Your mom.
Edit: I'm so sorry.
What can I say? Some of us just have it.
I don't know, and really don't care, but I acquired 20 plus copies of Thief gold, TDP, and TMA from a overstock warehouse a few years ago.
In fact a number of TTLGers and EIDOS members now have TGold because of that. Many such outlets exist, Big Lots among them. I have found unopened copies of many games from Big Lots for as little as $3.00 (these were retail priced at 38 to 45) so its definitely possible that he has a couple of such outlets that he wanders into with frequency.
Close but not quite - the PC World store near me does pretty much no trade selling games yet continues to stock games! Eventually they put them on sale for a few pounds each, so sometimes I can get an excellent bargain or two.
Which in the first thread, you spelled out already. Hell, my copy of IW2: Edge of Chaos still has the 98p sticker on it. I guess no good deed goes unpunished.
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Hah, yes, that was from a GAME shop's sale. I keep an eye out for things like that, also using a couple of wonderful websites.
It seemed only appropriate because I'm a lazy bastard and couldn't take the time to create a brand new thread for no discernible reason except to give away a code to download a free game with some strings attached. So...
The Game: Mass Effect 2, which is now free to everyone who bought a copy of Dragon Age 2.
Strings Attached:
1)I'm not sure if the download code will work for you, so you'll have to be the first guinea pig test subject for the other people who own DA2 and want to similarly gift ME2 to someone.
2) The download code will only work with EA's Download Manager, which purports to be a Steam-alike of the lite sort. It's only slightly painful to use as long as you have a good internet connection and no sudden power outages (or else corrupted files, redownloading GBs worth of data, and all that good stuff tend to follow suit).
Whomever's interested can PM me for the code. First come, first served.
Edit: Claimed. Enjoy the game, BH!
Last edited by Sulphur; 5th Apr 2011 at 18:54.
EA Store is great because you can uninstall the EA Download Manager after you download the game and never have to use it again. You just have to find the folder it downloaded the setup files to, then in the future run those and re-activate the game using the serial #.
Also, assuming Bioware is ok with giving the code to a friend, I have a free ME2 serial to pass on too.
Edit: Serial # is claimed. Going to see if sharing works, because if it does that would be awesome.
Edit 2: It works. Dunno if it's against their "rules", but nothing's in the FAQ for the giveaway so fuck it.
Last edited by Jason Moyer; 5th Apr 2011 at 18:28.
Wow, EA's marketing division is really going balls-out to do damage control over BioWare's latest turd-in-a-box. I didn't really have an interest in Mass Effect 2, had never finished the first one, but I am content to see EA implicitly acknowledging the shitstorm around Dragon Age 2.
I mean, sure, I expect that their EA Accounts records may have indicated that a sizeable slice of the Dragon Age 2 install base already had Mass Effect 2, and with current prices as low as £10 the overwhelming majority of those who'd have wanted to go out and buy it already have, but at the end of the day it's still a just year-old high-profile AAA title that we're getting for free. It's pretty funny how they're trying to spin it as being a Thank You for DA2's commercial success, and naturally not as an attempt to placate a notable demographic of disgruntled customers, but all in all it still strikes me as a pretty big gesture on EA's part and it relieves some of the frustration over spending day-one retail price for DA2.
Oh, that's quite good to know, cheers!Originally Posted by Jason Moyer
Last edited by Ostriig; 5th Apr 2011 at 18:36. Reason: Got Metacritic?
So is there a code still available? I'd be interested in at least trying ME2.
Yup, I'll send it along to you.
I forgot to mention: EA's Download Manager isn't a DRM solution; the games come with whatever DRM's already packaged in their retail form, which these days tends to be SolidShield - some sort of SecuROM limited activation sort of thing. FYI, JM, there's a maximum of 5 different PCs it can be activated on at one time.
Also, like JM said, you can save the installer and reinstall and activate the game whenever you like, it's just the activation procedure that requires the internet connection at that particular moment. There is also a regular phone-home requirement with games like DA2; once every two weeks, was it? I don't think ME2 comes with that baggage though.
