The Bargain Thread

Lorini · 2009-06-25T13:09:22.000Z

Railroads: “Operating System: Windows® 2000/XP” They aren’t kidding; the game will crash repeatedly under Vista.

Bad_Neighbor · 2009-06-25T15:47:53.000Z

Steam has several sales to coincide with the release of this thing.

Dean · 2009-06-25T15:54:35.000Z

I’ve played with that Falcon thing at shows. Heck, they gave some to one of the CS guys to experiment with, and all I can say is that it’s a carpal tunnel syndrom machine. After 10 minutes my arm hurt, I can’t imagine playing anything for hours.

Kool_Moe_Dee · 2009-06-25T21:47:32.000Z

Lorini:

Railroads: “Operating System: Windows® 2000/XP” They aren’t kidding; the game will crash repeatedly under Vista.

It does until you patch it so that the Railroads executable has the “large address aware” flag on it. My wife couldn’t lay track in Railroads without crashing on her Vista machine until we patched it. The code for laying track apparently fragments the living hell out of the game’s address space (at least temporarily), and using the large address aware flag gives it the full 4 GB address space.

If you’re leery of downloading random files from people and running them on your machine, I think you can get editbin.exe as part of the free Visual C++ Express.

kerzain · 2009-06-25T22:59:26.000Z

Looks like the upgrade version of MS Windows 7 Home Premium edition is availible for pre-order for $49 (Down from $120). This upgrades both Vista and XP machines. You can get it at Amazon and various other places for this price. I hear the pre-orders end on July 11th or when some mystery pre-order limit is reached, whichever comes first. No idea how valid that claim is.

The professional version is listed at $99 pre-order $199 retail.

JMR · 2009-06-25T23:26:06.000Z

Is there a separate package for 64bit versions of Win7?

JonRowe · 2009-06-25T23:32:15.000Z

Nope. It works for both, or so their website says.

Lorini · 2009-06-26T05:49:56.000Z

Do you think that would work on the GG version? I’d get it if so. It wasn’t the best RR game but it would be good in a pinch.

porousnapkin · 2009-06-26T08:16:02.000Z

kerzain:

Looks like the upgrade version of MS Windows 7 Home Premium edition is availible for pre-order for $49 (Down from $120). This upgrades both Vista and XP machines. You can get it at Amazon and various other places for this price. I hear the pre-orders end on July 11th or when some mystery pre-order limit is reached, whichever comes first. No idea how valid that claim is.

The professional version is listed at $99 pre-order $199 retail.

I’m seriously considering getting this since I’ve heard so many good things from Windows 7 beta users. I’m worried, though, because the feature “Run many Windows XP productivity applications in Windows 7” is not listed for Home edition.

What the heck is an XP productivity application? Does openoffice fall under that area? Is anyone in the beta able to comment on Windows 7 Home’s ability to run XP programs? Or is there a harsh NDA on it?

unbongwah · 2009-06-26T08:21:27.000Z

It looks like “Windows XP Mode” is actually a virtual XP environment.

Cubit · 2009-06-26T08:41:43.000Z

unbongwah:

It looks like “Windows XP Mode” is actually a virtual XP environment.

yeah, its just an integrated virtual pc. its been around forever.

MSUSteve · 2009-06-26T09:09:02.000Z

Cat Master:

Steam has several sales to coincide with the release of this thing.

That looks pretty cool actually. $150 is getting to a price that I would actually consider buying it.

SirTomster · 2009-06-26T09:43:00.000Z

unbongwah:

It looks like “Windows XP Mode” is actually a virtual XP environment.

The professional version has the XP Mode. Not Home Preimium. So I am considering getting that version just for the XP Mode.

But they keep stressing XP Productivity programs. So does that mean not gaming? Because that is why I would get the Pro version is in case gaming was messed up.

Anyone know?

Comparison between versions.

Hmm MaximumPC said its not going to be good for hardcore gaming. Guess I can see that with it being virtual PC environment.

Maybe Home Premium is all I Need and dual boot with XP as needed.

Jazar · 2009-06-26T09:48:53.000Z

Yeah the virtual XP machine won’t work that great for games and its also only supported on a select number of CPUs.

Vesper · 2009-06-26T09:56:57.000Z

Are they including remote desktop in Home Premium this time around? I really disliked that it was missing in Vista.

Fugitive · 2009-06-26T10:01:58.000Z

Vesper:

Are they including remote desktop in Home Premium this time around? I really disliked that it was missing in Vista.

It’s not in Home Premium, but it will be in Professional, so you don’t have to go all the way up to Ultimate to get it. (Though it’s still a pretty big price jump.)

Fozzle · 2009-06-26T10:15:26.000Z

This might be a reverse bargain, but everyone check your piles of shame, you might make a few extra bucks in there!

Cubit · 2009-06-26T10:22:49.000Z

Impulse has Heroes of Might and Magic 5: Tribes of the East for only $4.99

Its a standalone expansion that includes all the original game content plus new faction and features. I believe there is even a way to play the original game’s campaign in this expansion but I haven’t found it yet.

http://www.impulsedriven.com/homm5tribes

edit: ah, here we go:

http://www.heroes-fr.com/en/original_campaigns.php

so you are pretty much getting all the Heroes 5 content for $5.

Marcus · 2009-06-26T10:33:49.000Z

Hell yeah that is awesome. Thanks for the link I’m getting it.

Mysterio · 2009-06-26T10:46:29.000Z

Steam is also offering the HoMM5 series and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic at discounted prices. You can purchase all 4 for $19.96, or individually for $4.99.

Also, for those who may not know, you can download the very impressive HoMM5 manuals created by fans and approved by Ubisoft here.

EDIT: You can also purchase the three HoMM5 games as a package for $12.99. Beatcha by a minute, Gendal! Muhahaha!