Pre-Order bonuses, And the demise of gaming quality.

Marine Iguana

Marine Iguana

Marine Iguana

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I thought I would create a separate topic for this before the Aliens thread goes balls up.


So after watching TotalBiscuits video and reading the reviews on the latest Alien game it seems we are making gaming worse for ourselves and we all know what we are doing but cannot stop, Why?

Why do we need the crap that gets put together as a "Bonus" in a game that we don't even care about when we are playing.

Review embargo's and blatant false advertising to reviewers how did this come to happen, How the hell does the industry stop this? I doubt it is possible but someone must be able to draw a line and say don't cross this otherwise we will just be in a downward spiral of every game from most developers, Half Life 3 the hype around this long awaited game could be one of the biggest to come, I know Valve are to be trusted most of the time but they are just another developer whos interest will be maximum profit I can assure anyone, I fear with so much behind it if it's not upto what people are expecting then it will go in the pile of games that everyone has that you wish you never pre-ordered.

I will stop rambling now and see if we can stop being moths to a flame and prepare to get shot down TB puts it across much better than I do. :D
 
I think preorder bonuses are a good thing personally. It's great for the devoted fans that want that little bit more exclusivity for there money. Sure, there's been some god awful representations of this recently, but I can't see that anyone would be interested in additional contecnt for a game they weren't interested in to begin with...
 
But doesn't the bonus make you want to own the game more before it's released so you have that item, Once it's released you are stuck with the game regardless and can't do anything about it just so you can say to your mates I got such and such for pre ordering.
I just can't see how this can continue I just don't pre order anymore was going to pre order Crysis but looking again I am not going to be an idiot, I love the Crysis series but not to the point where getting a nice bow is going to make me part with my money and no game will ever again after watching that video.
 
Pre-Order bonuses are mostly garnish, for example lets look at the Defiance Deluxe digi version

£55

  • Game Client
  • Collector's Outfit - Ark Infiltrator
  • 'Hydra' rocket launcher
  • Rare VBI Sentinel Shield
  • "+5" Inventory Space
  • 30-Day XP Boost
  • 30-Day Scrip Boost
  • Lock Box
  • Unique Vehicle Color
  • NO SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED
Click to expand...
the normal version

£35

  • Game Client
  • NO SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED
Click to expand...
Whether you have played the game or not, can anyone honestly justify the £20 difference in price ?? There is nothing in that pack that you need nor anything that will enhance the game experience.

The Ultimate version below is contains future DLC of which there is NO factual information given and they are charging £80 :eek::eek::eek:

  • Gamestop Exclusive
  • Exclusive Messenger Bag
  • Collector's Box
  • Game Client
  • 2 postcards
  • DEFI Stickers
  • Ark Infiltrator Outfit
  • The Art of Defiance Art Book
  • Limited Edition Hellbug Figurine
  • VBI Ark Hunter Contract
  • Defiance Digital Soundtrack
  • Rare VBI Sentinel Shield
  • 'Hydra' rocket launcher
  • 7-Day XP Boost
  • 7-Day Scrip Boost
  • "+5" Inventory Space
  • Exclusive in-game title: Pale Wars Ronin
  • Lock Box
  • DLC Season Pass
  • 1200 Bits
  • NO SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED
Click to expand...
For me, I will usually pre-order a game if its half the normal price or I will make a significant saving and with knowledge that I can cancel it prior to release.
 
I'll always pre order a collectors edition if it comes with a statue or something like that. I hate the different pre order bonuses at different places thing though, that does my head in.
 
I really don't like this practice at all! especially when coupled with review embargoes that don't allow the consumer to make an informed choice about the product they intend buying, in this case it's plain to see that with Aliens colonial marines gearbox knew it would garner largely unfavourable reviews & kept the embargo in place to cover any loss of pre-orders that may have been brought about by poor reviews.
I dodged a bullet on this game but have been stung before by similar marketting stratagies luckily for me I learned from my mistakes & won't buy any game now unless I have seen a review by a reviewer I respect, if everyone adhered to this rule of thumb a lot of the dross in gaming would never be released IMHO.
 
I will never pre-order a game again after Hitman Absolution. (except maybe Rome 2 :p)

Besides, most games will drop to under £15 in a few months, sometimes less.
 
Only game I have ever pre-ordered was Skyrim, that was almost a mistake! (Modding community to the rescue though).

Otherwise I wait for reviews, I'm not one to have to have a game on launch.
 
Maybe the modding community can fix the problems with Aliens CM but its doubtful that anyone savi enough to make a decent mod would go near it with a barge pole, oh well at least we had the old Aliens vs predator games.
 
they cant its a bad game.

the previous aliens vs predator actually looks better and plays better on highest settings. quite a feet lol
 
I really don't like his voice.

Bit meh on pre-order bonuses really, FM13 gave me a crack at the Beta which was well worth it, Deus-Ex didn't give me squat. Civ5 offered another civ that I paid 69p for but I saved a tenner buying the box (paid for most the dlc with that saving).

Overall you'd have to be a fool to get really suckered into advertising for really bad games to pre-order them. Most people can guess what is a good one (though Spore is the ultimate exception)...
 
pingwing said:
Overall you'd have to be a fool to get really suckered into advertising for really bad games to pre-order them. Most people can guess what is a good one (though Spore is the ultimate exception)...
Click to expand...

How about games that completely mislead with demo footage that isn't even in the final product (Aliens)?
 
I don't usually pre-order games. I did Black Ops 2 purely as I was going to get it on release, Black Ops 1 was my fave cod so far (still is), and was offered a discount. Was only 10% but better than a kick in the knackers. Wasn't all that interested in Nuketown 2025. Glad I have it, obviously, but how often do we actually get to play it? Wouldn't miss it if I didn't have it though.

Half the time you get the pre-order stuff anyway! I didn't pre-order Gears Of War 3, got it 3 days after release and still got the extra character skin.

I have pre-ordered Bioshock Infinite premium. Purely as I really fancy the extras. These are physical items though, not in-game. Well there is some in-game stuff, but its the physical things I am after.
 
The pre-order bonuses are there so a company can realise revnue before it's even released, and also an attempt to halt the "I'll buy it in the steam sale" price gouging. It can be devisive if its multiplayer game and it gives a tactical advantage.
 
I don't understand why you would pre order digitally distributed products anyway. Pre ordering was about making sure you had a copy on launch day and didnt need to worry about it selling out. Now that doesn't happen... So just buy it when it comes out.
 
Pre-ordered a few mmos in my time. Fell for the hype and the 3-7 days early access. I find the quality of a lot of the so called 'deluxe' version of games to be bad. There are exceptions but most of the time the standard version is near enough the same and much better value. I don't expect to be pre-ordering anything else in the future.
 
You only really want to pre-order if you know what your getting in to. Over the last year, I think I've only pre-ordered 2 games, one to support the developer for something I was extremely interested in, and the other was an expansion to an mmo I was playing (shouldn't have bothered though, since they made it available for 50% off within 4 weeks of release lol)
 
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