Amazon PCDD - Important Update New Community Manager Incoming!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Amazon DVG Deals

Amazon DVG Deals

Official Representative
Feedback
4 (100%)
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

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Was the Gold edition of AC4 $30 or the base game? One day I don't visit this goddamn thread and I always miss the few things I am actually waiting for ....

 
Darthstryk3R said:
The issues Ive heard about Creed 3 is why Im being cautious. Was hoping someone picked up the pc version today had any feedback
Click to expand...
3 and 4's 'problem' is that unlike most PC games which just need a good GPU, I think they need a good CPU. If you don't have a decent CPU they will run pants when you reach a town. My Core2Duo @ 3.5GHZ drops to 20fps in towns irrrespective of graphic detail settings.. It doesn't benefit massively from lots of cores either so it's not like a quad core would be better - you'll need a CPU whose individual cores are more powerful than mine are. This admittedly shouldn't be hard as my CPU is 5 years old! It's just something to bare in mind if you're one of those that have noticed CPU upgrades are poor value for gaming and only update your GPU. That approach to hardware upgrades doesn't suit this game.

 
Regarding Enslaved in a bundle: why not a Namco Bandai PC ports bundle? They've got Enslaved, Dark Souls, and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon as the big console ports there.


I wish I knew how to include Lord of Shadows there.
 
DarkZero104 said:
Regarding Enslaved in a bundle: why not a Namco Bandai PC ports bundle? They've got Enslaved, Dark Souls, and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon as the big console ports there.
Click to expand...
Because we all bought Dark Souls already either this sale that just passed, or when it was $7.50 back in the spring. Pac-Man is much newer, and many of us have been waiting to see its first killer deal. Star Trek is in a similar situation.

 
I haven't been getting my credit for the PSN Amazon store. The outsourced reps don't seem to understand what I'm talking about.

1. I purchased the PS4 3-game indie bundle and at the time it was supposed to come with a $10 credit. It has since been reduced to $5 but the indie bundle was once up there with the other $10 credit bundles. http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1001625111

2. I purchased an eligible PS4 game (two actually) on November 12th after 9AM and never received the $5 credit.
The page I had is 404 now, but here's the wording, "Between 9:00AM PST on November 12, 2013 and 9:00AM PST on November 13, 2013, purchase any PS4 title below and get a $5 credit to use in our new Amazon PlayStation Network Store, featuring digital games and DLC for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita. We will send you confirmation of your credit via email within two days after your qualifying order ships. This credit must be used by 12/31/2014 (and cannot be used on Amazon.com Gift Cards or PlayStation Network Gift Cards). To redeem your credit, simply purchase a qualifying digital item from the Amazon PlayStation Network Store (digital items will have [Digital Code] in the title). Your credit will be automatically applied during checkout. Limit one per customer." The eligible games were NOT digital. They were discs.

Does Tony look into these things because I'm getting nowhere with Amazon support?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Spokker said:
I haven't been getting my credit for the PSN Amazon store. The outsourced reps don't seem to understand what I'm talking about.

1. I purchased the PS4 3-game indie bundle and at the time it was supposed to come with a $10 credit. It has since been reduced to $5 but the indie bundle was once up there with the other $10 credit bundles. http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1001625111

2. I purchased an eligible PS4 game (two actually) on November 12th after 9AM and never received the $5 credit.
The page I had is 404 now, but here's the wording, "Between 9:00AM PST on November 12, 2013 and 9:00AM PST on November 13, 2013, purchase any PS4 title below and get a $5 credit to use in our new Amazon PlayStation Network Store, featuring digital games and DLC for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita. We will send you confirmation of your credit via email within two days after your qualifying order ships. This credit must be used by 12/31/2014 (and cannot be used on Amazon.com Gift Cards or PlayStation Network Gift Cards). To redeem your credit, simply purchase a qualifying digital item from the Amazon PlayStation Network Store (digital items will have [Digital Code] in the title). Your credit will be automatically applied during checkout. Limit one per customer." The eligible games were NOT digital. They were discs.

