Is the age of pre-ordering games over?

Years ago, the only way to secure a copy of a massive hit title for launch was to run down to your nearest game shop prior to release, hand over a couple of quid and bag yourself a pre-order. The alternative would be to queue up in the middle of the night, in a drizzly and bitterly cold winter month and wait outside in a gaggle of other thumb twitching tech heads like yourself.

Of course, the best way to experience a big launch remains to go down and queue up all night and to be that very first person to officially land a copy at 0:00 hour, clutching your receipt like some trophy and evidence that you were first. But, with the age of online shopping, launch day is basically too long to wait.

Several websites now guarantee launch day delievery, the reality however is that it's more likely to arrive days before its schedueld release, so you therefore claim ultimate bragging rights and as a reward get the abuse of being labelled a pirate or the constant spamming of "zomg, how's teh game lol?" in your inbox.

So pre-ordering is good for online, you get it early but remember, arriving early isn't always a good thing. Whilst your sitting there, drooling and frothing at the mouth kneeling by your letterbox clutching your 'precious', others are cannily waiting around for the other option that's fast becoming the normal way to purchase new games, launch day discount deals.

Supermarkets are now known to absolutely hammer the price of a launch title to the very minimum possible in order to steal sales away from game only retailers such as Game, Gamestation etc. A prime example of such a deal was with the launch of Modern Warfare 2, average online internet preorder price of around £39.99 but Sainsbury's had it launch day in store for just £26. Anybody who saw that coming did well to pre-empt that move as by the time it was announced, all of the online pre-orders had shipped and it was too late.

So in that instance, pre-ordering was the wrong thing to do but how about other titles? Namely, the limited special collector editions that now plague the games industry. You know the sort, you can buy the game for £40 or buy the super special edition in a metal case (that requires the most painfully accurate removal of the disc as it perelously bends to lamost breaking point upon trying to get the thing out) and some special art book or whatever for a premium price, are they still worth pre-ordering?

Well to answer this I again used the Modern Warfare 2 example which boasted 3 UK special edition forms: Hardened (tin, COD Classic Game code + Artbook), Veteran (same as previous but with a figurine) and Prestige (same as Hardened but with a man's plastic head a night vision goggles). The last option was an instant sell out, so was unavailable to most casual folks like you and I come launch day. But the former 2, not so.

Predicatably, the special editions didn't fall in price the same way the standard editions did on launch, but a sniff around some internet websites and you'll quickly find the original £99.99 price of the figure edition fall to £69.99 now, and even more annoyingly (as I paid full whack for it on launch) the launch price of £69.99 for the Hardened was spotted for a staggering £39.99. Of course there are strictly limited editions of games that will hold their value due to their small numbers, a new launch representing this case would be Assassin's Creed 2: Black Edition.

We've ascertained then that pre-ordering standard edition games in shops are not always the best means of securing a game and at a bargain price, and that online is fast (sometimes) and is generally the cheapest way to pre-order but not always the cheapest way to secure your game as the supermarket's undercutting antics clear the opposition away but are not guaranteed for every single game launch.

What we need here then, is some way of securing our pre-orders by tempting us with something cool and exclusive, just for us that pre-ordered. And voila, the game companies have responded and the answer is: exclusive content! Firstly, I'm not a fan of this idea of exclusive content at all and some of it is just plain ridiculous. What is even worse, are different websites are claiming different exclusive free gifts making where to order from even more difficult.

You need examples now, so I'll give you 3: Forza 3 motorsport, WWE Smackdown v Raw 2010 and Left 4 Dead 2. Out of the three of these games, one offers a great exclusive offer, one offers a dreadful one and the other offers an unworthy one.

Let's start with the good one, Forza Motorsport 3. Online retailers where offering exclusive painted cars in various liveries and on different machines. Great, not very interesting and not of anything worthy, we shall move on. Where the great pre-order bonus came in, was at Microsoft's end by including a card with an exclusive track and car pack for pre-order customers only. The reason this works, is that it is a genuine reason to get the game come launch and is NOT retailer exclusive.

Now, the one that's bad, WWE Smackdown vs Raw. It's not the first time THQ have done this to us, but different retailers now claim to have exclusive wrestler's only available if you buy the game from them. Unfair much? What if I really want Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, I have to buy the game twice from 2 different retailers? Ridiculous and simply doesn't work for me.

Lastly, the unworthy one: Left 4 Dead 2. The GAME network (Gamestation, Game, Gameplay) were offering a free baseball bat in the game. Wow.

So, after all this ranting you're expecting a summary. I'll give you one but I won't be giving my overall opinion, instead I want to hear yours. Pre-ordering is great online as you get the game early in most cases. But, what if you work 9-5 all week and can't play come launch day anyway? Benefits have gone yeah? So, you go to the store and pick the game up on launch night, but that's a little inconvient yeah? You wait until launch weekend and hope that there's some supermarket deal somewhere but what if there isn't? You wait for a sale to arrive and nab a bargain on the net instead but find that most people have already moved on come time for you to sit down and play it.

Do you still pre-order games, and do store exclusive bonuses ever sway you decision of where to buy from? We'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment and join in the discussion.

Marty.