By Kieron Gillen on January 9th, 2009 at 3:31 pm.
Quick post on this one. News reaches me from staring at forums that King’s Bounty is on sale this weekend from Gamer’s Gate for twenty Euros. As much as we love the game – it’s Alec’s favourite of last year, after all - after the cheery collapse of the Pound Sterling, forty Euros is a lot for anything. At twenty it’s a total bargain. Hurrah for advanced capitalism.
09/01/2009 at 15:39 Feet says:
Bought. Thanks!
09/01/2009 at 15:49 Rongonathon Magnuskavang says:
Bah, I picked it up for around 872,659,387,561 American bottlecaps. Stupid economy.
09/01/2009 at 15:50 ZephyrSB says:
Figures. I bought it earlier this week :(
09/01/2009 at 15:52 Kieron Gillen says:
Don’t worry, Zeph – Walker and I both paid 40 euros for it too. C’est la vie.
KG
09/01/2009 at 15:52 Bobsy says:
Question! If I buy and download it, can I then transport the download to another (internetless) compy and install it there? I wreally want to give this a try.
09/01/2009 at 15:57 Babs says:
@Bobsy
Acording to the GamersGate FAQ, no.
09/01/2009 at 16:05 Bobsy says:
Then no sale. Shame.
09/01/2009 at 16:18 Colthor says:
There’s a boxed version coming out in a week, available from Play for £25 (that’s the only place I can see it).
But it might require online activation, so check if that’s a problem (I’m really not sure. I’ve been trying to find out, but there are so many different versions around and stories vary so much about the game’s CP that I’ve no idea).
09/01/2009 at 16:29 qrter says:
Space Rangers 2, the boxed version, did have that silly Starforce DRM on it (when I say “silly” I mean “fucking annoying”). Not sure if this is the same publisher, but keep an eye out.
09/01/2009 at 16:31 Dominic White says:
None of the digital versions of SR2 have Starforce. Don’t worry – you can take your tinfoil helmet off.
While Starforce is an almighty pain in the arse, the amount of crazy rumours about it are staggering. People have told me, seriously, to my face, that it will cause discs to melt in my drive.
09/01/2009 at 16:41 qrter says:
Contrary to what my gravatar might indicate, I never wear hats.
09/01/2009 at 17:06 Rei Onryou says:
No Steam, no go. Curse my fear of other digital distribution methods. Looks like its boxed retail for me.
Looking forward to a batshit manual.
09/01/2009 at 17:17 Fede says:
This product have been blocked for your country.
I don’t understand. Wasn’t it being sold at 20 Euro? I use Euro, so it should be available here. Or they thought UK have started using Euro? Sigh. :(
09/01/2009 at 17:26 Heliocentric says:
After the demo i’m not sure how i feel about dropping £18(+tax) on this through a drmed system which isn’t steam.
09/01/2009 at 17:37 subedii says:
Yeah I’m going to hold off until play.com finally has them in stock. I have to wonder what’s taking them so freaking long with that. A game like this really ought to be on the shelves as well.
09/01/2009 at 17:44 thefanciestofpants says:
Picked this up last week(I’m in the ass end of australia anyway, euros-shmuros.).
Alec’s hype was bang on. What a batshit insane, charming and addictive thing it is.
09/01/2009 at 17:45 Nosferatu Man says:
I’m pretty sure GamersGate is less DRM’d than Steam – once you download and install something using their downloader app, that’s it – it’ll just run on it’s own without the need to run anything else (a bit like Impulse). I presume the app is only there to do some decrypting on whatever you download (which would explain why you can’t copy the stuff to another computer). I hate to sound like a shill, but systems that aren’t Steam deserve a bit of love sometimes.
Anyway, bought despite the shoddy Euro/Pound exchange.
09/01/2009 at 18:01 Luomu says:
Play.com is now advertising a collector’s edition as well:
Collector’s Edition contents:
King’s Bounty: The Legend game
“The Art of King’s Bounty: The Legend” artbook
Bonus DVD
T-Shirt
Poster (double faced)
Bonus DVD contents:
“Tales from Endoria” – 8 episodes
Game trailers
Artwork
Web Fankit
Original soundtrack
Exclusive Katauri interview
£29.99 which translates to €38.99 with play.com’s rates.
09/01/2009 at 18:48 roBurky says:
Bought.
09/01/2009 at 18:50 FhnuZoag says:
Does anyone know what the DRM situation is with this?
09/01/2009 at 19:19 subedii says:
The Russian retail release version of the game originally made use of Starforce, but that was soon patched out. The US / UK releases will not make use of Starforce at all.
