Amazon PCDD - Important Update New Community Manager Incoming!

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Hey CAGS,

I’ve got some news I’m both excited and sad to share with you at the same time. I’ll be leaving the Digital Video Games team in Mid-March to join the marketing team for Amazon.com’s Loyalty and Rewards program, Amazon Coins. My boss and I have talked extensively about how to maintain and continue our presence here and across the other communities we’ve created in the past couple of years. To that end I’d like to introduce you to Josh, who take over monitoring, updating, and responding to this thread. Josh will be ramping up over the next couple of weeks, he  will be posting shortly to introduce himself.

Now that the “what’s going on” part of the message is out of the way I want to tell you all how much I love CAG and the posters here. This was the first community I joined when I started this job (anyone still remember that first thread?) and all of you have had a huge hand in shaping how we think about and execute Community Development and Management here at Amazon, which has in turn shaped my career these last two and a half years.

I started to write out a section calling out the regular posters and realized the list would be both overly long and incomplete at the same time. Instead I’d like to thank you all again, you all have my deep and sincere gratitude. I’ll still be around and my gaming accounts aren’t going anywhere so feel free to hit me up anytime you want to chat. I’ll probably still hang out in the thread too :).

Thanks again everyone, let me or Josh know if you have any questions!

The Indie Store has launched!
Amazon.com is launching a storefront dedicated to supporting and promoting PC/Mac/Web-based Indie Games. Our Digital Video Games team is a small group of passionate gamers and we’re all really excited to help Indie developers reach more customers quickly by providing a quick and simple process for bringing their games to market. Additionally we’ll be supporting the Indie Store with a ton of promotions, both at and after launch. Many of these promotions are designed to give the developer the opportunity to maximize their revenue. For example, Amazon is forfeiting all royalties from bundle sales and passing them along directly to the developer, we’ve also created an “Indie Spotlight” program to help customers learn more about the games and developers they love. We view the Indie developers as some of the most creative in the industry and we want to help them continue to create new and innovative experience for customers.

Why we are doing this:

  • Allow customers to discover an entirely new category of games on Amazon.com
  • Help developers reach new customers quickly. Our onboarding process is straightforward and we want to sell every Indie game available
  • We want to leverage our strengths to support and help the developers who are driving forward innovation and creativity in the games industry
General Information

Hi CAGs,
I'll be posting deals we're running on Digital Games (PC/Mac, Free to Play, Sony/Microsoft Points/Subs).

I'm also here to answer questions you might have, get you closer to the developers by hosting Q&As, setting up podcasts, live streaming gameplay etc. If I don't respond to a question you have in thread please send me a PM. These ping my email address and make it more likely that I will see your question and respond more quickly.

Cheers,
Tony


FYI. EA Games sold by Amazon will not activate on Steam.
F.A.Q.S.:

1. Does the game I'm buying from Amazon Activate on Steam/Origin/Uplay? What DRM does the game use?

There are two places to identify DRM on a digital video game detail page:

At the top of the page, below the title:

16hm7a8.png


In the "Product Description" section:

r06ykl.jpg


2. Note on Electronic Arts Games - For the most part, EA games sold on Amazon do not activate on Steam. Most activate on Origin.

3. Note on DRM with limited activations:

Our Policy



4. Sometimes I'll do giveaways.

5. I work with developers and publishers to get fun (or at least what I think is fun) content to share with you all. Here are some examples:

a. Check out the Pax Gameplay videos here: Xcom: Enemy Unknown I played Xcom with Jake, the Creative Director for the game, a few months before the game came out Also, on this page, check out the Q&A, also a community driven event.

b. Check out the interview on this page: Borderlands 2 we did this interview at E3 with Randy Pitchford this year.

c. We've partnered with the ++GoodGames Podcast to feature many of the games we carry. They talk to the developers about the game development process, how the games are conceptualized and managed, all kinds of fun stuff. I'm working on putting together full link list and will update when I have it.

