I'm not lying about this, but the email I got said:
Thank you for ordering on Telltale Games. The date when the product that you Pre-Ordered will be released has been changed. The product listed below will now be available on Tue May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2007.
Obviously it was a typo but that's the reason I popped my head in just now. I was like "IT WAS RELEASED 3 DAYS AGO!!!". As you can imagine, I'm a little disappointed now.
Seeing the May 1st date in my e-mail is what spurred me to check the forums right now. I figured it must be in error because I didn't get a release notification e-mail with download link.
hmm if this is a phising attempt someone has hacked telltales custumer database because the order number in the subject line is legit ??
i wonder if it was suppose to say Tue May 08 ?? so the preorder people got it 2 days in advance to even the server load ? but why does it not refer to telltales website ?
Its not, Tabacco said in another thread that he went to DR's web to change something about the game and DR's system sent the emails (or something like that)
a) I got two mails which had the date 1.5.2007, so i've checked my account but there is no e6 inside.
b) Shouldn't customers who bought the whole season get the game one week before those who buy it seperatly like it was handeled with the two seasons before? If so, shouldn't we have received it already?!
This is really sad. If i won't go for season2 then that's the exact reason why...
Shack: Do you forsee continuing on with GameTap after Season 1?
Dan Connors: I see it as very possible. They've been very positive so far. If it looks like it will stay a win-win deal, we'll stay with them. Now, there are other people out there who are interesting too, and the value of that exclusivity is something we'll be discussing with everybody.
I don't like to have those weird different releasedates again. No win situation for the customers. Well, it seems there always has to be a snag, even with people who do this business since some time... :O/
Come on guys. The release dates have been as promised and regular. Telltale haven't missed a beat all season. Season subscribers were never promised an earlier release. That was just a kind gesture from the good folks at Telltale.
Yes, the fact that Gametap customers get to play first is a slight anoyance, but so what? It is the Gametap deal that made this season possible and for that I am very greatful.
I wish such notification emails were less looking like scams. Sender being "webhelp.v4" and directing us to URL that is seperate from Digitalriver's website (or in fact from TellTales), makes one think twice for legitimacy of the email.
It is also signed by only Customer Service, no company mentioned.
i got that email saying it is going to be released on May 1. i thought it was a dodgy spam company that used telltales name to get you to click on the unfamiliar link it provided
I wish such notification emails were less looking like scams. Sender being "webhelp.v4" and directing us to URL that is seperate from Digitalriver's website (or in fact from TellTales), makes one think twice for legitimacy of the email.
It is also signed by only Customer Service, no company mentioned.
We have no control over how Digital River's emails are formatted or worded, which is why we try to send most notifications ourselves.
I wish such notification emails were less looking like scams. Sender being "webhelp.v4" and directing us to URL that is seperate from Digitalriver's website (or in fact from TellTales), makes one think twice for legitimacy of the email.
It is also signed by only Customer Service, no company mentioned.
If we knew such an email was going to go out, we would have stopped it. I can't recall an email which has been officially sent out by Telltale that looked like a scam - we work very hard to be friendly and open in our emails, and explain exactly why people are receiving them.
This email wasn't sent by us, and we didn't want it to be sent - in fact we had no idea that such an email was going out until people started writing into support. We move dates around in the store backend all the time, but never before has their system decided to go and email everyone about it Sorry for the inconvenience! You'll know the official release email will be from us because it will say so!
This is really sad. If i won't go for season2 then that's the exact reason why...
Shack: Do you forsee continuing on with GameTap after Season 1?
Dan Connors: I see it as very possible. They've been very positive so far. If it looks like it will stay a win-win deal, we'll stay with them. Now, there are other people out there who are interesting too, and the value of that exclusivity is something we'll be discussing with everybody.
I don't like to have those weird different releasedates again. No win situation for the customers. Well, it seems there always has to be a snag, even with people who do this business since some time... :O/
If you're a GameTap subscriber, you win by getting the episodes early. If you're not a GameTap subscriber, you win by not having to subscribe to GameTap just to get one game that you won't be able to keep if you ever cancel your subscription. In either case, you get a new Sam & Max game every month. Sounds like like a win-win situation to me.
