Can someone please explain to me about the previous post that mentioned a LEGAL digital release of the game (English)? Can we in North America purchased those instead of waiting until February next year for Mamba to release?

I supposed this, too, means that only German review sites will have a review of this game, possibly for months before any English review will appear.

I thought there was an option for a digital download of the game available from Amazon Germany, but apparently there is not. Thus far I haven't seen anywhere where you can purchase the game as a download.

Marian, I was able to download the game from Gamer Unlimited today. It's a large file (around 6 GB), and took a few hours to download. Yes, you can choose English or German in the setup while installing. It is pricey- I paid 39.95 euros, or $56. I was able to pay by Paypal.


http://gamerunlimited.gamesplanet.com/kaufen-downloaden-pc-spiele/Gray-Matter-2194-14.html

Thank you, Ewil02, and welcome to Gameboomers!

Thanks, Marian. Love this site. Everyone's great.

Be sure to let us know what you think of Gray Matter. I'm sure many will be very happy for the link to Gamer Unlimited; that was a great sleuthing job on your part!

Welcome to GB Ewil02
Richard

Wow $56 for a download. Not for me, I can't imagine handing over that amount of bread for a download. like kjos I paid my $23 to lace mamba. I am not thrilled about having to wait until March to see it but at least I will have something solid for a fair price.

It is like Lost Horizon,a great game that required a wait. But now that I played it, it is over. The same will be true with this game and all too soon it will be sitting on the shelf next to Lost Horizon. I still maintain that downloads should be half the price or less than the hard copy. To each their own, enjoy.

Wow is right. Make that Wow! $56 is just insane, especially for a download.

Frankly, I doubt this game will ever sit on my shelf next to Lost Horizon. Sins of the Fathers was a fantastic game. The Beast Within was a very good game but not as good as the first GK in my opinion. And I did not like GK 3 at all, not the awful 3D, the dreadful controls, the way you were plunged into the story without a clue as to what was going on, the constant hopping back and forth to Sidney, the way Ms. Jensen couldn't seem to figure out if Gabriel had grown up or not, or the resolution of the story.

IMO, the trend in her games was down and I don't understand why almost everyone is so certain that Gray Matter is going to be a masterpiece. Anyway, the trailer, with its seriously odd, comic book graphics, doesn't make me think that this is the game everyone is expecting.

If you don't care about graphics, if you don't think that this game which is so much newer than Syberia, which really is a visual delight, should offer something better than it does in that line, that may not matter. But I do and what I've seen so far isn't good.

Ms. Jensen's strength (at least in the first two GKs) seems to be her ability to tell a story. I hope she's still got that going for her and that she doesn't turn those magic tricks into a new version of the (to me) very annoying Sidney.

Gil.

The way I look at it, $56 is a lot for any game. But people don't hesitate to pay $50 for an FPS or RPG game (Black Ops came out last week for $59.95 in box or download). Granted, the graphics are much better in those games, but I'll take a good adventure any day with a good storyline over an FPS. And the adventure game will be savored and used again, unlike the other games, which are generally the first to be deleted off my PC.

Whether or not Ms Jensen's game is a great game is still to be decided, I suppose. But, all things considered, I'm like everyone else who didn't want to wait til March to see what her latest game has to offer.

I've also read that Gray Matter utilizes a points system reminiscent of some of the old Sierra games in which you could finish the game and not have the total points possible. That sounds like "replay value" to me.

I see that $56 price tag as high, sure, but I remember paying $50 plus for the newest Infocom game back in the 1980s; and part of this $56 price is paying for the privilege of playing the game months earlier than was expected. While I probably won't go the $56 download route, I will certainly understand those who choose to do so.

Thank you Ewil02! Good to know where we can download it.

***Google translation of a German review***

If the direct link doesn't work, go to
http://translate.google.com
type
http://www.gamers.at/articles/gray_matter-903/
in the box, and set it to translate from German to English.
The review has 3 pages.

