Same problem here, program crashes to desktop at 3rd loading screen. The same thing happened with the demo version. I stupidly bought the game anyway thinking it was a problem with the demo.
My system:
Intel Core Duo E8400 3 GHz
2G RAM
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS
Running Windows XP SP3 2002
Directx, physx, drivers and Visual C all updated per the first aid instructions. Removed and reinstalled many times, with and without antivirus SW.
After perusing the message boards, this is a common problem and I wonder if it's related to a specific HW configuration? Anybody with something else than an Nvidia card having this problem (for example)?
I haven't had this kind of problem with any other game...just finished Dragon Age at high resolution and it ran great. At this point I won't buy any more games from these guys...what a rip off.
