![]() ![]() “The more people who pre-order, the more rewards gets unlocked. “To unlock all these rewards, you’ll need to spread the word and work as a team,” Irrational’s marketing copy says. Would they get to keep the two free games? It’s unclear. Lastly, I’ve asked what would happen if both BioShock and XCOM are unlocked but someone decides to subsequently cancel their preorder. I’ve also asked Irrational and 2K for some clarification regarding the finer points of this operation, specifically whether they’ll be telling people who pre-order how close they are to unlocking the next target, or if those numbers will be hidden from customers. I’ve asked Valve to confirm with me that you can only return pre-purchased games before the launch date, though I’ve no reason to believe that’s not the case. If it’s past the release date and you pre-purchased through Steam, you’ll be out of luck. You decide that you don’t really want the game after all. So let’s say that Infinite gets some negative or conflicted reviews, for whatever reason. “An exception is made for games purchased during a pre-order period if the request is received prior to the games’ release date.” “As with most downloadable software products, we do not offer refunds for purchases made through Steam”, reads the Steam FAQ. GameStop would keep the $US5 deposit you put down, but as store credit - you could put it toward another game.īut if you’ve pre-purchased on Steam, you can only get your money back if you contact Steam support before the launch date. So if, say, you pre-ordered Aliens: Colonial Marines, then saw the terrible reviews, you could save yourself the purchase price. If you wait for a day after the game launches, you can call in to the store and cancel. If you pre-order a game from GameStop, you aren’t charged in full until you actually come down to the store and pick it up. So of course, it’ll also require the most pre-orders to unlock.įurther complicating the matter is the fact that this is for Steam only, meaning that these are “Steam Pre-Purchases”, which work a bit differently than your run-of-the-mill GameStop pre-order. And while a lot of people pre-ordering Infinite have likely already played BioShock, the more-recent XCOM remains something of a good get. I’m not sure if they’re the first company to try this, but I’ve never quite seen anything quite like it, at least in video games. With this new method of pre-order incentivizing, 2K and Irrational have taken a bold step forward in manipulation. But the people selling this game don’t care: They’re perfectly happy for you to buy it right now, sight-unseen. But none of us can say for certain how the next four and a half hours are, or how the finished game is. Previews of BioShock Infinite have been no different: Stephen was confident that the first four and a half hours of BioShock Infinite are good, since that’s what he played. As Stephen so recently pointed out, the entire preview-to-preorder cycle is a challenging one for the press. They’re entirely designed to help game publishers circumvent game reviews and get people locked into purchasing games before the press has a chance to tell the public whether the game is good or not. Look, pre-orders are bad enough on their own. But surely I can’t be the only who finds this whole racket sketchy. I’d take a free copy of XCOM - Kotaku’s 2012 game of the year - over an in-game outfit or weapon any day. Both are published by BioShock: Infinite‘s publisher 2K, which is doubtless why they’re part of the deal. Both of those bonus games are great, and make for outstanding pre-release rewards. In other words, they not only want you to pay them for their game before it comes out and anyone has had a chance to review it, they want you to act as marketers and encourage your friends to pre-order. ![]() Of course, this is in addition to the Industrial Revolution pack that you will receive immediate access to just for pre-ordering! Lastly, Steam will sweeten the pot by unlocking a free copy of X-Com: Enemy Unknown once pre-orders hit that magic number. If that’s not enough, a series of exclusive BioShock Infinite-themed items (details below) in Team Fortress 2 will be unlocked if the number of pre-orders reaches the next level. Here’s how it works: if enough people pre-order BioShock Infinite, a free copy of the original BioShock gets unlocked. The rewards sound pretty good at first: “Pre-order BioShock Infinite on Steam today to help unlock exclusive rewards and free copies of BioShock and X-Com: Enemy Unknown!” Today, Irrational Games announced new Steam pre-order incentives for their hotly anticipated action game BioShock Infinite. Packaged bonuses, collectors’ edition cases, limited edition figures, in-game items, early access to betas, and more. Each week it feels like the video game industry is coming up with new ways to get you to pre-order games. ![]()
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