Polaris Sector

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longheart
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Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

I am interested in buying Polaris Sector boxed copy, but the price on this web site is too high. ($80 not including shipping, or the 13% tax that Canada puts on things... nor even the import charges, if any).
From what I gather, it will easily cost over $100, which is more expensive than, well almost every game I see lying around.

I spent quite a bit of time Googling around looking for anyone else selling the boxed version of this game, since competition tends to lower prices... I also asked in local stores for copies. No one else seems to sell this game except Matrix Games (which sells through Amazon even more expensive than here).

Is there anyone else anywhere that sells the boxed version of this game?

Or, is there a way to get the boxed version at reasonable price? ... Probably from some reseller?
zakblood
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by zakblood »

no sorry Matrix / Slitherine are the publishers, you could wait for a Anniversary Coupon or sale maybe?
longheart
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

Have the publishers decided they are the only ones who can sell this game now?

I remember buying Titans of Steel ages ago from a store, so this was not always the case.

I know this game can be bought through steam, but they told me they do not sell physical copies of games when I submitted a support question about it. I have seen many web sites that sell the digital copies of this game, or at least the cd keys to the game, but I have no idea if that is legal or not. This is one reason I prefer to have an authentic game and box in my hands.

I suppose I could wait for a sale, but it would have to be a pretty large one to counter a price that'll be over $100. I could find the price acceptable if the shipping were free, and if the box version really contains $20 worth of stuff. I bought Stellaris recently from the UK, and it looks like a playstation 2 game box with no manual included. I'd be very upset if that's all the box version comes with...

What does the box version of Polaris Sector come with?
pipfromslitherine
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by pipfromslitherine »

Being the publisher does, yes, mean we are the only ones who can sell the game, though we use a number of storefronts, like Steam, as well as our own sites. You should only buy from reputable stores such as us or Steam. Many 'other' sites claim to sell keys, but they are usually stolen and thus vulnerable to being disabled.

I can't recall what the boxed copy manual for Polaris is, though I think it is colour printed.

Cheers

Pip
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longheart
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

As a last thing, it looks like registering games increases the anniversary coupon. I bought Titans of steel ages ago, but could only find the box and cd. Neither of these has a registration number. If I take a picture of the box and cd, can I have the game be considered registered here?
VPaulus
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by VPaulus »

I'm sorry but you can only register games that have serial numbers.
longheart
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

After spending many hours searching for the manual, I finally found my old manual for Titans of Steel.

I looked at every page of the manual, and the cover. There is no registration number.
I looked all over the original CD sleeve, and the CD. There is no registration number.
I looked all over the outside and inside of the original box. Guess what? I didn't find a registration number anywhere.

So, I have the box, the manual, and the CD, all original. Where is this magical registration number for this game?
VPaulus
Slitherine
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by VPaulus »

It's a retail copy, it doesn't have a registration number or a serial number.
I'm sorry but you can't register those old retail copies.
longheart
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

Ok... I guess I'm lucky it is also a free download from Matrix Games.

So, I went and downloaded the non-retail box version... And... I still can't find the registration code anywhere.
To be certain, I located the page on this web site that asks for the serial number. I entered the only number I found of the inner plastic of the CD, and it says that's an invalid serial number...

So, basically, I have the downloaded version that is not retail, but I couldn't find the registration code anywhere.
Since there is a web page on this web site (located at http://www.slitherine.com/members/register.asp?gid=237 ), it looks like somewhere, there is a way to register this game I bought and downloaded too...

How do I do this?
VPaulus
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by VPaulus »

I'm afraid not. You can't register that game unless you've bought in our Matrix store.
Most of the retail versions are not eligible for registration.
longheart
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

Wow. That's.... not what I expected.

Thank you for your patience in explaining how buying a retail game does not mean you can register that you've bought the game. I'm serious - this was a difficult thing for me to understand. While I still can't figure out the logic of this decision, at least I can understand that this was done, for some reason.

