Valve Kicks off ‘Holiday Sale Gift Pile’ on Steam

Having just wrapped up its “Autumn Sale” a couple of weeks ago, it’s become clear that Valve doesn’t mind making it feel like sales are a regular occurrence rather than an occasional perk. I’m a bit late on posting about this, but the company launched its “Holiday Sale Gift Pile” promotion yesterday, this time not only offering a slew of games for sale, but also wrapping in mini-games to accomplish for the chance to win some sweet prizes.

Upon hitting the front page of Steam, you’ll be bombarded with an insane number of deals. There are “Today’s Deals” up top, and right underneath it another collection of sales on a smaller timer. As usual, all publisher packs are on sale, and basically any game you likely want. If a game you want isn’t listed on the front page, you can search for it anyway and see if it’s on sale. But be careful – it’s all too easy to purchase a game for a good deal today and then see it become a great deal tomorrow. For that reason it might be best to wait until the tail-end of the promotion before stocking up.

Like its Summer Camp promotion, Valve is offering gamers a chance to win small and big prizes by accomplishing goals in certain games. In Dungeons of Dredmor, for example, you can make a glass of Diggle Nog in order to unlock that achievement, and in return, you’ll receive a red gift. Each gift you earn could earn you a small digital gift or a lump of coal – but contrary to popular belief, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing here.

If you collect seven lumps of coal, you can exchange them for another gift that is guaranteed to not drop another one. Or, if you save them up, each one will count as an entry into a contest where you can either win games from your wishlist or every single game on Steam (wouldn’t you love to be that person?).

So whether you want to take advantage of the deals or start working on achievements in games you already own, Valve is willing to help you spend a lot of time on gaming this holiday season.