I can't trust pre-orders anymore

[Sansha]

So I log on to Steam today to find Dead Island, a game I've been looking forward to finding more info on, up for pre-purchase sale for fifty bucks. I got excited for a few moments, then just disappointed.

A long time ago I pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2, and upon playing it found it to be generally disappointing. I wish I'd waited until it was much cheaper to buy it. The same with New Vegas and Duke Nukem Forever. I've had very little pre-order success, the Orange Box being the only real joy I've had in pre-purchasing. Everything else I have, I've waited for reviews on. I thought New Vegas was going to be an improvement on the epic Fallout 3, but no.

My point is, that since the abolition of demos, can we really trust pre-orders anymore? The price of titles has always been a hot debate, between high prices, microtransactions, demos and reviews.
I'm no longer willing to pay for a product that hasn't been played by others and reviewed yet. It's disappointing, really, fallen into a state of 'everything is shit until proven otherwise' rather than being confidently able to get excited about pre-ordering a game so I can play it as soon as it's out.
The addition of pre-order bonuses is more likely to make me suspicious than sway me to a purchase. A demo of the game would definitely peak my interest, and give me a much more expedited 'yay or nay' on a purchase. I don't understand why developers don't do them anymore.

New Vegas and DNF sit uninstalled on my games list, and I really wish I still had the combined $160 I invested in them... they just weren't worth the asking price.

So do you pre-order with confidence? Are you excited for the hideous screaming massacre of Dead Island? I am - but I'll wait for the reviews.

 

[PancakesSUCKTHEYDO]

Learned that with Black Ops. I didn't preoreder, got it at launch day.

Not buying anything until its been out for a month at least.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

You're right. I would never buy i game i haven't personally tested before. The downfall of demos is not only a shame, but a cheap trick played at our cost (which again isn't cheap at all).

 

[Woodsey]

I love Steam pre-orders.

You can read all the reviews you want, and then pre-order it 5 minutes before it unlocks - normally with a bonus and a slight price cut.

Win/win.

 

[TornadoFive]

I never pre-order unless I'm fairly confident the game will be good. This usually means it's a sequel to game I loved.

Example: I loved Batman:AA, so I'll most likely pre-order Arkham City. I loved Morrowind and Oblivion, so I'll pre-order Skyrim.

Other than that though, I'm very cautious when it come to buying games. I wait for reviews. I try and find gameplay videos. I wait for recommendations from people I trust. Or even better, a loan of the game from a friend to see if it's worth getting.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

Eh.

Why pre-order unless you have a specific reason to do so? If Amazon is offering me a $20 credit for pre-ordering, then sure, but locking in a purchase for a game that I'm not 100% on? Why?

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I don't mind pre-orders. I've been recently burned with the disappointing Crysis 2 but other than that, I've generally been happy with titles I've bought that way. Anything BioWare, including ME3 and TOR, Skyrim, DE: Human Revolution (and in the future Hitman 5 and Thief 4) I will for sure pre-order as I'll want them regardless of what anyone else says, friend, reviewer, anyone. Generally if I know roughly what to expect I don't particularly need a demo.

In the past I've pre-ordered, Alpha Protocol, Portal 2, every Neverwinter Nights game/expeansion, etc. I wouldn't pre-order any old random title though.

 

[SonicKaos]

So I log on to Steam today to find Dead Island, a game I've been looking forward to finding more info on, up for pre-purchase sale for fifty bucks. I got excited for a few moments, then just disappointed.

A long time ago I pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2, and upon playing it found it to be generally disappointing. I wish I'd waited until it was much cheaper to buy it. The same with New Vegas and Duke Nukem Forever. I've had very little pre-order success, the Orange Box being the only real joy I've had in pre-purchasing. Everything else I have, I've waited for reviews on. I thought New Vegas was going to be an improvement on the epic Fallout 3, but no.

Did you play L4D2 with friends? If not, that's why you didn't enjoy it. It can be rather boring by yourself, but with friends it's fantastic. I'm STILL playing the game... on 360 no less (so no mods or community levels) because my friends play it. Versus mode is fun times. As for the other games you haven't even installed yet... why haven't you? You've alread payed for them and you can't trade them in on Steam so you might as well try them yourself rather than going off of what other people are saying. New Vegas was fun enough, though I never bothered with DNF because I knew it was going to fail before it came out.

I'm going to pre-order Dead Island soon though. Based on watching gameplay videos and other people's impressions from conventions and stuff, I can tell it's going to be a good game. It might disappoint in some small ways, but it'll be worth the money to play 4-player co-op with my L4D playing friends for sure.

 

[vxicepickxv]

I bought Portal 2 on preorder 13 minutes before it dropped dead for that, and my roommate got a free copy of Portal. For his next trick, he's going to get a working computer.

 

[goronlink8]

I have had no trouble pre-ordering anything.
Mainly due to the fact I KNOW I'll like whatever I'm preordering

 

[Byere]

Yea, I learned my lesson from New Vegas. Very few times do I pre-order PC games, but I did so with NV because I loved Fallout 3 so much. Now, I didn't notice much in the way of graphical bugs when I first got to play it. hell, I've rarely had any bugs with the game. My beef was actually with Steam.
I don't know how it is anywhere else, but Amazon manage to send stuff out usually a day before release. I got my copy and I was thrilled. I installed it, buzzing with excitement that I get to play it... Then Steam pushes it aside, thrusts out it's over-sized, steroid-boosted chest, and says "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! You can't play this!!!!!!!".
I was so pissed off. I had a physical copy of the game, all the data needed to install and run it... and some junked up program that thinks its the boss wants to slap me when I paid good money for a game I wanted to play... that's not even multiplayer or co-op!

So yea, since most PC games tend to work with Steam... and require you to have it to play them... I won't be pre-ordering again any time soon.

Only reason I have Steam was because I wanted to play The Last Remnant on my PC and it wouldn't let me without installing the stupid thing. *pouts*

 

[Azaraxzealot]

well there are some games that a developer has to try REALLY hard to mess up and therefore pre-ordering it will be a win-win.

Like Skyrim
or Saints Row: The Third
or Halo: Anniversary Edition
or Rock Band
or Pokemon

the list goes on, but you get my point. you should really only pre-order from developers who KNOW what they're doing.

 

[let's rock]

I know what you mean. I wait until it's been out, unless I know it will be good, such as with deus ex HR, well, might see a review or 2 on it first. I did preorder Bioshock 2, and was actualy impressed, though not as much as with the first one. And demos died because thay know their game is to the point where people will wait until the price drops, and they still want to sell some at full price

 

[WaysideMaze]

I've generally had good luck with pre orders, but I only tend to pre order on series that I'm a fan of.

Can't remember the last time I pre-ordered on a new IP.

 

[Katana314]

Learned my lesson from L4D1. I felt okay about it until I saw L4D2's teaser trailer.

Valve was the one company I would put blind faith in. Now, I only buy a game I haven't played if it's under $25, and there are no exceptions for "awesome companies".

 

[Grey_Focks]

I love Steam pre-orders.

You can read all the reviews you want, and then pre-order it 5 minutes before it unlocks - normally with a bonus and a slight price cut.

Win/win.

Yea, this word for word. I learned my lesson a few years ago, and now I never buy something without doing a bit of digging....but if I can do said digging in time to get some sort of bonus for pre-ordering, it only makes sense to do so.