Digital Deliberation

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Tomorrow is the beginning of the Lord of the Rings Online stress test. I'm excited to see how the game has changed since I last was able to peer upon it over the shoulder of a Turbine developer. The download is approximately 3.75GB which is about 1GB smaller than the download for the entire Supreme Commander game.

Our good man Jeff Woleslagle wrote a great piece about his attempt to purchase SupCom. You should really check it out.

Strangely, my experience attempting to buy the game was the exact opposite of Jeff's. I decided to head over to Direct2Drive and see if I could download the title. I'll choose downloading a game every time over driving through streets laden with the mines that we politely call 'drivers talking on their cell'. Once past these outer defenses a customer must still best the throngs of pimply-faced youths huddled around the console demonstration displays furiously attempting to juggle their Madden 2007 play choices with keeping the crotch of their pants off the tops of their shoes. Should you weave your way through this seething mass of the planet's future you come face-to-face with the boss mob, the store employee. The employee is one of the most ingeniously crafted mobs in the purchasing game. He will thwart your every attempt at giving him money, suggesting that you should instead "bring in your old games to make some cash" or "wait until game XYZ" comes out because the one you are asking for is in a box six-feet from him and he hasn't scanned them into his system yet.

I digress...

Direct2Drive had posted on their website that the game could be downloaded on February 20th, which was coincidentally the ship date to retailers. What a great system! I could grab the game I wanted on release day without leaving the relative comfort of my trusty desk chair. Games never arrive at our local games stores until the day after release anyway. This was going to be a real treat.

I plunked down my credit card and went to sleep on the 19th with visions of sugar plums and supreme commanders dancing in my head.

I awoke and fired up the computer to download the game only to find that it wasn't yet available. Perhaps a 9am or noon PST release I theorized while putting my pinky to my mouth and mouthing the words "I will crush you" to my reflection in the bathroom mirror. After framing my reflection between my thumb and index finger, I crushed it a few times for full effect. The game would surely be released by noon Pacific and I would be testing it out in the afternoon.

The afternoon came. The afternoon went. The next day came and still no digital delivery version was available. I began to wonder if Direct2Drive was a sly play on words that meant they were directly forcing me to drive to a store. I wrote them to cancel my pre-order and got in the BoomRocket to go out and purchase the game from a brick and mortar.

True to my previous experiences the roads were filled with weaving swaying cell-talkers. It was a bit like Frogger as I zipped and zoomed between chatterboxes on my way to my purchase. As I entered the store a young gentleman was spraying himself and everyone within 20 feet with Axe body spray, effectively blocking the aisle with a haze that smelled as if it would scare a buzzard off a shit-wagon from 20 paces. Holding my breath, I dashed through the cloud of marketing genius and approached the store employee who promptly disappeared behind the counter like a whack-a-mole. When he reappeared, smiling and humming ot himself we finally got down to business. He asked all of the usual questions, which I parried aside faster than Rosie can eat a hotdog. The game was soon in my hand and I needed only brave the axe-cloud and the cell phone demolition experts to get home.

Brick and Mortar Store 1 vs Digital Deliver 0

Jeff on the other hand would tell a different story.

What's your story? Digital delivery or box and disc?

[Vote, rank, share, comment!]

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"Join Grimore Valentine as he takes you through the newbie experience of the Vanguard Sorcerer and tells you the tactics to get to level 10." World of Warcraft: Where To Adventure (11-20)
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