CMSF-British Forces Boxed Delivery

[Xray]

Hi Guys

Anyone in the UK received the CMSF - British Forces boxed game through the post yet. I had an email confirming shipping just over a week but nothing as yet.

Cheers

[Moon]

The product comes from Germany, so it shouldn't take longer than a couple of days normally. If it doesn't arrive until tomorrow, please submit a ticket at www.battlefront.com/helpdesk.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Same here in the Netherlands, nothing so far.

[Rupert_2]

And same here also, I got the email confirming shipping but nothing yet..

[Moon]

OK, please wait a couple of days, say until monday or tuesday next week, and if it's not there, submit a ticket. During bigger shipouts after a new release transit times sometimes go up I've noticed, perhaps because the local post office is overloaded

[jens198]

I reieved my "boxed" copy today and (to be honest) I have to say I'm a little bit disappointed.

No nice DVD box, Only a slimline jewel case with no cover at all. Only the jewel case and the CD.

Maybe Battlefront can provide a nice cover inlay so that we can print it and put the CD in a DVD box, so that I can put it beside the boxes of the original game and the Marine module.

Jens

[Jaws]

I reieved my "boxed" copy today and (to be honest) I have to say I'm a little bit disappointed.

No nice DVD box, Only a slimline jewel case with no cover at all. Only the jewel case and the CD.

Maybe Battlefront can provide a nice cover inlay so that we can print it and put the CD in a DVD box, so that I can put it beside the boxes of the original game and the Marine module.

Jens

Got it too today. Seems the Germans have crisis problems and send budget covers

[joebloggs]

I reieved my "boxed" copy today and (to be honest) I have to say I'm a little bit disappointed.

No nice DVD box, Only a slimline jewel case with no cover at all. Only the jewel case and the CD.

Jens

Haven't received my boxed copy yet but if it is only a cd in a jewel case then I am going to be so disapointed especially after the Marines module came in a DVD case with nice cover and a printed manual. This was the only reason I ordered a hard copy.

I could have burned the download onto a cd and saved $10 and another $20 :eek: shipping. Every other game I have bought from Battlefront has been worth it but if this is as described then I feel I have paid way over the odds.

Maybe I missed this info somewhere but expected the same as before.

Ah well lesson learned, wait until I know what is involved. Could well be my last purchase.

[Moon]

I am surprised you are surprised because we're very consistant with our approach to hardgoods. Modules and add-ons usually do not get the DVD box and/or printed manual. Marines was an exception to the rule, not the rule.

What the hardgoods include has been described on the release announcement (among other places):

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1435&Itemid=1

Hardgoods - consisting of a CD - will be mailed out within 2 weeks.

[joebloggs]

Yes, as I stated I obviously missed this. My point being as I had bought many other hard goods from you guys and received a nice dvd case and manual I did not expect this release to be any different. My fault.

An extra $30 for something I could have burned onto a cd myself with the same result is the reason I am a bit peeved.

[jens198]

Yep, seems like I missed that one too. But what do you expect when you order a long awaited new module and the website you order from promotes the product like this:

Well anyway, the new module is great. Maybe Battlefront can provide a cover that we may print by ourselfs and put it togehter with the CD in a nice DVD case.

Jens

[Thomm]

That announcement clearly shows a DVD case (mockup?).

The paragraph describing the "hardgoods" is much weaker and less clear compared to the image on the left.

Had I ordered the "boxed" version I would also be disappointed.

The "We told you so!" approach does not really work in this case. Just sayin' (no emotional investment here)

Best regards,

Thomm

[Homo ferricus]

I did think it was funny when Marines came out with the full DVD case wrapped in plastic. I recall "Strategic Command" came in the mail the same way Brits did, except I think the CD case may have had a simple cover (no manual, nothing on backside, just a piece of cover). Also, when I originally ordered CMBO, There was no packaging! It was the CD in one of those paper CD holders stuffed in between the pages of the manual.

At least the Brits module has a manual that is printable from the website, does it not?

[MeatEtr]

They should really drop the DVD box pic, it's semi-deceiving and obviously will give people the wrong impression. Since the first module Marines came with the "bells & whistles"(manual+DVD box), it's understandable people will assume the same for the Brits.

Personally, I couldn't care less, the product is in the game, not the package.

[joebloggs]

At least the Brits module has a manual that is printable from the website, does it not?

Yes there is a facility to print the manual yourself but the only reason I bought a hard copy as well as the download is that I thought that the British Module was going to be the same quality as the Marines Module. Again my fault.

