I can't trust pre-orders anymore

[Korolev]

Absolutely - I don't pre-order anything unless I'm absolutely sure I'm GOING to play it, regardless of reviews. Usually this happens with sequels to games I enjoy very much. For example, ME3, Infamous 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution were all games I was going to play, regardless of reviews, so I pre-ordered them.

For any game which I am unsure as to its quality, I will wait for reviews, and then a couple of weeks or so for the price to drop. I've got nothing against developers charging 99 Australian dollars for a new copy of a game, but I don't have the money to afford that, so wait for the price to drop significantly.

 

[The Lugz]

Learned that with Black Ops. I didn't preoreder, got it at launch day.

Not buying anything until its been out for a month at least.

^ this is the sorry state of gaming, for the past 6 years or so budgets have been low production timetables are strenuous and brain-drain is occurring at a rapid rate at every studio that does not have enough money to buy half the moon

i blame world of war-crap and call of duty for sucking the games industry dry personally
and i'm quite happy acti-vision bought blizzard, now i can lay the blame squarely on their shoulders, ahh the joy.

and i flat out refuse to buy another cod clone, no-matter what they do to it
i don't want another shooter-type game until mechwarrior 5 launches... 'if' mechwarrior 5 launches....


now it's summer and we probably won't see any really good blockbuster games until batman Ac, and then perhaps nothing until next year
( which will be good because edios know how to make a decent game, i intend to squeeze every drop of game-play possible from the bat this time and play it through on it's hardest setting first )

 

[Baresark]

Just about every gamer has been burned by pre-orders. I am honestly surprised you put New Vegas and L4D2 in the same category as DNF. That ladder was complete shit, and while the others may not have been good as their predecessors, I felt they were honestly great games still.

Back OT: As a general rule, I will pre-order very few games. The next big release I have coming up is Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I knew it was going to be good and I wanted to get in before all the bitching and whining about how it's not as good as the first. As a general rule, a sequel to a game you loved won't necessarily be good. I find that in sequels, while they may have changed some of the things I hated, they managed to change a lot of the things I loved as well. As my example for this, I use Dragon Ago: Origins and Dragon Age 2, though I don't want to turn this into a DA2 debate/hate thread. I was excited for Dead Island as well, really really excited. As it stands, I will probably still get it at some point, not so sure if it's going to be opening at this point. At first it looked awesome in the mostly conceptual phase, now they added a bunch of things that makes it less extraordinary. They have an "electric machete" and the Steam pre-order is a baseball bat with a saw built into it... which is honestly really lame. I wanted that first person survival horror I was promised.

There were a couple of console games I pre-ordered as well. Ultimate MvC3 and Dark Souls. I know Ultimate MvC3 will be improved over the previous, and I know that I will like Dark Souls. I know it probably won't be as good as Demon's Souls was though. I put about 130 hours into Demon's Souls and know the game inside and out.

I guess what I'm saying is this, if we are disappointed in a game or a movie or a person (just to name a few things that fit into my final words here), it's because our expectations were too much. No matter how much you like or hate a games first iteration, the next won't be better or worse, but it will be different. Same with people, and definitely the same with pre-orders. If you only want to pre-order games that you know you will love, then you won't be pre-ordering anything. The only guarantee in life is that things will change.

 

[Pat8u]

I have only pre order one game and thats coming in 88 days

 

[octafish]

I'm glad I pre-ordered Deus Ex: Human Resources right after I read a glowing preview in PCPowerPlay because I paid $45 Aus for it and now the price has been jacked up about 30%. I generally don't pre-order.

 

[teisjm]

Unless there was some hefty bonus added by pre-ordering, i really don't see a reason for me to do so.
Sure, steam can let you play the game imideately when it launches, but chances are, i might not have time to play right there anyways, and waiting a few extra hours really means nothing to me.
As for pre-ordering physical copies of games, unless it comes with some sort of bonus, like BF3 coming with an added map pack or something like that free of charge, i don't see the reason, it's not like it's gonna get sold out anyways.

All in all, preordering has turned from a way to secure yourself a copy at launch, due to the risk of them beeing sold out otherwise, which would leave you waiting for up to several days, to a disgusting market thing, where developers cut content from the game, and hand it out only to those, who buys their product before knowing whetehr it's gonan live up to it's price or not.

It's an ugly part of the game industry, just like clunky DRM, Day one DLC, and selling every little thing as DLC, where games used to put out much larger content patches for free.

