Amazon PCDD $15 Walking Dead, $10 TERA ($15 CE) + BOGO

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Amazon DVG Deals

Amazon DVG Deals

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Hi CAGs,

NOTE: Preorder information is now in the second post of this thread.


War of the Roses - 10% off + free upgrade to House of York edition.

Deal of the week 9/16-9/22:

The Walking Dead (PC/MAC): $14.99 - Steam
Tera Standard Edition: $9.99 + $9.99 credit for another copy to give to a friend
Tera Collector's Edition: $14.99 + $14.99 credit for another copy to give to a friend


Please check out our newly launched Free-to-Play store when you get a moment!




I wanted to let you all know about some exciting new selection we just launched supported by a new technology.

As of today, Amazon.com will be offering Free to Play and MMO games that you can purchase virtual goods, currencies, and subscriptions for on Amazon.com. These purchases will be delivered directly into your game account. We're calling this new service Game Connect.

Amazon has teamed up with our launch partners to bring Amazon customers exclusive content and bonus offers for the opening of the Free to Play store. Here is some of the cool stuff you'll get just for linking your Amazon account with a game account:


Super MNC: Customers who link their Amazon account with a Super MNC account will receive an exclusive Team Spirit Assault Rifle. This weapon for the Assault Pro has a unique, team colored, metal barrel shroud and is only available through Amazon.




Stronghold Kingdoms: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with a Stronghold Kingdoms account will receive a starter pack valued at $10. This pack includes: 10 packs of strategy cards (50 cards), 100 card points, and a 7 day premium token (7 days of Premium).



Shin Megami Tensei: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with a Shin Megami Tensei account will receive a free Incense of Training. By making a purchase of 3,500 Crowns, customers will also receive a voucher (Candle), which is exchangeable for a Heart Candle Necklace. Customers who reach level 20 during the 12 week launch period, they will receive another voucher (Depository Rental Ticket).


Rise of Immortals: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with a Rise of Immortals account will receive a free character bundle. This exclusive bundle includes Karapyss and his alternate character skins Scarab and Pirate.


BattleSpace: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with a BattleSpace account will receive 100 honor medals. By making a purchase of 3,500 Crowns, customers will also receive Commander Alya. Customers who reach level 10 before October 6th, will receive an additional 100 honor medals and ship parts set (α x20, β x4, γ x2).


Iron Grip: Marauders: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with an Iron Grip: Marauders account will be given a booster pack containing 5000 Gold, 2000 iron, repair truck level 2, ambulance level 2, and a tri-scout Level 1.


Allods: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with an Allods account will receive an exclusive starter package, valued at $15. This pack includes: 4x Token of the Explorer that can be brought to the Goblin Banker in your faction's capital in exchange for an increase in the size of the customer’s bag or bank deposit box, a Medium Bag of Crystal Chips that, combined with Gold Dust in-game, allow customers to combine/upgrade runes that increase damage/healing, and an Enchanted Saddle that summons a Rank 1 horse mount.


Pirate Galaxy: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with a Pirate Galaxy account will receive a Rapid Tank Starter Ship and 1,500 Energy to fuel the best items available.


Fiesta: Customers who purchase SparkCash to use in Fiesta will receive a 30-day swift and mighty Dark Pegasus Mount.


8BitMMO: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with an 8BitMMO account will receive three, exclusive, brand-new hats. These hats are a Cowboy Hat, a Blue Baseball Cap, and a Duck. Link your account and start your 8 bit adventure today.

Aika: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with an Aika account will receive an exclusive starter package valued at $15. This pack includes a Mount and Mount Saddle. Use the mount to travel far distances in half the time and resist environmental damages. Use the Mount Saddle to lower the requirement to ride other mounts.


Knights of the Sky: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with a Knights of the Sky account will receive a free Happy Hour, which increases the likelihood of recruiting better Heroes. Purchase 3,500 Crowns or more through Amazon and receive a free Labor Decree, which increases Construction queues from 3 to 5, or purchase 35,000 crowns or more and receive an exclusive free Hero (valid on first purchase only). Reach level 20 before October 6th, and receive 6 items that increase resource gain by 25%. Start playing today.

Rappelz: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with a Rappelz. account will get an exclusive starter package, valued at $15. This pack includes a Stamina Saver that stops stamina from decreasing for 1 hour, an Animal Cracker used to earn 50% more EXP for 1 hour, a Pet Resurrection Spell book that resurrects pets instantly after a fall in battle, a Feather of Summon which instantly summons a friend to aide in battle, and a Hidden Village Pass that gives 7 days of access to the exclusive Hidden Village.



Luvinia: Customers who make any purchase of SparkCash to use in Luvinia will receive a 30-day Flying Griffin Mount.


Flyff: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with a Flyff account will receive an exclusive starter package, valued at $15. This package contains a Magic Broom that allows customers to start flying immediately, bypassing the level 20 requirement, an S Protect Gift Box which will allow customers to upgrade an item to create stronger stats right from the start, a random Gift Box that contains something special, a Police Outfit, and a Kitty Pet to help collect loot.

Steel Legions: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with a NEW Steel Legions account will receive one of three different, fully equipped premium tanks.

Pandora Saga: Customers who link their Amazon accounts with a Pandora Saga account will receive a Beginner Gear set. Customers who purchase 3,500 Crowns or more through Amazon will receive Recipe: Wing Shield Vol. 1 (first time purchasers only). Customers who reach Level 20 before October 6th will receive a horse mount.

And that's just the free stuff you get with linking.

