World Wide Developer Conference and E3 2013!

• New Macbook Airs
• New Mac Pros
• New Airport Extremes and Timemachines
• Mac OSX Mavericks
• iOS 7
• Xbox One
• Tons of Games
• PlayStation 4
• Even More Games
• Then Some More Games

Console War Fabrication

Just to be clear, there is no such thing as a “console war”.  Wars suggest a winning and a losing side, often combined with reparations, and for the most part there is more than one winner in a console war.  Even though Sega’s Genesis eventually lost to Nintendo’s SNES in terms of overall sales is almost irrelevant, both companies made a boat load of money.  No, console wars is a marketing title dedicated to making consumers take sides in return for brand loyalty in the sole interest of the companies behind the products.  That’s it guys, it’s just a bunch of wealthy men leading wealthy companies all in a dash for your money.

That’s fine, though, because we as gamers like that.  Ford fans tout decals depicting Calvin pissing on the Chevy logo and as if trying to demonstrate how stupid these product loyal are, an identical decal of Calvin pissing on Ford logos is sold to the Chevy crowd.  It’s because it just simply doesn’t matter, you like who you like and perception is the only judge.  In gaming we use the term ”fanboy” to suggest a negative connotation on a gamer who selects a specific company they love.  These fanboys get on the Internet and spout misinformation, praise everything that benefits their cause, and lie about or avoid anything that doesn’t, and they’re proud of it.  This apparent crime is anything but, it’s just the vocal minority spouting off about their beliefs, something almost every American does at some time in their life. 

Not since 1992 had I seen actual fights over whether Sega or Nintendo were better, and frankly in gaming circles you will rarely see anyone being all that aggressive about their preference.  I consistently hear that PC is best, Xbox is best, Playstation is best, even Wii is best, but I don’t think anything of it.  Well as of Monday night I have seen the darkest side of the Internet step forth and get aggressive about the battle between Sony and Microsoft (with a select few defending Nintendo and PC, but knowing it’s all falling on deaf ears).  Normally I try to be diplomatic in this situation, but I just can’t be after the behavior I’ve seen, so I say here and now: it’s just a fucking video game, stop being an irrational human being about it.

Situation from the Front Lines

Naturally after this announcement Sony is the easy winner.  All the tweets rushing out about everyone purchasing the PS4, suggesting the Xbox One will see no pre-orders or have them all cancel, and that Sony knows what gamers want while Microsoft is all about screwing us over.  That’s the popular vote, of course, and those comments are just fine and par for the course.  Microsoft fans were quick to stand by their choice, proud of the Xbox One and the selection it offers, which also is fine and pleasant to see because Microsoft’s console is nothing to scoff at.  Historically we have seen consoles last for 6-10 years and if you break this down $100 isn’t all that big of a deal, nor does the cheaper or more popular console define the winner.  We went into this generation thinking that the PS3 would be the instant winner despite its $600 price tag and that proved to be a bold misconception.  What I didn’t like were the resulting tweets I started reading afterward that were Microsoft fans telling everyone to fuck off, calling those that were undecided and went to the PS4 to be ”traitors” or ”the enemy”.  As days have gone on I’ve seen chatters, forum posters, and article commentors stating that everyone is doom and gloom on Microsoft and that Sony will fuck us over in the end.  All of these things are perhaps true, but is it really worth being such a resentful person? 

I understand the sentiment, I really do.  Consoles aren’t cheap, $400 is only a slightly lighter blow than $500 and both will require some time and planning to budget unless you want to frivolously dump it on a credit card you don’t intend to pay off.  No one likes to be told that this huge purchase was tainted by making the wrong choice.  Microsoft and Sony know this, they announced the price to give you six or so months to save up.  Furthermore I have seen no decline in fiscal interest for the consoles, both the launch Xbox Ones and PS4s are sold out online and completely reserved at my local GameStops.  No one is in trouble here, it’s just everyone caught up in the hype.  Both consoles came out swinging and put up a good fight – Microsoft in the software realm and Sony in the hardware in my eyes (which makes sense when you compare each company’s background).  There’s no reason not to want either, or both, but many of us will have to make a choice.  It’s this choice where I feel people are out of line because they are scared to be the unpopular choice - way to be a five-year-old.  Who gives a fuck if you want the Xbox One and your buddy wants a PS4?  If you seriously want to be all bent out of shape about it, fine, but do it in the courtesy of your own home and silently instead of shitting on those that can have an intelligent conversation.  