 

[Scrustle]

I used to pre-order most games that I was interested in. But I've become a lot more shrewd and conservative since then. Not just with pre-orders but with games in general. I still don't really have a problem with pre-ordering games, since the ones I do are ones that I'm pretty certain will be good, based on coverage and/or experience of other games in the same series or by the same developer. Luckily, being in the UK, I can read reviews of a game about half a week before the game comes out over here, so if a game turns out to be crap I can cancel the order. If I'm suspicious of the quality of a game before it comes out I won't pre-order and wait until reviews come out, and if it turns out to be good then I'll wait for the price to drop to what I'm willing to pay. I have made a few mistakes in pre-ordering games which I later regretted, but mostly the effort isn't wasted, and since I became more careful with my money I've made even less mistakes.

 

[Sixcess]

well there are some games that a developer has to try REALLY hard to mess up and therefore pre-ordering it will be a win-win.

Like Saints Row: The Third

If I was a console gamer I'd agree, but given how bad the pc version of SR2 was I'll be holding off on buying SR3 until the reviews are in.

 

[Tanis]

That's one of the reasons why I like to pre-order console games.

Put 5USD down over at GameStop (Hail Satan) and if I decide not to get it I can just move the 5USD to another game I'm looking forward to (I've moved the same 5USD about six times now...heh).

 

[veloper]

Wait for the patches to make the game playable and then wait a teensy bit longer for the complete version with all the necessary DLC and expansions included and the 70% price drop.

I suppose you can buy early if you really want to be a devoted fan, but it's never the sensible option.

 

[Simeon Ivanov]

I never pre-order unless I'm fairly confident the game will be good. This usually means it's a sequel to game I loved.

Example: I loved Batman:AA, so I'll most likely pre-order Arkham City. I loved Morrowind and Oblivion, so I'll pre-order Skyrim.

Other than that though, I'm very cautious when it come to buying games. I wait for reviews. I try and find gameplay videos. I wait for recommendations from people I trust. Or even better, a loan of the game from a friend to see if it's worth getting.

Pretty much what this fellow said. However there are some sequels that are ... well ... Dragon Age 2 and Duke Nukem Forever T_T ...

BTW, I love your Assassins's Creed/Mass Effect/Portal logo, can I get a link to it please?

 

[TornadoFive]

I never pre-order unless I'm fairly confident the game will be good. This usually means it's a sequel to game I loved.

Example: I loved Batman:AA, so I'll most likely pre-order Arkham City. I loved Morrowind and Oblivion, so I'll pre-order Skyrim.

Other than that though, I'm very cautious when it come to buying games. I wait for reviews. I try and find gameplay videos. I wait for recommendations from people I trust. Or even better, a loan of the game from a friend to see if it's worth getting.

Pretty much what this fellow said. However there are some sequels that are ... well ... Dragon Age 2 and Duke Nukem Forever T_T ...

BTW, I love your Assassins's Creed/Mass Effect/Portal logo, can I get a link to it please?

Thanks! I created it myself though, so it's not uploaded anywhere.

 

[Antari]

I love Steam pre-orders.

You can read all the reviews you want, and then pre-order it 5 minutes before it unlocks - normally with a bonus and a slight price cut.

Win/win.

Not really, lets say you pre-order a month or so before hand. And Pre-load the game. The time it takes Steam to unlock the files usually takes longer than to have just downloaded them unlocked after the pre-order stage. As well with the near constant sales on Steam its literally a point of wait a month or two and it'll be on sale for half price. I don't pre-order, if anything because of the principle of. You don't get paid until the job is DONE!

 

[Woodsey]

I love Steam pre-orders.

You can read all the reviews you want, and then pre-order it 5 minutes before it unlocks - normally with a bonus and a slight price cut.

Win/win.

Not really, lets say you pre-order a month or so before hand. And Pre-load the game. The time it takes Steam to unlock the files usually takes longer than to have just downloaded them unlocked after the pre-order stage. As well with the near constant sales on Steam its literally a point of wait a month or two and it'll be on sale for half price. I don't pre-order, if anything because of the principle of. You don't get paid until the job is DONE!

Err... no it doesn't. It takes like 5 minutes for the files to unlock once the game itself unlocks on Steam. Aside from that, you're not actually replying to anything I said. I said you can "pre-order" 5 minutes before the game unlocks and still get your price cut and have read the reviews, so there's no need for it to be a gamble.

And the job is done, game's go gold about a month before they're released.

