Game pre-orders Created 13 years ago2011-02-21 06:33:59 UTC by Archie

I was having a quick glance at the Steam store, and was quite surprised to notice that the 3 games I most want, I had already pre-ordered. Surprised because I don't usually pre-order, so to have 3 games I think are going to be good enough to deserve it coming out within a month of each other is pretty amazing.

I'm sorted for the upcoming months, with Portal 2, Shogun 2 & Dragon Age 2 (year of the sequels?)
But what games have you found worthy of pre-order?

Very few games I've actually pre-ordered. Most of them offered some kind of pre-release discount. I pre-ordered the retail version of Half-Life 2 and Portal 2 via Steam.

I don't buy things on Steam. At least, not personally.

I never pre-order. I pirate the game and if I like it I buy it when it's available at a price affordable to a lower class student like myself.

Dont talk about piracy, Ant will kill you >_>

I am sorry but it is the way I proceeded with the games I have.

For example, GTA4. I played it for "free" and I saw it's worth buying so I bought it when it was at a low price(9$, steam sale ftw).

A contrary example is HL:Opposing Force. I never played it before buying it and now I regret it. I didn't like it, it was boring for me. Probably I bought the game too late. 10 years late...

OpFor is awesome, so is blue shift. I remember playing blue shift on a dark monitor (one of the color transistors was week [almost dead] and the color was very dark) couldn't see sht.

But those were good times. I dont like the final boss in op for too easy.

Pre-ordered Half-Life 2 Collectors Edition, and eventually lost the box.

Also Bioshock (mistake!), Uncharted 2, numerous other PS3 games, Orange Box retail, Portal 2 on Steam, and I can't think of anything else.

Doesn't exactly count, but I snagged the Limited Folio Edition of the Uncharted 2 artbook before it sold out. It was way too expensive, but awesome.

I don't pre-order. I like Blizzard products, that being makes it seem sort of ridiculous to pre-order, alone.

I'm pre-ordering DotA 2 in my mind! I doubt valve will hold true on their nov 1st release date. Excuse my ignorance but has Portal 2 been delayed at all? I remember seeing e3 game footage a good year plus ago.

edit: 8 months ago.

I'll preorder Portal 2 when I decide I can afford it.

Get jobs!

Portal 2 was delayed, yes.

Sorry guys, I don't agree with your "I can't afford it, therefore I'll pirate it" excuses. Gaming is a hobby, it's not a necessity. If you can't afford it, tough shit. You'll live.

I have never and will never play a pirated game. The concept of trying the full game for free and seeing if you like it is not how the world works. That's like going to a resturaunt, eating a meal, and then refusing to pay because it's not as nice as you expected it to be. Bollocks.

I don't pre-order unless a title can prove to me that it is not going to be shit, before it has been reviewed. As such I have never pre-ordered a game.

I read reviews, watch gameplay vids, or (despite the lack on PC these days) play demos. Basically I do my research.

Agree with Ant/Urby, there's absolutely no excuse for piracy.

I pre-order retail games when I want the collector's edition, and Steam games when I know I'm going to buy them. As such, I have pre-ordered Portal 2 (Steam), and I will pre-order Uncharted 3 (retail) and Mass Effect 3 (Steam). And possibly Infamous 2 (retail) depending on price and availability [of the collector's edition] in Australia.

There are a fair few games I pick up cheaply later on because they're not overly desirable titles to me. Some have turned out to be awful (Far Cry 2), while others have been rather surprising (Crysis). I've got Bulletstorm and Duke Nukem Forever currently on that waiting list (I may actually buy Crysis 2 soon after release, shock horror).

As well as that, Australian gamers have it much tougher than US gamers: we pay, on average, nearly double for a new release title in comparison to the US. Having said that, Steam has been a huge asset to Aussie gamers, purely because we now have a cheaper alternative to straight up retail. Granted, some publishers needlessly jack up their prices on Steam, but there's a good solid chunk of titles being sold for cheaper prices.

Maybe I'm being overly critical because I can afford to blow stupid amounts of cash on games every month, but I don't think financial inability is an excuse to pirate, nor is pushing a Robin Hood agenda.

hat's like going to a resturaunt, eating a meal, and then refusing to pay because it's not as nice as you expected it to be. Bollocks.

But don't forget, that particular restaurant has infinite meals.