Does Tony look into these things because I'm getting nowhere with Amazon support?
Click to expand...
Honestly man you'll stand a better chance giving tony this info in a pm. You are less likely to have your post lost in a sea of key drops, bundle deals and game discussions.

Tony is good at helping with these situations, but always start with cs first. Also he is usually pretty timely with pm responses as long as there is not a major sell going on.

Good luck!
 
DarkZero104 said:
Regarding Enslaved in a bundle: why not a Namco Bandai PC ports bundle? They've got Enslaved, Dark Souls, and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon as the big console ports there.
Click to expand...
I like the idea - even though I do own Dark Souls already.

I'm missing Enslaved and Ace Combat.

I wish I knew how to include Lord of Shadows there.
Click to expand...
We'd need more Konami PC Ports to get a Konami PC Port Bundle. ;)

EDIT:


warreni said:
Namco Bandai needs to port No Ni Kuni to PC; at least I have room for a 21 Gb download on my computer. :ps3: :roll:
Click to expand...
YES @ the thought of a Ni No Kuni PC version!!!!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
libmo1 said:
Tony is good at helping with these situations, but always start with cs first. Also he is usually pretty timely with pm responses as long as there is not a major sell going on.
Click to expand...
They gave me a $5 promotional credit just for complaining but I wish they would honor the original credits.
 
Spokker said:
They gave me a $5 promotional credit just for complaining but I wish they would honor the original credits.
Click to expand...
Amazon's CS first line of defense is to through a credit at you. I tried in vain to get the credit situation straight last year and gave up. During one chat (and I believe subsequent phone call) the excessively high credit total on my account (all I was doing was trying to figure out what credits went where and how much) the credit amount changed 3 times in real time while I was on the chat with the CS, by the time that particular chat was through (by me giving up that they didn't really get the complaint, that it was impossible to know what credit was what and how much, and being compounded by the fact the totals were changing by the minute with a CS that kept throwing more credits on the account and asking if that solved it) I left with a feeling that their backend is so cluster $@%! that they honestly didn't know how to fix it and just throw account credit at the customer. This made it worse because after I used some of the credit, I started being charged again, even though the account still showed 30 some dollars left in account credit, thus back to the original complaint that you couldn't tell when you would be charged or by how much.

I get the dis-arming effect it probably has for a complaining customer to immediately have credit thrown their way, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who would prefer whatever time they are spending in Psychiatry classes to come up with these tactics be used instead to fix their backend systems. These aren't complaints that Tony can handle, and I'm sorry it lands back on him by proxy. The situation is bad enough when you know what department such a credit is supposed to come from, but do to my experience with trying to sort out the MP3 section of the site and the multiple screw ups there, I'll never buy music from Amazon again. Thankfully, the digital game side of the site isn't THAT bad. Same complaints from last year, so some priority needs to be assessed to these issues if it hasn't been already. To be perfectly clear though, Tony is awesome!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
walkonshadows said:
I get the dis-arming effect it probably has for a complaining customer to immediately have credit thrown their way, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who would prefer whatever time they are spending in Psychiatry classes to come up with these tactics be used instead to fix their backend systems.
Click to expand...
I'm not complaining as if I hate Amazon or anything. It's still better than most stores. They've done me right more than they've done me wrong.

I actually wrote in today because they sent us an item we didn't order addressed to us from "Amazon Fulfillment Services." We've been ordering stuff from Amazon lately but we checked our order page and our credit card statements, and we were never charged for this watch, which I think is $50. So I report it to them and they want me to print out a mailing label and I would have to buy an envelope to send it back. While I'm happy to drop it in the mail if they send me a pre-paid envelope, I kind of don't want to go to Office Depot to get a padded envelope and then go to Kinko's to print a mailing label and send it back to them. So they said screw it and told me to keep it, so I'm going to gift it to someone else. I don't really have a use for a pocket watch with a knife attached it.

So I guess we are square at the end of the day.

