Special offer?

[blastpop]

Will Matrix be offering special pricing for those of us who already own Birth of America?

I can't justify the upgrade to BoA2 as it now stands. I might do so if there was a reasonable incentive to upgrade.

[Erik Rutins]

I understand the desire for an upgrade discount. However, BOA 2 has enough improvements in content and gameplay that it ended up as a full game for AGEOD in terms of development effort. As a result, it is priced as a new full game and not as an upgrade or expansion. This (as far as I know) is how AGEOD themselves are doing it too, so there are no plans for a BOA -> BOA2 upgrade offer.

If you've played AGEOD's American Civil War, this is much more like "AACW goes to the Revolutionary War" with improved AI, improved gameplay, replay feature, more scenarios/campaigns going back to 1863 and up to 1815 and so forth.

Regards,

- Erik

[blastpop]

Too bad... I'll save my money for something else.

[Titanwarrior89]

Its worth the price.  Been playing it and I would have agree  with Erik.   Great game and even better now that the improvements have been added along with the new campaigns and wars.

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

This (as far as I know) is how AGEOD themselves are doing it too

They are. At least there's a demo so people can judge whether there is enough to justify full price if you already have BoA.

[blastpop]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

This (as far as I know) is how AGEOD themselves are doing it too

They are. At least there's a demo so people can judge whether there is enough to justify full price if you already have BoA.

It probably is worth it, but for my money, I would want to spend my money on a new Matrix product, which provides a new and different gaming experience. On the other hand, if there was a $30.00 to $35.00 upgrade path I would make the purchase. In turn, I would be getting something substantial and an improvement of what I already have without the feeling of being taken advantage of. There are a lot of games out there, both board and computer that are vying for my limited gaming dollars.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: blastpop

... if there was a $30.00 to $35.00 upgrade path I would make the purchase. In turn, I would be getting something substantial and an improvement of what I already have without the feeling of being taken advantage of. There are a lot of games out there, both board and computer that are vying for my limited gaming dollars.

AGEod had originally planned for two versions of this game; one was BoA Gold, which would be patched to the original BoA at a reduced price, but w/o all those extra features.

AGEod tried hard to make this work, but it just wouldn't accept the "graft," so what you now see on sale is Plan B, which I am looking forward to.

[jomni]

AGEOD did not provide discounts for existing owners of BOA1 so I suppose Matrix will not provide it as well.

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: blastpop

It probably is worth it, but for my money, I would want to spend my money on a new Matrix product, which provides a new and different gaming experience. On the other hand, if there was a $30.00 to $35.00 upgrade path I would make the purchase.

I'd have been tempted too but I guess AGEOD estimated sales income both ways and decided the 'no-upgrade' approach would generate the most cash. Which is fair enough, I suppose. I'm waiting on the UK box release; both ACW and Nappy had mid-price box releases in the UK only a couple of months after the online release.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

... but I guess AGEOD estimated sales income both ways and decided the 'no-upgrade' approach would generate the most cash. Which is fair enough, I suppose ...

No, that's not what happened.

"AGEod had originally planned for two versions of this game; one was BoA Gold, which would be patched to the original BoA at a reduced price, but w/o all those extra features.

AGEod tried hard to make this work, but it just wouldn't accept the "graft," so what you now see on sale is Plan B ..."

Both BoA and AACW discs sold for abt $30 plus US here.

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: Joe D.

No, that's not what happened.

I don't see the distinction. There is no need to 'patch up' from BoA, just offer a purchase discount on the new game to owners of BoA. Somewhere along the line they must have made a decision not to offer such a discount. I'm not knocking it - nobody expects a discount on EA sports games and they are far more like their predecessors than BoA and BoA2 are - but there are clearly some BoA owners who would have bought at a discount but won't at full price. All I'm saying is that AGEOD called that enough BoA owners would pay full price to make discount-absence the more lucrative option. I suppose that shows confidence in their products, if nothing else.

[JudgeDredd]

Too expensive. Games are increasingly becoming so and I can see my budget shrink and shrink due to outside pressures. Nothing to do with Matrix or any other game publishers really...they have to make a profit, but I've got less and less excess money.