Also, that’s some pretty good swag in a special edition priced at £30.
09/01/2009 at 19:28 Colthor says:
@FhnuZoag:
As subedii said (although StarForce was patched out as of 1.6.4), plus the US/EU releases have various versions of SecuROM, at least some requiring online activation. Dunno about the pending UK release, but I *think* it’s the same publisher as the US one.
Source (that may be updated with UK version info later):
http://forum.daemon-tools.cc/gamedb.php?letter=K
09/01/2009 at 19:47 iax says:
FhnuZoag: I just bought it from Gamersgate. You will need the Gamersgate Downloader, their equivalent to the Steam/Impulse/etc. apps for downloading and installing the game. Additionally, the game comes with SecuROM which is used for an online activiation before you start the game for the first time. Afterwards, I could start the game without an active internet connection. Gamersgate guarantees unlimited installations. The worst case scenario according to their FAQs is an email to their support, if the game refuses activation.
09/01/2009 at 20:48 Robin says:
Man, fast work.
09/01/2009 at 22:06 noexes says:
The problem isn’t really the derm but the fact that the software is needlessly obtuse and annoying. After I buy King’s Bounty I probably won’t use it for anything else.
09/01/2009 at 22:41 ysbreker says:
I can’t install the game :( The installer keeps crashing after downloading the game though that gamersgate downloader thing. My Google fu isn’t working since I can’t find a thing about the installer crashing anywhere.
09/01/2009 at 22:54 cyrenic says:
I was surprised to see Kings Bounty at my local Texas Wal Mart today. Pretty cool they were able to get a wide distribution for the American launch, at least.
10/01/2009 at 01:31 Nullh says:
Picken adn purchased, and I’m liking it a lot. Reminds me of late 90′s games, which is a good thing.
10/01/2009 at 01:49 Capon says:
Bought it, hope it’s ready to play by the time I get back. I to sell my zombie wife, too, damnit!
10/01/2009 at 02:57 roBurky says:
Mph. I think I should have trusted my instincts on this and stayed away. I’m finding the battles terribly tedious.
10/01/2009 at 03:33 Jason says:
Cheers for the heads up, done and done.
But maybe I’ll leave off playing it till I get dumped…8-)
10/01/2009 at 05:22 thefanciestofpants says:
If you disliked the combat in the Heroes of might and magic games, you’ll find king’s bounty no better. Just a warning.
I for one, loved em.
10/01/2009 at 05:39 Nick says:
Yes, if it didn’t like HoMMs 1 – 3 you won’t like this (there are much better reasons for not liking 4 & 5).
10/01/2009 at 06:01 qrter says:
This is what I had. Repetitive and not very engaging. And there’s a lot of it.
10/01/2009 at 12:39 roBurky says:
I had no idea what HoMM was. Which was why I never understood anyone’s description of this game because that was the only reference point anyone used.
10/01/2009 at 13:31 pkt-zer0 says:
I disliked the combat in HoMM, but I like King’s Bounty.
Maybe I’m just weird.
10/01/2009 at 16:04 DeliriumWartner says:
Bought, but it’s taking bloody AGES to download. 6 kb/sec, Christ. Incidentally, is it weird that the downloader doesn’t seem finished? The File, Edit etc along the top – most of them are empty. And the tabs all basically say “coming soon”.
10/01/2009 at 17:05 Funky Badger says:
The GamersGate downloaded keeps stalling on 93% downloaded – before I get to try and get the game. BOO!
Any helpful suggestions?
10/01/2009 at 18:42 reverseclipse says:
as cyrenic noted the game is at wallmart, but what surprised me was that I could only find it at wallmart. None of the gameshops or other box stores had it.
10/01/2009 at 21:18 Okami says:
Damned game stole a week of my life. Every day last week after I came home I immediately started King’s Bounty and then spent a good 4 to 5 hours playing it non stop.
Until yesterday evening, when I suddenly jumped out of my seat, hit alt&f4, shut my pc down and started wondering where the week had gone to..
It’s like the digital equivalent of marihuana: It’s nice while it lasts, but after doing it every day in the week it starts getting on your nerves and once you stop doing it for a day, you really don’t understand, why you wasted so much time on it in the first place.
Knowing myself this can of course only mean, that I’ll start playing the game again in a few days and I’ll lose another week to it.
And another.
And another…
10/01/2009 at 22:04 tuco says:
I didnt get a key from gamersgate, could download but stuck now at securom auth =/
can anybody help? their faq sucks!
