"Westward" Game Downloads for $2.99

Three game downloads, all in the Westward series, are marked down to $2.99, for "a limited time."

Westward

Game Description

• Buy, Sell & Trade To Build Your Fortune.
• Engaging Storyline.
• More Than 10 Playable Main Characters.
• Ever-Changing Scenarios.

Enter the rough and tumble world of Westward, where gold is there for the taking and bandits lurk around every turn. Control the fortunes of three vastly different towns as they rise from the dust of the frontier and grow into thriving boomtowns. Brave the dangers of the West and explore uncharted plains, dense forests and rocky canyons as you guide your settlers to safety and success. Stake your claim with a cast of hundreds, stunningly original graphics, hilarious dialogue and endless possibilities!

Westward II: Heroes of the Frontier

Game Description

• Bring The Copperhead Gang To Justice.
• Over 20 Unique Buildings.
• Awards For In-Game Accomplishments.
• All-New Sandbox Mode.

After the settlement of Hope River is destroyed, fleeing residents deliver news of a devastating attack by the Mad Russian, a treacherous villain bent on stopping any further expansion. Steer the fortunes of three distinctly different pioneers as they establish a new outpost in the unexplored Wild West, and work to uncover the Mad Russian's base of operations. Gather resources, overcome natural disasters and plot a course through new terrain as you guide your settlers to safety and success!

Westward III: Gold Rush

Game Description

• Explore All-New Environments.
• Powerful Upgrades.
• Battle New Enemies.
• Unlock Secret Hidden Items.

Steer the paths of three adventurous pioneers as they build and defend their ever-growing settlement from dangerous bandits who are determined to cheat or steal from anyone they cross. Explore uncharted terrain, where gold is abundant and treachery hides behind every handshake. Gather the supplies needed to build your settlement into a thriving boomtown. Customize your town with over 50 buildings, luxuries and upgrades. In Westward III: Gold Rush, fortune is yours for the taking!

Kindle Gets Permanent Delete

Amazon has finally added the ability to permanently delete a title from your Kindle Library ... or at least, they have for some people (it isn't there on my account and I've had my Kindle for a year and a half).

For those who do have the new option - you go to the Manage My Kindle page and find the book in question. Then click on the plus sign next to the book title, so that the cover and the order details are show. At the bottom, right section of the listing, you should see a new button: Delete This Title. One of the users on the Amazon forums has posted a picture of how it looks, which you can see HERE. Clicking on the button allows you to delete the book from your listing forever, after you confirm the delete (which warns you that you'll have to re-purchase the book if you want it back). Here's the official help info from the Amazon web site:

To permanently remove an item in the list from your account and Archived Items:

1. Locate the item you wish to delete in the "Your Orders" section. If you have a lot of content, you may need to use the Previous and Next links at the bottom to navigate through all of your content.
2. Click on "Delete this title" button next to the title to permanently remove the title item from your account and Archived Items.

Note that after the title is removed from your account, you will no longer have access to re-download this title unless you re-purchase it. Existing copies of this title already on your device must be manually removed. For more information on removing content from your device please see Removing Kindle Content.

Now, all I have to do, once the feature arrives in my account (and it's odd that it didn't just show up for everyone at once, since it isn't a download that has to be rolled out to reduce bandwidth), is decide if I want to delete the deceptive preview of the Patterson book - after all, I'd then lose my "Verified Purchase" note next to my review. It's probably worth it, though, to be able to never see it again on my archive listing.

One reason I can see for the new option - it lets you painlessly remove any of the free classics you have bought, as some have atrocious formatting. Also, if you have an inexpensive book that you want to buy a new version of (such as the one shown in that screenshot, above), you can now do so yourself (it's not a free upgrade, but you might not mind on a book that only costs a dollar or two and is upgraded substantially).

Year End Sale at Fictionwise

Fictionwise is having their big year-end sale, with all the ebooks (but not magazines) at 40%-60% discounts (for multiformat books) or a 40%-60% rebate (DRM'd books). The multiformat books work on the Kindle and there are some well known authors (Fritz Leiber) as well as relative unknowns (and a large collection of erotica). On the DRM'd side, the books won't work on the Kindle, but are generally compatible with the nook, PC and iPhone (ereader format, on nearly all DRM'd books) and the Sony Reader (ADE Epub, not on all books) as well as a few other mobipocket compatible readers.

The sale on the Secure (DRM'd) side is supposed to only be on orders paid for using a credit card or paypal (and that is still true of the 100% rebate books, whether they are NYT bestsellers or the new selections for the week), but most of the books are giving the rebate, even if you use micropay. Which means that if you have a balance built up (or build one up by grabbing some of those 100% rebate books) you can get 60% back on the books you are buying, then use that to buy even more books.

So, buy $100 in books using credit, get $40 to $60 back in credit. Use that $60 to buy books and get $36 back ... and so on. I suspect they'll close this loophole tomorrow (if not, go on a spree), but in the meantime, you can get some very good deals. Even with the requirement to pay by credit card (and thus building up credit), there are some good prices here and there, with the net cost often below Amazon's (of course, since they don't work on the Kindle, they are not for everyone).

If you are buying multiformat books, there is a simple straight discount (plus your member discount, if applicable), but you can use your micropay credit there as well (and it's planned that way, so should work all week).

UPDATE: Add the coupon code thoughts25, through Dec 15, and get an additional 25% off the entire purchase.

Kindle Gets a Wish List

Amazon has changed the Save for Later function in the Kindle Store to instead support your normal Wish Lists at Amazon, as well as updated the Kindle book listings to allow you to directly add a Kindle book to any wish list - you no longer have to use the Universal Wish List tool to do this.

One cool thing I noticed when I accessed my wish lists from the Kindle - I could see all my lists (the Saved for Later items were now on a list called Kindle Wish List - I now have to liss with the same name, as I already had one with this title) and for each one, there is a count of how many Kindle books are on that list. When you open a list, you then see all the Kindle books from the list and (on my Original Kindle), three small blocks/buttons to click on - the top (unmarked) one opens the book detail page, the delete button removes the book from the list (no confirmation is asked for, no undo) and the third lets you move a book from one list to another. You can't see the prices in the list from the Kindle, so it isn't quite as useful as the online version and there is one odd behavior - every list I opened started on page 3, rather than page 1 of the wish list, requiring me to hit the Previous Page button twice to get to the first page.

So far, you still can't get someone else to buy something for you from your wish list (but you have to know that Amazon is working on it), just as with any other digital content. But you can now co-ordinate between the Kindle Store and the Web Store to manage the Kindle items in your wishlist.

Under the Dome pre-order price drop to $7.99

It's not as good a deal as the momentary drop to $7.20 a while back, but Under the Dome, by Stephen King (December 24, 2009), can be pre-ordered now in the Kindle store for $7.99.

If you have already pre-ordered at a higher price, I'd recommend canceling that order and re-ordering at the new price (but do so quickly, after confirming the new price, as it can go up again at any time). Apparently the pre-order price guarantee at Amazon may not cover Kindle books, as they don't display the "Pre-Order Price Guarantee" banner that is required (and there are reports of people who have and haven't received lower prices on Kindle pre-orders).. Easy enough to order again, since it's only a couple of extra clicks.