Comments on: Bad Company 2 and the Steam Pre-load controversy

By: pharmacist

pharmacist — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:51:13 +0000

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By: Antilles C. Scrimshaw

Antilles C. Scrimshaw — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:49:02 +0000

Just ask Mack about his headaches with 2142 when he tried to reinstall that. He got it through EA downloader. I’m not sure their “pay again” strategy should be illegal though. It’s basically a known entity when you purchase a game from them. If you don’t like it, don’t buy. Vote with your wallet. That’s the same reason I refused to buy MW2. I may have been one of the few, but I felt that principle demanded I not give them money for betraying the PC user base. I would do the same with EA if I really felt they were screwing me.

By: Raycaster

Raycaster — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:17:23 +0000

Installing now at 750 KB/s. :)

EA Downloader is garbage and the “would you like to pay more so you can download it again?” should be illegal. Sure I can’t resell or lend the game with Steam, but at least I can theoretically reinstall the game in 5 years if I so choose. EA would probably “forget” that you bought the let me install again option.

By: Mack McPaddywagon

Mack McPaddywagon — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:26:19 +0000

@Crookid

What Antilles is referring to is the way many publishers/developers handle a Steam release: when you pre-purchase, you have the ability to pre-load the game. That means you can download a large portion of the files necessary to play the game BEFORE release day. This way there isn’t much left to download when release day arrives, which allows you to fire up the game as soon as possible as well as relieves strain on servers.

The game WILL be released on March 2nd (today) if you’re in North America. It’s scheduled to unlock around 1pm EST. If you’re in Europe, you have to wait until the 5th.

By: Squid D. Justice

Squid D. Justice — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:12:45 +0000

I call shenanigans on ATLEAST 90% of the trolls posting that they cancelled their pre-order. Everyone wants to be the one to “Stick it to the man.” and look like the guy who stood up the evil oppressor, Valve. First of all, as you said, Antilles, not Valve’s fault but, more importantly, I smell bullshit.

Very VERY few actually did anything. How long ago did the average player pre-order? I bet 80%+ were before this week. The money was already taken out of the bank accounts upon purchase. Its not as if players were buying from EB and had only put their $5 down. We paid in full. They are not going to reimburse us a week or more AFTER we purchased.

By: Crookid

Crookid — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:18:30 +0000

Steam indicates ‘not yet released.’ I assume this is what you are referring to? I pre-ordered in February thinking (my own ignorance) that it would be released on March 2nd. I did, however, have a chance to download the beta.