Can we talk about preordering games - and how stupid this new trend is?

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Daggah

2[H]4U
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Am I the only one that feels this way? So many of us who buy games are now pre-paying for titles based solely on the publisher's ability to hype it up in the media. I have never pre-ordered a game, and I have no intention of doing so in the future either. And now it's getting to the point where games are pretty much denying us content if we don't pre-order (see: pre-order bonuses for BioWare games, etc.) and it's getting ridiculous in my opinion.

Look, I know there's a lot of conflicting opinions on game reviews, but don't they at least provide a place to start?

As evidence that pre-ordering is dumb, I'd like to cite Duke Nukem Forever.
 
Just give up on current games and do what I did.

Think of the time you enjoyed gaming the most.

Was in NES? Then get an NES and some games. They're really cheap.

Was in the late 90s? Then get a retro gaming PC (or just DOS Box) and some games from that era.

Stop buying new games, they're all shit - what can I say, it's the truth. Just play what you last enjoyed
 
isnt there already a thread poll thing on this? There was time when I wished Id preordered something because it came with something cool, but these days the pre-order bonuses are downloading early and some retarded gun or handbag. I couldnt give a shit about that stuff, but I'm old. I work most of the time and I have a backlog like gods apology list. I started playing Devil may cry the other night. the first one and first Id ever played.
 
Back when I used to play WoW, whenever an expansion pack would be released, I'd just walk into the base BX at lunch time on the release date and pick it up. I couldn't help but laugh at all the tools who pre-ordered from the bigger companies and waited in line that morning when it took me all of five minutes to grab my copy.
 
The only game I have pre-ordered right now is Dark Souls only because of the free collector's edition upgrade when you pre-order.
 
Also, eventually most "bonuses" show up in games somehow one way or another, or the "special editions" go on sale when they clean off the shelves in back.
 
Digital preorders however sometimes carry much more benefits than a little content these days. For instance you can preorder DXHR at the moment for ~42% off. This is a pretty big discount considering the first sale price likely will be 25-50% (most likely 25-33%) and may not occur until 4 months after release at Christmas. Most digital preorders carry 10% discounts as a standard these days as well.

Also waiting for a special edition or the sale of preorder content is not issue free as well. Either you need to wait, possibly pay more, or "borrow" a copy to play (legitimately or illegitimately) until such content is available.

I've preordered 3 games so far this year. Dow 2 Retribution. I played the beta and had a 15% discount. DXHR AE, I played the "beta" and had a 33% discount. The Witcher 2 was more of a impulse buy and it had 10% off. Exceeded my expectations with Dow and The Witcher 2, hopefully DXHR will do the same.
 
Forget preordering... Steam n save, baby. Nothing like picking up that $60 game that was really only worth about $10 for $7.99 next summer or holiday season.
 
I dont see preordering as anything new, its been around for a while and has had bonuses for a while. As long as those bonuses dont detract from the main game if you dont have them it doesn't bother me. I only preorder games I know I'll enjoy and are worth the money, in the past few years thats only bfbc2 and the witcher 2.

You can usually tell if you're gonna like a game before it comes out unless you dont follow the news leading up to release and these days reviews are so biased there's hardly an advantage to waiting for them.
 
I see pre-ordering as pointless, with exceptions made for certain collectors or limited editions of titles or if bonuses are included for pre-ordering. Many of those are first come first serve. Other than that, for normal titles, all pre-ordering does it attempt to scratch the itch you have for the game. It amounts to absolutely nothing though.

The same concept also applies to having a "back catalog" and buying new/upgraded PC's for games that are not even out yet. When you buy quantities of games up front then play them over time, what benefit does that provide? You're just wasting your money because if you would wait until you have time for the game you would likely pay much less for it. As for the PC point, again it's wasting money trying to itch something that's unitchable. By the time the game comes out the same will be cheaper or better will be available for the same money. Why not wait?

If someone makes an argument that people want to buy when they have the money, it's completely irrelevant. If money burns a hole in your pocket that's an entirely other issue. If emergencies pop up that you have to spend the money on then well, it's an emergency; the money was better spent anyways.
 
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Sorry, Skyrim will be awesome. I will play it.

Why not just preorder it so I get it as soon as possible?
 
I pre-ordered StarCraft 2 at GameStop so I can play the closed-beta online.
I was gonna buy the game regardless, for nostalgic purposes.
 
do whatever you like. I might want to support smaller developers by preordering their games. If there is a decent discount then it is a total win for everyone. If you have had "bad experiences" with games then your lack of enthusiasm is understandable. Some of the other opinions though, on what a game is "worth". Worth is subjective. People can spend $20 on a 2 hour movie and then say it sucks. But talk about games and they have to cost $10 or $5. True most of them have been getting shorter, but they are probably more than 2 hours.
 
The $/hour argument is kind of old.

Quality matters more than quantity.

The Metal Gear Solid games for instance, they were on the short side after you've beaten it for the first time and could skip through all the cutscenes, but the quality of the game itself is just off the charts.

FarCry 2 has supposedly quite a few hours of gameplay, but it's repetitive and boring.

