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[1138]

Yeah, just saw a video of the head. It is right around fist sized. Which is actually much better than a full sized bust, unless you planned the headphone holder idea.
What I'm really excited about is a full sized! artbook. Can't remember the last time that happened. 200 pages, too!

Can you post a link to the video?

 

[ColonialRaptor]

Okay, so I just cancelled my order from Amazon.com.

Now, the big decision is whether to order and pre-load the game from GOG (now that they've changed their terms I can make myself a US membership and buy the game from AUS with an AUS IP for the US price.

OR, do I want to pay the AUS price for the Steam version with Steamworks and Acheivements which is $20 more but the same price that I was willing to pay on Amazon, the clutch being that GOG pre-loads and the whole reason I cancelled my Amazon order was to play the game as soon as it's available with you guys on here...

RECOMMENDATIONS? WWYD?

 

[Van Buren]

Okay, so I just cancelled my order from Amazon.com.

Now, the big decision is whether to order and pre-load the game from GOG (now that they've changed their terms I can make myself a US membership and buy the game from AUS with an AUS IP for the US price.

OR, do I want to pay the AUS price for the Steam version with Steamworks and Acheivements which is $20 more but the same price that I was willing to pay on Amazon, the clutch being that GOG pre-loads and the whole reason I cancelled my Amazon order was to play the game as soon as it's available with you guys on here...

RECOMMENDATIONS? WWYD?

I would go ahead with the GOG version, but then again, I pay no attention to achievements unless they have in-game benefits like Alpha Protocol does. That, and I don't tie myself to Steam exclusively owing to the deals on other DD sites, and occasionally, retail.

That said, if you have a knack for repeatedly formatting your pc and losing saves, the Steam version might be enticing, as long as it does not have the issues New Vegas did with cloud saving.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

I would go ahead with the GOG version, but then again, I pay no attention to achievements unless they have in-game benefits like Alpha Protocol does. That, and I don't tie myself to Steam exclusively owing to the deals on other DD sites, and occasionally, retail.

That said, if you have a knack for repeatedly formatting your pc and losing saves, the Steam version might be enticing, as long as it does have the issues New Vegas did with cloud saving.

Haven't formatted for nearly 2 years - it would be stored and I am good at backing up game saves to another hard disk before I do format.

I'm not really even that concerned with the Achievements side, I just like to have Steam overlay / chat access in game and could saving.

HOWEVER.

I think the decision has almost definitely been made for me. The steam version will not be made available to me until the 18th in Australia and the GOG one is 17th (oh rats, that probably means US 17th doesn't it so that's 18th anyway) so I'm more than likely going to be able to play the GOG one sooner so I think I'm probably going to go with GOG.

Lets see how hard it's going to be to make an american account and download the game as an american...

Could someone please tell me some random address in the USA that I could use please?

Perhaps I'll just use Nintendo America...

 

[Tokubetsu]

Yeah, steam achievements mean absolutely nothing and you'll be able to add the game to get access to steam chat while playing anyway (In Non Steam Game etc). I don't think you even have to make a new GoG account. Just change your Country to USA.

 

[Luthos]

Been trying to play other stuff, passing time till next Tuesday. But it's not working. I haven't been this psyched for a game release in quite a while.

 

[dino1980]

Haven't formatted for nearly 2 years - it would be stored and I am good at backing up game saves to another hard disk before I do format.

I'm not really even that concerned with the Achievements side, I just like to have Steam overlay / chat access in game and could saving.

HOWEVER.

I think the decision has almost definitely been made for me. The steam version will not be made available to me until the 18th in Australia and the GOG one is 17th (oh rats, that probably means US 17th doesn't it so that's 18th anyway) so I'm more than likely going to be able to play the GOG one sooner so I think I'm probably going to go with GOG.

Lets see how hard it's going to be to make an american account and download the game as an american...

Could someone please tell me some random address in the USA that I could use please?

Perhaps I'll just use Nintendo America...

