The generous promotion give-away during the Dungeon Sieg Sweepstakes by Microsoft and the games developer Gas Powered Games seems to turn out as a boomerang for the "lucky" winners. The official announcement as well as the winning confirmation email gave the impression that winners will receive a copy being identical to the retail version just a bit earlier than other gamers: This sneak preview copy of Dungeon Siege is the full version, complete with limited edition CD artwork. [Quote from the announcement] The sneak preview is not a limited-play version, but the complete game, so you'll be able to fully explore every feature this amazing upcoming title has to offer. [...]
To answer your question as to why we are waiting until March 11 to start production - we wanted to ensure that this sneak preview version meets all of the same high quality standards as the shipping product. [Quote from the winning confirmation email] But confusion was lit by a post in the official sweepstakes forums @ PlanetDungeonSiege where Darren Baker of Gas Powered Games posted the following: This prerelease version will allow players to experience the entire single player and multiplayer worlds and be able to join network games with other contest winners for cooperative or competitive play. We have received numerous requests asking if the prerelease build will be compatible with the final game. The game will change as we finish development and this prerelease build will not be compatible with the final release build of Dungeon Siege. Pre-release built? It seems to turn out that winners will receive a non compatible, not patchable built. Bad luck...

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