Midnight Queue for FM 10

[t-man]

I think I shall be doing it again this year! For that last couple of releases of FM (7 - 9), sad I know, but I went to my local Wall Mart owned super store at 23:59 to purchase a copy of the game between 00:00 and 00:01 on release day

I will be there again, same time, same place next thursday, with the added bonus that my bro will be accompanying me (he is a teacher and would be on half term that week....I hate him for that as I will be in work on the Friday when he will be breaking into the game!!)

Is anyone one going to be doing the same or are you all pre-order folks.....fingers crossed about the postal strike by the way

[PGB_SPURS_FM09]

Do you mean ASDA lol? Thought you were in America for a second. I've pre-ordered it from zavvi cos it was £17.95 hopefully the postal strike doesn't effect things... I cant wait to start i love the demo but havent played past pre-season as i dont wanna get into it when its only a small database in 1 country. I want more!!!

I nearly did this last year but changed my mind at the last min... but i did get it in the morning before work! Just so i could play it at lunch(lol) Although i never did because of all the activation issues... No problem this year though!

PS i work in a school too in ICT but the half term is from 23rd to the 30th so i can't spend a whole week playing it

[Paul Atherton]

asda dont do pc games

[PGB_SPURS_FM09]

What other Wal-Mart "super-stores" are there in England then? I thought they did sell PC games but i can't say for sure

[Miller2202]

ASDA do sell PC games..FACT!

[Forbsie]

Yes mate i got mine last year at asda and ill be there next thursday night too, finish next friday at 5pm for a weeks hols , plenty fm10

[gunner86]

ASDA sell PC games in their larger stores. Not all of them. Regardless I preordered mine as I went for the Arsenal Edition which is only available from Arsenal directly.

[Paul Atherton]

I always get my game online but this postal strike really worries me. I'm awaiting a big supplier like Amazon to announce a deal with DHL or something to carry their deliveries if not I think i'll be doing this

[t-man]

Do you mean ASDA lol? Thought you were in America for a second. I've pre-ordered it from zavvi cos it was £17.95 hopefully the postal strike doesn't effect things... I cant wait to start i love the demo but havent played past pre-season as i dont wanna get into it when its only a small database in 1 country. I want more!!!

I nearly did this last year but changed my mind at the last min... but i did get it in the morning before work! Just so i could play it at lunch(lol) Although i never did because of all the activation issues... No problem this year though!

PS i work in a school too in ICT but the half term is from 23rd to the 30th so i can't spend a whole week playing it

LOL...I did mean ASDA

[cruyff14]

Is it available via steam as of midnight to because depending how my thursday night pans out ill either order it online at midnight if I stay in or I'll be so drunk I'll just get it from the shops when I wake up

[samuelburrowsuk]

What's the deal with the supermarkets on this? I've often been tempted to get down there at midnight but in my mind I'd be met with a blank stare by a shop assistant and told to come back in the morning.

[gunner86]

What's the deal with the supermarkets on this? I've often been tempted to get down there at midnight but in my mind I'd be met with a blank stare by a shop assistant and told to come back in the morning.

In my supermarket I'm always met by that blank stare.

[t-man]

Do you mean ASDA lol? Thought you were in America for a second. I've pre-ordered it from zavvi cos it was £17.95 hopefully the postal strike doesn't effect things... I cant wait to start i love the demo but havent played past pre-season as i dont wanna get into it when its only a small database in 1 country. I want more!!!

I nearly did this last year but changed my mind at the last min... but i did get it in the morning before work! Just so i could play it at lunch(lol) Although i never did because of all the activation issues... No problem this year though!

PS i work in a school too in ICT but the half term is from 23rd to the 30th so i can't spend a whole week playing it

LOL...I did mean ASDA

[t-man]

asda dont do pc games

Mine does

[t-man]

Yes mate i got mine last year at asda and ill be there next thursday night too, finish next friday at 5pm for a weeks hols , plenty fm10

Excellent!! .....Good times ahead, though the Mrs is really not happy at the moment due to the amount of time I've spent on the Demo....

do I envisage single times ahead, only time will tell......

[t-man]

Is it available via steam as of midnight to because depending how my thursday night pans out ill either order it online at midnight if I stay in or I'll be so drunk I'll just get it from the shops when I wake up

A bit risky trusting downloads even from Stream....

a) it will take a while to get the download depending on home many people are hammering the servers at the time (last year's shinanighans spring to mind)

b) the off chance your ISP does a whobbler.....

At least the only way you wont get the game at midnight from a store is if you, well died..LOL

[samuelburrowsuk]

Steam have an excellent track record with large demand on their servers. Certainly last year my download didn't drop below maximum speed for my line.

[Quackje]

The only thing last year was the verification servers which are nothing to do with steam, for several years now steam has been easily capable of providing the bandwidth for releases (Back when they first launched it in 2003 or so this was a huge issue). Theres lots more subtle things that can go wrong buying from store at midnight than dying, eg. not open, sold out, lost your wallet, mugged on the way home by a fmjunkiefiend.

