Pre-order Incentives

bgaum

Hi guys - I have a couple of questions for you:

a) What's the best pre-order incentive that you ever received - i.e. for pre-ordering a game before the release date, e.g. action figure, poster, t-shirt, etc.?

b) For a brand new game (i.e. not a sequel), what type of pre-order incentive would excite you - within reason?

Thanks.

Substance6

I got the tiny little robot for pre-ordering Lost Planet.

I was going to buy it anyway, but pre-ordering it and getting a tiny toy was worth laying money down. But the robot itself? It hangs out on my desk, watching over my domain.

Houk

This sounds suspiciously like a PR dude looking for ideas on what to pack with an upcoming game. If that's the case, I want to see more crisp $50 bills as preorder bonuses.

Deusfaux

bonus discs, or special casing


toys and shit of that order I couldnt care for - I've grown out of that stuff a long time ago

Slapnuts

As a preorder incentive I'd like to get all the content you were going to sell me on Live for free.

4rch3nemy

Soundtracks with the game. Bar none.

Krunch XP

I would like to own part of the moon, as a preorder bonus.

Nothing under five acres. I don't wanna touch or see anybody when I get up there.

Vegan

MGS3 Subsistence had the short, but excellently packaged, DVD documentary.

Castlevania Portrait of Ruin had a ton of drool-worthy stuff: http://www.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2006/10/castevania_por_bonuses.jpg

Bionic Monkey

Special cases actually annoy the hell out of me. I have limited space, and an inch and a half thick metal case just takes up too much fucking space. If you're going to do a special case, look towards the Halo 2 or Doom 3 CEs.

Houk

4rch3nemy wrote:

Soundtracks with the game. Bar none.

i agree, and now that ive seen how easy it is to package an OST with the game (something i try to get our company to do for every game, with great results), there's really no reason not to.

APZonerunner

With guitar hero 2 preorders I got a leather strap for the guitar. A proper official Gibson Leather strap, which I thought was awesome.

Pb

I want more cloth maps in games, or hardcover manuals. I eat that shit up. Soundtracks are also nice if they're actually good, and not just 20 random songs they dumped on the CD. It's sort of annoying putting one in and not having that one song you really like on it.

jclast

The best I've received was the The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition GameCube disc.

And although I don't have one, the special styluses (styli?) for the DS are nifty, too.

T-Shirt? No thanks. Special case? No, too big (usually, the FFXII CE case is fine).

Taramoor

The pre-order for Wind Waker was indescribably awesome. Many Zelda's on one disc, how could it not be amazing.

Soundtracks are great. It's better that it be a game or something tangibly related to the game you're getting.

Art books are also good.

Viewtiful Joe bobblehead... not so great. P.N.03 shirt and sunglasses... cool, but not really necessary or inspired.

Vegan

Pb wrote:

I want more cloth maps in games

I love that shit.

Houk

i liked the bobblehead just because it's a fun piece of collectability.

SageinaRage

Yeah, physical maps kick ass for games that use them. Also OST's.

Voro

Soundtracks that feature all of the game's songs are awesome, as are cloth maps and art books.

A) Best ever received? Art book, soundtrack, and gigantic DJBooks strategy guide (you could kill a man with this thing) at no extra cost. I won't include the manga since I technically paid for it, but I still consider it part of the package of awesomeness.

It depends what type of game it is and how much work was put into the setting. Obviously, Doom when it first came out wouldn't have many options. Figurines and art books work well with those types. Maps are great for RPGs, and soundtracks are great if the game has a composer doing the music. Some games though, like Hoshigami, would make me drive a railroad spike through my head if I had that painful, repetitive music on a cd to listen to anywhere.

FaceballMcDougal

the promise of not pestering me to pre-order ever again would entice me greatly to pre-order a ton of shit

cj iwakura

I love art books. I get strategy guides just for art more often than not.

OSTs are cool too, but art books are worth every penny necessary.

I can't believe stuff like the Tales of Symphonia and Xenosaga books were just given away. They're easily worth buying.