I was talking in a chat with someone about the games that the Xbox One had that were impressive from the press event and he told me I’m full of shit simply because I pre-ordered a PS4.  What the fuck is that?  So because I am forced to make a decision and I went with the PS4 we can’t discuss your coveted game system anymore?  You sure didn’t give a shit that I initially purchased a PS3 and Wii instead of a 360 and you were more than happy to tell me how every game I was getting was utter dog shit, now I go to compliment your choice and even voice disregard for the fact I can’t play one of those games and I’m suddenly patronizing?  It just goes to show, as with the audience responses from the press conferences that maybe the games industry is as immature as the stereotype suggests.  When someone doesn’t agree with you or say something you like your only solution is to throw defensive nonsense.

Aftershock

This whole console war thing is gonna look pretty stupid in hindsight.  Time will tell who the actual “victor” is and whether or not anyone should have given a shit at all.  By next summer no one will care about the random fights being seen today and hopefully we can all go back to being civil.  There are risks on both sides, but as I said before, it’s a fucking video game system so how important can this decision be? (and I’m about as hardcore a gamer as they come!)  You have a life, potential friends, maybe a partner, possibly even kids and a job, do none of these things exist outside of what an E3 press conference reveals?  Get over it, you’re going to have to face much harder decisions and outcomes than what fucking box plays your little bleep bloops.  You finally did it Internet, you took the piss out of E3, thanks a bunch.   

This editorial is the sole opinion of its author, Fred Rojas, and doesn’t necessarily reflect the opinions of the B-Team or its other co-hosts.  When the hate mail comes a calling, the author of this piece can be your target.

Remember Me

Remember Me is the pinnacle of a cyberpunk story – it takes place in 2084, memories are shared experiences in a social network, the city of Paris has been renamed to Neo-Paris – so everything will feel a bit familiar for fans of the genre.  A corporation named Memorise has established technology and networks that allow you to extract, share, and sell memories, which has gotten so popular it controls a majority of the population.  As with any cyberpunk story, whenever there’s a large controlling corporation there is always an underground group set on bringing it down, in Remember Me they are called “Errorists”.  You control female protagonist Nilin, who in the prequel chapter awakens in a Memorise facility for memory erasure.  This is not circumstantial, Nilin was a clear target given her alliance with the Errorists and the fact that she can steal and alter other people’s memories.  With the help of Errorist leader Edge, Nilin works her way through the roughest and nicest neighborhoods of Neo-Paris in an attempt to take down Memorise.  It’s good to see a story that revolves around the tangible world, which is often ignored or background in cyberpunk.  While the setup may be relatively standard, I found the overall plot and especially the final hours, to be a unique twist that rarely happens, particularly in video games.