We're also carrying the games below and offering Amazon exclusive in-game packs for each game which provide a higher value than normal virtual good purchases.


World of Tanks: Customers can purchase three different Amazon-exclusive World of Tanks packs: Starter Pack, Advanced Pack, and Expert Pack.


Runescape: Customers who purchase a 90 or 180 day membership package for Runescape will receive an exclusive Golden Katana.


War Inc. Battle Zone: Customers are able to purchase three different War Inc. Battle Zone Amazon exclusive packs: the Merc Pack, Heroic Pack, and Kill Em All Pack


Pre-Order Borderlands 2 from us for 10% off and help me get a tattoo! Yes it activates on Steam!

I am a huge Borderlands 2 fan and I want this to be our best selling pre-order ever. So I've drawn a line in the sand. If, from now until launch, we take 40,000 more preorders than where we were on 7/2/2012 I will get a Borderlands tattoo on my back.
 
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[quote name='Logain8955']Submitted the Crusader Kings 2 price from Steam to Amazon. AMZN had it for 50% off, hopefully they'll go the full way and do 75%

Then it's time to install the Game of Thrones mod and start marching for the Iron Throne :D[/QUOTE]

I predict they will go fullway to 50%
 
[quote name='moon1970']binary domain ordred !!!
japan44.gif
[/QUOTE]

Is it on sale somewhere that I've missed? I'd grab this if it is around $20 or less.
 
[quote name='ochentay4']Is Risen DRM Free in Spanish? I love Amazon deals, but half of them are in English only. Its not a problem for me, but it is for my children...[/QUOTE]

There's an option for Spanish during installation. Seemed like all it did was change subtitles \ interface text to Spanish, while voice acting remained in English. Dunno if there was an option to change voice acting, as my Spanish comprehension blows.
 
There's a key provided with EU3: Chronicles. What is it for? I installed the game and never asked for the key. Is it for multiplayer, perhaps?
 
[quote name='jester55']I just reported the drop for Hearts of Iron III Complete to Amazon for the Steam version and the GamersGate version! We can hope![/QUOTE]

Come on guys - we need your help! Hit up the amazon link and report the price drop for Hearts of Iron III Complete from GamersGate and Steam! :applause:

Several of us have picked up Europa Chronicles III for free already! Let's make the Paradox Plentiful Pack - epic!! :bouncy:

Tony - can you help at all? :)
 
[quote name='jester55']Come on guys - we need your help! Hit up the amazon link and report the price drop for Hearts of Iron III Complete from GamersGate and Steam! :applause:

Several of us have picked up Europa Chronicles III for free already! Let's make the Paradox Plentiful Pack - epic!! :bouncy:

Tony - can you help at all? :)[/QUOTE]

I would like Tony's input as well, they dropped the price the day after I bought both with my credit from the Paradox Pack, I called Customer Service and they said they would give a 1 time $7 credit (which they did), but if they drop Iron Hearts as well, I want to know his take on people who used their credit already. Still a fantastic deal either way, since if Iron Hearts doesn't get dropped, then I (and the other credit users) effectively paid $3.50 each for the 2 games. Still would be very intrested in his input, since this deal was his baby, and this happened while he was away at E3. welcome back by the way Tony.
 
[quote name='nekromantix']There's an option for Spanish during installation. Seemed like all it did was change subtitles \ interface text to Spanish, while voice acting remained in English. Dunno if there was an option to change voice acting, as my Spanish comprehension blows.[/QUOTE]

Thanks! Spanish subtitles are enough for me.
 
[quote name='walkonshadows']I would like Tony's input as well, they dropped the price the day after I bought both with my credit from the Paradox Pack, I called Customer Service and they said they would give a 1 time $7 credit (which they did), but if they drop Iron Hearts as well, I want to know his take on people who used their credit already. Still a fantastic deal either way, since if Iron Hearts doesn't get dropped, then I (and the other credit users) effectively paid $3.50 each for the 2 games. Still would be very intrested in his input, since this deal was his baby, and this happened while he was away at E3. welcome back by the way Tony.[/QUOTE]

Hey there,

Great question.

Situations like this is why our price matching strategy is currently under review and testing. It is 100% impossible for us to predict what our competition is going to do with any level of accuracy...which is why we need to figure out what is more valuable, running our own creative promotions, price matching, or both.

Cheers,
Tony
 
[quote name='Amazon DVG Deals']Hey there,

Great question.

Situations like this is why our price matching strategy is currently under review and testing. It is 100% impossible for us to predict what our competition is going to do with any level of accuracy...which is why we need to figure out what is more valuable, running our own creative promotions, price matching, or both.

Cheers,
Tony[/QUOTE]

I'd throw my 2 cents behind putting all energy/time into your own creative promotions.

I would also like to see some sort of "dashboard" that works for automatically updating games when patches push out (similar to Steam/Origin). Don't care about the rest of their features, the automatic updating is the best part. It may be PC user sacrilege to admit reliance on such things... But it influences my purchasing habits. I'm busy, I don't want to spend time patching my games when I should probably spend my meager free (game) time actually playing.
 
[quote name='Amazon DVG Deals']Hey there,

Great question.

Situations like this is why our price matching strategy is currently under review and testing. It is 100% impossible for us to predict what our competition is going to do with any level of accuracy...which is why we need to figure out what is more valuable, running our own creative promotions, price matching, or both.

