Alter Ego Released

Viva Media has released Alter Ego in North America. Alter Ego will soon be available for purchase at retailers.

About the game Here

Trailer

hatshepsut

I'm curious to hear people's thoughts on this game. It looks like a buy at first glance. Anybody played it yet?

I don't know of anyone who has played the game yet. I did play the German demo and the gameplay was good. I am looking forward to getting a copy of the game

hatshepsut

I just checked the brick & mortar stores' websites in our area - best buy, GameStop, & walmart to see if they had any copies of Alter Ego in, but the only listing I got was of a jewelcase featuring a B & W photo of some African American man's face on it. Also, how much is that game on the shelf - to the tune of how much is that doggy in the window?

EDIT - Turns out I'm getting this game after all!

It usually takes a little while after a games release to reach the retail stores. Alter Ego retails for $29.95 and comes in a retail box from VIVA MEDIA


Not to be confused with a 1986 life simulation game of the same name.

hatshepsut

As I understand it, some are having problems getting the game to run (crashes, bsod's, black screens , etc) . There also seem to be conflicts on what the minimum system requirements are .

I've checked again, & the system requirements , according to two different web sites, are the same , more or less . I posted in a different thread about AE's requirements . The only thing different I found on another reputable web site , was that the AMD processor required was one step down . Viva Media's web site does not list any system requirements for Alter Ego , or any other game they have, for that matter .

Gamespot trashed the game . That's not too surprising, since they don't like adventure games in the first place .

I'll post the Alter Ego system requirements I've found , so they can be compared .

Part 1 :

Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor : Intel Pentium IV at 2.5 GHz / AMD Athlon XP 2600+
Video Card : 128 MB VRAM – NVIDIA Geforce 6600 / ATI Radeon 9600 or better
Memory : 1 GB RAM
Hard Disk : 3 GB of free Hard Drive space
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Direct X : 9.0c
Controls : Keyboard & Mouse
Installation : DVD-ROM Drive



Part 2 :

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 @ 2.5 GHz / AMD Athlon XP 2500+
Memory: 1 Gb
Hard Drive: 3 Gb free
Video Memory: 128 Mb
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 6600 / ATI Radeon 9600
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: 9.0c
Keyboard
Mouse
DVD Rom Drive

I'm not surprised at Gamespots trashing the game either. If they ever gave an adventure game a good review the paramedics would have to be called out to revive me.

Yes it does look like some are having problems with the game. I did see from another source on a website that if the demo played on your computer that the game would play.
I'm going to do some checking.

hatshepsut

I've just installed the demo . I had to run the demo under Xp compatibility mode, but no problems other than that . The graphics look very nice ! It may be that, those who are having problems with getting the game to run, may not have adequate memory, or video cards .

I sometimes wonder how an adventure gamer could take anything that Gamespot says , with any seriousness . If they ever did give an adventure game a favorable review, I would wonder if they've raided their parents' liquor cabinets .

Viva Media used SecROM 7.42 001 on the English version of Alter Ego. That seems to be what is causing problems for some people to get the game running. The indicator of whether the game will run on your computer or not seems to be whether or not the demo plays on your computer.

Of those who have played the game most seem to have liked it.

Here's a review at GiN who gives it 4 1/2 gems out of 5 GiN

hatshepsut

hatshepsut wrote:

Viva Media used SecROM 7.42 001 on the English version of Alter Ego. That seems to be what is causing problems for some people to get the game running. The indicator of whether the game will run on your computer or not seems to be whether or not the demo plays on your computer.

Of those who have played the game most seem to have liked it.

Here's a review at GiN who gives it 4 1/2 gems out of 5 GiN

hatshepsut

Silly drm garbage !! In light of this info Hats, I'm kind of surprised the game will run at all . SecuRom is well known to cause problems with games and computers, in some situations, people have had to re-install Windows . In a way , it's like Starforce all over again ! I digress though . I would still like to get hold of the game . Based on the demo, it should be fun !!

Pointers, I think we should call this DRM trash "Developer's Rights Mindsets", hmmm?

I couldn't agree with you more Faust. And the really sad and irritating thing about is that the pirates will have it cracked, hacked, played and pirated before the legitimate players can even get it installed.

I am still going to get a copy because it does look like a fun game.

hatshepsut

May I have a link to the downloadable demo, please? I'd like to use it to find out if Alter Ego will run ok on my PC - does it matter if I play the German demo or the US/English Demo?

The demo can be downloaded : Here


What the game companies fail to understand, by accident or design, is that drm does nothing to stop piracy , & only serves to hurt those that want a legit copy of a game. Personal feelings aside,I would , & will eventually, purchase Alter Ego . How much does it cost Hats ?

Like you said Faust their drm efforts have done nothing to stop piracy and have only caused problems for legitimate buyers.

The retail price for Alter Ego is $29.95


K515 at this time the German demo is the only demo available

hatshepsut

hatshepsut wrote:

K515 at this time the German demo is the only demo available

Link, please?

edit - found the demo in discussions at gb - am d/l it.

K515 a direct link to the download for the demo of Alter Ego was provided in the Alter Ego thread. Another link to the demo was provided in the Alter Ego is Coming thread. And Faust provided the link to the demo for you when you asked for the link.

Thank you Faust for providing the link.

hatshepsut

No worries !!!!!!!

Thanks - but I missed Faust's link. Slipped past my eyes.

Not a problem ! That sort of thing happens from time to time .

I've been reading here and there about the DRM (SecurROM) being a problem for players of Alter Ego. Given the bad to average reviews the game itself is getting, invasive DRM could be the final straw for a lot of people. Have I mentioned before how much I dislike SecurROM? It's literally caused me big problems with around 50% of the games I've tried to play that use it. It also really messed with my PC one time to the point I had to do a re-install of Windows to get things working right again. I think it may have screwed up my current PC also.

FYI

I am about half way through this game and have not had one problem. Just thought you should know.

Thank you GreyFuss I am glad to hear that Alter Ego is playing without problem.

hatshepsut

Personal feelings about drm aside, although I don't have the full game , the demo ran without trouble on my setup .

I've read that they put copy protection on the demos now to keep the cracking groups from using the demo to make NoCDs or NoDVDs (and maybe slow them down by a day or two). So the demo probably has SecuROM on it too. Since the demo doesn't use a DVD, trying it out probably won't check for DVD drive compatibility. But it may check the possibility that SecuROM has blacklisted a program on your computer.

You could try setting a restore point before trying the demo, but I've also read that SecuROM can mess up System Restore. It seems like playing a SecuROM game is gambling with your PC's health.