Gameplay varies, switching between different styles and formats, but essentially it’s a brawler and platformer with mini-games sprinkled in from time to time.  It will be tempting to compare gameplay to several games – Remember Me is acutely aware of what was popular this generation – but contextually it shares nothing more with the titles you could reference so I don’t feel there’s a point.  Brawling is a timing-based system of combos and dodging - the unique aspect in this game being the ability to add a perk to each hit of a combo allowing you to modify battle to your play style.  In addition you receive special attacks that assist in taking down specific types or certain combinations of enemies, which is the brunt of the diversity in combat.  After an episode or two the battles flow in such a way that they are not only manageable but also satisfying displays of your abilities.  Platforming is hindered a bit by the disconnect between Nilin’s pathetic static jump and her impressive leaps when aiming for a specific ledge or platform.  Throughout the campaign you will leap gaps, shimmy across platforms, scale large exteriors, and climb about with relative ease.  Instead of the popular glowing ledge Rescue Me provides contextual arrows to guide where you can go next but it’s unnecessary because Nilin will most often not allow you to jump to somewhere she can’t grab on to.  I’ve heard claims of stealth in the game, but save for a few “dodge the robot’s line of sight” instances, there’s none to speak of.  At times you will be able to remix someone’s memory, which is mostly watching a cutscene with the ability to control speed and direction of playback while searching for little areas that you can change to impact the memory.  As a result a simple fight between lovers can result in a murder or a basic medical procedure can end horribly, but only in that character’s mind because you aren’t actually changing history.  There’s only one result the game wants you to get, but I was amused that making changes to the wrong outcome still allows you to see what could potentially happen despite the game forcing you to go back and choose the correct path.  Most episodes end with a boss battle that harkens back to the days of puzzle bosses that require you to try various tactics and pattern recognition.  I personally enjoyed the boss battles and found them to be an appropriate change in scope and battle, but the final matches do end up being quite derivative.

Developer Dontnod is an independent studio from France that includes art director Aleksi Briclot, best known for his art in Magic: The Gathering, and science fiction writer Alain Damasio (although all of his books are in French) as predominant members of the studio.  It shows.  The world created in Remember Me is vibrant with that bright neon exterior hiding a cold and heartless mechanical nucleus.  Neo-Paris has depth, a layout, neighborhoods, and a is an established world from the start.  Not only that but the graphics looked great, even on the 360, with a consistent framerate no matter what was happening.  Unlike many other 3rd person action platformers, this game is as linear as it comes with few opportunities to explore or even wonder off the beaten path.  I know this may seem like a discredit to the created city, and perhaps it is, but the direct progression of the episodes allows the story to stay on point and the player to remain focused, albeit at the expense of the hard work put in behind the scenes.  I also felt the world was a bit scant in terms of population.  You will encounter an occasional citizen or street vendor, but they don’t directly interact with you and all of the homes and apartments you find yourself in will be void of human life whether it’s the middle of the day or the middle of the night.  Sure, Dontnod threw in a bunch of random housekeeping or maintenance cyborgs as placeholders within the environment, but I found those to be as remarkable as the random furniture in the room.  The back third of the game also involves many areas that look identical and granted the plot justifies the setting but I was hoping to see more of the dazzling atmosphere that is introduced in the first half of the game.

Remember Me not only has a series of technical missteps but also some conscious decisions that break immersion so distinctly I’m surprised they were left in.  For starters the load times, even installed on my Xbox 360, were extremely long.  Given that most of the times I had to reload were sudden action scenes that required you to know what was coming next to react or cheap deaths because Nilin didn’t register you were leaping to a ledge instead of her simple hop, it was aggravating.  I still don’t understand why games today have those intense action scenes completely focused around twitch reactions and then force you into specific routes or curveball counterintuitive inputs, it’s annoying and reminds me I’m playing a video game.  Thankfully these sequences are few and far between here.  Since Remember Me is so linear and scripted, there were a few times in the campaign where contextual events like a door opening or ledge dropping simply didn’t happen and I was forced to reload a checkpoint.  I’m not sure how widespread this was (I played a retail copy pre-release and there were no online updates during this time), but with the long load times and general confusion it was a rare but unpleasant occurrence.  Furthermore the dialogue is somewhat lacking, with most conversations being monologues or banter between Nilin and Edge, but hidden within this dialogue are often major plot points.  If you’re not paying attention, which can be somewhat difficult while you’re running around and trying to figure out where to go next, you may miss large reveals in the story.  They continue to be reinforced, but no one likes to piece the story together contextually.