Cheers,
Tony[/QUOTE]

Hi Tony,

I have a few follow-up questions, if you don't mind. When you run your promotions, is it the publisher that agrees to the lower price or are you sacrificing profit or even taking a loss for the sale? What about price matching a promotion you have not negotiated?

An explanation might help folks understand when they should expect a price match and when they shouldn't.

Finally, anything big planned (like MAYhem) before the Steam Summer sale or are you guys planning on matching what steam does for the next couple months? I understand if you have to keep most of the details secret, but a hint would be great.
 
I'll throw this out there one more time and then I'll quit bugging you:

[quote name='FQRizzo']Tony,

Gamestop has Darksiders for $4.99 digital download.

Is this something the hamsters can help us with?

Thanks.[/QUOTE]
 
[quote name='windsmere']Is it on sale somewhere that I've missed? I'd grab this if it is around $20 or less.[/QUOTE]

GetGamesGo had it for around that range about a week ago, but the deal has since elapsed.
 
Tony..off topic, but if i pre-order borderlands 2 for pc will i also get $10 amazon credit. I see it for the console but not the pc. just wondering. thanks!
 
[quote name='solaris389']I'd throw my 2 cents behind putting all energy/time into your own creative promotions.

I would also like to see some sort of "dashboard" that works for automatically updating games when patches push out (similar to Steam/Origin). Don't care about the rest of their features, the automatic updating is the best part. It may be PC user sacrilege to admit reliance on such things... But it influences my purchasing habits. I'm busy, I don't want to spend time patching my games when I should probably spend my meager free (game) time actually playing.[/QUOTE]

I agree with both points. Your own promotions are usually very exciting. And an automatic updater would be awesome for all those DRM-free titles you offer.

My own 2 cents: the experience of browsing and buying DLCs should be improved. Right now DLC either becomes too intrusive during sales or it disappears altogether. It would be great if all DLC was listed on the main page of a game (sometimes, it is), or had its own section. Still, I think you guys are doing a great job and it's exciting watching your store grow and evolve! :applause:
 
[quote name='Amazon DVG Deals']Hey there,

Great question.

Situations like this is why our price matching strategy is currently under review and testing. It is 100% impossible for us to predict what our competition is going to do with any level of accuracy...which is why we need to figure out what is more valuable, running our own creative promotions, price matching, or both.

Cheers,
Tony[/QUOTE]

Hey Tony, nice to hear from you, hope your trip was nice and getting back went well too.

Here's my two cents on the Europa III Chronicles situation as a consumer. First I was very happy with the Paradox pack, even though I haven't played any of the games yet (and owned Magicka complete already) I feel like it was an excellent value on some cool looking games.

Then, I was very surprised and happy to find the e-mail with the credits for EUIII and Hearts of Iron III, but I held off on buying either title. Coming out to about $7 for either game is a great value (much lower than the sale price at other sites even!), but it wasn't "must have, whether I'll play it or not value" like the original Paradox Pack, mostly because it was just "one" game, where the pack had multiple titles. At least, that's the way my thought process went.
I was thinking about grabbing EUIII at some point though, because it used to be one of my absolute favorite Starcraft II mods (not that its directly related to the retail EUIII), but I didn't feel comfortable pulling the trigger right away and I can't say when I would have actually done it if the system hadn't price-matched a sale on it, effectively making it free for people with the coupon.

Now as a consumer, I do believe that the coupon+ price-match =free situation wasn't "working as intended" and I'm not sure what effect the situation has on your overall bottom line. It seems hard to believe Amazon is making a ton of money off the Paradox Pack itself, even if it spurs the purchase of EUIII/Hearts of Iron for $7- still seems like pretty slim profit margins for anyone involved. The volume of such a sale seems like it would be huge and make up for it (I don't know at what point it would be worth it, just my speculation) and maybe more importantly-the PR benefits are absolutely there.

I definitely view Amazon downloads as the premier PC game service around now and I actually find myself regretting purchasing certain games on Steam when I could have bought them from Amazon DRM free. The last games I bought from Steam were some Assassin Creed games when they had the 75% off sale, but that was the first time in over a month and I haven't since then- largely because I find Amazon to be the superior service and I feel confident that I will get just as good of value from Amazon at some point in time. I really prefer the freedom that Amazon's DRM free approach offers. I don't want to sound like a fanboy though- there are definitely some issues I have with the DL service.

Most notably- the (terrible?) download speeds. I haven't done any scientific comparisons, but the Amazon service seems like it takes a very long time to download games from my library.. like really slow, it took me multiple days to install all the Sims 3 games I bought my girlfriend from the MAYhem sale. The estimated DL time (and this seemed accurate) was 3 hours for the 5.6gb Sims 3 base game this was in the late evening to early AM hours, probably not the highest traffic times. Due to the value I got in purchasing the games- I'm not going to cry and throw a fit about the DL speed, but if I were paying full price for a game I would definitely be disappointed, I think it's an area that Amazon could improve (not sure about the cost involved, perhaps the money is indeed better spent providing deals than blazing fast downloads).
Another "issue" is that there could be an option to download and install to any drive or partition when you want to download a game from your library. This would be huge- it is one of the biggest weaknesses of the Steam client. For instance, I want my Skyrim on my SSD (C and D partitions), but I would rather my Roller Coaster Tycoon never touch my SSD and would instead prefer to DL and install on my HDD (E and F). I saw someone post that this is possible if your default drive doesn't have enough room for the game to download in the first place, but it would make a huge difference if you could select where to download and install from the start regardless.