I just choose from a drop-down-box that I lived in the United States.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

Account is now switched to United States - OMG that is so awesomely awesome that they've done it like that and made it THAT easy.

HAHA amazing. The game is going to end up costing me $42. That is unheard of.

 

[toastyToast]

I put in a cancellation request with Steam.

The preload along with the artbook sounded like too tasty a proposition so I went with gog to feed the devs.

 

[Lafiel]

Good Lord the Aussie dollar has absolutely PLUMMETED in the last few days :O

Account is now switched to United States - OMG that is so awesomely awesome that they've done it like that and made it THAT easy.

HAHA amazing.

Haha i was going do that, but couldn't be bothered. I was getting it for the normal price anyway, since i had it on pre-order beforehand.

And yeah getting the witcher 2 for like $42 AUD is pretty damn sweet.

 

[dino1980]

Good Lord the Aussie dollar has absolutely PLUMMETED in the last few days :O

Account is now switched to United States - OMG that is so awesomely awesome that they've done it like that and made it THAT easy.

HAHA amazing.

Was really cheap buying it on the US GOG site. Bought it for 45 dollars and thats about 290 Swedish kronors. Here in Sweden if your are going to buy the game in store then its about 450 Swedish kroners.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

So when I go to process the order on GOG the price goes up to the AUS price? WTH?

Edit - NM i cancelled the order and started again and it seems all good now.

$42 AUD for this. To buy in stores here it's $89 AUD MINIMUM. SOOOO GOOD!

 

[dino1980]

So when I go to process the order on GOG the price goes up to the AUS price? WTH?

It worked for me. Just a long shoot here... erase cookies and cache in your web browser.

 

[sam27368]

Anyone else got that awesome email from GAME? To do with the big ol CE.
Pre ordered, then price went upto £100 -> got an email stating that I will only pay the pre order price (£80)
Then yday got another email saying I only have to pay £70

 

[dino1980]

So when I go to process the order on GOG the price goes up to the AUS price? WTH?

Edit - NM i cancelled the order and started again and it seems all good now.

$42 AUD for this. To buy in stores here it's $89 AUD MINIMUM. SOOOO GOOD!

Thats about 300 Swedish Kroners. But just what the... 89 AUD? Thats really high for a PC-game. About the same price over here in Sweden as console games bought in expensive stores.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

So now the big question is, how is everyone downloading the game?

Through the browser or the GoG downloader? What sort of speeds is it capable of either way? Kind of don't want to install some other program on my computer if I can avoid it.

I guess I just answered my own questions lol.

Thats about 300 Swedish Kroners. But just what the... 89 AUD? Thats really high for a PC-game. About the same price over here in Sweden as console games bought in expensive stores.

Console games in Australia are $119 AUD at standard price. Yep, that's why they say Australia is such a rip off. It's the worst in the world here.

 

[dino1980]

Anyone else got that awesome email from GAME? To do with the big ol CE.
Pre ordered, then price went upto £100 -> got an email stating that I will only pay the pre order price (£80)
Then yday got another email saying I only have to pay £70

Haha nice soon you are at the same price as the premium edition

 

[SerArthurDayne]

Can you post a link to the video?

It's just the reveal when they announced the release date from late last year. Maybe five minutes in or so. He walks through all of the premium and collector's edition content at the beginning of the video.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfozlm_the-witcher-2-pre-order-and-editions-announcement_videogames

 

[Fredescu]

It's the worst in the world here.

No it isn't. There are places that have it worse.

 

[Salacious Crumb]

No it isn't. There are places that have it worse.

Worst in the first world?

 

[Snuggles]

Worst in the first world?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNXEs2JFe-Y

 

[Fredescu]

Worst in the first world?

If it is, it's only thanks to the dollar. A quick google suggests the PS3 launched for more in Israel than it did here, and that games were US$118. At the time that was more expensive than us.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

If it is, it's only thanks to the dollar. A quick google suggests the PS3 launched for more in Israel than it did here, and that games were US$118. At the time that was more expensive than us.

