. Trials HD, Limbo & ‘Splosion Man, Xbox 360 – £6.98 delivered

For search, I’ve fudged it a little. The human revolution result there includes searches for “Deus Ex”, “Human Revolution” and “Deus Ex: Human Revolution”, but I’ll just be using my common sense here.

Most popular games by search
1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
2. Battlefield 3
3. Portal 2
4. Skyrim
5. The Witcher 2
6. Fallout: New Vegas
7. Civilisation 5
8. Brink
9. Crysis 2
10. Mass Effect 2

I’ll probably play with the format a bit over time, but I’m planning to do one of these every month going forward.

Let’s fix game retail

Lewie Procter — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:29:05 +0000

If you’re following me on twitter, you will have seen that this morning I indulged in a hobby of mine: moaning about things on the internet. GameStop, the massive games retailer from the US, has recently launched a UK based site. Annoyingly they were charging £2 delivery per item, which is more than their shipping from GameStop.ie to England is.

I let them know what I thought, and to my astonishment, they responded by changing this policy, and making standard shipping free. Good on them.

This got me thinking, I bet there are dozens of things other retailers with policies or rules which are either annoying, or harmful to their customers. I’d love to hear from you lot about what you’d like to see changed. We probably have to pick our battles here, it’s easiest to change the world a little bit at a time.

If you lot all let me know which particular policies retailers have that you are not happy about, I will pick what I think are the most worthy and realistic causes, and initiate a dialogue with the retailers in question to see if I can get anything done about it.

Please share any ideas in the comments.

Who knows, maybe control over GameStop is the extent of my powers, but I think it’s worth a try.

So You Want To Be A Games Journalist

Lewie Procter — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:40:46 +0000

It’s a new world. The old rulebook is now history. Read it (starting here), and sort through which bits of the wisdom contained in it are timeless, and which bits are relics from the past. Then come back here.

The profession of writing words about video games has rapidly changed over the last few years, largely disrupted by the internet, and technological progression shows no signs of slowing down. Convincing someone who runs a magazine to give you a job is still a viable route into employment, but there are plenty of opportunities elsewhere, and that’s what I’d like to talk about here.

Here’s my guide to becoming a ‘Games Journalist’ in 2011, primed for some whippersnapper to consign it to the history books in another five years time. I’m going to focus on passing on things I’ve learnt from my own experiences, and looking at what’s been going on around me. Currently about 1/3 of my income is from writing for other places on a freelance basis, and over the years I’ve written for Rock Paper Shotgun, VG247, Eurogamer and a few others. Hopefully I’ll have something to say that is useful to some people, but I look forwards to seeing what my peers have to say too.

Here it goes:

Create interesting, useful or funny things on the internet

In the 21st century, the nature of the internet means that anyone who wants to can have their own platform. Whether it’s a wordpress blog, a twitter account, a Youtube channel, or whatever amazing things haven’t even been made yet: You share the stage with everyone. You can’t shut down the signal, the open infrastructure of the internet isn’t going away any time soon, so your job is to make your signal louder and clearer than anyone else around the world with an internet connection.

How do you do that? You need to make things that are worthwhile and put them out there for everyone to see. Writing about games does not need to be as narrow as doing written reviews (although those can be very good). If you can corner some niche that has not yet been filled, come up with a unique angle on something that hasn’t been considered yet, or make people laugh, you are off to a good start. If you are the only source for something that is in demand, success will come to you. Specialisation is definitely a good idea.

You don’t need anyone’s permission to get started. There’s nothing that you need that isn’t available somewhere for free on the internet.

You are selling yourself and you are selling your reputation

The quality of your copy is one factor that you need to be concerned about, but your reputation is probably far more important.

Qualities like integrity, professionalism, good communication, good engagement with your audience, reliability and knowledge are all things that will make you highly employable, and will endear people to support you.

Many of the opportunities that have been presented to me over the years have been from when one person I have worked with has recommended me to someone else. Behave in a way that makes people want to recommend you.

Only work for free if doing it is beneficial to you

There are lots and lots offers to contribute to web sites for free “at the moment”, with an offer of pay further down the line. The reality of the market is that even with the best intentions, not all of these websites will grow into profitable enterprises. Working for free can be an excellent stepping stone to getting paid work, but I would recommend caution in choosing who you will and won’t work for without getting paid.

I’d strongly suggest you only work for people who’s work you are happy to be associated with. Are they doing a good job of the site they run? Are you impressed with their editorial outlook? Do they look like they are going places? Are they interested in building a respectful relationship with you as a writer? These are all questions you should be asking before ever giving away the fruits of your labour for free.

There is plenty you can get for working for free, but I’d certainly like to know specifically how they intend to get you exposure. Have they got a sizeable audience? Are they well connected within the wider industry? Do any of their other writers get paid work at any other publications? Are they going to link back to your blog?

If you’ve got a clear idea of exactly what you are getting out of it, you are far less likely to be taken advantage of.

