Jimquisition: Previewed, Preordered, Prescrewed

lord.jeff

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I've never preordered I barely even buy at launch anymore do to how common place DLC and game of the year editions have become, making it so that if you want everything you need to wait a year or pay around a hundred dollars.
 

TheLastFeeder

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Oct 29, 2012
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If publishers are going to keep the pre-order market I think that easing up on the press embargoes is a step in the right direction. If your product is worth it the critics will give a good boost to the hype, if not that's their problem. Just don't make me think you got something to hide.
 

senordesol

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Oct 12, 2009
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If there's one upside to being poor it's that I only buy games that I KNOW I'm going to like after hearing their reviews from multiple trusted sites (like this one).

I missed out on A:CM (thank God...for Jim), but I've been burned too many times before. Jim's got it right (as usual): "Shut Up and EARN My Money!" should be our watchwords. Gracious, does anyone remember those halcyon days where a developer would simply offer you an extra multiplayer map "just 'cuz"?

I'm sick and tired of the industry treating me like a bloody lepper just because I'm not willing to shower them with money before they've earned it, or to 'unlock' on-disc DLC, or for any other stupid reason beyond the price of admission.

I think Jim's instincts about the prospect of another industry crash are dead on. It's all but inevitable with these practices.
 

Doom972

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Dec 25, 2008
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The games I've preordered are Fallout 3, Duke Nukem Forever, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Mass Effect 3, and Hitman Absolution. Only Duke Nukem forever was a let down - I liked it, but it wasn't worth full price.

With the exclusion of Fallout 3 and Mass Effect 3, which were physical copies that I preordered moths in advance, the rest were Steam preorders. The good thing about Steam preorders, is that you can get all the benefits of the preorder even if you buy it one hour before release. I bought Deus Ex Human Revolution and Hitman Absolution after seeing reviews of them. I couldn't do the same with Duke Nukem Forever because it was released in Europe first.

What I've learned from all this is that it's best to avoid physical preorders and only get them if I'm sure that I'll get my money's worth, and that it's best to wait for the last minute with a digital preorder - the deal will still be there until the last minute.
 

SuperSuperSuperGuy

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Jun 19, 2010
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The last game I preordered was Fire Emblem: Awakening. Intelligent Systems has a good track record, I've seen many, many good things about it from the Japanese release, and I got 2 things out of it: an art book, which was kind of cool, although I wish it had more of the characters in it, and, due to a shipping issue, a copy of it a week before it was supposed to be released. The game was not disappointing, either, and the demo was pretty much completely accurate, apart from some small enemy placement changes for some reason.

I more or less agree with Jim's statements, though. I usually only preorder games that have already come out in other parts of the world, i.e. JRPGs from Japan, so that I have some ability to see whether or not they're actually going to be good before I put my money down. The main issue with games like Aliens is that, with preorders, we have no way to see their quality before we order them, and this dishonest business approach has to stop.

I'm still probably going to preorder the next Pokémon games. I've gotten Pokémon games on the first day since Diamond was released, and I've never been disappointed.
 

UniversalRonin

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Nov 14, 2012
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VladG said:
Ah, if only the vid was higher quality... I'd love a nice screencap with the purple dildo smashing the Aliens CM box
I had to watch the start of the video again just to make sure I had seen what I thought I'd seen.
 

Uratoh

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Jun 10, 2011
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I didn't get A:CM since I'm not a fan of the genrey-thing, but Impire...oi. It's not a bait and switch like A:CM was, but this game is a more obvious Beta than Towns was...and Towns just forgot to MENTION it was in Beta initially on its steam greenlight writeup...Impire is SUPPOSED to be a released game here! Some people have played and beaten it no troubles, but others...just look at their official forums.
 

ron1n

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'The Hype Train' is one of the biggest cancers in gaming right now.

As awful as Colonial Marines is, this shit has been happening for years and years now. Look at the MMO genre.

Nearly every single Post-WoW game has effectively been bait & switch in some way.

Examples:

Age of Conan: Promises of DX11 on the game box which weren't met until well after release, scenes of hundreds of characters all battling it out that would have crashed the server in reality. Elaborate questing and content, and cut scenes that all disappeared once you actually left Tortage (which conveniently was also the area used in their open beta)


Warhammer Online: saw Paul Barnett dozens of 'sneak peak' and developer diary videos that had all the hallmarks of a use car salesman. Upon release of the game, nearly all of the stuff he'd been yammering on about had either been removed from the game or never existed in the first place.