Well, I have to admit, that it was a little roller coaster of emotions, when I first saw the email stating a different release date, then finding out about it being a mistake. I did notice however that none of the messages explicitly mentions Thursday as the *correct* release date. So there is this tiny hope that we may again get an early release date again.:) In any case, I am looking forward to playing it as soon as it comes out. Keep up the good work.
If you're a GameTap subscriber, you win by getting the episodes early. If you're not a GameTap subscriber, you win by not having to subscribe to GameTap just to get one game that you won't be able to keep if you ever cancel your subscription. In either case, you get a new Sam & Max game every month. Sounds like like a win-win situation to me.
You would already win as a gametap subscriber if you would get the game at all there. Why does it has to come out earlier? It's only good for getting new users to gametap where most of the other players have to wait for.
Your second argument doesn't make sense to me. What are you trying to say? That i should be glad that i actually can buy a game at all?
me too, taumel, and I hope they have changed it for the next season. For me, that is one of the top things I will consider before deciding to go for the next season.
But when all of that is said, I guess it would've been harder to make a season 1 without the support from gametap. If the criterias has changed for the next season(even just a little in a positive direction), I can't really stay upset with TTG for deciding to agree with gametaps special little scheme to force as many people as possible over to gametap.
It's just funny to hear people say that gametap should of course get it earlier because they are the publisher. Who is the publisher when it's released both places? the ones who pay the most? I thought the whole point in releasing games online was that you didn't need a publisher, suddenly you had the chance to publish the game yourself, and not be dependent on a publisher who decided to tell you how to do things. Doesn't that just show that even if a game is released only online, it doesn't change much, because the company is still dependent on a publisher who can support them financially? Anyway, the quote you gave above shows that there actually are other alternatives to letting gametap have the game two weeks earlier than the rest of the world, so then it's important to consider those alternatives for the second season. I mean, one should always consider alternatives that gives more advantages to the customers, if possible.
Come on guys, you're making it sound like everybody who isn't on GameTap gets the game two weeks late. That's not the case at all. The official release date for each episode is the one Telltale put on their site. When they put out the game, that's when it's released. Through a special agreement, GameTap customers get the game two weeks early - a sneak preview, if you will. Without that deal, Telltale may have never been able to make the game at all. Yes, it's a question of money, but no money means no Sam & Max. At all.
Another way of looking at it is that Telltale's releases and GameTap's releases are essentially a wholly different product. The GameTap games are subscription-based, the Telltale games are 'buy one, get one'. Compare it to magazines. Everybody considers it absolutely normal that subscribers to a magazine get it earlier than customers who buy it in stores. The latter don't get the April issue in May; the former get the April issue in March. Nobody ever complains about that; it's just fair. In the same way, it's fair for GameTap (the guys with the big sack of money to make Sam & Max games a reality, do I have to spell it out?) to get their piece of the cake early.
I don't know any other way to explain this, so I'll leave it at that. Personally, yes, I'm happy that I can play these games at all, because here in Europe, it's not unusual to get screwed out of playing a game altogether (some companies find the American and Japanese markets to be way more important).
@Haggis
What counts is that there are different releasedates, no matter how you call them. Secondly it's somehow nonserious talking about money when you don't know the numbers beeing involved.
But when i think about money i don't feel like there would be a great risk doing it in a more traditional way.
a) Adventures were produced again and are beeing sold within the last years with success.
b) They used a strong and well known brand already established.
c) There are people behind who made some of the best adventures.
As for the magazine comparison i don't know as we're talking about games but if you would like to compare then a) customers who bought the whole season should get it at the same date as they're subscribers too and b) depending on your local store you can get magazines at the same date or even before a subscriber. Beside of this it's not a physical product. It's just Bits&Bytes online distributed.
But we can discuss this ongoing for hours. I just do not feel comfortable with it and as marsan i will consider this when making my decision if i go for season2 or not.
I would have found it extremly funny if the second season was announced "Gametap ONLY", what would people, who nagged about the 2 weeks, do then?
Of course, after that sudden feel to laugh, I would probably start to cry in the same moment I realise that I can't get Gametap where I live...
