No...No...Please no!

[Djacobs]

I have to horrible suspision that Deus Ex 2 is only being release in DVD format. Please say you can get it on CD-ROM...because if u can't then I shall be forced to destroy many things and play through Deus Ex for the 10th time AGAIN! Please!

[ed_ftp]

i've only see the CD format floating around.

[Salvage]

Originally posted by me at the IS forums:
If you can't afford $40 CDN for a DVD ROM drive then you can't afford the game. It's a small investment with other benefits besides being a higher capacity CD ROM drive.

Even if you don't watch DVDs on your pc, you'll be able to access the PC only DVD special features.

[HOC]

maybe i missed something...

but what's so wrong about getting the game on a dvd as opposed to getting it on cd? it's the same game either way.

[Salvage]

Not necessarily.

A worst case scenario would be that in order to fit a game onto 2 cds that some content would be removed that wouldn't have been on a DVD, such as high resolution textures and/or high poly models.

[Montial]

Of course the game's on PC CD, to release the game on DVD format only would be another in a lengthening line of bad marketing decisions.

[Salvage]

http://www.eidosinteractive.co.uk/gss/dxiw/
Look at the bottom of the page and think again.

It's actually a good marketing decision. DVD burners are still somewhat rare, so that would prevent the casual copier from making a few copies for a few friends. The German market has been getting it's games released on DVD only for quite some time and it doesn't seem to have affected sales very much.

If one doesn't have a DVD ROM then they most likely will not be able to play the game considering that most computers that will be able to run the game will have a DVD ROM drive.

[Justinic]

I'm lost? Are they rereleasing the game only on one dvd?

[Salvage]

You must remember that the North American version is already released while the rest of the world has a different release date(March).

The US release is CD-ROM.

It appears, from their respective websites, that the:
France release will be CD-ROM
UK release will be DVD-ROM
German release will be DVD-ROM

[Djacobs]

My point is that me buying a DVD drive would be a stupid as I'm getting a new PC in the summer. I mean....i would be able to wait. But the ridiculous different between the US rleease date and the UK release date means I've already been waiting too many months. I wouldn't mind paying a little bit more to get it on CD. I'd rather buy a certain tropical shooter...and keep the DVD Drive money for the most antiucipated shooter of all time than spend £70 to play DX2. This DVD thing has just added another irritation to what would otherwise be a game I would be loooking forward too. Ahh well :(

[Djacobs]

Oooh....If that is so Salvage then my Dad is going to the US at the end of this month so I'll ask him to get it for me. I could have asked him to get it last month but i decided to wait till feb for the UK release. But D'oh. It was dleayed to March and now will only be on DVD! Will be just as good as waiting till March any way....with the added benefit of actually being able to play on the game when i can get it.

[Djacobs]

None the less...this whole DVD thing is stupid...very stupid...could someone please explain a VALID point of it...rather than just to furhter aggrevate an already neglected European market?

[DreamEndless]

More and more games are gonna be released on DVD so it is time to get used to it.
There are several reasons for this, most have which have been already stated. Just 'cos you don't think they are valid, don't mean they aren't;)
1) DVDs are now as cheap as CDs to make
2) They (obviously) have much greater storage which
3) allows for far more content
4) DVDs are, generally, less likely to get pirated

If you are in the UK can pick up a DVD player for about £16 so it is no big thing:)

[Djacobs]

It will only be a good thing this summer when i get my alien ware PC with a DVD drive...then all games should come on DVD....but untill then they shouldn't! :)

[Klopper]

I heard that they are going to put it on VHS too so can play it on your VCR. Another rumor is that they are putting it on a record album so you can get the old record players out of storage and use them to play the game.

[Djacobs]

I agree! Sarcasm is a wonderful thing!

[Mr. Perfect]

Beta users get shaffed again!

[Saruman]

Originally posted by DreamEndless
...
There are several reasons for this, most have which have been already stated. Just 'cos you don't think they are valid, don't mean they aren't;)
1) DVDs are now as cheap as CDs to make
2) They (obviously) have much greater storage which
3) allows for far more content
4) DVDs are, generally, less likely to get pirated


Well ...

If a game has already been released on CD (as DX:IW has been) then reason 2) and 3) do not apply here. Do you really think you will get more levels or weapons by buying a DVD version of DX:IW (perhaps you may get some interviews of Harvey Smith explaining how he manage to ruin the DX concept ;-) ?

Also, the "pirating" reason is (sadly) just a cover-up. It has been said exactly the same when CD-ROM were introduced to deliver application instead of floppy disks.

But now everyone can afford a DVD-writer and double-side writable DVD are appearing on the market, meaning that you can make a 1:1 copy of any DVD (movies, games, whatever...) with tools freely available on Internet.

Saruman

[Salvage]

But does the overly common Dell come with a DVD burner? No it does not, and neither do most pre-built machines.

With the additional space for the UK version, I wouldn't be surprised to see better textures and models included in that version now that space isn't a concern.

[DarkForge]

Originally posted by Salvage
UK release will be DVD-ROM

No no NO!!!! :mad:

Do they not realise that not everybody can manage to afford a DVD drive for their PC? :(

[Beagle Boy]

I have a DVD Combo Drive. I just wanted a CD Writer but i got a Combo Drive because it could read DVD's. Some games like MGS2 will be DVD only.

