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.

Hmm?

[MeanderingMind]

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:

[ivan256]

It happens sometimes. I've had them blow the 2-day delivery and gotten games from them a week late too though.

Re:

[megamerican]

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:

[gad_zuki!]

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?

[LandoCalrizzian]

I couldn't agree more. It's like the game industry is full of hot air when it comes to digital delivery. If only someone could charge full STEAM ahead with solving this problem.

Re:

[Loibisch]

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:

[mxs]

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:

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow that was quite the rant, and a little hypocritical. You said you can get your games from BT at anytime, That also requires an internet connection... So half your points FLY out the window.

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:

[somersault]

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:

[somersault]

Logically it does imply that he is using BitTorrent as an alternative, but not that he is pirating because of Steam. He is saying that he uses BitTorrent despite Steam, because it is still not good enough. He gave a few reasonable examples of what he thinks are the problems with Steam and other DRMed systems, and how he has gotten around them. It has been shown again and again that DRM just gets in normal users' way, but isn't much of a challenge from the crackers.

I myself much prefer to use NOCD type crack

Re:

[somersault]

I'm basically in the same situation. When I was a student I downloaded a few songs and readily ripped CDs that I had borrowed, but now that I have a job, I just buy everything from Amazon with 'free' next-day delivery. I still find it practical to have a physical copy of my music, though I wouldn't mind very much if all my games were downloads only (as long as the distribution network was fast enough)

Re:

[somersault]

Sure, Steam only requires you to be connected to the net the first time you install, but it's still a pain in the ass if you have no access to a connection. The content is there, you've paid for it, but you can't play the game. Same if you're out and you don't have the game CD. The content is there, you've paid for it, but you can't use it because of DRM. So while Steam only requires you to validate once and then it is 'no CD' as long as you've set it up properly, they're still pointless DRM.

As for stealing

Re:Hmm?

[Loibisch]

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.

Re:

[mxs]

Hi,

Lots of text, but seriously: The only thing I can understand is the part about the LAN party.

Whether that is because you didn't want to understand it or because I was unclear, I don't know.

"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?

Naturally, you do. Of course, storebought items do not need this (but a storebought STEAM-Game such as Half Life 2 DOES require an internet connection to even install), and I do not need an internet connection on the machine I actually /install/ the game on when I get the game via a .torrent or other such means.

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.

You missed the parts where I described, at l

Re:

[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

Re:

[mxs]

Oh great, the fucking comment system ate my post because one of my backspace strokes accidentally counted as "back".

Great commenters never use backspace or editing functions ... Spelling mistakes are an art ! :-P

Yeah, I dislike that particular keystroke-binding as well :->

So here's the short version: I understood what you were saying, but not what the huge problem with all of it really is.

Which is perfectly fine; I have different sensibilities when it comes to what I spend my money on or what happens on my computer, or how my data is used, or how a system /could/ be abused; the best shielding from such abuse is not trust in any one company, but rather to make sure that the abuse is simply impossible even given the worst possible inte

Re:

[brkello]

Problem is...you are wrong and you are entrenched in your wrongness. No matter what anyone says you are going to spin it your own way like a Republican at the Deomcratic convention.

The things download really fast from Steam...I generally get better performance from Steam than I do from Vuze.

Do you take your computer off the Internet all the time? I don't...so why are you complaining? Because you are an idiot.

Have you ever been banned? No? Then how do you know what they do?

The guy says usually and yo

Re:

[mxs]

Problem is...you are wrong and you are entrenched in your wrongness. No matter what anyone says you are going to spin it your own way like a Republican at the Deomcratic convention.

I could say the same about you, sorry to say.

The things download really fast from Steam...I generally get better performance from Steam than I do from Vuze.

I don't take issue with their downloads speeds. They are usually fast -- unless of course, you are at a LAN-party. I do take issue with its implementation and inflexibility -- which you gloss over here, nicely.

Do you take your computer off the Internet all the time? I don't...so why are you complaining? Because you are an idiot.

Nice, ad hominem. Good to know we departed from opinions about Steam to opinions about eachother.

Also, don't assume that just because /you/ have an always-on connection, everybody does. Large parts of the worlds still pay by the hour, many, many people have

Re:

[harl]

You need to reread your Terms of Service. It's impossible to purchase a game via Steam.

