do you pre-order or buy games day 1 ?

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Woodsey

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Aug 9, 2009
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If I do pre-order it tends to be about an hour before they unlock. No reason not to if you're awaiting a game: discount and you get all the reviews out by then anyway.
 

Diddy_Mao

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Jan 14, 2009
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I probably only reserve and buy 2 or 3 games on Day One per year. Usually for games that I'm already excited about or because I'm already a fan of the property or if it's a game that might not be popular enough to get a wide release.

I also do it because I've worked in the special circle of hell that is entertainment focused retail customer service. I know these guys have metrics they have to meet and since reserving a game that I'm already going to buy doesn't really cost me anything extra it does nothing but help out the dude behind the counter.
 

Inconspicuous Trenchcoat

Shinku Hadouken!
Nov 12, 2009
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I've been pre-ordering and day 1/week 1 buying quite a few games this year. But that's more because I recently acquired a decent paying job, not that I desperately need to pre-order. "Woah, I actually have some money, I'm going to buy video games with it!" I'll also pre-order maybe once or twice a year to be a part of the hype zeitgeist. The only thing I've been chagrin for going all in preemptively is Guild Wars 2. It's so boring, but that's my fault for not participating in the beta like a smart person would have done.

Before my better job, I'd pre-order nothing and play stuff late. I didn't play Mass Effect until the first one was $5 and the second one was $10 on Steam. I'm thinking I'll move back away from my recent rampant pre-ordering.

What have I pre-ordered/day 1/ week 1'd this year: Sleeping Dogs, Hitman: Absolution, Borderlands 2, Torchlight 2, FTL: Faster Than Light, Dishonored, Guild Wars 2, Hell Yeah: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit, Mark of the Ninja, Legend of Grimrock, The Walking Dead (I bought the whole thing blind when Ep. 1 & 2 were available) and probably a few others that I can't remember.

Something I found hilarious: Some people claiming on forums to have pre-ordered multiple copies of Borderlands 2 to get multiple golden keys. You really want guaranteed "good" loot that badly? In a game where hoping to find good loot serendipitously is a significant part of the fun? Okay, man, it's your money to burn. Of course, if simply putting a retractable 5 bucks down got you a code[footnote]I'm assuming you needed to fully pay off the game and wouldn't receive the code until you picked up the game[/footnote], the above is less retarded than it initially appeared.
 

Aaron Sylvester

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Jul 1, 2012
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Err neither of those options. Here's my typical process:

0) Watch gameplay trailers or play alpha/beta/demo (if available), see if I'm interested
1) Wait for game to fully launch
2) Give it a week, no need to hurry
3) Read all the official and unofficial reviews that have come out during that time (Escapist included)
4) Ask IRL/online friends whether they liked the game
5) If all of the above check out, I buy the game.

I don't just throw my money away on games like that lol, especially not with pre-orders.
Pre-ordering is from a bygone era, something you did to ensure you got the product on release day before it sold out from shelves...or to beat the crazy release-day queues at the local game store. But now we have infinitely-available digital copies that are only 1 click away from our warm chairs at home, pre-ordering is just dumb. Unless the devs are giving away some MASSIVE perks or something.
 

TheSteeleStrap

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May 7, 2008
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I'll usually only pre-order when there are bonuses involved. Other than that, I'll usually wait till the price comes down at least a little.
 

RobfromtheGulag

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May 18, 2010
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Back in the day stores did actually sell out of games. To my knowledge this no longer happens. FF8, FF9, 10 even perhaps all sold out. So pre-ordering was par for the course back then.

Nowadays with digital distribution there's never a shortage, so I only pre-order games I know I want on release. Bonuses tend to be no incentive at all, but why not get them if I'm going to get the game anyway.
 

SangRahl

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Feb 11, 2009
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I pre-order franchises that I know I not only enjoy, but will likely devour for more than one playthrough.
Batman: Arkham Asylum? Three full S/P playthroughs, including Harley Quinn.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations? Pre-Ordering through Gamestop ::shiver:: meant not having to fork out for that Portal-esque S/P & M/P Map DLC combo that I didn't want to begin with.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown? Practically on the day of it being listed on Amazon... My crappy laptop might chug a bit with Skyrim, but it only gets fatigued after 5+ hours of waxing X-Rays.

