Deus Ex

[petronivs]

So, am I the only one here who is looking at missing out on large amounts of sleep over the next week because he picked up Deus Ex: Human Revolution?

[Skittlebrau]

Pretty Much.

[boathouselooper]

That looks awesome. I'll be losing sleep after I pick this up three years from now when I can get it for $25.

[Seripmav]

Interesting game. But check this out:


The battle over digital game distribution just took a turn for the ugly.



Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Square Enix)
Video game retail giant GameStop has been opening up brand new PC game boxes of the critically-acclaimed shooter Deus Ex: Human Revolution and removing packed-in coupons granting free copies of the game to users of the OnLive cloud gaming service.



OnLive and Deus Ex publisher Square Enix announced the coupon deal yesterday, which would let buyers of a boxed PC copy download and play another copy of the game, for free, via OnLive's cloud based network, a $50 value.

But apparently GameStop, which has its own digital distribution platform, wasn't on board with what it believes is helping to promote the competition. A letter sent out to GameStop employees instructing them to "immediately remove and discard the OnLive coupon from all the regular PC versions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution" has been widely circulated, and GameStop has since officially confirmed the practice.

"Regarding the Deus Ex OnLive Codes: GameStop's policy is that we do not promote competitive services without a formal partnership," GameStop says on its Facebook page. "Square Enix packed a competitor's coupon within the PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution without our prior knowledge and we did pull these coupons."

It's pretty upsetting news for those who like to believe that when they buy a new product, they are actually, you know, buying a new product. Knowing a retailer tampered with a game box simply to thwart a promotion geared at saving gamers money is, to say the least, a little worrying.

GameStop, however, assures you that while they're breaking the seal on your new game box, your game itself should be fine.

"While the new products may be opened, we fully guarantee the condition of the discs to be new. If you find this to not be the case, please contact the store where the game was purchased and they will further assist," the company states.

So is it illegal? That's a bit fuzzy. Wired reports that Square Enix and OnLive might be able to make a case for "tortious interference," which occurs when one party intentionally damages another party's contractual or business relationships.

GameStop has raised the ire of gamers before. Just last year, the company was hit with a class-action lawsuit over what consumers considered deceptive used game sales.

Square Enix and OnLive have yet to formally respond.

UPDATE: GameStop has now pulled all PC copies of the game from store shelves.

[petronivs]

Better yet: GameStop decided to pull DXHR from its shelves after this fiasco.
Ironically, that story states that Square-Enix is ok with GameStop pulling the coupons out, implying that Square might have breached some kind of retail agreement itself. Either way, in my opinion, GameStop's retail branch has more or less abandoned the PC game brick and mortar market, which left the door wide open for Steam, and growing number of other purely-online game sellers.

I keep hearing other objections about the way GameStop does business, too. Their market is firmly in the console games business, both new and used, and their stores have barely paid lip service to the PC game market for a long time now.

Interesting game. But check this out:


The battle over digital game distribution just took a turn for the ugly.



Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Square Enix)
Video game retail giant GameStop has been opening up brand new PC game boxes of the critically-acclaimed shooter Deus Ex: Human Revolution and removing packed-in coupons granting free copies of the game to users of the OnLive cloud gaming service.

[Elric]

Yeah GameStop is so huge they kinda ignore the rules every now and then. I know a lot of my online gaming friends were really pissed off after pre-ordering Rift through GameStop. Bascially GameStop refused to release the pre-order keys that would allow people to play the game a few weeks before it officially launched. Every other gaming company released their pre-order "head start" keys but GameStop.

[boathouselooper]

Vote with your wallet. Go somewhere else and let them know it.

[Elric]

Yeah, I won't ever do pre-order business with Gamestop again. I originally pre-ordered Rift from Gamestop until they royally screwed up on the pre-order stuff, then I cancelled it and went elsewhere. Sounds like EA is running their games through their "Origin" online marketplace. I'll be pre-ordering the new Star Wars game (SWTOR) through that.