You may subscribe to a game. A subscription which they can revoke at any time. That they can revoke for any or no reason.

The problem with imaginary property is that you only get imaginary ownership.

Re:

[Loibisch]

The only part of the Steam TOS I could find ergarding this is Section
13.C.2:

"In the case of a one-time purchase of a product license (e.g., purchase of a single game) from Valve, Valve may choose to terminate or cancel your Subscription in its entirety or may terminate or cancel only a portion of the Subscription (e.g., access to the software via Steam) and Valve may, but is not obligated to, provide access (for a limited period of time) to the download of a stand-alone version of the software and content associated with such one-time purchase."

While that sounds potentially nasty I know of noone who had problems with this. Also I want to see Valve enforcing this on their customers. Just because it is written in the TOS doesn't automatically make it legal.

However for the sake of the original argument that caused my reply I fail how you either buy or license a game using BitTorrent.

Re:

[harl]

Assume any contract you sign will be enforced. If they didn't plan on enforcing it they wouldn't put it in a contract and they wouldn't have you sign it. Any other view is ignorant and will get you into trouble.

There's no reason the Steam TOS are not legal:

First once you click accept or agree you have entered into a legally binding contract. This has been decided in US Circuit Court. The case is ProCD v Zidenburg.

Additionally the contract meets none of the legal criteria for unfair contracts. The main

Re:

[Loibisch]

Here in the EU it's not as simple. Not everything written in a contract (even if voluntarily and willfully signed by both parties) is legal. Unless the Steam TOS have been tried for exactly this case I'll withhold judgment.

For example: Some carriers here in Germany have a clause where they say they can just cancel your subscription if you've been using their service in a way that is impacting their service (i.e. excessive data traffic on an unlimited transfer package). Those have been tried and found to be

Re:

[harl]

Seeing as how Valve and Steam are a USA corporation doing business in the USA. I fail to see how German or EU law is relevant.

Re:

[Loibisch]

This, however, is the same kind of thing I was talking about [slashdot.org]. Just in the United States.

Re:

[harl]

Not really the same kind of thing.

The example you mention is a contract in which you sign away your rights to the legal system. There is a trend in the USA for corporations to try and side step the legal process, generally fair, and steer people into arbitration, generally unfair, which almost always sides with the corporation. Coincidentally the corporations are the ones who pay the arbitration companies, but I digress.

To quote the summary, "which decided that AT&T's service agreement was not capable

Re:

[harl]

I was pressed for time earlier and forgot a point I wanted to make.

Yes some things are illegal to put in a contract, the example you give. That doesn't mean anything in a contract is illegal. That logic would mean all contracts were illegal which we both know is not the case.

Signing away your right to sue is illegal. Agreeing that you are "renting" software rather than buying it is very legal. So don't do it.

Do you have a related example?

Re:

[daeg]

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.

Re:

[hedwards]

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

Re:

[tepples]

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.

Re:

[Ilgaz]

"Any game which requires a phone home doesn't get purchased, or if slipped in discretely gets returned."

I fail to understand the logic behind buying a software with your credit card which has all your details including your home address and not letting game/software to check for updates using your worthless (compared to CC) IP address.

Re:

[Kalriath]

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.

Re:

[AngryBacon]

Valve has said that if they turn off their servers that they will release a patch disabling the DRM first. Steam also has a backup feature.

Re:

[ozphx]

I guess you haven't heard of Steam [steampowered.net], Valve's digital distribution mechanism.

Before the Team Fortress 2 release I clicked pre-load, downloading the entire game. Then when I paid (which happened to be a couple of days after release - I was busy) - I got immediatish (decryption time of a couple of minutes) access.

You could have tried this yourself - last weekend was a "Free Weekend", the benefit of digital delivery (and yes, DRM), is that they can yank your game back off you after the weekend is over ;)

Re:

[Kalriath]

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.

Re:

[ozphx]

Thats when you yank the money back off them with your credit-cards fraud protection.

Theres nothing stopping any other multiplayer game from blacklisting your UID, no matter how its delivered. Valve tends to block your account from "secure" servers if you install cheats - they only remove a game if your payment is declined.

If the game has a single player component then you can happily warez it if you care that much, and play on LAN servers (or whatever is allowed without your key).

TBH I suggest it leads to h

Re:

[Kalriath]

They also remove the game if you claim you're from a different region because you object to paying 300% of the US price for the same game.

