11 réponses à ce sujet

[Chris Priestly]

Hi Dragon Age 2 PC gamers.

Many of you have been asking when you can pre-load Dragon Age 2 onto your machines. Pre-loading happens with digital versions of DA2 and is installing the game so it is ready to play once the unlock time arrives. Pre-loading is not available from all retailers. Check with your retailer to see if they offer pre-loading. You have also been asking when the game will unlock so you can start playing, which applies to digital and retail PC copies. These pertain to PC versions and not to console versions of Dragon Age 2.

Pre-Loading is based on the region you live in. Pre-loading of digital versions begins at the following times:

• Asia/Pacific region – 18:00 GMT on March 4th
• Canada & United States – 18:00 GMT on March 4th
• Russian Federation - 18:00 GMT on March 4th
• Western Europe – 10:00 GMT March 7th
• Australia & New Zealand – 09:00 GMT on March 8th
• Central and South America - 10:00 GMT on March 8th
• Eastern Europe  – 10:00 GMT March 8th
• Great Britain & Ireland – 10:00 GMT on March 8th

Unlocking is based on the official game release date for the region you live in. The PC versions, both digital and retail, will unlock beginning at the following times:

• Asia/Pacific region – 0000h on March 8th
• Canada & United States – 0000h on March 8th
• Russian Federation - 0200h on March 8th
• Western Europe – 0000h on March 10th
• Australia & New Zealand – 0000h March 9th
• Central and South America - 1700h March 10th
• Eastern Europe  – 0000h March 11th
• Great Britain & Ireland – 0000h March 11th

Get ready, Dragon Age 2 is almost here.

[Fernando Melo]

Looking into that, but I know the final times are still being synched up to the unlock servers. For now, you should not be alarmed

[Fernando Melo]

hhh89 wrote...

I have a question. Mr.Melo: the release date in this thread for western europe is March 10th, but Italy release date is March 11th: which is the truth release date?

Keep in mind that 'region' is not a very accurate way to do this, it is an indication - there are some countries that fall in/out of a geographical region either due to time zones or just because of how their normal street dates work (we are obligated to respect the retail street date for a country) - so some countries that geographically are in a region above may still sit in a different sales region for the purpose of unlocks (I don't make this stuff up)  

To answer your question though, the info I have shows Italy unlocking at midnight local time on the 10th (start of day 11th).  Hope that helps.

takuson wrote...

I live in Asia and I preordered DA-2 from EA online store, still no pre-loading from EADM!

EA usually sends an email when it is available to begin pre-loading.  It should start in the next 2-3hrs (if it has not already) I believe.

[Fernando Melo]

stefan9 wrote...

Fernando could you also tell me under what time zone South Africa  falls for this release?? We tend to switch between western europe and uk release dates. So would like some confirmation. Thanx in advance.

RSA is listed as midnight 11th local time (start of day 12th).

Malja wrote...

Downloading from Gamestop now. I'm curious, how exactly does this work: "This game has 3 licenses available. This means you may install the game on other computers and activate it up to 3 times."? I mean, I get the idea of it. Only 3 activations yadda yadda. But the technicalities of it are where I'm left clueless.

Hmm, there should not be any activation limits at all unless they add their own DRM on top.  I'll try to find out more on this.

@Syrellaris - EADM Netherlands - looks like 10am GMT on the 7th for preload.  But I believe EA sends an email when its available.  The pre-load and unlock release windows are based by sales region (when the normal street date is for that country), so it can be different from even other nearby countries.  We don't have control or influence over that really, it is all set by retailers.  But it should be 'same' as all other games for that country, if that makes sense.

Hope that helps.

[Fernando Melo]

adneate wrote...

Is EA withholding the Steam pre-load again trying to get people to use their God awful digital download service? Would have been nice for them to put some relevant or useful information in the OP pertaining to the largest digital distribution platform. Like "Is there going to be a preload for Steam?", that would be a good place to start.

Valve received the same unlock dates/times as everyone else.  I've asked the question of when we can expect this to begin, stay tuned.

mcneil_1 wrote...

The release date for NZ is a bit
confusing since as far as I can tell all the stores here cant sell the
game till the 11th (unless some store breaks the release date) [smilie]../../../images/forum/emoticons/wondering.png[/smilie]

Noticed that too - I'm waiting on confirmation of this.  I think the intent was to release at same time as Oz, but like many other places we typically need to observe the local street date, which would put it out a day later.

[Fernando Melo]

stefan9 wrote...

You sure Fernando?? So if the info is right we have to sit around basicly the whole friday and can only play our game on saturday??

That's what is on the list currently - i've asked to confirm this.  When is the normal retail street date there, is it fridays or saturdays?

[Fernando Melo]

Malja wrote...

Fernando Melo wrote...

Malja wrote...

Downloading from Gamestop now. I'm curious, how exactly does this work: "This game has 3 licenses available. This means you may install the game on other computers and activate it up to 3 times."? I mean, I get the idea of it. Only 3 activations yadda yadda. But the technicalities of it are where I'm left clueless.

Hmm, there should not be any activation limits at all unless they add their own DRM on top.  I'll try to find out more on this.

Thank you! (:

Heard back from there - this is a standard faq item they use.  It is not accurate in the case of DA2.  They did not add any further DRM, so the standard protection we've talked about here applies for this.

Daniteh wrote...

Fernando can you please explain why every time i see "ready to download" on EADM (only happened twice out of the 4hours i've been watching), i click it, begin the download. Then button goes back to being "unreleased" and greyed out.

I have called EA, they told me to just wait, and were basically no help, and i've waited a while now, and still no progress.

I live in the US.

