190 réponses à ce sujet

[LordPaul256]

Cuthlan wrote...

I can't speak for everyone, but when people are blaming Bioware and saying they aren't buying Dragon Age over something that they had nothing to do with, when in fact the situation was between EA and Valve, it upsets ME because I want to see the Dragon Age franchise be successful because I enjoy this type of game and want to see it remain profitable so it continues to be produced.

So yes, it is personal to me.

Rob:.. I agreed that what really matters is what you like, not what you are
like... Books, records, films - these things matter. Call me shallow but
it's the (expletive) truth, and by this measure I was having one of the
best dates of my life.
(High Fidelity, 2000)

You're describing a curious process in which the consumer comes to identify themselves with a product.  There's a lot of prevailing theories about why people do this, none of which I care to discuss here, but it's one of the fundamental drives of brand loyalty.  It can be a very durable quality, and may require significat cognative dissonance before it can pass. 

It seems especially prevalent in the gaming community.  You only have to look at any of the PS3/360 flame wars online to see the attitude manifest itself.  People are their favorite products, and to say anything negative of them, is to attack the person directly.  I feel that may be why so many people, like you, get so defensive when anyone criticizes EA, and by extention Bioware, here. 

You'll see that many of the people that are being asked to 'stop attacking Bioware' are actually criticizing EA, but EA takes the shape of Bioware in peoples' minds.

_____
Anyway...

I actually came here, because I've been told by my offline friends that the EA store is actually a yearly contract.  That is, you have to renew your purchases after one year.  Is that true?  Sorry for the thread hijack, but reading the back 'n' forth here actually took up more of my time thant I thought to look elsewhere. 

[KingDan97]

LordPaul256 wrote...

Cuthlan wrote...

I can't speak for everyone, but when people are blaming Bioware and saying they aren't buying Dragon Age over something that they had nothing to do with, when in fact the situation was between EA and Valve, it upsets ME because I want to see the Dragon Age franchise be successful because I enjoy this type of game and want to see it remain profitable so it continues to be produced.

So yes, it is personal to me.

Rob:.. I agreed that what really matters is what you like, not what you are
like... Books, records, films - these things matter. Call me shallow but
it's the (expletive) truth, and by this measure I was having one of the
best dates of my life.
(High Fidelity, 2000)

You're describing a curious process in which the consumer comes to identify themselves with a product.  There's a lot of prevailing theories about why people do this, none of which I care to discuss here, but it's one of the fundamental drives of brand loyalty.  It can be a very durable quality, and may require significat cognative dissonance before it can pass. 

It seems especially prevalent in the gaming community.  You only have to look at any of the PS3/360 flame wars online to see the attitude manifest itself.  People are their favorite products, and to say anything negative of them, is to attack the person directly.  I feel that may be why so many people, like you, get so defensive when anyone criticizes EA, and by extention Bioware, here. 

You'll see that many of the people that are being asked to 'stop attacking Bioware' are actually criticizing EA, but EA takes the shape of Bioware in peoples' minds.

_____
Anyway...

I actually came here, because I've been told by my offline friends that the EA store is actually a yearly contract.  That is, you have to renew your purchases after one year.  Is that true?  Sorry for the thread hijack, but reading the back 'n' forth here actually took up more of my time thant I thought to look elsewhere. 

For strictly legal purposes yes, they are not required to hold your licenses for more then a year. In practice, no, you never need to restore your licenses as evidenced by the fact that I can still download my copies of Spore and the Creature Creator, both of which I purchased right when they were available.

They put those clauses in for the same reason they put in clauses that say they're not legally obligated to keep matchmaking servers open for longer then X amount of time. They never shut down servers within the first year unless absolutely no one is playing it. But just in case, they have that clause.

It's a different case here, because even though no one may buy it this month, next month they may choose to. Even if they do choose to stop offering your game though, you can torrent a copy and use your key becuase legally, you are entitled to a copy.(Not supporting pirating, this is an entirely legal process, just like making a copy of your discs)

[Disphoria]

Filthy marketing scheme from out friends at EA Bioware. Keep it classy Bioware!

[deirae]

I've got a preorder for the signature edition, but am seriously considering cancelling it, as I want the game on Steam, but wont be cheated out of the extra items.



