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Amazon Rolls Out Release-Day Game Delivery
Posted by
Soulskill
on Tue Aug 26, 2008 03:21 PM
from the for-the-lazy-and-impatient dept.
from the for-the-lazy-and-impatient dept.
1Up reports that Amazon has launched a new service for getting certain games into the hands of customers on release day, rather than simply shipping the games on release day. According to the press release, the service will be free for Amazon Prime customers, and available to everyone else for a $5.98 charge on upcoming titles Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Fable 2 and Gears of War 2. They tested the program recently with the release of Soul Calibur IV.
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Hmm? (Score:4, Interesting)
Isn't there always someone who brags about getting their Amazon ordered copy of a game before the release date, or has that become a thing of the past?
Re: (Score:2)
It happens sometimes. I've had them blow the 2-day delivery and gotten games from them a week late too though.
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I'm not sure about games being delivered before the release date, but they've done this for books.
My copy of Ron Paul's book, The Revolution - A Manifesto actually came a few days early.
Amazon has done Release-day book delivery Harry Potter books. I don't know if this is standard procedure for books because I pre-order so few.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It should be. Why are we wasting packaging and transportation on digital files? How about they sell me digital delivery instead of more extra fees for "SUPER FAST SHIPPING!!!"
Its incredible how behind the times the game industry is in digital delivery.
Re:Hmm? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
I don't see how your statement is true except for:
a) your solution is free
b) uhm...nothing
- Steam lets you buy a game from anywhere, anytime.
- Purchases are instant.
- Games are installed automatically just by downloading.
- Steam lets you play your games on any computer at any time.
- Steam is usually cheaper than buying in a store.
- Steam keeps your games up-to-date automatically.
I agree that it's not perfect as it gives away control over some things. But it's not like it's all evil as some make it out to be
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
So you drank the cool-aid, eh ?
Yes, my solution is "free". But that is not my point. I'm happy to pay for games I play -- in fact, I do. I have not touched Half Life 2 with a ten foot pole, however. I'm sure it's a nice game, but no, I will not bend over and get steamed for it.
"Steam lets you buy a game from anyhwere, anytime"
Reasonably true. Anywhere with an Internet connection, anyway.
"Purchases are instant."
Reasonably true. Once I download it using their extremely crappy download system. More on that in
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Next the suspension thing is a complete exaggeration. The only accounts that get shutdown are ones using stolen credit cards. You dont lose access to ANY game by cheating etc. You may lose online privileges (and rightfully so) but they dont kill your account.
Next you claim not to pirate games, but then what are y
Re: (Score:2)
Actually if you read it properly he was talking about downloading updates, not full games. Sounds like he does pay for it. And he gave plenty of good reasons that he doesn't think Steam is very well implemented wrt LAN games etc. I thought he would just be another pirate until he went off like that :p
The account banning thing did strike me as over the top too, but the rest is sensible enough.
I generally like Steam too now. The only reason I didn't like it a few years ago was that I was on dial-up or just ha
Re:Hmm? (Score:4, Insightful)
Lots of text, but seriously: The only thing I can understand is the part about the LAN party.
"Steam lets you buy a game from anyhwere, anytime"
Reasonably true. Anywhere with an Internet connection, anyway.
So you don't need an Internet connection for BitTorrent?
"Purchases are instant."
Reasonably true. Once I download it using their extremely crappy download system.
So you don't need to download it with BitTorrent? Downloading from other users in P2P is faster than the Steam servers? I dobut it as I easily max out my 16MBit/s connection everytime I download something off of Steam.
"Steam lets you play your games on any computer at any time."
Bullshit. Big whonking bullshit. Steam lets you play your games on any computer at any time -- IF you have an internet connection active at the moment or "logged in" and selected that you will want to play "offline" in a bit. On single player games. SINGLE PLAYER GAMES. Not online games.