Other than that I love the Amazon service and it has made me realize a lot of the limitations of other game clients. Now whether I would prefer you come up with creative promotions yourself or focus on price-matching... I would say both. I don't think it's fair to your business to necessarily have a situation where there is double dipping resulting in a product being given away for free, but I love seeing your creative promotions- which are usually "must buys". I am also really disappointed when I see a sale on another service and Amazon isn't matching-because I would really rather go with Amazon. So when I see Amazon price match, it's a no-brainer for me to buy it there instead. I don't fully understand how your pricing is decided, like who's making the profit and who's taking a hit or how much is shared, etc. I especially don't know how price-matching factors in to this, but I do know that I have been highly satisfied with the deals Amazon keeps coming.

The preference might be split between Steam/Amazon DRM free and I think it is pretty brilliant to include steam and drm free versions of games like you did during the MAYhem sale. I personally went the DRM free route, but if it helps expose "steam-heads" to the Amazon service and your excellent presence(!) then offering steam codes is great. In the end if Steam and Amazon are having the same promotions it's pretty much a wash to most people as to what is the better service, BUT when there is someone as hardworking and talented as you working on the front lines for Amazon then it makes the choice clear imo. I think Amazons greatest strength is it's flexibility and having someone like you is what really makes that approach work. I think if the client side of things could be made a bit more flexible then it would be as close to a perfect product as I could imagine. Anyways, I hope this feedback helps in any way possible and I am looking forward to the summer sale.

Thanks,
Tracker
 
I think what Amazon is doing is just starting to get into the online PC games distribution business. Think back to early 2011 and I don't think many people were buying much if any games from Amazon Digital right?

Steam has been doing it for a while and Amazon is just stating to get people to try it out and the prices probably have a lot to do with it.

Since it's a new market/business for them and with how large of a lead Steam has, and understanding how Amazon and Jeff Bezos works or has worked, I don't think they mind as much on giving folks the deals to at least start the business relationship with them and improve the experience and pricing and profits much later.

People simply won't bother trying your service or changing the way they play unless they had a pretty big reason to do so and prices are a large factor.

Like I never got anything from gog or even got an account there till they had that free game sale and now, I occasionally check their site now even though the prices aren't that great. I do like the DRM free option though.

My guess is that as their delivery platform evolves and they become more of an eco-system with your gaming (more like Steam), then prices would probably still be a big factor in how they run things since there isn't as much integration yet on their platform.
 
It's brilliant marketing by Tony and Amazon. Steam obviously only sells Steam exclusive stuff. GOG caters (panders) to the DRM free crowd. So... why not offer both options and beat their prices at the same time? Hat's off.
 
Just to chime in, my download speeds through Amazon's downloader are always pretty damn good. A 3 gig or so game only takes me 2-3 hours to download, so it's a YMMV sort of thing. Kind of like I can only get 200-300kbps through GameFly's downloader/client and other people have no problem getting 1000kbps+ speeds. Either way, Amazon's downloader isn't slow; it's pretty fast.

As for Amazon incorporating a client, I'd really rather they didn't. I love the simplicity of their downloader; you just download the game and you're done. It really doesn't need to be more complicated than that. Patching manually is really not a big deal, and having that control is much more preferable in my opinion. Searching a patch, downloading it, double clicking it... that's really not a big deal; I can't see how that's a deal breaker. I guess I'm just saying "don't fix what ain't broken".

Now chop that Hearts of Iron III Collection price already!
 
[quote name='omgoblins']
Most notably- the (terrible?) download speeds. I haven't done any scientific comparisons, but the Amazon service seems like it takes a very long time to download games from my library.. like really slow, it took me multiple days to install all the Sims 3 games I bought my girlfriend from the MAYhem sale. The estimated DL time (and this seemed accurate) was 3 hours for the 5.6gb Sims 3 base game this was in the late evening to early AM hours, probably not the highest traffic times. Due to the value I got in purchasing the games- I'm not going to cry and throw a fit about the DL speed, but if I were paying full price for a game I would definitely be disappointed, I think it's an area that Amazon could improve (not sure about the cost involved, perhaps the money is indeed better spent providing deals than blazing fast downloads).
Thanks,
Tracker[/QUOTE]

I strongly disagree. I mean faster is always better, but I definitely would not consider Amazon download speeds terrible, nor do I think 3 hours for nearly 6 gigs of data to be excessive. It isn't like you are watching an HD movie and speed really matters, you can't start the install process until the entire download completes. I think an expectation of buy, download, play in a matter of minutes is off base for any AAA title made in the last few years. Frankly, if a game is going to take more than 10 minutes to download, I go with the "Ronco Rotisserie Oven" informercial sales pitch: Set it and forget it. Anyone posting on CAG probably has a significant gaming backlog, start your download and play something else in the mean time.

If anything, I think they should set their bandwidth caps up in such a way that smaller games get a higher priority, so if you are buying that older or indie game that is less than 500 megs, you potentially could be playing in just a few minutes.
 
If Amazon were to write a branded download client, I'd hope for a big bunch of features. First off, I'd like it to be an optional client -- you can use the client, or you can do the download/install/manage thing yourself. Secondly, I'd like it to recognize and manage all Amazon-purchased digital downloads: not just games, but music, movies, e-books, everything.

As a file manager, it should help to facilitate downloads, backups, and moves from one location to another (incorporating features of both Steam and SteamMover). Where DRM rears its ugly head, it should be able to accomplish these tasks without running afoul of licensing restrictions.