A million copies in two weeks isn't anything to sneeze at, however. Given the amount of cut corners and the shockingly short dev cycle for DA2, it's surprising it sold as well as it did. Part of the blame lies with all the amazing hyperbole I've seen from the gaming press: there aren't many that have called the game out for its failings, choosing to focus on the things it does well instead, even if those things need to be qualified.
For my part I find it an intriguing if downright trashy attempt at a hybridisation of the ME2/DA:O formula, and I'm even finding it mindlessly compelling to some extent, even though as a game it's got more warts than a witch's backside. There's still some good stuff in there apart from the trash mobs, the glaring awfulness of the copy-paste dungeons/areas and the game being tied down to the one city: even though the writing borders on lazy many times, the political strife is interesting even if hackneyed, and some of the characters have some great conversational banter/options.
Plus, it has Gwen Cooper from Torchwood playing an outcast elf. That's got to be worth something.
Last edited by Sulphur; 5th Apr 2011 at 19:13.
There was potential there, but it was squashed by the short dev time and low budget on the project. I mean, if the plot choices you could make were all as significant as the game promised them to be, it would be at least intriguing. That, and I'd like some fights that are more interesting than waves of cannon fodder rushing at me.
The free copy of Mass Effect 2 is definitely appreciated, though. I do have it on Xbox, but am getting both to play on my new PC while overseas. This saves me some cash.
FYI, the free copy does not include Cerebus Network access. So no Zaeed, no Rover missions, and AFAIK you can't buy any other DLC unless you buy Cerebus Network first. It's equivalent to a used copy.
That said, I'm fairly certain CN is cross-platform, so if you've got a console version and are looking to try the PC version, it shouldn't be an issue.
on second thought, I actually think its a cool thing to do.
Most companies would just release the shitty game, and then either cling to the myth that it was an amazing game or lash out at the gamers who "just don't get it".
Thanks Sulphur. It is now my duty to play the game and report my thoughts.![]()
I still have these games sitting in my bottom drawerIf you still want them, could y'all PM me an updated address please? So sorry about this.
Well of course it sold very well. Like you said, on the one hand you have much of the gaming press diligently toeing the EA-approved line, and on the other you also have the fact that a lot of those now complaining about DA2 had put faith in the BioWare brand and the title being a sequel to a game that they really liked, thinking the apple couldn't fall that far from the tree.
But I don't think EA's main play here is to boost current sales of DA2 with this giveaway, my guess is they're trying smooth over some of the ruckus with upset owners of the game to ensure future purchases from these people. And not just any purchases per se, they know that most won't turn around and not buy a good Dragon Age 3 just because 2 sucked dragon balls, what this is about is pre-orders. Pre-orders have become a hugely important metric for publishers and they're a vital part of late development planning and marketing, they are secured sales for the most part, and what EA is trying to do is to sooth the whinging beast and minimise a potential dip in their pre-orders pool for the next wave of BioWare titles.
Or who knows, maybe I'm wrong to attribute this much of EA's mindshare to the disgruntled demographic, maybe despite the (undeservedly, imo) solid sales of DA2 they're still not meeting expectations and they're just trying to get a spike for this month.
It was squashed by those things as much as it was by BioWare's own inability to appropriately plan the project and prioritize their changes within those constraints. They knew what their budget and timeframe was when they started the project, and in that context they'd have been far better off to focus more on developing content and less on massive overhauls to the formula. What I'm trying to say here is that it's not all on EA's number crunchers, BioWare's own administration and creative leads share a lot of the blame for what Dragon Age 2 turned out to be.
Last edited by Ostriig; 6th Apr 2011 at 10:01. Reason: Dongs.
Well, if any ME2 codes still exist, I would put one to good use. I liked ME well enough, and planned on getting ME2 once the price dropped a bit. If so, thanks in advance, if not, thanks anyway!
@Gunsmoke. I'll PM you shortly.
givrway, givrway, givrway now
fuckroff, fuckroff, fuckroff now.
@Gunsmoke, how're you finding the game?
Scott Weiland is such a useless poster, never contributing anything of value to a discussion.
He's the ultimate driveby poster, too, because he doesn't seem to have built any connections with anyone here. Even Koki and entertainer know each other on RPGCodex.
I know jesus.