Has anyone downloaded yet who could provide a translation for the download process? Is it difficult for a non-German speaker to figure out how to pay and download?

Becky, I found it fairly self-explanatory:

Click on the orange 'download' button.
Click on the orange 'zur kasse' button to go to checkout.
#1-Gray Matter is in the cart-can delete by hitting the 'X'.
#2-need to register a new account- fill in email, confirm email, password, confirm password, input a nickname.
Leave the 'Diese Bestellung ist ein Geschenk' unchecked unless it's a gift.
#3-payment-I just pressed Paypal, but you can fill out the credit card info here- card number, expiry month/year, verification code from back, card holder name, address, PLZ- postal code, Land-if US, select Vereinigte Staaten.

Make sure you check the 'ich stimme den Allgemeinen' (accept the trade conditions), then hit Bestellung bestatigen.
For Paypal, I was taken to the Paypal checkout screen, filled out my password, and hit a confirmation button.

You are then taken to a confirmation screen and should receive an email. Since this is a Metaboli site, you can download using their download manager, or click on the 4 buttons to download each file manually, which is what I did. If you download them manually, make sure they are downloaded to the same folder, then double click on the setup file, and you should be good to go. The email has your serial # to unlock the game.

Thank you Ewil02!

Thanks for the information, Ewil02. Unfortunately, it is too pricey for me. If it was the disk version, I might do it, but I think, sadly, I will have to wait for the February release.

Unlike traveler, I found all three Gabriel Knights outstanding, the second one especially, so I am pretty confident I will love Gray Matter. On the other hand, I can't afford to pay seventy dollars to import it right now, and I'd only purchase a download to tide me over if it were less expensive.


Does anyone know if Interact will receive copies of Gray Matter for its English release?

I emailed Dave about it, and he's having trouble finding someone who could import it for him. He said he'd keep trying but we may have to wait until 2011.

Hi, Gil!

I'm laughing at your comment that paying $56 for a game is insane because I paid $64.99 Cdn. (plus tax) at "Electronics Boutique" for GK3 in whatever year it was first released. Those oversized boxes must have been super expensive to produce because, once the box size shrunk, so did the price !

I'm surprised you didn't like GK3 and appear to be only lukewarm on GK2 because that series is one of my favorites. I agree that Jane Jensen's strength is her storytelling, and I felt she accomplished that in all 3 GK games.

Susan

I paid $60 for the 7th Guest, and had to buy a new video card too. I loved all the GK games.

I paid $60 for "Schizm" on DVD when I was a young Adventurer. Had to walk through 4 feet of snow on an empty stomach to get it too. You youngsters have it easy with your fancy high speed internet. Now you just have to click a download button. Did I mention there was a blizzard too?

Hi, connie!

I'm sure I paid at least $60 for "The 7th Guest" because games were always more expensive here in Canada. I bought my first CD-ROM drive to play "Myst", and I'm probably the only person in the world who didn't enjoy it . I had to buy a video accelerator card to play KQ8 because my video card was a chipset soldered onto my motherboard and didn't meet the specs. After that, any new computer I bought had a standalone video card.

Susan

Hehehe, I'm sticking by "insane", Susan. The way the economy is now, I'm beginning to tremble at 30 bucks.

But seriously, $56 for a download with DRM but no box or plastic spiders? Nah, that's just not right.

Gil.

to Mordack:
I know which store you mean, you also forgot to mention it was "Uphill both ways"

Hi, Gil!

I agree that $56 today is insane when most games sell for $19.99, even here in Canada. It's even worse when it's not a boxed copy. However, 15 or 20 years ago, $56 would have been a bargain because I just checked some of my old game boxes and I paid $67.99 for KQ8. I downloaded "Black Mirror 2" and it cost me $31.67. Unfortunately, I didn't think it was worth it.

As much as I love Jane Jensen and would buy any game she was involved with sight unseen, I'll wait until "Gray Matter" is available at a more reasonable price.

Susan