So I might just grab the game elsewhere aa well, when it comes to it. I am so sick and tired of companies like EA, doing as they damn well please.

[jkflipflopDAO]

I agree. Not having the SE on Steam is total BS. Not only did we hike the PC price up to console levels ($60), but then you expect me to drop another $7 AT LAUNCH to get the entire game? This is really leaving a bad taste in alot of people's mouths here.



Sure, I could order from EA - who only lets you download the game for 6 months then you have to rebuy the game all over again. Yeah, that's the awesome business practice I want to support.



I knew EA would ruin you. I really hoped it wouldn't happen but it looks like Bioware is being ground up into the greed machine like so many before it.

[Soul Cool]

deirae wrote...
So I might just grab the game elsewhere aa well, when it comes to it. I am so sick and tired of companies like EA, doing as they damn well please.

I'm not sure if this is you being serious, or just trolling people who think private property is okay, but EA does happen to own the product. They can and should do what they 'damn well please' with it. Whether or not it suits you, specifically, well, that's up to you, isn't it?

[Cuthlan]

LordPaul256 wrote...

Cuthlan wrote...

I can't speak for everyone, but when people are blaming Bioware and saying they aren't buying Dragon Age over something that they had nothing to do with, when in fact the situation was between EA and Valve, it upsets ME because I want to see the Dragon Age franchise be successful because I enjoy this type of game and want to see it remain profitable so it continues to be produced.

So yes, it is personal to me.

Rob:.. I agreed that what really matters is what you like, not what you are
like... Books, records, films - these things matter. Call me shallow but
it's the (expletive) truth, and by this measure I was having one of the
best dates of my life.
(High Fidelity, 2000)

You're describing a curious process in which the consumer comes to identify themselves with a product.  There's a lot of prevailing theories about why people do this, none of which I care to discuss here, but it's one of the fundamental drives of brand loyalty.  It can be a very durable quality, and may require significat cognative dissonance before it can pass. 

It seems especially prevalent in the gaming community.  You only have to look at any of the PS3/360 flame wars online to see the attitude manifest itself.  People are their favorite products, and to say anything negative of them, is to attack the person directly.  I feel that may be why so many people, like you, get so defensive when anyone criticizes EA, and by extention Bioware, here. 

You'll see that many of the people that are being asked to 'stop attacking Bioware' are actually criticizing EA, but EA takes the shape of Bioware in peoples' minds.

I don't mind people "attacking" Bioware much. I DO mind people boycotting Dragon Age because of something beyond their control.

I don't associate myself with the product, but I DO recognize the fragile nature of the RPG genre in the gaming industry, where a drop in sales can kill a franchise. And since I enjoy this franchise, I want to see it continue to be successful so I can play more of it.

It's nothing so deep as what you described, although I do agree that what you posted exists (like with the Apple community). It just doesn't really apply in this case.

[nabokovfan87]

Someone explain this to me....

Pre-orders get "upgraded" for free if they order before x date. Shouldn't it also make logical sense that after x date you can order the "upgraded" version for a higher price?

I think the argument isn't whether or not steam users should have ordered elsewhere, but moreso the fact that there is no way to pay more to get it now that the preorder free upgrade has passed.

I don't understand why bioware or EA wont allow people who want it to pay more for the better version, there is obviously a demand for it.

Modifié par nabokovfan87, 17 janvier 2011 - 04:43 .

[Sharuko]

$60 dollars for the regular version of a PC non-multiplayer game. And I thought Activision was bad.

Modifié par Sharuko, 17 janvier 2011 - 08:46 .

[Xepoleas]

nabokovfan87 wrote...

Someone explain this to me....

Pre-orders get "upgraded" for free if they order before x date. Shouldn't it also make logical sense that after x date you can order the "upgraded" version for a higher price?

I think the argument isn't whether or not steam users should have ordered elsewhere, but moreso the fact that there is no way to pay more to get it now that the preorder free upgrade has passed.

I don't understand why bioware or EA wont allow people who want it to pay more for the better version, there is obviously a demand for it.