10/01/2009 at 22:26 Mal says:
@tuco – the key is in the Gamersgate downloader. Login, select the My Games tab and the Serial is listed on the King’s Bounty section, along with the manual and patch downloads and things.
10/01/2009 at 22:42 Freudian Slip says:
Just started playing it today; Booted it up, played for a while, quit, realised 4.5 hours had passed. What a game. I’m shit at it though.
10/01/2009 at 22:43 tuco says:
Thanks for the answer Mal, but unfortunately, it isn’t =/
“Serials” field is empty =/
Wrote to support, got automated reply: they won’t answer until Monday or Tuesday. This sucks!
10/01/2009 at 23:56 DeliriumWartner says:
Well, this is freaking annoying. It seems my comp has a problem with certain P2P programs, either that or their servers suck pretty hard. I have to restart the download (pause and unpause) about once every 5 minutes or it stops completely, telling me to check my firewall or internet. I’ve been doing this for about 4 hours, and I’m currently 33% downloaded.
Since there are no forums, or any reasonable help on the site, anything you guys can suggest would be greatly appreciated. I kinda wish I’d just got it from Amazon. 10 quid more expensive, but at this rate I’d have it quicker, and without having to “attend” to the downloader. *sigh*
11/01/2009 at 00:02 Tony says:
I have the same problem as tuco. No serial key, even though I have sucessfully purchased and downloaded the game. I’ve checked the Downloader app and the web page both on the My Games tab. I can see the game but no serial key. I hate activation.
11/01/2009 at 00:29 Dan Lawrence says:
I also have the same blank serial number problem as Tony & tuco. Found another chap with the same issue on Quarter to Three so I guess its a fairly common occurance amongst people who bought the game today.
11/01/2009 at 01:25 RichP says:
I wonder if Gamersgate ran out of valid CD keys. During the holiday Steam sale, Valve had to suspend several games because CD keys ran out.
11/01/2009 at 01:31 Draknahr says:
I have the same problem as Dan, Tony and Tuco and didn’t get a serial. :( And I was hoping to play it all weekend.
11/01/2009 at 01:39 Caiman says:
I’ve bought KB and Space Rangers 2 through Gamers Gate, and I agree the downloader isn’t the best piece of software out there. However, I never experienced anything like the kinds of sluggish download speeds people are reporting now so perhaps they’re getting a lot more interest in KB now! Incidentally, to transfer the game to another PC you have to install the downloader on that machine first, then copy the KB folder into the specific download folder, log in, and then hit the Download button – it verifies the files which takes a few minutes, and then you’re good to install it. So yes the PC needs to be online, but that’s the only DRM in place. I had to do this because the laptop I downloaded it was chugging too much (it’s an old laptop!).
11/01/2009 at 02:37 maritime says:
just bought from gamersgate, no serial number. Cannot play. stupid idiots.
11/01/2009 at 03:04 jamscones says:
I am similarly afflicted with No Serial disease. See my anger.
11/01/2009 at 03:15 Ginger Yellow says:
Thank Christ for that. I’ve been staring at the 1c website for the last few months waiting for the Eu49.99 (!) pricetag to drop. Luckily, they caved before i did.
Seriously, what’s up with that? Eu50 for a PC game?
11/01/2009 at 03:24 Tim says:
sigh. me too. so disappointed. their home page says King’s bounty is the number one sale at the moment. I guess they didn’t anticipate that.
11/01/2009 at 03:24 DeliriumWartner says:
Oh God! My dl speed ramped right up to about 600kb/s, taking me all the way to 94%. Woo, I thought. Finally I’m gonna get this. Unfortunately, it then crashed, the dl refusing to even initialize itself. When I finally got it back up, it was back at 45%, and it won’t download at all.
Also, should the CD key be there already, (presumably) under the patches? If so, count me as another one who hasn’t got one. I really hope that isn’t the case. It’d just top this whole thing off for me. What are people doing about their missing codes? Is it just as case of emailing GG to ask for it as some are trying?
11/01/2009 at 04:15 Tony says:
I just emailed GG support describing the problem. One email won’t be a big deal but if a dozen people all point out the same problem my guess is that it will be fixed asap. GG will not want users first experience with their system to be a bad one. If you email them, then include a link to this thread. They have RPS on their front news page at the moment so they hopefully care what we’re saying.
11/01/2009 at 05:05 Tim says:
I emailed them while I was still angry and included swearing. Now I’m feeling bad for their support people.
@DeliriumWartner I suspect that you haven’t got a cd key either. It would show up straight away.
