With some credit, I'm getting both Alice 1 and 2 for a total of $30 from Amazon. I'll give it a shot. The atmosphere looks amazing...

The game looks great but now I'm realizing duke comes out the same week. I think I'll have more fun with duke than alice. Plus It seems like alice will price drop fast. I just hope they still have copies with the original alice a few months from now.

This is my concern. I think it will price drop fairly quick as well, but I really want a 2-fer and not just the new one. For years now, I have heard about how great the original was and darn it I want to give it a try (without a pc)

So the only way to get the original is from the download store?

It's not part of the retail (aka Amazon) version?

It has to be on the disc, because part of the 1000 points of achievements INCLUDE ones for the original game.

Really? In that case there's no way that the original game would be a limited-time bonus, right?

One would think. But there are certainly other games out there that screw somebody out of a possible achievement by not allowing access to one part of the material after a specified amount of time. MLB 2k11 has an achievement that you have to play on the day of the all-star game. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 just got rid of their dlc not too long ago that opened the way to several achievements due to rights. I can certainly see Alice being a snafu in some other fashion.

I might have to get this just for the original game, which I haven't played since I was a kid.

Also, I've always thought American McGee is one of the dumbest possible names a person could choose.

It is exclusive to the EA Store, and you can tell which one it is because it's called Alice: Madness Returns - The Complete Collection. And from what I can tell, yes, you have to download all of it. They sell a physical copy of just the new game, but when you add the collection to your cart, you only get the choice of digital delivery.

See for yourself: http://store.origin.com/store/ea/search/?keywords=alice

L.A. Noire includes base achievements that are only possible with the DLC.

Nuh uh! It shipped with 2 DLC packs available. Disc is still 1000g.

"Alice: Madness Returns, shipping on June 14, will include a one-time-use Online Pass registration code that gives players access to the original cult-classic American McGee’s Alice. Players that do not have the code can purchase American McGee’s Alice for 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace and $9.99 on the PlayStation®Network through the main menu of Alice: Madness Returns with the Alice: Madness Returns disc in the console. This download for the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system marks the console debut for the infamous PC hit."

Certainly there are other retail games that require the use of the online pass to get to a full 1000 G, but there aren't any games afaik that require use of limited or store-exclusive content to reach the 1000 G mark. So I have to assume that the original Alice is this game's "project $10" item to keep people from buying used copies, but it seems unlikely to be a limited time thing if the original Alice was indeed part of the 1000 G.

Yeah, it does sound like a part of the product as long as you buy it new. I wonder if for those of us who rather just play the original and be done with it, if we can just buy it through Marketplace/Network without having the Alice 2 game disc. It will certainly look odd on the achievements part, but those who are willing to look past the sequel might not care.

I rented this tonight from BBV, with the reviews I figure it is only probably worth a rental. Bonus too, they as they always do left the dlc in the case. As far as I'm concerned if they cared about it they would have taken it out of the box. The dlc codes are just sitting in the empty cases on the shelf, so I figure they could care less about them.

You DO need the disc to play it, just editing this.

Have u played either the new or the original? Curious how the new plays and Wondering if the original is worth the $10...

I played the original a lot back in the day and loved it. Haven't had a chance with the new one yet, but I would honestly say that the original in my opinion is worth the 10 bucks.

Let me edit

YOU DO NEED THE DISC TO PLAY THE ADDON. IT DOWNLOADS FROM PSN, BUT YOU CAN'T START IT WITHOUT LOADING UP THE NEW GAME.

Sorry for caps, want to make that clear in light of my last post, don't waste 10 bucks on it unless you bought the game used.

I don't think the actual download from the psn store says you need the disc. It says "Use your code from your new copy of Alice Madness begins or buy it now on psn to play the original"

They are going to have some mighty pissed off people if it doesn't actually say that you need the disc to play it.

Does it say u need the disc? I can't understand why psn or xbl would sell it separately and not have a disclaimer as there is none on xbl page...

I don't think it does, but after I installed it there was no way to play the game, it was not in my list of psn games. I'm installing the new game now to make sure that this is the case.

Update

There is no way to start the game outside of starting Madness within and selecting "Play American Mcgees Alice" from the menu, there is no icon to start the game outside of that. I also looked at the psn download, and while it says addon, it does not say that you need the disc. It just says to either buy it or get it free from your online key that comes with Madness Returns to play the original game that started it all

So watch out guys, and wait for the fallout from people buying it and not being able to play it because they didn't have that listed in the description.

I wonder if it's just the free copy keys from the game that needs to be started in game and if you buy it you can play it without. Anyone brave enough to try?

You need the disc to start it every time? If so, that's kind of shitty on the PS3. I understand the intent here - they want to make sure people don't just sell off their copies after getting access to the original. And if the game won't fit on the same DVD in the 360 version, it would have to be downloaded.

But on the PS3, they have a BD-ROM, so there was more than enough space to just include the original, even if it needed a code to unlock. The way they did it, the game takes up hard drive space, yet you don't get the convenience of starting it without a disc.

omg I LOVED the orginal Alice! Possibly my favorite game. The music alone was worth it. Any one know about any NIN involvelment like the last?

On PS3, the original Alice downloads as an Add-On, not as a game. You need to be in the game to play it.

Okay, but the point is, you shouldn't have to download anything other than a key to unlock it, because there was plenty of room on the disc.

The soundtrack is by Chris Vrenna, formerly of NIN.

Bought the PC version from Amazon. Doesn't look like there's any code to download the original version