Should you be Pre-Ordering Video Games?

[Zerviscos]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf5Uj4XIT1Y&gl=US

So what happened?

The release of Aliens: Colonial Marines was one of the prime targets of the gaming community's hype bombs. It spawned so many bad reviews, it was terrible, it's just...so dreadful.
I'm not a fan of the series, nor I was a fan of alien survival fps. Dead Space was an exception.

I for one never pre-order games unless I know it well, had a good history if it's a franchise that received positive reviews, the company is well-known for making good video games, and if it has a demo.

But the demo alone isn't quite enough as it seems...
Here's the "actual gameplay demo" of Aliens: Colonial Marines.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBIpUEjFFHA

How the f- did they screw that up? For one legal issue, they should be sued for false advertising to the gaming press. I mean, it's worse than Duke Nukem Forever that the only hate was because of the hype.
If Tomb Raider fails so hard...oh ho ho ho.

How about you guys? Do you pre-order video games?

[Suikama]

i only preorder nintendo games cause they dont fuck that shit up :V

[AnonymousPondScum]

Is this the place to talk about Kickstarter backings, too?

[Amraphenson]

I only ever preorder games I know I'm going to love the living hell out of, which generally means a localiztion I've already watched the gameplay for in Japanese/chinese/what have you. Worked for Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, Neptunia, what have you. 'm a happy camper.

[Dormio Ergo Sum]

You people have money to buy games?

[Third Eye Lem]

I usually preorder games if it's something I'm familiar with, and something I know that will give me enjoyment in the long run. Sometimes I take a chance on an odd game depending on my tastes, but so far, most of the preorders I've done were successful more often than not. I'll just list some of my experiences:

-FE Awakening: Worth preordering, since I'm familiar with the series. It turned out to be a good decision regardless, because of the shipping SNAFU on the week of its release.
-Etrian Odyssey 4: Worth it. I played the demo, and I enjoyed it, plus the preorder bonuses are decent (music CD, poster with skill trees and stuff, and I THINK there's an art book but I don't think there is).
-Halo 4/Halo Reach: Not worth it, since I'm not a fan of Halo's style of FPS. I want to be able to run over my weapons and pick them up on the fly, dammit ;_;
-Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4: Worth it, surprisingly! It comes with a "making of" DVD and some magnets, plus it comes in a nice box. The sequel not so much, all you got was a lousy T-shirt (which was small size only!)
-Adventure Time: Hey Ice King, Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!: Not worth it. The game is funny, but it's easy, it's short, and it's world is open and bland.
-Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One: Kinda worth it, you get a free weapon when you play the game. Crack in Time was a bit more worth it, you got different bonuses depending on where you preordered. The good news about all these preorders is that they're early unlocks, not exclusive DLC.
-Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed: Not worth it, since the preorder bonuses will be on the PSN/XBLA at some point.
-Zelda: Skyward Sword: Worth it, if only because GOLD WII MOTIONPLUS WIIMOTE.
-Borderlands 2: So worth it, I loved the bobblehead. Golden Keys are nice too.

[Jq1790]

I think the last time I preordered a videogame was with Pokemon Stadium 2 way back when, to be honest.  Got a pretty nice poster for doing so, but usually with games, even if I WANT to preorder one I usually don't have a guarantee I'll have the full amount on launch day so I can't safely do so.

[wailofthebanshee]

You people have money to buy games?

if you're too poor too afford a game or two a year, you really might want to look into that money situation of yours and determine what should be done
believe me, I know this might sound unbelievable to you, but a game really isn't THAT humongous of an investment

[DX7.EP]

I generally don't unless I have already tried the game out and found it impressive, watched an LP of it, or if the bonuses are something I consider essential to gameplay

Spoiler:

and Trade Fortress 2

. Even then I usually wait on ordering a game until a convincing sale (usually US$30 at most for a AAA game) arrives.

That aside, my pre-order history from the past 3 or so years:
 - CS: GO (played the beta a bit and loved it. It also came with TF2 goodies)
 - Quantum Conundrum (impressed me at PAX, though the final game is underwhelming. Plus TF2 goods)
 - LA Noire (came with all the console DLC plus GTA3 - more cases and a classic game yay)
 - BF3 (just for beta access, but cancelled it two days after amid dissatisfaction)
 - Portal 2 (why not?)
 - Civ V (Babylon DLC civ for free - a very powerful civ at that, plus the making-of video was nice. If only more of the later DLC civs were guaranteed :<)
 - Poker Night at the Inventory (a game meant for earning 5 TF2 items - pre-ordering guaranteed a sixth)
 - Sam & Max Season 3 (no it was not for the Max hat in TF2 :V)
 - CoD: MW2 (the worst US$60 I've spent on any single thing)

I do plan on pre-ordering Metro: Last Light for the Ranger difficulties, which really made the last game more atmospheric and challenging.

[Raikaria]

I think the only game I've pre-ordered ever is FF13. And in that case I didn't CARE if it was good or bad, it was FF13 :V

Although my brother has pre-ordered a lot more, like CoD, Borderlands, Halo4, ect.