Dragon Age 2 has a lot of hours of gameplay, but it has repetitive environments, enemies that spawn, uncustomizeable characters, and pretty much a non story.

Bioshock 2 was a 6-7 hour game at the most, and it was a shit experience, an experience that embittered me to paying day 1 prices, let alone preordering.
 
Fail said:
The $/hour argument is kind of old.

Quality matters more than quantity.

The Metal Gear Solid games for instance, they were on the short side after you've beaten it for the first time and could skip through all the cutscenes, but the quality of the game itself is just off the charts.

FarCry 2 has supposedly quite a few hours of gameplay, but it's repetitive and boring.

Dragon Age 2 has a lot of hours of gameplay, but it has repetitive environments, enemies that spawn, uncustomizeable characters, and pretty much a non story.

Bioshock 2 was a 6-7 hour game at the most, and it was a shit experience, an experience that embittered me to paying day 1 prices, let alone preordering.
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If your skipping all of the cutscenes in metal gear solid then its not your type of game. Most of the content in the mgs series are cutscenes. Try a different franchise.
 
I only preorder from Developers like Bioware or Blizzard that I have bought games from in the past and only must have games. After Mass Effect 1. 2 was an automatic preorder and so will Mass Effect 3 be. All other games I wait until it hits baragin bin somewhere.

Just because I choose to preorder some games does not make myself or anyone else a tool or a fool as Fail would suggest. :rolleyes: Perfect name btw Fail ...... Pre ordering has been around a long time, nothing new to see here, move along.
 
Tempest_Prime said:
Forget preordering... Steam n save, baby. Nothing like picking up that $60 game that was really only worth about $10 for $7.99 next summer or holiday season.
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You could have actually preordered The Witcher 2 off D2D for cheaper than it was during the Steam summer sale. New titles do not drop that fast in price either, what new titles can you name that dropped to that price during the Steam summer sale? I think the cheapest were $25 if not $30.
 
i preordered mass effect 2, and maybe another game, maybe Batman.

they were games i knew without a doubt i was going to buy, and they got me a bonus weapon or something. i'll be preordering arkham city, for the bonuses, and i'm thinking about deus ex.

if i plan to buy the game, then there's really no downside to pre-ordering, and plenty of upside. amazon likes to give a few bucks back, gamestop and bestbuy usually have a nice weapon or skin or something. it's free and doesn't slow anything down, why do you have a problem with it?
 
Here's the crux of how I feel about preordering. I feel like, when we preorder, we're telling the publishers, "hey, I don't really care if this particular game truly deserves my money. I will pay up sight-unseen." What's to stop Activision from saying in a business meeting, "Guys, every CoD title we put out gets $texas in preorder sales. It doesn't really even matter how good the game actually is at this point. People will still buy it, and even if it's crap, we'll still get $texas before they realize it!"
 
That depends on how you look at and go about it. For me it is more like "will you give our unproven product a chance for a discount and/or bonuses." Again like I said you can usually save at least 10% nowadays with a preorder.
 
Calling people "tools and fools" for pre-ordering a game is a very constructive way of expressing your opinion. :rolleyes:

Just because you don't care for pre-ordering a particular - or any - game doesn't mean someone else is wrong for pre-ordering.

Fail said:
I never pre order

I think doing that is for tools and fools.
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Personally, if I find the real time gameplay trailer for a game I'm interested in meets my standards of what I am looking for in a game, then I will pre-order. Sadly, that has been far and few between in recent months.
 
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I know some people who preordered games so they wouldn't spend the money before it came out...

I'd have to agree with the current system isn't very good. I mean, pre-order bonuses don't count for much when you can get them 3 weeks later, for $5 when the game is $20 cheaper...
 
How is pre-ordering a "New" and stupid trend?

There were people cashing in 10yr+ DNF pre-orders.
 
Daggah said:
Here's the crux of how I feel about preordering. I feel like, when we preorder, we're telling the publishers, "hey, I don't really care if this particular game truly deserves my money. I will pay up sight-unseen."
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Its hardly sight unseen. You can tell typically from preview videos whether or not a game is worth it. I'm trying to think of a game that's surprised me with its quality of being either good or bad after I bought it and I'm kinda struggling. DNF was basically exactly what I was expecting after seeing the preview videos.

Its pretty rare for a dev to make a shit game and it to not show up in pre release content.
 
Nope OP you are not alone. I refuse to give away my money in advance for a product that is not finished, available or shows any proof of being worthy of my cash -- that kind of practice is wrong in my opinion.
 
I have yet to see a pre-order which is worth the premium you pay vs. the discounted price a few months later.
 
Tudz said:
Its hardly sight unseen. You can tell typically from preview videos whether or not a game is worth it. I'm trying to think of a game that's surprised me with its quality of being either good or bad after I bought it and I'm kinda struggling. DNF was basically exactly what I was expecting after seeing the preview videos.

Its pretty rare for a dev to make a shit game and it to not show up in pre release content.
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Do you do all of your gaming on consoles? 'Cause you can't tell from preview videos if a PC game is going to lack appropriate configuration options (like FOV options for FPS games, for example) or going to have anti-consumer DRM methods.
 
