The Pre-order dilemma

   

     Before I begin, let it be known I have pre ordered many a game for DLC codes, T-shirts, and DVD's.  I still wear my ECW Hardcore Revolution T-shirt sometimes and my Resident Evil 2 shirt will make an appearance in my Muay Thai class from time to time so I have done it a lot in the past for some cool stuff.  If you notice, the titles I mentioned are from the PlayStation days (PS one!), and I got physical stuff just for putting money down on a game towards its total cost.  It's not extra money, it’s part of the initial cost.  I don't even know if game companies do that anymore, I know if you pay extra for special editions you get extra physical products but do they do anything to truly get a pre-order out of us?  The last time I got something cool for pre-ordering a game was for the PS2 version of The Thing, it came with a DVD of the film that I watch at least once a year to this date.  Ever since that, nothing has been offered to pre-order a game at regular price.  You will get "exclusive content" for putting 5 bucks down at GameStop or, a code from Amazon if you buy it from them before release. Even better amazon USED to give you at least 10 dollars off your next purchase if you pre-ordered with them but even that hasn't been around anymore.  Is it worth pre-ordering anymore?"

    Here's why I ask, some years ago I got invited to a private sales event at a local Best Buy with things being sold at discounted prices.  I was able to get an awesome universal remote and a game with all DLC included for 40 dollars.  I know sometimes DLC isn't that much but this particular DLC and game was Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition.  That's a big ass game when you think of the time to finish it, which I have yet to do.  When you think about it, you pay full price for the game at release date which is usually about 60 dollars. Then, you wait for content which from what I remember on the Xbox averaged around 800 MS points or about ten more dollars.  If it comes in 2 or 3 installments you add about another twenty to thirty dollars to the sixty you already spent on a game that has most likely lost its value by the time the 2nd installment of DLC comes out.  Your total cost for a non-special edition game can turn out to be almost 90 dollars by the time you get a complete game.

    I'm not against DLC, I love it.  In fact I still get fall into it for Gears of War, one of my favorite games and pay the discounted price for the season passes they've offered for Gears of War 3 and Gears of War: Judgment. It's sold at a discounted price if you get before release of the game so if you're a hardcore fan of a genre like I am of Gears then you don't mind paying.  Although, in game theory that is categorized as "The winners curse", it’s when you pay from something because you rationalize the value for yourself or just make an excuse to treat yourself. However, in this day and with rent and bills to pay I find it better to wait for "Game of the Year “editions or just till the price comes down.  This hit me with the Fallout 3 Game of the Year purchase I made mentioned earlier; I paid 40 dollars for a really popular game that game with all its DLC on a separate disc.  That's 20 dollars cheaper than the game alone when it was released and I think it was 10 or 15 dollars cheaper at the time because of the Best Buy sale.  I know hard core gamers that read this will tell me I'm nuts suggesting they wait and I understand where they are coming from.  Everyone's a fan boy of something and cannot wait to save a few bucks, myself included.  If you can wait though, it’s probably best to do so to save money and get more bang for your buck.  I should mention it works best to wait for games that are single player like Fallout 3.

     Here's a list of games I waited on and got DLC included or discounted after I started doing this myself:

•Dead Space 2

•Assassins Creed: Brotherhood

•The entire Uncharted series

•God of War 3: Special edition (came with the 2 PSP I titles I have yet to play)

   A co -worker of mine told me he bought Red Dead Redemption with EVERYTHING for 45 dollars, thats what made me write this. I know you probably can't make your kids wait, but I will wait and if I ever have kids I'll try and make them wait too.