Dvd/Cd copy of x:rebirth maybe?

Danielwhateley · Post by **Danielwhateley** » Mon, 24. Jun 13, 13:11

I'm very limited on my data usage, i would like the game on steam however which way, but will it be only steam who sells it like AP or will there be a dvd release also, and IF i buy it on steam, am i able to use my CD key on steam to get a copy sent from egosoft with postage payment, as my internet costs roughly $70 for 10gb, it'd be nice to save some money by just buying a dvd copy of it, and it would be fantastic if i could buy it on steam and then register the game with egosoft with the cdkey to get a dvd sent for just postage paid, that kind of flexibility would be much appreciated.

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Mon, 24. Jun 13, 14:38

I am pretty sure that Bernd has not ruled out actual DVD sales, but they would of course need activation and update using Steam and might be restricted to sale in stores in some countries only with the rest served by mail-order.

Yes in the Gamescom Big Interview:

Question:
Will there be a collectors edition?

Bernd:
That are things the publisher decides. It depends from the country as well. If you ask that question, you ask it for Germany. For Germany I bet that they will release it. In many other countries would that be never profitable. We will see.

Other country's markets are more directed to Steam. Germany is, in that correlation, is a bit more traditional. It is profitable there to make a beautiful wrapping. That is funny. You can put in things, which appreciate that. Arranging that things. In my opinion it is beautiful when I finally sell a game which let you have something in hand what is solid. But this is nothing against steam. Steam is excellent.

Interjection:
Steam has no place at this point.

Interjection:
Indeed, you can use Steam and still have a DVD in your rack.

Bernd:
Yes, that will be the case. We cannot change that anymore.

Interjection:
But you can still create boxes and buy them.

Bernd:
Yes. And include a lot of nice additional content.

Danielwhateley · Post by **Danielwhateley** » Tue, 25. Jun 13, 02:47

Very nice, i would foot the $70 for my internet to download it just to play X:Rebirth if the Dvd doesn't become available in australia, i'm sure it will though, and if it doesn't i would probably buy a hard copy online if that's available, it's good to know it wont be restricted to a steam purchase, i will just have to make sure i buy it as a hard copy to save internet usage, as i dont think steam has any options to get a data copy sent in the mail aswell... if i buy a hard copy i can just put the cdkey into steam's activation most likely to have it on there.

Wurtzel · Post by **Wurtzel** » Mon, 1. Jul 13, 02:49

Danielwhateley wrote:Very nice, i would foot the $70 for my internet to download it just to play X:Rebirth if the Dvd doesn't become available in australia, i'm sure it will though, and if it doesn't i would probably buy a hard copy online if that's available, it's good to know it wont be restricted to a steam purchase, i will just have to make sure i buy it as a hard copy to save internet usage, as i dont think steam has any options to get a data copy sent in the mail aswell... if i buy a hard copy i can just put the cdkey into steam's activation most likely to have it on there.

Another way around the problem of limited download data is that you have a friend with plenty of plenty of data download. If they're agreeable, just take your computer over to their place, hook it up to their internet and then access steam using your own account... It works well as my brother has done it here at my place, we both have our own seperate steam accounts..

Flybye · Post by **Flybye** » Tue, 2. Jul 13, 14:52

Some of us have 150 or 250GB caps. It sounds like a lot, but Bioshock Infinite was like a 30GB download. That plus Netflix, music, movies, etc. It all goes by. The less downloading that I have to do the better. I welcome a DVD install in the US.

Just wait until games start shipping in 40-50GB sizes. Blu-Ray will become the norm.

elexis · Post by **elexis** » Tue, 2. Jul 13, 22:51

No it won't. Blue-Ray doesn't have anywhere near the adoption rate of DVD.

Apollo303 · Post by **Apollo303** » Fri, 5. Jul 13, 23:25

I sincerely hope X-Rebirth comes out on dvd and not just through Steam... if X-Rebirth can only be used through Steam in the same way as Albion Prelude, then it looks like the poor sods like me won't be having the luxury of playing such an awesome game.

So basically if it has to go through Steam then looks like i'm having an early bonfire this year.. and the guy on top will be holding all my X-Games, i'll have to watch them burn... burn... burn !!