Daggah said:
Do you do all of your gaming on consoles? 'Cause you can't tell from preview videos if a PC game is going to lack appropriate configuration options (like FOV options for FPS games, for example) or going to have anti-consumer DRM methods.
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You're assuming people care about those things. If someone doesn't care about FOV or DRM you can't blame them for preordering if they think the game will be fun.

Besides that, often you can tell things like DRM schemes as the company talks about them beforehand. I preordered TW2 retail version and I knew exactly when I put my money down on the counter that it'd have DRM. Why did I preorder it? Because I knew from preview videos what it would be like, it had a free mouse and I trusted CDProjekt not to screw me over.

People talk way to the extremes on this forum. As if preordering is ALWAYS wrong and whoever does it is some sort of moron for doing it. Its not black and white, there's plenty of times you have more than enough info before release to decide whether or not you want to purchase it.

Reviews are bullshit, I dont even read them at all anymore because I'm more than likely going to read spoilers than actual information that will affect my purchase. As much as I love you guys, forums are much the same too. This forum is full of negative comments towards games I found entertaining and the number of times I read spoilers (often prerelease) has gotten me to the point where I wont even open threads about games I actually care about.

There's a lot of joy to be had from many games simply by going into the experience fresh and not having read comments from the regular old forum trolls.

Now I would like to see more demos, but that's a different matter all together and doesn't really relate to the issue of preorders, as demos can be pre-release too.
 
As has been said, pre-ordering isn't a new trend. I pre-ordered From Dust earlier this week, paying 10 instead of 15. I'd have to say you would be the fool who just walks in on release day and pays full price. While you don't get a discount on some/many games for pre-ordering, those you don't obviously. I also pre-ordered the CE of Star Wars, just to sell and make money on it. I know I will, whether it'll be 25$ profit only or 150$, who knows, regardless though, I don't see how that's stupid.
 
I dont preorder anything anymore, they never run out of titles as there are so few good titles released these days. It was only useful for me back in the days of smaller RPG/Strategy games.
 
I didn't mean that "new trend" should mean preordering is new, I was referring to how huge it's gotten and how it seems like everyone preorders now.

By the way, I almost never buy games on release day.
 
Daggah said:
I didn't mean that "new trend" should mean preordering is new, I was referring to how huge it's gotten and how it seems like everyone preorders now.

By the way, I almost never buy games on release day.
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I really dont think its gotten all that huge at all. Maybe publishers/retailers are trying to push it harder, but I dont know if its any more popular than it was previously.

If you never buy games on release day then you are probably in the "its not worth full price" camp where as I think most people who do preorder are on the opposite end of the scale in the "even at full price its great value" camp. Just because you dont agree with it doesn't make it stupid or the people who do it foolish. Some people enjoy the build up and hype to a game as much as actually playing it, nothing wrong with that.
 
Daggah said:
And now it's getting to the point where games are pretty much denying us content if we don't pre-order (see: pre-order bonuses for BioWare games, etc.) and it's getting ridiculous in my opinion.
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This part really annoys me. They're trying to bypass honest game reviews which would hinder sales by threatening to withhold content if consumers don't buy it before the reviews show up. Plus they're collecting money without actually providing a service of any kind (and not paying interest on it, either).

People who are willing to pre-order will keep this going for eternity.

I think I'll skip BF3 release day. If I buy it a month or two after it comes out, I can get the game + DLC + a couple of patches fixing release-day bugs, all for a lower price than if I pre-ordered.
 
Tudz said:
I really dont think its gotten all that huge at all. Maybe publishers/retailers are trying to push it harder, but I dont know if its any more popular than it was previously.

If you never buy games on release day then you are probably in the "its not worth full price" camp where as I think most people who do preorder are on the opposite end of the scale in the "even at full price its great value" camp. Just because you dont agree with it doesn't make it stupid or the people who do it foolish. Some people enjoy the build up and hype to a game as much as actually playing it, nothing wrong with that.
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I actually have bought quite a few games at full price, it's not that really. Though recently on the PC side I haven't, but that has more to do with always stocking up on new games during the various Steam sales.
 
Fattypants and Daggah pretty much summed up my position on games. No longer is it a question of "Will I buy this game on Day One?". It is more like,"How cheap is it a month or two after release and are there any patches for it?"

Freezebyte, posting a picture because you cannot actually construct an argument means that his arguement is actually valid since you lack the ability to debate it.

Total fail, sir.

I am an extremist about things like this because when I got burned by Bioshock 2 after buying into the hype, I asked myself, what could I have done differently?

The answer was, dont preorder it, dont Day 1 it. Wait for user reviews here on this forum, because Hardforum has some rather harsh bastards who can rip a hole in any game quite throughly.

I'm kind of excited about the new Deus Ex game, and I might possibly buy it, since it has been leaked online and the buzz is good from the players of the leaked version, but I still must remain true to my method, in order to avoid that feeling I felt when Bioshock was a 6 hour craptastic experience.

That must never ever happen again unless it's a bargain bin game.
 
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