Do you pre-order? or, Milady makes her semi-yearly attempt at starting a thread, part ii

[Milady]

With the new generation of consoles getting a lot of attention lately, or in recent discussions about the art style of a particular game, the topic of pre-ordering things always seems to come into play. Lots of people seem to pre-order for various reasons: cool bonuses like art books or in-game content; because it's essentially the same as "saving up" for something in particular, with less temptation to take that money and use it elsewhere; to avoid the stress of getting a highly anticipated release on day 1.
Whilst all these seem like decent and rational pros to pre-order, I've never convinced myself to do so. I don't know if it's just that I'm more oriented towards instant gratification in my purchases, or if I've just never been SO EXCITED about something that I'm willing to pay 60+ bucks for it right now even though I won't actually own it for months.

I suppose that's just it. As I'm writing this it actually occurs to me that I used to hate even ordering things online. If I'm going to pay money for something now, I'd like to have it now. These days though, I'm willing to wait a couple days for a shipment from Amazon~

It could also be related to the fact that my father and I browsed used game stores even when I was very little (anyone remember FuncoLand? ), and coming from a paycheck to paycheck sort of family, I'm used to being a few years behind when it comes to the newest releases and consoles. And to tell the truth, I sort of prefer it that way.

Whatever the reason, I don't pre-order. And when the topic comes up I seem to be in the minority. Maybe you guys have other reasons that you like to pre-order, or maybe you have some really cool things to tell us about that you got as a pre-order bonus. Whatever the case, this is the place~

[Zaladane]

I dont't pre-order. I think it's rather pointless and ridiculous when games shoot down in price so fast now.

Guess people who do have the money to blow.

Give it to me instead. I'll pay you back in backrubs.

[Pickles]

I generally pre-order if I have the spare cash, rather than getting to launch and I'm too broke to buy the game, I've also pre-ordered from amazon but in those cases that was to avail of the low price at the time of pre-order.

I find while some pre-order bonuses can be cool, they never impact my decision to do so. On top of that if I was someone who cared for pre-order bonuses, I would have to say that places like gamestop often don't deliver (the pre-order bonus for skyrim was a number of Novels set in the Elder Scrolls universe, but they failed to get them in and offered the official guide instead). While this did not effect me, I imagine there were many hardcore fans of the series that would have been no doubt upset about the result.

On top of that the idea of console exclusive content is idiotic. I understand the need to make gamers feel like they are making a big choice when choosing consoles, but really its no different to launching a book on amazon with an extra chapter which was left out of the paper back (A book of the year edition would later be released containing the missing chapter).

Pre-order.

I dont't pre-order. I think it's rather pointless and ridiculous when games shoot down in price so fast now.

Guess people who do have the money to blow.

Give it to me instead. I'll pay you back in backrubs.

Do you have a number I could contact you on so we can work something out?

[deadlegion]

Nope, never have and probably never will

[Zaladane]

Oh that's another thing pre order bonuses
What's the point if you can just get them goty editions or sometimes even free dlc?

Silliness.

Oh an Steve:

1-800-hot-rubs

Speak with Shaniqua

[Cookie Monster]

I don't usually pre-order stuff (perhaps 2 games a year?) except when I think the pre-order bonus deserves it and I'm sure I'm going to get it. Most of the times I don't do it cos I know I'm not going to play the game as soon as I get it..

[deadlegion]

What's the point if you can just get them goty editions or sometimes even free dlc?

This.
If I'm going to spend some cash on a game I really want, I prefer to get a complete (or complete as possible without online purchasing) version. And yeah, some stuff has "free" dlc so I'll just get a basic version.

[Milady]

Oh that's another thing pre order bonuses
What's the point if you can just get them goty editions or sometimes even free dlc?

Silliness.

Oh an Steve:

1-800-hot-rubs

Speak with Shaniqua

I'm never particularly interested in DLC and such with pre-orders, they usually amount to some small cosmetic change in a character's costume or a piece of music. The things I think are neat are the artbooks and such, things that can be hard to find for sale afterwards, akin to some of the extra books and figurines that frequently accompany collector's editions.

I suppose another thing that prevents me from pre-ordering is the fact that I don't follow gaming news anywhere near as closely as I did when I was a teenager. Half the time I don't even know new games have been developed and released until everyone here starts buying it and talking about how they're playing it all the time. It's hard to pre-order things when they've already been out a month.

[Cosmic]

I occasionally pre-order games but it's rare. Like, really rare. I can only think of maybe half a dozen times I've bothered to do so and it's always been a series I really enjoy that isn't likely to drop in price immediately after launch. Something like GTA V is probably going to be £40+ for a long time, for example, so £35 from Amazon to have it on release day isn't too bad. I also know people who do the same with CoD or first party Nintendo games because the prices get jacked up right after release and tend to stay that way until the next one comes out.

Anything else though, no. The prices drop so quickly on most games these days it's not worth it no matter how much horse armour DLC they throw in.

[Gare]

Does Kickstarter count? If so there's a few things like Project Eternity and Tides of Numenera. But other than that, not really... I think I pre-ordered Amnesia a couple of years back, but that's about it.

[FlavaFlave]

The only thing I will preorder is a console - I don't care about bonuses since usually most of them are generic, and in all honesty I don't really even buy physical copies of anything anymore anyway. I guess you could say I "preorder" digital games to a certain extent, since I usually pay for them a day or two before release, but that's just due to convenience, or because I happen to be browsing Steam or the PSN at that particular moment.

Anyway, I'm not a fan of preorders, and I've NEVER not been able to get a game that I wanted at launch. Granted, I don't buy the harder to get NIS games or whatever, but the titles I buy there's a slim chance you need to preorder.

That and I try to support Gameslop as little as possible

[Drageuth]

I'll preorder if I think the game will become hard to find later, or if there's a cool collectors edition of some kind that I think is worthwhile. Or if it's a game being released from a smallish studio that interests me.

This usually amounts to 2-3 preorders a year, if that.

[Jazzmarazz]

I preorder Square-Enix titles, sometimes Atlus and thats about it...I did not preorder SMT IV but still managed to get the collector's box set. The only reason I preorder is when I belive there will be limited time goodies.

I may preorder pokemon from Target because I get a $5 gift card back. Gotta look out for the deals yo. :thriftyJazz:

EDIT: Good job on the thread, Milady.

[Prude]

My dad is ridiculously into pre-ordering games. He loves any kind of bonus material that comes with it even though he doesn't know anything about the game at all. He's so terrible with money and thinks he HAS to pre-order everything...
For me, I'd only pre-order a game if I'm REALLY excited about it. (uuhh like totally the new grand theft auto, it looks so amaze) But since I'm so poor, I usually don't?

I really think that you should pre-order once in a while. It's something to look forward to! So fun~

[Milady]

My dad is ridiculously into pre-ordering games. He loves any kind of bonus material that comes with it even though he doesn't know anything about the game at all. He's so terrible with money and thinks he HAS to pre-order everything...
For me, I'd only pre-order a game if I'm REALLY excited about it. (uuhh like totally the new grand theft auto, it looks so amaze) But since I'm so poor, I usually don't?

I really think that you should pre-order once in a while. It's something to look forward to! So fun~

I can look forward to things just fine without having to commit money to them in the meantime. Sure, you can cancel preorders, but I'd rather just keep my money for important stuff. Like food.