But it is kind of annoying when you know there's people who work at Amazon who know the promotions like the back of their hands, but you can't talk to them because they are so insulated by the outsourced call center guys.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Spokker said:
But it is kind of annoying when you know there's people who work at Amazon who know the promotions like the back of their hands, but you can't talk to them because they are so insulated by the outsourced call center guys.
Click to expand...
I get what your saying, but Tony knows the deals because he is the one negotiating them and setting them up. He does not work for cs and most of us would rather him focus on finding us the best deals he can get than dealing with ever customer vs cs dispute.

Tony chooses to be super nice and accomadating to us when situations come up. My point is don't abuse his niceness and possibly ruin how accomadating he is with us.
 
Spokker said:
But it is kind of annoying when you know there's people who work at Amazon who know the promotions like the back of their hands, but you can't talk to them because they are so insulated by the outsourced call center guys.
Click to expand...
Sometimes I wonder if anyone in Amazon can keep track of all of their promotions. I mean, poor Tony seems like he is constantly juggling a million things, and he has more than once said "I lost track of that" or "I posted that wrong" or something similar. So I can hardly fault CS for not being able to keep track of it all. Hence why they just toss a credit at people. It requires far less time and money to do that, than it is to dig through a bunch orders, promotions, etc and figure out where it went wrong. Especially considering how often it is probably the customer who mis-read the promotion, bought the wrong SKU, bought it too early/late, etc.

 
Tone is getting to Serious in here;

Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
7F3Q8-R4L78-ZYFZA (probably lurked)

Serious Sam HD: The Secound Encounter
Claimed

Serious Sam 3 BFG
Claimed
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MysterD said:
I like the idea - even though I do own Dark Souls already.

I'm missing Enslaved and Ace Combat.
Click to expand...
For whatever reason, GFWL keys for Ace Combat aren't activating properly. There's a notice on the Steam page about it. With this and other (Fables III) titles dying on Steam due to key issues and other GFWL titles being pulled with no explanation (Section 8, FUEL and Dirt 2), people might want to be cautious about jumping on a title that requires the platform. The signs that it's closing down seem more apparent.

 
tmwfte said:
For whatever reason, GFWL keys for Ace Combat aren't activating properly. There's a notice on the Steam page about it. With this and other (Fables III) titles dying on Steam due to key issues and other GFWL titles being pulled with no explanation (Section 8, FUEL and Dirt 2), people might want to be cautious about jumping on a title that requires the platform. The signs that it's closing down seem more apparent.
Click to expand...
Dirt 2 pulled!?! That's a huge loss... :baby:

 
hal said:
Yeah, glad I have it already, but now I'm worried about it operating correctly.
Click to expand...
Nod! I have zero faith in Codemasters giving any support to their old titles.

I don't recall Dirt 2's level of GFWL integration...

Some GFWL games don't actually require GFWL at all... e.g. my Fallout 3 retail CD, I could simply avoid signing into GFWL and still play and save (w/o even a GFWL offline profile.)

I'm assuming that an offline profile will be sufficient for most single player games (on that same computer/os).

 
Mooby said:
Tony,

I probably missed this during the Black Friday sale but did you do/are there plans for a Far Cry Franchise pack? 1, 2, 3, and Blood Dragon... all Steam, of course~
Click to expand...
Still working on the Steam keys for 1,2 and Blood Dragon unfortunately.

pasports31 said:
meh

it was awesome for like an hour or two, then you realize you're going to do the same 3 or 4 things for the rest of the game

the only good things about that game were the environment and the free running

combat sucked

traveling sucked

mission variety sucked

plot was dry as 8 day old shit til the last 15 minutes of the game

there were zero interesting characters

It was a game that showed a lot of potential, but when it was all said and done, it just wasn't fun, imho. Potential doesn't make a game good

ACII was ACI once it fulfilled it's potential

Edit: Tony, just wondering when we should expect the bonus credit to show up in our account. I checked mine after purchasing a few things on the 21st, and the 10 dollars of credit I was supposed to get showed up right away. However, I bought 2 things on the 26th, and the credit is still not in there. Just wondering if there's a delay sometimes. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Hey there, credits will be delivered in early January :).