What else do we sell?

Xbox Live Points and Subscriptions:

1600 Microsoft Live Points
4000 Microsoft Live Points
12 Month XBOX Live Subscription
3 Month XBOX Live Subscription]
12 Month + 1 XBOX Live Subscription

PSN+ Subscriptions and PSN Points:

$20 PSN Points
$50 PSN Points
12 Month PSN+ Subscription
3 Month PSN+ Subscription

We also have a Free-2-Play store supported by our GameConnect technology. Gameconnect allows you to link your Amazon.com account with free-2-play and MMO accounts so that you can buy things like in game currency, premium game time/subscriptions, in game items, etc. on Amazon.com using your Amazon.com payment options and have this content delivered directly into your game.

5. Price Matching notes: Generally we do not match international retailers (GMG, Gamersgate, etc) or physical retailers (Best Buy, Newegg.com, etc.)
To check out the Free-2-Play games we offer you can visit our storefront here: Free-2-Play Store

 
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Am I right in thinking that the PCDD section of Amazon is now international? I just saw an article about it opening in the UK, and I just checked here in NZ and it no long says "only available for purchase in the US". This is awesome news if it's correct :)

 
Motoki said:
Does that mean we Americans can all use fake UK McDonalds addresses to buy from them now?

*Edit: They have a section on How to Buy a Digital Game and How to Download a Digital Game. Oh Europe.
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We like retail in the UK. Until fairly recently the online companies (amazon etc) were far cheaper than our digital options outside of steam sales. I used to only use digital for indie games. I think I only switched to digital for AAA non-sale pre-order titles and stuff less than a year ago - mostly thanks to GMG (and a friend moving to America and lending me his address for US TV DVD deliveries which handily works for games. :D )

 
CitizenErased13 said:
Am I right in thinking that the PCDD section of Amazon is now international? I just saw an article about it opening in the UK, and I just checked here in NZ and it no long says "only available for purchase in the US". This is awesome news if it's correct :)
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While it would be cool if they could pull that off, the amount of legal mumbo jumbo, contracts, you can't sell this game in this country, that game needs to have the censored version in that country, publisher wants charge X amount in country A, Y amount in country B etc etc gives me a headache to think about. Also I suspect that people outside the US might find that if international sales were made official they'd not get the same pricing as buying on the down low and not for the better.

Anyhow I am still seeing the "Currently, this item is available only to customers located in the United States and who have a U.S. billing address." under the product details for all the games I looked at and the UK site has a similar notice. Not that anyone pays attention to it at all.

At very least though I think it's a bit silly for the indie games to not be opened up internationally. I seriously doubt some little indie developer is going to put up any regional restrictions or differing pricing or any of that.
 
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CitizenErased13 said:
Am I right in thinking that the PCDD section of Amazon is now international? I just saw an article about it opening in the UK, and I just checked here in NZ and it no long says "only available for purchase in the US". This is awesome news if it's correct :)
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What's happened is that we now actually have our own digital games section on Amazon UK - with our own local prices and different offers. It's not that we're allowed to shop at the US one with a UK address - we're still not.

I'm not sure whether we have our own clone of Tony, with added British accent, lurking anywhere or not!?

 
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Is there any way we can get a PM on black ops 2? Its 9.99 at microcenter

I would post the link but i can't cause i'm a no0b...

Thanks!
 
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targetbsp said:
What's happened is that we now actually have our own digital games section on Amazon UK - with our own local prices and different offers. It's not that we're allowed to shop at the US one with a UK address - we're still not.

I'm not sure whether we have our own clone of Tony, with added British accent, lurking anywhere or not!?
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Could be like Orphan Black with an army of clones. There'd be punk rock English Tony and science nerd Tony and housewife Tony...