Chris0132 · Post by **Chris0132** » Sat, 6. Jul 13, 03:18

Wurtzel wrote:
Danielwhateley wrote:Very nice, i would foot the $70 for my internet to download it just to play X:Rebirth if the Dvd doesn't become available in australia, i'm sure it will though, and if it doesn't i would probably buy a hard copy online if that's available, it's good to know it wont be restricted to a steam purchase, i will just have to make sure i buy it as a hard copy to save internet usage, as i dont think steam has any options to get a data copy sent in the mail aswell... if i buy a hard copy i can just put the cdkey into steam's activation most likely to have it on there.
Another way around the problem of limited download data is that you have a friend with plenty of plenty of data download. If they're agreeable, just take your computer over to their place, hook it up to their internet and then access steam using your own account... It works well as my brother has done it here at my place, we both have our own seperate steam accounts..

Technically, you don't have to do that either.

You can go there, log on using their computer, download the game, then make a backup using steam's backup feature.

Then, go home, install from the backup on your account (it works exactly like a steam install from CD) and you can get most of the data off the disk.

Backup disks are universal so far as I know, so you should be able to install it as long as you can find someone willing to download it for you, even if it's a friend who owns the game.

Danielwhateley · Post by **Danielwhateley** » Sat, 6. Jul 13, 03:24

Chris0132 wrote:Snip

Technically, you don't have to do that either.

You can go there, log on using their computer, download the game, then make a backup using steam's backup feature.

Then, go home, install from the backup on your account (it works exactly like a steam install from CD) and you can get most of the data off the disk.

Backup disks are universal so far as I know, so you should be able to install it as long as you can find someone willing to download it for you, even if it's a friend who owns the game.[/quote]

I can also just copy the game folder from their steamapps folder, and put it in mine, and it'll ask me if i want to convert the new files, clicking yes will just skip downloading unless there's an update, but i don't know of any friends which have reliable internet's also, besides a lot of people like having a hard copy on a disc and a pretty box, i would like to think to egosoft that they have to release a hard copy version for stores just because dvd's are a higher priority than downloading the game, now.. i wouldn't mind if it was activated by steam.. but please don't do what EA did to command and conquer, i bought their so called "hard copy" but it was just a cd key

Chris0132 · Post by **Chris0132** » Sat, 6. Jul 13, 04:44

Danielwhateley wrote:Snip

The backups are hard copies, more or less. You need steam to unpack them and they will need updates made after the backup was made, but you can keep it on a disk and use it to install the bulk of the data from it.

No fancy box, though you can buy a fancy box to put the disk in if you want? Velvet cushions and that. Rhinestones all over the exterior.

But yeah if you have no internet within a million miles of your house it could be a problem, though it's possible someone on the forum might do it if you asked and post the disc to you.

Danielwhateley · Post by **Danielwhateley** » Sat, 6. Jul 13, 05:25

If you didn't have an internet connection you cant play games that need steam to run, even if you manage to make it start in offline mode and restore a backup, you wont be able to go through the verification process of the files or even update the directx, i would much rather in either case have a physical legal copy of the game developed by egosoft.

Unpackaging a game from its original wrapper means a lot to some people, having it as just an electronic copy just doesn't sit right with me, i like to know my cdkey hasn't been used, and i like being able to put an original copy of something in to install it the traditional way, it's just more simplistic.

Something like this would effect my motivation to even bother buying the game, and i'm sure many others, if the game is on the shelf in a store people will buy it when they see it, i know of a lot of people that go to stores like EBgames who have never bought a game online just because they don't trust buying things online or don't have a credit card, or people that would buy a dvd of an item from an online store before they purchase it on steam, because steam has a cdkey activation function and then you would get to choose what to do with it, a lot of people don't even like steam.

Chris0132 · Post by **Chris0132** » Sat, 6. Jul 13, 13:27

I should point out that in a lot of cases, it doesn't matter if your CD key has been used or not. They don't actually tie every disc to the key it comes with, the keys just follow a pattern that the disc recognizes, hence why key generators work. Your key isn't special, not until you register it with an online service anyway.