Houk

Voro wrote:

A) Best ever received? Art book, soundtrack, and gigantic DJBooks strategy guide (you could kill a man with this thing) at no extra cost. I won't include the manga since I technically paid for it, but I still consider it part of the package of awesomeness.

Disgaea 2 pack?

Taramoor

FaceballMcDougal wrote:

the promise of not pestering me to pre-order ever again would entice me greatly to pre-order a ton of shit

Catch-22

Lunker

Houk wrote:

i liked the bobblehead just because it's a fun piece of collectability.

I agree and posit that the only thing better than bobbleheads are punching dolls. Like the Ghaleon punching doll that was preorder swag for Lunar: Eternal Blue for PS1!

Bionic Monkey

Lunker wrote:

Houk wrote:

i liked the bobblehead just because it's a fun piece of collectability.

I agree and posit that the only thing better than bobbleheads are punching dolls. Like the Ghaleon punching doll that was preorder swag for Lunar: Eternal Blue for PS1!

My wife has that damn thing on display on top of our DVD tower.

ToyD

I need no incentive to pre-order. The entire reason I pre-order is so my copy shows up on launch day. I don't pay extra or anything else, nor do I want to have to pay extra.

You're talking about bonuses for guaranteed first-day sales figures and the like. Honestly, the best bonus I could EVER receive for pre-ordering a game is a discount.

Voro

Houk wrote:

Voro wrote:

A) Best ever received? Art book, soundtrack, and gigantic DJBooks strategy guide (you could kill a man with this thing) at no extra cost. I won't include the manga since I technically paid for it, but I still consider it part of the package of awesomeness.

Disgaea 2 pack?

Yes! So awesome. It was a bit stressful with how quickly the artbooks were gone, but best preorder nonetheless. :^:

Houk

Voro wrote:

Houk wrote:

Voro wrote:

A) Best ever received? Art book, soundtrack, and gigantic DJBooks strategy guide (you could kill a man with this thing) at no extra cost. I won't include the manga since I technically paid for it, but I still consider it part of the package of awesomeness.

Disgaea 2 pack?

Yes! So awesome. It was a bit stressful with how quickly the artbooks were gone, but best preorder nonetheless. :^:

Yeah...I don't think any of us expected the flood that ensued that morning...egad, it was bad.

Xagarath

Houk wrote:

Voro wrote:

Houk wrote:

Voro wrote:

A) Best ever received? Art book, soundtrack, and gigantic DJBooks strategy guide (you could kill a man with this thing) at no extra cost. I won't include the manga since I technically paid for it, but I still consider it part of the package of awesomeness.

Disgaea 2 pack?

Yes! So awesome. It was a bit stressful with how quickly the artbooks were gone, but best preorder nonetheless. :^:

Yeah...I don't think any of us expected the flood that ensued that morning...egad, it was bad.

At least the PAL release had the soundtrack as a matter of course.

core tactic

Give us cool miniatures.


Then we would see who'd win in a fight: 3 foot godzilla, or 10 3 inch guys from Gears of War?

Mighty

Things i would want in a pre order or CE bundle ( not all of them, just 1 or 2)

An item/character from the game (physical toy, and better then army man quality)

A DVD / CD of music or behind the scenes junk

Hats - baseball or otherwise

a poster - but a good one. none of this HL2 ZOMG HEAD SHOT crap. I can appreciate 1 head shot poster, but 4 of them is downright insulting. give me some shots of C17 or fighting or SOMETHING.

Stickers - a nice touch, though quality is key.


Pack-ins that i would :x to

In-game items - Fuck that. everyone who pays money for your product should get the SAME content. F.E.A.R. is a good example. only allowing pre-order ppl to use the extra skins? :evil:

Poster - see above post about the hl2 posters.

A single card for your CCG - Hey, i know you got a CCG out there, and you want me to play it. but... if i don't. what the hell good is this card? i can use it to pick my teeth i guess.

