SC2 direct download from blizz store?

Would you like to see SC2 released as a pay and play download in the Blizz shop when it is released?

I would. ****. I think I would buy the download version 12:00am the day it's released. Then hit a store a few months latter for the box just to get whatever they put inside.

Think they would do it?

 

They might. I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Digital distribution is on the rise and sale of physical copies is dwindling. I still would buy the box because I'm old school like that.

 

I would not be surprised in the least. Digital distribution is a major thing, especially considering the success of Steam. IMO, ti's definitely the next step of sales.

 

Agreed. I'd like to see what they put in there.

 

I think it would make piracy too easy. Not that StarCraft II won't end up in torrents, but this just reduces the number of steps needed to do that.

Also, the e-download might be missing something.

 

CD is more realiable.

 

heh yeah i may just download it right away then later pick up the box.

good idear

 

Buy it twice? Hell no. If I ever become an SC2 fanatic (after playing the demo, mostly to see if it runs on my system), I'll buy it boxed.

Why would anyone want to pay for it twice anyway?

 

nothing better than a collectors edition box, with printed manual, to read under the sun umbrela
this summer

only twice?????? are you ok??? i bought original sc 4 times! 2 normal, one colletors, one clasic broodwar+sc together.

yea yea i have 4 cd-keys and i only use one....

 

I'm a huge fan of Steam, and the way Valve works it. Blizzard could purchase SteamWorks and use that to distribute SCII

 

I don't know how making it a digital dl would make piracy any easier. It's all the same files you would get off the cd anyways right?

@kuvasz - Look at your bars here. You're not a SC fanatic?
The idea of buying both is to avoid a midnight madness deal or god forbid going to store after store t find no copy. Then you get the box for the goodies. I wouldn't mind having 2 copies that I could lan with. You never know if spawning will be possible or not. Was it in War3 I don't remember.

The one problem I forsee is the server strain. But as a friend of mine recomended today; allow users to pre pay and pre dl something like 99% of the files before official release. Pirated copies come out before game release dates anyways so I don't think that's an issue.

 

buy it twice r u nuts?
i so cheap that im gonna play this baby on crazy korean pirates version

 

You know.....it's not like Blizzard really needs the SC2 money.

But then they won't make SC3 10 years from now.

 

The korean pirates version is in korean.:wacko:

 

At least until recently, you needed to have an actual CD in the drive to play StarCraft. Same went for Warcraft III; it won't even let you open WorldEdit unless the CD is in the drive. It's possible not all the files get copied from the CD to the computer, especially data files, so anyone with an illegally downloaded copy won't get to enjoy the movies.

Someone who is pirating a StarCraft CD either needs a ripped copy, or some kind of hack to make the computer think there's a CD in the drive, and even then they're probably losing out on sounds and movies. A digital download removes that step.

 

Daemon Tool
Alcohol 120%
There's a few tools to 'mount' a cd you've downloaded. Really, there's no way to beat Piracy, and the sooner companies stop wasting money on new and not so much better ways to prevent it, the more money they can put into making the game. I'm an avid pirate, though I only do it to games I'm testing/don't buy due to crappiness. If I DL a game, and it's great, I'll buy it! There are many games I've done that to, though there's also many games I've download and realized was ****. You can't base a decision on if you like it or not from somebody else's reviews...

OK, my slight 'non-anger' rant is over. I really think Blizzard should look at Valve for how to do Digital Distribution. Do the whole, "Download all files but the few files that unlocks the whole thing" deal. It worked well, and it made for faster play time, if you don't/can't go to the store.

I'll be going to the store for this game, though. Collectors Edition ftw.

 

maybe blizzard has to do something that will protect their years of hardwork to prevent game piracy maybe perhaps an OL code that will make SC2 only be enabled once bought the original copy

 

I had heard bad things about Steam (Valve's method), actually, when it came to Half-Life 2. Did they ever improve that?

What is an OL code? How does it work?

 

It's impossible to beat piracy. Period. Whatever kind of protection a developer might put on their games, it's going to be cracked. It's hard to do, but it's done all the time. The only really kind of games that can't be pirated are subscription-based games like WoW. Even if they use all those fancy methods to protect their games it won't work. Most game files are .iso or similar formats as well, which means they can be mounted on a virtual CD-ROM. That means if the game is cracked, the pirate can play it just like anyone else who bought it legally. The only thing they can't do is multiplayer because most games check the cd-key.

 

The biggest issue was they didn't expect that large of the bandwidth, so **** was packed tight. With the further releases of Episode 1 and 2, and Team Fortress 2, things have been relatively hitch free...aside for some usual here and there bugs that affect a few people.