Buy World of Goo (PC/Mac/Linux) for whatever price you want
Here's a little Friday fun for all you game fans: From now until Oct. 25, the insanely popular puzzle game World of Goo is on sale--and you get to name the price.
It normally sells for $20, but in honor of its first birthday, developer 2D Boy decided to run a little experiment. (Check out the results on the company's blog. Very interesting stuff.)
Basically, when you click the Get It button, you're whisked to a PayPal page where you specify your "donation" amount. (No PayPal account? Click the "continue" link on the left side to use a credit card.)
So, what'll it be? A penny? A five-spot? A sawbuck? If you're honestly not sure what the game is worth, download the demo before you pick a number. World of Goo is available for Windows, Mac, and even Linux systems.
I'll admit I wasn't familiar with the game when I heard about this promotion, but it's without a doubt one of the cutest, weirdest, and most inventive puzzles I've ever played. You don't have to take my word: GameSpot awarded it a 9.0, as did several thousand readers.
I'm not going to reveal what I paid for it, as I don't want to influence anyone one way or the other. But I did pay for it--and definitely more than a penny.
How about you? Are you going to get your Goo on? If so, what's a fair price? (And how much did you actually pay?) Let's hear from you in the comments.
Rick Broida, a technology writer for nearly 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he oversees BNET's Business Hacks. Rick is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Disclosure. Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers. Follow Rick on Twitter at cheapskateblog. 
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j/k..we can all use a little help now and then and by the way, huge fan of your blog. Keep up the good work.
FYI- I paid $0.99 for the game because I had no idea what it was about. Figured it would be as entertaining as buying a song from iTunes. To be honest, I've played it for an hour, and it's really not that entertaining for me. I had more fun with the free Screaming Narwhal game you posted a while back although I lost interest in it. I guess I'm done with my gaming phase and would rather just be a couch potato and not use my brain if possible.
I think pay-what-you-want is a very interesting system and is a great idea for a one day sale. It would be cool to see the results of the donations if they choose to release them.
Game looks cool, can't wait to check it out. I donated $2. haha, cheapskate!
It is a pretty fun game. I will say some levels get kind of hard, even in the Demo version. I do have to say the music and graphics are some of the best parts.
Anyway, when I saw this pay what you want a few days ago in one of the comments I thought it was awesome and am going to dowload it tonight or tomorrow. I plan on paying $8.00 since that is the lower end of what I think it is worth.
I had seen it on Steam for $5 a while back...so I figured that since 2 people were playing it I'd drop a little more.
Dug it up on my Mac. It had "dissapeared" Mac installs are not as user friendly as some would lead you to believe.
- by Renegade Knight October 24, 2009 7:07 PM PDT
- One thing they will get is a little bit of an idea of how much they would sell at the various prices.
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