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So has anyone started the download from steam? I had thought we would be able to download 48 hours in advance and since it is past 9:00 GMT on March 2 I would think it would be available to start downloading. I'm not at the machine I want to download right now but am hoping when I get home in 8 hours I can kick off the download.
Any news?
Nope, once again CA and Sega have let down their consumers. This is the worst launch of a major videogame I can remember, aside from a MMO.
Overreact much? I'm sure we will all have gigabytes of Empire goodness on our hard drives well before Wednesday.
:laugh4::laugh4::dizzy2:Quote:
Originally Posted by Matteo123
He, he, that really is a bit melodramatic isn't it?
Downloading starts at 1800 GMT….that is in about two min. from now…
Did it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Fisherking
Not on my PC, not yet, anyway. Wouldn't surprise me if they stagger the DLs to level the load on the servers. I'll be surprised if everyone with Steam turned on doesn't have a DL by tomorrow morning.
I don't think it is an overreaction. CA and Sega have been awful about informing us as to how to get different editions of the game and what comes with them (at least in US - I was going to get special edition from Best Buy but no one was able to confirm that you get Constitution with special forces). Now, there is confusion as to when we can start the DL on Steam. I understand not telling us about the game itself to keep up the suspense but telling us how/when to get game is something they should have done a long time ago.
http://www.totalwar.com/empire/gameinfo/pre_order.php
The page in the link covers basically everything you need to know about how to get Empire and when the download and activation servers go active.
The only thing it doesn't mention is whether Best Buy has the Constitution or not, and I wouldn't expect Sega or CA to list purchasing info for every single store.
I have seen much, much worse game releases for major games. This one is going quite well so far.
Im sorry but at least this game is coming out... some games were given a release date and then never released
If you don't have Empire fully available to you at the appointed time on Wednesday, I will eat a pug. And not a cute one. I will cook it first, though, so don't go badgering me about how I need to eat it raw.Quote:
Originally Posted by Matteo123
In the meantime, why not sit back, relax, do your job or study for school, give a hug to the missus and maybe even have a nice tall pint of the good stuff?
Deep breathes everyone, deep breathes.
Just relax and let the download start itself. Worrying wont speed anything up.
Told you so...
While we can blame this all on Steam and Valve, the logistics should have been worked out before today. I am going to call my credit card and try to cancel the payment to Steam and dispute it. They have messed with the wrong law student.
LOL blame it on yourself :laugh4:
Why download when you you can have it on disk?! :no:
Matteo123,
I dont know if this is correct but here is what i read on another forum relating to cancelling your card payments.
Quote:
Groam wrote: call your bank from the card you purchased the game from and tell them you dont want to be billed for steam, you can log onto your account from the internet as well and not allow the charge to go threw.
Quote:
That's a bad idea, as Steam has stated that it suspends the accounts of anyone who blocks payment by their credit card or bank, meaning that you won't be able to activate the game even if you get it at a store.
If you're in Europe, it would seem you are entitled by law to cancel within 2 weeks of your purchase (assuming you didn't download and install RTW Gold). In the US, you can cancel anytime within 72 hours. If you're outside of either of those time frames, you'll have to count on Steam's good graces.
Aw man.Quote:
Originally Posted by quadalpha
Oh well. I don't see a reason to act like the sky is falling, it was a choice of Steams to take the pre-load out of the equation. It's disappointing, but I'll live. It's not as if they delayed the release by another month.
I feel sorry for everyone that is using Steam, but I would never use it as you don't feel as though you have the game properly without the disk. I hope there are no more problems, what next? Could there be a problem with activating games, even those that have been posted?
The usual explanative is :daisy:Quote:
Originally Posted by Alexander the Adequate
Use it and everyone knows exactly what you mean… :laugh4:
And no bad men in masks come wanting a word with you… :sweatdrop:
:2thumbsup:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monk
Don’t even think like that!!!!
Bad Karma dude! Ya know, man. Not cool man!
Hmm, I may wind up eating a pug after all ...
If steam cancels my account, i just make a new account.
I'd rather hoped this place doesn't descend to TWC standards.Quote:
Originally Posted by Liberator
It's supposed to start 5AM EST or something on Wednesday, so my countdown thing actually decreased by a few hours. Maybe they'll have dedicated servers for this?
1 day and 13 hours according to Steam's store countdown page. So probably around 4 AM EST on Wednesday this thing will unlock.
I'm with BzzY on this one, it could be much worse. With all the stuff we've gotten in the last week or so (campaign reports especially) I really don't see a reason to start bashing CA.
Anyone able to find the number for Steam to call and request a refund? All I get is an email address.