[harley9699]

What JudgeDredd said!!! Gas is killing me. Heating's $ supposed to go up this winter. Used to automatically just buy the next Matrix game immediately when it came out. Trust the name and all that. NOW though, have to justify each and every game I buy. Have passed on 3 of the last 5. Now, just sit and basically watch the 'in development' and plan way ahead. It's unfortunate, but it's how it goes for this gamer at the present time.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

... but I guess AGEOD estimated sales income both ways and decided the 'no-upgrade' approach would generate the most cash.

This is not what happened. It wasn't a monetary decision, but a failure to graft the new code unto the original game that resulted in a stand alone BoA2, w/o a patch/discount for the original BoA owners to covert to BoA2.

[mikul82]

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

Too expensive. Games are increasingly becoming so and I can see my budget shrink and shrink due to outside pressures. Nothing to do with Matrix or any other game publishers really...they have to make a profit, but I've got less and less excess money.

I'm with you- I used to buy games as I felt like it, and not anymore, too busy now trying to keep gas in my tank, the rent paid, food in my fridge, and etc. I understand their reluctance to give a discount (I own BoA from way back when it first came out), but am also one who would seriously consider upgrading for a discounted price, no way I'm paying full price for the game though. It looks fun and is probably a great game, but there's other stuff I'd rather spend my extra money on now.

[Arsan]

Hi!
I bet AGEOD guys also need to put gas on the tank and food on the fridge! [:D]
And gas is so much more expensive on Europe [:(] (about 1,8$/litre here in Spain, one of the cheaper EU countries to buy gas!![X(])

For what i have read on the AGEOD forums about the "special offer" affair...
The things is that BoA 2 project began like a little expansion, like a Gold version with some of the new things of AACW added back and maybe a 1812 scenario. But the engine was not compatible with many of the new things.
So work on a new game version was started (after adding to BoA1 the compatible features on free patches) but it grow so much in features/programmer time needed that it was not economically viable for the company to offer it anymore as both a full game for new players and a low cost expansion patch for owners of BoA1.

Specially when BoA 1 has hit the bargain bins on retail distribution some time ago in lots of countries and you can find it for a few dollars (i highly doubt AGEOD gets anything form these kind of sells ).

But anyway, the "too expensive" opinions are understandable. This crisis is a bitch for everybody, everywhere... [:(]

Regards

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: Arsan

... The things is that BoA 2 project began like a little expansion, like a Gold version with some of the new things of AACW added back and maybe a 1812 scenario. But the engine was not compatible with many of the new things.

Thanks; I've been unsuccessfully trying to explain that.

ORIGINAL: Arsan
... But anyway, the "too expensive" opinions are understandable. This crisis is a bitch for everybody, everywhere...

Of all the playable strategy titles I've purchased, AGEod games were the most reasonably priced -- I bought new box sets of both BoA and ACW in retail stores for abt $30 US; later each title had many patches that improved gameplay.

[Arsan]

Hi

I think offering WIA as a patch for BoA (for example like some of the later expansions/patches Paradox does) would not have been technically possible because of game engine compatibility and the huge new map. It would have need to be a full game download as WIA is a new game altogether but with the same subject, graphic style and, of course, a similar and evolved AGEOD games system.

Still (and i think is what other posters meant) it would have been technically possible to offer a discount for the full new game to owners of the previous games.
In this case, the problem is not technical, but economic, as AGEOD will probably not have make enough money to compensate the development costs of WIA, which must have been virtually the ones of a new game.
It think it would be a bad marketing decision to offer the new game for 50 $ to new buyers andr lets say...30$ for owners of BoA1, when its pretty easy to get a retail copy of BoA1 on a bargain bin or ebay for 5$. You save 15$, and AGEOD losses 20$ [&:]
To owners of BoA like myself i think WIA is more than worthy the full price tag if you had enjoyed the original game. It has alll the good thing of that but also a lot of new and better ones.
Of course, if you did not liked BoA...

As a new game for a new player is still more worthy of the price. I have no doubt that little things offer more hours of entertaining per $ than video games, specially complex and repayable games like the ones Matrix and AGEOD do.
And with AGEOD you can be sure that the game will be supported, improved with new content and retrofitted with improvements made for new games as AACW and NCP have been [&o]

Regards!