No idea .  Have you contacted EA support on this?  Another option is to confirm you have the latest version of EADM.  

TheJist wrote...

So checking again it seems that Direct 2 Drive pre-orders wont get the game until 10 am pst because that is when they are releasing the activation code any chance someone at bioware could convince them to release it earlier to get it installed? If the game already has a time lock on it shouldn't cause any problems.

Ugh.  I'll ask, but this is similar to the Steam question - we send out the same days/times to everyone and can request/suggest those, but ultimately it is up to each individual retailer to release it when they can/want.  I would suggest raising it with them directly as well.

[Fernando Melo]

KinjiruRM wrote...

I received a notice from EA that the preload is available, but when I logged into EADM, it says it isn't released, the download option is grayed out, etc. I called EA support and they said there's a known problem and the game will be available for preload Monday instead. What's up with that?

Which country are you in KinjiruRM?

[Fernando Melo]

azrael_1289 wrote...
Also, I have a question for Mr.Melo. The EA store page for DA2 shows release date as March 11. The OP says it's March 8. The mail I got saying the preload has begun has it as March 7. Can you please confirm the unlock time for India?

The unlock date for India is on the list for Mar 8 (midnight local time / start of day 8th).  Its possible that there is not a dedicated EA store for India so you may be hitting a european store which is showing the 11th.

Phoenixblight wrote...

F4d3s wrote...

FadiRS wrote...
question..i got the preload from eastore today, when/how do i get my pre-order bonus redeem codes?

Its just like the Collectors edition of DAO and ME2 its through the serial number of your game.

Not completely - there is a separate code for the bonus items and DLC (in case of Signature Ed.).  This should be coming in a follow up email (likely launch day). 

Fernando Melo wrote...

stefan9 wrote...

You sure Fernando?? So if the info is right we have to sit around basicly the whole friday and can only play our game on saturday??

That's what is on the list currently - i've asked to confirm this.  When is the normal retail street date there, is it fridays or saturdays?

My mistake - you are right, it is set for midnight of the 10th (start of day 11th)!  Sorry about that.

Daniteh wrote...
Assuming you just skimmed what i typed, and I wouldn't blame you, I eventually just stopped trying and checked back an hour ago, and it worked fine, I guess there was some sort of technical issue on EA's side.

My apologies, yes I completely missed that the first time .  Glad to hear it is up and running for you though.

Modifié par Fernando Melo, 05 mars 2011 - 02:02 .

[Fernando Melo]

We've been made aware of an issue currently with EA store downloads that is preventing some players from starting their download - the EA downloader team has been aware and is working on this.  Sorry about the delay in starting your preload.

Re: Unlock times

The times mentioned in the first post are 'local' times, but there is typically only 1 unlock time per region.  For regions with multiple time zones (e.g. US/Canada), this means depending on where you are, you may end up ahead/behind the time posted.  Using the US as an example - the unlock time posted is based on PST. 

Also, when it says 0000h of whatever day, that means the start of that day (think midnight +1second).

Re: Game download sizes

Not to worry - there will be differences between the 3 major download types.  Most notably, EA download, Steam and other digital partners.  The differences are due to compression, protection system differences (e.g. Steam), and language differences (e.g. Steam installs 1 language, and you can opt to download others using Steam's language selection, other versions include all languages already).


Re: EA downloader not launching an installer

Fairly new for EADM, but DA2 supports a 'download in place' feature that it has.  This means that the files are already being installed as you download.  In other words, you don't have to download 7Gb to a temp location, followed by a lengthy install process eating up another x-Gb.  Now, once you finish downloading, you are ready to play. (barring unlock times)

Modifié par Fernando Melo, 07 mars 2011 - 07:32 .

[Fernando Melo]

kjdhgfiliuhwe wrote...

Fernando Melo wrote...
Re: Unlock times

The times mentioned in the first post are 'local' times, but there is typically only 1 unlock time per region.  For regions with multiple time zones (e.g. US/Canada), this means depending on where you are, you may end up ahead/behind the time posted.  Using the US as an example - the unlock time posted is based on PST. 

Well, Fernando, thanks for the clarification, but this is not true. If you look at the times everyone is reporting when running the Release Date Checker, everyone is getting a time that ends up being 0000 Alaska Standard Time (when adjusted for their time zone) regardless of what country they are checking from (USA, England, Africa, Scottland, etc). 

Something to look into perhaps.

Will definitely check into it.  What we've posted here is the last official times we were given - but its possible something has changed.

[Fernando Melo]

Ellestor wrote...

I pre-ordered the signature edition on
an EA account different from my usual because the card my usual was
attached to had just expired. I figured that since the product code
would be e-mailed, I could just register that code on this account.

Nope.
When EA mailed the code, it had already been used, because the game is
automatically registered to the EA account you purchase it on. So now
I'm stuck with this mess of using a different account for DA2 and
getting none of that information added to this one.

But that's fine. Going to my happy place. I am a leaf on the wind.

Contact EA support and they will be able to transfer it to a different account.

Syrellaris wrote...
Is there a possibility you could do away with these "unlocking" times for future releases?  It makes no sense that in a digital age, where I pre-order and pre-download the digital version of the game, to still wait till friday before i can play a game that everyone else is already playing on tuesday.

I completely agree - and doesn't mean we won't try - but it is unlikely (anytime soon).  These are still dictated by brick & mortar retail, and we're obligated to follow 'local' release dates as we can't be seen to either give ourselves or any other individual retailer (e.g. a digital retailer) a distinct competitive advantage over another retailer (e.g. a local brick & mortar shop).  It is physical goods rules trying to be applied to a digital age, and that's why it falls apart, but there you go.