Jimquisition: The Poison of Pre-Order Culture

[Trishbot]

Only game I don't regret pre-ordering was Xenoblade Chronicles, because I was a part of Operation Rainfall that wanted to prove people still were hungry for JRPGs when even Square Enix was claiming otherwise.

Then the game went out of print quickly, the praise skyrocketed, and the game itself was a fully-complete and massively robust without any need for any DLC ever.

 

[orangeapples]

Just like everything else in the gaming industry (DLC, microtransactions, online multiplayer, etc) pre-orders used to be good, but game publishers have manipulated and twisted the concept into a tool to screw over consumers.

And the whole Gamestop getting exclusive story levels, isn't that illegal? I thought the most you got was retail exclusive editions was bonus items, character skins and maybe a gameplay area where the only dialog is to explain what you are doing there? This is an entire storyline that only pre-orders at Gamestop will get? Doesn't seem legal.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

Jim's impersonation of a game publisher was amazingly spot on... get this man an award!... ..anyways.. i've never been dumb enough to pre-order a game.. there's been a few i've considered pre-ordering directly from the game company's website because they came with a limited edition poster and statue/figure that wouldn't be available separately.. i ended up not pre-ordering and didn't miss out on anything really.. i've never seen the logic of pre-ordering a game when you have no idea if the game will actually be good or not.. you only really have the word of the developer/publisher that the game will be perfect.. but it could end up having game breaking bugs in it.. that's why no matter how much i want a game, i always wait for reviews and never pre-order

 

[Shdwrnr]

Would you guys consider kickstarter and things like that in the same realm as preorders or is this more in line with the whole retail exclusive/season pass nonsense? I ask because every game I've backed on kickstarter I have given enough for a copy of the game on release and haven't been disappointed so far. I've also bought a select few early access games and have had good experience with them as well. I know of a few early access games that fell short for people, but I've never paid for one of those.

 

[Darknacht]

Would you guys consider kickstarter and things like that in the same realm as preorders

Kickstarter is different you are not pre-ordering a game you are funding it.

 

[EyeReaper]

Ehh, Respectfully, I disagree. I wouldn't let a couple rotten apples (or in this case, the entire triple A gaming industry) ruin the bunch. Maybe it's because I like the feelies, seeing that I preordered both the new Persona games just to get those 22 Major Arcana cards, or maybe I like paying off a game five dollars at a time over a couple months rather than dropping 60 bucks in one go.

There's also the fact that midnight releases are just fun. I remember the Pokemon X/Y release had that enthusiastic atmosphere that I normally ave to wait for a convention for, not to mention I would rather a physical copy than digital distribution, but that's just preference.

So, yes. Some preorders are bad. Some Dlc is bad, but that doesn't mean they all are.

 

[daxterx2005]

Your impersonations at the end had me laughing out loud great video, Jim.

 

[WildFire15]

Personally I don't mind pre-ordering something if I really want it, but I never pre-order from stores as it's not worth it (GAME, Grainger Games or a supermarket are by and large the only choice in the UK to my knowledge). I always pre-order from Amazon as they tend to be the cheapest option but also that the price never gets any higher then when you pre-ordered the item in question but also the fact they don't charge until they send the thing. These days, however, I usually only trust Nintendo when pre-ordering things as they always deliver and don't cut content for DLC, which has been bothering me for a long time, such as when Codemasters had about five different packs with exclusive cars and track variants for GRiD 2 for different retailers for the console versions but gave them all away on Steam along with (the frankly better) original and again, the price was better.

Thing is, Jim, we're not the people who need telling this. It's the average person in the street who doesn't know there's better alternatives who isn't trying to fleece them.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

And this is why dear viewers you buy used.

 

[GinraiPrime]

The only things game wise I've pre-ordered this year;

Super Robot Wars OG Saga Masou Kishin F Coffin of the End
Person Q Wild Card Edition
Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus
Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson
Tales of Xillia 2

These are games from companies I've got no problem giving that little extra help as their games typically don't have many copies printed, especially with Persona Q cause as I'm in the UK we've got the same collector's edition as the US but its very limited and plus Atlus aren't total jerks with their consumers at least in my experience. Same can be said for Banpresto with their Super Robot Wars games.
I see it as its fine to pre-order if you know its gonna sell like hot cakes like Jim mentioned but if its something you know is gonna be around for quite awhile then don't bother. In truth I wasn't really bothered with Alien: Isolation as like many others I was cautious after Colonial Marines. Seeing that they're pulling more dlc bullshit I don't think I'll be bothering at all with this game at launch.

