If you’re a gamer you probably knew this was coming. The Steam Summer Sale is now a bit of a tradition (despite the fact it’s only happened a few times). It was really just a question of when it was coming. Well, that when is now, so prepare to open your wallet or lock it someplace far out of reach.

The opening salvo of savings includes a number of high-profile titles such as Total War: Shogun 2, Portal 2 and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. All of these have been discounted by as much as 75%. These are daily deals, so they will be replaced by new titles every 24 hours until the sale ends on July 22nd.

Steam is also offering a number of Pack Deals that will be available for the duration of the sale. Each pack stars a major publisher (such as 2K or Activision) or, in some cases, a major franchise (such as Star Wars). Most of the bundles are priced at $49.99 – a savings of up to 88% compared to the usual price of each individual game.

This would be enough to satisfy most gamers, but Steam has gone a step further with Flash sales that last for just a few hours. There is also a recurring poll that lets Steam users vote between several potential game deals. The winner is then offered as the “community choice.”

So go! Buy games and be happy. Just don’t blow your paycheck on the first day. There’s still over a week of daily deals and flash sales in the pipe.

Source: Ars Technica, Steam