Who here actually pre-orders games?

[Adrian M]

Never really saw the point seeing how most titles are often in stores the day they ship (at least in my area). And if by chance a particular new title is sold out at one store, chances are, Best Buy or another software store will have it in stock too. New game hardware is the only exception for me, that is, unless they stick you with one of those "hardware bundles" that have become so popular with the last round of console launches.

 

Now unless there's some cool pre-order bonus involved, I've never understood why anyone would pre-order a game months or sometimes a year in advance! I've been tempted with Halo 2, but somehow I know that Bungie and MS will have estimated the correct number of copies to ship.

 

Do you pre-order? And if so, why?

[Atarian75]

I will only pre order a game if there is some kind of bonus involved that I find interesting. Example: The Ocarina of Time bonus disk with the pre order of Wind Waker. Otherwise, I will just wait until it actually is released.

[Gabriel]

I pre-order a bit, although, I admit, most of the time it's pointless.

 

I've noticed it comes in handy with RPGs, especially Game Boy Advance RPGs.

 

I pre-ordered Lufia for the GBA. The store didn't get very many copies, and its pretty hard to find for a recent game.

 

I pre-ordered Fire Emblem for the GBA. The store ordered exactly ONE copy, mine. I haven't seen another copy anywhere.

 

I pre-ordered RPG Maker II for the PS2. It turned out to be a POS, but I haven't seen it for sale anywhere else.

 

I pre-ordered Time Crisis 3. Pretty much all the Namco Guncon games are hard to find if you don't buy them the day of release.

 

But sometimes I pre-order something that isn't too hard to get hold of later. Soul Calibur II was a good example of that. I did get the cool art book and art print, though.

 

I pre-ordered several copies of Final Fantasy Origins, expecting it to be difficult to get hold of. As most people know, it is incredibly easy to find even months after release.

[Fretwobbler]

I'll be pre-ordering Half-Life 2 when I buy a Radeon 9800XT at the end of the month, but not intentially. They are packing a pre-order for the game in with the card.

 

Other than that I have bought a few games on the 1st day of release but not many. Civilization 3 was the last one I think.

[tantone56]

only games ive ever preordered are

gta vice city

Super Mario 3 super mario advanced 4...I hate that title

Halo 2

Socom 2

I think that all of these games are justified to be pre ordered

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I have never preordered anything and have always managed to find whatever it was that I wanted. I thought about pre-ordering Sonic Heroes earlier in the month..and then didn't. I still had no trouble picking up a copy at Toys R Us even after several days from the release. Mind you I don't live in a huge city...but we do have 2 Toys R Us stores here, plus Best Buy, 3 GameStops, 2 Game Exchanges, CompUSA, Ultimate Electronics, 2 Circuit Cites...etc...so there is no wanting with so many retailers available to get the product from. I have comtemplated pre-ordering for Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles however, but I imagine it will be quite some time before I can get that game considering the retail for it is at a fairly steep 59.99...I can wait on that...

[Clock]

I have pre-ordered games quite a few times as here in the the UK they often send them out a day early, also there is sometime bonus offers or its actually cheaper if pre-ordered etc.

 

I must admit that when I look at it, I don't see much point and will not bother again (except maybe Halo 2 )

[raindog]

I preordered Rebel Strike so I could get the bonus disc with the emulated SW:TAG on it (which really kinda sucked on my old-ass TV) and I would do so in the future for certain kinds of bonuses, e.g. if Mario 64 came with Mario 128 preorders, or if something I was *really* excited about came along, like say "Mappy Advance".

 

In general, though, I won't... in fact, for most games I wait till the initial furor has died down and grab them cheaper on half.com or something.

[SteveW]

I don't see the point in pre-ordering unless there are freebies involved. If I can't find it locally, then someone or somewhere on the internet has got to have it. Usually games bought online are a little more costly than finding it locally, though.

[tantone56]

all the games I preordered were sell outs the first day they hit the shelves and it was nice having a copy. I predict that halo 2 will be really hard to get so I got a preorder back in october.