Sorry... Worst in the world is probably a major over-statement and I feel like a big ole brat for saying it hah.

However, I still feel that it is unreasonably and unfairly bad.

I understand that the prices were set the way they are because of the time when the Aussie dollar was 50 us cents instead of 1:1 dollar parity, but to not adjust things and make it more 'fair' since the dollar has changed is just unfair and unreasonable to the consumers here and it's no wonder that so many people are looking to import. Or buy from overseas sources.

Even still, I buy my fair share of Australian content (ie; I have fully pre-paid LA Noire at EB Games).

Anyway... download of Witcher 2 is progressing very quickly. Over 2MB a second, now that's nice a fast Download will be completed tonight. w00t!!!

Hopefully the site really lives up to it's word and allows me to play on the 17th (the Australian 17th )

Which of the free RPG's on GOG should I get? I haven't played any of them. Gothic 2?

 

[Snuggles]

Nice.

you're now one of us now, we'll be tits deep before the rest of them even have the chance to start installing the game

it will be glorious, especially since I have to work on tuesdays

 

[Fredescu]

Which of the free RPG's on GOG should I get? I haven't played any of them. Gothic 2?

Gothic 2 for janky open world, or Divine Divinty for a Diablo style loot fest.

 

[Lime]

I'm probably going to call in sick when this game releases.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

I'm probably going to call in sick when this game releases.

I was about to post something like this as well.

Wednesday next week = Migraine haha

 

[Kyaw]

Nice.

you're now one of us now, we'll be tits deep before the rest of them even have the chance to start installing the game

it will be glorious, especially since I have to work on tuesdays

Got English exam on Monday the 16th. Get home, download the rest at 11PM.
Got school the next day...
Get home and play the hell out of it.
Got another English exam on Wednesday.

Sucks to be me.

Also i have a slight man crush on Bronze God Geralt.

 

[Max]

Sort of an ugly video but, does this make anyone feel as if they're watching the action scenes in an epic fantasy movie? This is actually what got me super hyped, as well as got me to finally finish the first game which I bought on sale a year ago

Thinking I might as well play on hard difficulty

 

[raphier]

Sort of an ugly video but, does this make anyone feel as if they're watching the action scenes in an epic fantasy movie?

Thinking I might as well play on hard difficulty

You're right, it's like in the movies, so much climatic rolling.

 

[Kaldea]

I have no regrets about getting (and waiting for) the CE even with same day shipping. I guess I'm just the patient type.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

Download complete

 

[Kyaw]

I just moved the GOG.com Downloads folder from my documents to another directory.

Now the GoG downloader is redownloading the 9gb file even though its already finished.
I've changed the download directory to the new one too. :/

 

[Domcorleone]

I am playing witcher 1 and the framerate is terrible if I put it on high i have an imac i5 quad core 2.8ghz, 4 gb ram, 1 gb Radeon 5870. I have to put it on medium to get a decent framerate. Any suggestions? I should be able to run this with relative ease correct? I have direct 9 or 10, im not sure.

 

[Kyaw]

Even my ATI 4870 1gb didnt struggle with the game apart from the Trade Quarter area.

Try turning off AA.

 

[Kyaw]

Somebody got their hands on an early Collector's Edition:

http://img828.imageshack.us/g/img0178iv.jpg/

http://img813.imageshack.us/g/img9607.jpg/

The bust doesnt look that good imo.
The art book, coin and dice looks very good though.

 

[Minsc]

You need to take into consideration that previewers were advised to not run at Ultra settings as they weren't completely implemented/working properly. We'll need the final build to see how/what builds run Ultra settings.

Yes, very true, however we still have reports of performance of cards that run high well and ultra worse, and other cards that run ultra poorly, so it's doing something even if it's not correct. There's just as good (if not better chance) that because ultra is broken the final build will get worse performance, due to effects not running properly. We saw those high vs ultra shots, and they look nearly 100% identical, so it is certainly possible the preview build is missing some of the ultra settings, and the mode is running better than it should due to that. It's also possible bugs are causing a larger hit, though given the nearly identical screens (except for ultra's screwed up shadowing), I find that a little less likely.

