Get BioShock (PC) and other games for $5 each

Score some awesome action games for just $5 apiece.

(Credit: Direct2Drive)

Game-download service Direct2Drive is celebrating its 5-year anniversary by offering a large selection of games (all for PC) for $5 each. My top pick: BioShock, one of my all-time favorites.

It's primarily a first-person sci-fi shooter, but with pivotal role-playing elements that fit perfectly into the story. I won't spoil one bit of that story, but I will say it's compelling enough to keep you playing all the way until the surprising, unpredictable, utterly satisfying end.

It's also genuinely scary in places. I actually yelped a couple times while playing.

Granted, BioShock is a couple years old, as are most of the $5 titles--but there's still plenty of great gaming to be had. Other choices include The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Max Payne 2, and MLB 2K9.

I haven't tried Direct2Drive myself (yet), but I'm definitely planning to pick up a couple of these gems. If you've had any experience with the service, or you have some opinions to share on any of the games, hit the comments!

[cdwilliams1]

I've used D2D quite a bit for purchases. The comments of the title you are purchasing will indicate whether or not DRM is included. If it is DRM free you are better off. You can burn it off to disc and have a backup or redownload it from D2D at a later time.

Games that have DRM will either need to phone home to D2D, or to D2D + the company that published it in addition to whatever other DRM was already present in the game. These are kind of a pain to deal with (think Windows Activation) but overall it works pretty seamlessly.

Between Direct2Drive and Steam I haven't really had to go buy boxed software in a while now when it comes to games. Both services have worked well for me.

[dabrink]

What I really like about Direct2Drive is that I can download the game I buy unlimited times from them. So no need to even burn a backup copy onto disk, I just grab the game file from the site again if I need to reinstall. Of course, if DRM is on the game, then you have to watch number of activations, and it depends on the game, but usually you get around 5......

[zmnatz]

To dabrink. You should still make a backup. What if they no longer sell the game? Then you cannot download it anymore.

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Nice find. Bioshock is pretty creepy and most of my friends agree that it is disturbing on so many levels. I kinda like it, but could never play long sittings. I didn't found the anti-libertarian message overpowering, but some of my more libertarian friends expressed their dislike of it. I found it quite humorous in its distortion to the absurd of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged".

[richarddrmc]

Bioshock is a great game worth well over $5. If you don't have it yet, now is the time. I actually just finished playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. last night. I got it off amazon a couple weeks ago for $20 (wish I had waited now...). It was a good game, but make sure you have the patience to do it. I'm not sure if it was worth the $20 I paid, but definitely good for a try at $5.

As for D2D, I haven't had any experience, but I haven't had any complaints about Steam and would be willing to try it out if they are offering any games I want for $5. This would be a great time to give D2D a test run. You can think of it as a $5 trial to see if you would like to use their service in the future.

Great post Rick! I want to mention that these games will be updated every Monday with different categories for a 5 week period (this is only week 2, can't wait to see what other gaming deals they put up).

[unkempt_sock]

Rick, Max Payne 2 is easily one of the top 25 video games ever created. Only the PC version, though. The console versions had PAINFULLY long load times. Great control, plus great noir storyline, plus INCREDIBLE voice acting make it pretty much the coolest game ever.

I'm done now.

[jvbo]

Is this price for a limited time? If so, does anyone know when it ends?

[rickbroida]

Yep, the offer ends Sept. 21. Sorry I didn't mention that!

[ducttape36]

awesome, just grabbed bioshock as i am one of the few people who havent played it yet. this sale seems to be going on all week, maybe tomorrow they will have fallout 3? heres hoping, ive heard good things about that game as well.

[IDSmoker]

Since I'm the other person who's never played it, I'm also thinking of picking up Bioshock on this deal (Thanks Rick!!!)

Have you found any DRM on your copy? What sort?

As previously suggested, I'm reading the user comments on the D2D/Bioshock page, but haven't spotted anything on the DRM yet.

[IDSmoker]

To answer my own question:

BEWARE!!! The BioShock download I received from D2D was infected with the SecuROM virus!!!

While I realize that some people consider SecuROM to be a valid form of DRM, I personally consider ALL forms of this sort of DRM to be malware.

Time to look for a workaround...

[rufwork]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM

Wikipedia makes it sound dubious, but not quite evil.