Is that a definite confirmation that there will be no early release for season customers this time?
It's a shame as if it came out on the Monday before it should have again (like last time) that would be my birthday, but then I wouldn't be able to play it that day anyway, so it doesn't really matter. Still, it should be pointed out that I'm still thankful for Gametap letting the previous two episodes out early. Here's to Thursday!
I would have found it extremly funny if the second season was announced "Gametap ONLY", what would people, who nagged about the 2 weeks, do then?
I thought that was the original plan for season 1. I remember watching the trailer for the entire season(the E3 2006 one). There max asks "Where are we heading this time?" and sam repies "To gametap, they say the worlds unwashed buttonmashers have gone too long unsasionate"(or something like that :P). I was sure ones I heard that, that it would only come to gametap. Then later in the trailer the guy says "Sam & Max, coming to gametap, from telltalegames". By the time I heard that I was sure it would only come to gametap, and that there was no point in thinking anymore about it. The only joy was that he shoot that guy afterwards
Anyway, it wouldn't have been so bad if it didn't come as downloadable from ttg. Then I could've just forgotten about sam & max and get on with my life. But when I first tried the demo and ordered the game, I got addicted to it. This is the reason why I care enough to give my amount of complaining and reasoning to ensure that the next season is something I am willing to buy(and even if ttg doesn't listen to me, at least I have told them many many times, which makes it feel better ).
It was first when I later visited the link listed at the end of the trailer, out of curiousity(snm.telltalegames.com), that I learned that ttg had plans for releasing it through their site as well. Thus I always thought that this was not a part of the original plan, but something they found out as they explored posibilities for giving the rest of the world sam & max too. But I am sure I would've survived if the next season only came to gametap even though I would've probably wonder why they decided to go for such a solution.
Comments
Nothing has changed, despite what the emails claim.
Thank you for ordering on Telltale Games. The date when the product that you Pre-Ordered will be released has been changed. The product listed below will now be available on Tue May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2007.
Obviously it was a typo but that's the reason I popped my head in just now. I was like "IT WAS RELEASED 3 DAYS AGO!!!". As you can imagine, I'm a little disappointed now.
i wonder if it was suppose to say Tue May 08 ?? so the preorder people got it 2 days in advance to even the server load ? but why does it not refer to telltales website ?
Original post.
I'm confused as
a) I got two mails which had the date 1.5.2007, so i've checked my account but there is no e6 inside.
b) Shouldn't customers who bought the whole season get the game one week before those who buy it seperatly like it was handeled with the two seasons before? If so, shouldn't we have received it already?!
So what's the deal this time?
Regards,
taumel
I don't like to have those weird different releasedates again. No win situation for the customers. Well, it seems there always has to be a snag, even with people who do this business since some time... :O/
Yes, the fact that Gametap customers get to play first is a slight anoyance, but so what? It is the Gametap deal that made this season possible and for that I am very greatful.
It is also signed by only Customer Service, no company mentioned.
Thank you, pointless computer glitch, for telling me what I already knew.
We have no control over how Digital River's emails are formatted or worded, which is why we try to send most notifications ourselves.
Haha! I wish we'd thought of that.
Regarding the emails -- really, guys, they're nothing to worry about. Just ignore them.
If we knew such an email was going to go out, we would have stopped it. I can't recall an email which has been officially sent out by Telltale that looked like a scam - we work very hard to be friendly and open in our emails, and explain exactly why people are receiving them.
This email wasn't sent by us, and we didn't want it to be sent - in fact we had no idea that such an email was going out until people started writing into support. We move dates around in the store backend all the time, but never before has their system decided to go and email everyone about it
If you're a GameTap subscriber, you win by getting the episodes early. If you're not a GameTap subscriber, you win by not having to subscribe to GameTap just to get one game that you won't be able to keep if you ever cancel your subscription. In either case, you get a new Sam & Max game every month. Sounds like like a win-win situation to me.
You would already win as a gametap subscriber if you would get the game at all there. Why does it has to come out earlier? It's only good for getting new users to gametap where most of the other players have to wait for.
Your second argument doesn't make sense to me. What are you trying to say? That i should be glad that i actually can buy a game at all?
