Lending Out $5 One Game At A Time: What Gets You To Preorder?
Starting today, you can walk into a Best Buy and pre-order Gears of War 2 by putting $5 down, and if you decide to splurge and get the limited edition, they'll throw in a free remote controlled Centaur tank for free, a replica of a vehicle in the game. The tank will be available when you pick up the game on November 7.
Generally I'm pretty down on pre-ordering. Often I'll put cash down on small games I want to support early or titles I'm worried will have low print runs, but there's really no chance of me not being able to get a copy of Gears of War 2 next month. Microsoft isn't stupid, and I'm sure that entire factories are ready to pump out disks from now until the end of the year. I've also got no need for a remote controlled tank other than terrorizing my cat, but combine the two and now they've got me: pretty much as soon as I post this and close the cover on my laptop, I'm going to grab my keys and head out to happily give Best Buy my $5. Cheap plastic crap wins again.
With this holiday season being so competitive, a lot of games are giving out preorder bonuses. LittleBigPlanet is probably the worst offender, with 5 different bonuses for 5 different retailers, but I generally get frustrated whenever a game gives out "exclusive" in-game content they claim I will never be able to get otherwise (for the record, I'm still torn between the Nariko and Kratos sackfolk). I will say that Amazon.com does not require any cash up front, although that might be part of the reason they seem to get the short end of the stick on these sorts of deals.
I'm sure everyone has a long holiday wish list, but which upcoming games have you actually gone out and pre-ordered so far, and did they do anything that pushed you over the edge or are you just a natural pre-orderer? Has there ever been a pre-order bonus that you thought was worth the effort, or have most ended up ignored, sitting at the back of your closet?
After the break, check out a short commercial explaining the Best Buy/Centaur Tank deal, narrated by Lester "Cole-Train" Speight.
Free Exclusive Tank With Gears of War 2 Limited Edition Offer [Best Buy]
[via: CheapAssGamer]
Dawdle
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 5 October 2008
· Comments (13)
Other stuff like this: bonus, deals, epic games, gears of war 2, microsoft game studios, preorder, question, xbox 360
the only game Ive ever preordered was GTAIV a few months before it came out and that was only because I had the money at the time. I only preorder a game if I have the money.
now I mostly get games off ebay, trying to get them for less (just got COD4 collectors edition for 40 bucks, saving 20-30 bucks off what Id spend in the store.)
I preordered Rockband 2 Special Edition and Fable II... My bestie has RB1, so now we're moving the band to my place. I've always been in love with Fable, so I had to put money on that. I could only afford to because it was financial aid refund day. I paid them both in full... And bought and Xbox 360... And my wallet cried.
last two was world of warcraft burning crusade and halo 3... these days though... I'm not too much into doing the preorder. Lately I just wait for the games to pop up for cheap on half.com or amazon or craigslist and when their 30 dollars or below I go and get them. What used to get me to go for it was wanting to have one ready or something... ... however seeing that I can still waltz into a eb and buy the halo 3 legendary package has left me thinking otherwise...
I've never pre-ordered. I would if I really, really wanted the game and would cherish it for ever (or at least 5 years+). For example Marvel vs Capcom 2 (DreamCast), and the Halo(s).
But now-a-days, I don't want to deal with glitches, bugs, and patches. Worse, if the game totally doesn't live up to the hype.
I'd rather wait, soon there will be a used copy, or a "a lot of ppl bought this so we are lowering the price" edition.
I preordered Zelda: Wind Waker in order to get the Ocarina of Time bonus disc, since I'd never had an N64. That disc got more play in my Gamecube than any actual Gamecube game. Then I preordered Star Wars Rebel Strike in order to get the emulated version of the original Star Wars arcade game (MAME did a better job with the vector emulation, so that was kind of pointless.)
Since then, I've preordered a few games that I figured I'd have a tough time getting on launch day, either because they'd be sold out (Super Mario Galaxy) or no one would be stocking it (Dewy's Adventure.) I don't see myself pre-ordering anything else in the foreseeable future because the Wii and 360 games I'm interested in are mostly the kind you can get at Wal-Mart or Target.
I only pre-order games I really, really want and know i'll get immediately anyway. Always nice to get some free trinket to decorate my desk with or a t-shirt.
As for special editions, I only buy them if they add something in the actual game... or if it's an Elder Scrolls game because I want to actually give them more money for making another Elder Scrolls game.
A bit of a biased opinion here, but c'est la vie. I usually preorder stuff to make sure my Gamestop gets it. With a lot of the niche titles that come out, ESPECIALLY my PC games, if it doesn't get preordered, it doesn't get to the store. For instance: We got 5 copies of Persona 3 when it came out. 4 were preorders. FES was the same way, and P4 will be too.
If you want the game, it's a good idea to preorder. Simple as that.
I nearly always preorder, but I think the system is different in New Zealand. Here, preordering is just promising to pay for the game when it comes out, and the shop promises to have a copy for you. You don't have to give them any money until you get your game. I don't quite understand the American system; does your five dollars come off the price? Or do you pay an extra five dollars?
@SemiColon: The $5 is a deposit, and they take it off the price of the game when you actually buy it. $5 seems to be standard at most of the big retailers, but there are differences here and there. I believe it's refundable most places, although I don't know if that's always the case when it involves these items or codes that they give you when you put money down.
As EshuElegbara mentions above, a few big retailers like GameStop generally only order games based on their preorder numbers, meaning if you're not on the list you probably won't get a game. This is primarily because they don't want excess stock sitting around, as they make most of their money buying and selling used games, which have a greater profit margin. "Big box" stores, like Best Buy or Target, can afford to keep copies of most games in stock.
Like I said above, I will generally pre-order games with low print runs that may get ignored by most stores. For big games, I'd most often rather wait until the game comes out in case reviews aren't as good as I'd like or I'm a little short on cash that week and decide to wait.
chances are the codes for nariko and kratos will all be online when the game is launched
@Brandon
Nah, the Kratos code I have from my preorder is very CD-Key-ish. Lots of random numbers and letters, and a scratch-off card. I think they're unique.
I preorder'd a ton of games this year, and at one time I realized I had 6 different Atlus games preorder'd and that's one for every system, ..damn that company, its like I should just send them a check once a month to stop making games, would save me alot of money!
Often I'll choose where my pre-orders go based on when I can get the game from a retailer. If they'll have a midnight launch or something - I'm much more apt to go and get the game there rather than taking time from my day to go pick it up, and having to wait until after work to play it.