The date is November 16, 2004 the place: The Internets. The long awaited and frequently delayed Half-Life 2 is finally released. And along with it Counter Strike Source. I’ll come clean now and admit that I’ve never been a huge fan of half-life. Don’t mistake this to mean I think it a poor game, no in fact I think its a great game. I just never really considered it the epic masterpiece of video game storytelling that others do. No, rather I found it somewhat amusing but was infinitely more captivated by Team Fortress Classic.
Eventually Counter-strike came out, and while I can’t for the life of me recall how I discovered it, needless to say it engulfed my life like no other FPS ever had. To me it was the pinnacle of a FPS. Fast paced with incredibly responsive controls, mostly realistic and with an emphasis on position rather then just twitch reflexes. That's not to say that fast fingers didn't win fights, they sure did. But unlike a game like Quake 3 a few well placed shots from a secure location wasn't ruined by a lot of frantic running to health orbs and 1shot rail gun instagibs.
Regardless having been such a fan of CS and eventually Day of Defeat it was physiced that they would both be remade using the new Source engine of HL2. So when Valve announced Steam and offered the deal to preorder the game in advance, get into the CS:S beta and download it in advance and receive Day of Defeat and CS:S for the same price, I jumped all over it. It was pretty much my first digital purchase of a commercial computer game
So lets pause and review. HL2 + CS:S + DoD:S + Beta = same price as buying game retail the day it comes out = sold.
I bring this up because I recently purchased the expansion “Immortal Throne” for Titan Quest off of Direct 2 Drive. The only reason I did this is because I was unable to find a copy at my local game stores. What erks me is that it cost me exactly the same price to buy it online as it would in the store. Only I receive No Box - No CD - No - Manual. Any “convince” I enjoyed from not having to leave my house is removed by the fact that in the time it takes to download a 2gig game, I could easily drive to the store, purchase it, return home, install it and be well on my way to enjoying my purchase.
So what then is the incentive of purchasing a game digitally. It clearly costs the publisher less money to provide its game via Direct 2 Drive then it does in a brick and mortar establishment. Even when considering that Direct 2 Drive is taking a cut (and be assured they are) it logically isn't any different then the mark up that a EB or Gamestop would do. In fact, I’d wager that is it significantly cheaper to host the games online, then it is to run a store with an equal level of consumer reach.
So what does that mean? It means the publisher is saving money. The retailer (In this case D2D) is saving money and we the consumer are not only getting the product any cheaper, but we are actually receiving less product then we would otherwise.
Wait it gets worse. Now what happens when we take this arguably dishonest business practice and put it in the hands of a company notorious for producing sub par products and doing whatever it takes to make a quick buck off you the user?
We get EA Link
Let me give you a tiny rundown of my experiences thus far with EA Link. First of all, it should be noted that I’m reluctant to install any piece of software that's intended use it to get me to buy things. I equate it to inviting the vacuum salesmen in, and giving him a place to sleep in the guest bedroom. I came upon this program because I felt the urge to play Battle Field 2142 (A game which still refuses to support native wide-screen resolutions I might add). It came to my attention that EA had released a “Booster Pack” for the game called Northern Strike.
A quick visit to Google informed me of everything I needed to know regarding it. It contained 2 new vehicles, 1 new game mode and 3 new maps. It didn't sound like much but I discovered it was only $10. Not to bad, I thought so I hopped over to Ebgames to check if the local store near me had it. Ebgames didn't have it listed. I wasn't exactly shocked as Ebgames doesn’t list anything that doesn't sell well or is more then 6 months old. Assuming it to be more of EB’s shenanigans I hopped over to Amazon and again was unable to find it.
A little more digging provided me with the fact that I could download the game directly from EA. It was a booster pack, fine whatever I thought, so I go to buy it and I’m informed I need to download EA Link. already in my head I'm imagining a program like Steam, only if Steam was developed by a bunch of heartless monsters that I suspect gain physical nourishment from the consumption of American legal tender. Still though I press on, eager to download my $10 Booster pack and exercise the devil before its grasp on my system becomes to great.
So I hit purchase games, I find the pack, Click buy now and this is what I see.
And regardless of how many times I try, this is all that ever happens. And since this is the only way to procure the game, I guess I'm fucked.
Once again, EA fucks everything up.
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