Amazon Rolls Out Release-Day Game Delivery

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.

This is News?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh wait, I forgot on Slashdot we like to advertise for companies. Also, this is something numerous other companies have been doing for years (EBGames for example) at no charge other than the shipping to get it to you.

You don't have this in the US?

[Sockatume]

Here in the UK companies have been shipping games out so that they reach customers on the release date for at least the past eight years, and probably more than a decade. Gameplay always guaranteed it with first-class mail, which usually meant you got a game 2-3 days before release, and almost everyone else does it on their free delivery option (e.g. Play.com). Amazon.co.uk is about the only exception that springs to mind.

Re:Hmm?

[Loibisch]

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 need some minimal access to activate the game...which in this century shouldn't be much of a problem if one tries a little. Hell, I could probably do it through my cellphone without any bump in my bill.
Also there's a good deal of non-steam games which start to require activation despite not being published online. I know, you won't buy these either...but it's coming whether you like it or not.

If you can't do the activation because you live in deep Siberia and your only Internet connection is a donkey that comes by every other week then get a crack for all I care...at least you paid for the game.

[...] I have maxed my connection using BitTorrent -- but also other methods commonly used by pirates (such as direct downloads from sites like RapidShare -- note that I have no idea how fast the HL2 torrent is, I never did get that, and have no intention to ;)

That's not the point. The point was you claimed their distribution system was crappy. However the speed is nothing to complain about (of course P2P has the potential to be faster...it can also be much slower if the file is just available at a few nodes). Also I couldn't find the 'lengthy' other reasons why you find their actual download system so bad (except for the LAN party thing, which admittedly is retarded...then again how often do you see people grabbing 2GB at a LAN party, actual updates if they come out the day before are probably around 50MB...most of the time more like 10MB unless there's new content. Also if you really want the stuff faster: you can just copy the steam cache folder of someone who already downloaded everything).

The 'offline mode' might be a killer for you, I however don't really care for it since all relevant games I own on Steam are multiplayer anyway.

As for the 'horror scenario' of losing your games: I want to see Valve trying to shut me out as a user for some arbitrary and unjustified reason. They'd have to discuss that with my lawyer I suppose.

As for cheating: if you cheat in online games you deserve to be banned and not play that game again. I don't have sympathy for people crying over this. Your 'privacy implications' of Punkbuster and co are wildly exaggerated. Give me an example how VAC hurts your privacy when it's scanning your game files and game memory footprint for modifications? If that's a bad way then how would you do it? No cheat protection at all?
You do realize that this has nothing to do with Steam but is a problem in general?

I'm not talking about playing online in that case. Nice try though.

Well, if you don't want the latest version for your single player games you can turn automatic updates off on a game-by-game basis if you want. They're not enforced unless you want to play online and your version is incompatible with the server's.

Oh, and if Valve ever goes belly-up I'm sure there will be a fix from somewhere in the community to enable 'offline mode' one last time once and for all.

I can't convince you to use Steam and I don't want to and don't care to. But your original statement that Steam is nothing but a pile of crap and BitTorrent offers better service is just bullshit.