Patch management could be a little more difficult, depending on how the patches are distributed to Amazon by the publishers. Steam's patch system downloads the specific files to be updated; most standalone patches require a larger download plus the running of an executable. Either way, the decision to patch should belong to the user; patches should not be forced.

You know what would be slick? A game client that showed up in Windows as a virtual hard drive, with the drive space hanging out in the Amazon Cloud. Do that, and any game that allows a choice of "game save" directories becomes cloud-enabled.

What do you think, sirs?
 
[quote name='Mac the Geek']
You know what would be slick? A game client that showed up in Windows as a virtual hard drive, with the drive space hanging out in the Amazon Cloud. Do that, and any game that allows a choice of "game save" directories becomes cloud-enabled.

What do you think, sirs?[/QUOTE]

You can already kind of do this. Replace the save folder in your game directory with a shortcut. Point all of your various game save folders to a single directory. Keep the actual copy of saves in there. This affords the possibility of backing up all of your game saves via backing up a single directory, or mapping a virtual drive to cloud storage and putting it there.

ie
c:\program files\Paradox\CrusaderKingsII\saves
move that folder to
c:\Game Saves\CrusdaerKingsII\
Right click on the saves folder in this new directory, create shortcut, move that shortcut back up into:
c:\program files\Paradox\CrusaderKingsII\
Rename shortcut to Saves (or whatever that folder was originally called.)

Then any time you are in game and it goes to the 'saves' folder, the game thinks it is going to
c:\program files\Paradox\CrusaderKingsII\saves
Yet Windows is, behind the scenes, really point to your new folder.

The only problem with mapping such a folder to a cloud drive, is if the internet or storage site goes down, the game may freak out when its save folder has vanished and Windows doesn't know what to tell it.

Instead, (and this is more complicated) you could simply use something like SyncToys, and run a nightly backup to sync your local game saves folder with your cloud drive saves folder. The first time you do it, it might take several hours depending on how extensive your games saves are, but after that it should go relatively quick.


As to the idea of an Amazon 'client', I have to say I have my doubts they could compete with Steam at this point. GfWL and Origin are both positively terrible compared to Steam. Steam has extensive user forums for all the games, and many times are nearly as active as the developer or lead fan forums for a game. Not to mention the groups, chat functions, friends list, communications, etc. I'd love to see a true competitor to Steam, but Amazon would really have to go balls to the wall and develop a truly kickass client, cause anything half-assed like GfWL or Origin will simply be ridiculed by most gamers. I'd rather they just stick to a quality download service and focus on price, that is a good niche for them at the moment.
 
@travathian (or just expanding on what was said)

if you are worried about the connection to your cloud drive you could try something like dropbox that maintains a directory on your computer and syncs to the cloud drive in the background
 
re: client

I think Amazon did pretty well developing a separate client for Android that does updates etc. They did have the hardware to base that client around though.

I know a lot of people unfamiliar with PC gaming freak out about whether their system will run x y or z game and just generally find the limitless combinations of a PC complicated and intimidating. Maybe some sort of low cost PC built for gaming with a custom UI on top of Windows or something like that might be good. Then they could say all games they sell are tested to run with their system etc to give people that peace of mind when buying. Thinking even further down the line I think something along the lines of Onlive's streaming microconsole has potential, but connection speeds and latency are going to have to get better for that to really take hold.

I know Valve has toyed around with the idea of Steam hardware and Big Picture mode etc but they never quite went anywhere with those and I think it's an idea that could work well if done right.

Anyway, that's just sort of me thinking out loud. I do think there's no point to out-Steam Steam. What would work better is to offer the consumer something different and extra that they can't get elsewhere. That's what Steam did in the first place to get where they are and that didn't happen overnight. Amazon's still pretty early on with their PC digital downloads so it will be interesting to see where that goes.

I do feel like they do a decent job of balancing both the casual and non-casual ends of PC gaming whereas Steam is much more slanted toward non-casual and Big Fish vice versa.
 
[quote name='travathian']I strongly disagree. I mean faster is always better, but I definitely would not consider Amazon download speeds terrible, nor do I think 3 hours for nearly 6 gigs of data to be excessive. It isn't like you are watching an HD movie and speed really matters, you can't start the install process until the entire download completes. I think an expectation of buy, download, play in a matter of minutes is off base for any AAA title made in the last few years. Frankly, if a game is going to take more than 10 minutes to download, I go with the "Ronco Rotisserie Oven" informercial sales pitch: Set it and forget it. Anyone posting on CAG probably has a significant gaming backlog, start your download and play something else in the mean time.

If anything, I think they should set their bandwidth caps up in such a way that smaller games get a higher priority, so if you are buying that older or indie game that is less than 500 megs, you potentially could be playing in just a few minutes.[/QUOTE]

Ok, I get what you mean and I agree, but allow me to elaborate on my experience. I started downloading pretty late, since I wasn't going to sit there for 3 hours I did "set it and forget it" unfortunately- doing so left me with problems. My pc was set up to turn the monitor off and go to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity, well downloading wasn't considered activity so it went to sleep. That surprised me a little, but no biggie.. I turn it back on and start downloading again the next morning- over an hour of downloading later, finished! But wait, the download was corrupted and is missing a bunch of files (including the setup.dll) so I couldn't do anything with it, had to delete the downloaded folder and start all over again- it was a bit of a hassle. This has happened to me multiple times on different games (I know now to set my computer not to sleep until 4 hours of inactivity, but I have the set that every time and then re-enable it). With Steam.. I can pause my download whenever, turn my computer off and come back and it'll start downloading again no problem. Just my experiences, and for the DL speeds, it seemed like a lot of the time I was getting about 100kb/s when I usually pull over 400. This is with charter cable and a very speedy pc. I'm not saying the speed is a huge problem, but I wouldn't consider it a strength. I can't compare this to Steam except to say that installing Skyrim took me less than (or about) an hour today.
 
