Now this was an unexpected slice of exciting news. Going into today, genuinely, I wasn't expecting much in the way of news at all, and with, let's face it, good reason. The last two weeks of the year are commonly slim in news as people take their final vacations of the year, and in the grandest Clark W. Griswold Jr. tradition, set up for a couple weeks of family, parties, last-minute preparations, and sleeping in. But here's an exciting proposition in that the Steam sale—a prospect thought by some to mean a slow death for game makers—is about to get some competition in the Amazon variety.

Reports out at Destructoid suggest that Amazon is set to offer up an array of PC games for download at comparatively inexpensive prices. The deals look to range from a breed of “cheap” to prices only slightly lower than retail, with titles running the gamut. For instance, recent horror thriller “The Evil Within” is on hand for $20.40 at Amazon, and for those who haven't bought “Fallout 3” by now—and if you haven't, GET IT. NOW.--you'll be able to get in on this sweet slice of FPS RPG for just a meager $2.50. These prices and several others are good until January 22—which is today, basically—but another slate will come into play for those with gift cards and the like, or those who just want to fill in the holes that Santa, Mom and Dad, or other gift buyers may have not patched in. The clear deal will be “Dead Space 3” for a mere $4.00, backed up by “Command & Conquer – The Ultimate Collection” for $4.99.

Thanks to the sheer number of titles involved in this particular sale, there's likely to be something here for just about any PC gamer out there, particularly those whose wallets have been hit hard by the recent holiday bacchanal. While admittedly, this doesn't seem to be much a match for Steam—at last report Steam has plenty of titles on sale in the midst of its own holiday extravaganza—the idea that someone else would be stepping in is one that's truly noteworthy. It's hard to imagine why no one has taken this concept on before now, but it's one that probably should have been in play by now. After all, we're talking about a major opportunity; Steam sales tend to clean up, so why wouldn't other game sellers want a slice of this particular action? Now we're starting to see it, as competitors get involved in a field where the value is both clear and recurring.

It's going to be exciting to see if anyone else wants to get in on this, and if they do, just what will be on offer and at what prices. But this is a move that's great for the regular gamer, because it's hard to pass up competition, no matter what it looks like or what platform it's on.