Also, thank you for pointing out I can't register any retail games I've ever bought. I do own several hundred games from over 20 years of PC gaming, and I just remembered offhand Matrix Games had made Titans of Steel. I don't have to look through any of my other games to register any of them here.
longheart
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

If I buy Polaris Sector on steam, can I just pay the extra $15 (And probably shipping) and get the box added to the purchase?

Mainly, my goal is to have steam know I spent at least $5 so they let me do things like have friends on Steam and stuff.
However, I don't want to buy a game without a box and manual, and DVD... Which is why I still have $0 spent on steam.
VPaulus
Slitherine
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by VPaulus »

longheart wrote:If I buy Polaris Sector on steam, can I just pay the extra $15 (And probably shipping) and get the box added to the purchase?
I'm afraid not. If you want the box then you'll need to purchase it from our stores and then redeem a free Steam key for the game.
longheart
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

The store on this web site is refusing to let me pay for the game.

Shopping Cart - Order
FAULT

Error occured during charging your credit card, please contact technical support at support@slitherine.co.uk for help.

Message returned by the payment gateway:

The request cannot be fulfilled for the current shopper. Please contact BlueSnap support for further details.


I have tried twice now, and verified all the information is correct. Since the message happens immediately, I doubt it is even trying to authenticate my credit card. (Also note it mispelt occurred).
VPaulus
Slitherine
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by VPaulus »

Please try with a different Internet browser and if the issue persists please contact your bank/credit card company and check if they are allowing transactions to Bluesnap.com and matrixgames.com.
Alternatively you can try with a different credit card or payment method.
longheart
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

Ok, I used a completely different browser, and got the exact same error. I then tried to put spaces in the number, and ran out of space. I even phoned my bank, and asked them if they are allowing transactions to bluesnap.com and matrixgames.com. My bank stated they are not limiting payments to bluesnap.com, nor matrixgames.com.

I decided to read a review of bluesnap.com, and found many complaints seem to have been filed against them for charging people's credit cards for things they did not buy. Several people are calling them a scam company, but most of those are on review web sites advertised by Google, so I can't be sure they are real.

The bluesnap.com web site itself says they accept my visa card. It really looks like the problem is your web site.

Based on the reviews of bluesnap.com however, I'm more worried about giving them my visa number.

So, in short, I am quite certain the problem is your store is not communicating with bluesnap.com properly because the error happens without delay, and any kind of credit card authorization I have ever seen has a wait time.

So, what do I do now? Everything checks out on my end.

I could go with paypal, however Slitherine store charges more money for people buying via paypal - I'm not really interested in paying more money to get around the payment problems this web site seems to have.
longheart
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

I may not have been specific on why I don't want to use Paypal on your web site.

The reason I don't want to use Paypal is this web site adds $3.15 to the purchase price in the shipping price if you pay with Paypal.

Shipping while paying with credit card is $4.35.
Shipping while paying with Paypal (for the identical shipping method) is $7.50.
longheart
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

Ok, I personally called bluesnap.com's customer support. After waiting about 10 minutes, they sent me to a voice mail system that immediately hung up on me without taking a message.

It seems this payment method will not work. Usually it's a lot easier to give companys money. XD

Anything else I should try?
longheart
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

It took a long time, but I finally gave you my money via Bluesnap.com.

The problem was they wanted an email address that was not a forwarding address. Basically, they wanted an email address I could not turn off. As a result, since I provided my real email address, I can be spammed a ton. <sigh> I remember some companies that sent me daily emails on things to buy, did not accept unsubscribes, and just filled my mailbox for years. This really bugs me.

Still, you got my money, and they've already sent me 2 emails. Considering how many complaints Bluesnap.com has gotten, and the fact they even changed their name to hide who they are after a class action suit for how they were cheating people.

Lawsuit can be found at http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/17/Plimus.pdf .

Well, long story short, this seems to be a disreputable company, and I'm worried having given them my credit card number. However, it seems I have no choice if I want to buy a boxed copy of your game.

In the future, I'd prefer if there were SOME other company I could buy your games from.
longheart
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Re: Polaris Sector

Post by longheart »

I thought you guys might like to know I heard about this game from the Angry Joe show, and his review convinced me the buy the game too. If it weren't for him, I'd have never known this game existed.
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