I'm not prepared to "log on" just to play a single player game -- or indeed the single player campaign, for various reasons -- the chief one amongst which is that I am not connected to the net everywhere I go, and I see no reason WHATSOEVER to let Valve know when I consume my gaming fix. They have no reason to know.
If you're not connected everywhere you go all you have to do is set up offline mode once. Yes, you have to be connected to the Internet to do that then again you have to be connected to the Internet to even get your game. It's an online distribution system after all.
If I buy Portal, HL2, and another multiplayer game, and for some reason their system detects something amiss with my account while doing the multiplayer thing, they will suspend my account -- removing access to the single player games as well -- let alone the multiplayer. No refund, either. Fuck that.
No, all that their cheat detection (VAC) will do is ban you from any VAC secured servers. Which granted is the big bunch of them out there, but what use is an omnipresent cheat detection if there is no way to enforce it? Also your single player game experience is completely untouched.
"Steam keeps your games up-to-date automatically."
Big whoop. This is not hard to do even without the "Steam" framework. And maybe, just maybe, I don't WANT to have the latest version, all the time. Not all updates are good updates. Some change gameplay to something you do not like at all, some introduce bugs that affect you adversely, etc.
I very much like the control offered by being able to select whether or not I want to update a game.
Then have fun playing online with your non-updated game.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Oh great, the fucking comment system ate my post because one of my backspace strokes accidentally counted as "back".
So here's the short version: I understood what you were saying, but not what the huge problem with all of it really is.
You need Internet access for BitTorrent. You might not need it for actually installing the game but with Steam installing IS downloading. If you want to play it offline you still can, if you want to copy the Steam cache files you still can (to avoid the download) and you will
Re: (Score:2)
As long as they allow complete backups AND can install patches from the original developers, sure. This whole system of digital downloads requiring separate patches, limited backup abilities, etc is ridiculous. Look at the fate of the failed music services turning off their key servers... it's only a matter of time before that happens to a game service, too.
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Quite so, I'm willing to spend some cash on physical media because I can install it whenever I need to do so, whether or not my internet connection is available.
Any game which requires a phone home doesn't get purchased, or if slipped in discretely gets returned. Any publisher I catch pulling that sort of bull, isn't going to be selling me any more games.
I personally like the idea of downloads, but in most cases I'd rather have the physical media for when I reinstall. All that limit 3 installations stuff is
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Any game which requires a phone home doesn't get purchased
I take it you don't play a lot of multiplayer PC games. Multiplayer games over the Internet need to phone home to run the server that makes the game world persist, or for matchmaking even in non-massive games.
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Impulse carries all of Stardock's games because it is MADE by Stardock.
They're also getting all of Gas Powered's future games too, which is cool.
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Some do manage it. Last game I bought this way was Savage 2 --- awsome game, runs on linux, and with the dollar so low, quite cheap :)
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Or they could yank it back off you because they don't want you having it, like you "violated the EULA" by ... dare I say it, buying the game from another territory because your territory is 75x more expensive.
Steam sucks. Period.
I'll wait (Score:5, Insightful)
$6 extra for a $50-$60 game? Forget that. I'll wait a day or two and enjoy a lunch out.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
$6 extra for a $50-$60 game? Forget that. I'll wait a day or two and enjoy a lunch out.
Denny's... here I come!
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Well, you may feel that way, but i know all those people who camp out for hours to pick up a game might be interested in this.
-Taylor
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No, those people camp and are home WAY before UPS comes around.
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I totally respect that decision... (Score:2)
... but for some of us, the difference between $50 and $56 is not so much a lunch out as it is staying an extra four minutes past quitting time. I don't normally worry too much about exactly when I get my brand new toys, but for the ones I've been eagerly anticipating for forever, sure, bill me for the FedEx. (Better still, figure out how to let me download you in advance. I love digital delivery and I spend my entertainment budget appropriately, industry watchers!)
