Nah, EA customer support was pretty helpful couple years ago. It got far worse recently.

And yeah, I believe they introduced this new "policy" to answer with only standard formulas. Mostly because people were contacting support with claims like "but my friend also send you support ticket and got this and that".

This dude from support didn't even try to address my ticket, just copy-pasted the standard formula.

IIRC in Germany The First Decade was released for 50 Euros but I also recall buying another copy (after my first one was actually fragged by my old DVD drive) in Poland for 100 zlotys (25 Euros) soon after. The price for the new collection doesn't seem to differ from the one that The First Decade was available for, so chances are that also the "Ultimate Collection" will be available at a lower price in Eastern European retail stores.

Retail version is US only. There won't be any retail versions of C&C: Ultimate Col outside US. Retail version is avaible only on amazon.com or wallmart, nothing is said about european stores.

Well, if european version arrives, in EU it will be just a box with a code inside. Not really retail.

And it's already approx 33$ in Polish origin.

btw this from FAQ I think already answer the question about Win7 patches for previous owners :D

If I already own some or all of these games, what's new about these?
The 17 titles have been updated to work for Windows 7 and Windows Vista. In addition, since they are now playable via Origin, you will be able to utilize many of the Origin features such as cloud saves.

(in short: Fuck you, previous owners! In the ass!)

Yeah, just noticed. But well, 100 złotys is the exact same amount of money I paid for TFD so I can't complain. What's pissing me off, though, is that I can't get the soundtrack CD in Polish retail. I mean, I actually got the limited edition of Bioshock 2, including the soundtrack both on a CD and VINYL RECORD (!) in Polish retail for 160 zł - that's less than German players had to pay for the regular edition. If 2K Games pulled that off, how does EA dare not to give us a lousy box with a serial code and a soundtrack CD?

But on the other hand - who knows, that EA doesn't distribute the box with the CD in Europe doesn't mean that say a Polish distributor couldn't sign a deal with EA sooner or later to sell their own box including the soundtrack and maybe other goodies not included in the American release. Stuff like this has happened before.

True. But in Poland it's EA that distributes EA games. If they do, it will be nothing more than a code to activate on Origin, just like they did with Kane's Wrath.

I bought first decade when it went to EA Classics for $12,50. Now they are telling me that I have to buy it again for $33 if I want Windows 7 compability. (I have all games except C&C 3 and .. 4)

Also, as I said again, there is a fan patch 1.03 for First Decade. The patch includes for example many additional missions (for example taken from PSX versions or made by Westwood) this "Ultimate Collection" will probably lack.

I am not going to pay for this in this life...

Why do companies look for ways to screw up what should be an easy homerun?

No DVD and US only content. I don't mind needing Origin but come on, dvd's would cost next to nothing. Music and especially artwork being US only is icing on the cake for thus utter stupidity. All while expecting other countries to pay the same price for less content.

EA, I'm done defending you when it comes to non GOG releases

Kane's wrath ain't standalone! It's been bugging me for days now, but it's too small of an issue for me to actually be arsed to check. But now I got into mood for some global conquest, and kane's wrath can't be launched without CnC 3 installed. Ha! Ha!

Unless you have it on Steam, in which case you can install Kane's Wrath standalone (though you still need to own CnC3 on steam to buy Kane's wrath)

Yes, it's even standalone retail - it's got it's own directory, files, it's completely independent. Yet, you need CnC 3 installed to run it for whatever arbitrary reason.

Well, I didn't remember it correctly at the moment, but now looking at the retail box of the expansion, there is a big red box that says it requires the base game to play it.

That should teach me to actually look at the box instead of just trying to remember it before saying something.

hehe, I wasn't trying to 'get back at you' or anything, I was just sure it required CnC 3. Then again, it's a pretty arbitrary requirement, it doesn't actually use any of it's assets.

For me it is the music that compels me. :) I did find some stuff back in the day, here at emusic.com

http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/artist/frank-klepacki/11624227/:

Frank Klepacki was the music guy at the time, picked up C&C Red Alert 2 and Renegade soundtracks for $6 each, and they have EA Soundtrax Vol. 2 as well there. It is all VBR mp3, no lossless stuff, but hey $12 < $50 right? :)

Links from his site also point to iTunes for more VG albums. So, depending on content it may make more sense to grab the tunes elsewhere.

http://www.frankklepacki.com/listen.html

I don't normally bother with Physical CDs or collectors editions these days but at the right price (not paying $50 for a ton of games I've purchased before) I would love to display this on a shelf purely for the sentimental value as much as anything.