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.

Comments

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: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: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.

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.

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.

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?"

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.

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: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