It is the extra cost incurred for no real gain that is annoying. I wouldn't have paid the extra $30 if I had fully known what I was getting. Yet again, my fault. Too eager to receive the game and the image is misleading. Clever marketing strategy? How many people thought they would receive a nice dvd style case and manual ala Marines?

Having posted items to Europe I know it does not cost $20 to post a cd in a jewel case. I could and have accepted the high postage as I have always thought the goods received to be worth the investment.

The add on is good but not worth the $55 I have paid in total.

Anyway, I'll be more careful in the future.

"No plan survives contact with the next turn button"

[ERISS]

Again my fault.

Not your fault, as the ad was cheaty.

I'm happy I didn't buy the bundle (I nearly did it).

[lomir]

Well, lesson learnt and probably Battlefront has taken note of what kind of purchasing trends might be likely to happen on the future release of the NATO module unless they will put some effort to sell copies by mail. My case: I place my order on July, 30. I pay an extra $20.00 for shipping and I'm still waiting to get it. I imagine that it should be here next week as long as other Europeans are already getting it on the last days, but that's more than one month waiting for... the same product for $20.00 less. No whining, but I feel quite like an idiot with this Yes, I was also too eager to buy the British Forces module to understand that "Hardgoods - consisting of a CD" just means that you'll only get a CD and please do not expect anything else. My fault. But I have to agree with other forum members here that the DVD-case image is rather misleading. The superb appearance of the previous Marines module along with the manual made the rest, creating expectations. I don't know if it is really worthy for Battlefront to sell hard copies, what margin of benefits they get, etc. but I wouldn't mind to pay in the future the extra $20.00 for a product like the CM:SF Marines module. For what we are getting now, definitely not, Sir.

Cheers,

Lomir

[Moon]

We've been over this several times before on this forum, but why not repeat it again: the $20 you're paying (roughly EUR 14) is for both shipping (the actual postage) as well as handling. Handling includes everything from storing the product to picking it once your order comes in to preparing it for shipment to actually packaging it and sending it out). EUR 14 is barely covering the actual cost we have. The actualy postage usually ranges from EUR 3 to EUR 6, and the rest is made up of all the other things the fulfillment house is doing. We'd love to be able to send you stuff for less, or for free, but the only way to do this would be to raise our prices accordingly, thereby effectively kind of masking the cost (but it's still there; just like so many other things, "free" to the customer does not mean it actually doesn't cost anything, it only means that someone else is paying for it). EUR 14 is by no means out of the ordinary for S&H in Europe. There are big mail-order companies who do it for less, or tiny one-man operations that send out one package a week and do not actually have any significant "handling", but there are also many others who charge a similar amount (and more) for S&H.

The way we have it set up, it's your choice as customer to purchase mail delivery or not. It makes sense to have a backup copy once your download runs out for example, or to get a printed manual. If you feel it doesn't make sense for you, don't order the mail delivery.

As for packaged goods... our approach has been pretty consistant, and also self-explanatory I think. Prime releases usually are getting "the full enchilada" with printed manual etc. Expansions, add-ons and modules usually are not. For one, there is less to print (the British Forces manual is fairly small compared to the main manual for the base game), but the main point is: add-ons usually cost less. Yet our cost to produce hard-goods is pretty much the same.

Marines was a major exception to the rule because of the circumstances. NATO will be, most likely, just like British Forces. Afghanistan, which is NOT a module, will be getting the enchilada again. Normandy of course as well. For Histwar we even have a limited deluxe edition in the works. And so forth.

Anyway, I am sorry if the image and the text were misleading to some. You will see this kind of "box-shot" for pretty much all our releases going forward, regardless of the actual package. But I will make sure to be more clear about what the hardgoods include in the future.

[SS Sniper]

Well anyway, the new module is great. Maybe Battlefront can provide a cover that we may print by ourselfs and put it togehter with the CD in a nice DVD case.

Jens

Hey Moon how about a cover we can print ourselfs?

[Sequoia]

Hey Moon how about a cover we can print ourselfs?

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=473

[Henniak-Khazad]

Let me try to resumate this situation... (Help by the google traduction tool)

The abused use module system ,

Pay for a patch ,

now this.

It' s far far away from the gold age of BB and AK. A forgotten Gold age for the players.

Now it's the gold age for bf , but a con for the fan's , definitely.

So... now we have to wait the normandy release without the FJ and SS...

But with water ! what and effort ! And there will be bridge !! oh god Thank so much bf !

---> it 's a shame !

[Homo ferricus]

Let me try to resumate this situation... (Help by the google traduction tool)

The abused use module system ,

Pay for a patch ,

now this.

