The Best of Indie: Volume 2 includes Crayon Physics Deluxe, Aquaria, Aaaaaa!, I-Fluid, And Yet it Moves, Project Aftermath, and Acceleration of Suguri. All told, these seven games go for $US94.65 purchased separately, but until November 16 you can get them all for $US25. And DRM-free, to boot.

Crayon Physics is almost worth that alone, so yeah, this is a good deal. (So’s Aquaria – AU Ed.)

Activision’s shooter includes mandatory installation of Valve’s Steamworks, which the game uses for stuff like installation, DRM and save-game management. Something Direct2Drive (which is owned by website IGN) are having none of, telling us, “We don’t believe games should force the user to install a Trojan Horse.” That “Trojan Horse” being the inclusion of Steam’s commercial marketplace.

D2D also told Kotaku that, having evaluated some Steamworks titles earlier in the year (such as Empire: Total War and Dawn of War II) and finding the forced inclusion of Steam’s storefront (offering automatic competition to D2D’s own services) not to their liking, told publishers that they’d stop selling games bundled in such a manner until Valve “decoupled its retail marketplace” from Steam’s other services.

To be clear, D2D’s beef is not with Activision, it’s with Steam, and to prove there’s no bad blood between the retailer and mega-publisher, $US5 coupons will soon be offered on select Activision titles to make up for it.

Direct2Drive Tussles With Valve By Declining To Sell Steamworks-Powered MW2 [Gamasutra]

The MMO took the top two spots on both the Steam and Direct2Drive charts, leaving other big releases like Fallen Earth, Resident Evil 5 and Batman in its dust.

PC Digital Download Charts For The Week Ending September 26

Steam

1. Aion Collector’s Edition
2. Aion
3. Fallen Earth
4. Batman: Arkham Asylum
5. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
6. Left 4 Dead
7. Resident Evil 5
8. Counter-Strike
9. Star Wars Jedi Knight Collection
0. Red Faction: Guerrilla

Direct2Drive

1. Aion Collector’s Edition
2. Aion
3. Fallen Earth
4. Neverwinter Nights 2
5. Assassin’s Creed Director’s Cut
6. Titan Quest Bundle
7. Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir
8. Champions Online
9. BioShock
10. Star Wars: KOTOR

[via Shacknews]

Direct2Drive gets an adventure game pack (Loom, Fate of Atlantis, Last Crusade and The Dig) for $US9.95 and a Jedi Knight bundle (Dark Forces, Jedi Knight II & Jedi Academy) for $US14.95.

Steam, meanwhile, gets the same adventure pack (for $US9.99) and, in a better deal, all five Jedi Knight games in a bundle for $US20.

Both games continue to hold down the top two spots on both the Steam and Direct2Drive charts, ahead of usual suspects like Left 4 Dead, new/old kid on the block KOTOR and, surprisingly, Darkest Days. I say “surprisingly” because I’ve heard it’s complete rubbish.

PC Digital Download Charts For The Week Ending September 12

Steam

1. Aion Collector’s Edition (pre-sale)
2. Champions Online
3. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
4. Left 4 Dead
5. Street Fighter IV
6. Braid
7. Counter-Strike: Source
8. Darkest of Days
9. Section 8
10. Aion Standard Edition (pre-sale)

Direct2Drive

1. Champions Online
2. Aion Collector’s Edition (pre-sale)
3. Fallen Earth (pre-sale)
4. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
5. Aion Standard Edition (pre-sale)
6. Section 8
7. Civilization 4: The Complete Edition
8. Civilization 4
9. Darkest of Days
10. The Sims 3

[via Shacknews]

See, the site is turning five, and to celebrate, a whole range of titles have had their prices cut to $US5. And they’re not crummy old games, either. There’s some good, good stuff on offer, like:

BioShock
Civ IV
STALKER
X-Com Complete Bundle
Ghost Recon 2
Saints Row 2
Call of Juarez

And that’s just the start. More titles will be added over the next few weeks, including RPGs, MMOs, war games and indie titles.