"Consumers have accused BioShock of installing a rootkit. An official announcement was made denying the use of any type of rootkit.[6][7]

The game required consumers to activate the game online and originally set a maximum of two activations before they would have to call to get more activations. This was raised to five... Users also found that the game had to be activated for each user on the same machine.[8][9]

In 2008, 2K Games removed the activation limit, although users are still required to activate it online.[10]"

[Mr_fleabite]

Rick! you are the man, just FYI.
Have wanted Bio Shock for a while, will pick it up now and maybe a few others. Nice find, I haven't tried D2D but have Steam so I'll give it a shot for $5 games. My wife won't be happy about this, she may find you Rick, just fair warning.

[SlanderPanic]

Thanks, Rick! I can't believe news like this isn't all over the tubes. I'm downloading BioShock now!

[lordtec]

I love Steam, but at $5 a game you can't beat it. I picked up Far Cry last week and Assault on Dark Athena last night. I have to say D2D is pretty nice. I can't wait to see what comes next week. Serious Sam Gold is $5 as well. Who's up for some old school fraggin?

[flowjack77]

D2D is a great service, I've bought and downloaded quite a few games from them. Bioshock is a rediculous value at $5. I thought I got a steal when it went down to $20.

This looks to be a 5 week promotion with lots of $5 games changed out each week. I think I'll get a few.

[wwrrww]

How do I submit a deal?

Acer Computer AO751h-1373 Aspire One 11.6" Netbook - Diamond Black
Intel Atom Z520 1.2GHz / 1GB RAM / 160GB Hard Drive / Intel GMA 500 Graphics / Webcam / 802.11G Wireless / 3-Cell Battery / Windows XP Home SP3

$279 shipped / no tax depending on where you live

http://www.jr.com/acer-computer/pe/ACE_AO751H1373/

[lefty256]

I have never downloaded a game before - can they be downloaded to a DVD? Or downloaded to the computer, then burned to a DVD? Thanks anybody!

[amirault0]

If you download a game its most likely going to be an ISO file. You can burn this to a CD/DVD and have it for a backup, or you can mount it with a program such as Daemon tools. This creates a virtual CD drive so your computer think you put in a CD.

[mlbernard]

Apparently the site is down?

[jchao111]

yeah, I just tried it but it wouldn't let me download it. Says the transaction failed and their customer service is no help. Now I'm stuck on a never-ending login page. Anyone else having problems?

I have been trying to get the dell printer & palm printer for $29.00 since sept.2nd 2009.
every time I get to the dell web page you have it is never the price you stated . I even talk to them they told me it is a false advertisement. Can you help??

bill v

[rickbroida]

Sorry, Bill, the deal expired after a day or two. You got there too late, I'm afraid.

I gave up trying to do anything with this site. Its far too byzintien to deal with. I created an account and logged in and "tried" to buy Bioshock but it keeps saying my cart is emptyand the support site suclks for clear conscise troubleshooting. I'm not going to turn off all my Browser security just to downlaod a game!

[mlbernard]

Is it just a glitch...or is this the way it works all the time...can't get on the the site to download a game, and when I do it crashes.\\

too bad....I'll not try to spend my money there, I'll buy games elsewhere.

[krubby]

Anyone know if the Pirates game is any good? I think I have heard average at best reviews but thought I would ask just in case someone has played it and has an opinion.

I am not normally too into PC games but at $5.00 a pop I may try a few

[purifiedfire]

Gamespot gives it a 9.2, metascore is 88 so I would say it's worth a shot. I'll probably pick it up later this week. Last week I got Sid Meier's Civ 4 and am enjoying that so I'll probably pick up Pirates this week along w/ BioShock. The download/install process is very intuitive and seamless. They give you an activation code at purchase and you just punch it in to activate the game. For Civ 4 there was no mention of DRM that I noticed, or anything about a limit of activations - but I didn't read carefully. So far it has been a great experience w/ Direct2Drive and I think I may even prefer it to Steam because I don't have to load a separate client to start the game or download it. Speaking of Steam, though, they've got Braid for $5 right now which is worthwhile.

[laide008]

Quite an offer, why is there no shipments, would have ordered but I saw no shipment.

[colinmit]

The special offer on games from direct2drive may be $5 in the USA, but if you try to buy them in the UK they are £5, which is $8.25. Not a bad markup for a transatlantic download.