On the subject of a client, I would hope not. I think all the features that would be good for game management can be done just as effectively from a webpage.

GOG and Battle.net work just fine from the web page alone. I think what modern PC games need is to just have cloud, updates, etc. from inside their own menus. I remember Titan Quest having it's own updater from the game menu and a lot of EA games have updaters from a launcher.

I think it's best if Amazon Digital just better organized their games download page. It would work just as well as the Steam Library if cleaned up.
 
[quote name='Mac the Geek']If Amazon were to write a branded download client, I'd hope for a big bunch of features. First off, I'd like it to be an optional client -- you can use the client, or you can do the download/install/manage thing yourself. Secondly, I'd like it to recognize and manage all Amazon-purchased digital downloads: not just games, but music, movies, e-books, everything.

As a file manager, it should help to facilitate downloads, backups, and moves from one location to another (incorporating features of both Steam and SteamMover). Where DRM rears its ugly head, it should be able to accomplish these tasks without running afoul of licensing restrictions.

Patch management could be a little more difficult, depending on how the patches are distributed to Amazon by the publishers. Steam's patch system downloads the specific files to be updated; most standalone patches require a larger download plus the running of an executable. Either way, the decision to patch should belong to the user; patches should not be forced.

You know what would be slick? A game client that showed up in Windows as a virtual hard drive, with the drive space hanging out in the Amazon Cloud. Do that, and any game that allows a choice of "game save" directories becomes cloud-enabled.

What do you think, sirs?[/QUOTE]

I disagree. I don't want any more download clients. Steam pretty much hit the nail on the head and everyone has been trying to copy them but failing. Instead, we get (a) redundant copies that suck up memory and decrease performance and/or (b) buggy clients that add more frustration to an already frustrating product.

Instead of trying to out-Steam Steam like EA is doing, I think Amazon is on the right track by offering a stripped-down download option with strong incorporation options to the existing publisher clients like Steam and Origin. All they need to do is tweak the ability to set the download directory for the SSDers and increase the download speed and it's fine.
 
[quote name='nategator']I disagree. I don't want any more download clients. Steam pretty much hit the nail on the head and everyone has been trying to copy them but failing. Instead, we get (a) redundant copies that suck up memory and decrease performance and/or (b) buggy clients that add more frustration to an already frustrating product.

Instead of trying to out-Steam Steam like EA is doing, I think Amazon is on the right track by offering a stripped-down download option with strong incorporation options to the existing publisher clients like Steam and Origin. All they need to do is tweak the ability to set the download directory for the SSDers and increase the download speed and it's fine.[/QUOTE]

I agree with this. I avoid most download clients like the plague (other than Steam, Desura, and Origin), this is why I don't buy most gamefly or impulse games that don't activate on Steam. Amazon just needs to fix it so that you can set the download directory.
 
[quote name='sunghost']I agree with this. I avoid most download clients like the plague (other than Steam, Desura, and Origin), this is why I don't buy most gamefly or impulse games that don't activate on Steam. Amazon just needs to fix it so that you can set the download directory.[/QUOTE]
Just a heads up, GameFly's "client" isn't really a client at all. It's just a downloader and installer. Once you've installed the game (at a location of your choosing), you can even copy the game files onto a flash drive, put it on another PC, and fire it up without any more trouble (besides putting in the activation key, etc).

I was against GameFly because I thought you needed to use the client to launch a game and whatnot too, but after caving and grabbing a few games from them recently I'm pleasantly surprised by how simple and effective their system is. My download speeds through them are terrible, but besides that it's really nice because once a game is installed you never have to touch the client again.
 
[quote name='solaris389']I'd throw my 2 cents behind putting all energy/time into your own creative promotions.

I would also like to see some sort of "dashboard" that works for automatically updating games when patches push out (similar to Steam/Origin). Don't care about the rest of their features, the automatic updating is the best part. It may be PC user sacrilege to admit reliance on such things... But it influences my purchasing habits. I'm busy, I don't want to spend time patching my games when I should probably spend my meager free (game) time actually playing.[/QUOTE]

We've definitely heard that patching is something that would add value to our service, I don't have anything to announce right now but if we end up getting anything going on this front you guys will be the first to know.

[quote name='nategator']Hi Tony,

I have a few follow-up questions, if you don't mind. When you run your promotions, is it the publisher that agrees to the lower price or are you sacrificing profit or even taking a loss for the sale? What about price matching a promotion you have not negotiated?

An explanation might help folks understand when they should expect a price match and when they shouldn't.

Finally, anything big planned (like MAYhem) before the Steam Summer sale or are you guys planning on matching what steam does for the next couple months? I understand if you have to keep most of the details secret, but a hint would be great.[/QUOTE]

Promotional pricing varies by promotion, publisher, and often by title. This includes planned promotions and pricematches, unfortunately it would be extremely inappropriate to go into greater detail on specific promotions. T

We're still figuring out what we're doing for the summer sale period. As soon as I have some level of detail I'll provide it for you guys.

[quote name='FQRizzo']I'll throw this out there one more time and then I'll quit bugging you:[/QUOTE]

Sorry, this one didn't end up getting matched because I'm in the process of putting together something more robust involving this title. Just waiting for approvals.