Actually, I much prefer the way EA is handling this Signiature Edition to the way most companies handle Collector's Editions. See, instead of only making a limited amount and then letting the consumers stampede over each other for a first-come-first-serve basis of what's already been made, EA said "Hey, here's a two month window. Order this puppy, and we'll fill the orders individually." Thereby virtually guaranteeing that every person who orders a Signiature Edition will get one. Unlike, say, the recent expansion for WoW, where Amazon over-reserved the Cataclysm expansion packs and literally chose at random which consumers would get the Collector's Edition, even though all of them had pre-ordered in enough time.

(source:

Not so. The SE is a limited time thing (or maybe better thought of as a limited number thing) - post Jan 11 what was preordered is what will be manufactured and delivered to retailers to fulfill these orders only.

You will not be able to purchase the SE at all after Jan 11

If you find stock at retail after launch it would be luck - folks who cancelled their preorder, for example.

Said by Fernando Melo here: http://social.biowar...ex/5027014&lf=8 On January 7th. Four days before the cut-off for ordering. Multiple weeks after the cut-off had been announced. Also multiple weeks after there was confirmation that the Signiature Edition would not be available on Steam.)

So, yes. The argument is whether or not Steam users should have ordered elsewhere, since it was clearly stated that they were only filling the orders before January 11.

[nabokovfan87]

Xepoleas wrote...

Actually, I much prefer the way EA is handling this Signiature Edition to the way most companies handle Collector's Editions. See, instead of only making a limited amount and then letting the consumers stampede over each other for a first-come-first-serve basis of what's already been made, EA said "Hey, here's a two month window. Order this puppy, and we'll fill the orders individually." Thereby virtually guaranteeing that every person who orders a Signiature Edition will get one. Unlike, say, the recent expansion for WoW, where Amazon over-reserved the Cataclysm expansion packs and literally chose at random which consumers would get the Collector's Edition, even though all of them had pre-ordered in enough time.

I don't think Amazon's mismanagement and their website pre-order issues have anything to do with CEs and other "versions" of games.  Try to seperate your own personal experiences, obviously you are bitter you didn't get your cataclysm preorder, or amazon burned you in some other way, but the treatment of a bundle by a developer and publisher is extremely different then amazon having issues.

Xepoleas wrote...(source:

Not so. The SE is a limited time thing (or maybe better thought of as a limited number thing) - post Jan 11 what was preordered is what will be manufactured and delivered to retailers to fulfill these orders only.

You will not be able to purchase the SE at all after Jan 11

If you find stock at retail after launch it would be luck - folks who cancelled their preorder, for example.

Said by Fernando Melo here: http://social.biowar...ex/5027014&lf=8 On January 7th. Four days before the cut-off for ordering. Multiple weeks after the cut-off had been announced. Also multiple weeks after there was confirmation that the Signiature Edition would not be available on Steam.)

So, yes. The argument is whether or not Steam users should have ordered elsewhere, since it was clearly stated that they were only filling the orders before January 11.

Again, not everyone is on the forums, reading this stuff constantly, there is no mainstream press or gaming press about "hey... in case you didn't know, there is no SE after the 11th."  Again, the argument isn't about the SE on steam, but the treatment of the SE in general in terms of saying "you get a free upgrade" when obviously there is nothing you are upgrading to, and there is no way to buy the upgrade and get it for not free after the fact.  Essentially, saying you get something for free, you have to in some term actually sell it otherwise the date limit on "buy it before x" is pointless.

[Taint Master]

nabokovfan87 wrote...

Again, not everyone is on the forums, reading this stuff constantly, there is no mainstream press or gaming press about "hey... in case you didn't know, there is no SE after the 11th."  Again, the argument isn't about the SE on steam, but the treatment of the SE in general in terms of saying "you get a free upgrade" when obviously there is nothing you are upgrading to, and there is no way to buy the upgrade and get it for not free after the fact.  Essentially, saying you get something for free, you have to in some term actually sell it otherwise the date limit on "buy it before x" is pointless.

Oh cry me a river.  There was a giant banner at the top of the forums for the last 4 months.  The DA2 splash page was covered in SE promos, they sent out newsletters about it... They even sent a reminder e-mail when it came down to the last 3 days for pre-ordering.

What more do you expect?  Did you think David Gaider was going to show up at your house personally and dance a jig?  

[Xepoleas]

nabokovfan87 wrote...

I don't think Amazon's mismanagement and their website pre-order issues have anything to do with CEs and other "versions" of games.  Try to seperate your own personal experiences, obviously you are bitter you didn't get your cataclysm preorder, or amazon burned you in some other way, but the treatment of a bundle by a developer and publisher is extremely different then amazon having issues.

