I don't pre-order anymore.
I used to when I lived in Ottawa and didn't have a car. It was around the time when RE4 was released and to get a game took a few hours. Unlike today, gaming wasn't as big as it used to be and only a few stores had them so pre-ordering was almost essential.
I remember seeing the reviews for RE4 and saying it wasn't like the previous games (which I hated) and it was getting 10's across the board, I wanted it. Went down to the store in the downtown mall, asked for it and they were like, "hah, yeah right". I then took a bus to another EB along the major transitway route and got the last copy. That doesn't happen anymore.
I only pre-order the day before if I feel like getting the bonuses. In a lot of cases, the reviews are out so you can make the decision if you want it or not. Also, a lot of the time, there is enough videos/previews from a lot of sources to give you the idea on the quality of the game. As well, for some reason, the EB I go to usually gives you the copy with the pre-order bonuses anyways. With Watch Dogs, I got them all because that's all the copies they had.
Yes, there is some developers that I will always expect top quality. Rockstar, Valve, Bioware, Irrational games and such.
I still till the release date gets close. It doesn't matter if its when first announced or 3 weeks before though. Red Dead Redemption is a prime example on a game I had to go across the city to find. I didn't think it was going to be great (some previews/stories thought the game was not going to be good) but when it was released and reviews were amazing, I wanted it. Tried to find it in EB and Future Shop (Best Buy equivalent in Canada) and all sold out. I eventually bought it from a video rental store.
I honestly don't trust any developer to be worth pre-ordering games from without seeing something concrete first.
I would have said people like Bioware and Rockstar in the past, but those days are gone due to ridiculous money grabbing and bad ports. Not saying I won't buy their games, but I just don't have the confidence in them to preorder right now.
Just me though.
I am honestly super-psyched for Dragon Age 3. I can't wait.
There's still that part of me that doesn't want to encourage the kind of shit we got with "From Ashes" with ME3 though, so I'm hesitant to put down money early.
Even if the game is good, I don't want to be the kind of person who enables that kind of behaviour.
I don't mind DLC in general. I've bought DLC. I've actually spent more on it than I should, tbh.
That said, I don't like paying for something that should have been in the game in the first place. I don't even mind what they did with Shale in DAO, that whole "buy it new, get something free" kind of thing. she's fun to use, and has her own little story, but it doesn't actually impact the world or the story in any great way.
Seem to be getting off topic here though. my bad.
I don't mind DLC. In fact, I understand when developers work on it before the release of the game (knowing that it can take over a month to produce/ship the game before it hits retail) but this pre-order bonus seems to be a bit too much.
I don't mind "buy it new, get something for free" as well. Plenty other industries do the same thing. The only people who lose out are second hand purchasers. But that's like that in a lot of cases and not specifically the video game industry.
Yup, and if you really want to get it new to get the free stuff, all you have to do is wait a little while until it goes on sale. I own new copies of all the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games, and I haven't spent more than 20 for any of those copies.
One thing I can't stand is those cross-promotions though: "Buy a bottle of Doctor Pepper and get a free DLC code". No, **** you, I hate Dr. Pepper.
I didn't know about it at the time, but now, because DP isn't running the promotion anymore, I can't even use the codes I found online. I'm actually waiting on an email from EA about one of the items from those, to see if I can get them some other way.
Yeah, some people really enjoyed it and some thought it had issues.
From what I read from various reviews, the idea behind the game is solid and it's done well (aka the Alien being unpredictable and terrifying) and that the design of the game is ****ing awesome.
Some criticized the length and the "bad" checkpoint system.
I have so much shit to do (moving, kids, work) and still playing Mordor but I picked this up for the PC. Was going to get it for Xbox One but it's like $20 bucks more.
****ing awesome game so far.
I love how they mimic the first Alien extremely well. The sounds, the design and the overall feel is freaking great.
I haven't really been annoyed about the save system. I think it's a great idea to make it a manual checkpoint system so any encounters with the Alien are extremely intense. I will say that human enemies can be quite annoying so I can understand the criticism for the system. It works for the Alien because it makes the encounters with it feel like life or death. It works the complete opposite from Alien: Colonial Marines where Aliens were cannon fodder while this version creates a very, very scary Alien. But having to sneak around humans can be less satisfying and if you die from a gun, can be annoying.
But you still get freaked out because you don't want to lose all your progress. Maybe the developers could of allowed a minute amount of saves in case you need to replay sections over.
And SPOILERS but the first encounter with the Alien was pretty ****ing terrifying.
Overall, I hope this game does well because it's pretty damn cool. I'm glad I bought it.