Anyone played X-Blades? It's on sale for $1.25 at Shinyloot http://www.shinyloot.com/x-blades?aid=c0bb80b263632ad2a91dfd293bb6f88a

I quite like simple hack and slashes that are a breeze to progress through - does this fit the bill?

"DRM/Protection:Online One Time Key Validation" < I'm assuming that once the key's confirmed, you don't need to go online and no further intrusions will occur.

edit; grammar

I was wondering about that "Key Validation" myself...

If it works anything like the Offline One Time Key Validation (like the Creeper World games for example), then when you run the game, it asks you for a serial, you input it and after checking its online database, it's activated and that's it. You do need to do it every time you install, though.

According to The Big List of 3rd Party DRM on Steam:

"Proprietary activation method through CD key. 3 machine limit. If limit is reached contact support."

That's for the Steam version of X-Blades though, but seeing as Reality Pump is the publisher Topware's own DRM system, it seems likely to be the same for the version sold by ShinyLoot.

Do not confuse ShinyLoot with Steam. Earth 2150 is also listed as having proprietary activation limit at the very same page and yet ShinyLoot sells it DRM-Free.

I'm not confusing the two - X-Blades is published by Topware in both places, and there are very similar descriptions of the DRM used for the game in both places; a type of DRM which apparently belongs to Topware. I don't think it's a big leap to connect the two. :P

Edit - There's also this thread in the SL forums, suggesting that the activation can be troublesome:
http://www.shinyloot.com/forum/index.php/topic,33.0.html

Thanks for the info. It's a good offer but I'll pass.

Earth 2150 is also by Topware and has that DRM on Steam, but on ShinyLoot, it's completely DRM-Free. World War II and III are also by Topware and have that DRM on Steam, but on ShinyLoot, both have offline key validation. My point is that this list is useless outside Steam.

Useless? Not necessarily. In this case it gives a strong indicator to the nature of the DRM that is used on the title in question, on both Steam and ShinyLoot, because of the similarity of the descriptions at both ShinyLoot (DRM/Protection:Online One Time Key Validation) and the wiki (Proprietary activation method through CD key.). Or do you think they bothered to devise two different yet very similar DRM systems for two different DDL platforms, for a budget re-release? If ShinyLoot was actually selling a DRM-free version of X-Blades then it would be useless, sure, but then we wouldn't be talking about this in the first place.

BundleStar has for the next seven days:

Cities In Motion Bundle
4.99 for the game and 13 DLCs, all as Steam individual keys.

Europa Universalis III
4.99 for the game, two expansions, 8 sprite packs and the music, all in Steam.

Blackguards and its DLC is 66% off at GamersGate for the next ~17 hours. As far as I can see this is the lowest price it's had on any store so far, though personally I'll hold off for a similarly attractive discount for it here at GOG.

Hmm, not bad actually. I'm thinking about picking up the CIM bundle as I don't have the game, but looks interesting.
How are the EU3 DLCs, are they worth the $5 if I already have the base game

Divine Wind and Heir to the Throne are a must if you don't already have them (as are the earlier expansions In Nomine and Napoleon's Ambition, but I don't think they've even sold the game without those in years), the rest is unnecessary fluff -- IMHO of course.

The four expansions add (and fix) so much stuff that I wouldn't consider playing the game without them.

The sprite packs are just fluff, and I wouldn't recommend this bundle for people who are just missing those. But the four expansions are definitely worth it. These are actual old-school expansions, adding new gameplay features and strategies.

I'm not sure if they are worthwhile as I'm not into strategy but if I'm not mistaken the DLC's are the same ones sold in Steam as the EU III DLC Collection for $29.99