Re:

[Kalriath]

Not quite, I just live in New Zealand where companies (like EA, yes) feel entitled to charge 300%-500% of the US price and where platforms like Steam kow-tow to this disgusting behaviour. Get this, an average PC game here retails at $110. An average console game retails at $120. Ridiculous? I think so.

Re:

[gad_zuki!]

Ah yes steam, which requires me to authenticate to play single-player non-online games. Or the steam I've had to reinstall a few times because of bugs. Or the steam that refuses to let me play TF2 because of some random error. Or the steam that bans whole accounts for any reason which means you just lost all your games.

We dont need a friggin DRM framework to download games. Give me the exact same installer youre putting on the CDs and call it a day.

Re:

[EsbenMoseHansen]

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 :)

Re:

[Ilgaz]

They are the same company who invented "auto torrent generation", that makes me wonder more.

Any file at Amazon S3 can become torrent based if its vendor allows it. E.g. instead of www.s3aws.com/huge.exe , if you put www.s3aws.com/huge.exe?torrent , it comes you as torrent file and it starts tracking it.

(btw I forgot the s3 domain, it could be something else)

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.

Re:

[StingRay02]

This is also a tad old. Unless Amazon can get me Tiger Woods in the next nine hours, they're going to miss the release date.

Re:

[MBraynard]

Yeah, I was just thinking about that. I remember EB games shipping me the original Xbox on release day and the games also arrived on release day that I subsequently order.

On the other hand, who really MUST have a game on release day? Get a life, really.

I'll wait

[Rinisari]

$6 extra for a $50-$60 game? Forget that. I'll wait a day or two and enjoy a lunch out.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

$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!

Re:

[VeNoM0619]

Agreed, hell most games I'm likely to wait a year or two before even bothering to buy. What do I miss out on? Bugs, patches, crashes, glitches, and if it's multiplayer:hacks (although that can be arguable depending on success of game)

Re:

[Facegarden]

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

Re:

[Devout_IPUite]

No, those people camp and are home WAY before UPS comes around.

Re:

[CottonThePirate]

Or troll down to your local best buy/target/etc and pick up a copy on release day. Gamestop-o sometimes holds games if you didn't pre-order, but other than Wii games that come with a plastic gadget I've never seen places not have plenty of discs in this day and age.

Re:

[edcheevy]

Or you could sign up for the Amazon Prime trial, which is free.

Re:

[rtechie]

This is highway robbery. $6 just to play the game 12-24 hours earlier? WTF? I hate GameStop with a passion, but even they offer a better deal. Plus, GameStop tends to have pre-order bonuses other retailers don't have.

Please don't get me wrong about Gamestop. I hate them. I've sued them twice. Their entire business model revolves around ripping off little kids.

Re:

[rtechie]

Someone on /. must really love GameStop. You might like them, but their business revolves around buying used video games from little kids that don't know they could do far better on ebay, or on craigslist, or trading with thier friends and then selling those used games hugely marked up. GameStop typically gives $3 for a game the sell for $25.

GameStop has a blatantly illegal return policy. They refuse to give you your money back on anything, ever. Those suits? Over getting them to return stuff. One of the th

Re:

[CougMerrik]

Just go to your local game store.. it's right next to your lunch spot, and you don't have to worry about shipping.

I totally respect that decision...

[patio11]

... 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!)

Re:

[harl]

Exactly.

I've been buying games on launch day for as far as I can remember and not once have a paid a $6 premium to do so.

Not so new really

[Lanoitarus]

Didnt they already do this for book releases (harry potter methinks)? Not such a revolutionary offering in that case, although still a welcome one. Amazons shipping and fulfillment system continually impresses me. If they ever joined forces with newegg we might reach singularity.

Great!

[moo083]

I have Amazon Prime, and got Soul Calibur IV from them and this was awesome. I hope they'll do this for all new games!

Re:

[Sobrique]

I can't help but wonder at the sanity of someone so desparate to buy a computer game they'll go out at midnight to get it.

I mean, seriously. A game is a leisure activity, not a life essential. Is it really so hard to wait a few hours? Or just wait for it to get delivered, or something?

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:

[hedwards]

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.

Re:

[Sockatume]

I thought so, it seemed terribly unlikely that mail order places would hold off like that.