@Tony, you’re absolutely right. It was a very bad first impression for me. I was reading their FAQ trying to figure out if I’d missed something and getting increasingly pissed off. It’s especially annoying that we all bought it excited to play it all weekend, and now we’ll have to wait a whole week before we have time. Assuming they get us keys before next weekend.
11/01/2009 at 05:15 Larington says:
http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/6884087/King-Bounty-The-Legend-Collector-Edition/Product.html?add=6884087
Sold! Ended up ordering the collectors edition of Red Alert 3 from game recently as that had gone to good value for money too. I’ll be glad when the summer rolls around and I’ll be able to sit down and really tuck into some of these games. Bad enough that I’ve gotten into Dwarf Fortress when I ought to be doing assignments.
11/01/2009 at 05:20 Lighthouse says:
I have never purchased anything from Gamersgate before, only Steam and Impulse, and from the issues I have read about missing cd keys currently, I think I may wait … How does the service compare with Steam and Impulse?
Just a question: Is KB going for $20 only this weekend on GG or is this just the price it is listed for?
I have been wanting to pick up KB for a little while now, but I did not want to pay the price the publishers had originally set.
11/01/2009 at 09:37 Jarmo says:
I bought the game from Gamer’s Gate yesterday evening. I can’t download it. Every attempt stops very soon at the error note: “Downloaded File is being used by other process. Avoid such process for a better download. Also Check Internet Connection and Firewall Settings.” The furthest I have gotten is 4%.
I have turned off my antivirus program and given the downloader all priviledges in my firewall program. I even tried turning the firewall off. No go.
I am not happy about this.
Maybe their servers are just swamped. I’ll give it another go in a few days, after the special offer madness wears off.
Somehow, I’m not very optimistic, though. Gamer’s Gate is from the same company that has never in their life released a new product that is not riddled with bugs, even mission critical ones. Now they’re doing the same old same old with sales software. My money they took right quick (it was Paypal, and Paypal works). Delivering the product? Not so quick.
11/01/2009 at 09:47 Jarmo says:
The Gamer’s Gate downloader only manages to get these files:
KBVistaShellSupport.dll
ReadMe.rtf
setup-1.ggf
The last one keeps growing a bit with further attempts.
I was able to download the manual with no problems, though.
11/01/2009 at 10:28 Jarmo says:
I’ve achieved progress with the download. I simply restart it from the play symbol button every time it cuts off with the error note. The download speed is fine, around 650 kb/s. The loaded amount between restarts varies between a few MB to hundreds of MB.
The setup-1.ggf file has now finished downloading at 952 MB and has changed it’s name to setup-1.bin. I’m currently at 60% total progress, setup-2.ggf is now loading.
I don’t have a serial key yet showing on the Gamer’s Gate My Games page for King’s Bounty. I don’t know if it should show before I have downloaded the game. I suspect it should. So, after attending to the downloader like to a sick infant, I probably still won’t get to play the game.
I wonder if I have to contact the company personally to get the serial key I already paid for. I really hope they notice the problem themselves and quickly send keys to all new customers.
11/01/2009 at 10:48 DeliriumWartner says:
@ Jarmo – Those sound like the problems I had. Took til 4am, but I finally dlded it, 14 hours after starting…
And then I found that, indeed, I had no CD key either.
@ Tim – I’ve emailed customer support, and though I didn’t swear, I was quite angry and forceful. Seems to me that, no matter what, they’re disappointed a lot of paying customers here. I don’t know about you guys, but this has really messed up my weekend.
11/01/2009 at 10:59 Jarmo says:
DeliriumWartner, just wait a long time for the download to resume. I had the same issue when the download cut off at an advanced stage. It takes a long time for the download to initialize and at one stage it showed the 45% figure, but after a while it jumped back to over 90%. The downloader probably reads the already downloaded files each time it resumes. When there are two >900 MB files to read it takes a long time.
11/01/2009 at 11:00 Jarmo says:
Crossed messages there.
11/01/2009 at 11:28 Funky Badger says:
Meh. Still can’t even get the Downloader working.
11/01/2009 at 11:35 Nick says:
“I disliked the combat in HoMM, but I like King’s Bounty.”
I decalre shenanigans! The combat is near-identicle apart from the rage summoning and possibly minor cosmetics. Base syetm however is exactly the same, you can’t hate the combat in HoMM and like it in Kings Bounty without being a liar to yourself. Or something.
11/01/2009 at 13:36 Lighthouse says:
I caved in and got the game – the price was too good to resist, especially since I have been eager to get this game after playing the demo.