[quote name='deletion']Tony..off topic, but if i pre-order borderlands 2 for pc will i also get $10 amazon credit. I see it for the console but not the pc. just wondering. thanks![/QUOTE]

There isn't currently an amazon credit offer on any PC version (digital or physical) for Borderlands 2, I will let you know if this changes.

[quote name='Chupatintas']I agree with both points. Your own promotions are usually very exciting. And an automatic updater would be awesome for all those DRM-free titles you offer.

My own 2 cents: the experience of browsing and buying DLCs should be improved. Right now DLC either becomes too intrusive during sales or it disappears altogether. It would be great if all DLC was listed on the main page of a game (sometimes, it is), or had its own section. Still, I think you guys are doing a great job and it's exciting watching your store grow and evolve! :applause:[/QUOTE]

Thanks man :). The evolution from 10 months ago when I started has been pretty sweet to watch on my end as well! We're working on the way DLC is displayed on the page, I think you'll like what we're baking up!

[quote name='omgoblins']Hey Tony, nice to hear from you, hope your trip was nice and getting back went well too.

Here's my two cents on the Europa III Chronicles situation as a consumer. First I was very happy with the Paradox pack, even though I haven't played any of the games yet (and owned Magicka complete already) I feel like it was an excellent value on some cool looking games.

Then, I was very surprised and happy to find the e-mail with the credits for EUIII and Hearts of Iron III, but I held off on buying either title. Coming out to about $7 for either game is a great value (much lower than the sale price at other sites even!), but it wasn't "must have, whether I'll play it or not value" like the original Paradox Pack, mostly because it was just "one" game, where the pack had multiple titles. At least, that's the way my thought process went.
I was thinking about grabbing EUIII at some point though, because it used to be one of my absolute favorite Starcraft II mods (not that its directly related to the retail EUIII), but I didn't feel comfortable pulling the trigger right away and I can't say when I would have actually done it if the system hadn't price-matched a sale on it, effectively making it free for people with the coupon.

Now as a consumer, I do believe that the coupon+ price-match =free situation wasn't "working as intended" and I'm not sure what effect the situation has on your overall bottom line. It seems hard to believe Amazon is making a ton of money off the Paradox Pack itself, even if it spurs the purchase of EUIII/Hearts of Iron for $7- still seems like pretty slim profit margins for anyone involved. The volume of such a sale seems like it would be huge and make up for it (I don't know at what point it would be worth it, just my speculation) and maybe more importantly-the PR benefits are absolutely there.

I definitely view Amazon downloads as the premier PC game service around now and I actually find myself regretting purchasing certain games on Steam when I could have bought them from Amazon DRM free. The last games I bought from Steam were some Assassin Creed games when they had the 75% off sale, but that was the first time in over a month and I haven't since then- largely because I find Amazon to be the superior service and I feel confident that I will get just as good of value from Amazon at some point in time. I really prefer the freedom that Amazon's DRM free approach offers. I don't want to sound like a fanboy though- there are definitely some issues I have with the DL service.

Most notably- the (terrible?) download speeds. I haven't done any scientific comparisons, but the Amazon service seems like it takes a very long time to download games from my library.. like really slow, it took me multiple days to install all the Sims 3 games I bought my girlfriend from the MAYhem sale. The estimated DL time (and this seemed accurate) was 3 hours for the 5.6gb Sims 3 base game this was in the late evening to early AM hours, probably not the highest traffic times. Due to the value I got in purchasing the games- I'm not going to cry and throw a fit about the DL speed, but if I were paying full price for a game I would definitely be disappointed, I think it's an area that Amazon could improve (not sure about the cost involved, perhaps the money is indeed better spent providing deals than blazing fast downloads).
Another "issue" is that there could be an option to download and install to any drive or partition when you want to download a game from your library. This would be huge- it is one of the biggest weaknesses of the Steam client. For instance, I want my Skyrim on my SSD (C and D partitions), but I would rather my Roller Coaster Tycoon never touch my SSD and would instead prefer to DL and install on my HDD (E and F). I saw someone post that this is possible if your default drive doesn't have enough room for the game to download in the first place, but it would make a huge difference if you could select where to download and install from the start regardless.

Other than that I love the Amazon service and it has made me realize a lot of the limitations of other game clients. Now whether I would prefer you come up with creative promotions yourself or focus on price-matching... I would say both. I don't think it's fair to your business to necessarily have a situation where there is double dipping resulting in a product being given away for free, but I love seeing your creative promotions- which are usually "must buys". I am also really disappointed when I see a sale on another service and Amazon isn't matching-because I would really rather go with Amazon. So when I see Amazon price match, it's a no-brainer for me to buy it there instead. I don't fully understand how your pricing is decided, like who's making the profit and who's taking a hit or how much is shared, etc. I especially don't know how price-matching factors in to this, but I do know that I have been highly satisfied with the deals Amazon keeps coming.

The preference might be split between Steam/Amazon DRM free and I think it is pretty brilliant to include steam and drm free versions of games like you did during the MAYhem sale. I personally went the DRM free route, but if it helps expose "steam-heads" to the Amazon service and your excellent presence(!) then offering steam codes is great. In the end if Steam and Amazon are having the same promotions it's pretty much a wash to most people as to what is the better service, BUT when there is someone as hardworking and talented as you working on the front lines for Amazon then it makes the choice clear imo. I think Amazons greatest strength is it's flexibility and having someone like you is what really makes that approach work. I think if the client side of things could be made a bit more flexible then it would be as close to a perfect product as I could imagine. Anyways, I hope this feedback helps in any way possible and I am looking forward to the summer sale.

