Valve jump on the Pre-order Bull**** Bandwagon

Maximilian

So I read that Valve will now be making certain Left4Dead 2 weapons exclusive to those who pre-order from certain retailers. For example, the baseball bat will be one and others, such as the machete and hilarious sounding electric guitar are possibly others. The way it works is that if one person you are playing with/against has such a version, the weapon becomes available to all, which I suppose isn't the worst way to do it.

I'm still surprised that Valve of all companies would succumb to this really irritating marketing trend. What really annoys me about this kind of thing is that it is removing existing content from a game, pre-release, in order to repackage it in some stupid special edition and gouge more money from the games most ardent fans. Their loyalty should be rewarded not seized upon as an opportunity to make even more money. Empire Total War was the best (worst) example of this I thought, up until now.

I think the l4d forums have predictably gone a little overboard in reaction to the news but I think they have a point. Am I alone in being worried where this trend will eventually end up?

Overheal

they can do whatever they want, i havent bought it. but i am getting tired of the preorder bs.

SeantheMan

What did Empire Total War do ?? ( i have the game...dont play it though)

I'll be getting L4D aswell...an Electric Guitar sounds cool...if you know you're gonna buy a game anyways then there's no big deal.

How many people here already have COD : MW2 or Beatles Rock Band of preorder ?? ...well...maybe not the beatles...:p










I have both :rolleyes:

Kiith

They should make all the items available to people who pre-order it through Steam, as a reward for sticking with them even when their prices are much higher then a lot of stores.

But i too am sick of the pre-ordering crap.

Maximilian

SeantheMan wrote: »

What did Empire Total War do ?? ( i have the game...dont play it though)

They basically took a bunch of units out of the main game and repackaged them in a special edition pre-launch. It pissed me off. The game was broken as well. Still is if you ask me.

The only good reason to buy a game pre-launch is if there's a discount in my opinion, not so you get stuff that you should rightfully be getting anyway. Talk about having your cake and eating it.

Overheal

Marvel Vs. Capcom too has an ad running - pre-order at gamestop and unlock the Juggernaut.

People need to stop buying into this crap. it only encourages them.

Overheal

SeantheMan wrote: »

What did Empire Total War do ?? ( i have the game...dont play it though)

I'll be getting L4D aswell...an Electric Guitar sounds cool...if you know you're gonna buy a game anyways then there's no big deal.

How many people here already have COD : MW2 or Beatles Rock Band of preorder ?? ...well...maybe not the beatles...:p










I have both :rolleyes:

And he gives out to me because he thinks im fascinated with hats :rolleyes:

Kinetic^

Doesn't bode well tbh. I don't see the need to do this when the first game was so god damn popular.

Overheal

Nor is it really like they need the revenue stream. I wonder if its something new the publishers are trying to gauge how many physical copies they need to print. Who wants another ET?

johnny_ultimate

I also don't like this whole pre-order business at all. Buy a game, and you should get the full game, not a slightly less feature packed version because you didn't buy it from Game****ingstop. Prices on new games can vary so much these days from store to store it is never worth tying yourself down months in advance for a little bit of extra (sometimes useless) content. It isn't a pleasant business practice, and while it is indeed disappointing that Valve have succumbed, it is more the retailers fault for dangling large bags of cash in front of the developers. After all, developers like money as much as the next person.

The whole console exclusive features is also getting out of hand. While the PC version by its very nature may always have some extra features (level editor etc...) due to the nature of PC gaming, differences between console versions are really grating. Arkham Asylum recently, and MW2 has Xbox exclusive maps if I recall. Consumer should have the right to make up what console version they wish to buy, and not have to be swayed by exclusive this and thats for competing consoles. I'll buy the Xbox MW2 because I prefer Live and the Xbox controller over the PS3, but I think it is hugely unfair anyone who chooses the PS3 version will have fewer maps and updates in the future. Sure, console exclusive titles are fine and welcome, but multi-format titles should be just that IMO.

[/end rant]

ScumLord

Wouldn't this be something that could be easily cracked? Maybe it'll have the opposite effect and only encourage piracy and make people want to crack the game.

humanji

ScumLord wrote: »

Wouldn't this be something that could be easily cracked? Maybe it'll have the opposite effect and only encourage piracy and make people want to crack the game.

Not only that, but I'd say that after a couple of weeks, modders will be adding their own weapons to it anyway.

