Hyperballoid Golden Pack v Alawars version - regarding cost

Joined: 02 Sep 2008 Posts: 2

I purchased virtually all of the expansion packs for the Hyperballoid game. I don't regret it as I did get a lot of pleasure out of the game, but after the Christmas level pack I started to think that the game was getting stale. There was no new music (though that's since been rectified) nor was there any new power ups introduced. The game play remained the same despite there now being around a thousand levels to play. It cost me $160+ because I bought most of the expansion packs as and when they were released.

Now I discover that elsewhere (that is anywhere else other than Alawar) you can get the game in the form of a Golden pack which includes every expansion pack available apart from the two free levels plus it has another level that's not been released here at Alawar. Guess what... the Golden Pack only costs $19.99 So why on earth is Alawar still selling all the expansion packs separately to it's loyal customers. I do think that it's very un-ethical and almost criminal to do such a thing.

With respect to the free packs; there is a way around getting them to work in the Golden Pack. You first have to install the demo from Alawar, and then install both the free packs. Go into the games folder and extract the .dat files for the two free packs and then add them to the Golden pack. You will then see the two free packs show up when you scroll through all the expansion packs. Amazingly you can do the same the other way around. That is take a copy of all the .dat files from the Golden pack demo and paste them into the Alawar version. So long as you've paid for the original Hyperballoid, all the expansion packs work (i.e. the ones you've copied over from the golden pack demo)

In fairness to the Alawar community, I do hope that this post is allowed to remain. It main contain material that some think should not be published., but think … is it fair that these expansion packs are still being sold when elsewhere they are included free with the original game that’s had a title change only. It really doesn’t make any odds to me though as I did pay for all my expansion packs.

I did then buy the Golden pack becaue I still gained as I'd not purchased the last three expansion packs plus the one that's not available, which from Alawars point of view would cost $50. I got the game for $19.99. I didn't realize at the time though that I could just copy the dat files over from the demo to my Alawar Version.