Poll: Do you still buy games on release?

[TornadoFive]

I rarely day 1 purchase, or pre-order. I always like to see the reaction from actual gamers before buying something that's gonna leave a considerable hole in my wallet.

Take Brink for example. I was quite excited about it before release. A team based shooter with free-running and objectives other than "shoot everything thats a different colour to you"? This might be the game that finally gets me into FPS's!

Then it gets released and it turns out the single player is a joke, the free-running is nowhere near as big a part of gameplay as I was lead to believe and the different classes aren't actually that different to begin with.

Don't get me wrong, I might still pick it up if I find it cheaply somewhere, or one of my friends gets it. I'm just glad I didn't pre-order.

Only game that's caused me to break this rule has been AC Brotherhood. And I didn't regret it!

And I imagine Skyrim may be another one. But that's OK right?

 

[Alma Mare]

Never, out of principle. Most games are simply not worth 60 EUR, specially at release time when they're likely to be pre-patched and nearly broken. If it drops to the 30-40 range AND proves to be great (as I may experience with them fancy 'super-demos' around) then I'll buy it. Exception to this rule are DLC-milking cows such as Bethesda and Bioware titles. For those it's better to wait for the damn GOTY/Ultimate editions, because I'll be damned if I'll be purchasing the game in pieces at 5$ a slice.

 

[Auxiliary]

The list of games I will buy before reading several reviews is very limited. Usually a Blizzard game.

 

[ace_of_something]

I've never been one to be a day one purchaser. I don't have that kind of scratch. The last game I got on day one was starcraft 2. Won't be doing that again.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

I do not, never have done. Generally speaking I don't let myself get excited about games. The only recent game I bought less than three months after its release was Black Ops. Except I didn't pay for it, I just put it on my Christmas wish list.

Maybe I am a cynical ball of hate, but I am permanently on the mindset that everything is shit until proven otherwise. No amount of gorgeous preview videos, trailers or hype speeches have ever made me buy a game for full price at launch. Why even do that when I have tons of AAA titles of the past four years on sale for laughably low prices on Steam and Gamestop's permanent "buy 3, pay for 2" offer?

 

[Casual Shinji]

I don't buy that many games. I can't rent games in my country, so I only buy a game when I really want it.

I only bought 3 this year; Dragon Age 2, Portal 2, and L.A. Noire. And only one of those was a disappointment.

I'm curious. Because at first I figured that it must have been Dragon Age 2 you were disappointed with (cause it seemed like the entire world was), but I'm also hearing not-so-positive responses over L.A. Noire. Which one disappointed you?

I actually wanted to add "Guess which one?" at the end of my original post as a little joke, but yeah, it was Dragon Age 2.

L.A. Noire is good, but it just really starts to drag like a ***** during homicide.

 

[Xman490]

I got 3 of Yatzee's Top 5 from 2010 (Amnesia, Limbo, and Just Cause 2) at 50% off normal price in the past few months.
Other M made me skeptical of new games, but Portal 2 calmed my displeasure.

 

[DustyDrB]

Games I've pre-ordered the last year or so. I starred risky pre-orders (from genres I don't typically like, or I didn't like the previous game)

-Assassins Creed: Brotherhood - Loved it
-Fallout: New Vegas* - Liked it
-Red Dead Redemption - Absolutely loved it
-Mass Effect 2 - Favorite game ever
-Dragon Age 2 - Loved it
-Portal 2* - Liked it

I didn't start pre-ordering games until early last year, but I've been pretty selective and haven't been let down. The only games I may pre-order over the next year or so are Catherine, Skyward Sword, and Mass Effect 3. Skyward Sword and Mass Effect 3 are definite pre-orders. I still want to hear more about Catherine, though.

I also bought Marvel vs Capcom 3 the week of its release. Most of that was because I wanted to play the game online some before everyone else became too good at it (I suck at fighting games, but enjoy them nonetheless). I still went winless over my first 30 matches...

 

[Jodah]

Only if its something I have a fairly good chance of enjoying. I think FFIV was the last day one game I got, though that wasn't my original intention. I happened to be in the area and figured, what the hell but I never planned on it. Dragon Age 2 was the last one I planned on getting day one and did. I've yet to be disappointed.

 

[Iwata]

T

Secondly, the ever-increasing fad of releasing broken games, because fuck it, we'll just patch it as soon as we feel like it!

here i stopped reading, as it tells me nothing you say has any value to me whatsoever.
there are plenty of reasons why patches come out close after release. read them up before you say something incredibly stupid like that.

Wow, you're easy to offend, aren't you, precious?

You may disagree with me all you want, but seriously, that over-aggressive reply is simply uncalled for and idiotic.

 

[Tourmeta]

I purchase games on day 1 more than ever, it's always fun.

 

[Rottweiler]

I do get some games on release. Others, I wait a bit. It really depends on the game and what early release will give me when I buy it.

 

[mjc0961]

I preorder all the time. But only for games I know I'll want to play and enjoy. If there's even a doubt that I might not enjoy it, or if the developer and/or publisher in question is known for somewhat shoddy work, I wait.

 

[Vkmies]

I buy games I trust in new. Portal 2, Da2, F:NV, AC:B and a few others I bought right away, since I knew what I was getting myself into. And was disappointed 0 times.

 

[veloper]

Rarely and possibly never again.
I got a big collection and I won't run out of games to try so quickly, so there's no rush.

I save a fortune checking out special offers only, like on Steam and on PC there's so many good deals, my collection grows faster than I can play.

I made one exception for TW2 to support CDPR, because those are the good guys. No DRM, passion for the source material, comes with 3 free games, etc. the good stuff.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

I got WoW: Cataclysm for my birthday (Yes, it is Dec 7th!) from my parents.
The huge box version.

For the rest; no, I cannot afford it AND my mortgage as I have sadly suffered a huge income loss. My roof is a tiny bit more important than getting the game right away.

Sure, I loved pre-ordering and going on launch day all the time.
But the game is still as good a few months later.

And I even get to pick up games that are not so great for next to nothing and have fun.
If I paid full price on day one and the game was only so-so I would be pissed (at myself mostly). But if you know it's a 7/10 game and pay peanuts it's a whole different experience.
When you pay full price I find myself forced to play till I have squeezed as much game time out of it as possible, to get all the bang for my big bucks that I possibly can.
A cheap game that bores halfway through? No biggie, I haven't lost a ton of cash!

EDIT: Okay, I might save up -if possible, the dentist just billed me 210 euros for 20 minutes of just drilling and filling!- for Diablo 3. Because Blizzard will make this game so mindblowing I will spend at least 120 hours in there, hours of F-U-N to the MAX, making it an extremely cheap experience at 0,50 euro an hour!

 

[DKSuper92]

Only if the game is any good like Portal, Mass Effect or Duke Nukem FOREVER.

Wait scratch that
Only if the game is any good like Portal, Mass Effect.