Thanks,
Tracker[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the extremely well thought out feedback/post, and the kind words.

I love hearing the feedback on download speeds and the desire to assign a download location. I keep a running document with this feedback to review with the engineers regularly.

What I really love about this community in general) is that you are all really mature and willing to discuss rationally what's going on with the business and why.

I try to be as transparent as possible with you guys and love the community we've built here :).

[quote name='thegreatest']Any news on an ARMA 2 sale? Hopefully that activates on Steam?[/QUOTE]

Still chugging along on this. No news yet though.

[quote name='Duckvader']Quick question about the Crysis promo credit...does it end on the beginning of 06/12 or 11:59PM of 06/12?[/QUOTE]

It goes through 6/12.

[quote name='60fps']On the subject of a client, I would hope not. I think all the features that would be good for game management can be done just as effectively from a webpage.

GOG and Battle.net work just fine from the web page alone. I think what modern PC games need is to just have cloud, updates, etc. from inside their own menus. I remember Titan Quest having it's own updater from the game menu and a lot of EA games have updaters from a launcher.

I think it's best if Amazon Digital just better organized their games download page. It would work just as well as the Steam Library if cleaned up.[/QUOTE]

This is definitely on the roadmap (better organization of the library).

Thanks again guys! You are awesome :).

Cheers,
Tony
 
[quote name='Amazon DVG Deals']Luckily...much like The Mac...it will return.

Cheers,
Tony[/QUOTE]

Like a BOSS, keep up the amazing work my friend!
 
[quote name='Amazon DVG Deals']Luckily...much like The Mac...it will return.

Cheers,
Tony[/QUOTE]


As well as the resulting succession of deals? :lol::applause:

Now missing all of that really stings! Ahh, with hindsight.....or time travel.
 
[quote name='Jackovasaurus']How's FIFA 12 on pc?[/QUOTE]
It's awesome. Same exact thing on PS3/360 only with better graphics and modding tools. I'm playing the game (online and offline) using the new USA kits and other new kits in general. =D
 
[quote name='jedik']It's awesome. Same exact thing on PS3/360 only with better graphics and modding tools. I'm playing the game (online and offline) using the new USA kits and other new kits in general. =D[/QUOTE]

How's the online community for it?
 
[quote name='Amazon DVG Deals']Luckily...much like The Mac...it will return.

Cheers,
Tony[/QUOTE]

If you can manage to finagle Steam keys for the non-Steam games in the future edition we shall commence a bro-mance.
 
[quote name='Mooby']If you can manage to finagle Steam keys for the non-Steam games in the future edition we shall commence a bro-mance.[/QUOTE]

No, No, No, I believe I called dibs. Just saying.
 
[quote name='Mooby']If you can manage to finagle Steam keys for the non-Steam games in the future edition we shall commence a bro-mance.[/QUOTE]

double dutch rudder? ;)
 
Wonder if Amalur will ever drop to a lower price?

I have a wrapped copy of Risen. :p I got it from Amazon during a sale on it already.
 
[quote name='TheKbob']Wonder if Amalur will ever drop to a lower price?

I have a wrapped copy of Risen. :p I got it from Amazon during a sale on it already.[/QUOTE]

There's no reason it shouldn't, most games do that and with the studio bankrupt and a bunch of sales on amazon and elsewhere coming up (with amazon maybe PM'ing) chances are good.
 
I hope Amalur drops lower at some point. It is a pretty good time - I bought it at release.

I've been wanting my friends to give it a go, but I have problems recommending anything to others at $40.

Once it gets to the $20-$25 range, I'll feel more comfortable in pushing them into a purchase.


I'd like to see Risen 2 for $25-ish at some point as well; seeing Risen in the thread title got me excited. Unfortunately, it was just Risen 1. Good game, but it's been on sale for dirt cheap a ton already.
 
[quote name='thegreatest']Any news on an ARMA 2 sale? Hopefully that activates on Steam?[/QUOTE]

Not going to happen. Really.


[quote name='60fps']I think what modern PC games need is to just have cloud, updates, etc. from inside their own menus.[/QUOTE]

Sadly the big old Valve monopoly insists on handling game updates. And it's reasonably ugly when F2P MMOs or 'real' MMOs on Steam do that by themselves. You download ancient game files only for the game's launcher to download new ones all over again. But that's more idiocy on behalf of the developers & Valve, for distributing an old complete install instead of just an installer.


[quote name='Jackovasaurus']How's FIFA 12 on pc?[/QUOTE]
Definitely worth the $10. Same game as on the consoles, though it does have a few LOD bugs for me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dDFByTStfA
But yeah, now it's actually the same game on PC as on consoles, not some crappy PS2 port.


[quote name='jedik']It's awesome. Same exact thing on PS3/360 only with better graphics and modding tools. I'm playing the game (online and offline) using the new USA kits and other new kits in general. =D[/QUOTE]
Where's one find mod packs for it? I only tried a gameplay patch a few months ago, but I think that lead to problems with the online game.
Re adding missing national & club sides, do people commonly use the in game custom data sharing feature for this, or download things out of game?
 
Valve doesn't handle updates for some games. AI War and A Valley Without Wind are updated within the game themselves even if you buy them on Steam. If they're willing to let a small developer like Arcen do that, I imagine if any devs WANTED to do it they could.
 
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