 

[Talvrae]

Funny, i don't actually think that DLC really need to be in Alien Isolation. It dosent seem to be essential of the story, and it seem to just be a retread of the last act of the original movie. Dosent seem essential to enjoy the game. The annoncement of that DLC did nothing for me to want to preorder that game, me that also is a big Alien fan

 

[Wilco86]

On topic: I don't pre-ordering a game. I don't even understand buying a game at launch. Why do people feel they need to get it right away? Why can't you people wait a few months or at least a week? Why do you have to have it now?

Well, I wasn't all that hyped about The Last of Us and didn't actively seek information about it, but before I bought it from sale about 5-6 months after its release I had already been spoiled about the prologue and some other key parts of the story - one of which was from GameTrailers' GT Countdown or some other official gaming video about other games than just TLoU. (Too soon, GT, and no any kind of heads up! -warning...)

 

[Guffe]

The situation is that good in the states with games?

I've been wondering about using the Eshop more, but I live in the third or fourth bigest city in Finland, and our gamestop only gets 5 copys per game, Nintendogames mind me, unless I pre-order it it will be damn difficult to get my hadns on it.

There are only one or two other stores that sell videogames (one which is closing) and they gett games in like 3 months after released since they're actually electronic stores.

So over here pre-order is a pretty big thing unless you use the internet and its services.

 

[sXeth]

Ah yes, I stopped pre-ordering after Skyrim came as an unplayable mess, and Twisted Metal's fundamentally broken skirmish AI with tacked on singleplayer campaign.

I pre-ordered Destiny, but I played that for 2 weeks already to decide.


This seems like an odd example to make a decisive stand over though. Its not pre-order exclusive (even in the not-really, we'll release it in a few months sense most of it is), being put out as DLC ontop. And its very obviously not part of the main story, its definitely bonus content. It seems more like letting one store sell the Ultimate/GotY/Complete/Legend edition at cut rate then anything.

 

[happyninja42]

I've never been a big fan of pre-orders. The last time I recall doing it was for Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls expansion, and that's specifically because I wanted the glowy wings cosmetic perk to run around with. I was fairly confident the quality of the game was going to be on par with D3, so I wasn't too worried about getting scammed.

Aside from that though, meh, don't really care to play a game on release date that badly anymore. I've been playing video games for...god...31 years basically. The shine of the new release has long since worn away. xD

 

[Thanatos2k]

Anytime a seemingly important piece of content is partitioned off for pre-order or day one DLC content, I realize how little the developers care about the cohesion or completeness of their own narrative.

EA, of course, is the worst offender with this. How can you sell a fantasy RPG with entire characters as partitioned off content? We saw it happen to Dragon Age and Mass Effect where they started designing party members that were meaningless to the overall plot due to the way they designed "content" to be dropped in and out at will. These practices hurt videogames more than people realize.

I disagree that EA is the worst offender, for I do believe if those characters weren't included as DLC we would never get them at all

Unfortunately we know that to be incorrect....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRRpGlmtws8

 

[Hutzpah Chicken]

Jim, I get that you want to point out the problems and such, but you look rather foolish to call shit on someone without offering a solution. I'm sure that you have one, so why not share it?

 

[rebelscum]

I've preordered a total of one game. It was Arkham City, and even then it was only because HMV were giving out an Arkham t-shirt and the first issue of the accompanying graphic novel free if you did so.

But preordering for a chunk of in-game content? That's something I can't get behind, especially since us non-US gamers won't have a chance of getting exclusive Gamestop content in the first place.

 

[Citizen Graves]

Jim, I get that you want to point out the problems and such, but you look rather foolish to call shit on someone without offering a solution. I'm sure that you have one, so why not share it?

He did. And he offered it to you. It's: "don't fucking pre-order games."


P.S.: it's really nice how so many people here offer excuses for why they pre-ordered a game and how it was alright when they did it that one time.........

Hey, people, we all vomited on our own shoes at some point in our life.
It's fine.
As long as you learn from it and stop being a weak pussy after you learned your lesson.

 

[Metalix Knightmare]

You know who did the Pre-Order thing right? Fable 3. All you got was a nifty sword that was only good for evil characters, or at least was meant for them. It wasn't even a particularly strong sword. It just looked cool.

What that is, is nothing more than a nice little bonus for those who bought the game new. THAT is what all Pre-Order DLC should be. A nice little bonus you can live without, but is still nice to have around.