Speak to people

Go to where the people who are doing what you want to be doing are, and talk to them. Whether it’s twitter, forums, comment threads, community events, industry events or the pub. Everything I’ve learnt has been either from experimentation and making it up as I went along, or advice directly from all the other writers out there.

Games people are generally lovely, in my experience. Everyone remembers what it was like starting out, and if you approach them in the right way, lots of people will happily dispense valuable advice.

Carpe diem

It’s a pretty cool job, and the number of people looking for work vastly outnumbers the amount of paid work going, but if you want to do it then you should absolutely go for it. The barriers to entry are lower than ever before, and you can very easily get started whilst holding down another job.

Q&A
This is the internet, so it is interactive. Questions in the comments please.

Other people’s guides:
Lewis Denby
Mike Rose

SavyGamer Downtime: I’m off to Glastonbury

Lewie Procter — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:59:05 +0000

It’s that time of year where I take some time off from informing you about cheap games. I’m going to be spending the next week and a bit at Glastonbury, so there won’t be many updates on SavyGamer til I get back (on Monday the 27th). Don’t go doing anything crazy like start buying games for full price. Hopefully the other contributors will be around to pick up some of the slack.

What better time to consider donating or subscribing to SavyGamer? Festival cider is expensive. A big thanks to all the people who have already subscribed and/or donated.

Follow my festivals antics here, and give me a shout if you’re going to Glasto too.

My new Eurogamer thing: Cheap This Week

Lewie Procter — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:02:33 +0000

Check it out kids, starting today I’m going to be doing a weekly roundup of deals for the fabulous Eurogamer.net. You can read the first instalment of Cheap This Week here.

So if round the clock deals from SavyGamer, and my RPS Bargain Bucket every Saturday aren’t enough for you, pop along to Eurogamer every Wednesday for a selection of the best deals across all platforms.

Big thanks to everyone at Eurogamer.

Details on free PC/Mac version of Portal 2 with the PS3 version

Lewie Procter — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:36:28 +0000

Valve just put out a press release, including this information:

Steam on the PS3 provides access to all of these features once the player has linked their PlayStation Network account with a Steam account, which is done right within the game. A Steam user can login to an existing account, and anyone new to Steam can create an account with the click of a button. In the spirit of Steam Play, linked players of the PS3 version of Portal 2 can also access and play their copy of Portal 2 on any PC or Mac by redeeming an in-box access code on their computer. The Steam client verifies the linked customer and then lists Portal 2 among their library of Steam games for PC and Mac.

So, it sounds like you need to have a PS3 connected to the internet, and to pair your PSN account with your Steam account (with Portal 2 in the PS3). Once you have a Steam account that is linked with a PSN account, you register the single use serial on the PC version of Steam to get Portal 2.

This indicates the following:
Two people can play co-op together (One on PC/Mac, one on PS3) with just one copy of the game, as long as you used a different PSN account to the one paired with the Steam account being used.
You will need to own (or have access to) a PS3 to be able to register for the free PC version.
Once you have registered the PC/Mac version, there shouldn’t be anything stopping you trading in the PS3 version.

You can get the PS3 version for £29.99 delivered here.

Edit: This is somewhat speculation on my behalf, I don’t have any more information that you, but I guess we will find out for sure soon enough.

Trading in: Avoid being a mug in a mug’s game (2011)

Lewie Procter — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:52:01 +0000

This is an updated version of a guide previously posted on SavyGamer in 2009.

Trading games in is damn convenient, but it is an easy way of haemorrhaging money without even realising exactly how much you are spending. There is a technique that you can use to massively improve the return you get on trade ins, that makes it almost good value.

Gamestation have a policy for trading in games, called “We won’t be beaten on trade-ins”, just check the back of any receipt. They are pretty good at plastering this policy over their shops and printed materials, but not so good at explaining what it means.

I spoke to my local Gamestation’s manager to find out exactly how it works. He said that if any store within 40 miles from the Gamestation in question will offer a better or equal price for a trade in, they will match it, and then beat it by one pound.

Examples:
GAME offers me £5 for “Manshooter 7: The bulleting”, but Gamestation only offer me £4, I can tell them that GAME offered £5, and then Gamestation will offer me £6.

HMV offer me £8 for “Car wot goes fast 2: Off-Road”, and Gamestation offer me the same £8. I can then tell them that HMV offered me £8, and then Gamestation will offer me £9.

However (and this is just for my local store mind) there are a few conditions:

You must bring some form of written/printed out evidence of what the other shop offered.
The condition must be acceptable.
And importantly, it is entirely at the managers discretion. If they decide they don’t want to honour this policy, they don’t have to.

Seems mostly fair. He said that generally they would only refuse to honour the policy if it was a game that they sold for less than the price they would have to beat, which seems like a good compromise. I imagine in those situations you could negotiate a compromise if you wanted to.