Anyway i dislike the way it's done in season1.
But when all of that is said, I guess it would've been harder to make a season 1 without the support from gametap. If the criterias has changed for the next season(even just a little in a positive direction), I can't really stay upset with TTG for deciding to agree with gametaps special little scheme to force as many people as possible over to gametap.
It's just funny to hear people say that gametap should of course get it earlier because they are the publisher. Who is the publisher when it's released both places? the ones who pay the most? I thought the whole point in releasing games online was that you didn't need a publisher, suddenly you had the chance to publish the game yourself, and not be dependent on a publisher who decided to tell you how to do things. Doesn't that just show that even if a game is released only online, it doesn't change much, because the company is still dependent on a publisher who can support them financially? Anyway, the quote you gave above shows that there actually are other alternatives to letting gametap have the game two weeks earlier than the rest of the world, so then it's important to consider those alternatives for the second season. I mean, one should always consider alternatives that gives more advantages to the customers, if possible.
Am I missing something here?
Another way of looking at it is that Telltale's releases and GameTap's releases are essentially a wholly different product. The GameTap games are subscription-based, the Telltale games are 'buy one, get one'. Compare it to magazines. Everybody considers it absolutely normal that subscribers to a magazine get it earlier than customers who buy it in stores. The latter don't get the April issue in May; the former get the April issue in March. Nobody ever complains about that; it's just fair. In the same way, it's fair for GameTap (the guys with the big sack of money to make Sam & Max games a reality, do I have to spell it out?) to get their piece of the cake early.
I don't know any other way to explain this, so I'll leave it at that. Personally, yes, I'm happy that I can play these games at all, because here in Europe, it's not unusual to get screwed out of playing a game altogether (some companies find the American and Japanese markets to be way more important).
What counts is that there are different releasedates, no matter how you call them. Secondly it's somehow nonserious talking about money when you don't know the numbers beeing involved.
But when i think about money i don't feel like there would be a great risk doing it in a more traditional way.
a) Adventures were produced again and are beeing sold within the last years with success.
b) They used a strong and well known brand already established.
c) There are people behind who made some of the best adventures.
As for the magazine comparison i don't know as we're talking about games but if you would like to compare then a) customers who bought the whole season should get it at the same date as they're subscribers too and b) depending on your local store you can get magazines at the same date or even before a subscriber. Beside of this it's not a physical product. It's just Bits&Bytes online distributed.
But we can discuss this ongoing for hours. I just do not feel comfortable with it and as marsan i will consider this when making my decision if i go for season2 or not.
Of course, after that sudden feel to laugh, I would probably start to cry in the same moment I realise that I can't get Gametap where I live...
It's a shame as if it came out on the Monday before it should have again (like last time) that would be my birthday, but then I wouldn't be able to play it that day anyway, so it doesn't really matter. Still, it should be pointed out that I'm still thankful for Gametap letting the previous two episodes out early. Here's to Thursday!
I thought that was the original plan for season 1. I remember watching the trailer for the entire season(the E3 2006 one). There max asks "Where are we heading this time?" and sam repies "To gametap, they say the worlds unwashed buttonmashers have gone too long unsasionate"(or something like that :P). I was sure ones I heard that, that it would only come to gametap. Then later in the trailer the guy says "Sam & Max, coming to gametap, from telltalegames". By the time I heard that I was sure it would only come to gametap, and that there was no point in thinking anymore about it. The only joy was that he shoot that guy afterwards
Anyway, it wouldn't have been so bad if it didn't come as downloadable from ttg. Then I could've just forgotten about sam & max and get on with my life. But when I first tried the demo and ordered the game, I got addicted to it. This is the reason why I care enough to give my amount of complaining and reasoning to ensure that the next season is something I am willing to buy(and even if ttg doesn't listen to me, at least I have told them many many times, which makes it feel better
It was first when I later visited the link listed at the end of the trailer, out of curiousity(snm.telltalegames.com), that I learned that ttg had plans for releasing it through their site as well. Thus I always thought that this was not a part of the original plan, but something they found out as they explored posibilities for giving the rest of the world sam & max too. But I am sure I would've survived if the next season only came to gametap