Expansion pack prices and release date

[Enderel]

Hi all,

Been looking through the forum and cannot really find any info on the forum policy regards posting details of where to buy the expansion and how much it will cost. I'm presuming it's ok?

The only info I can find is from Amazon and that points to an August release date (26th), at around £27. That's more expensive that I bought the main game for!

Anyone know anywhere cheaper to pre order or alternate release dates?

I'm looking forward to it even if it doesn't live up to expectations!

Endy.

[professorspatula]

The worrying thing about the price of the expansion pack is that it's another Activision release. They also recently released the add-on for Doom 3 at the ridiculous price of £29.99 RRP. That means on release, most places are going to be charging at least £25. Hopefully Play.com will have it at a lower price, like they do for many PC titles.

It's a disgraceful price for just an expansion pack though. If it's going to be the same cost as a full price game, it better be bloody good and not full of imcomplete and buggy gameplay.

[Mongoose]

Hi all,

Been looking through the forum and cannot really find any info on the forum policy regards posting details of where to buy the expansion and how much it will cost. I'm presuming it's ok?

The only info I can find is from Amazon and that points to an August release date (26th), at around £27. That's more expensive that I bought the main game for!

Anyone know anywhere cheaper to pre order or alternate release dates?

I'm looking forward to it even if it doesn't live up to expectations!

Endy.

I am starting to think that CA's goal with the XPAC is to ransom bug fixes for absurd prices

35 USD is most likely the cheapest you will be able to get it for

EDIT: WELCOME TO THE .ORG!!!

[Freak General]

September at £25..... ah just in time for Christmas!!

[NimbleNota]

I am not too worried about the price if BI is good I just hope they fix the MP and cav spamming, I am willing to pay alot for them to make this game as great as it should be.

[Total War Merc]

August @ £26.99 At Game

or

August @ £26.99 At Amazon

I have been looking at unofficial websites about this game and i cant find any major improvements, sure it looks good but im undecieded on wheter its worth the money

[sik1977]

Play.com has kept RTW price stable at 24.99 (delivered) since the day it came out in UK. The best i found was 23.99 at another site.

Anyhow, it can't be that RTW:BI would be released at a higher price then the original. Makes no sense, financially or otherwise from a marketing and sales perspective.

I am still not fully convinced the expansion will be published by Activision. The expansion was displayed at the Sega counter at E3. Whatever the case, we will know soon enough.

Personally, I am in no hurry to buy the expansion. I may get it if it gets good player reviews at the forums, and fixes most issues. Even then, I haven't had the oppurtunity to try many great mods for RTW, which I am looking forward to once i am through with my Masters and hopefully by then this save/load issue will have been fixed. (as per the announcements by Shogun at TWC forums).

[professorspatula]

Well if Sega do publish it, here's hoping they stick to sensible pricing.

Imagine if Nintendo published PC games. They'd be a Mario: Total War game out before Christmas. And then about 10 sequels in the following few years.

[tibilicus]

It will allways get good reviews on sites like Gamespy e.c.t. They allways do. They cant look beyond the blunders as they wont actually play the game for a frequent time. Anyway I will probably rush to buy this. If only that I have done this for all Totalwar games and I cant break the tradition! As for the price........... That really does seem stupid. Im surpirsed the pirse of Rome total war has not droped yet. They should really drop it at this time so people will buy get adicted then buy the exspansion soon after. Just all seems a bit silly really.

[sik1977]

It will allways get good reviews on sites like Gamespy e.c.t. They allways do. They cant look beyond the blunders as they wont actually play the game for a frequent time. Anyway I will probably rush to buy this. If only that I have done this for all Totalwar games and I cant break the tradition! As for the price........... That really does seem stupid. Im surpirsed the pirse of Rome total war has not droped yet. They should really drop it at this time so people will buy get adicted then buy the exspansion soon after. Just all seems a bit silly really.

It may be that Activision is not concerned with BI sales anymore and would rather make the most out of its original release (that is if Sega is publishing the expansion). Otherwise, Activision should definetely hire you and fire its marketing and sales department

In any case, i found this at gamespy:

"One of the bigger surprises uncovered at E3 is the purchase of Creative Assembly by Sega. The formerly independent developer, best known for creating the incredible Total War games released by EA and Activision, is now wholly owned by Sega. They kicked off the relationship by showing two titles at E3: Spartan: Total Warrior for consoles and the Rome: Total War Barbarian Invasion expansion for PCs.

The latter was a last-minute addition to the show and no screenshots have yet been released."

