Best of the Net CD presell giveaway

[gunnerxtr]

WTH i just went to the mall where there is a EB games store and she said that she hadnt heard of any special pre order for C3C, whats going on?

 

[MarineCorps]

Hmmm, thats odd. Just pre ordered my game today, the guy said that I would get it with the game. I might add this is the first time I have ever pre ordered something and I did not have any plans to pre order it until I heard about the free CD.

 

[SoCalian]

Since there are none of those stores here in Bakersfield CA, and I don't have anyway of pre-ordering online, is there any other way I can get this best of the net CD?

 

[Chieftess]

Originally posted by gunnerxtr
WTH i just went to the mall where there is a EB games store and she said that she hadnt heard of any special pre order for C3C, whats going on?

See Jeff_ATARI's post in another thread. Atari doesn't handle the pre-sale CDs, so not every store might have them (some take longer than others).

 

[Nomad_Wanderer]

Of course there was Moo3 too.

I just left a developer chat where the developer explained how the system works.. The publisher decides when the game ships. The developer said "we under-estimated. It will take more time, and more money". Atari's response? "Ship it, we might patch it later".

With today's Software development companies moving towards this type of "customer pays for half the game now, and if enough people pre-orderl(or just buy it), Publisher will pay to finish it". I'm not going to be participating in any pre-orders.

You shouldn't either.. It perpuates the above. Why do you think they offer a bonus? They want your money now, before you can read any reviews of the product that actually gets shipped.

Granted, I'm a little irate right now, and I do trust Firaxis, but that really doesn't matter. Atari/InfoGrames makes the decisions. And so far I haven't really liked them much. (actually, my PTW didn't really work to well until after it was patched.. )

There's an old joke in the software dev industry..

You can have:
-Good, Quality Product.
-Fast Time to Market/Release
-Cheap cost

you can only pick two.

It seems that Atari/infogrames (and quite a few other publishers) are picking fast, and cheap. And then possibly get the Good Quality, later with a patch.


Some might respond with "but if you were a shareholder, you wouldn't care that they are running this like a business.."

I AM A SHAREHOLDER, And I'm not real happy with Bruno, or who ever is making these types of decisions.. Atari/Infogrames hasn't had such a good name in the past.. And It doesn't look like it's getting better.. Might be time to drop my 25 shares...

So sure, I'll play the game a week or two later... But I won't be spending a few days every couple months, trying to get a half finished game to work.

Call me a troll, flame me all you want.

Pre-orders are bad for the gaming industry.

 

[Aravorn]

Just ordered it, looking forward to the game. Hopefully all the preorders will EXPEDITE the first patch

 

[Dida]

my friend's idea about pre ordering is text deleted. He actually makes profit on these, or so i have heard.

Moderator Action: I've deleted the details. We have a policy of zero-tolerance for piracy, so I don't see a need to spell out how to cheat the system. --Padma
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Jeff_ATARI]

Originally posted by Dida
my friend's idea about pre ordering is text deleted. He actually makes profit on these, or so i have heard.

Hi Dida,
Not sure where you're going with this, but it certainly sounds unscrupulous. Nevertheless, it shouldn't matter, because

a) there is no .exe on the CD, it's all mod files.

b) virtually all of the content included on the presell CD are available on the Net; you'd just have to spend the time collecting, organizing, and downloading all of them. The exceptions are the Civ music tracks and a few extra sound effects.

c) reselling the pre-order CD for a profit is prohibited by the end user license agreement.

Best,
Jeff Foley
Atari

 

[Padma]

"Unscrupulous" is probably the *nicest* word I would use for it.

 

[MarineCorps]

I think he ment the conquest CD, not that it matters much since
A) It's still ilegeal
B) ebay removes any ilegeal material from it's site and notifies law enforcement.
C) Broadcasting your friends idea is not a very bright idea.

 

[Aravorn]

Im too lazy to reread the rules but isn't there something about advertising illegal products? Might be a stretch here but the mods may want to check that out.

 

[kring]

Jeff, if we pre ordered C3C at Amazon.com before the Best of the Net offer was posted, are we going to get the Best of the Net CD? The way they have set up the offer: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009THFF/104-9565819-5712757 and http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...04-9565819-5712757?v=glance&s=videogames&st=* doesnt appear to guarantee that I will get the free CD without redoing my order. If I redo my order, it would cost more money since I preordered it when the game was on sale at Amazon.

