Q on Buying: Amazon, etc. vs. Direct

[Katar]

You can buy this game from:

Amazon for $40 w/free shipping
or
NewEgg for $37 plus ship/tax
or
J&R

OR,

You can download it Direct from Atari for $40 which allows you to download it for the next 30 days. If you want it for 2 years, that's an extra $4.

Why, why, why isn't the direct download only $25 or $30? (Afterall, no printing/manufacturing costs, and no cut to Amazon/distributor.)

Crazy, why a $4 fee to allow you more than 30 days? Why don't you have the ability to download it for the lifetime of the product for not additional cost?

Other than having it instantly, why would you ever download it directly?

[varia]

atari was free for the firts few hours HHAHAHAH

but yes, got ur point, need like steam, u paid for it, u got it whenever u need it.... but u need 10+ IQ for this.....

[Zhuangzi]

Get it from Gamersgate if you are going the direct download route.

I wouldn't touch Atari with a barge pole.

[HodgePodge]

I wouldn't download any game from anywhere! I want to have my own set of disks so I can install the game on a new computer, should I choose to buy one at a later time. Downloading games is a rip-off!

[phoenixreborn]

Have you bought the game yet HodgePodge?

[bman654]

You can download it as much as you want from gamers-gate with no time limits. No 30 day limit like Atari sheesh. I also burned the downloaded installer onto a dvd so I can reinstall when I want without having to redownload.

[rhomboidspace]

Originally Posted by Katar

You can buy this game from:

Amazon for $40 w/free shipping
or
NewEgg for $37 plus ship/tax
or
J&R

OR,

You can download it Direct from Atari for $40 which allows you to download it for the next 30 days. If you want it for 2 years, that's an extra $4.

Why, why, why isn't the direct download only $25 or $30? (Afterall, no printing/manufacturing costs, and no cut to Amazon/distributor.)

Crazy, why a $4 fee to allow you more than 30 days? Why don't you have the ability to download it for the lifetime of the product for not additional cost?

Other than having it instantly, why would you ever download it directly?

$40 is the cost of the game, the cost of the disks, and packaging is probably only about $0.50. the major difference between DD and a boxed version, is there's less middle men leading to more profit for the devolper, and depending on how they use it, it could allow more room in bugets for future games.

[nemesis99]

Yeah Atari is a restrictive download site.

Gamersgate (or Steam but King's Bounty not there) are better alternatives for digital download sites.

It's just convenient to not worry about cd-checks for games, or in the case of King's Bounty not having to call up 10 different stores in the city to actually find a boxed copy somewhere.

[Multiplicity]

I would never want to download a digital copy myself. I like to have the actual DVDs, manual, and the case. I am not surprised the digital version isn't any cheaper since it gives the developers and publisher more of a profit. However, it has to be considered regarding the cost to put the copy on a server and all the bandwidth necessary to host it.

[Farrak]

Originally Posted by bman654

You can download it as much as you want from gamers-gate with no time limits. No 30 day limit like Atari sheesh. I also burned the downloaded installer onto a dvd so I can reinstall when I want without having to redownload.

But does the copy protection that comes with the game, I think they are using Starforge or SecureRom, limit the number of times you can use the installer? Say 3 times, which means after 3 installs you have to download another copy and pay for it again?

My sister wants a physical copy to prevent these issues with downloading the game say 5 years later, did they remove the cruddy copy protection? Because there is NO way I can find a physical copy here in calgary, which is very odd. Thanks!