Skyrim physical copies have no data on the discs

[Jadak]

What the fuck? I'd be more pissed but I actually saved £5 and contributed to my account's loyalty meter thing, what I don't get is how I'm saving £5+ for buying something physical. How the fuck does this work? Since when does data cost more than all the materials used in making the case, handbook, disc etc and the shipping? THE INTERNET IS TAKING OVER, THE END IS NIGH.

Pretty straightforward really. It's not that data costs more, it's that if they don't sell the box, making it was a complete waste of money. So, they have more incentive to get you to buy, so they make it cheaper.

 

[Misterian]

Something tells me I have another reason to be happy that I'm a Console Player.

 

[aashell13]

huh. i guess that's one way to keep people from cracking physical copies prior to release.
kinda a dick move though, if true.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

I checked my copy of Half-Life 2 *and* my copy of Left 4 Dead, and both have honest-to-God data on the disc. The idea that the DVD of the game only packs a Steam executable is absolutely laughable.

I'm fairly sure all of the game files are on the disc, but its contents are simply encrypted in such a way as to make viewing its contents in the Windows Explorer impossible. That's a rather common practice, as a lot of the discs I have falsely register as being empty when I look at their properties. Yet an autorun pops up, I can install the game or play the movie, etc.

So no worries, guys. I'm fairly sure the OP checked a little too fast. I think it's fair to say this is one of those "pics or it didn't happen" moments. I'd like to see a screencap of the purportedly empty architecture of the Skyrim DVD...

 

[llubtoille]

Well frak. If true, this is really going to upset a friend of mine in NZ. They have a download cap, and Skyrim would chew hers up like a pack of wolves on a steak.

srsly, my cap's 20gb /mth, and it's by no means the cheapest / smallest option.
a while back I bought the portal 1 & 2 combo off steam, portal 1 was 5gb, that was fine,
portal 2 was ~13gb XD
that took some co-ordination and patience to download.

looks like it's only ~5-6gb tho, which isn't to bad.

 

[Move127]

If I remember correctly I first ran into this problem a couple years ago with Empire Total War.

 

[Omnific One]

That's obviously not true.

 

[Zeh Don]

My bullshit detector is spiking.

 

[captaincabbage]

Fuck guys, I really feel for my PC gaming bretheren at the moment.

Honestly, what a cheap piece of dick that is. The whole reason you buy a disc copy instead of a copy off of steam is so you can play straight away, especially if you don't have super-fast internet.
Actually, now I think of it, I'm pretty glad I'm getting the PS3 copy. I was kinda split about it, since I really love mods and such, but I really wanted the trophies and controller. Besides, I doubt my PC could even run it, not to mention I'm still kickin' 3rd party ADSL1, which feels like fucking dial-up a lot of the time, so there's that.

Don't worry guys, I shall enchant a rusty iron dagger and name it "PC Skyrim Players" for you.
no, seriously, I will do that and I'll post it to Facebook when I get to it, I promise.

 

[brunothepig]

This is not true, I've got the Skyrim DVD as well, and it has data on it, it just won't let you install it untill 11-11-11 (it checks with Steam though, but you won't have to download it, well, maybe you'll have to download a patch ).

Ok OP, maybe you can stop alarming the nice people. I'm willing to give your friend the benefit of doubt, maybe he got redirected to Steam if Steam is doing it's pre-loading thing, and misunderstood. Or maybe he's lying. Either way, I feel like this would be news or something, somewhere. And a poor business move.

 

[SteewpidZombie]

So...technically I SHOULD just download it from STEAM unless I get a console copy like I originally planned (not sarcasm, I seriously just wanted to know if getting a physical copy for computer was worth it...obviously not)

 

[William Dickbringer]

Console gaming for da win! BAD FORUMITE!

OT: But seriously, that sucks. The Steam servers are going to be very busy come 11/11/11.

No, the servers are busy right now because people can start pre-loading Skyrim as of about an hour ago.

wait...WHAT!?! *checks steam* well holy shit it is I know what is gonna be going on all day tomorrow while away

 

[ACman]

I wonder how long until somebody has a working crack for the GCFs and this will have been a waste of time.

 

[DRes82]

Its just not true. All the copies at gamestop have many gigabytes of data on the disks.

Your friend is lying to you.

 

[dessertmonkeyjk]

Did you double-check it? Actually, how did you get one ahead of time? Review copy? Pre-order?

Why are you hogging all the dragon kills? Leave some for us. :3

 

[zehydra]

Not that big of a deal for me, since I buy most of my games off steam anyway.

 

[Rodrigo Girao]

If it were true, I'd return the discs immediately. Any form of online activation is unacceptable, but this is just a sick joke.

 

[BLAHwhatever]

This is not true, I've got the Skyrim DVD as well, and it has data on it, it just won't let you install it untill 11-11-11 (it checks with Steam though, but you won't have to download it, well, maybe you'll have to download a patch ).

Please god, let that be the truth!
My internet access also has a downloadlimit (connected via University network)
This would be the sole reason for me not to buy skyrim, of all the reasons that could have kept me from buying it only this one would be it.
Can't spend a week without internet after downloading the ame, just cant

 

[skullduggery]

Holy shit people, don't believe everything you read.

They got a physical copy *before* game release. How? What does your "friend" do to get this? How could you download it before release, even if that was true? Why would Bethsoft send you a completely worthless DVD?

I call shenanigans on this.

 

[LookingGlass]

If that's true it's absolutely disgraceful.

Cynical as I am though, I can't imagine it being true. It would suck for both Valve (so much more bandwidth being used that necessary) and the users, and they have to produce a disc anyway... so it doesn't even save Bethesda that much effort.