Where does it say we can play one day earlier?

It used to say it right on GOG's pre-order page. I never actually believed it until I saw it myself, that's where I quoted it from, copy + paste directly from GOG's page. Unfortunately, their page seems to have been updated and it now says (in FAQ section):

You will be able to predownload the game after you purchase it. You'll get almost the entire game and, on May 17 at 07:00 AM GMT, you will only need to download a tiny chunk of the installer and you're good to go.

If you look at google's cache of the page (which is a temporary link, due to the nature of caching), it currently says:

You will be able to predownload the game on May 10, 2011. You'll get almost the entire game and, on May 16 at 10:00 PM GMT, you will only need to download a tiny chunk of the installer and you're good to go. You can't possibly get your hands on The Witcher 2 faster anywhere else on the Internet.

So it seems in the past few days, they've pushed the release back 12 hours, which kinda sucks, but I guess GOG no longer will unlock earlier than everyone else. That honor now is solely left to those with the CE, as the CEs still unlock on the 16th.

Edit:
Although this live page from GOG still says the 16th:

When can I download The Witcher 2?
You can predownload the game now. You'll get almost the entire game and, on May 16 at 10:00 PM GMT, you will only need to download a tiny chunk of the installer and you're good to go. You can't possibly get your hands on The Witcher 2 faster anywhere else on the Internet.

So who knows. It does seem the most current, since it is saying "you can predownload now" as opposed to saying "on May 10th" which implies it was updated on May 10th or later.

 

[Kyaw]

Preorder numbers are in: 111,842

According to this source.

Weirdly, on google translation, Wiedźmina 2 translates to Playstation 2.

 

[dino1980]

Preorder numbers are in: 111,842

According to this source.

Weirdly, on google translation, Wiedźmina 2 translates to Playstation 2.

Isnt that a little low? Thought it atleast would have 500 000 preorders.

Edit: And whats up with changing the releasedate? Ohh well i will survive

 

[Minsc]

Isnt that a little low? Thought it atleast would have 500 000 preorders.

The translation calls it extremely good results, which look encouraging for exhausting the initial sales of 1 million earlier than expected, and eventually having greater success than the original game which sold over 1.7 million copies.

I don't think pre-orders ever number even close to 1:1 with initial non-pre-order sales.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

So the game is releasing now on the 16th? That means we are likely able to play on Monday and possibly Tuesday now right?

Woo w00t!

Expecting 500,000 preorders of this game is FAR FAR FAR too excessive, I mean, I would be super happy if it reached that point in the USA alone.

I think worldwide the first game sold just over one million. One hundred and eleven thousand pre-orders is a great result so far!

 

[Minsc]

Another Polish interview here (translated). It mentions:

- Pre-orders amount to 111,000 so far.
- Pre-order numbers are very good, better than expected, world's biggest games' pre-order numbers generally are 200-300,000, and that's on 3 platforms, The Witcher 2 is only on PC, for now.
- They'll need to get additional copies out to satisfy demand.
- Projected financial results from DM BZ WBK for the year are hoped to reach a revenue of 197.8 mln zł, a net profit of 55.2 mln zł - ed) are "ambitious, but within reach."
- We have created, "The Witcher" from the outset with the idea that he will have many parts. So I'm confident about is that in the future, players will have subsequent episodes of the saga.
- Discussed the creation of a second title, which will fill the gap between successive "witchers" and further stabilize our results. It can be assumed that it will also be multi-sectional saga for long-term profits,.
- We want GOG to double sales next year (in 2010 amounted to 9.36 mln zł - ed.) This will be achieved through collaborating with the next two or three major producers.
- Intend to expand price segments GOG. We believe that Gog.com may be the second, to Steam, who is leading the world's largest distributor of computer games in electronic form.

 

[Kyaw]

When are the reviews going to start coming up?