[Ghaleon]

Im pretty picky with my games, and i always like the ones i think i will so yeah, i pre order and never regret it... Except when inpreordered the ps3 castlevania special edition. I actually ADORE the 3d castlevanias for the ps2 so i figured the bigger higher budget ps3 version would be a guaranteed win. Alas the game wasnt bad but it definately didnt deserve special edition treatment. Sucks the bgm was crap too compared to other castlevanias (sounds like lord of the rings... Not bad but wtf, castlevanias music is ICONIC, dont eff dat up).

Anyway. Im currently waitin for neptunia V on preorder.

[Yatakarasu]

I always, ALWAYS pre-order SMT games. Because they are difficult to find most of the time. Which reminds me I have to pre-order Soul Hackers.

[Sparen]

I always, ALWAYS pre-order SMT games. Because they are difficult to find most of the time. Which reminds me I have to pre-order Soul Hackers.

Reminds me when I had to order Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked through Amazon because Atlus apparently stops shipping its games to stores three months after release. Even the popular ones.

[Drake]

A bit related: http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/demo-daze


That being said, by the description, the people who preordered this game and then cried about it are morons, as put. This is a pretty extreme example and shouldn't be descriptive of all preordering systems, but in general the manipulation and capitalizing of preorders is fueled only by the buyers, yeah. People are dumb, and people who want money take advantage of people who are dumb. The end.

[Sparen]

People are dumb, and people who want money take advantage of people who are dumb. The end.

Agree completely.

[AnonymousPondScum]

A bit related: http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/demo-daze


That being said, by the description, the people who preordered this game and then cried about it are morons, as put. This is a pretty extreme example and shouldn't be descriptive of all preordering systems, but in general the manipulation and capitalizing of preorders is fueled only by the buyers, yeah. People are dumb, and people who want money take advantage of people who are dumb. The end.

I hope you're not saying we shouldn't be criticizing Gearbox for making a shitty game, either.

[Amraphenson]

I'm really not entirely sure how much Gearbox was actually involved in this. Just check the news post that went with that; there was a fuck ton of stuff going into that and who knows who actually played a part in that. One really shitty game won't really screw with my perception of Gearbox too much though.

[Drake]

I hope you're not saying we shouldn't be criticizing Gearbox for making a shitty game, either.

Of course we should, but even still doing so is besides the point and doesn't help much besides getting other people to not buy the game. They still made a crapton of money they otherwise wouldn't have because people were too hasty and threw their money at something they knew little about. As said, it just enables companies who would pull similar marketing stunts on purpose and perpetuates the problem. While it does show flaws in preordering systems, these particular flaws only exist because we give companies the power to do it.

Again though, this doesn't mean that preordering systems don't, or can't work well. Especially for games that are part of a running franchise, since people are already confident in what the next game has to offer, they were likely going to buy the game anyways, and gameplay demos and the likes have probably already surfaced. Some bonuses work well, others less well. Even simply having the game on sale for a few bucks off on preorder is enough to reward people who were going to buy the game anyways yet not be enough for people unsure.

I'm also almost wondering if this sort of mad dashing and susceptibility to random sales and marketing ploys and making dumb spur of the moment decisions is just inherent to Steam as a platform. It sure seems that way.

[trancehime]

I'm really not entirely sure how much Gearbox was actually involved in this. Just check the news post that went with that; there was a fuck ton of stuff going into that and who knows who actually played a part in that. One really shitty game won't really screw with my perception of Gearbox too much though.

I hope you're not saying we shouldn't be criticizing Gearbox for making a shitty game, either.

Outsourcing can lead to bad bad bad things. 

[AnonymousPondScum]

Outsourcing can lead to bad bad bad things. 

Oooh, okay.

See, its development has been so all over the place by this point that I don't know who did what anymore. :V

[InfernalExuro]

I've only ever preordered two physical games, and even then they were both games that I was pretty much guaranteed to enjoy - Guild Wars 2 and Fallout: New Vegas. Both were collector's editions as well, now that I think about it. :V I think I preordered one or two others via Steam, but that's a different story. Generally, if a game is so good that I need it at launch, I'll wait for a short period so I can gauge reactions.

[trancehime]

Oooh, okay.

See, its development has been so all over the place by this point that I don't know who did what anymore. :V

Yeah, if you want to criticize something for Aliens, take a look at these guys instead, they were responsible for a great chunk of the single-player part of the game.

[AnonymousPondScum]

From what I heard Gearbox and Timegate taking turns slapping each other in the face in varying amounts was the issue. :V

[Zerviscos]

A bit related: http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/demo-daze


That being said, by the description, the people who preordered this game and then cried about it are morons, as put. This is a pretty extreme example and shouldn't be descriptive of all preordering systems, but in general the manipulation and capitalizing of preorders is fueled only by the buyers, yeah. People are dumb, and people who want money take advantage of people who are dumb. The end.