[Direct2Drive]

It’s interesting, because it reveals a level of dedication in the PC market you don’t normally see from console gamers. When you think of a “pre-order” for a game at, say, GameStop, you think of a small investment. $US5-10 down up-front, then you pay for the rest once the game comes in. If, that is, you still want it by then.

But the “pre-sales” offered by Steam and Direct2Drive are something else. You are, in effect, committing to purchase a game weeks/months before it’s actually released. That’s dedication. It also gives us these strange sales charts, where games that aren’t even out are able to “outsell” those that are.

PC Digital Download Charts For The Week Ending August 29

Steam

1. Left 4 Dead
2. Aion Collector’s Edition (pre-sale)
3. THQ Collector’s Pack
4. Counter-Strike: Source
5. Killing Floor
6. Team Fortress 2
7. The Orange Box
8. Fallout Collection
9. Call of Duty 4
10. Valve Complete Pack

Direct2Drive

1. Champions Online (pre-sale)
2. Fallen Earth (pre-sale)
3. Aion Collector’s Edition (pre-sale)
4. Rise of Flight
5. Fallout 3
6. Hearts of Iron III
7. Civilization 4: The Complete Edition
8. Call of Duty: World at War
9. The Sims 3
10. The Witcher: Enhanced Edition – Director’s Cut

[via Shacknews]

That little spiel was prompted by Aion’s continuing strong performance near the top of both PC digital charts, which is almost as surprising as seeing Champions Online atop the D2D charts, what with everything I read of the game from old CoH fans saying it’s rubbish and all.

PC Digital Download Charts For The Week Ending August 22

Steam

1. Left 4 Dead
2. Aion Collector’s Edition (pre-sale)
3. Counter-Strike: Source
4. Killing Floor
5. Team Fortress 2
6. Fallout Collection
7. The Orange Box
8. Hearts Of Iron III
9. Valve Complete Pack
10. Osmos

Direct2Drive

1. Champions Online (pre-sale)
2. Fallen Earth (pre-sale)
3. Aion Collector’s Edition (pre-sale)
4. Rise of Flight
5. Civilization 4: The Complete Edition
6. The Sims 3
7. Fallout 3
8. Hearts of Iron III
9. Call of Duty 4
10. Neverwinter Nights 2 Complete Bundle

[via Shacknews]

If you’re having difficult answering the question “What are you playing this weekend?” here’s a list of what you could be playing for mere pennies on the dime. Steam’s “Weekend Deal” features no less than ten of the top indie games from the past year, including Audiosurf, Blueberry Garden, Braid, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Darwinia, Everyday Shooter, Gish, Mr. Robot, The Path and World of Goo all for just $US29.99 USD. Insane! I paid fifteen bucks for Braid alone!

If that’s simply too much game for too much value for you to handle, Direct2Drive is similarly blowing out indie games, with the Best of Indie bundle. That features Zeno Clash, Defense Grid: The Awakening, Democracy 2, The Path and Cogs for just $US17.75 USD. Bonkers, really.

Don’t less these offers pass you by. Web servers are standing by to take your credit card information then send you data packets bursting with fun. Act now!

Best of Indie Bundle [D2D]
Indie Sale [Steam]

Because even with this handicap, Dawn of War II still managed to top the Steam charts last week. And Company of Heroes made a temporary return even though it was going for pocket change. Imagine how skewed they’d be if the charts were still based on units sold? We’d have a top ten full of 2-4 year-old games, much like the now-deceased NPD charts. And nobody wants that.

PC Digital Download Charts For The Week Ending August 1

Steam

1. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
2. Aion: Collector’s Edition (Pre-sale)
3. Left 4 Dead
4. Counter-Strike: Source
5. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
6. Killing Floor
7. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
8. Team Fortress 2
9. The Orange Box
10. ArmA 2

Direct2Drive

1. The Sims 3
2. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
3. Champions Online (Pre-sale)
4. Aion (Pre-sale)
5. East India Compan
6. ArmA 2
7. Dawn of Discovery
8. The Sims 3 (Mac)
9. Civilization 4: The Complete Edition
10. Fallout 3

[via Shacknews]