Remember Me is trying to tell a complex interactive story without sacrificing the gameplay that so often falls to the wayside in games of this type.  I can already tell that several factors are working against it: it’s a title that comes late in the generation, it’s only single player, the campaign is around 12 hours long, it’s riddled with “take it or leave it” mechanics, and it doesn’t do anything all that new.  Still, I feel that this project was handled with enough care to justify the packaging it comes in – not all single player games should be $60 but the production value appears to justify the cost.  I can see where this is going to be popular among the crowd that latches to cyberpunk or deep single player experiences, something definitely lacking in today’s gamespace, but I fear that the typical turn-and-burn gamer will find nothing compelling about it.  Still, if you want to play a game that centralizes around the story and unfolds with decent gameplay and a few eyebrow raising mechanics, Remember Me is sure to satisfy. 

Rating: 4/5

• Castlestorm
• Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes
• Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
• Hitman Absolution
• Call of Juarez Gunslinger
• Dead Space 3

It may be hard to believe, but there are reasons to be excited about the upcoming console launches.  For starters, how about the fact that there should be a literal shit ton of games announced and revealed at E3.  I’ve heard we may get word on launch dates or even prices.  Microsoft will clarify the piss-poor job of its PR firm, Sony will explain its actual console, no one will be happy all over again, can’t wait!  Before all that happens I figured I’d put a little positive spin on the upcoming console launches and what we already know will happen as a result of these announcements.  Yes, you cinical assholes, there’s good news already.

• Streamlined game design reduces console exclusives: Lets face it, the way developers and publishers are making and selling games now isn’t working.  When modern high budget titles are supposed to achieve sales goals that are all but unprecidented, something needs to change.  It’s no coincidence that the PS4 and Xbox One are high end gaming PCs that just happen to match specs and architecture to any PC platform: to make development universal.  There will no longer be a need to wonder if a game is coming out for what platforms, any smart 3rd party publisher will release with all 3 because the engine and code is compatible with all 3.  Hell, it may even still be WiiU compatible if you’re a masochist.
• Gamers can’t make a bad choice: Exclusives aside, you are basically free to be whatever fanboy you want to be.  Go ahead PC players, stand proud, you’ve earned it.  Sony fans, it’s cool, you can be in the club too.  Microsoft xbots, welcome aboard.  They may have different marketing and multimedia functionality, but when it comes to gaming it’s time to call a spade a spade.  They’re all basically the same machine.  Sure PCs will eventually overtake the consoles, but when has that ever not been the case.
• Sony will have cross-platform chat: Personally I could give a shit less, but apparently the “vocal majority” have decided this is right up there with D-Day as one of the greatest victories of all time. Woo-hoo, I guess, have fun chatting about nerdy shit while you and a buddy pwn n00bs in your favorite FPS.
• Microsoft has blu ray: Not that I care the format, but the days of multiple discs, swapping, installing every game (er, well, ha – forget that last one) are behind us.  Hopefully games can come on a single disc and burned out drive motors will be less common.  Thank you Microsoft for getting a massive storage format for media.
• New shiny in the living room: For that first year, showing off the box is fun.
• More PC games on consoles: Don’t get all negative on me! I’m sure we will see plenty of previously steam-only games making the migration over to Xbox One and PS4.  Maybe hell will even freeze over and Steam will add these two consoles as platforms.
• Support for 360 and PS3 post launch: You don’t have to upgrade, you know.  If all of these new console developments and factors (like used games, high price, etc.) really bother you it seems both Microsoft and Sony have a strong plant to support your current boxes in years to come.  Even if the first party stuff doesn’t show, I assure you games like Watchdogs, Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty, and probably even Metal Gear Solid will all appear on 360/PS3 alongside Xbox One/PS4.  There will be years of overlap in this new console cycle because it will be all about units shipped.  And they’ll allow used games!