It does seem Sega will be publishing the expansion. I won't bother getting the expansion if they dont fix the original first and improve the original campaign like they had done with all the previous TW title. (Hmm... i am repeating myself here... oh well... can't get it off my chest enough).

[ciaoftu]

SO far I only use crack downloa ded version no charges!

[Mongoose]

I hope you're just kidding...

[vale]

sorry but you shouldn't post the download stuff here dude, the rules in the forum don't allow that. anyway I am waiting for new chinese mod out, they are pretty good, it will be a totally new total war. Anyway if the BI version is good and got good comments from some of our mod dont mind me join in :)

[Enderel]

Game Uk have now got it on pre order for £26.99.

I'm still hoping that Play will come in a lot cheaper, can't see it on there site as yet though.

[Enderel]

Opps someone beat me to it.. Sorry Total War Merc!

[Revelation]

SO far I only use crack downloa ded version no charges!

The funny thing about this is that it is a viscious little circle. The ridiculous $$$'s charged for pc games these days makes them out of reach for alot of folks, which leads them down the avenue to free cracked/burnt copies.
On the other hand, this is one of the major contributing factors which leads to the exorbitant $$$'s that these companies are forced to charge due to lost revenue and the like. ( Government taxes are a right pain in the arse also).

I sympathize with both parties and see no real quick fix to the problem.

[Slug For A Butt]

To be honest, I don't think that £25 is out of anyones reach. Just make a decision, do you want a new game or a new shirt to go out in. Especially when you consider the game will only run on a decent pc, the money obviously IS available.
NO symathy at all... why should I pay more so someone else can get it for free? This isn't welfare you know.

[KSEG]

The funny thing about this is that it is a viscious little circle. The ridiculous $$$'s charged for pc games these days makes them out of reach for alot of folks, which leads them down the avenue to free cracked/burnt copies.
On the other hand, this is one of the major contributing factors which leads to the exorbitant $$$'s that these companies are forced to charge due to lost revenue and the like. ( Government taxes are a right pain in the arse also).

I sympathize with both parties and see no real quick fix to the problem.

Do you sympathize to a man who stole a car because he want it but didn't have the money?

[Mongoose]

Stealing food to feed your hungry family is one thing. but stealing a video game?! that's just wrong...

[Slaists]

Well, it should be selling for half-price on e-bay a few weeks after the release ;)

[HarunTaiwan]

RTW was the 20th best selling PC game in 2004. (by units)

No wonder they ignore us - they are raking in the money!

[Mongoose]

I am not really sure why every one is so upset about it. I mean, it gets pretty boring after about 6 months...but don't most games? were the other TW games really that different?


i'll admit it had alot of wasted potential, though.

[sik1977]

I am not really sure why every one is so upset about it. I mean, it gets pretty boring after about 6 months...but don't most games? were the other TW games really that different?


i'll admit it had alot of wasted potential, though.

For me, STW and later STW:MI lasted till MTW came out. MTW and later MTW:VI lasted till RTW came out. RTW lasted less then 6 months and two full campaigns (this is excluding the many hours of testing for the save load bug and the like). But i might not have given it up so soon, had there been a cure for the save/load bug. I just couldnt afford 8 hour sittings anymore.

As far as the discussion of piracy and exorbatant prices go, they have nothing to do with each other. Its a misconception to think they are linked. People pirate because they do not want to pay, simple as that. Their reasons for pirating are their alone, whether they hate the recording studios/publishers or hate capitalism or simply don't give monkeys about the law etc. The exorbatant prices are not due to piracy. The recording studios need piracy just as much to blame these exorbitant prices on something so *evil* as piracy. Contrary to their propaganda, every pirated copy/downloaded song is not a lost sale. If songs weren't available for free, you would probably only buy the ones you like. Because they are free, you get everything in sight, listen to it maybe once, and then delete/discard half of them, leave the rest on your hard-drive for years not to listen to again perhaps. You could have previewed the songs legally, but who cares, and what the heck if they are all available for free illegally and easier to listen to once downloaded (even as a preview).

Anyhow, thats the vicious circle, people want piracy, piracy needs people, and recording companies need piracy and people to make the maximum gain.

[Revelation]

Do you sympathize to a man who stole a car because he want it but didn't have the money?

Not even worth the arguement there mate. This debate could go on forever, analogy for analogy, but whats the point. Either you agree or disagree.
The simple fact remains.......
Piracy, in whatever form has been around for years and will continue to thrive regardless. You'll find that the only ones really concerned enough to act upon it are the ones with the most to lose.(and do they really lose that much?)

