One Great Deal and One Huge Mess (Updated)

Oh EA, what are we going to do with you?

I was browsing /r/GameDeals late Friday night/early Saturday morning and came across a post about an Origin promo code. Things started out innocently enough: EA was sending out surveys and rewarding those who participated with $20 promo codes usable on Origin.

It didn't take long for some enterprising individuals to figure out that the promo code could be used twice, once via the Origin client and once via the website. Don't worry, it gets better (or worse, depending on your perspective). Whoever set this thing up must have been in a hurry to get out of the office on Friday, because the promo code could be used an unlimited number of times on a couple dozen games. By adding games to the cart one at a time and applying the promo code to each individual game, people could basically walk out with a sack of games for free.

As much fun as it would have been to load up a cart with everything I was missing à la the Nickelodeon Super Toy Run, I only added Sim City 4 to my account. It's hard to imagine EA just letting this one slide, but then again it'll be hard to distinguish between people who may have innocently snagged 2 or 3 games and those who were deliberately trying to game the system.

Update: EA has supposedly said that they will honor all "purchases" from this event, so download away.

Amazon's "Absolutely Great Square Pack"

While I'm on the topic of deals, Amazon has had some amazing combo packs lately. Last week I snagged both Batman games (Arkham City and Arkham Asylum) for $7.50. This week, the Absolutely Great Square Pack (ok, the name might need some work) features the following seven games for 10 bucks:

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution (plus DLC) (2011)
• Just Cause (2006)
• Just Cause 2 (2010)
• Hitman: Blood Money (2006)
• Quantum Conundrum (2012)
• Supreme Commander 2 (2010)
• The Last Remnant (2009)

The stars of the pack are JC2, Hitman: Blood Money, and Deus Ex HR, with Metacritic scores of 84, 82, and 90, respectively. The rest of the games aren't too shabby either with most having scores in the mid 70s.

This week's pack hasn't exactly gone of without a hitch, however. Amazon is currently seeing ridiculously high demand for this pack (which is understandable) and has run out of keys for a couple of games. An Amazon games rep has been posting updates to reddit regarding the situation; his story about last minute sale preparations is pretty hilarious.

As of 11pm Sunday, Amazon is out of keys for the Square pack. In the mean time, they're offering a promo code good for 2 bucks off of any digital download. The code (SQRLUVIO) will be good until the pack goes live again.

You can pick up the pack (once it's available) here.

Update: As of 4pm Monday, Amazon is still out of keys and the bundle remains unavailable. I also forgot to mention yesterday that buying the pack nets you a $5 off code for Hitman: Absolution, releasing November 20th. Seven games plus a $5 promo code for $10 is straight up ridiculous - assuming they snag more keys, of course.