 
Tallkido said:
was hoping for a deal on batman aa goty
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Agreed, if this bundle included Batman AA GOTY as well for an additional dollar or something, it would be instant buy for me. As it is, I'm still considering the bundle, but I also know the best deals on the Batman games are when they are bundled together...

 
tfr said:
Mortal Kombat is not Komplete without Kratos. You must resist.

It does have best story mode for any fighting game in centuries.
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To anyone who's on the fence about MK9 for PC. Ill try to help sway you in one direction or another. I own the game let me tell you somethings about the PC port.

First off the PC port looks way better then the console counterparts (obviously lol). I own the game on PS3 & Vita, so I know what the difference are. This is a full fledged PC port not a bad port job. You have a lot of display settings and 2 types of AA settings alone in the settings. It runs super smooth online and off (60FPS locked for me w/ vsync on). The online community is somewhat dead so you may find it hard to find matches depending on the day of time it is. But the game does support up to 4 players locally and has full x360 controller and fighting pad support. PC version does come with all of the content released for the consoles minus Kratos (who IMO is not that good of a character to begin with).

Also the game does not have native 3D support as the PS3 did but NVIDIA's 3D Vision does do a great job regardless. The game does look really good in 3D for not having native support. I did not regret buying the game a month ago again for the 3rd time when it came out for PC through GMG. If you want another fighter for your PC this game is a must! Plus the more people buy it, maybe NetherRealms makes a PC port of Injustice? (wishful thinking) :)

 
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Amazon DVG Deals said:
Hey guys,

I passed along your feedback about bundling to my team's site merchandiser, we put a stop gap in place until our tech team can build something for real:

http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Arkham-City-GOTY-Download/dp/B00AHH5736

Cheers,
Tony
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That's a pretty cool feature and well placed there right in sight! Can totally see it helping in gettin more sales from those people who randomly look through the store and aren't fully aware of the currently running promotions.

 
ZiggyGod said:
To anyone who's on the fence about MK9 for PC. Ill try to help sway you in one direction or another. I own the game let me tell you somethings about the PC port.

First off the PC port looks way better then the console counterparts (obviously lol). I own the game on PS3 & Vita, so I know what the difference are. This is a full fledged PC port not a bad port job. You have a lot of display settings and 2 types of AA settings alone in the settings. It runs super smooth online and off (60FPS locked for me w/ vsync on). The online community is somewhat dead so you may find it hard to find matches depending on the day of time it is. But the game does support up to 4 players locally and has full x360 controller and fighting pad support. PC version does come with all of the content released for the consoles minus Kratos (who IMO is not that good of a character to begin with).

Also the game does not have native 3D support as the PS3 did but NVIDIA's 3D Vision does do a great job regardless. The game does look really good in 3D for not having native support. I did not regret buying the game a month ago again for the 3rd time when it came out for PC through GMG. If you want another fighter for your PC this game is a must! Plus the more people buy it, maybe NetherRealms makes a PC port of Injustice? (wishful thinking) :)
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I'm not a big fan of this series but I did pick up MK9 when it first came out on the PS3, played it for a bit and sold it. Recently bought the $5 Vita digital version. The difference in graphics are huge between the PS3 and Vita. Vita version actually look like a PS2 game, escpecially during close ups. I have to say it's probably the worst looking console to vita fighting game there is. Now, I did check out the PC version at my friend's house and it looks a bit better than the PS3 version on a 4 year old Core2Quad PC with very average 5670 Radeon card. It can run steadily at 60fps at 1600x900 with anti-aliasing off, except for 1 stage; the stage with spinning green tornado like thing in the background. That stage drops 10 fps for some reason.

So if anyone on the fense on which version to pickup, I'd say the PS3 version. It's got good enough graphics and runs at 60fps with online community to boot. 1 extra exclusive character doesn't hurt either. The PC version is the graphical champ, no argument there but fighting games are to play with other people when you "think" you are good. If there's no community online to play with, there's no point. As for the Vita version, don't get it unless you have no consoles and it's $5 or less.