There you go, see, it’s isn’t that bad.  There’s good news afoot for E3 and if you’re not excited then you’re just being a Negative Nancy.  I fucking hate Negative Nancies, so don’t come around me the week of June 10.  With so much yet to be announced there’s plenty to be excited about and no amount of articles, bitching, and tweets to Sony will change the plans already decided months or even years before the recent announcements.  Just accept it.  We did it with the NES, we did it with the PS1, and we can do it again with these horribly named new consoles.

The views expressed in this article are that of the author, Fred Rojas, and do not necessarily reflect the B-Team podcast or its other hosts.  In fact, most of the time the guys think I’m bat-shit crazy.

• Bad Bots
• Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure
• Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes
• Injustice iOS
• DOTA 2
• Minecraft
• Xbox One Discussion

When Deadly Premonition initially released on Xbox 360, it was an anomaly.  At $20 it was a tempting purchase amidst a sea of $60 games and $15 digital titles, well worth the risk to most.  As a community I’m not sure gamers and critics knew how to handle this title either, review scores peaked as high as 10/10 from Destructoid to 2/10 from IGN and most other major outlets remained luke warm on the title.  They all had the same message though: it is a long, unique, and creative romp through a technically flawed game.  Personally I attempted to best the title, finally losing my mind at the infamous Lumber Mill mission (those that have played it know what I’m talking about) and gave up.  Now Deadly Premonition Director’s Cut returns a few years later to the PS3 with updated graphics, sound, and controls (ie: technical traits) to expand the title to a wider audience.  I must admit that these updates are welcome – I didn’t die once during the Lumber Mill and managed to complete the game – but once you strip away the mechanics what remains is still an unfocused, labor-intensive campaign with one hell of a payoff.  Such an amazing payoff, in fact, it may well justify the shortcomings.

If you have not played the game, its premise is not unlike that of the Twin Peaks television show that teeters upon blatant rip-off.  FBI agent Francis York Morgan is sent to the town of Greenvale to investigate a hideous murder of a young girl.  Right off the bat things get weird because Morgan begins speaking to himself in his car but hides it behind naming his audience Zach.  Additionally your first area to overcome is a rain drenched woodland after a car accident that has Morgan exploring for an exit while battling eerie seemingly possessed people who bend over backward and attack with deep haunting voices.  From this opening I figured the game would be all about fighting creatures in the night, especially considering the crazy axeman you encounter at the end of the sequence, but instead the game opens up to the town of Greenvale and you then discover it’s actually about solving a mystery.  As you progress you will investigate areas, question citizens, perform an autopsy, drive around, collect items, and of course rummage through the occasional combat sequence.  This is an arduous, time-consuming task and it felt like work much of the time, but it only takes about two hours of play to determine if you find the gameplay taxing or right up your alley.  In either event the story was what kept me going and as the plot unfolds in the late hours of the game’s campaign you cannot put the controller down.  I was impressed, I did not see that ending coming (even though for a long time I thought I had the plot figured out). 

As for the updates in the Director’s Cut, I must say that from a content perspective there really aren’t any.  A few sequences were added here and there thanks to the new visual options embedded into the story, but at its core the path to discovery of the events of this town and Morgan as a whole remain unchanged.  Visuals have been updated, although it looks more like a rushed HD remake, and to its credit Deadly Premonition on 360 looked like PS2 game.  Unfortunately the framerate takes a massive hit on some of the more simple visuals, but given they are in-engine suggests it’s just the struggle of programming for PS3′s cell technology.  Although sound was updated, it seems identical to the previous version, but if it’s a better mix of 5.1 it sounded fine all the same.  Most notable of the updates are the controls, which felt to me like night and day.  I struggled with the original, unable to take out even the weakest of enemies effectively, so needless to say I didn’t last long through sequences that don’t seem to be geared at being a challenge.  Now I’m easily picking off enemies (perhaps they adjusted difficulty as well), getting headshots, and appreciating these sequences for the obstacle, not challenge, that they represent.  There are times where you will encounter quicktime events (QTEs) and for some reason those don’t appear to be tweaked, they are still unfair and require one or two annoying repeats in order to overcome.  It’s not all that taxing, mind you, because the game checkpoints right before any sequence like this.  Otherwise the game remains untouched complete with no jumping, awkward invisible walls in open forests and side alleys, and a terrible driving mechanic.  Apparently this is part of the charm but for me it just made my collecting a frustrating task to the point I eventually gave up.