Re:

[SupremoMan]

In America the mentality is different. If you can charge for something, why do it for free?

Re:

[Mark Programmer]

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

[bconway]

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?"

Only games?

[Dave Tucker Online]

This is a great feature, and I love Amazon Prime. However, does anybody know if they already have this for books as well? I noticed my last D&D book which was released last Tuesday got here that same day. I used Two-Day shipping (free with Prime).

Re:

[k_187]

I know they've done it with the Harry Potter books.

To me, its not worth 6 bucks, you'd spend less than that in gas to pick something up at a store, probably.

Re:

[Alex777]

The problem with that is you'd have to pay tax. Between the tax and the gas money, it's about a wash. I'd just as soon wait a few extra days and save the money.

Use tax

[tepples]

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.

thank goodness for this

[DragonTHC]

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

[oahazmatt]

I tried Amazon Prime. I got a free trial and decided to pick up some random things that didn't qualify for the super-saver shipping.

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:

[bilbravo]

That problem is entirely UPS or whomever the parcel carrier was... I guess you could argue that amazon should use someone else's service, but in my experience whether the package is left at the leasing office depends on 2 things: the carrier, and the relationship of the carrier and the leasing office.
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:

[snowraver1]

FedEx will leave it at your door if you leave a note saying:

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:

[OldeTimeGeek]

It really depends where you live and if the shipper feels that your location is "safe". Neither FedEX nor UPS will leave a package at my condominium, even if the delivery notice slip is signed. They will, however, drop packages off without signature at my friend's house 10 miles away.

Re:

[sexconker]

No.
It depends on the item.

There are 5 basic categories.

Drop it somewhere and forget it.
Leave it with a person / responsible-looking dog (no dogs with shifty eyes!).
Get some sort of signature.
Get an adult's signature (as opposed to a minor's).
Get the recipient's signature.

In normal circumstances, what is required is dependent upon three factors:

Type of service requested by sender.
Declared value of the items / value of insurance on the items.
Type of item (booze? medical supplies? "Electric wand massager"?).

Re:

[immcintosh]

That's... not such a good idea if you live in the city. Plus, I'm not sure they'd actually follow instructions like that (liability and all) unless you call and register the request with their dispatch or whatever they call it.

Re:

[nullforce]

Amazon allows you to ship to an address other than your home address. I usually have my packages delivered to my workplace. As a side benefit, UPS and FedEx typically deliver to commercial addresses first.

Re:

[TheThiefMaster]

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...

Re:

[nedlohs]

I've placed about 30 orders with amazon this year (so obviously I use Prime...) due to some uniqueish circumstances. Ranging from $1.30 to about $200 per order.

I have *never* had to sign for a package. I've had the UPS guy knock on the door and hand it to me, leave it outside the door after knocking, and leave it on the driveway.

Of course I'm in a small town of 1000 people - so leaving stuff out is pretty normal...

When I lived in the big city though, UPS/fedex/DHL always left packages with the valet, signat

This isn't new...

[Androclese]

I've had the same type of service from GameStop.com for a while now. GTA IV, Soul Caliber IV, Lego: Indiana Jones, just to name a few.

How is this a deal?

[Sp00nMan]

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:

[terrarum]

Simple, some people (like me) are lazy. Paying more is a bit silly, free delivery is usually good enough, as a few others are saying.

Re:

[Sobrique]

I order from Amazon, because I like their recommendations system, and their huge catalogue. I'll batch my orders, and when I get enough for free delivery, I'll press the button.

That works nicely for me.

If I'm after something _right now_ i'll go out and buy it, but usually this is on _my_ schedule (e.g. I feel like a new film to watch) rather than anything to do with publisher/distribution schedules.

*shrug*. Don't understand the people who must have the new release RIGHT NOW. It smells too much of being

Re:

[terrarum]

I buy most things I want from Amazon, unless my staff discount at work can get it for me cheaper. I just like waking up in the morning, going downstairs, and hey look there's my copy of GTA IV waiting for me. A friend of mine in the US drove to a store, paid the pre-order fee, then woke up early on release day and drove there again to pay the rest and collect it, and all that got him the game one day before me. That said, I don't own a car, so who knows?

My take on it.

[FoamingToad]

(As a UK citizen) is that Amazon usually charges less than the game shops. It might be different in the US, but over here a game that will go in the shops for £35 or £40 (approximately $70 - $80) will usually be on sale at Amazon for £25 ($50).