I admit I stopped really caring about physical copies because for one thing, they're a pain in the ass to store and I hate having to enter a million keys every time I migrate or format my computer.

Steam's much easier for that, though you do need the bandwidth admittedly.

Unfortunately, publishing games the traditional way is one of the biggest profit sinks in game production. It costs a lot of money to get them printed, put the manuals out, distribute them, and pay stores to stock them. Which is why digital distribution is so popular with developers especially smaller ones.

Danielwhateley · Post by **Danielwhateley** » Sat, 6. Jul 13, 13:48

However some cdkeys are tied to certain gaming clients, for isntance, my eagames cdkeys wont work on steam if i purchased them from origin, if i bought one on steam does that mean i cant use something like desura, origin or other clients?

And usually it is a big thing of where people buy their game copies and whether or not they're purchased electronically or as a hard copy, i'm sure there are a lot of online stores that will accept the sale of rebirth.

Adding multiple choices for people to purchase a game will bring better sales results, i'm not saying don't incorporate it with steam at all, i'm saying don't restrict it to only steam users, and release data copies of the game and aswell as electronic copies, besides you're merely purchasing the CD Key anyway, the data and manual's is just a bonus, and if its so much of a concern of cost issues, they could just charge an additional amount for the effort in creating a data copy.

Saying all that i will be using steam to play it anyway, but i don't like downloading games through steam, like for instance when i bought DoW2 from an online store as a hard copy, all i had to do was click install and it started installing through steam, but some games will only need you to input the cdkey to activate it through steam for downloading, i believe it's still undecided which platform they will use to run the game installer, steam is a good one, but all i'm really asking is for a hard copy from egosoft so i can physically see an item rather than a virtual one...

Chris0132 · Post by **Chris0132** » Sat, 6. Jul 13, 18:11

A small scale method for providing physical copies would be nice, though it's whether it's financially viable that's the trouble.

Also data encoded on a CD is no more physical than data encoded on your hard drive. The only physical thing you're buying is a bit of cheap plastic that costs a couple of pennies to make.

I'm not meaning to harp on about the wonders of digital distribution but, well, there really isn't any actual difference in what you're buying a lot of the time. I can get the idea of liking something to hold, but the desire for it is about as sensible as the desire for a teddy bear.

I like shiny baubles too but if I have to, I'll settle happily for something not shiny but functional.

Athraku · Post by **Athraku** » Sat, 6. Jul 13, 21:04

Some people want to see what they have paid for still and there are those that think steam could shut down at any time taking there games with them or there account could be banned taking away all their library, pfft crazy people.... at least till they are proven right

Chris0132 · Post by **Chris0132** » Sun, 7. Jul 13, 01:52

Athraku wrote:Some people want to see what they have paid for still and there are those that think steam could shut down at any time taking there games with them or there account could be banned taking away all their library, pfft crazy people.... at least till they are proven right

Well, that's sort of my point, you can't see what you paid for. You can't see the data on the CD any more than you can see the data on the hard drive. All you can see is an incredibly cheap bit of shiny plastic that's worth about as much as a tarnished five pence piece, if that.

And even if steam did shut down, no technology is permanent, part of being a computer user is accepting the impermanence of your technology and all its meaning.

I have a box in the loft full of useless serial cables from the days before USB. I had them because you used to need half a dozen of every size to make sure you could connect your peripherals. Now everything comes with USB built in and they're useless.

I also have a drawer full of old games, most of them won't run any more on my current PC because the hardware doesn't support the ancient software. Sooner or later you will lose your games one way or another. But as long as they're being sold actively, there's a bigger chance of them staying updated. Steam just released final fantasy seven, and a bunch of old wolf3d engine games.

Being able to sell things without constant upkeep costs does more for the survival of old games than shoving them in boxes does. Least I think so, anyway.

I dunno, 'don't buy digital games because if steam shuts down you'll lose them' is kinda like saying 'hoard old copies of Encyclopedia Britannica because if Wikipedia shuts down all human knowledge will be lost'.

Yes it would be unfortunate, but hanging onto old technology won't replace the new if it fails.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

Dvd/Cd copy of x:rebirth maybe?

Dvd/Cd copy of x:rebirth maybe?