I have a question, i used my old points from the previous system to buy Demigod, is there any way for me to upgrade to a boxed version (prefearibly the collectors edition) (yes, i know it probably cost me some extra, no problem)

We'll probably offer an upgrade option after release as we have in the past. It'll most likely cost $5+S/H.

what if we dont want the box? do we get the extra $5 (i paid $45, vs $40 for everyone else) back? im guessing not. i didnt get it back for sins either. which i guess would put me on the "shame on me" side of the "screw me once, shame on you..." equation

Well for Sins it was still the CE, and you got the music and stuff as downloads rather than in the box. For Demigod? I dunno, the collector's has a statuette which is rather hard to have as a download

CE for SINS and Demigod also have the my colors theme.  There are supposed to be more goodies but we don't know what yet.

Ah yeah, I forgot about the theme.

all things i both dont know about or how to get, and honestly dont much care about. id rather have the five bucks in my pocket. but either way, it settles in my mind any question i had about pre-ordering elemental or any other stardock product in the future.

Actually, the non-preorder price is $49.99 so you got $5 off. It's $39.99 in stores, but SD is small and doesn't want to piss off retailers so they can't undercut, so instead they make a CE that's (usually) exclusive to direct orders. For both Sins and Demigod, the original preorder price was $5 cheaper than the final direct order price.

Your argument is nonsensical, though. If you buy something at a store and the price drops at some point in the future, do you go and demand money back?

Not a perfect analogy since it actually increased in this case (for what you paid for, anyway) and the cheaper one is non-CE. But sure, if you don't care about CE goodies or the betas you should just wait until it's in stores.

so what youre telling me is, to buy demigod through stardock for digital download only on release day, the price is going to be $50? perhaps so (my crystal ball is broken) but i really doubt it.

actually... yes. and i frequently DO get the difference refunded to me, depending upon the time thats passed since purchase. but in general, youd be hard pressed to find a retail store that WOULDNT refund the difference within 30 days, and some as much as 90, if youre willing to pester your way up the chain to upper management.

which is actually irrelevant, because your analogy is flawed: purchasing a finished good (or in the case of software, a released retail product) is not the same as pre-ordering software, even IF said pre-order provides early access to unfinished product. i wont make the case that stardock should be paying its beta testers for QA on pre-release code, because thats unfair, people beta test because they WANT to, and shouldnt expect renumeration for it... but they absolutely positively shouldnt expect to pay MORE for it, either.

which i now realize, and which i will do in the future. stardock can find some other sucker to fund their development. a pdf, a desktop theme i wouldnt use if you paid me to, and some mp3s arent worth $5. they arent worth $1. your perspective may be different, but from where im standing, its a screwjob no matter how you slice it.

Thank you, Its nice that you do this kind of stuff, catering to us that are so oldfashioned that we still want hardcopys (boxes whit Disks)

I assume you actually enjoy these games. If you do I see little logic in depriving not only yourself of the experience but also the developer of early success/funds for continued activity. And they are offering hard physical copy for the cost of shipping, plus some extras which, correct, we may or may not find either to our liking or necessarily useful. Sounds like a 'bonus' scenario to me, not a screwjob.

1) its only a bonus if i actually wanted those things, which i dont and

2) even IF i wanted those things, its the principle of the thing. i paid $45. then they lower the price to $40. and keep my $5. TWICE. how is this not dishonest? how is this NOT a screwjob? if they said "pre-order with beta access is $45. DD will be $40. the extra $5 is for beta access." then id be ok with it. i also probably wouldnt pre-order it, access to the beta isnt worth $5 to me. id even be ok with it if they stated on the preorder that the price may change and the difference is non-refundable. but they didnt. what they DID was charge me $5 more, and just pocketed it. TWICE.

if youre ok with that, fine, some people have different tolerance levels for this kind of thing. personally, id stop doing business with a company over a nickle. if you cant trust someone with a nickle, you cant trust them with a damn thing.

i give up at this point, im done talking about it, theres no point. i got f'ed out of $10 and theres nothing i can do about it. clearly stardock thinks this is ok, since its a pattern of behavior, a business practice for them at this point.  you cant shame someone into doing the right thing when theyre convinced theyve done nothing wrong, as stardock obviously does. and i was stupid enough to let them do it to me twice. you can bet your ass there wont be a third time.

When we've made prerelease cost corrections in the past (there were a couple with Sins, IIRC), as far as I remember the change was resolved in favor of anyone who had ordered prior to the change. If the cost went down, previous preorders were credited the difference; if the cost went up, they kept the original lower price that they ordered at.

Regretfully I can't say with certainty what our plan is in this case (especially as the site here still lists the old price, so at this hour on a weekend I have no way to see if the lower price on Impulse is intentional or mistaken). If you'd like to confirm what will happen, please contact sales@stardock.com for further information.

I'm ordering the CE anyway, but that's good to hear!

i can tell you i absolutely positively DID NOT get my $5 back on sins.

they told me to do the same thing about a month before sins came out. and im sure ill get the same answer: "sorry, we're stiffing you five bucks. but here, have a desktop theme you wont use as a consolation prize."