Not so new really (Score:3, Insightful)
Great! (Score:3, Interesting)
You don't have this in the US? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
I believe we do. Or at least Best Buy shipped my prerelease order of The Beast with a Billion backs so that it would arrive on the release date. It ended up coming a day early.
I'd be surprised if Best Buy wouldn't do that for games. I'm sure there are other retailers that will as well.
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Yeah, this is a situation where US distribution mostly falls flat-on-its-face.
I don't know the whole story, but my understanding is that GameStop has the US market pretty much wired down for first-day delivery. Due to the deals they have with publishers, if you aren't them or a handful of other big-name stores, the publishers won't even ship you the game on day 1 because they want to go with channels that have a proven track record.
Amazon being added to the set of big names for the publishers is a big step
Srsly? Not new, and shouldn't be a pay service (Score:4, Insightful)
I was getting games and movies on release day from Buy.com circa 2000, and I'm pretty sure I've run into it a few times since then. Is anyone going to fall for Amazon's "service?"
thank goodness for this (Score:2)
This is what I repeatedly asked amazon for and now they had enough of us ask for it that they deliver.
Excellent service. I am already a prime member so I'm highly looking forward to this one.
Amazon Prime (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem with that, is while the 3-5 day shipping comes UPS at around 6:00 PM, when I'm home from work, the 2-day shipping comes during business hours and requires a signature and they won't leave it with the apartment's office. So in order to get the items I ordered I had to drive 30 minutes to the UPS center, wait until they opened it for pick-up, and then wait for my driver to show up with my delivery.
I cancelled AP before it rolled over into a charge. I was hoping there was some sort of feedback form, but there was not.
Be careful of any special shipping you get from Amazon, because there's a chance it becomes two-day-get-your-butt-over-here-and-pick-it-up-yourself.
Re: (Score:2)
Point in case, UPS will leave things at the leasing office but FedEx will not. I asked the FedEx guy why not, and he said that he always gets a bad attitude from the lady in the leasing office.
Re: (Score:2)
DATE
Mr. FedEx driver: Please leave package with tracking number XXXXXXXXXX on the back porch/between the doors/wherever.
thank you,
your name
sig
Address, including zip/postal code.
Re: (Score:2)
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I've found that having things delivered to work tends to get them a day earlier than getting them delivered at home. Not to mention actually having someone there to sign for it if needed...
This isn't new... (Score:2)
How is this a deal? (Score:3, Insightful)
Can someone explain to me how this is better than just going to my local store on a release day and buying it? Why pay Amazon $6 more to get it on the same day? I don't get what Amazon is thinking??
Re: (Score:2)
to some, it registers as less than $6. To others, they think alot of thought was put into the number.
Re:$5.98 (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Not to mention seeing 5 digits vs 4 digits makes me think it costs more than ju
Re: (Score:2)
One theory I've read is that it wasn't originally a psychological game. It was originally so that the sale would actually be rung up, so the cashier would have to open the register to get the change, seemingly making less of a chance for them to pocket the money.
Re: (Score:2)
This came about before electronic cash registers came about. You could easily figure out the dollar amount if everything was in whole dollars "back in the day", but bring in those price breaks of .99 or .97, and now it's hard to figure out.
I worked in a place that had manual cash registers and little charts to figure out the tax amount to be manually keyed in back when I was in high school. Even with an even 5% tax rate in MD, the odds of a sale of items coming up an even dollar amount were decidely slim.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
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I've noticed that Best Buy has a system for this too. Sale items always end differently than a regular priced item. .x5 vs .x9 I believe.
Re: (Score:2)
To me, its not worth 6 bucks, you'd spend less than that in gas to pick something up at a store, probably.
Use tax (Score:2)
The problem with that is you'd have to pay tax.
You have to pay tax either way. When you buy in a B&M, the register adds sales tax to your order. When you buy from an online store with no warehouse in your state, you declare the value in the use tax field of your annual state income tax form.
Re:Costs too much. (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent