Doom 3 standard edition delayed till October

cerbeus

Has anyone ordered Doom 3 off the mx2 site?
I ordered the standard edition that was advertised and recieved a reply as follows:

With reference to your order for Doom 3 on PC, the version that you have
ordered (Doom 3 Standard Edition PC400) has now been delayed by the
Publisher Activision until October, however they have decided to release a
Special Edition of this game that will be available on 13th August. At this
time it is not know what the Special Edition contains, but we have been
informed unofficially, that the packaging will be in a double sized DVD Case
with an extra game guide enclosed.

I've looked on Play.com and other sites and they just feature the one version but no mention of whether it is a Special Edition or not.

Has anyone else recieved this?

leeroybrown

There is some mention of this in the other Doom 3 thread on the forum. Any copies delivered in August (and for a while after that) will be the Special Edition afaik.

The only place I saw both for sale (with the delay mentioned), they were the [strike]same price[/strike] (correction) RRP of Special Edition is €10 extra.

Batbat

if thats true its lame forcing people to pay exxtra for the special edition in order to play early

cerbeus

did see the post in "Doom 3 gone Gold - August 3rd expected " thread. But it's the same question?

I still can't see why there are two versions and cannot find a reason for the delay of the Standard Edition.

leeroybrown

I would guess that the 'Special Edition' is an anti-piracy ploy designed to entice people into buying early before there are working cracks for the game. If it's approximately the same price it'll also be a nice reward for the early game buyers.

[CrimsonGhost]

So the version I have preordered from play will be the special edition then?

leeroybrown

If you look on http://www.ebgames.com, who are one of ID's official syndicated resellers for the game, you'll see a $5 difference in price and a description:

Standard

Special


Edit: Apparently the figure is for the EBGames only box set, so confusion reigns again ...

Batbat

im confused I thought ebgames dont deliver to europe

LoBo

I placed my order on mx2.co.uk on the 15th july. At this time they had only ONE listing (DOOM 3, no mention of editions) and it said it would be available 8th or 13th august- can't remember which. It cost £17.95, so I placed my order and got my confirmation email.

Days later I saw they had changed the site so you could either get the special edition for £25 in august or the standard edition for the above price in october (!).

In answer to my email saying wtf, I eventually (just now) got the same bulk send as the original poster.

It's pretty lame switching games (effectively) on folks who have pre ordered

I'll see what is happening w/ other sites, eg play.com before deciding what to do. In any case, I a) won't wait 2 extra months for the game and b) won't buy from mx2.co.uk if I have to pay more for the 'special edition', as a thank you for their hot-swap

Batbat

I'll see what is happening w/ other sites, eg play.com before deciding what to do. In any case, I a) won't wait 2 extra months for the game and b) won't buy from mx2.co.uk if I have to pay more for the 'special edition', as a thank you for their hot-swap

get the [illegal] version for a 100% discount and teach them a lesson for this messing about

Stephen

I ordered from CDWOW (marginally cheaper than play in this instance), hope this doesn't mean i have to wait until poxy october.

seanos

Bought off play.com

Doom3, no mension of edition, release date of augustish, and 45euro [free delivery]
It states on site if price changes before release, your given the cheaper one.

...I doubt they'll charge less than 45[ish] for quote a while on a title like this ....

tuxy

Originally posted by leeroybrown
I would guess that the 'Special Edition' is an anti-piracy ploy designed to entice people into buying early before there are working cracks for the game. If it's approximately the same price it'll also be a nice reward for the early game buyers.

but crasks are normaly avilable within hours of a game being released

Stephen

45? It was 37 euros off play a few days ago? 0_o

(it seems cheaper to buy from play in sterling, their Euro rates look a bit dodgy)

bizmark

ya my copy was 45 at play.com i dont care tbh as long as i get it next month 45 euro isnt that much money.If your get a free game with doom 3 it will more than likely be a dvd/cd of doom doom 2 and final doom which you more than likely will never use but will be nice to have all the same

cerbeus

I'm still waiting to hear back from them as to what exactly is the difference in the two so when I know I'll post.

RE*AC*TOR

its all fairly redundant - just order yours from [an illegal source] and you'll be sure to get it first and at the best price.

monument

I’ve banned ‘Batbat’ and 'RE*AC*TOR' from this forum, as when they posted where to get an illegal copy of Doom 3 they broke the following rule…

1. Posting about Warez.
This means that if you post anything on how to obtain, copy, hax0r, backup, get a serial number for or otherwise copy or circumvent copy protection. We don't care if you want to back up your perfectly legal copy of The Sims. Copying protected cd's is off-topic anyway. There is a zero tolerance for this. If you break this rule, you will be permanently banned and your post will be edited and/or deleted.

Please take the time to read the Games Charter.

tuxy

Originally posted by RE*AC*TOR
its all fairly redundant - just order yours from [an illegal source] and you'll be sure to get it first and at the best price.

please tell me where i can optain it from this [illegal source] crowd

only joking

tman

Originally posted by bizmark
ya my copy was 45 at play.com i dont care tbh as long as i get it next month 45 euro isnt that much money.If your get a free game with doom 3 it will more than likely be a dvd/cd of doom doom 2 and final doom which you more than likely will never use but will be nice to have all the same

£27.99 = €42.03 according to xe.com

NEVER use the euro converter on play.com

bizmark

Bah ....Ah well its only 3 euro

cerbeus

I'm still waiting for the reply. I may end up cancelling and buying it on play.

[CrimsonGhost]

Originally posted by tman
£27.99 = €42.03 according to xe.com

NEVER use the euro converter on play.com

But if play say they'll bill you 45 euro that's what they'll bill you.

If they say 27.99 and exchange rates fluctuate, (and your cc company will give you a cr@p rate anyway), and then you are charged 2 or 3 euro for the conversion, you could well end up paying more. Plus you don't know just how much it is going to cost you.

Personally I'd rather knowing the exact figure from the date I order.

LoBo

has anyone received confirmation from play.com etc of the actual date they will get the game and what the story is with the different editions (standard vs special)?

still confused here :?

cerbeus

Interview with Doom 3 developers:

Doom 3 Interview

And they mention the that there may not be any plans for a special edition. So I don't know what the two versions being advertised on www.mx2.co.uk are.

LoBo

Thanks for link-

GameSpy: Did you ever give any thought to doing a "Collector's Edition" for DOOM 3?

Todd Hollenshead: The thing on the Collector's Edition is that we don't like doing it unless we have some really cool stuff to put into it, and we could just never come to an agreement with Activision about how all that was all going to be packaged. Then there was a significant amount of pushback from retailers over multiple SKUs of the same product title at launch. They don't like it because they have to keep track of two different pieces and two different price points and all that sort of stuff -- some of the at-launch "Collector's Editions" may be going away based on the new retail attitude.

so wtf are mx2.co.uk on about?

LoBo

My email to lesley@mx2.com (the one who sent the bulk email out, as quoted by the OP):

Hi Lesley,

I sent in a query on the 19th about the sudden appearance of special/standard editions of Doom 3 after having placed a pre-order on the 15th (at that time, no mention of diff editions). Even after a lot of looking about & your email, I still haven't been able to work out what's happening with this.

Every other online retailer I've found has no mention of different editions for this game, and indeed ID themselves say they haven't made one (or have any plans to do so! - see http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/doom-3/532605p3.html halfway down the page)

So my questions are
- what's different about the special edition? (not the price or the release date, actual contents)
- why can I not find any mention of this anywhere else?

Please let me know as soon as possible, so that I can amend or cancel my order accordingly.

Thanks,

Anyone else contacted them? I'll let you know what (if anything) they come back with.

cerbeus

I've heard nothing back from them except for the email I posted at the start of this thread which doesn't fill me with confidence. So I think I'll cancel and buy off play.com.

At least I know what I'm getting there.

Absolam

I reckon Doom III will be one of the few occasions when it will be better to buy on the High Street.

1) The street date will almost certainly be broken so GAME/GameStop/Smyths will have it on sale latest Thursday before release (Driv3r broke on a Tuesday).

2) There's now plenty of price competition (Driv3r €34.99 from €59.99 1st weekend) so the price slashing will be fierce...

So it's back to the old mantra...shop around before you buy!

-oRnein9-

Originally posted by Absolam
I reckon Doom III will be one of the few occasions when it will be better to buy on the High Street.

1) The street date will almost certainly be broken so GAME/GameStop/Smyths will have it on sale latest Thursday before release (Driv3r broke on a Tuesday).

2) There's now plenty of price competition (Driv3r €34.99 from €59.99 1st weekend) so the price slashing will be fierce...

So it's back to the old mantra...shop around before you buy!

I have to aggree high street game prices are droping I got metroid prime for 25euro's in gamestop and it is 28euro on play also I purchesed mario kart double dash in game for 50euro its 55 on play but I later realised its only 45 on cdwow so shop around for best value on and offline, but also there is a certain feeling you get when actually buying the game on the high street.
Richy.

bizmark

i emailed play.com about the whole standered/special edition thing they have no information about it so i would assume theres no speical edition

L5

Incidentally i think we'll see it around 6th of august here. Well at least those who order from england will!

" The official street date is actually August 5th in the U.S.A., but some of your favourite stores will probably have it early for those of you who have to have it first," he wrote, before moving onto the subject of international releases, including Europe.

"Internationally, the game will take a few more days to make it to the store shelves. The UK will probably get it first, on or about August 6th. Everywhere else will probably be Friday, August 13th (que Twilight Zone Theme) or close to that date, with just a few exceptions (e.g. Russia and Poland). This isn't because we don't have love for you folks outside the U.S., but the localization and manufacturing process takes a bit longer outside the U.S. where we will have JVC run 24/7 to get the units built. I guess the European manufacturers prefer to give their employees nights and weekends off. Go figure!"

[CrimsonGhost]

Originally posted by Absolam
So it's back to the old mantra...shop around before you buy!

Sod that, but I'd rather have it in my hands and be playing it ASAP. For the sake of 5-10 euro. I've ordered from play. It'll arrive when it arrives and until then I'm trying to stay as calm as possible.

Lemming

Originally posted by bizmark
i emailed play.com about the whole standered/special edition thing they have no information about it so i would assume theres no speical edition

There was a special edition of Doom3 mentioned on Electronics Boutique, but I can't find it any more. It may have been removed. The edition was the same as the standard except it had a peuter Pink Demon figure or some such and appeared to be exclusive to EB.

decob

Originally posted by [CrimsonGhost]
Sod that, but I'd rather have it in my hands and be playing it ASAP. For the sake of 5-10 euro. I've ordered from play. It'll arrive when it arrives and until then I'm trying to stay as calm as possible.

you? stay calm? like thats gonna happen...
Mr Impatient...

User45701

Originally posted by monument
I’ve banned ‘Batbat’ and 'RE*AC*TOR' from this forum, as when they posted where to get an illegal copy of Doom 3 they broke the following rule…

1. Posting about Warez.
This means that if you post anything on how to obtain, copy, hax0r, backup, get a serial number for or otherwise copy or circumvent copy protection. We don't care if you want to back up your perfectly legal copy of The Sims. Copying protected cd's is off-topic anyway. There is a zero tolerance for this. If you break this rule, you will be permanently banned and your post will be edited and/or deleted.

Please take the time to read the Games Charter.

Wow u did some propper work for once instead of messing around with other ppls posts for your own ammusment.
Its still good to see ppl banned for that tho.

On to this topic.

If you are going to buy from game go in soon and order it. Game said they will only get in copes of the game for those that pre-order it.
I still havent figured out if Game and Gamestop will have The deluxe edition of doom3 for the extra 10E
Also i hear that Xtra-Game have doom3 deluxe for 50E true or fale? i dont even know where Xtra game is located

LoBo

This just in from the wonderful people at mx2.co.uk

Dear Customer

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Latest update with reference to Doom 3 on PC.

We now have email confirmation from Activision the game publisher, stating
the following.

"There is a limited edition launch on 13th August. This will be a normal
scanavo case inserted into a premium card box outer.
The premium box will be available for a limited time only (roughly 8-10
weeks), after which the card outer will be removed, leaving just the
standard edition in the marketplace."
Would you like to keep your existing order with us or change your order?

Please can you reply to this e-mail stating:-

Limited edition requested (£24.95)
Release Date 13th August 2004

or

Standard edition requested (£17.95)
Release Date Mid October 2004

No Credit Cards will be charged until goods are despatched.

We are sorry for any inconvenience caused and yet another email having to be
sent. We wanted to keep you informed so that you may make changes to your
order should you wish to.

Thanks in advance
Kind Regards
MX2 Stock Control.

So I have the choice of paying an extra EUR10.50 to get my preordered game at the initially-advertised-by-mx2 release date with - get this - A CARDBOARD BOX COVER. Alternatively, I can wait 2+ months for what I ordered at the price I ordered. I mean they even state that in october all they will be doing is _removing_ the cardboard covers to turn special into standard.

Suffice to say I'll be mailing them to cancel this order and to complain about the whole ridicolous stunt, and let them know they just lost a first-time customer who had actually placed a CC order (if you know anything about online stores, these are the hardest to get)

Play.com have Aug 13th release date, no mention of 1337 carboard boxes, and a delivered price of EUR42.50. I think i'll be going with them.

User45701

I still confused will shops on the ST have the special edition on the 13th like the onlone shops?

LoBo

my complaint / order cancellation to mx2.co.uk.. doubt I get anything back.

Dear Lesley,

After reading your latest email I would firstly like to cancel my preorder for Doom 3 from mx2.co.uk and secondly let you know exactly why I am doing this - perhaps you can forward this on your complaints dept or someone in management and gain something from it.
Here are my order details:
Order Number: xxxx
Order Date: 2004/07/15 20:36

As you can see, I placed my order on the 15th of July. At that time you had no mention of special vs standard edition and just one price and one release date (early August, like your competitors)- and I was happy to place my order on the basis of your competitive price and the recommendation of a friend who had used you before.

However, after several emails that have only been answered in bulk it now turns out that I have two options:
- pay £7 extra for a Special Cardboard Cover & the game on the release date you listed on your site when I placed my order. (this is the Special Edition)
- wait 2+ months for the game at the price you listed on your site when I placed my order. Apparantly you will remove the Special Cardboard Cover before sending me the game. (this is the Standard Edition)
Unfortunately (for you) there is a third option, which I will be taking: buy elsewhere.

Nowhere else (high st stores, other online retailers, the activision site (!), or ID themselves) have I found that is selling two versions of the game. I can only guess that either everyone else is keeping it quiet, or you have exclusive reselling rights to the Special Cardboard Cover. In any case, the result is the loss of a first-time buyer from your site (historically the 'hardest' type of purchaser to convert for an online store) who won't be coming back.

Please let me know when the order has been cancelled, and if you have any comments on my feedback please don't hesitate to contact me at this address.

Yours Sincerely,
xxxx

cerbeus

Got exactly the same standard email.

Cancelled the order. Waiting for a reply.

LoBo

Just ordered from play.com and noticed a nice note both on the site before I confirmed payment and in my confirmation email:

Please note: If the price of the above item changes before it is dispatched, you
will be charged the lower price.

Nice to see

Lawlost

I too pre-ordered Doom 3 'Standard edition' from mx2.com. Sent off an e-mail asking why the October release date and got the following friendly reply:

Dear Sir/Madam,

You have ordered the standard edition which is not released until october.

Err well that is rubbish. Same as the other posts nobody else has ever heard of a 'standard edition'.

Goodshape

This cardboard box is a 'special edition'? That's a bit crap to be sure.

Bought mine in Virgin, cardboard and all.. I actually looked around for a special edition box before going to the counter.

They must be jokeing charging an extra £7 for that!

monument

Lawlost, they may be just feeding you with crap, cancel the order and buy in some where else online or on the high street.

Got mine today; cardboard over a dual DVD case, I'm thinking it's the 'Standard Edition' - 44.99 euro in World of Wonder in Ballina. I just never got around to pre-ordering it of play or cdwow.

LoBo

monument wrote:

cardboard over a dual DVD case

That's the special edition alright.
:rolleyes:

Lawlost

Interestingly MX2.com have not replied to my e-mail asking what the difference is and why the wait till October. Having trawled the net I have found that gameplanet.co.uk has a Doom 3 Limited edition £29.99 and another Doom 3 £27.99 both available now no waiting till October! I could buy from another supplier but this is a point of principal now. If there is no 'standard edition' or if the 'standard edition' was released simultaneously then MX2.com have induced consumers into entering into buying from their site without being able to fulfill the contract till October. Perhaps they are hoping to people will not go to the hassle of cancelling. :mad:

LoBo

Have a look at my emails from/to mx2.com on page 2 of this thread.

Basically: activision(the publisher) came up with the 'special price' edition.
You haven't seen it mentioned by any other retailers because everyone else is charging the higher price (ie selling you the special edition) but saying nothing (probably a good idea).

Mx2.com are apparantly trying to be transparant. I cancelled my order from them because they changed the goods _after_ I had placed my order. Other retailers (eg play.com) have notices saying 'if the price changes on this preorder, you pay the lower'.