That said, the client is atrocious. I have had poor speeds, the menu disappearing, the client hanging (couldn’t close it) and there are numerous features labeled with “Under construction.”
It seems as though the download client was a rushed project and not something a business would push out so early…
For a first time user, this experience has not been great, especially after using the likes of Steam and Impulse to buy/update games – even their website doesn’t feel streamlined when buying games.
Just feels like the competition offers a better service – that said, they do have a few games I am interested in that Steam and Impulse don’t offer – but I will see how this progresses before committing more towards another digital distribution market place.
I am sure I am going to run into the CD-Key issue as well, but I hope things improve in the future.
11/01/2009 at 14:58 Jarmo says:
I am currently downloading the Adobe Reader 8 distribution package included with the game. In 1 MB pieces. Between every piece, I wait 1-1,5 minutes for new downloading to actually start while the downloader thinks about things. Then it downloads for about two seconds and stops again. Never mind the fact Acrobat Reader 8 is already installed on my PC. Amusing.
11/01/2009 at 16:35 Jarmo says:
I finally got all the parts and installed the game. Now I just have to wait for the key. I e-mailed Gamer’s Gate about it. It will be interesting to see what their response to this debacle — and response time — is.
11/01/2009 at 20:08 Mal says:
I must have got very lucky with the downloader – it pretty much maxed out by 10mbit connection and downloaded the whole game in about 35 minutes. Maybe they are experiencing high demand (that or a dodgy mirror server somewhere).
11/01/2009 at 21:26 Alex Hopkinson says:
I grabbed this as soon as I got in on Friday night and I had a trouble free process – game downloaded at 1MB/s and my key was available when I came to install it. Enjoying it so far, although not as much as Alec apparently did. Thumbs up.
12/01/2009 at 09:42 Jarmo says:
The serial number for King’s Bounty has now turned up on my Gamer’s Gate My games page. I have received no e-mail from them, but it’s good that the key is now available. It showed up pretty quick which partly mitigates the problems I had.
In my opinion, the downloader has to be fixed. The download speed was always high (>5 MB/s, the maximum speed of my connection) when it was working, but the tens of interruptions it suffered from were exasperating.
12/01/2009 at 09:49 Heliocentric says:
The tech issues i’m hearing are all i need to know. Steam, impulse or in 5 years when it shows up on gog. It’d have to be cheaper on steam than i’d demand on impulse mind you. Portability has value.
12/01/2009 at 09:52 Heliocentric says:
How come i can torrent massive mods flawlessly but paid services have problems? It blows my mind. Just use the torrent infrastructure with obviously optional uploads, overlay a security layer. Done.
12/01/2009 at 10:01 UncleLou says:
“The tech issues i’m hearing are all i need to know. Steam, impulse or in 5 years when it shows up on gog”
For what it’s worth, I’ve been using Gamersgate for years without a single problem – that includes a purchase of King’s Bounty. I actually prefer it to Steam because it doesn’t have any additional DRM, and I usually have much better download speeds. Once you’ve downloaded something and have your key, that’s all you ever need.
Fair enough if the stories here put you off, but it’s not like you won’t find similar reports about Steam or Impulse.
12/01/2009 at 10:41 Heliocentric says:
True enough, but visualise the scene. Group say “yay gamersgate lets get KB” then return “It dont work”.
Sale gone yet? i do want it. even if 20 quid is hardly a sale.
12/01/2009 at 10:42 Heliocentric says:
ah… gone… bugger
12/01/2009 at 11:45 Tony says:
My key-code has turned up too. Looks like someone at GamerGate came to work on Monday morning and found out the Kings Bounty key-code tank needs refilling.
12/01/2009 at 12:13 Jarmo says:
Tony, yes. I just received an e-mail from Gamer’s Gate support: “the sales were better then expected and we ran out of serial keys for this game. We have added more keys now and you should find your key in the usual location.”
12/01/2009 at 19:10 Funky Badger says:
They’ve sent me a link to a working copy of the downloader and I appear to have a serial key – downloading now. Good service so far though.
12/01/2009 at 19:19 pkt-zer0 says:
I actually prefer it to Steam because it doesn’t have any additional DRM, and I usually have much better download speeds. Once you’ve downloaded something and have your key, that’s all you ever need.
Isn’t it online-activation-only SecuROM they use? Between that and Steam, there isn’t that much of a difference, you still depend on an activation server.
12/01/2009 at 21:51 DeliriumWartner says:
Got my code and got an email, same thing as Jarmo. What annoys me is that it’s just a copy and paste, without an apology in sight. Surely we deserve more than that?