pre-order bonuses

[Weeaboolits]

It's annoying enough when you have to pre-order from a particular place to get some additional game content, but I'm talking about the new transformers game in particular.

I pre-ordered it from Gamestop since they had Shockwave and Amazon had some bullshit character from Armada or something that no one cares about. Little did I know that later on down the line they would announce Jazz, my favorite character, as a bonus if you pre-ordered from Best Buy. But seeing as they decided to do that at some later point, I had no idea until I went to the website to activate the code to claim my bonus.

Had I known that they had Jazz, I would have canceled in a heartbeat and pre-ordered from Best Buy instead. Would it have hurt them to announce them all at the same goddamned time? If they don't make Jazz available as a DLC character, I will be even more pissed off than I am already.

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

If its any consolation, Best Buy's start up (but probably like a year in) is notorious for being late to market/advertise, not working, waiting a while for your bonus, no customer service help, etc.

Happened with their Super Street Fighter 4 thing, which was announced to match the same thing as Amazon, but instead of getting the code when your game shipped in an email as Amazon did - people left waiting and asking on their makeshift hidden under reviews and things forums with one moderator with no news but they should be getting there within 2-6 weeks.

They also had some thing after the release of TvC over at Best Buy "Gamer Club," some San Diego Comic Con leftover towels with Ken Eagle/Ryu and a logo on em, supposedly if you bought in store too, but no links to the mail in where/how to.

[Powder Keg]

I'm sick of pre-order bonuses in general. Everything just needs to be available from the start.

[BIG OLAF]

It's annoying enough when you have to pre-order from a particular place to get some additional game content, but I'm talking about the new transformers game in particular.

I pre-ordered it from Gamestop since they had Shockwave and Amazon had some bullshit character from Armada or something that no one cares about. Little did I know that later on down the line they would announce Jazz, my favorite character, as a bonus if you pre-ordered from Best Buy. But seeing as they decided to do that at some later point, I had no idea until I went to the website to activate the code to claim my bonus.

Had I known that they had Jazz, I would have canceled in a heartbeat and pre-ordered from Best Buy instead. Would it have hurt them to announce them all at the same goddamned time? If they don't make Jazz available as a DLC character, I will be even more pissed off than I am already.


You can cancel your pre-order with Gamestop and get a full refund at any time. At least I'm pretty sure.

I don't really like pre-order bonuses sometimes, because almost every time I've pre-ordered a game from Gamestop, I didn't receive my download code for the special content.

I'm going to make damned sure that my Crackdown 2 bonus code is in that game case before I leave the store. Those armor colors are amazing.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

it is so dumb that they add extra content/characters for preorder, it makes people who buy later or who didnt know miss out, i like preorder bonuses like figures or soundtracks

[Palle]

Yeah, personally I am not a fan of 'bonus' game content being used to inflate pre-order numbers. I'd much rather buy the game used and enjoy 'vanilla' content, and if it's a game I enjoy a lot, I'll pick up some DLC later.

The time when this pre-order business does get my interest is when there is IRL swag involved; OST discs, Ishimura crew patch, t-shirts, messenger bags. Then I usually fork over primo bux like a dumbass.

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

The time when this pre-order business does get my interest is when there is IRL swag involved; OST discs, Ishimura crew patch, t-shirts, messenger bags. Then I usually fork over primo bux like a dumbass.
Fro'd Joe over in OT pointed out that "art-deco" supplemental book with Bioshock 2 was possibly better than the game itself. And months later it got priced at around $40 for the whole Special Edition, so its even possible to wait it out sometimes.

Fallout 3 last time looked a lot better than this time, Resident Evil sounded okay in practice, those that bought kinda disappointed, especially with newer - GOTY/GOLD type of everything added in version. And they went $90 in for a bag and Africa chain. Speaking of - lost my 'hybebeast mcstreetwear' pic of that Asian kid doing that "80's thing as thought by the kids who didn't live through it like their parents" with bigger, blinger Africa chain, tracksuit, and they see this guy all over Soho, what is he doing?!

Then they just go ahead and make their employees better things anyway:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/HAYABUSA-FMW-/OPP/terryngGDC2010capcom_ssf4_slide22.jpg

[Randomness]

Soundtracks are about the only bonus I care about.

And yeah, the whole thing of pre-order bonuses is out of hand.

[Palle]

Fallout 3 last time looked a lot better than this time
Yep, though I did pass on it last time, I will be passing on it next time as well. Now if they would just throw in one of those NCR shirts from E3, I would drop the extra cash.

[Outrider]

Honestly? The dumbest pre-order bonus is early access (or exclusive access!) to the demo of the game.

If somebody is pre-ordering the game, they're most likely going to buy the game. They know they want the game and they don't want to risk it being out of stock. They don't need the demo. It's the people who aren't sure if they want the game that should get a chance to play it.

I imagine the logic in this situation is that people will pay the $5 to try the game (since they're not sure), and either decide to just buy the game since they already have the pre-order or forget to cancel their pre-order.

EDIT: I apologize for being slightly off-topic, but I feel silly complaining about ridiculous pre-order bonuses when I've already decided I'm going to drop $150 on the Halo: Reach Super Deluxe Hyper Fighting Edition. I'm either the best or the worst kind of consumer, depending on which side you're coming from.