Gaming is a hobby, it's not a necessity. If you can't afford it, tough shit. You'll live.

Playing is a necessity of a human being. Video games are not a necessity, but neither they are a hobby to most of us.
A hobby means that you have to be addicted to a particular activity, spending lots of time with it. I sincerely don't see a lot of us wasting an important time of their life on games.

It's also nice to observe that all these informations come from people with money. Not necessarily Urby, but he has his own salary too.

I am not pro-piracy at all, but don't oppose it like some of you do.

But don't forget, that particular restaurant has infinite meals.

Meaning that restaurant will have to pay infinite amounts of money for the ingredients to cater for all the people who cough don't like the food?

Sorry guys, I don't agree with your "I can't afford it, therefore I'll pirate it" excuses. Gaming is a hobby, it's not a necessity. If you can't afford it, tough shit. You'll live.

I have never claimed gaming is a necessity. You're making that up. If you want to question my arguments that's fine, but don't question arguments you think I may have but that I haven't made. By derailing this thread you're being hypocritical. Remember when you recently closed a certain thread and you claimed it was because of its derailing? I do.

all these informations come from people with money. Not necessarily Urby

Fucking lol'd.

And yes, I have money to spend on games, but when I didn't, I didn't pirate them either.
I have money because I work. I don't even work especially hard (my hard work goes into college atm) but I do a few freelance editing jobs, PC repair work and such on top of my actual job. The PC repair, pretty much all of you could probably do - and probably a lot better than me. Just put up an ad in your local newsagent or super market and charge a flat rate.

I notice that most of the people condoning pirating are the younger members of TWHL - the ones still at school. I find this interesting because you probably, like me, still live with your parents and therefore don't have any bills to pay. As such, any money you earn, unless you pay your parents rent, is yours to spend however you like.

Go make money. Stop pirating games. You make companies like Ubisoft fuck up their games for us people who actually buy them by filling them with godawful DRM.

What I do does not hurt anyone. I don't have a lot of money because I can't work. Would I not pirate games I would still spend as much money on games as I would today and I would be equally unable to get and keep a job (seeing as the only jobs available to a person of my age at my location would require human interaction, something I'm absolutely awful at and I have papers that confirm that). I would however be less happy, seeing as how games make me happy. And my money would go to the wrong people; it'd go to producers of shitty games as well as good games. The economic system has a serious flaw and that is advertising. Advertising often makes bad products sell more than they should and awards low development spending. Piracy reduces the effect of advertising. Combine these arguments with a bit of egoism and there you have it. That's why I'm okay with pirating.

This pretty much hits the nail on the head.
Seriously, watch it to the end. I agree with practically every point.

I don't have a lot of money because I can't work.

You have - afaik - a complete set of limbs and IT skills impressive for your age. You can work.

No one would hire an 18-year-old without at least a somewhat-impressive portfolio for a programming position. I have ADD. That means if I can't concentrate on something that I find interesting, I can't concentrate at all. In other words, boring tasks makes me stare at the ceiling and gives me an extreme urge to play a video game or do something else of interest. My teachers love me for it (or not). It also means I have a short attention span. So I jump from project to project and never finishes anything (just look at my impressive website).

Oh and if I ever sound like a total jerk (I probably do a lot of times) know that I like all of you and only half of what I say is as serious as it may sound. I just also happen to like a good arguing.

Well, I know I'm going to watch every episode of "Extra Credits" from now on. Well written, fun sketchy graphics and they obviously have experience relevent to the subject matter.

Yeah, I've been following them for a while now, very good stuff. I linked the piracy one around at work the other week.

And my money would go to the wrong people; it'd go to producers of shitty games as well as good games.

That's entirely stupid. So you're saying that just because YOU think a game is shitty, the developers, who spent a lot of time creating a game, don't deserve any money whatsoever, even AFTER you've used their product?

Do you walk out of a restaurant without paying because you didn't like the food?

That Extra Credit video is perfect btw.

I pirate games because I'm frugal as fuck.
When I do buy games, they're either games I've pirated before and really appreciate (Mass Effect 1/2, CoH) or they're made by Valve.

I hate spending money. And I'm a lazy fuck. So if I can get something for free, I will.

Do you walk out of a restaurant without paying because you didn't like the food?

Actually...

