Steam Summer Sale 2012!

It's back and better than ever! Steam's Summer Sale is currently in full swing, offering some of the best PC games on the market at ridiculously low prices. In case you are completely oblivious to gaming, Steam is the online direct to download PC game service from Valve that allows you to purchase and install games directly to your PC without ever having to leave your house. Not only does Steam regularly have the latest PC games to release but it also has a ton of classics too and is one of the only places you can find many PC games.

The Steam Summer Sale is Christmas in July for PC gamers. During the sale, Steam offers ridiculously low prices on just about every single game in its library. Daily deals are where you will find the lowest prices. For example, I recently purchased three games from the Steam Summer Sale. I bought Portal 2 for $4.99, Total War: Shogun 2 for $7.49, Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition for $2.49 and the extremely popular indie game Dear Esther for $3.74 (game soundtrack included). That's three amazing games for under $20! But there is a lot more where that came from.

Like I said, Steam has special deals for each day of the sale. Today's deals include: Gratuitous Tank Battles for $6.79 (66% off), Krater for $7.49 (50% off), The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings for $15.99 (60% off), Fallout: New Vegas for $4.99 (75% off), Amnesia: The Dark Descent for $4.99 (75% off), Sniper Elite V2 for $24.99 (50% off), Plants vs Zombies GOTY Edition for $2.49 (75% off), Indie Bundle VIII for $9.99 (75% off) and Alan Wake for $7.49 (75% off).

If you missed a day of the sale then don't worry because Steam has some carry over time as well. You can still get the previous day's deals as well, though they won't be available for long. Yesterday's deals include 75% of Age of Empires Online, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Thief: Deadly Shadows, Indie Bundle VII, Super Meat Boy, Carpe Fulgur Collection, Total War Mega Pack and L.A. Noire as well as 25% off Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion.

One of the best things about the Steam Summer Sale, however, is pack deals. Pack deals are packs of some of the most popular games under a certain developer. These packs are generally about the cost of a full price game under the sale, but considering you get anywhere from 10 to 30 games, it's worth it. Packs currently available under the sale include: Square Enix Hit Collection, 2K Collection, Activision Hits Collection, Ubisoft Collection, Railworks 3 Collection, Rockstar Hit Collection, Kalypso Collection, Star Wars Collection, 1C Collection, Super id Software Pack, Focus Hit Collection, Meridian4 Collection, Strategy First Collection, THQ Collection, PopCap Complete Pack, Nordic Hit Collection, TellTale Collection, Valve Complete Pack, MumboJumbo Collection, Stardock Collection, Paradox Collection, Cyan Complete Pack Bethesda Collection and SEGA Hit Collection.

Steam users can also vote on what games they think should go on sale and for how much. Steam puts three games on the side of the store with the discount percent and asks you to vote on what you want! The three games up now are Dead Island (66% off), Total War: Shogun 2 (75% off) and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (75% off). The community's choice for today's game (which was voted on yesterday) is The Longest Journey for $2.49 (75% off).

If you consider yourself a PC gamer in any sense of the word, you NEED to check out the Steam Summer Sale. With all the incredible deals that are being offered I guarantee you will find something that will tickle your fancy. But hurry! The Steam Summer Sale ends July 21 so get your games while they are still on sale!