DarkZero104 said:
Regarding Enslaved in a bundle: why not a Namco Bandai PC ports bundle? They've got Enslaved, Dark Souls, and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon as the big console ports there.


I wish I knew how to include Lord of Shadows there.
Click to expand...
Hey there,

I've thought about this a few time, but I think I'll have better luck with different configurations of the catalog (by better luck I think I'll be able to build better composite pricing than I would be able to in a bundle).

Spokker said:
I haven't been getting my credit for the PSN Amazon store. The outsourced reps don't seem to understand what I'm talking about.

1. I purchased the PS4 3-game indie bundle and at the time it was supposed to come with a $10 credit. It has since been reduced to $5 but the indie bundle was once up there with the other $10 credit bundles. http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1001625111

2. I purchased an eligible PS4 game (two actually) on November 12th after 9AM and never received the $5 credit.
The page I had is 404 now, but here's the wording, "Between 9:00AM PST on November 12, 2013 and 9:00AM PST on November 13, 2013, purchase any PS4 title below and get a $5 credit to use in our new Amazon PlayStation Network Store, featuring digital games and DLC for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita. We will send you confirmation of your credit via email within two days after your qualifying order ships. This credit must be used by 12/31/2014 (and cannot be used on Amazon.com Gift Cards or PlayStation Network Gift Cards). To redeem your credit, simply purchase a qualifying digital item from the Amazon PlayStation Network Store (digital items will have [Digital Code] in the title). Your credit will be automatically applied during checkout. Limit one per customer." The eligible games were NOT digital. They were discs.

Does Tony look into these things because I'm getting nowhere with Amazon support?
Click to expand...
Do me a favor and PM me this along with any associated order IDs, if CS can't get you sorted I'll escalate to a manager internally.

Psydero said:
I'm upset I missed the sale on Guild Wars 2. Hopefully there's another sale on it around Christmas.
Click to expand...
There will be. Minimum 40% off but I'm pushing for deeper.

Cheers,

Tony

 
Amazon DVG Deals said:
Still working on the Steam keys for 1,2 and Blood Dragon unfortunately.

Hey there, credits will be delivered in early January :).

Hey there,

I've thought about this a few time, but I think I'll have better luck with different configurations of the catalog (by better luck I think I'll be able to build better composite pricing than I would be able to in a bundle).

Do me a favor and PM me this along with any associated order IDs, if CS can't get you sorted I'll escalate to a manager internally.

There will be. Minimum 40% off but I'm pushing for deeper.

Cheers,

Tony
Click to expand...
tony are u also trying to get steam keeys for anno 2070 complete and driver san franciscio deluxee edition too? it would be great too. i really want their games but i want it steam to make it look cool and money goes to amazon and credits

 
asheskitty said:
Nod! I have zero faith in Codemasters giving any support to their old titles.

I don't recall Dirt 2's level of GFWL integration...

Some GFWL games don't actually require GFWL at all... e.g. my Fallout 3 retail CD, I could simply avoid signing into GFWL and still play and save (w/o even a GFWL offline profile.)

I'm assuming that an offline profile will be sufficient for most single player games (on that same computer/os).
Click to expand...
Well at least there is some hope down the road as Codemasters recently confirmed that they are working on patching GFWL out of DiRT 3 and migrating it to Steamworks. If that goes well, they might continue with their older titles as well.

 
uqblf said:
Well at least there is some hope down the road as Codemasters recently confirmed that they are working on patching GFWL out of DiRT 3 and migrating it to Steamworks. If that goes well, they might continue with their older titles as well.
Click to expand...
Makes you wonder how difficult it is to separate out the GFWL DRM. Is it just ripping the exe out of the wrapper, or does it require some sort of emulation code for when it goes looking for the client/server mechanic? I know the hooks for starforce and tages are still present but considered "inert", which makes it seem as if the active code is just turned off like flipping a switch when they disable those types of DRM.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
walkonshadows said:
Makes you wonder how difficult it is to separate out the GFWL DRM. Is it just ripping the exe out of the wrapper, or does it require some sort of emulation code for when it goes looking for the client/server mechanic? I know the hooks for starforce and tages are still present but considered "inert", which makes it seem as if the active code is just turned off like flipping a switch when they disable those types of DRM.
Click to expand...
Not sure about any details, but I would guess it's more complicated here as GFWL does not only work as DRM but also for the multiplayer portion. So they surely have to change the code base itself in that case. Might be different for singleplayer-only games.

