According to a report from CNET today, Amazon will be offering digital preorders for upcoming PC games through the gaming section on Amazon. Amazon started competing in the digital download space in early 2009 with a barrage of 600 casual games. In 2010, Amazon began to aggressively hire software development engineers to build out the infrastructure necessary to offer a broader selection of high-profile releases and eventually expanded out into mainstream releases. Over the last year, Amazon has also adopted a competitive pricing strategy to go up against Valve’s Steam. Amazon is also competing with EA’s Origin, Gamestop, Gamersgate and Gamefly’s Direct2Drive.
Upcoming titles that will be available for preorder include Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Battlefield 3, Saints Row: The Third and Sims 3: Pets. Similar to preordering a Blu-ray or DVD, consumers won’t be charged for the preorder until the date that the game comes available for download. Consumers will most likely be notified by email when the game can be downloaded through Amazon. Amazon will also be in a position to offer significant discounts on titles that are preordered, possibly up to 30 percent according to representatives of the retailer. Identical to other services like Steam and Origin, bonuses will be offered to consumers that preorder a game in advance of the release date. These bonuses may include weapon or armor packs, additional levels or early access to the game.
Opposite from the approach of Valve, there is no separate client that’s required to play games downloaded through Amazon. After purchase, the consumer is directed to a page with a link for downloading the game as well as a unique key to unlock access. The link launches a small window that shows progress of the download, however users must have enough hard drive space to contain both the download and the installed game. Once the game is finished downloading, the user can install the game and deleted the download files. In the future, the game can be downloaded again through Amazon if needed.
http://onlivefans.com/showthread.php?11613-Coventional-PC-gaming-vs-onlive
I too bought the Deus Ex evolved edition but I bought it on Onlive – Now I can play it on the microconsole, the mac, my android tablet, my win 7 netbook.. because its streamed to me, all my saves are in the cloud, it doesn’t take up any hd space and all the developer previews and trailers etc are stored on Onlives servers. Why use up your own space and why buy a hard copy and deal with all the DRM or potential scratches. Besides, with a hard copy you still have to install it, patch it, maintain it etc.
So they’re trying to compete with Good Old Games, Steam, Origin, direct 2 drive among others.. Still no-one is touching Onlives technology or business model. Last night we were lanning here on 3 Onlive connections, I was using my netbook, a friend was on his pc and another guy on my mac.. all playing homefront.. no downloading, no installation, no patching.. I’ve abandoned my steam account because of it.
So they’re trying to compete with Good Old Games, Steam, Origin, direct 2 drive among others.. Still no-one is touching Onlives technology or business model. Last night we were lanning here on 3 Onlive connections, I was using my netbook, a friend was on his pc and another guy on my mac.. all playing homefront.. no downloading, no installation, no patching.. I’ve abandoned my steam account because of it.
http://onlivefans.com/showthread.php?11613-Coventional-PC-gaming-vs-onlive
http://onlivefans.com/showthread.php?11613-Coventional-PC-gaming-vs-onlive
I still think its better to buy a hard copy of the game (since it will still use Steam to play it too). I bought the special Deus Ex game pack which was supposed to have separate DVD’s with the making of videos etc. I bought it through Steam thinking they would actually send me a DVD with the extras on it (dumb – I know), but instead, they just have you download the extra content through a DLC download. I don’t want 3gigs of extra movies sitting on my PC. I want a hard copy DVD with book and pictures. Especially since I paid $60 for it.
Also, its the PC version, (on Onlive) 49.99, but I’m a playpack subscriber (now 109 games for 9.99/month) which gave me an additional 30% off, so 34.99 plus I got a free microconsole as well, which you do with any pre-orders….2 seconds after it was available, I was in the game. Streaming.. its the best.