[atroxcasus]

All I know is that you guys in the UK get shafted ALOT! Everything there costs too much. The pound is worth more than the dollar, but doesn't buy half as much. I really like London though. It is smaller than you would think until you actually visit and start walking around. To someone form the US it is amazing to walk past one building that is 50 years old and see another next to it that is 500 years old.
I don't buy the anti-pirating theory either. It is too easy to download entire files off newsgroups these days. They must have some sort of better theory behind the DVD format. Has anyone ever written Eidos or one of the game companies and asked?

[Salvage]

Originally posted by DarkForge
No no NO!!!! :mad:

Do they not realise that not everybody can manage to afford a DVD drive for their PC? :(
Then why don't you skip buying generic shooter #671 and get a DVD rom drive instead?

Over here a good quality DVD rom drive costs around $40 to $45, while a game costs between $60 and $70.


So, back to what I wrote earlier: If you can't afford a DVD rom drive then you can't afford the game.


You could always import the US version if you insist on having it as a CD. You'll just have to hope that if the UK version gets any extras that the US version will get a patch that adds them to that version.


But then again websites have been known to be wrong on several occasions, and there hasn't been any official announcement on media types.

Originally posted by atroxcasus
I don't buy the anti-pirating theory either. It is too easy to download entire files off newsgroups these days.
Anti-piracy measures were never meant to stop pirating as a whole, just to prevent John Smith from making copies for several of his closest friends. A release on DVD would do exactly that.

[Saruman]

...
Anti-piracy measures were never meant to stop pirating as a whole, just to prevent John Smith from making copies for several of his closest friends. A release on DVD would do exactly that. [/B]

Why?

A standard DVD disks holds up to 4.7 GB whereas a double-face holds 9.4 GB: now, it is highly improbable that a single game will require all that space!
For example, "Knights of the Old Republic" comes on 4 CD-ROM, approx. 3 GB and that's one hell of a game.
DX:IW (US version) is one CD-ROM.

Even if you put a game on a DVD, if less than 4.7 GB will be used, then it will be easily duplicable (actually).

Piracy is not due to Joe Doe's making copies for friends: even CD-ROM based games are copy-protected well above the level of knowledge of any Joe Doe.
Piracy is due to people removing the copy protection scheme and placing a copy over the P2P network.

IMHO, to publish a game on DVD (when there is another version on CD-ROM) is a move than:

1) will reduce the amount of future customers (only people with a DVD writer/reader can buy it)

2) will irritate existing customers (that have purchased a CD-ROM version will perhaps less goodies)

Saruman

[Quillan]

Back in the day....

(Yeah, I'm an old fart)

Back in the day when CD-ROM was first being used for software distribution, it was common to have a versions of a program packed with floppy disks, and another version on CD. I can remember some games coming with 10+ floppies in them. They really didn't stop shipping software without the floppy option until almost all software was too large to conveniently put on floppy, and CDROMs had become so prevalent that almost everyone had one. I have been expecting games to start shipping on DVD ever since Baldur's Gate (anyone else remember the FIVE cd's in the set?). They have not done so.

While I would not be surprised to see companies start putting games onto DVD, I would be surprised if they fail to offer you a choice of formats. DVD only would irritate a few too many people, I would think.

[Le`Sauveur`De`Ces`Dames]

in fact, there was an poll on this very forum, asking people if they would prefer a DVD or a CD format.

if I remember correctly, CD won (not by much, but it won), so it was shipped on CDs.

I guess that the same poll in the UJK or in germany gave different results.

(and I would prefer to have it on one DVD rather than 2 CD, because I never know how to keep the second CD from disarrearing from my room after I install the game)

[Djacobs]

Replying to the comment that if u can't afford the DVD drive you can't afford the game, what if you can afford the game but can't afford BOTH. No point buying a DVD drive for a game that you won't be able to get or one that you're only gonna use for a few months (due to the fact I will soon be getting an Alienware PC :)

[Djacobs]

No body asked me to vote in a poll (typical, but oh so useful reply).

[Salvage]

Originally posted by Djacobs
Replying to the comment that if u can't afford the DVD drive you can't afford the game, what if you can afford the game but can't afford BOTH.
You weren't supposed to notice that. :D

The answer to that question, though, is you buy the game later because future proofing is more important than playing a game right away.

You, however, can just wait until you get your Alienware to play it.


The poll took place months ago. My opinion on the matter hasn't changed since then.

[atroxcasus]

I can completely understand putting the 4+ CD set games onto DVD. That would make sense. I just don't get why they would be doing it if space is not the issue. I also don't think most gamers really care about stupid "DVD extras" as much as they do a quality game, so if the DVD versions were better games, even that would explain it. And for now, yeah, it makes it a little harder for you to burn your buddies a bunch of copies of your new game, but some companies have gotten around that with serial numbers or whatever. I know nobody got my Half life CD KEY. IN any event, most companies have practical reasons for their actions, and this whole DVD thing doesn't seem practical in a market where the CDROM is still the standard. Right?

[Salvage]

CD keys only work for multiplayer games, and sometimes not even for that.

It's my opinion that there were higher quality versions of the textures as well as models(take a look at the early PC version screenshots, before the time we only saw X-Box screenshots) and that they were exchanged/removed from the release in order to fit the game on 2 CDs.

[el-syd]

Oh no! You won't be able to play Deus Ex : IW !!!

A real tragedy, you'll be missing out on a great game. Yes. Trust me, after playing IW you will be desperate to play through the original again to erase all memories of the sequel.