That’s where the gripes for this game start.  I don’t understand why this game decided to make “hidden” items completely visible but the path to getting them so mundane and difficult.  Nothing is explained to you, which doesn’t bother me much in terms of playing the game, but if you want to introduce side missions, item collecting, and challenges it’s best to explain that this is what they are.  Until I finished the game and finally did a search on some of these items I had no idea they unlocked side plot and missions.  This is probably because the map is also poorly marked and does little to help you out.  Why even give me a map if it’s unreliable, doesn’t allow fast travel, and won’t even permit waypoints.  I could see on the map where I wanted to go but the town of Greenvale is so vast and the map doesn’t allow you to zoom out enough to know where you need to be.  In short, the map is useless.  Waypoints do appear when you need to progress in the story, so I don’t believe that developers were incapable of integrating player selected ones, they just didn’t.  There’s a tiredness and hunger mechanic that doesn’t seem to do more than create busy work for you, but to ignore them results in death and the need to start from your last save point, which with the random exploration in Deadly Premonition can account for tens of minutes or even hours of actual gameplay.  Finally I found the game overall to be a lot of work with little reward (until the end) and with someone who has limited hours to play that is not good.  This game may well benefit from playing in short bursts over a few weeks.  Perhaps I didn’t “get it” because it seems most people found a brunt of the game enjoyable, so if you have more free time or get an opportunity to rent it first, I would recommend that.

There is almost no game that came out this generation quite like Deadly Premonition, which is saying a lot in the current copycat nature of the gaming market.  While it may not be for everyone, there’s no doubt that this Twin Peaks-esque mystery will keep you guessing from start to finish.  Like a bad b-film, the draw in this title is the oddity and the flaws that make it enjoyable, which some may claim is lost with the new upgrades.  Still the Director’s Cut was the only version I could make progress in thanks to the fixed controls, so I consider it to be a necessary evil.  Some initial reactions scoffed at the now $40 price tag versus the $20 original release, but given that version is out of print and usually sells for the same used, there are plenty of justified reasons for the still budget-priced increase.  With a nearly 25 hour campaign, 40+ hour exploration playthrough, and encouragement to play multiple times (definitely necessary to get all the trophies without a guide) there is plenty of content to justify your purchase.  Whether that content is the kind of experience you’re looking for is up to you.

Deadly Premonition: Director’s Cut is available on PSN or in retail stores for $39.99 and a review copy was provided.  The main campaign took approximately 23 hours to complete with an overall play time of 32 hours by the reviewer.  Coverage on this title can also be found in episodes 207 and 208 of the B-Team.

Danger to the Developer/Publisher

It seems there’s no lack of nonsensical metrics being evaluated by companies that either create or distribute titles in the retail market. This is mostly due to the fact that a market such as the video game market has shown growth and evolution far beyond anything previous. There has never been a strong set pattern of sales and flux for too long, distribution has gone between different media, formats, and even moved from tangible to digital sales. As a result, marketing “gurus” and business analysts use all kinds of stupid data to decide how a company or team is compensated. Enter foolish contractual obligations like bonuses getting paid out for specific Metacritic scores, obnoxiously large sales goals that will never be met in the interest of covering more foolish endeavors, and of course the concept that a pre-order is equivalent to a purchase. I don’t know the specific numbers because they cost money to buy, but I’m sure there are plenty of games that had amazing pre-order numbers and pathetic sell-through. Conversely there are probably many sleeper and mainstream hits that had almost no pre-orders at all. This is because United States law dictates that everything purchased must come with a 30-day return policy, you cannot purchase something that has not come out yet (technically a fully paid pre-order is considered a deposit until the item is picked up), and you must allow any pre-order to be canceled for a full refund at any time. Thanks to Nintendo video game publishers are somewhat covered with a law that prohibits software from being returned after it has been opened if it’s not defective, but this has nothing to do with pre-orders. So given that you can plunk down only $5 and have a game reserved with the option to cancel up to and including the day the product becomes available, there’s no good reason to factor pre-orders much in your budget or plan. It’s counting your ducks before they’ve hatched, something I learned not to do back in grade school.