 
Amazon DVG Deals said:
There will be. Minimum 40% off but I'm pushing for deeper.

Cheers,

Tony
Click to expand...
It's been $30 so often that I barely glance at it anymore. Tony, if you can get the Digital edition of Guild Wars 2 to $20, I would insta-buy. Hell, I'll even consider it at $25, if only because a few of my friends rave about it.

 
walkonshadows said:
Makes you wonder how difficult it is to separate out the GFWL DRM. Is it just ripping the exe out of the wrapper, or does it require some sort of emulation code for when it goes looking for the client/server mechanic? I know the hooks for starforce and tages are still present but considered "inert", which makes it seem as if the active code is just turned off like flipping a switch when they disable those types of DRM.
Click to expand...
If there's a fully-functional pirated version floating around, then it's probably fairly easy to disable GFWL. Heck, some companies have released a pirate crack as the official patch.

 
Amazon DVG Deals said:
There will be. Minimum 40% off but I'm pushing for deeper.

Cheers,

Tony
Click to expand...
I say push for 75% off or better on all versions of Guild Wars 2. :p

EDIT:

I'd prefer $10 for GW2 Regular. :p

It is a MMO, you know.

Come to think of it, $5.25 would be the ideal price for GW2 - i.e. the price GMG has for TSW once. ;)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Chuoi said:
Final Fantasy VIII is on steam now

Hope there is FF bundle (7+8) this holiday :)
Click to expand...
We seen FF7 PC re-release for $3 on UPlay and GGG.

So, we need a $5 FF7/8 re-release bundle by X-Mas. ;)

We know FF7 got some sweet mods, so I hope FF8 PC has some mods that been kicking around that we can use for re-release.

I could use a mod for slowing-down/speeding up the GF summons. Those annoyed the hell out of me that they could be so long on old PSX version of FF8 - since a lot of the game felt reliant on Summons.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
walkonshadows said:
Makes you wonder how difficult it is to separate out the GFWL DRM. Is it just ripping the exe out of the wrapper, or does it require some sort of emulation code for when it goes looking for the client/server mechanic? I know the hooks for starforce and tages are still present but considered "inert", which makes it seem as if the active code is just turned off like flipping a switch when they disable those types of DRM.
Click to expand...
You'd generally have to recode the multi player matchmaking.

 
MysterD said:
I say push for 75% off or better on all versions of Guild Wars 2. :p

EDIT:

I'd prefer $10 for GW2 Regular. :p

It is a MMO, you know.

Come to think of it, $5.25 would be the ideal price for GW2 - i.e. the price GMG has for TSW once. ;)
Click to expand...
The "It's an MMO so it should be cheap to buy the game itself!" argument doesn't really work when there are no monthly fees. :)

 
pasports31 said:
I have never given money to an mmo

Dat elder scrolls tho...

aeifjeiofjwanfkldfnmsliejfe
Click to expand...
$10 or less is fair for a rental - which is pretty much what a MMO feels like.

While I am curious about ESO - if modding is prohibited, which probably will be VERY likely w/ a MMO - I think it'll miss one of the things that make the ES series what it is...and as special as it is.

The other thing I think that makes ES series what it is - is the fact b/c of its size and the way quests are done feels like a MMO-game; but you're not online and you're in a SP-only game. Putting ES into a MMO atmopshere - that just sounds like it'll make ESO just another MMO, IMHO.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Status
Not open for further replies.
bread's done
Back
Top