Maximilian

ScumLord wrote: »

Wouldn't this be something that could be easily cracked? Maybe it'll have the opposite effect and only encourage piracy and make people want to crack the game.

humanji wrote: »

Not only that, but I'd say that after a couple of weeks, modders will be adding their own weapons to it anyway.

Quite possibly but I imagine it will work in much the same way as the TF2 drops. I don't know much about TF2 but I haven't heard of people managing to get any of those items by fiddling with the console or whatever. I'm not sure any of the L4d1 mods have added weapons but I wish they would. I'm impatient for chainsaws.

TinCool

Maximilian wrote: »

I'm impatient for chainsaws.

Fire up Doom to quench your impatience :pac:

Maximilian

TinCool wrote: »

Fire up Doom to quench your impatience :pac:

I think I still have the disks around here somewhere. Shame I don't have a 3.5" drive anymore though

marshbaboon

I'm gonna go ahead you can pick up the weapons ala gears of war 2, thus so when said player with pre-order weapons goes down and needs to be revived I simply stand over them, possibly teabagging, wait for them to die and take said baseball bat and/or electric guitar.

no problem.

Overheal

Maximilian wrote: »

I think I still have the disks around here somewhere. Shame I don't have a 3.5" drive anymore though

go get one, theyre only a tenner, and no PC is complete without an A:\ drive.

Jazzy

it certainly is b*ll****

Maximilian

marshbaboon wrote: »

I'm gonna go ahead you can pick up the weapons ala gears of war 2, thus so when said player with pre-order weapons goes down and needs to be revived I simply stand over them, possibly teabagging, wait for them to die and take said baseball bat and/or electric guitar.

no problem.

brb - homeless person on fire.

Overheal wrote: »

go get one, theyre only a tenner, and no PC is complete without an A:\ drive.

I've no room to stick one in. Could extend the case but I ran out of lego.

Maximilian

Regarding the boycott thing - this made me lol

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/09/11/the-boycott-joes-l4d-map-campaign/

Jumpy

Maximilian wrote: »

brb - homeless person on fire.

Is he out?

Overheal

Maximilian wrote: »

Regarding the boycott thing - this made me lol

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/09/11/the-boycott-joes-l4d-map-campaign/

the photo op was gross though.

Gabe Newell is the stereotype.




As for the level modder:

http://kotaku.com/5356926/gabe-newell-boycotting-l4d-modders-campaign-%5Bupdate%5D

A 19-year-old Aussie emailed the Valve boss to complain that he wasn't flown in for the boycott-bustin' playtest of Left 4 Dead 2. Gabe Newell's reaction, allegedly (and in fun), was to announce a boycott of his own.

The modder, Joe of Joe's Modding Menagerie, is putting together a campaign for Left 4 Dead (pictured, above. Note the "I miss Twitter" graffiti.) He's apparently friendly enough with Newell that the Valve managing director answers his emails. He's even autographed a prop graphics card. But Joe felt snubbed by the corrupting/co-opting/olive branch offering to the Left 4 Dead 2 boycott leaders, and sent Newell this email with the header "I think you just opened up a can of worms: Why the hell haven't I been flown to Valve? I mean, you guys need to preview my campaign."

Newell's arch reply: "We are boycotting your campaign."

Playing shocked, Joe asks if that means he has to fly Newell to Brisbane for him to preview the mod. Newell ups the ante. "Me and Erik [Johnson, Valve project manager]," he answers, cc'd to Johnson.

So what's left to be done? Boycott a boycott? Two of those won't make a right here. Instead, Joe has begun a fund drive to collect enough money to fly both down to Brisbane to test out his campaign. A ticket from Seattle to Brisbane runs about $1,000, U.S. Joe has $6 (Australian) in donations so far.
Update: Couple things here.

1) This is all a big gag, although the donation total is up to $375.75, with $100 of that coming from Valve's Robin Walker, who writes: "This is Robin Walker, from Valve. The rest of us at Valve would sure appreciate a couple of days without Erik around, so thanks for organising this! Quick question though: if I donated more, would you buy a one-way ticket for him?" So who knows where this is headed.

2) Nobody is pissed at anyone. It's clearly a parody of the rush to boycott things that displease you in games. Although I do acknowledge that my aside "Or was anyway," commenting on Joe's good terms with Gabe, carried not enough of an ironic tone and created confusion for some that Joe really is PO'd. He's not. So that's why I edited the lede. Everyone's having a good time