 

[EzInKy]

Originally posted by kring
Jeff, if we pre ordered C3C at Amazon.com before the Best of the Net offer was posted, are we going to get the Best of the Net CD? The way they have set up the offer: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009THFF/104-9565819-5712757 and http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...04-9565819-5712757?v=glance&s=videogames&st=* doesnt appear to guarantee that I will get the free CD without redoing my order. If I redo my order, it would cost more money since I preordered it when the game was on sale at Amazon.

Good question! I pre-ordered from them thinking I was going to get the bonus CD being discussed here and just sent off an email to get this clarified.

 

[kring]

Here's the lousy response that I received from Amazon.com, and I have sent a follow-up email back to them:

Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.com.

The only information we can give you about particular titles is
what
we display on the product information page: the title, edition,
publisher, publication date, price, and ISBN. Sometimes we
have a short synopsis, review and cover image.

We know that, often, the amount of information we have may make
it
difficult to make a purchasing decision unless you already know
something about the item. Our editorial staff is working on
building
up the amount of information we provide about each item.

You might also try the Web Search on our home page, directly
beneath
our Product Search box.

I hope this information helps. Thanks again for shopping at
Amazon.com.

Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/resolved-yes?comm_id=
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/resolved-no?comm_id=


Best regards,

Philip T.
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com

That didn't answer my specific concern about not getting it. I don't know whether or not I will get it. I am not going to cancel my order and re preorder because it's no longer at the sale price at Amazon.com.

Jeff of Atari, an answer would be nice. I don't want to have to wait until I get the game and find out that I don't get the CD, and have to return it.

 

[EzInKy]

Originally posted by kring
Here's the lousy response that I received from Amazon.com, and I have sent a follow-up email back to them:



That didn't answer my specific concern about not getting it. I don't know whether or not I will get it. I am not going to cancel my order and re preorder because it's no longer at the sale price at Amazon.com.

Jeff of Atari, an answer would be nice. I don't want to have to wait until I get the game and find out that I don't get the CD, and have to return it.

I haven't received a reply to mine yet so it could be interesting to compare since it sounds canned to me. A possible response though could be that you did inform yourself by coming here and learning that pre-ordering Conquests gets you the bonus CD.

 

[EzInKy]

Oh, and it is interesting that you can order the "bonus" CD seperately from them for $8.99 plus shipping.

 

[kring]

Based on the way that Amazon has it set up, it does appear that I (and anyone else that preordered before the deal was put up) WON'T get the free CD without re ordering. My main reason for preordering was for the free CD. Otherwise, I would wait until a week or two after the game was released and pick it up at CompUSA or BestBuy for $10-15 less when it goes on sale.

I see Jeff has responded at Apolyton on the issue, but it still appears muddy from what I saw.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=2413248#post2413248

I await their second response. I want to talk to a human being since I don't want to lose the sale price and cancelling the order would do that.

Last time I had a problem with a company, it was with Gateway and it took several weeks and numerous emails to resolve. They finally shipped me to a higher person (passed the buck) and it got resolved favorably, but not without way too much hassle for such a minor situation.

I emailed them a third time seeing if they could add the Bonus CD to my order without losing the sale price because it appears that we won't get it if it isn't added to the order.

 

[Jeff_ATARI]

Originally posted by kring
Jeff of Atari, an answer would be nice. I don't want to have to wait until I get the game and find out that I don't get the CD, and have to return it.

Hi kring, hi all,

I am working on getting some answers for everyone. I was assured that the preorder CD would be given out by Amazon to anyone who preordered the game, even before they had set up their advertisement for the presell. Given that it took them almost a month to have the presell set up properly, and that we advertised them on our site and in our press email blast, my expectation is that they will make the adjustment. Our rep has been notified of some of these issues (as well as the poorly chosen PTW & Civ Conquests bundle offers) and he says Amazon "is all over it." They value their customers very highly and should do the right thing. I will continue to post updates, and continue to work things from my end. (As if there weren't enough things actually UNDER my control that I need to keep on track... )

What can I say... except that EBWorld.com and GameStop.com have everything set up already. And that sometimes people make mistakes. Just look at Grady Little leaving Pedro in for the 8th inning last night....

Best,
Jeff Foley
Atari

 

[jimkirk]

can atari or firaxis make sure the best of the web mods from fans .. can atari or firaxis check em to make sure there are no bugs in those?

 

[jimkirk]

reply to SoCalian

you can preorder it at electronic boutique (one of my favorite places) www.ebworld.com or ebgames.com i forgot which

or i buy games at www.newegg.com good place and they are reasonably priced but i dont think you get the pre order thingy cd from them