Star Wars The Old Republic: And then came the fucking whale. Pre-release screenshots showing high resolution textures that mysteriously disappeared once in game. Thousands (likely hundreds of thousands) spent on trailers featuring no game footage and created a reality that would never even remotely exist in game.


So what's the difference between the big MMO over hyped failures and the triple A bombs of other genres?

The other genre's DON'T GET RECOGNISED AS FAILURES BY THE PUBLISHERS.

The fact that publishers and even developers have been so brazen as to brag about the success of games like Brink, Duke Nukem and (I won't be surprised) Colonial Marines represents a tragic corruption of the word 'success'.

But here's the thing, considering so many developers and publisher are trumping F2P as the 'next big model', it's going to be hilarious when they try to release the same piece of shit game, without the benefit of a box price and scratch their heads when it bombs terribly.

Like, can you even imagine if Colonial Marines had been released under some kind of F2P model? They wouldn't have even made back the money the spent creating the bullshit 'concept demo'. Whatever the fuck that is.

Also kudos to Jim for mentioning TB's video on this. TB copped a ton of flak for that vid, but I reckon he was spot on in articulating some points which most of us already knew to be true, but may have been ignoring.
 

Namechangeday

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Aug 13, 2012
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Judgeing by your entrance, I thought you were going to break that alien in half.

I understand why they might put special content in preorders, but I feel it makes people who can't preorder feel like they might be missing out on alot.
 

Epic Fail 1977

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Dec 14, 2010
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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers, Jim.

Now to watch the actual video...

Edit:
HAHA, this video is surrounded by an ad for A:CM! Oh they have so gotten their money's worth from THAT ad! LOL
 

kajinking

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Aug 12, 2009
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OK First off at the end there I really half expected Jim to break out some bagpipes or something and give the alien a proper Spock funeral (Althought I doubt Jim just happens to know how to play bagpipes or even own any)


To be be more OT I have to wonder if any of the other developers are watching this situation or are even concerned by it? I'd think that a massive wave of anti-preorder feelings might get their attention. Think they might do anything diffrent in it's wake?
 

Saviordd1

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Jan 2, 2011
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Mass Effect 3 is what got me out of preordering games, this just confirms it for more people.

I honestly hope people take this to heart and don't preorder games based on previews or brand recogn....



So much for that idea.
 

Toilet

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Feb 22, 2012
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I'm glad here in the UK we get games a little later, if I do preorder I can be sure to cancel it if the user base says its shit (because garme jurnalism cannot be trusted). I don't preorder games very often, last game I did preorder was Ni No Kuni and even then it was 3 weeks before release and I was already impressed with what I had seen with all the previews and features.

I did preorder Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 and that is what swore me off preordering for the most part but it was because they were terrible games anyway.
 

awesomeClaw

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Aug 17, 2009
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Jim, I must say, you get better and better for every episode you do.

This one was the first episode that I actually had to pause, because I was laughing so hard I couldn´t hear what you were saying.

Gott mit dir, Jim!
 

Epic Fail 1977

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Dec 14, 2010
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kajinking said:
To be be more OT I have to wonder if any of the other developers are watching this situation or are even concerned by it? I'd think that a massive wave of anti-preorder feelings might get their attention. Think they might do anything diffrent in it's wake?
There isn't going to be a "massive wave" of anything. It would take several years of morons gamers being consistently shat on by almost every developer and publisher in the industry for the average game-consumer (which we here are in no way representative of) to change their ways. One bad game on its own is like a fart in the wind.
 

MagmaMan

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Apr 2, 2012
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I agree with this but unfortunately I'm still guilty of pre-ordering Crysis 3 and Bioshock: Infinite. Crysis 3 is because it comes with Crysis 1, which I was going to spend $20 on before I found out I'd get it for free with Crysis 3's hunter edition as well as a $20 gift card on Amazon. That means I'm essentially getting Crysis 3 for $20 if I pre-order. I loved the multiplayer beta so I think that's a safe gamble.

As for Bioshock: Infinite the developers, Ken Levine in particular, has more then a decade of trust built up for him. System Shock 2 was and still is one of the best games ever made, and System Shock 1 while not as good was still one of the most terrifying games I've ever played as well as having the usual excellent story and at the least a "unique" atmosphere. Bioshock wasn't quite as amazing as System Shock 2 but still was incredible and I can tell you that just about nothing is going to stop me from getting Infinite because of how much of a fanboy I happen to be for the Shock games. The two franchises are two of the best the gaming medium has to offer and shame on anyone who hasn't played System Shock 2.