This Amazon Sale Will Attack Your Wallet

12 years ago

July 3, 2012 at 9:45 am

Steam sales are just around the corner, and you know that can break the most iron will/wallet, but I was surprised to look upon the Amazon video game sale. Seems like my balance will be bracing for a war on two fronts this month. God help us all…

Even new titles like Spec Ops: The Line have been heavily discounted on the Amazon service. You can pick that up for $US24.99.

And of course a number of big hitters have been discounted massively, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Battlefield 3. You can pick up Max Payne 3 for $US29.99, and I like the look of the X-COM: Collection for $US2.99.

Well worth heading over there, just for a look… am I right?

Also, answer me this — do you have any spare change?

UPDATE: It looks as the downloads are US only (thanks Linxus!) you might have more luck with some of the box copies in the sale. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Comments

30 responses to “This Amazon Sale Will Attack Your Wallet”

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Adam Ruch

July 3, 2012 at 9:50 am

Can anyone tell me how downloading from Amazon works? Does it keep a record of your purchases in an account like Steam (or the Kindle store)? I guess some of these games want to be ‘activated’ through Steam or Origin, so perhaps if Amazon doesn’t track it, those two things will?

Reply
1. Steve
  
  July 3, 2012 at 9:03 pm
  
  1) Make a fake Amazon account with a US address. There are fake address generators out there, or just go for the old Beverley Hills 90210. Amazon can accept Aussie CCs, just put billing address as the above.
  2) Buy the games, they get added to your Digital Purchase profile.
  3) This is where it gets funky. Your games will always appear in digital purchases, but you can go about downloading them one of three ways. You get the game code and punch it into Steam or EA Origin, which treat it as if you bought a boxed copy. If these aren’t available, then DL the install files directly from Amazon.
  
  Check if the games you want are Steam-powered if you want to activate through Steam. Also note that Origin won’t activate games from before 2009.
  
  Reply
JellyArrow

July 3, 2012 at 9:51 am

*flicks 50cents into Mark’s cup* – Don’t spend it all in one place.

I’ve never bought any games from Amazon. That might have to change.

Reply
Linxus

July 3, 2012 at 9:54 am

Unless Im missing something – you should probably note that:
“Downloading: Currently, this item is available only to customers located in the United States and who have a U.S. billing address.”

Reply
1. Adam Ruch
  
  July 3, 2012 at 9:56 am
  
  Shit. I see that now too.
  
  Reply
2. Mark Serrels
  
  July 3, 2012 at 9:58 am
  
  Damn. Is that just for downloads?
  
  Reply
  1. Linxus
    
    July 3, 2012 at 10:02 am
    
    Seems to be – at least the physical copies sell for the same price – although there may be shipping costs for orders outside the US.
    
    Reply
  2. Ross
    
    July 3, 2012 at 10:04 am
    
    Yeah the downloads on Amazon have always been US restricted (for as long as i can remember anyway). This should probably be removed from AUS Kotaku because the news doesn’t do anything but gloat at the good deals the US can get haha.
    
    Reply
    1. Matthew
      
      July 3, 2012 at 10:34 am
      
      Mate, all you gotta do is change your address to a made up US one and you can get all their deals 😉
      
      Reply
    2. Oshada
      
      July 3, 2012 at 11:01 am
      
      Why? Just change your address to somewhere in Oregon (or someplace similar without sales tax I guess) and you can buy anything on sale.
      