 
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MK9 looks great on the computer EXCEPT for the quality of the cutscenes (which their are alot of) they are low res and have low quality sounds as well. Other then that it's a worthwhile package.

 
Sorry if it's already been asked, but if I buy the WB bundle, is there a way I can sell the Arkham City code since I already have it?

 
The cutscenes in MK9 look terrible, especially the ones that cut back and forth from pre-rendered to being rendered on the fly. Why they didn't just do the whole thing in-engine I have no clue. Apparently someone has ripped high-def cut scenes from the PS3 version that you can download and replace them with if you want, but of course the download is absolutely massive.

That graveyard stage has something broken with AA that kills framerate, I ended up just turning AA off and leaving it off for ladder matches in case it comes up randomly. I was hoping it would get fixed in a patch but the game hasn't been patched at all. The game actually doesn't seem to need the AA much at high resolution so I really don't even notice it is gone (and that's usually something I'm pretty sensitive to).

The PC version also comes with everything unlocked from the very beginning, all the characters and all the costumes. I can see that being a downside to people who like unlocking things (it still tells you that you unlocked stuff at relevant times, it's just already there to be chosen), but as some of the better costumes are rather hard to unlock, I was happy it did so.

 
MPoWeRM3 said:
So if anyone on the fense on which version to pickup, I'd say the PS3 version.
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[customspoiler=You came to the wrong neighborhood, playa.]
bd00f79afdd45db3257b2cbcc4f74fd4-owl-gang-thinks-you-came-to-the-wrong-neighborhood.jpg
[/customspoiler]

Honestly, though, the PS3 version is considerably pricier, and the PC version will be $7.50 in no time. Better graphics and cheaper wins in my book (possibly other books, too) everyday.

It is a shame that the multiplayer community is smaller on PC, but in my experience, online multiplayer in fighting games is only worthwhile with friends. The community is always full of elitist asshats who are rightfully elitist, because they can kick your ass six ways to Sunday before you can say "GET OVER HERE!"

Since you can still play locally or online with friends, I don't see the lack of PUG online stuff much of a reason to buy the PS3 version over the PC version.

 
lomaxgnome said:
The cutscenes in MK9 look terrible, especially the ones that cut back and forth from pre-rendered to being rendered on the fly. Why they didn't just do the whole thing in-engine I have no clue. Apparently someone has ripped high-def cut scenes from the PS3 version that you can download and replace them with if you want, but of course the download is absolutely massive.

That graveyard stage has something broken with AA that kills framerate, I ended up just turning AA off and leaving it off for ladder matches in case it comes up randomly. I was hoping it would get fixed in a patch but the game hasn't been patched at all. The game actually doesn't seem to need the AA much at high resolution so I really don't even notice it is gone (and that's usually something I'm pretty sensitive to).

The PC version also comes with everything unlocked from the very beginning, all the characters and all the costumes. I can see that being a downside to people who like unlocking things (it still tells you that you unlocked stuff at relevant times, it's just already there to be chosen), but as some of the better costumes are rather hard to unlock, I was happy it did so.
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I downloaded the upgraded cutscenes pack,it worked on like 2 cutscenes and then it crashed. Not sure if it was a fluke but I downloaded:

MK9 PC Movies Re-Encode BIK 720p 12.9GB download

Might take some tweaks to get working right, but they looked and sounded way better. Like I said mine crashed after a couple cutscenes so could have just been a fluke but I replaced afterwards because I would rather deal with shitty cutscenes then crashing to desktop.

 
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My usual CAG 75% off or better off MSRP regular price ($30) failed.