Pre-purchased on Steam and...meh, I don't care. My download is almost 2 MB/s. I'll get it soon enough.
Well most customers are upset because Steam promised a 48h preload time and most have probably bought it on steam because of the preload. Many Steam users will now be playing the game later then box buyers.
Actually, it wasn't Steam but rather Creative Assembly who had the 48-hour preload thing on their web site. Which means that CA had some reason to believe it was so; there's no profit for them in announcing something that's untrue.
Here's a semi-official satement:
Hello all,
Here is the official word regarding Empire: Total War and pre-loading:
"There is no pre-load for Empire: Total War. Due to the staggered release times worldwide, preloading is not possible and as such, Empire will begin loading at the time of release. The current release schedules for the game are:
Tuesday, March 3rd - 1800 CET / 1700 GMT / 0900 PST
* North American & Canadian Ship Date
* Steam Authentication Servers activated for North American & Canadian Retail customers.
* Steam Authentication Servers activated for all European and other Worldwide retail and digital download customers.
* Game available for sale and download for European and other Worldwide digital download customers.
Wednesday, March 4th - 1000 CET / 0900 CET / 0100 PST
* Worldwide street date.
* Game available for sale and download for North American & Canadian digital download customers.
In brief, the game will authenticate for customers at 1800 / 1700 / 0900 Tuesday and allow for European players to start playing then. North American and Canadian customers will be able to start playing at 0100 Wednesday.
That is the official word. No pre-loading.
Ouch, that sucks. I'm an older jaded gamer, and have never done a digital download because I like being able to physically hold the box and disc... evidence like this makes me contemplate whether I will do a digital purchase in the foreseeable future.
I really don't see any advantage to doing a digital purchase like through steam? It's the same price... but you don't get box, discs, manual, etc. Maybe not having to drive to the store to pick it up is an advantage, but hardly worth the aforementioned disadvantages, unless it's a more obscure game that isn't available at the local store... or maybe if they charged $20 less to reflect their lower overhead, otherwise it seems a bit of a rip off.
Dogfish, you are 100% right, the only reason any of us went with Steam was the pre-load so they now take that away from us and rip us off by charging the same for less.
There are two situations when I buy on Steam:
1) When it's a game I want on day one. I can't trust my local retailers to meet street dates for PC games. They all seem to have the attitude "well, no one's going to buy this :daisy: anyway, so whatever."
2) When the game's been out for a while and isn't carried by retail chains anymore.
In both situations I prefer Steam over buying a boxed copy off the internet because it's cheaper with no S&H fee involved.
I don't like it either, the idea of downloading a digital copy, but down here, in the EU's Far East (Romania), there's no other way to legally get ETW sooner than through Steam.
So I pre-ordered and everything... I'll wait till tomorrow now... I'll use the .Org as my game manual (much better, anyway)... And I'll most probably get a disc in about 6 months, when they go to sales :)
It was my understanding that there was going to be a pre-load for the game, so you could be ready to go the moment the game was unlocked on steam which was a big reason why I bought with steam. Now that feature seems to not be present it does make me feel a bit disappointed, but I was still going to spend $50+ on this game anyway so I don't really feel "ripped off". If I had bought the SF edition on Steam I certainly would! But I opted for normal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dogfish
I don't feel I missed out on anything by not getting the manual, having the disc is probably the only thing I feel I got aced out of. Having bought with steam before, though, that doesn't bother me to a great degree. Fallout 3 and left 4 dead are just as enjoyable without a disc as they are with, and I'm sure ETW will be too.
All that said, it's really about preference which way you go. The boxed copy still has that tangible pro to it which is certainly nice.
For myself I dont care for the preload I decided to buy a box and it will arrive tomorow. But I care for those players that bought it on steam.
Even if it was anounced by CA and not steam it doesnt make it any better. They should have clarified it sooner but I bet it was far more tempting to get 10 bucks more for the game in hope that most buyers are "I dont care" customers.
:hippie:No carnivores Lemurs allowed…think veggie man! :hippie:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
All you dudes….a deep breath and OOOOMMMMM, OOOOOOMMM
Out with the bad vibes man…chill, chill…everything is groovy man…
Think good vibes man…Tomorrow it all goes great!
Good vibes man!
Deeeep Breath and hold it!
Chough* this stuff is a killer man! Cough*cough*
Good Vibes Man!
Cool!
~:smoking:
Let's have a little calm, please. We're still going to get the game, and we're still going to play it on Wednesday. I'm certain CA had no intent to deceive, and equally certain that this is the sort of intra-corporate fumble familiar to anyone who's ever worked in a large business.