      Reply
      1. Ross
        
        July 3, 2012 at 11:05 am
        
        Even if you could do that, it’s not exactly the smartest thing to just go around saying you bought a game from Amazon in somewhat of an illegal way…….lol
      2. Cameron
        
        July 3, 2012 at 12:12 pm
        
        That’s really bad advice, do not do this.
      3. Oshada
        
        July 3, 2012 at 12:41 pm
        
        They do not
      4. Oshada
        
        July 3, 2012 at 12:52 pm
        
        Oops, comment cut short. What I meant to post was:
        
        I can only speak for myself but I’ve never had any trouble with Amazon downloads and paying for them with PayPal. In fact I don’t know a single person who has had any trouble (I frequent a few gaming forums). It’s like they don’t care. One of my friends even emailed them to get another download link for NBA 2K12 and explicitly stated that he lived in Australia, no problems.
      5. Steve
        
        July 3, 2012 at 9:05 pm
        
        Why on Earth not? I’ve purchased plenty of Amazon Digital sales games when they’re cheaper than Aussie Steam or Origin. It functions exactly the same, I just have a second Amazon account with all my exact same CC details, but with Shipping and Billing Address as Beverley Hills 90210 and it works just fine. I buy the keys and activate them through Steam.
3. Cameron
  
  July 3, 2012 at 9:59 am
  
  I was thinking that as well when I saw this. I was hoping that they had changed that, but it doesn’t look like it. Perhaps this should be removed from the Australian website?????
  
  Reply
Limimi

July 3, 2012 at 10:04 am

I certainly wouldn’t advocate it, but you can easily change your address to somewhere US based and acquire all of the games. All of them. Make the US address your primary address and your AU one secondary, then if you need to ship anything just switch addresses.

Reply
KRiSX

July 3, 2012 at 10:25 am

u can easily get away with using a fake US address and a local CC… i and many many others have done it and it works fine for the most part…

hot tip though… only buy games that activate through Origin or Steam (Max Payne, Spec Ops, all steam activated) and you’ll be fine… you will have trouble if you try to use the amazon download service… so be careful…

Reply
1. Oshada
  
  July 3, 2012 at 11:00 am
  
  I downloaded NBA 2K12 without any problems. Twice, even.
  
  Reply
  1. KRiSX
    
    July 3, 2012 at 3:34 pm
    
    first report i’ve heard that they don’t ip block the downloads… good to know though… i only use steam and when no other choice… origin… lol
    
    Reply
2. Ry34
  
  July 3, 2012 at 11:32 am
  
  This.
  
  FYI,
  
  McDonald’s Corporation, 2111 McDonald’s Dr., Oak Brook, IL 60523
  
  You’re Welcome.
  
  Reply
js

July 3, 2012 at 10:43 am

Do a search for a McDonald’s in the US and make that your default when you make the purchase.

Reply
Mark

July 3, 2012 at 10:50 am

Well researched article…

Reply
N3RD1001101

July 3, 2012 at 10:56 am

Would the codes work on my origin account if i had a friend in the states purchase them on my behalf?

Reply
1. N3RD1001101
  
  July 3, 2012 at 10:57 am
  
  namely syndicate…. need to pay my dues….
  
  Reply
  1. KRiSX
    
    July 3, 2012 at 3:33 pm
    
    as long as he doesn’t go and activate the key on his own origin account… definitely…
    
    Reply
Aaron

July 3, 2012 at 11:27 am

I have gotten 5 Games from these amazon sales last year and 1 this year. Just put any fake US billing address in, Amazon don’t check it.
Almost all games are steam/origin redeemable as well.

Reply
Mandroid

July 3, 2012 at 6:41 pm

Just bought several games, using a US address and local CC. Also used unblockus for US VPN, but seems to be unnecessary from the previous comments.
Amazon dont give two hoots where they get their customers, it’s the fuckwad publishers who insist on the regional blocking, in just the same way you’ll pay $30 more for a game on Steam sometimes..

Reply
Craig

July 3, 2012 at 10:23 pm

Just bought the Bioshock dual pack, but I have bough stuff before (Steam activatable).

Pro tip: us an address with one of these states as you won’t get charged sales tax.

Alaska
Delaware
Montana
New Hampshire
Oregon

Reply
klanky

July 4, 2012 at 6:25 pm

Yeah, downloading from Amazon only works for the U.S….

Reply

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30 responses to “This Amazon Sale Will Attack Your Wallet”

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