I couldn't resist MK9: Komplete at $13.49 (a little over 50% off) - b/c it's freaking MK.

 
stupidproz1 said:
I downloaded the upgraded cutscenes pack,it worked on like 2 cutscenes and then it crashed. Not sure if it was a fluke but I downloaded:

MK9 PC Movies Re-Encode BIK 720p 12.9GB download

Might take some tweaks to get working right, but they looked and sounded way better. Like I said mine crashed after a couple cutscenes so could have just been a fluke but I replaced afterwards because I would rather deal with shitty cutscenes then crashing to desktop.
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I am going to totally check this out. Thanks for the heads up on this. :)

 
Idiotekque said:
[customspoiler=You came to the wrong neighborhood, playa.]
bd00f79afdd45db3257b2cbcc4f74fd4-owl-gang-thinks-you-came-to-the-wrong-neighborhood.jpg
[/customspoiler]

Honestly, though, the PS3 version is considerably pricier, and the PC version will be $7.50 in no time. Better graphics and cheaper wins in my book (possibly other books, too) everyday.

It is a shame that the multiplayer community is smaller on PC, but in my experience, online multiplayer in fighting games is only worthwhile with friends. The community is always full of elitist asshats who are rightfully elitist, because they can kick your ass six ways to Sunday before you can say "GET OVER HERE!"

Since you can still play locally or online with friends, I don't see the lack of PUG online stuff much of a reason to buy the PS3 version over the PC version.
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Did I really come to the wrong neighborhood? lol

Anyways, the console versions are constantly selling at $15-17 at Amazon. Yes, the PC version is slightly cheaper right now by few bucks but arguing about the price for a sub $20 msrp game is pointless I think. I could easily say the $15-17 console game is resalable/tradable after you are done so effectively making it cheaper than the $13.49 digital PC version.

As for online community in fighting games, there are more than just god-like players and total newbies. There are in between players as well. Again, if the community is big enough like on consoles, you'll find all sorts of players quite easily.

I buy PC games over consoles games as much as possible but fighting games are generally just better on consoles due to the community (as long as they are running 60fps of course). To me, that outweighs the better graphics statement on the PC.

 
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Biggest problem with MK9 multiplayer is the lag, unless you have near perfect connection with someone that game is annoyingly laggy to the point of basically being unplayable. Also a lot of people have had weird bugs where no one shows up in the list of the lobby. For me, fighting games have always been single player/local experiences anyway, so it was perfect for what I wanted. As I suggested earlier, anyone looking for online multiplayer fighting should go for Skullgirls, it's only $11.25 in a four pack and you can get it even cheaper if you hunt around.

stupidproz1 said:
I downloaded the upgraded cutscenes pack,it worked on like 2 cutscenes and then it crashed. Not sure if it was a fluke but I downloaded:

MK9 PC Movies Re-Encode BIK 720p 12.9GB download

Might take some tweaks to get working right, but they looked and sounded way better. Like I said mine crashed after a couple cutscenes so could have just been a fluke but I replaced afterwards because I would rather deal with shitty cutscenes then crashing to desktop.
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That sounds like what I saw, I never tried it, by the time I had even heard about it I was already 80% of the way through the story mode and it wasn't worth the hassle to me. If I ever decide to replay the story mode I'll probably install it. Still hoping for some decent character mods but it seems pretty clear there won't be anything comparable to what SF4 has.

 
Tony,

Am I right in remembering that those of us who preordered Bioshock Infinite and got the $30 2K credit- are able to get Brave New World for free 30 days after being release? I remember seeing a note somewhere that the credit wasn't good for pre-orders or until 30 days after the game has been released. Since it came out 7/9/13, the 30 days should pass by tomorrow? Am I hallucinating in remembering this or do you have any confirmation?