 

[LadyMint]

When I really want a game, I'll pre-order it. Granted, I've been disappointed by that before, but that's one of the less risky parts of life, isn't it? All the advertising and hype before a game is released is designed to make you really want something, but you can resist it. Should you decide to go for it anyway, then it's just the risk you take.

The main thing that gets me to pre-order is when they have some sort of exclusive incentive tied to something. Without that, I take my time purchasing.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

A long time ago I pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2, and upon playing it found it to be generally disappointing. I wish I'd waited until it was much cheaper to buy it. The same with New Vegas and Duke Nukem Forever. I've had very little pre-order success, the Orange Box being the only real joy I've had in pre-purchasing. Everything else I have, I've waited for reviews on. I thought New Vegas was going to be an improvement on the epic Fallout 3, but no.

I only pre-order things I'm really excited about. Yes, sometimes you get something that sucks so much and\or was not worth $60 ::stares at Force Unleashed II with deadly hatred:: and you feel like you got suckered, but then there are the good times, like when you pre-order an awesome game that you get to beta-test for pre-ordering ::gazes lovingly at Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood:: and you are thankful you chose to pre-order it. There are also games you want to get to immediately and simply can't afford to go a day longer without cracking it open ::sighs longingly at Starcraft II::.

My point is, don't let a few bad experiences ruin it for you. Just do it with more discretion.

You shouldn't have pre-ordered New Vegas simply because we all knew it would be buggy at first. I'm playing it now on PC and having almost no problems. I'm nearing level 30 and the game has crashed on me about 3 or 4 times, but that's it. You should try it again on PC.

 

[Dragunai]

I only preorder games I have a vague hope for. Black ops when it 1st came out was an awesome game. Now it sucks because the community sucks.

Haven't really preordered other games. Only exception being Dead island (as that has my hopes seriously up) and Skyrim as Oblivion was something to hug and skyrim is a ramped up version.

Might also Preorder Space Marine for the bonus dlc.

 

[MetaKnight19]

I haven't pre-ordered anything for a while, but when I go into my local GAME shop the staff (who sort of know me) ask me:

'Did you know *insert game* was out today?'
'I completely forgot that came out today, was there anything good as a pre-order bonus?'
'Well look, seeing as its you I'll take £5 off the price and give you the bonus as well.'
*Hands over money*

Spoiler: This is the last game I pre-ordered, don't judge me...

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

I haven't pre-ordered anything for a while, but when I go into my local GAME shop the staff (who sort of know me) ask me:

'Did you know *insert game* was out today?'
'I completely forgot that came out today, was there anything good as a pre-order bonus?'
'Well look, seeing as its you I'll take £5 off the price and give you the bonus as well.'
*Hands over money*

I do this with the local GameStop quite a bit, half the time now I can just show up on launch day and they'll give me any pre-order codes with the games, or the special pre-order edition if they have more in stock than the pre-orders that their store received.

 

[Antari]

I love Steam pre-orders.

You can read all the reviews you want, and then pre-order it 5 minutes before it unlocks - normally with a bonus and a slight price cut.

Win/win.

Not really, lets say you pre-order a month or so before hand. And Pre-load the game. The time it takes Steam to unlock the files usually takes longer than to have just downloaded them unlocked after the pre-order stage. As well with the near constant sales on Steam its literally a point of wait a month or two and it'll be on sale for half price. I don't pre-order, if anything because of the principle of. You don't get paid until the job is DONE!

Err... no it doesn't. It takes like 5 minutes for the files to unlock once the game itself unlocks on Steam. Aside from that, you're not actually replying to anything I said. I said you can "pre-order" 5 minutes before the game unlocks and still get your price cut and have read the reviews, so there's no need for it to be a gamble.

And the job is done, game's go gold about a month before they're released.

Depends on the game size I guess. You'd have been as pissed off as me when Shogun 2 took roughly 2 hours to unlock even though I'd downloaded all the files a week before hand. At best your getting a minor discount .. which is nothing to the half price discount that Steam usually throws on a month or two after release. There's no point to pre-purchasing. As well with all the DLC these days, your better off to wait for a cheap gold edition.

And added DLC means the job isn't done. Patching mean the job isn't done. I don't know too many games that don't have either these days. Two parts of gaming that would barely need to be used if the job was EVER done. Just because they shove it in a box doesn't mean its finished and working.

If you downloaded a small indie title ya I could see the Unlock not taking too long. But on a 19 gig game like Shogun 2 the decryption process completely defeats the purpose of pre-order/pre-loading. Game companies screw over the day 1 or pre-order buyer.