Edit : i was one of those few who laid hands on an artbook with a Disgaea 2 preorder. needless to say, the whole thing was g-g-g-g-GODlike

TexiKen

Castlevania Portrait of Ruin had the biggest pre-order bonus of ever ever. Art book and soundtrack and some other stuff too.

Capt Howdy

Zelda pre-order was the best.

I wish I had known about the POR pre-order stuff, that was outstanding.

I also liked the Star Wars arcade game that came with the Rebel Strike pre-order. (Despite the fact that the damn thing was a bonus on the game too)

RainbowDespair

Personally, rather than do pre-order incentives (which may or not actually make it to the customer depending on the individual store), I'd rather companies just put bonuses with the first printing of a game so that everyone who buys the game early gets it. Like for example, how the first printing of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne included a soundtrack CD.

And well, soundtrack CDs, art books, guide books (like Earthbound did or Magna Carta) are the main ones I like.

Houk

RainbowDespair wrote:

Personally, rather than do pre-order incentives (which may or not actually make it to the customer depending on the individual store), I'd rather companies just put bonuses with the first printing of a game so that everyone who buys the game early gets it. Like for example, how the first printing of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne included a soundtrack CD.

And well, soundtrack CDs, art books, guide books (like Earthbound did or Magna Carta) are the main ones I like.

we've taken to doing that. we only offer pre-order stuff on our website, and ar tonelico (coming up) will have a premium box and art book included.

AnakinOU

The Zelda bonus disk was amazing.

"Thanks for pre-ordering Wind Waker. In the meanwhile, play these other Zelda games, on us."

AWESOME.

Less awesome? The Doom 3 pewter figs. Sure, they were cool...but they were just the old Reaper mini's that didn't sell worth shit back in the 90's, and had NOTHING to do with Doom 3.

Viscountalpha

bgaum wrote:

Hi guys - I have a couple of questions for you:

a) What's the best pre-order incentive that you ever received - i.e. for pre-ordering a game before the release date, e.g. action figure, poster, t-shirt, etc.?

b) For a brand new game (i.e. not a sequel), what type of pre-order incentive would excite you - within reason?

Thanks.

Actual RARE collectables, OST's, Rare and odd items like a katsumi body pillow. It has to be cool. I love my "we love katamari" promo item.

Ya know your extras from conventions? Ship them out by the tons with pre-orders and write those expensies off. Sometimes generic promo items work well too. Nintendo hats/shirts with certain games when you pre-order or something to make the pre-order valued.

Btw, I'm still pissed I got screwed out my zelda bobble head preorder item. (like 4 years ago) and DON'T allow employees to take unfair portions. Employees of gaming stores usually double dip and take more then they should.

temperature!

I'd like to receive the actual pre-order bonus. I know that its the retailers fault, but I've pre-ordered many games expecting art books or hats or posters. I have none of those.

art books would be my favorite, concept art, final artwork, all that good stuff.

YesNoMu

Wind Waker had the great OoT/Master Quest disc, and Castlevania: PoR had the incredible artbook/soundtrack/timeline/crappy stylus pack. Okami had a kinda neat artboard you painted on with water.

So I say, art and music from the game. The art from many games is really worth seeing (see: Metroid Prime 1&2).

Radikal_Dreamer

I'm another one that would say the zelda bonus disc with Ocarina of Time was the best.

Icewing

My Favourite Kind of Pre-Order Bonus: The game's complete soundtrack on a normal Audio CD. I think games should include this by default, frankly, but I know that's not always possible.

Damn, now I'm remembering Silent Hill 3, No One Lives Forever, Deus Ex, Heavy Gear, Quake, etc. Those ruled.

No bullshit "code to download DRM'd 128kbit versions that massacre what should have been the bit-rate needed to portray a giant orchestral score."

Mordrack

Icewing wrote:

The game's complete soundtrack on a normal Audio CD. I think games should include this by default, frankly, but I know that's not always possible.

Hell yeah they should. One of the things I love about importing Falcom games. Felghana came with a bunch of good stuff.