Pass. I'm surprised I still have an Impulse account given the hatred they spew at me on twtter.

Well, I don't know what to expect form Impulse. Might get better, might stay the same...

But now I do hope Stardock puts their games for sale elsewhere. I'm interested in some of them, but not enough to join Impulse.

Thats the part that bugs me. You get no physical media with a digital purchase yet your paying like you just bought the game boxed, with dvd's and manual. I dont know..when DD first started was supposed to be cheaper then retail because publishers didnt have to spend the money to box it and all that bullshit...not exactly sure why digital is so goddamn expensive.

Oof, this is bad news. Hope GG and GoG continue as they are----Gamestop had a less than stellar rep of ethical/legal woes and I've generally not dealt with them much over the years and certainly only in a cash manner---too many wary tales to get in card and CC territory with them.

It'd be swell if the Elemental updates continue as they should for pre-order folk and whatnot, otherwise the lot of us got burned pretty thoroughly indeed.

I don't think you should be cheering for the death of competition. If you don't like it, don't use it, but competition is great for consumers.

There is plenty of competition. Steam, D2D, GamersGate, GreenManGaming, GetGames, DotEmu, GOG, Beamdog. And they are just the ones I use. Impulse used a business model that was born in the 20th century. Prioritise one market. We live in the 21st century and to be a success you need to have a global strategy. Impulse died because they not only didn't attempt to attract customers outside the US but they repeatedly insulted them and made it clear they didn't want their custom.

Again, Delixe just seems to be like a really bitter person. I haven't read anywhere that Impulse has "collapsed", and it doesn't seem like it is going away either.

Considering that Impulse as it was under Stardock wasn't a viable DD service (highest prices + most games not available) for Europeans (and probably the RTW as well), it can only get better for us under Gamestop.
Therefore for us, it's either business as usual (likely) or more competition (less likely but not impossible). Either way it's not something to cry over.

I take that back, bitter and dense. Do you have idea how digital distribution works, along with contracts and regional distribution? That's rhetorical, because I know you don't judging by your last post.

You seem to think there is some conspiracy again selling to you "wankers".

The last time I had any dealings with Gamestop it was to pre-order Mirror's Edge on the PS3. They specifically advertised bonus items as part of the pre-order, but then never sent them. When later asked why they didn't send the items, they said the items were only for North American customers, but never made any such indication of that on their store page.

So hey, they're a fucking good match for Impulse, they too like screwing over non-NA customers. =)

I agree with that for the most part, but there are exceptions. There's the competition in the world of video games that has companies pay for permanent or temporary exclusives, denying players games from publishers which usually make their offerings available to all. There's also having to purchase all of the consoles if you want to play all the good games available, and that gets worse the most crowded or competitive the market gets. I don't care for these forms of competition.

...but you're referring to the driving down of costs due to price competition and the ability to choose a different store if you don't like what they're doing at a certain chain, and in that I can entirely agree.

Of course there was no "conspiracy".
Stardock probably had sound economic reasons for trying to focus exclusively on the North American market. That doesn't change the fact that it was by far the worst DD service for potential customers living outside of NA.
So excuse us if we don't cry over its change of hands.

So explain then how all the other services can sell certain publisher games cheaper and other publisher games worldwide, while Impulse either charge far more per region or restrict said titles?

Impulse claimed it was due to the publishers, but if that were the case, all other sites would display the exact same behaviour for those same titles. Yet it's only Impulse who act that way. That's no conspiracy, that's a clear sign of one of two things:

1 - Impulse couldn't give a shit about non-NA customers
2 - Impulse's skills at securing non-NA contracts is utter crap

Both would be fully acceptable if it wasn't also for the fact that Impulse out right lie about working to get such affected titles prices lowered/restrictions lifted.

Carry on defending their actions all you want, it won't change the fact that they are both bad at their chosen business and quite happy to lie about why.

Actually I like competition, more competition is always a good thing for consumers. What I don't like is companies like Stardock who openly lie to customers. Like I said Wardell himself chimed in on twitter to say Stardock price their games the same regardless of region, I brought up the extortionate price of €74.99 for Elemental pre-order LE in Europe. No reply and there wont be one.

Yes I have had my issues with Stardock in the past and yes there is some Schadenfreude here but the obvious point here is that Stardock tried a DD service focused on America and it failed because you cant sustain a business with only one market.
Pretty much what I expect from Stardock fanboys. Yes go on and insult me, that's what Stardock did.