Where are people buying Cognition?

[wilco64256]

I'm just curious what site people are pre-ordering or buying the game from.

[Haids1987]

I'm a GameStop girl myself. Been a happy pre-orderer since the Sims 2 Celebration Stuff. They know me there.

[Rosella]

Unfortunately, I checked in the system at work and it doesn't look like you can preorder it in-store. At least, I looked in PC digital download stuff and it wasn't there. Should I be looking at physical PC games?

Also, where's the Kickstarter option?

[KatieHal]

There's no physical copy for sale anywhere at this time. At some point we'll probably do a special edition version, but most likely that will be sold online as well, is my guess.

And if you backed the Kickstarter at $20 or above, you've already got your copy pre-ordered. We'll be sending out instructions on how to get your copy of the game next week on release day.

[galbyman]

Sweet!  I am excited to get my physical copy in!

[Haids1987]

And if you backed the Kickstarter at $20 or above, you've already got your copy pre-ordered. We'll be sending out instructions on how to get your copy of the game next week on release day.

[MrsTuffPaws]

I tried to pre-order from Game Stop, twice, and each time it got rejected.  Any ideas? 

Game Stop just says "Unfortunately our system was unable to process your order. This has resulted in the order's cancellation. blah blah blah"

[Rick_Florez]

If you are from Europe you need to go through GamersGate.  They are the ones responsible for distribution in that part of the world.

[MrsTuffPaws]

I'm not in Europe, I'm in California. I guess I'll try again, and see what happens.

[writerlove]

I can't order it right now unfortunately I'm broke!

[mgiuca]

Hmm I just went to pre-order and I'm not too happy with the choices. GameStop requires me to use a custom download client, GamersGate seems to require online activation to install, and Rain.DG is charging $5 to let me download it more than once.

None of these are very satisfactory. I don't trust the custom download client (though it might be the best option), I can't trust the install activation (what if the store disappears?) and a game that can only be downloaded once is too scary (what if the download stops or becomes corrupted?) Which option are people preferring? If these are the options, I may just wait for Steam. Yes, I know, that has a custom download client and DRM too, but at least it's a well-known service.

Which of the available choices actually have DRM? A DRM-free download that lets me redownload the game multiple times would be preferable.

[Rosella]

If GamersGate only requires activation to install, not to run, that shouldn't be too bad, though I see your reservations.

Impulse (I assume that's what you're talking about with GameStop's download client) is clunky and somewhat annoying, but otherwise pretty reliable. My main reservation there is that I believe it requires being open before you can run any games downloaded through it. I just don't use Impulse enough to want to give it my computer resources all of the time and it takes forever to load.

[snabbott]

Rain.DG is charging $5 to let me download it more than once.

Where are you seeing this? That just seems wrong.

Edit: Oh - here. This still seems wrong.

Edit2: Apparently, this is a cloud backup thing. I guess the question is whether you are able to make your own backup copy (e.g. burn to a disk). Without some kind of backup, I can't see purchasing software digitally.

[KatieHal]

We've looked into that $5 fee, mgiuca, and it's not for additional downloads. As snabbott said, it's associated with backups and an extended download period, not actual additional downloads of the game itself.

[wilco64256]

A couple of comments to clear up some stuff here:

1. The activation that happens with the Gamersgate version of the game (and is the same for Rain DG) is a one-time online activation that happens the first time you run the game. After that the entire internet could curl up and die and you'd still be able to run the game no problem.

2. Gamestop requires that the game go through their Impulse system for download and activation, but once you have it you don't need to run the game through that app, you can just run it from the desktop shortcut no problem.

[mgiuca]

Thanks for the replies everybody. Even though it seems to be only installation-time activation, I'm still reluctant to use such a service. I tend to wipe my PC fairly regularly (about 12-monthly) so install-time DRM is still a problem for me if the internet curls up and dies (read: the DRM provider shuts down or de-activates my account for whatever reason).

Does anybody know, with this Rain.DG seller, do they at least let you download it, say 5 times, or unlimited times within a 1-week period? I'm happy to keep my own backups. I just don't want to discover that my single download of a game I paid for was corrupted or disconnected, so I can't use the game.

Sorry to be such a pain of a customer. I really like the look of this game and I want it to be part of my digital library for years to come, which is why I am so careful about DRM.

[snabbott]

I don't know if it's official, but elsewhere on the site, I found a mention of a 60-day limit if you don't buy the extended download service. It might be worth contacting their customer support for clarification.

[mgiuca]

Okay, they all seem like much of a muchness, but I decided to go with GameStop as it allows re-downloading, and seems to be the most reputable. I'm looking forward to Cognition after watching Toegoff's playthrough of the demo.

[Argentum]

The Gamersgate site indicates that the game has Securom DRM. I didn't notice any mention of it on the Gamestop or Rain.dg sites. Is anyone aware of whether there's DRM (Securom or otherwise) on the Rain.dg downloads? I'm not really a fan of DRM, to be honest, since I'd really like to have the game be playable in the future, in the event activation servers go down, though I guess I could be convinced to put up with it if I must.

[Cez]

Rain and Gamersgate are both protected, yes.

Gamestop uses their own system.

As for the server not working in the future, even if that were to happen, codes can be provided to bypass it manually.

Hope that helps!