Topic: Amazon Announces Cloudfront

[Xessive]

Amazon is getting its foot in the Direct Download game market with Cloudfront. Here’s the information direct from Amazon itself:

How fast is the new download experience?
Delivery via Amazon CloudFront allows you to download video games as quickly as your broadband connection allows. Customers using a high speed, broadband internet can see up to an 8x increase in download speed. Customers using slower connections likely won’t notice a difference.

CloudFront is Amazon’s premier content delivery network. Content delivery networks are optimized for delivering large chunks of data to end users. This same architecture is used to deliver streaming movies to your home. Delivery is optimized by caching content in data centers around the US and then directing your computer to download from the server closest to you. This service scales seamlessly when download volume increases eliminating slower download speeds during peak periods and promotions.

How is the process easier?

Along with faster download speeds, Amazon has given you an extremely lightweight download experience for core games, which leaves you with just the product and no permanent downloader, reducing the steps from purchase to play.

In response to customer feedback, other new features include the ability to monitor and control your download experience. You can now pause downloads so you can do other things (like stream a movie) or stop downloads when your computer goes to sleep or shuts down, resuming later where you left off.

The Amazon Game Downloads store features:

• Over 2,000 PC and Mac games including both Core and Casual games, with new titles added each week.
• Free trials for over 1,000 games, allowing customers to download and play for 30 minutes for free before buying.
• Playstation Network, XBOX Live, Nintendo, and PC digital redemption codes for points, subscriptions, games, and DLC.
• Unlimited downloads, customers can re-download their games at any time using Your Games & Software Library

Interesting and an inevitable decision for Amazon as a digital distributor.

[MysterD]

Interesting.

I bought AC:BH (PC) the other day from Amazon download service - and the game actually had its own mini-downloader file.
Yeah, their game service is acting more like their MP3 download service now.
So, I saved that file, ran it.
Then, it began a DL of the game.
When it was done, it unzipped the whole installer folder [w/ all the installer files in it] to My Desktop - which is obviously what you'd want to back-up to disc, another HDD, or whatever.
I gotta' see if I can force it to DL the installer where I WANT IT TO.

What Amazon used to do - you'd have to tell Amazon to download whatever game [which is asked to you right after purchase, or you can going through your Amazon account in your Game & Software Library section at anytime], then it'd open-up the Amazon Download program.
{If you didn't have Amazon DL program, you'd be given the option to DL it, then install it}
What was nice w/ the Amazon DL'er - you could set in its Settings, where you wanted installer folder/files to be saved to.

Amazon has always had a decent game download service. Very simple and easy to use.