This policy would be a lot easier to use if Gamestation published their trade in prices online, or even told you them over the phone, but they make you take games in to find out how much you would get for them.

And here is how to exploit the system.

CEX are transparent with their prices. They publish them all online. They also have a bit of a different pricing structure to Gamestation, they give measurably better prices for trade ins, but in turn generally charge more for games.

HMV also share their trade in prices, but bizarrely only via a free android and ios app. I can’t find any way of checking trade in prices on their web site.

Using Gamestation’s policy on beating trade in prices, you can check whether CEX or HMV offer the best trade in price, and get them to beat the highest by another pound. More often than not CEX prices are better than Gamestation’s.

For evidence of CEX prices, head to the selling section of CEX’s site, add all of the games you want to trade in to your basket, and then print out the basket (and make sure to include the date). Then take the printout and games to Gamestation, and you should be able to get the prices CEX quoted + £1 each.

For evidence of HMV prices, I suggest taking your mobile device with you.

Tips:

Be friendly to the Gamestation staff, since this policy is at the managers discretion, the more they like you, the more likely you are to pull it off. Chat about games with them, and be patient (trading in lots of games can take a while).
Don’t go in with a big stack of games near closing time. Ideally if you are doing a lot of trade ins, go when they are least busy
Typically the best games to do this on are the games that don’t have a huge amount of resell value (on eBay or wherever), but are still worth around £5 on CEX. I traded in 7 games that Gamestation wanted to give me £28 for, but I got £65 by doing this.
Remember you don’t have to spend it there and then. It might be nice to go crazy and just buy a full price game just because you have credit, but if there is nothing you really want there and then, don’t fell like you have to spend it straight away. They can just put the credit on a gift card for you.

Let me know if you have any problems with this policy.

SavyGamer: Now with optional subscription option.

Lewie Procter — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:16:15 +0000

I have decided that I am going to ask you fine people if you would like to consider optionally donating some money to me for running SavyGamer. I explain everything in detail on the donation page here, but feel free to ask me any questions about it in the comments here.

A TV programme about Video Games

Lewie Procter — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 11:23:23 +0000

Specifically the Dare to be digital student games competition. This is what SavyGamer contributor Will Templeton has been working on recently and last year. It’s designed to be watched by a general audience, so everything’s explained clearly. One of the saddest things is seeing Realtime Worlds (who were mentors to some of the students) still being referred to as one of Dundee’s giant studios.

You can watch it on 4od here, and parts 2 & 3 are on over the next two weekends.

Well done Will.

Free App Hero – Let me tell you about this app

Lewie Procter — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:59:53 +0000

As you may have noticed, there has been much more activity in the iPhone category for iThing gaming bargains recently. That’s because Stu Campbell has taken the Savy Reigns for that area. Since I am far from an expert, and he has a seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of the iPhone gaming scene, he’s far more capable than I.

Another thing that he does is Free App Hero, an iPhone App for tracking free games.

It has one section dedicated to games that are permanently free, and one constantly updated section with temporary giveaways. It does not include any ad supported games, “lite” versions or freemium games, and unlike every other free app tracker I have seen, every single game posted has been hand selected, rather than automatically scraped from the store. Every game has a snappy review, so you can decide whether it’s even worth your time installing.

It has a lot of the same ethos as what I try to do with SavyGamer, and I’d say if you have an iThing and like games where you use your fingers to touch the screen, it is a must have.

It’s available for £1.19, or a free version, which is ad supported and is missing some games, and Stu wrote about it himself here.

Zavvi announce 3DS price drop

Lewie Procter — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:27:28 +0000

Alert SavyGamer reader Justin just let me know that Zavvi have emailed him to let him know that they will be dropping the price of the 3DS tomorrow.

They’re currently selling the console for £217.85, much more than the best price elsewhere (£197 from Amazon).

Here’s the email in full:

Hi *Customer*,

Thanks for placing your order with zavvi.com. We are pleased to let you know that we will be reducing the price of your 3DS. A refund of the difference you paid upon placing your order will be processed automatically back to your account shortly after despatch of your order. You can view the new price tomorrow Click here.

Should you have any further questions please contact us through your online account message centre or on 0844 264 0702 and we will be happy to help you.

Many Thanks,
The Zavvi Customer Care Team

Zavvi 15% off coupons now expired

Lewie Procter — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:14:36 +0000

It seems that despite the initial terms and conditions for Zavvi’s 15% off coupons saying that they would be valid until the end of March, The Hut Group have decided to end the promotion early.

The Britvic “Reward your Thirst” promotion page has been updated with this message:

Zavvi.co.uk (The Hut Group Ltd) has announced its withdrawal from the Reward Your Thirst collector mechanic as of 04.02.11 in accordance with the Terms & Conditions.

The web site looks like this if you are curious.

It also looks like they have revoked any previously issued coupons (none of mine are working). No word on whether they will be cancelling preorders or not, let me know what happens to any of yours.

We had some good deals I suppose.