Back on topic.
I pre-ordered Mass Effect 2, and for some reason Splinter Cell: Conviction.

I also pre-ordered New Vegas but had to cancel that in order to use the money for something much more important. ):

Otherwise I'm not big on pre-orders USUALLY because I'm broke.

If you are 18 get a job.

I hate this topic, because neither side can convience the other they are right.

Bottom line, you are stealing, no matter how you try to rationalize it.

Stealing is what separates the cool people from live-stock~!.

Get jobs!

Portal 2 was delayed, yes.

Sorry guys, I don't agree with your "I can't afford it, therefore I'll pirate it" excuses. Gaming is a hobby, it's not a necessity. If you can't afford it, tough shit. You'll live.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha...

.. lycopene. :3

Piracy is a crime, but it is NOT stealing.

I don't know about you guys, but I do almost 30 hours of uni a week and live over an hour away from campus. That's 5 days a week of average 6 hour days + 2 hours of travel a day. Then there's the work that needs to be done at home in order to pass. I sure as hell don't have a lot of spare time, and not many people are willing to hire a 20 year old who can only work weekends. I do have a job (albeit extremely casual and very much the textbook definition of seasonal income) but I do have a hard time justifying spending my very limited amount of disposable income on artificially overpriced games.

That being said, I do own 70+ games on Steam and 80% of the titles I've pirated in recented years I've gone on to buy on special on Steam (including Far Cry 2 unfortunately). The only ones I don't buy are those whose price has been jacked up 300% by publishers simply because of the country that I live in. I'm looking at you Activision and EA.

Recently pirated games which I will NOT be buying are COD blops ($90USD on Steam), FIFA 11 (own on console anyway), NFS Hot Pursuit (regionally priced and a shit game to boot, disappointed with Criterion).

Games that were originally pirated that I went on to buy include Borderlands, Dirt 2 (possibly my favourite racing game ever), Mirror's Edge, and Psychonauts (bought as soon as it was available in Australia).

idk, I think a lot of you older guys have forgotten just how hard it is to be a struggling student. I'm certainly not trying to condone piracy, but I can certainly understand why some (I stress SOME) people do it.

Just wait for the next big holiday if you can't afford it now, really.
I've more than doubled my game collection over the course of December for a relatively tiny price (Black Friday/Xmas/New Year sales on Steam for the win)

I'm sure they'll be doing another massive spring sale soon enough.

I do understand pirating when it comes to professional software though, as there's really no way for a student to get it legally without skipping on rent for a month or two. Stuff like photoshop, etc.
Even though there's reasonably powerful free alternatives, they really don't cut it when it comes to creating quality material within deadlines.

That's entirely stupid. So you're saying that just because YOU think a game is shitty, the developers, who spent a lot of time creating a game, don't deserve any money whatsoever, even AFTER you've used their product?

If a game fails at its purpose I have gained nothing and should pay nothing. I have not consumed.

Do you walk out of a restaurant without paying because you didn't like the food?

Even if you don't like the food it will feed you (unless it's completely inedible), and thus serves a purpose. The restaurant has also spent time and money producing this copy of whatever food it was you ordered. You have no right not to pay.

Apparently being neither pro-piracy or anti-piracy still makes you one or the other to the opposing side.

You have consumed the game, whether you can justify it 'having a purpose' or not. That Extra Credits video is right: despite the fact you 'wouldn't buy it', you still went out and played it. Just because it wasn't to your liking doesn't mean squat. You still played the product.

You pay to watch a movie at the cinema. If you didn't like it, does that mean you shouldn't pay?

As for the 'struggling student' bullshit: gaming is not a necessity in life. If you can't scrap together enough money a month for one game purchase, then you must be living in a cardboard box in the street somewhere. If you can afford the console or the high end computer to play these pirated games, are you telling me that you couldn't reduce your gaming intake a bit to one or two games a month?

If you say that you have to game, no matter what, then you have serious issues.

You're assuming the person even bought the console\PC, or that person has literally ever had more then 20$ in their hands at once. Managing your own money is one thing, managing someone elses is another thing entirely.

Gaming is a thing of entertainment, and it gives you entertainment nothing else can. Sure, you could just stare at a wall without ANY socialization for your entire life, but you would literally just eventually go into a mentally disabled state with no socialization. Just like for gaming, you could just not game for your entire life, but you'd miss out on a lot in life, a lot of inside jokes or references to events that happen in games, trends and soforth that would make your social life in general degraded.

dam, I have serious issues.