Nice guess, but totally wrong. Got mine at Gamestop. But also beside the point. And no what I was saying in regards to Special Editions and such really isn't beside the issue. Is it not better for the publisher to say "We will take orders until this date and fill every one of those orders" that to say "Only x number are available! Hope you're a lucky bastard!"? That was my point.

Again, not everyone is on the forums, reading this stuff constantly, there is no mainstream press or gaming press about "hey... in case you didn't know, there is no SE after the 11th."  Again, the argument isn't about the SE on steam, but the treatment of the SE in general in terms of saying "you get a free upgrade" when obviously there is nothing you are upgrading to, and there is no way to buy the upgrade and get it for not free after the fact.  Essentially, saying you get something for free, you have to in some term actually sell it otherwise the date limit on "buy it before x" is pointless.

While it is true that not every Dragon Age player is a forum goer (though the argument seems moot as you, obviously, are a forum goer), the cut-off date was all over the official Dragon Age site. I spoke to the guys at Gamestop about it. I spoke with employees at Best Buy about it. Don't tell me that the information wasn't out there. Because that's just laughable.

And how is the argument not about its lack of availability Steam when that's what the largest complaint about it has been? The response from the community has overwhelmingly been "Well, it was offered up on Amazon, and Gamestop, and Best Buy, and Target, etc. ad nauseum" God, I think it was even at Wal-Mart. The inevitable response has always been "But it wasn't available on Steam! So I couldn't order it!" Well, yes. You could have. You just chose not to. Like all things in life, choices have consequences. The fact that you won't have the Signiature Edition was the consequence of your choice not to order outside of Steam. When you knew that EA wouldn't be offering it on Steam. Hell, even if you weren't a forum crawler, you could have easily gotten in touch with Steam to ask them if they were going to stock it. So don't tell me Steam users had no choice. That's simply ludicrous.

Edited for grammar fail.

Modifié par Xepoleas, 17 janvier 2011 - 10:19 .

[Dustin1280]

I am inclined to agree with the side that feels cheated.

Now I didn't even hear about the signature edition till AFTER it ended, but I am certain I would have waited for it to hopefully appear on steam. 90% of my gaming is done through steam since no other digital distributor compares.

The biggest reason I agree with the cheated side is because a company is making a character, fully ready to be played BEFORE launch and then charging $7 if you didn't purchase it through a very specific retailer to get this character.

The reason this is an issue is because if it keeps going the way its going, we are going to have to start paying for "chapters" for each damn game that is released. Remember the days where you bought a PC/Video game and that was that, you may get a patch here or there but you never had to worry about missing out on things unless a completely new expansion came out. Now we run into people making a game, then making tiny little addons for each game that cost $7.00 a piece, the kicker is that these addons are planned WELL in advance and actually are likely to be withheld from the original game to nickel and dime everyone for extra cash.

The fact that it wasn't released on steam just makes it even more frustrating, simply because that is one of the easiest ways to do digital downloads.

Modifié par Dustin1280, 17 janvier 2011 - 10:28 .

[Martrom]

@Dustin1280



Exactly. I completely agree with this day 1 DLC thing.

Might I add here since so many people think everyone had the option to buy it. I am in Brazil and even though EA has office here, it didn't make a single deal with a retailer. Not only that but IMPULSE and D2D are LOCKED to Latin America. To add more, EA Store was selling it as a digital download, BUT as people have mentioned, after a year you have to contact them to have the right to download again, but nothing guaranteed and they were selling it for USD 70! Now that the regular edition shows up at EA Store, it is back to around USD 58... so it wasn't a FREE upgrade for me and anyone in the same situation as I am.



So now the option I was given is pay full for 80%-90% of a game? Tss... Now I will boycott it and only buy after a year, ultimate edition style. And I have bought and played every Bioware game except Icewind Dale 2. And I will support good developers as CD Projekt as I have already pre ordered the Witcher 2 for the SAME price as everyone else and they made it available to me by GoG and Steam and they are selling an entire game with a lower price. That is the business practise I will support and I hope you will do too.



I wonder if the people who are critizing our complain would have the same opinion if they were in my situation.