Staggering Retail Benefit

Aside from GameStop, most big box retailers don’t like and don’t really know how to deal with pre-orders, but that doesn’t stop them from taking them. Why not, right? You give them money in advance to hold a game for you that they were going to order anyway, if you never pick it up they either sell it or sometimes send it back for a rebate, and they keep your deposit. Not only that, and this is the dirty side of pre-orders, companies take the money you have put down on pre-orders and allow them to accrue interest in bank accounts while you wait for the product to release. This may not seem like much for a single $5 deposit, but when you start comparing that to the entire list of retailers you are talking about some serious scratch that’s sitting in a bank account making someone rich. Haven’t you noticed that aside from GameStop most big box retailers only allow pre-orders on major titles that don’t need them anyway? Like Target wasn’t going to carry Halo 4 or Wal-Mart wasn’t going to carry Madden 2014, these companies can’t turn their backs on the initial sales boost, so why not make some interest capital on the side, right?

Just to give you a basic example of how this can become a big deal really fast, think about a scheme (and I’m pretty sure this is illegal so don’t try it) where I decide to become a retailer that’s going to sell iPhones. I ask for a $5 deposit per iPhone, but require that all pre-orders be made by a certain date and possibly even advertise that I’ll sell for a ridiculous price like $50 per new iPhone. Then I collect possibly 100,000 to over 1 million pre-orders on this unbeatable price and have $500,000 to more than $5 million in pre-order funds (remember I collected $5 per iPhone). Now I negotiate with a bank to hold these funds for me at a nominal interest rate, even let’s say 0.5 percent per month. Now I’m making $50,000 or more per month doing nothing at all and I haven’t spent the money so I can refund everyone if I need to and in the meantime I can cover any cancellations I get. Then, just before the product comes out, maybe a month in advance, I announce that I have lost my deal to get inventory and refund everyone’s money. In the meantime I’ve acquired potentially tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands (and even possibly millions) holding these deposits in a low interest account. Now again, the ridiculous advertised sales price, backing out of the deal, and other factors in this example make it not possible and I’m most certain illegal, but I needed those factors to establish myself in a market where I haven’t previously existed. It’s the legality that I feel keeps everyone from doing this very same scheme. On the other hand companies like Target, Wal-Mart, and GameStop do have those high penetration rates, own market share, and can get that $5 without breaking the law. So even though what they are doing is legal, the result is still the same. There’s little to no risk and the payoff can be monumental. This is why even if they can’t keep up with demand, they don’t care. They just give you back your $5 that helped them make interest that was probably worth more than their profit margin and apologize.

Consumer Benefits

Frankly I couldn’t find any. You’re out money that could earn you interest or be better spent prior to the day of release, there’s little chance that anything you pre-order will be sold out because multiple printings and more prepared distribution has really cut back on pure sellouts for any given title (assuming they are sold at MSRP), and you now feel obligated to purchase the game. Sure you can cancel, but it’s a bunch of barriers to do so. At big box retailers they may have issues figuring out how to give it back or you have to wait in a long line, and at GameStop they flat out annoy you, coerce you to shift the pre-order to another game, and guilt you before they just give you the damn $5 back. Not only that, but they also prevent you from purchasing things like Special Editions because some asshole has put a deposit on the game and prevented you from buying it. I went into a GameStop a month after the release of Skyward Sword and they had five copies of the special edition still on hold for pre-orders. A month later! What’s worse, they wouldn’t sell it to me. I’ve got cash in hand at that moment to make a sale, the pre-order hasn’t picked the game up in over 30 days so they obviously don’t consider it a priority, and the whole time the game has been taking up inventory space and thus costing them money. Why the hell wouldn’t they sell it? I can understand a week or maybe even two to pick up a pre-order but after that just sell the damn thing. On top of all that they had three. Three copies of a game that no one had come for in a calendar month, that’s just pathetic. It does point out the one slight benefit to the consumer: reservations on special editions – which you should do if you truly want it because those are limited and do sell out, but make sure to do it somewhere that doesn’t take a deposit.

I’m guessing right about now someone is thinking about the 400 pound gorilla in the room: pre-order bonuses. Those are valuable, right? Not really anymore. For the most part any bonus you get from pre-ordering will be made available to the masses, usually for less than $5, within a week or month of the game’s release. That’s because a game company can’t turn its back on such high potential sales, especially if the demand is there. As for merchandise, GameStop is usually the place that has the sleeve, keychain, or whatever trinket you get for free and almost all of the time it’s on a first come, first serve basis. In Kansas City, that means I have to take off work and get there at opening to be eligible because each store only gets like two of any pre-order bonus. It’s really sad, too, because you’d think that the very nature of the pre-order would give a perfect quantity count for how many pieces to manufacture. Oh, so now when it comes down to making a shitty 50 cent keychain you decide to adjust for the potential that the gamer won’t come in for their freebie. There was a short time where pre-order bonuses were limited, justified, and even incentive to pre-order, but those days have long passed. As it stands there’s no reason to pre-order whatsoever, you’re just adding to the hype train. I remember when Resident Evil: Revelations came out, I pre-ordered it at a GameStop and it was to come with a 3DS sleeve. When I went to pick it up, they informed me that they only got a few and they had been given away (of course), but the employee was stupid enough to pull his out (apparently he was one of the lucky few as the seller of the fucking things) and show me how stupid and worthless it was. Thanks guy. So I told him I wanted to cancel my pre-order and get a refund. He told me that if I did that I wouldn’t be able to play that sweet game because they were completely sold out other than pre-orders. I shrugged and didn’t care, left the GameStop and crossed the street to Target, where they had literally more than 10 copies. That was the day I stopped pre-ordering games.

Amazon and sites like Play-Asia do have a more enticing deal, which is where most of us on the show “pre-order” our games. The way these online retailers work is that they accept the pre-order and get all your billing information and then wait until the game comes out to charge and ship it to you. I like this option a lot more because it allows you to pre-purchase the game and not worry about it, you aren’t charged a cent (so the interest-building plot is not part of the business model), and cancellation can be done 24-hours a day without so much as a though assuming the game hasn’t shipped. If it has, no problem, you just have the hassle of waiting for it to arrive and then sending it back for a full refund. This is how I would hope everyone would do their business practices, but it’s definitely the exception to the rule. It doesn’t excuse these retailers, though, because rarely do they sell out of a game and if they do it’s almost always back in stock within a few days. Not only that, these retail stores match to the lowest price if it changes before the game’s release, so they usually drop the price shortly after the main rush of the game (especially with online wholesale retailers). I typically use these retailers to pre-order games I know I’m going to buy and not want to play day one, special editions, and for promotions like store credit.

Conclusion

The moral of the story is that you shouldn’t pre-order anymore. There’s almost no benefit to the consumer and if we continue to do this then retailers will continue to offer it. Thanks to digital distribution I think we will see this asinine concept that a game can sell out and be otherwise unplayable has been all but taken away.

The views and opinions expressed here are that of the author, Fred Rojas, and do not necessarily reflect the B-Team Podcast or its co-hosts. In fact, most of the time the guys think I’m bat shit crazy.