Nobody has betrayed us, nobody has lied to us, and we're all going to get what we paid for. It's all good. Seriously, it's all good.
:laugh4:Quote:
Originally Posted by Fisherking
Dr. Feelgood, ladies and gentlemen! :applause:
Oh, without a doubt I am frustrated that CA appears to have "jumped the gun" before they got the okay from steam. It was my understanding Steam was on-board with such an offer, it appears they were not. Still despite that frustration and outright disappointment, I'm not gonna let it damper my enthusiasm for the game. I'll let release day be the judge. :yes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Styles
I quite like Steam.
I've used it since September (almost everyday) and had it since Decemember '07. Honestly, I think its a brilliant thing. Is waiting an extra day or two honestly going to kill you?! :dizzy2:
:smash:
:yes:
Well the game itself and the business policies of CA and Valve/Steam are two different shoes.
I dont judge the game by that but I'm not very tolerant with that kind of making business and the absolute lack of customer service by steam.
It will be even worse on release if the download does not work properly. I can hear the voices of a thousand people crying out in pain because of the horrific download speed :laugh4:
But this screws over all of us who took the day off.
No bashing CA please. -- Martok
I understand your concerns perfectly, but I personally am taking the advice of my Grandfather on this matter. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." What bridge was he talking about? :daisy: if I know, I just know there's no point in speculating about what might go wrong until we're in that position!Quote:
Originally Posted by Styles
Murphy isn't always right. :laugh4: :clown:
Edit:
Like I said. There's no reason to resort to CA bashing at all, it's an unfortunate mishap. If you took the day off then, well, enjoy the day off in other ways while ETW downloads! I know this may sound horribly cliche, but maybe visit a park or take a moment to sgaze at nature. It's snowing here in Ohio, but it's still a beautiful sight.
I agree with this sentiment :drama3:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
Good idea Monk I will visit then our museum with the largest roman toilet north of the alps until I can play my boxed version of Empire!
http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic...-on-Steam.html
According to this people who bought the digital copy will not be able to download until release day.:help:
The problem is that today we are promised X, are given less than X, and those that point out they are given less are told to just accept it. If I promised to paint your house for $100 by Thursday so you could have a party and I paint only 3 sides, wouldn't you be mad even if I came back a few days after the party to finish? Doesn't part of the $100 include payment to get it painted by Thursday? It's the same thing here. We paid $50 to start DLing now and now we are told we will get it later, part of our $50 includes the right to DL it now. We should get some kind of refund just as the homeowner would demand part of his $100 back.
Thats why i took friday, incase of unforseen delays, oohhh i'm so excited!Quote:
Originally Posted by Matteo123
i feel abit like a four year old waiting for crimbo:applause::applause::applause:
You're still going to have your house painted by the agreed time. A better analogy:Quote:
Originally Posted by Matteo123
You pay $100 to have your house painted (quite a bargain, BTW). The painters tell you they're going to prep your house on Monday and paint it on Wednesday. Turns out they can't get the van on Monday, so they're going to prep and paint on Wednesday. You throw a fit and demand your money back.
Gotta tell you, you'd be laughed out of small claims court. They're still going to deliver the goods on the said day, they just had to change how they went about doing it.
But we aren't getting the game when it is released, that is what we were promised. We instead need to DL it with 100000000000 other people so we won't be able to play until Wed night or Thurs morning. So we are not going to be able to play when we were promised so my analogy still applies.
Here's a plan: throw up a big big fuss about it so everyone cancels their Steam orders, then it'll download really quickly for the rest of us!
You are assuming the download will be a disaster. That's possible, but unproven. Let's see how it goes on the day, and then we can whine and moan with rather more justice.
Even then when people were experiencing terrible download speeds from steam with the demo, due to high volume, switching steam download servers was a really good way to boost your speed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
I have no reason to believe the same solution wouldn't work here.
I have to say this is a poke in the eye for both those who ordered the game off Steam, and for CA. If CA thought there was gonig to be a 48 hour preload they are probably pretty damn annoyed at Steam to. After all this reflects badly on them, and their choice of delivery platform.
Honestly though this will only impact when you get to play the game by about a day at most. I know we are all desperate to play it, but is one day really than important?
In a months time when you have Empire sitting on your hard drive and you are marching your men around Europe you won't care about the extra time it took to download. You'll be too busy enjoying what looks to be one of the best strategy games ever made. :2thumbsup:
With apologies to those who've been carrying on a reasoned conversation, I'm closing this thread -- at least for the time being. I've had to issue several warnings/infractions for various violations, so I think it's best if this thread took a nap until people have calmed down some. :bow: