Matrix Games Forums

Hi Guys

This will be set in stone early next week but I know everyone is waiting for information on our Game On Demand version.

Matrix Games will be now providing printed manuals for its Game On Deman products. This new feature will start with Forge of Freedom and quickly move to all of our games.

Now lets talk about price the new cost.............The new prices for the Game On Demand will be set at $9.99 including printed manual. So I am sorry for delay but I am sure most of you will be happy to now receive a printed manual for Forge of Freedom and soon for your other Matrix products.

If there are any question ask away.

David Heath

When I ordered my digital download, I ordered a backup disk for $9.99. Do I now also get a manual ??

If not, can I get a real manual for $9.99 ??

Reading the one I printed is slowly blinding me.

Outstanding!

The only thing that's now keeping me from purchasing FoF has been waiting for the physical shipment option to become available. Even so, I've been dreading having to print out a copy of the manual, this is really great news.

So, if I understand this correctly:

When the CDs become available later this coming week, I'll be able to, for $59.99(+S/H), order the digital and physical shipment, and also receive the printed manual?

Will the FoF printed manual be available for $9.99 (+ P&P) to those who bought the download version on the usual expectation there wouldn't be a printed manual, or just with the box copy?  If not, why not? 

ORIGINAL: Gandalftheredskin

So, if I understand this correctly:

When the CDs become available later this coming week, I'll be able to, for $59.99(+S/H), order the digital and physical shipment, and also receive the printed manual?

Correct.

When you say "including printed manual" what else is included? I assume that this "Game On Demand" deal doesn't include a cd since it's only $9.99. What does "Game On Demand" include?

CB

Great news - I assume this will apply to UK orders. Saves me getting those extra ink cartridges. Thanks a lot.

ORIGINAL: Curious

When you say "including printed manual" what else is included? I assume that this "Game On Demand" deal doesn't include a cd since it's only $9.99. What does "Game On Demand" include?

CB

That is on top of the download price:

FOF as an example:

- Digital Download = 49.99$
- Physical Shipment = 59.99$ (Box, CD, Manual)
- Physical Shipment + Digital Download = 59.99$ (Box, CD, Manual and you can download instantly too)

ORIGINAL: Marc Schwanebeck

FOF as an example:

- Digital Download = 49.99$
- Physical Shipment = 59.99$ (Box, CD, Manual)
- Physical Shipment + Digital Download = 59.99$ (Box, CD, Manual and you can download instantly too)

Information that might have been rather more useful had it been provided ten days ago [:@]

ORIGINAL: Marc Schwanebeck

ORIGINAL: Curious

When you say "including printed manual" what else is included? I assume that this "Game On Demand" deal doesn't include a cd since it's only $9.99. What does "Game On Demand" include?

CB

That is on top of the download price:

FOF as an example:

- Digital Download = 49.99$
- Physical Shipment = 59.99$ (Box, CD, Manual)
- Physical Shipment + Digital Download = 59.99$ (Box, CD, Manual and you can download instantly too)

Is it going to be possible to buy the printed manual by itself (for $9.99)? That would be what I (and probably many other people) would want to buy now that I've bought the game itself via download.

CB

Johnnie,

ORIGINAL: Johnnie
When I ordered my digital download, I ordered a backup disk for $9.99. Do I now also get a manual ??
If not, can I get a real manual for $9.99 ??
Reading the one I printed is slowly blinding me.

I'm really sorry that we can't help with that. The "backup disk" is a service of DR that's independent of us. I understand it's just a CD in a sleeve rather than a printed CD in a printed DVD box. On the plus side, it's available as soon as the download is, but it's not our full "game on demand" printed and boxed copy and never has been. We've always advised waiting until that shows up if you really want a boxed copy.

Despite that, we would sell you a manual if we could. Right now, it's not logistically possible. One of our first questions was how can we work it out so that previous customers can order a manual or a boxed copy after already ordering a download. The answer is it simply can't be done in the store right now, but DR is aware that it's the #1 item on our wish list.

Regards,

- Erik

ORIGINAL: Gandalftheredskin
When the CDs become available later this coming week, I'll be able to, for $59.99(+S/H), order the digital and physical shipment, and also receive the printed manual?

Correct. To be 100% clear on what this means for our customers in the future, we managed to _add_ a printed manual to our future boxed copies while _decreasing_ the price by a penny.

Regards,

- Erik

Hertston,

ORIGINAL: Hertston
Will the FoF printed manual be available for $9.99 (+ P&P) to those who bought the download version on the usual expectation there wouldn't be a printed manual, or just with the box copy?  If not, why not? 

I wish. Unfortunately, as I replied to the other gentleman, we are simply not able to do this in the store as it's currently setup. It will take a lot of programming to make it possible and we are not sure when DR will get it done.

I also wish we could have said "if you want a manual, wait until the boxed copy is available". Unfortunately, we really didn't know if we would be able to get a printed manual into this one or if it would have to wait for the 2007 releases. When we found out that we would be able to do it (yesterday), we decided to go ahead with it.

There is no way for us in terms of the store software, for the near future, to either "upgrade" a digital download to a digital + physical or "upgrade" a previous order to add a printed manual. Both of these are high priority wish list items for us for the future though.

Regards,

- Erik

ORIGINAL: Curious
When you say "including printed manual" what else is included? I assume that this "Game On Demand" deal doesn't include a cd since it's only $9.99. What does "Game On Demand" include?

We've always called our boxed copies "game on demand" because they're created when the customer requests it, rather than printed ahead of time and stored in large quantities. That's also why it took so long to integrate a manual printing process into this.

Previously "game on demand"/"physical copy"/"boxed copy" was a printed color DVD case with a printed color CD inside with your serial number and order number printed on it. That used to cost $10. That has not changed, but we've now added a printed manual to the deal and reduced the price to $9.99.

Regards,

- Erik

Herstson,

ORIGINAL: Hertston
Information that might have been rather more useful had it been provided ten days ago [:@]

Please see my other reply, unfortunately we didn't know 10 days ago if this would happen, we only found out for certain yesterday. We've been working on this for months in detail and for a couple of years in general. We felt it was better to go ahead with it as soon as it was finally available than to wait for the next release. While we realize that this is not ideal for some customers, there was no ideal way for us to do this given the uncertainty that existed between us and DR as to whether and when this would happen.

Regards,

- Erik

ORIGINAL: Curious
Is it going to be possible to buy the printed manual by itself (for $9.99)? That would be what I (and probably many other people) would want to buy now that I've bought the game itself via download.

Unfortunately, no - we'd love to do this, but the store simply can't handle it right now. It's a high priority for us to make this possible as we realize that it's the same thing as the download to physical upgrade customers have been asking for. We want to make it as easy and flexible for you as we can, but implementing that in terms of software and logistics always seems to take more than we'd expect.

Regards,

- Erik

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: Curious
Is it going to be possible to buy the printed manual by itself (for $9.99)? That would be what I (and probably many other people) would want to buy now that I've bought the game itself via download.

Unfortunately, no - we'd love to do this, but the store simply can't handle it right now. It's a high priority for us to make this possible as we realize that it's the same thing as the download to physical upgrade customers have been asking for. We want to make it as easy and flexible for you as we can, but implementing that in terms of software and logistics always seems to take more than we'd expect.

Regards,

- Erik

Thanks for your reply. However this whole thing is getting rather confusing. To quote Mr. Heath in his original post in this thread: "The new prices for the Game On Demand will be set at $9.99 including printed manual." That did say "$9.99" and it did say "including printed manual". And to quote you a few posts ago in this thread: "but we've now added a printed manual to the deal and reduced the price to $9.99." That does say "$9.99" and it also says "we've now added a printed manual to the deal". It sure sounds to me like you both are saying that for $9.99 the deal includes a printed manual. Am I not reading the fine print here or what? Exactly what is going to be included in this mysterious "$9.99" deal?

CB

CB,

ORIGINAL: Curious
Thanks for your reply. However this whole thing is getting rather confusing. To quote Mr. Heath in his original post in this thread: "The new prices for the Game On Demand will be set at $9.99 including printed manual." That did say "$9.99" and it did say "including printed manual". And to quote you a few posts ago in this thread: "but we've now added a printed manual to the deal and reduced the price to $9.99." That does say "$9.99" and it also says "we've now added a printed manual to the deal". It sure sounds to me like you both are saying that for $9.99 the deal includes a printed manual. Am I not reading the fine print here or what? Exactly what is going to be included in this mysterious "$9.99" deal?

Ok, let me try to clear this up once and for all. The new physical copies for our games will include:

Printed color DVD case, printed color CD with your serial # and order #, printed manual

The cost will be $9.99 in addition to the base price of the game.

In the past, it was only the DVD case + CD for $10 on top of the base price of the game.

So, for Forge of Freedom, the base price is $49.99. For that price, you can get the download version. For $49.99 + $9.99 you will be able to get the boxed version, which will now include a printed manual.

Regards,

- Erik

Well. I am very sorry to hear that because I was loyal to Matrix Games by purchasing their digital download of "Forge of Freedom" I am now to be punished by NOT being able to purchase a printed manual for it. This is outrageous, especially in a game with such a steep learning curve.

This may very well be my last Matrix game.

An unhappy

xlegion

Will the boxed manual be printed in color or black & white?