[mark751]

I always get my game online but this postal strike really worries me. I'm awaiting a big supplier like Amazon to announce a deal with DHL or something to carry their deliveries if not I think i'll be doing this

I was worried, but I'm a bit more optimistic now. I ordered Windows 7 from Amazon two days ago, and it's just been delivered by City Link. I spoke to them on the phone yesterday and they said they're trying to steer clear of Royal Mail for now. Hopefully Gameplay.co.uk do the same...

[PGB_SPURS_FM09]

Yeah i've just had windows 7 sent to me to via City link but i think only Amazon have confrimed they are doing that... not sure who else has :s

Apparently Zavvi said they will be sticking with Royal Mail so fingers crossed the strike don't effect it(for me anyway bit selfish but oh well)

[cruyff14]

The only thing last year was the verification servers which are nothing to do with steam, for several years now steam has been easily capable of providing the bandwidth for releases (Back when they first launched it in 2003 or so this was a huge issue). Theres lots more subtle things that can go wrong buying from store at midnight than dying, eg. not open, sold out, lost your wallet, mugged on the way home by a fmjunkiefiend.

I have never had a big problem with steam to be honest i have never had all these problems that everyone else has had in the past perhaps I'm just lucky

[Everton Ninjas]

Beans are ****ing ace.

[t-man]

The only thing last year was the verification servers which are nothing to do with steam, for several years now steam has been easily capable of providing the bandwidth for releases (Back when they first launched it in 2003 or so this was a huge issue). Theres lots more subtle things that can go wrong buying from store at midnight than dying, eg. not open, sold out, lost your wallet, mugged on the way home by a fmjunkiefiend.

Hmmm....never thought about the threat posed by the fmjunkiefriend....

Not being open wont be a problem...ASDA is 24 hrs during the week.
Sold out? hmmmm....point taken.
lost wallet...nah....

[tefal]

after reading some of the post on here i've cancelled my play.com order and ordered via steam, seems the safest/easiest way of ensuring when i fake illness for my yearly fm day off work that i'll be playing the game within minutes of waking up.
how do you go about playing the game if you're not connected to the internet? i went away last xmas and took my laptop with me for a sneaky game of fm (surprisingly me and the missus are still together). when you tried to open it via steam it gave an options to play offline but wouldn't start the game.

[t-man]

after reading some of the post on here i've cancelled my play.com order and ordered via steam, seems the safest/easiest way of ensuring when i fake illness for my yearly fm day off work that i'll be playing the game within minutes of waking up.
how do you go about playing the game if you're not connected to the internet? i went away last xmas and took my laptop with me for a sneaky game of fm (surprisingly me and the missus are still together). when you tried to open it via steam it gave an options to play offline but wouldn't start the game.

Maybe thats why you and the missus are still together as you were unable to play the game

I'm not so sure to be honest as I'm sure what previous posts by SI seem to suggest is that...
1) if you have the media then you will have to have it in the drive to play the game
2) if you use steam...you wont need a CD/DVD in the drive to play it but I cant remember see anything about an offline mode. Though, to play the Demo download via steam, you dont need to be on the internet. Ive tried this and it works.

So might need someone who knows about this or SI themselves to comment.

[samuelburrowsuk]

You can play offline using steam with no problem at all. It doesn't require any special steps or setups.

[nev147]

Yeah local Tesco at Midnight. I've got a funny feeling that something will go wrong, maybe demand outstrips supply or the lorry broke down etc but I hope not!!!

[samuelburrowsuk]

Yeah local Tesco at Midnight. I've got a funny feeling that something will go wrong, maybe demand outstrips supply or the lorry broke down etc but I hope not!!!

Double clubcard points :-)

[nev147]

Double clubcard points :-)

No. lol.

[DougyMarshall]

A bit risky trusting downloads even from Stream....

a) it will take a while to get the download depending on home many people are hammering the servers at the time (last year's shinanighans spring to mind)

b) the off chance your ISP does a whobbler.....

At least the only way you wont get the game at midnight from a store is if you, well died..LOL

Steam handles game launches far larger than the FM series without any problems.

Empire Total War was and still is a 15GB download via steam.... FM09 in comparison is only 2GB, i doubt FM10 will be much larger.

Not to mention that there will in all likely hood be a pre load for the game, Steam usualy downloads 99% of the game days in advance so that when the game is officialy released you just download a tiny file that lets you get started.

The odds of an ISP just randomly going down are very small, even with a realy crappy ISP most outages last a half hour to an hour at most.

Have fun with your midnight release and all that, ive done that for GTA IV, but if i have the option of getting into town and trying to get back out again when ill be realy tempted to just go to a pub or club.... versus waking up when the download finishes and playing all in the comfort of my bedroom.... well... its a no brainer.

[Peachy Bum]

I think i'll wait till i know the patch is out and you lot say it's OK and they haven't fudged it. Then i'll pop out and buy it.