Download from Steam

[DEY123]

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?

[Matteo123]

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.

[Lemur]

Overreact much? I'm sure we will all have gigabytes of Empire goodness on our hard drives well before Wednesday.

[Freedom Onanist]

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.

He, he, that really is a bit melodramatic isn't it?

[Fisherking]

Downloading starts at 1800 GMT….that is in about two min. from now…

[Freedom Onanist]

Downloading starts at 1800 GMT….that is in about two min. from now…

Did it?

[Lemur]

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.

[Matteo123]

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.

[Sir Beane]

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.

[RTKBarrett]

Im sorry but at least this game is coming out... some games were given a release date and then never released

[Lemur]

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.

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.

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?

[tibilicus]

Deep breathes everyone, deep breathes.


Just relax and let the download start itself. Worrying wont speed anything up.

[quadalpha]

http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic...-on-Steam.html

Argh.

[Matteo123]

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.

[Liberator]

LOL blame it on yourself
Why download when you you can have it on disk?!

[vyan]

Matteo123,

I dont know if this is correct but here is what i read on another forum relating to cancelling your card payments.

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.

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.

[Monk]

http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic...-on-Steam.html

Argh.

Aw man.

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.

[Alexander XXI]

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?

[Fisherking]

Quote removed. -- Martok

The usual explanative is

Use it and everyone knows exactly what you mean…

And no bad men in masks come wanting a word with you…

Aw man.

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.

Don’t even think like that!!!!

Bad Karma dude! Ya know, man. Not cool man!

[Lemur]

Hmm, I may wind up eating a pug after all ...

[Matteo123]

If steam cancels my account, i just make a new account.

[quadalpha]

LOL blame it on yourself
Why download when you you can have it on disk?!

I'd rather hoped this place doesn't descend to TWC standards.

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?

[Monk]

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.

[Matteo123]

Anyone able to find the number for Steam to call and request a refund? All I get is an email address.

[Graphic]

Pre-purchased on Steam and...meh, I don't care. My download is almost 2 MB/s. I'll get it soon enough.

[Styles]

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.

[Lemur]

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.

[Dogfish]

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.

[Matteo123]

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.

[Graphic]

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 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.