[LestaT]

Since I don't trust game review in magazines and game demos that comes out with it I use pirates stuff first. It only cost about USD 1 only. Serves as my demo. If I like the game , then i destroy it and go out to buy an original version which coast 1/10 of my monthly income.

The only game that I straight buy an original (which coat RM 159 = USD 40-50) is not surprisingly RTW.

Piracy is never right but it do serve a purpose. What did the governor in Pirates of the Carribean said at the end of the movie .. something about " piracy itself might be a good cause.. " or something ...


Cheers !!!

[Krauser]

Since I don't trust game review in magazines and game demos that comes out with it I use pirates stuff first. It only cost about USD 1 only. Serves as my demo. If I like the game , then i destroy it and go out to buy an original version which coast 1/10 of my monthly income.

The only game that I straight buy an original (which coat RM 159 = USD 40-50) is not surprisingly RTW.

Piracy is never right but it do serve a purpose. What did the governor in Pirates of the Carribean said at the end of the movie .. something about " piracy itself might be a good cause.. " or something ...


Cheers !!!

The free game demo would have worked just as well. If not that, don't you have any friends you can borrrow it from or go to their house to play it?

---------------------
I rarely get games when they first come out because I like to read the reviews, watch game footage, and listen to what friends say about it. I got RTW in December and the price had already been reduced. I probably will do the same thing with BI, wait a few months before getting it. The price will probably be reduced by then. Even so, USD35/£27 should not be impossible to get.

They say that game prices are going up for the next generation systems. Even with higher prices I think it's still more worth it to buy a game than to watch a movie. Average game has 20 hours of gameplay not counting replay value. It's more bang for your buck.

[LestaT]

In my own personal opinion game demos are like movie gazzete. They only show the good part.

As about friends. Well I'm in a country where the only place you can buy original is in the Capital city (which I live in) or through the internet. There's only so few shops selling original software. Friends my age don't play pc games and some who plays .. well all FPS types.. and warcraft. and those driving sims .. yucks!!!

Har.. Har.. Har..

I'm not saying what I do is right but at least I'm helping to make sure not all my money goes out of the country. *wink*

[edyzmedieval]

The expansion pack will be a great improvement, I hope....

I would pay the neccesary money only if it's gonna be worth the improvement.... If it's not worth, i'll leave it....

It's better to mod the game yourself....And cheaper

[Puzz3D]

I am not really sure why every one is so upset about it. I mean, it gets pretty boring after about 6 months...but don't most games? were the other TW games really that different?

Although not perfectly balanced, the original STW was good enough that you could play multiplayer battles every day for years and not get tired of it, and that was on tiny maps compared to what we have now. The biggest problems were the monk rush and red zoning (which was apparently a designed feature), and most players agreed not to do either. After a year, we had 100 players online on weekends and nearly that many every weeknight, and the community was still growing. The online community that built up around STW made the experience very interesting. That community has been shattered by RTW. My clan was formed in Dec 2000, and very active for 4 years until RTW was released. MTW/VI is ok and the battle engine is actually better, but it's not as well balanced as was original STW. MTW lost the weather effects and has relatively ineffective spears in multiplayer, and it lost the nice pacing of the battles due to the excessive shooting time of xbows and arbalasters. The fatigue rate of units was also not adjusted for the larger maps in MTW.

I would say the SP campaign in each of the games provides a similar lifespan of interest. However, STW multiplayer was different in that the players were not getting tired of it when the next version of the game was released. We all hoped each subsequent version would provide an improvement in gameplay, but that hasn't been the case. Even some player requested changes that were implemented in subsequent games had undesireable effects. STW/MI multiplayer gameplay was abysmal with a +12 morale on all units and guns bumped way up in effectiveness, and not fully salvaged by the v1.02 rebalance patch. There was renewed hope with MTW v1.0, but some serious gameplay issues still remain in multiplayer in the final MTW/VI v2.01 version.

The RTW demo left me physically ill for over 2 weeks. I was heavily into Total War; running a clan, playing almost everyday online for 4 years, and put many hours of work into four different beta test teams. Now the game no longer seems worth that kind of effort. The new players that have come to Total War are here due to the improved graphics in RTW. These new players wouldn't leave if the game maintained the standard of play of the previous games in the series, and you wouldn't loose the veteran players.

[Enderel]

Play have now got the expansion available on pre order for £17.99.