[Mayhem]

I pre-order almost everything now as it can be the only way to get a game when it comes out. Especially when doing it online as I live in the UK and am buying US/Japanese games... haven't bought anything PAL for about 12 years now (aside from 2600 stuff from here!).

[Starscream]

I think the only games I have ever preordered were XIII and Steel Battalions. I preordered a total of 12 Steel Battalions and that was the smartest thing I did. I think anyone who doesn't preorder SB: Line Of Contact deserves not to get one

[tantone56]

I think the only games I have ever preordered were XIII and Steel Battalions. I preordered a total of 12 Steel Battalions and that was the smartest thing I did. I think anyone who doesn't preorder SB: Line Of Contact deserves not to get one

 

do you play XIII online?

[Starscream]

I think the only games I have ever preordered were XIII and Steel Battalions. I preordered a total of 12 Steel Battalions and that was the smartest thing I did. I think anyone who doesn't preorder SB: Line Of Contact deserves not to get one

 

do you play XIII online?

 

No I haven't played anything online in a while. Thought I had my Live account one em all but seems to have disappeared from them all But I will soon. I'll let ya know.

[Clock]

XIII is very average online - I think it makes a better single player campaign than multiplayer.

[Artlover]

I also have not pre-ordered anything. Almost with Zelda:Windwaker, but didn't at the last second. My experience has been that I've been able to find stuff localy on release day, and days after, and this was when I lived in Miami, FL.

 

Here in OKC, OK (Yeehaw, weesin hicksville), it's even less of an issue, and I never even think twice about if I can find what I want or not.

 

Within 5 miles we have 3 Walmarts, Target, CompUSA, BestBuy, Circuit City, GameStop, 2 GameXchange's and 4 malls (with Sears, toys'r'us, electronics boutique, etc. in all of them). Then there are about 30 pawnshops, and atleast a dozen odd electronics stores that carry this stuff. Think I'll beable to find a copy of Halo 2 on release day? I think so.

[madblownaway]

I preorder any game i trully trully want. Other then that I don't care if I get it 10 days later. I mostly preorder cuz its hard for me to get to stores. best buy and eb are like 45 mins away and walmart sucks.

[cryptik76]

I generally won't preorder a game if I know it will be a game where they're expecting to move a lot of copies (like a Halo 2), but I'll often pre-order a game if it's more of an obscure title where only one or two copies may arrive. Sometimes the stores underestimate the demand for some titles, especially with PC games that are from smaller publishers but are high in pre-release demand.

[chrisbid]

pre orders arent really worth it, unless you get a freebie with it.

 

with carts, this wasnt the case, production of carts takes awhile, remember Zelda OOT for the N64, it was months before that game was regularly on the shelves. with optical media production isnt a problem for most publishers.

[vb_master]

I preorder things

I have preordered Zelda: OoT, Zelda: MM, Zelda: TWW. I don't remember any of the other ones. Zelda: OoT came with a gol, Zelda: MM came with a sound track CD and that cool holograph label cartridge. Zelda: TWW came with the Zelda: OoT, MQ Bonus disc.

[RCmodeler]

Never because I am a cheapassgamer who waits until games are $30 or less. I haven't even picked up Soul Calibur yet... still waiting for it to become cheap.

[Atariboy]

Only time I ever have was the Wind Waker to get the free OoT/Master Quest disc.

 

I didn't even own a Game Cube at the time, but I didn't want to pass over my chance to get the Master Quest of OoT.

[MegaManFan]

I will pre-order a game if the reward for doing so is sufficiently good. Giving away a demo disc of other games is lukewarm, giving away a demo disc with free playable games is hot, giving away a complete game which was a predecessor to the game in a seperate longbox is REALLY hot. Of course the best part is you never have to get the full game if you don't really want to - once you put down your $5 or $15, you can always wait until the game drops down to less than $30 if you still want it, or if you do want it enough you just pay the difference. Works for me.

[chrisbid]

nothing beat the ghaleon hand puppet you got with the Lunar 2 preorder

[shep]

I preordered Wind Waker for the bonus disc....thats it...