Poll: Pre-order bonuses and their alluring ways

[LC Wynter]

I found myself contemplating buying Dragon Age II. Let me make it clear that I hate Dragon Age with a passion and much prefer Bioware and Obsidian's earlier Infinity Engine RPGs. So what was it lured me in? Not the promise of a better game, but a pre-order bonus. That "Lion of Orlais" (I barely remember where Orlais is. I rushed through Dragon Age 1) I slapped myself and wondered just what I was thinking. Maybe Dragon Age II is better than the original, but I'm not going to buy it because of some attractive shield.
Most gamers I've seen absolutely hate them. I prefer to buy games pre-owned, so I do often miss out on some nice things. The only exceptions are games I really want to support, like the Mass Effects, The Witchers, and the ones that promise me extras I wouldn't get if I bought later on.

What about you, dear escapists?
/discuss

 

[GiantRaven]

I got the New Vegas special edition but I don't think I'd go out of my way to buy another.

 

[Psycho78]

I might pre-order a Grand Theft Auto game, but that's about it.

Otherwise I usually buy used or on sale.

 

[GundamSentinel]

If it's a game I really want there's a good chance I'll go for the pre-order goodness, whether or not it's a good deal. Bonuses are never a factor in deciding to buy a game though.

 

[Commander Jack Rankin]

I've never wanted a game just for any pre-order stuff. I buy for the game, not the extras that are along for the ride.

 

[Dielan9999]

I pre-ordered Assassin's Creed even though I didn't want the harlequin MP character, I wanted to play the game. On the other hand, I pre-ordered SW: Force Unleashed 2 for the Maulkiller skin, but I feel I deserve all future DLC missions for free >.> since I paid full price for a few hours. At least the Endor DLC was .99

 

[Omega Pirate]

I never pre-order anything. It's pointless, why would I pay $60+ for a game if I know it's going to drop down to half that in a year or so? I buy games on sale or pre-owned. If the game has a lot of DLC like Fallout 3, I buy the GOTY edition.

 

[RatRace123]

If it's a game I was already going to get the preorder bonus is just icing on the cake.
Plus sometimes when you pre-order you get some cool swag, not all of it is in game.

Pre-ordering Prototype got me an action figure and a map, Preordering Spider-Man 3 got me a movie poster (Say what you will about the movie itself, the promotional material always looked cool.)

 

[Treeinthewoods]

I will only pre-order a game I really want. If there happens to be a pre-order bonus that's cool as well but it won't make me get something I don't want in the first place.

Although I will admit it makes me debate where I will pre-order a game from, such as with Mass Effect 2 or New Vegas. Usually I end up liking Gamestop's exclusive DLC more than other places but I still look into it before I go shopping.

 

[Geo88]

If it's a game I really want there's a good chance I'll go for the pre-order goodness, whether or not it's a good deal. Bonuses are never a factor in deciding to buy a game though.

This pretty much sums it up for me. I'll pre-order a game I want just so I know that I'll be able to get it on launch day (or as close to launch day as possible). Getting some nifty armor sets or an outfit for my XBL avatar or a flash drive is cool, but I'm not going to get a game I have absolutely no interest in or especially (in the OP's case) whose predecessor I hated just so I can get a few perks.

 

[Thaliur]

Well, once I bought a game mostly because of its preorder bonus. I still ike Two Worlds, and can't understand what most people hate about it (almost all the reasons I heard so far could be summed up as "it's not WoW").

The preorder bonus was QUITE convincing though. It was one of those:
http://kitrae.net/fantasy/uc1120_B_ad.html

I got Kilgorin

 

[MetalDooley]

Preorder bonuses are bullshit frankly.Why should I get less content than someone who preordered even though I paid the exact same amount of fucking money for a game

 

[lovest harding]

I feel that a lot of people have problems with pre-order bonuses because of entitlement issues (all the content you create, developers, should be mine for the price I want to pay!). No offense meant, just being honest.
I think it's a wonderful way for games to drum up sales. Some games do it wrong, though. Sims 3, for instance, on 360 had an awkward pre-order bonus. They gave out a pack of items that didn't make much sense together and now offer DLC that includes some of the items as well as the rest of the item set. So, if I want the full set (which I actually really like) I have to spend money on redundant items to get newer items.

(And to go off topic: My only problem with DLC is that developers just never seem to know how to price it.)

 

[Chibz]

Pre-order bonuses? Yeah, we don't get those in Canada. Because people from the US hate us. A lot.

 

[Spencer Petersen]

Giving game companies an incentive to rip out original content and repackage it as DLC for people who buy games on impulse is just showing favoritism. It actively encourages shitty buying tactics, laziness and discriminates against those who have excess spending money. Now, I'm ok with collectors edition. If you wanna fork over an extra 40 bucks for art book and soundtrack I wont stop you. But I have no patience for companies who require you to bet 60 bucks that their game wont suck badly so you can get stuff that should be in the game anyway.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

It depends on the preorder bonus. For the most part, when I preorder a game it's because I want the game with little/ no thought of what I get with a preorder. The only game I regret not preordering was Fist of the North Star...which I still don't own but, if I had preordered and bought it I would have gotten to play as Heart who was a pretty good bad guy I suppose. He may be DLC at this point now that I think about it...also screw Heart, Rei is my favorite character in that series.

Anyway: I preorder what I want, regardless of incentive.

 

[Samuel Cook]

Pre-orders always catch me, if I'm interested in a game, but don't mind waiting until it's in a sale, then find that the preorder has a bonus with it, then I'll most likely go for the preorder.

 

[xDHxD148L0]

I only pre-order a game if its something I know I'm going to buy already, the extra stuff is just a bonus.

 

[Rednog]

The only time I "preorder" is if amazon is offering credit for preordering, for example $20 credit for Gears of War 3.
Pre-orders in brick and mortar stores usually disappoint anyways, end up being some cheap piece of junk, I guess if you were going to get it anyways why not. But I rather wait and find some deal two weeks after release.

Pre-ordering, as in putting money down at some store only disappointed me. Like Fable 3 for the PC, pushed back to at least March 30 2011, please.

The only time it has really benefited me is when me being the young lad that I was preordered Halo 2 like a day or two after Halo 1 was released and by the time the damn game came out the receipt was yellowed and degraded. Hell the gamestop that I ordered it from didn't even have the card that they wrote the info on. But one of the visual designers came to my university some time later and I showed it to him and he was so impressed that when I didn't have a copy of Halo with me to sign (I was home that weekend and had to rush back to get to the seminar) he actually took out a business card with his personal number on it and signed it.