Now, I've held off from Pre-Ordering ACIII, mostly because I'm still dealing with the alien invasion, and I'd rather wait and pay once for the ungodly plethora of store/shop-exclusive S/P content they doled out for Pre-Order bonuses, this time. And, yes, I'll gladly pay for more side-mission content in an Assassin's Creed game. The DaVinci and Copernicus DLCs for AC:B were a blast, well polished, and worth every cent.
 

Scarim Coral

Jumped the ship
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Oct 29, 2010
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I only do it if it's a game I know I will definitely like for sure like Legend of Zelda or that company has one of those game deal likea limited edition stuff like a figure or t-shirt ete. I am a sucker for those limited/ bonus edition for of the time (I ain't going to fork out an £100 cost limited edition).
 

Fiad

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Apr 3, 2010
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I do, but only if I know for sure that the game is going to be one I will enjoy. So from a franchise I like or from a dev that has a history of not making bad games. Only time I have gotten screwed over by hype was Prototype, and that was more from a friend who kept pestering me to preorder it.
 

King of Asgaard

Vae Victis, Woe to the Conquered
Oct 31, 2011
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I wait for reviews to come out, and for any known big issues be reported and hopefully fixed.
THEN I'll buy a game.
 

Chester Rabbit

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Dec 7, 2011
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I'll pre-order if it's actually worth my buck to do so. Like if the game comes with an art book, and it better be a damn good art book that isn?t just full of concepts that were already put up online or that can be collected in the actual game (Looking at you Mortal Kombat) Or if it comes with a making of DVD or something. Otherwise they can keep their Song Bird statue.
As for day one purchases, if I like what I have seen through all the footage and what I have heard up to release you bet I will buy it day one.
 

DeltaEdge

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May 21, 2010
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I've only pre-ordered a game once. That on March 13th of this year to get Tales of Graces f. I don't usually care about getting a game on day 1, but I really care about the Tales series and desperately want more of them to be localized, so I showed my support by pre-ordering and getting it on day 1. Since I was grounded at that moment, I didn't end up getting to play it until about 2 weeks after launch anyways lol. I also caught wind of the fact that Tales of Xillia will be hitting the States in 2013 so that is also definitely on my pre-order list.
Although I pre-ordered that game and plan to pre-order this game, there's also the fact that they have been out in Japan for a while before their Western release, so I can't say I knew nothing about the games before pre-ordering. But I think I could honestly say that the only reason I don't pre-order more frequently is because in the past I didn't used to keep up with release dates of games that I had my eye on, but now I expect to pre-order a lot more in the future such as the new Disgaea and the aforementioned Tales of Xillia.
Also, there is the fact that these games are from well-established franchises. I don't know if I would go out of my way to pre-order a completely new game, unless it looked really good.
(Also notable, I'm someone who can just walk into a store look at some game boxes and choose simply based on what I see on the cover art and case description, so I am a bit more willing to buy on a gut feeling than some. That's how I found the Tales series :p)
 

Tallim

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Mar 16, 2010
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Very much depends on the game. I very rarely pre-order and so far I think the only games I ever have pre-ordered this gen were Demon's Souls and Dark Souls.

Oh and also Blood Bowl Chaos Edition so I could get the tasty discount for owning earlier bits and have it all ready to go on release.
 

Baldr

The Noble
Jan 6, 2010
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It depends, I use to pre-order at Gamestop, I stopped doing that when I found it wasn't worth the money. I usually go digital if I can, Amazon for games I can't get digitally/collectors editions, Wal-mart for games I want at midnight.
 

Batou667

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Oct 5, 2011
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I have never, ever preordered a game. Bargain bucket rummager for life!

...until Halo 4, that is. I am officially and unashamedly giddy as a schoolgirl about the launch of this game. I preordered it and have taken the whole week off work so that I can play through the bastard thing co-op with my brother and a couple of friends. Sometimes you just have to get caught up in the hype and enjoy the "being there", you know? I suppose that's similar to why people queue for midnight book launches when they could just download the damn thing for Kindle at their leisure the next morning. The product isn't changed, but the experience is.
 

neverarine

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Nov 18, 2009
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skyrim is the only game i have ever pre-orderd or bought on the first day, most of my games are bought months, or years after they have been out... like waiting for a GoTY edition

though interestingly enough i have no problems wasting money with pre-ordering anime :/