Even factoring in the delivery charge, it's still likely to be cheaper than retail.

I've not been into a game shop in years. Just never darken their doors. I use Amazon for the games I want at close to release date, and computer fairs for older stu

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[Zorikin]

It's madness. The press release makes reference to "long lines" to buy new video games. I stood in a line to pre-order a Wii at GameStop and since then I have never seen any such line. With no pre-order, I bought GTA4 on the week of release and got a $10 gift card. The GameStop $5 deposit is bad enough, but a $6 pre-order fee on top of retail? It's like they're trying to punish us for planning things out responsibly.

Question to Amazon

[Ilgaz]

Why can't I buy DVD ISO of a game or a executable which would produce copy protected DVD-R of game with my credit card making you and game developer profit more instead of plastic manufacturers and DHL?

I am also outside USA which means $30-$40 paid for reliable plastic delivery.

Why are game/software developers obsessed with boxes and plastic? Really... Is there a DHL/FedEx conspiracy? :)

Re:

[ForestGrump]

to some, it registers as less than $6. To others, they think alot of thought was put into the number.

Re:

[Alex777]

To me, it registers as more than zero, and for that reason, I won't be using it. Not that I ever buy console games on release day, anyway.

Re:$5.98

[gEvil (beta)]

You clearly don't understand the psychology of pricing. $5.98 is less than $6 (and $5.99 for that matter), which makes quite a few people think that they're actually saving something.

Re:

[SomeJoel]

They also do it with gas (in the U.S. at least). Have you ever noticed all the gas prices have .009 added to the end. It's not $3.75 gas, like the sign *looks* like at first glance - but rather $3.759 gas. But, it's so commonplace, that we still tell people "I got gas at $3.75 a gallon". It's just another form of pricing bullshit, just like the "under a buck" menu at fast food places that, when you factor in tax (in most states), never actually cost less than a dollar.

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[VeNoM0619]

It's best seeing things priced at like $999.99, as if anyone is stupid enough to think $900. Ask any person on the street how much it is, and they will all equate it to $1000 even. This marketing scheme may have been clever 30+ years ago, but now it's just tradition and actually makes me think they're (the advertisers) are stupid for thinking they can trick me, thus LESS likely to buy it (especially anything marked with 5 9s).

Not to mention seeing 5 digits vs 4 digits makes me think it costs more than ju

Re:

[Rurik]

Actually, people are dumb enough to think just that. I see it whenever I help someone purchase a car. The price of the car will be, say, 14,950. In conversations when you ask them how much the car is they'll say "14... 14... 14,9 something". The more time goes by, the more the price mentally goes from 14950 to 14000. You focus on the big numbers up front, and the smaller ones diminish over time.

You see this all the time with home sales, too. And eBay. The big key there is to work your price within sea

Re:

[VeNoM0619]

The stupid part is, whenever I do searches between amounts, I generally only want items up to at the very worst 80% of the amount. So in your example I would be looking from 100,000 to 200,000 (200,000 to 250,000 would be at the bottom and wouldn't even be looked at). Therefor I would never care or consider the 249,999 house. Whereas if I was searching for 250,000 to 500,000. That 249,999 would be first on my list, and more likely I would jump at the chance of buying it.

On the note related to the people b

Re:

[mattack2]

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:

[garylian]

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:

[terrarum]

Where I work in the UK the pennies are a code; a £599.99 laptop is a current model, a £599.97 computer is out of line and we won't be getting more. I think .98 means something slightly different, can't remember. I've been told a lot of other companies do this as well.

Re:

[SBacks]

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:

[mattack2]

At least one store that I see ads for $x off a minimum $y style coupons, the fine print says something like "not valid on prices ending with 97 cents", for this very
reason -- it's already heavily discounted. (I think it's SportMart ads with this technique.)

Re:Costs too much.

[sangreal66]

It isn't a surcharge, its the shipping fee. Overnight delivery used to cost upwards of $15 on games for non-Prime accounts before this change

Re:

[silent_artichoke]

I give up. Please don't give me any more mod points. There is no longer any distinction between +1 Funny and +1 Insightful for me anymore. The decision is too much at 5am with no coffee. I end up wasting them all on stupid Soviet Russia jokes that aren't even funny.