 
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Mrhankyspj said:
Tony,

Am I right in remembering that those of us who preordered Bioshock Infinite and got the $30 2K credit- are able to get Brave New World for free 30 days after being release? I remember seeing a note somewhere that the credit wasn't good for pre-orders or until 30 days after the game has been released. Since it came out 7/9/13, the 30 days should pass by tomorrow? Am I hallucinating in remembering this or do you have any confirmation?
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yes and yes

psychedelic-geometry-hallucinations.jpg


 
Mrhankyspj said:
Tony,

Am I right in remembering that those of us who preordered Bioshock Infinite and got the $30 2K credit- are able to get Brave New World for free 30 days after being release? I remember seeing a note somewhere that the credit wasn't good for pre-orders or until 30 days after the game has been released. Since it came out 7/9/13, the 30 days should pass by tomorrow? Am I hallucinating in remembering this or do you have any confirmation?
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On a related note, it's on sale now at Amazon UK Digital for £10 (~$15.50)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meiers-Civilization-Brave-World-Online/dp/B00E1OB53C

'Mac' version but it's a Steam key and it's Steamplay so it automatically registers as both Mac and PC versions when you redeem the key.

Only available for purchase to those with UK addresses. *winkwink*nudgenudge*

 
I got the immortal action pack and it is the best deal if you want at least 3 of the 4 games in the pack. Even though I already own Arkham City I don't mind getting a steam version of it for convience later. At $22 that makes every game  in the bundle $5.50, so it's a steal. I have wanted to buy War in the North and MK:Kollection for a while now, but even on sale I hesitated because of my backlog. But throw in MK:Komplete and Arkham City and it just rocks. Even if you didn't want B:AC GOTY the 3 games still make the pack a better deal at $7.33 each and you can sell B:AC if you wanted.

As far as MK:Komplete goes. Graphically the game is best on PC for the actual fighting portions (I own PS3 and Vita versions), but the PC version suffers cutscene issues on any display larger than 1920x1080 because of the upscaling. I run at 2560x1600 so the cutscenes really suck. Unfortunately prerendered cutscenes are the better way to do story modes in fighting games especially on consoles so we are stuck with them here on the PC also. While they could do game engine cutscenes it would be a lot more work especially with a game like MK.

 
LurkerLito said:
I got the immortal action pack and it is the best deal if you want at least 3 of the 4 games in the pack. Even though I already own Arkham City I don't mind getting a steam version of it for convience later. At $22 that makes every game in the bundle $5.50, so it's a steal. I have wanted to buy War in the North and MK:Kollection for a while now, but even on sale I hesitated because of my backlog. But throw in MK:Komplete and Arkham City and it just rocks. Even if you didn't want B:AC GOTY the 3 games still make the pack a better deal at $7.33 each and you can sell B:AC if you wanted.

As far as MK:Komplete goes. Graphically the game is best on PC for the actual fighting portions (I own PS3 and Vita versions), but the PC version suffers cutscene issues on any display larger than 1920x1080 because of the upscaling. I run at 2560x1600 so the cutscenes really suck. Unfortunately prerendered cutscenes are the better way to do story modes in fighting games especially on consoles so we are stuck with them here on the PC also. While they could do game engine cutscenes it would be a lot more work especially with a game like MK.
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Mortal Kombat Collection has been $2.25 before, apparently, and War in the North has been $4ish. I think Batman has been $5, but I could be wrong.

If you really want all of the games, it's not a terrible bundle though.
 
Its a decent bundle if you are interested in all the games.  The problem is all I want is the new MK.  I have Batman w/ dlc and LOTR.  The retro Mks have very little value to me.   I don't want to spend $13.50 on just MK so it looks like I'm going to wait.  $7.50 or bust.

 
pROvIs said:
Its a decent bundle if you are interested in all the games. The problem is all I want is the new MK. I have Batman w/ dlc and LOTR. The retro Mks have very little value to me. I don't want to spend $13.50 on just MK so it looks like I'm going to wait. $7.50 or bust.
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u mean 75% off or bust

 
Trusty Mutsi said:
THIS is why I'm getting it now instead of waiting for it to get much cheaper.
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I'm also hoping we get Injustice ported to the PC, as well.

Spent 3 hours or so last night w/ MK9: Komplete.

Was doing the Old School Ladder Mode - like the old MK games.

Game's a blast. Most of the Fatalities that I seen - they're awesome.

 
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