Thing is we would need to list legit places where you can still buy 7-8 keys and then of course I dunno if MS are selling retail 10 keys (non OEM), also for the love of all that is holy we need to make a clear line between an OEM and retail license because it took me some time a few years back to understand the two and some colleagues at work are having a hard time understanding the differences and why they exist along with their prices differences.

Jade Empire (one of my favorite games) for free on Origin.

4 additional Codemasters games in the Humble Bundle.

Nice idea, count me in!

Do the prices include Windows and/or shipping? And while I'd include keyboard and mouse anyway what about a game controller?

I think 430, 600 and 770£ would be closer to the actual value of the british pound

I'm glad that you like the idea .

@Conina: Thanks for the head's up! It's a game that I've been tempted to try before, but never ended getting it. But for free? Sure...

@zero: I agree, the builds should include everything except the monitor. And even that can change if we raise the budgets.

@Chazore: Is there much difference between retail and OEM besides being able to reinstall it as much as you want? I think we should tell the difference between them, but use an OEM version.

@Bofferbrauer: A PS3/4 or Wii U Pro controller works via Bluetooth, right? We could choose a motherboard with Bluetooth or add a USB Bluetooth dongle and tell them to use their own controllers. About the budget in pounds, to be honest I got the prices by simply using an exchange site and rounding it a bit. As I said, the budgets are just a starting point that we can discuss.

As far as I'm concerned we could even go with a low-mid-high setup with budgets of 600-1,000-1,500 $/€ and the corresponding equivalent in pounds.

In that case, you can always call MSoft and tell them that your HDD, RAM or CPU died and you had to replace it, and ask for a ne key.

It doesn't always work, but if you're convincing enough...

The news:

GOG.COM’S ANNUAL BIG WINTER SALE IS A GO – FEATURES 500+ DEALS UP TO 90% OFF + FREE GAMES

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/gog-coms-annual-big-winter-sale-is-a-go-more-than-500-titles-discounted/

GOG.com announced that its Big Winter Sale has begun, featuring 500+ deals up to 90% off, $3 mystery games (each worth up to $34.99), and free games just for shopping.

...

The sale will last for 11 days, until December 13, 1:59 PM GMT / 2:59 PM CET / 5:59 AM PST / 8:59 AM EST.

SHADOW COMPLEX REMASTERED RATED FOR THE PC

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/shadow-complex-remastered-rated-for-the-pc/

Back in 2009, Chair Entertainment and Epic Games developed a 2.5D metroidvania game for X360, Shadow Complex. This title, powered by Unreal Engine 3 and published by Microsoft, was an exclusive to Microsoft’s old-gen platform, and from the looks of it a Remastered version will be released in 2016 for the PC.

>>Please. make it true!

STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT GETS NEW PATCH – IMPROVES ONLINE PERFORMANCE, PACKS PHYSICS IMPROVEMENTS

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-wars-battlefront-gets-new-patch-improves-online-performance-packs-physics-improvements/

Electronic Arts and DICE have released a new update for Star Wars: Battlefront. According to its changelog, this update comes with general bug fixes for vehicles and physics improvements, as well as online traffic performance improvements. This patch is available via EA’s Origin and you can read its complete changelog below.

ARMA 3 NEXUS UPDATE IS NOW LIVE – IMPROVES END GAME , ADDS NEW STAMINA SYSTEM

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/arma-3-nexus-update-is-now-live-improves-end-game-adds-new-stamina-system/

Bohemia Interactive today released the Nexus Update for their PC-exclusive tactical military shooter game, Arma 3. Highlights of this major new update include the improved and expanded End Game multiplayer mode, refinements to core game mechanics such as ‘stamina’ and ‘personal protective equipment’, as well as the option for Arma 3 content creators to define ‘mod dependencies’, which enable the automatic installation of mods that require other mods on the Steam Workshop.

ARK: SURVIVAL EVOLVED HAS A NEW EGG STEALING DINOSAUR

http://www.pcgamer.com/ark-survival-evolved-has-a-new-egg-stealing-dinosaur/

Being a dinosaur must have been hard. It's especially hard in the Ark: Survival Evolved universe, where annoying little creatures known as 'humans' threaten either death or enslavement. Fighting off extinction is about to get harder too, because the Oviraptor is coming to steal all the eggs.

ROCKET LEAGUE GETS APOCALYPTIC 'CHAOS RUN' MAP TODAY

http://www.pcgamer.com/rocket-league-gets-apocalyptic-chaos-run-map-today/

After weeks playing Fallout 4, exposure to bright colours can be a bit confronting. Never fear though, because next time you jump into Rocket League there will be a new DLC pack awaiting, offering an apocalypse themed arena full of soothing, inoffensive brown hues.

LAPSED FINAL FANTASY 14 PLAYERS GET FOUR DAYS FREE

http://www.pcgamer.com/lapsed-final-fantasy-14-players-get-four-days-free/

Maintaining a subscription-based MMO these days seems like an awful lot of work. Many fall in love with their worlds, but who has the time to make a job of the grind to justify that monthly expense? I swear we all used to, but at peak Warcraft mum was still cooking my dinners, so I can't really talk about responsibility. If you had a fleeting affair with Final Fantasy 14's Eorzea, Square Enix is out to tempt you back with four days free at any point this month.

WARFRAME'S NEXT BIG UPDATE, THE SECOND DREAM, LAUNCHES THIS WEEK

http://www.pcgamer.com/warframes-next-big-update-launches-this-week/

Warframe's next update, The Second Dream, is going out to PC players sometime between tomorrow and Thursday, and developer Digital Extremes has sent PC Gamer a rundown of the big additions in what it calls the “largest and most ambitious” update so far for the free-to-play action game.

In Germany (and some other European countries) the OEM versions have no hardware restrictions: http://www.computerbase.de/2015-05/windows-10-informationen-preis-release/#abschnitt_hardwarebindung_von_oemlizenzen

Today is going to be a good day and tomorrow will be an amazing day ...

@Conina: That's great for you. Here in Spain it doesn't work that way .

@fatslob: And why is that?

Anyway guys, if we're going to do this before Christmas, we'll have to start making decisions:

• How many PCs do we build: 1, 2 or 3?
• What budgets do we settle for?
• I think we all agree that an OS and keyboard & mouse must be included. But, do we add a controller as Bofferbrauer has proposed? And what about monitors?

And the most important one:

• How do we do it?

Personally I think that a controller is a good idea if we find one that we all like. About a monitor, I wouldn't do it because we would have to increase the budget and because I'm not sure we would agree on three monitors (there's size, resolution, planel type, brand, etc.).

On how we do it, what about this: once everything is decided (how many PCs we do, what they must have and the budgets), we choose one budget and give us two or three days to look for parts and then we post the builds we've come with. Then we discuss what we like or dislike about them until we come with a single configuration. And once that's done, we move to the next one.