If you must game, but are a poor school student, then in order to satisfy ant and myself, you can just join me and together we can play hundreds of gold source mods at no additional cost. However the cool-to-crap ratio is around 40-50% so if you get a crap mod then it's time to rant about it in a journal.

Happy gaming!

The real problem here is why the heck is Ant judging people for pirating when he's done it himself! Recently! You're no better than the rest of us, Ant!

If you say that you have to game, no matter what, then you have serious issues.

Then I have serious issues. I'm a gamer. It's what I do.

Splinter Cell: Conviction.

How can you preorder a 2010 game in 2011?

Stop being intentionally stupid, Crollo. It gets old.

Edit:
I now have 145 Steam Games. God damnit Valve, stop having sales.

Responding to what you just gave the stock definition of a troll? Oh that's hardly less intelligent then being intentionally stupid, right?

Crollo is a massive troll. I mean, just look at his avatar and then at this thread...

Also, excuse me but the restaurant doesn't have to continously pay for every meal. It pays once. The rest of the meals are pure copy-pastes.

I believe the perfect solution to stop fighting is to agree that there is a mid-point, a balance between antipiracy maniacs and piracy maniacs. The point where you acnowledge that piracy is indeed a bad thing, and want to buy those games to support the producers.But then you also can't do this all the time, and seriously, just "testing" a game is not a crime imo.
I haven't tried a new game since autumn, especially because I keep telling myself that piracy is not good. I even use a lot of open-source programs if I can't afford commercial ones.

I never said I was innocent. As well as that, what exactly did I pirate recently?

Some game that isn't being sold anymore.

Twilight Princess for emulation. And I can name other examples before that.

You have money, a Wii and an eBay account, so there is no excuse! I'm not innocent myself, but I'm not hypocritically judgemental about it either!

Name them.

I want the GameCube version and I can't find it. Same as Thousand Year Door. As for all the other emulated games I have, I own all the original cartridges. I'll happily admit to that piracy, I'm not going to sugar coat it.

Having said that, paying exuberant prices on eBay doesn't help the industry at all.

Name them.

Not a game, but Futurama, which you've also said you have no intention of buying. Also Glee, because I feel like embarrassing you.

I want the GameCube version and I can't find it. Same as Thousand Year Door. As for all the other emulated games I have, I own all the original cartridges. I'll happily admit to that piracy, I'm not going to sugar coat it.

Having said that, paying exuberant prices on eBay doesn't help the industry at all.

I get that, but it's besides the point. You've done it yourself, but every time someone mentions piracy you ride in on your moral high horse to make us feel bad.

What gives?

Thousand year door.... Paper mario? Gamecube?

And who says I haven't bought them? As for Glee, they're for my girlfriend who also buys the DVDs when they come out.

Yes, I've done it myself, but I've made sure that's a dying practice for me. Problem is, a lot of people tend to think that piracy is a-ok without any thought whatsoever as to the consequences. THAT'S why I get pissed. Poor excuses are offered, particularly in relation to not paying for things because they didn't like it or weren't ever intending to buy it in the first place. It's also those who do it because they say stuff's too expensive. Lots of shit is expensive, doesn't mean you just help yourself when you can.

As I said, I'll happily admit to doing it at certain times and I probably should've stated that earlier. But I will never pirate something ever again for the hell of it. Call me guilty, I don't care, but the times I do pirate are very minimal and I'll try as best I can to do it the right way first.

I produce content for a living and I've heard too many stories from people in my industry where their hard work is done away by amoral idiots.

The game and entertainment industries do their stuff for you: ignore the publishers and distributors for the moment. The developers, directors, storytellers of the world do their stuff because they want to tell you a story. They want to dedicate their lives to ensuring the world has a rich variety of great stories and experiences. You may not like all of them, but these people all do it for you. This isn't like mapping that's just a hobby: this is their career, what they're banking their life on. It's the easiest thing ever to acknowledge that effort by paying for it. Support the industry that not only supports you, but lives and dies by your decisions.

My apologies for raging, but this stuff really gets me irritated nowadays.

Moral of the story: Devs need to set up a donation button on their websites so we can all pirate and then donate directly to them! Destroy the scum publishers!