It' s far far away from the gold age of BB and AK. A forgotten Gold age for the players.

Now it's the gold age for bf , but a con for the fan's , definitely.

So... now we have to wait the normandy release without the FJ and SS...

But with water ! what and effort ! And there will be bridge !! oh god Thank so much bf !

---> it 's a shame !

The reason you may consider the releases of BO, BB, and AK a wargaming "Golden Age" is probably because (in my assessment) BFC had grossly misjudged their workload : payoff ratio when making these games, letting you fight virtually any ground battle in the European theatre of operations during World War Two (with the major exception being early war Poland and France) within an absolutely fabulous game engine and charging you less than companies like EA do for one cookie-cutter fps. I think they really burned out financially and workload-wise by being over-ambitious; i mean seriously--you could fight as the Free French and Poles against German mountain troops in France, Russian partisans against Romanian pioneer platoons in the East. Italian armor against American Airborne in Sicily. The list goes on-and-on. It was surely not financially feasible to go on giving people so much damned bang for their buck. It is only reasonable to expect BFC to tighten the scope of their games, and I am admitting this as someone who would definitely like more scope.

It's really unfair, I think, to use that kind of rhetoric and slander these folks who have, and still do work very hard to create a product we enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: the various scenarios pitched in the first paragraph of my post were taken from mid-air. It is very possible that many of them if not all of them never happened.

[SlapHappy]

Let's put this into a little bit of perspective:

You've got EA who publishes the Madden 20xx NFL Football games. This, with minor alterations is the same game year after year (albeit with roster changes) and costs $60 US for the typical newer console. And it isn't even a relatively good football simulation, in my opinion. Yet the drones line up year after year to buy the same game over again.

Then you've got BFC who have implemented a module system to sell add-ons for one of several Base Game systems. The difference here is these games are their REAL product. They sell these games to a much smaller niche while still trying to garner some reasonable level of profit. Madden is a cash cow for EA that basically guarantees them massive profit from spewing the same crap out every year. Why? Because they have the EXCLUSIVE license to produce NFL video games. This was very critical for them around 2005 to ensure competitors like the 2K video games did not erode their market and their cash cow.

You want to talk about complacency? You think BFC has taken their customers for granted and abused their pocketbooks? Look at the giant hypocrisy example I just described above.

I was never under the impression that BFC really thought the typical customer would purchase more than one add-on per base game, anyway. But some are arguing that "we must have all the extras" but then want to negotiate that cost based on their own expectations, which are sometimes just not realistic.

I fully understand that some rely on hardgoods because of lack of broadband or simply prefer the "I can hold it in my hands" type of product. I have full 20 Mbit service, but trust me, I pay for it. And on more than a few occasions, it saves me either time or money, like when I need to download game files from Battlefront vs. postage.

And about postage...if it seems high now, just wait, I can almost guarantee it's going to get worse.

[Patrocles]

Let's put this into a little bit of perspective:

You've got EA who publishes the Madden 20xx NFL Football games. This, with minor alterations is the same game year after year (albeit with roster changes) and costs $60 US for the typical newer console. And it isn't even a relatively good football simulation, in my opinion. Yet the drones line up year after year to buy the same game over again.

Then you've got BFC who have implemented a module system to sell add-ons for one of several Base Game systems. The difference here is these games are their REAL product. They sell these games to a much smaller niche while still trying to garner some reasonable level of profit. Madden is a cash cow for EA that basically guarantees them massive profit from spewing the same crap out every year. Why? Because they have the EXCLUSIVE license to produce NFL video games. This was very critical for them around 2005 to ensure competitors like the 2K video games did not erode their market and their cash cow.

You want to talk about complacency? You think BFC has taken their customers for granted and abused their pocketbooks? Look at the giant hypocrisy example I just described above.

I was never under the impression that BFC really thought the typical customer would purchase more than one add-on per base game, anyway. But some are arguing that "we must have all the extras" but then want to negotiate that cost based on their own expectations, which are sometimes just not realistic.

I fully understand that some rely on hardgoods because of lack of broadband or simply prefer the "I can hold it in my hands" type of product. I have full 20 Mbit service, but trust me, I pay for it. And on more than a few occasions, it saves me either time or money, like when I need to download game files from Battlefront vs. postage.

And about postage...if it seems high now, just wait, I can almost guarantee it's going to get worse.

well said! AIIHC, the price of many AAA-title games are going to be creeping up towards winter (look for $65-$70 EA games this Xmass! haha)