Quite interesting I might say. If gaming companies could come up with a way to do stuff like the "try before buy" gig, it would greatly be an advantageous deal to consumers. But opposite to "scheming" companies that just wants money. But then again, it would or "might" actually get them devoted to make a good game.

And yes, people are stupid, ESPECIALLY people who already got tricked into buying stupid games, and did it again. What Tommy Lee Jones said in MIB; " A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.". Saying, that the average person isn't actually affected or tricked into buying video games by companies, rather it's those others around them, the people. Let's say there was a new game coming out. You were rather interested about the trailer, but there was no demo, still you thought of waiting for reviews of it to come out after the release. Some people are hyped up about it that they'd tell other people to buy it. Gradually hype increases, that it makes you also want to buy it during release. Soon you were affected, and now you regret buying something stupid. And to see that you were part of the  "people".

From what I heard Gearbox and Timegate taking turns slapping each other in the face in varying amounts was the issue. :V

And this is why it's better for a game to be developed by one developer.

Speaking of pre-ordering...I just pre-ordered Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance which will be out on Feb 19. It'll be my own fault if it sucks...then again, with Hideo Kojima's history of making his Metal Gear franchise, I doubt it'll fail.

Crysis 3...I didn't pre-ordered it since I know it'll be practically the same as the older ones, just with some new features. MGR will be better 'cause of course, it's new gameplay.

[An Odd Sea Slug]

The last few games I pre-ordered:

-The Last Story
-Xenoblade
-Rayman Origins
-TLoZ Skyward Sword
-Kirby's return to dreamland
-Portal 2

And now I'm thinking about doing the same for Pandora's Tower. I usually wait on games quite a bit before they come out, though in the rare event I do preorder, its for a franchise I'm already familiar with/a guaranteed hit. Xenoblade was a risk, but I ended up rewarded greatly -everytime I boot it up, 4 or so hours pass by frighteningly quick. I have yet to touch Last Story despite having it for months and months, so the jury is still out on that one. Skyward Sword on the other hand... I found the controls bothersome; only played it all of twice so far.

And now for the real reason I've taken to pre-ordering games; I had a job back when these games were coming out, and thus money. :V

I'm a pretty stubborn sunuva gun when it comes to money, so the franchise needs to be familiar, or I will have needed to try and liked the demo (assuming one's availalbe- its always irritating when its not) before I can be convinced. It also needs to NOT attract hideous amounts of sadness and vitriol due to being an outright disappointment despite all its hype. Not refering to any games involving insectoid aliens with acid blood at all, why would you think that :V

[Speedy]

I never pre-order games, mainly because I lack money, if I did have money however, I wait until after release unless the game has pre-order bonuses that are well worth it.

[Cadmas]

I think I've only ever pre-ordered two games before; Monster Hunter 3 and Final Fantasy 12, and both times I'd forgotten I'd pre-ordered them.
I always thought the point of pre-ordering games was to reserve a copy for yourself when the game goes out on release.

Now it seems like its all about the silly bonuses.  With digital copies and steam always doing sales, I just wait for everything to get cheap or not even end up buying something.

[Jq1790]

I think I've only ever pre-ordered two games before; Monster Hunter 3 and Final Fantasy 12, and both times I'd forgotten I'd pre-ordered them.
I always thought the point of pre-ordering games was to reserve a copy for yourself when the game goes out on release.

Now it seems like its all about the silly bonuses.  With digital copies and steam always doing sales, I just wait for everything to get cheap or not even end up buying something.

B-b-but bonuses are awesome!  Yeah, getting the game guaranteed's nice too, but if one waits just a little bit they can have it pretty early anyway, even if not right on the release date.  Pre-orders give you stuff you can't otherwise get outside of if people sell the bonus stuff on eBay and the like, and in the case of DLC and other bonuses ingame that's not even an option, so...

[notverycreative]

I preorder stuff a lot because Gamestop rarely gets copies of non-big name JRPGs. However, what happened with the one I usually go to, during the release of Persona 3, was that that store in particular got almost nothing but Madden '08 copies for two weeks, and even people who preordered P3 didn't get a copy. I ended up cancelling my preorder and buying one of the non-preordered copies from the (now-gone) store across the road at the mall. Hell, my friend and I were the only non-used copies of Chaos Wars that store EVER RECEIVED. The company's out of business, so I suspect it might gain some value as a bile-fascination collector's item (even if I genuinely-believe it's good, that just means I'm a delusional moron).

I've got Project X Zone preordered because I'm a little worried they won't get enough copies, and I'd like to get the game on release day, anyway. I know I'm going to like it. I don't preorder a game that I'm iffy on. My friend buys more games than me, so I can just play his copy for a bit and see if I like it. Thanks to that, I know I A) dislike the PS3 Atelier games, and B) will never ever buy the first Neptunia.

[Aya Reiko]

I prefer Jim Sterling's take on it...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/6832
and
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/6863

Suffice to day, I'm probably not pre-ordering anything for awhile.