Not that i care about their scores, just want to see how it does from the reviewer's point of view because most of the general public is going to judge the game based on reviews... and its always good to see your most hyped game getting good praises!

 

[Van Buren]

- Pre-orders amount to 111,000 so far.
- Pre-order numbers are very good, better than expected, world's biggest games' pre-order numbers generally are 200-300,000, and that's on 3 platforms, The Witcher 2 is only on PC, for now.
- They'll need to get additional copies out to satisfy demand.

Looks like the 1.7 million figure for the first game is in danger of getting surpassed by a wide margin when all's said and done. The fevered anticipation for the sequel is a complete opposite to the 'hope this game doesn't suck' mantra that was going on before Witcher 1 released, as can be seen in the Witcher OT.

- We have created, "The Witcher" from the outset with the idea that he will have many parts. So I'm confident about is that in the future, players will have subsequent episodes of the saga.
- Discussed the creation of a second title, which will fill the gap between successive "witchers" and further stabilize our results. It can be assumed that it will also be multi-sectional saga for long-term profits,.

Interesting. I first thought they were referring to just the planned expansion for Witcher 2, but I remember there were plans for spinoffs after Witcher 1's release that dealt with events before the game. Maybe those ideas have been resurrected.

Not that i care about their scores, just want to see how it does from the reviewer's point of view because most of the general public is going to judge the game based on reviews... and its always good to see your most hyped game getting good praises!

Witcher 1 didn't have the luxury of inflated scores, yet word-of-mouth enabled great sales in the long run. I'm assuming the same will hold true for the sequel. Besides, the early reviews are openly advertising the fact that they're skipping anything that seems like a side-quest, which is just bewildering to me.

 

[Subterranean]

Canceled my Amazon order and just pre-ordered on GOG. I liked the idea of the developers getting a majority of the cut. I am so excited to play this!

 

[poisonelf]

Preorder numbers are in: 111,842

+1 to that please!

Downloading now from gog.com. The cloud saves almost won me over, but they really do deserve all the profit. I can't believe it's only a few a days from now, at last.

 

[poisonelf]

Looks like the 1.7 million figure for the first game is in danger of getting surpassed by a wide margin when all's said and done. The fevered anticipation for the sequel a complete opposite to the 'hope this game doesn't suck' mantra that was going on before Witcher 1 released, as can be seen in the Witcher OT.

If a PC-only game, with adult content and general orientation, that pushes graphics to what they should be at last, with zero dumbing down (I hope), with meager advertising compared to the 'big ones', actually sells in the millions, I 'll be laughing for days.

I feel like registering in the official forums of crytek, bioware, etc, and copy-pasting "HAHAHAHHAHAH" a hundred times over.

 

[LOZLINK]

Just bought it at GOG.com. That's probably where it'll benefit CDprojekt the most, and for 45 USD, how could I say no.

 

[zer0das]

I decided to bite the bullet and preorder from Steam. Really enjoyed the first game (except the crashing), and everything seems to point toward the second one being better.

I had started a second play through of the original so I could do a neutral run, but I never got past Act 2. :/

 

[VisanidethDM]

The translation calls it extremely good results, which look encouraging for exhausting the initial sales of 1 million earlier than expected, and eventually having greater success than the original game which sold over 1.7 million copies.

I don't think pre-orders ever number even close to 1:1 with initial non-pre-order sales.

Yeah, it's a PC game. Contrary to popular belief, PC games tend to actually generate less hype, sell less, and get pirated more, so... 110k preorders isn't anything to be worried about.
It's not gonna bomb, it doesn't need to sell 10 million units to be profitable (preorders alone probably cover close to 25% of the original budget), and I'm confident CDProjekt is quite happy about those numbers.

I guess this could be somewhat discomforting for people who for some reason assumed this was gonna be bigger than FF and lead the thriumphant return of the Master Race as the primary gaming market, but those people are probably few and far between (and insane). Just don't expect a PC exclusive to sell like Call of Duty and everything will look fine.