Another Day, Another Broken Street Date: Hi Dawn Of War II!

12 responses to “Another Day, Another Broken Street Date: Hi Dawn Of War II!”

1. 

   Mr Waffle

   February 18, 2009 at 1:48 pm

   They put that post up sometime today, which meant everyone was in the dark yesterday… not happy at all. If they’re gonna put in these sorts of measures, surely the game should tell you why you can’t play it, rather than just CLOSING THE PROGRAM?

   I have a friend who works at JB, she said they have been getting calls all day from customers about the game not working (they were told it wouldn’t work, but it wasn’t known what exactly that meant, singleplayer/multiplayer etc- the fact is that nobody knew precisely would and wouldn’t work yesterday).

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2. 

   David Wildgoose

   February 18, 2009 at 1:59 pm

   @ Mr Waffle

   Fair point about the lack of an error message. But really, if retail didn’t break the street date, it wouldn’t be an issue.

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3. 

   Edward

   February 18, 2009 at 2:21 pm

   I picked it up earlier today feeling awesome cos i broke the street date, then i come home and spend 2 hours thinking my computer was broken or steam was down or something. Broken street date backfires!

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4. 

   Josh

   February 18, 2009 at 2:51 pm

   I’m never sure how to feel about broken street dates.

   On one hand it always feels pretty good to pick something up before it’s meant to even be on the shelf.

   On the other hand it sucks balls to pre-order a game(especially if its online) and have to wait to play something other people are already enjoying because a street date has been broken.

   It’s unfair (not only to consumers, but also to retailers who choose to play by the rules) when street dates are broken.

   Just my 2 cents anyway…

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5. 

   Edward

   February 18, 2009 at 5:10 pm

   Yeah its definitely unfair on some retailers, I was in the H-Bomb (Hornsby) and JB and EB were both selling street fighter as well as Dow2, but Game wasn’t selling either. Street fighter was also $30 cheaper at JB, why would anyone go to EB, the service by people who know less than I do about video games? Maybe the constant hanging sales signs remind people of a rain forest.

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6. 

   jeremy

   February 18, 2009 at 5:59 pm

   Not officially released. I’m pretty sure its officially on sale. Yet another publisher @#$%ing its customers around with unreasonable DVM measures that punish its legitimate customers. If these companies want people to buy their products rather than pirating them they are going to have to lift their game. I’ve never herd of a software pirate doing this to their customers or peers.

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7. 

   FeralJim

   February 18, 2009 at 6:48 pm

   First people in the world playing DOW II Retail? I’ll take it.

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8. 

   Mr Waffle

   February 18, 2009 at 7:10 pm

   @jeremy- you know what’s even funnier? The pirated copy is up for download now, has been for a few days.

   As usual, it’s the customers getting screwed, while the criminals live it up.

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9. 

   jim

   February 18, 2009 at 7:26 pm

   edward – you are an idiot. the slagging off at eb is becoming a bit boring. if you dont like the service at the eb you apparently don’t shop at, don’t go there.

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10. 

    Akra

    February 18, 2009 at 9:50 pm

    @ Mr Waffle & jeremy

    It’s a tad unfair to blame THQ in this instance, as if the retailers didn’t break the street date, we wouldn’t be in this situation that we are now. Really the people you should vent your frustration to are the managers at the stores who wanted to move pre-order stock as fast as they can to make money faster.

    THQ has always stated that the main DRM on this product is the super large 0-Day patch that adds a tonne of features to the game after your copy has been verified via steam. In this instance, it’s more to do with there method of broken street date prevention, then to hurt their customers.

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11. 

    hyper

    February 19, 2009 at 1:37 am

    @ Edward & Jim

    The staff at EB Hornsby know barely anything about games, I used to go there a lot when I worked in Hornsby, just like the JB staff, who are hired more for how they dress rather than how much they know about games. The staff at GAME _usually_ have a better idea since there are some real stereotypical workers working there.

    I’d even go as far as saying that EB HR dont want to hire real hardcore gamers, because real gamers would give good advice, meaning less sales, due to the primary customer demographic being made of clueless parents buying shitty budget games.

    EB dont want people with game knowledge or a passion for games, they just want retail workers so they can get a better turnover.

    Plus EB at Hornsby has more customer traffic due to its location being perfectly situated between the cinemas, food court and entrance/escalators.

    Id say that of these three, GAME is definitely the most puritan, whereas EB and JB are just people selling goods.

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12. 

    Mr Waffle

    February 19, 2009 at 8:13 am

    Well the game is ‘released’ now. Too bad the thing doesn’t work, Steam is trying to download it off the internet instead of installing off the CD. 2.6gb… but since I’m capped there’s no way I can download that. And the Steam forums aren’t bloody loading for me either.

    I just love new games with fancy new DRM, they always fill me with such joy!!!

    Reply