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With my birthday budget decided I've already started planning out how to spend it. I've already spent most of it and I've got enough money left to pre-order 1, maybe 2, games. I've narrowed the list down to these finalists:

(all for the PC)

Call of Duty 4 - I liked CoD2 and everything I've heard about this is good.

Hellgate London - Looks good, but if it's a subscription based multiplayer I might not be able to afford it in the long term.

Stranglehold - I'm a big fan of Max Payne so this appeals to me. Reviews for it on other platforms have only been average though. Cheap.

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men - Looks to be a slice of mindless violence, which is normally fun. Cheap.

Crysis - I'm probably going to find the money to get this somehow anyway. Looks jaw droppingly amazing.

Assassins Creed - Looks nifty from the preview videos. Then again it looks to be more of a console game.

Unreal Tournament 3 - Looks to be more of the same but with new stuff and kick ass graphics, or in UT2004's words "GODLIKE!"

Which of those games would you get first?

Hellgate London doesn't require paying a monthly fee to play, but it offers perks if you do.

Depending on where you buy your pre-order from (Gamestop/Eb Games, Best Buy, or Wal-Mart) you get an exclusive "dye pack" to color your armor. Pre-ordering also lets you into the beta.

Crysis, if don't have a 8800 or 8600 wait until you upgrade before buying
Assassins Creed gets my vote followed by Call of Duty Four, then Hellgate

Mr Bean wrote:Crysis, if don't have a 8800 or 8600 wait until you upgrade before buying
Assassins Creed gets my vote followed by Call of Duty Four, then Hellgate

Whoa whoa whoa, has it been confirmed that you NEED an 8000 series card in order to even run Crysis? I was under the impression that you can get the game going reliably on a 6000 series card even if it looks like ass. And frankly, with all the things Crysis is going to offer, it seems a little foolish to turn it down based on graphics alone.

On Thread: As long as you've got a reasonably powerful machine and, as the devs said, can play Far Cry at max settings, you can play Crysis. And if you can play Crysis, their is no good excuse not to pre order that game. It looks amazing.

My vote is for CoD 4.

Who can say no to being a Russian sniper?

Personally, I would go with a toss up between COD4 and Crysis. Honestly, all of those look like they will be AAA quality games.

Why do people pre-order games? Is there some major perceived benefit? Whenever a clerk asks me if I want to pre-order something, I ask myself "Why would I want to put a deposit on something that's cheaper than a gas tank fillup, thus forcing me to come back to this particular store to pick it up instead of having the flexibility to buy it wherever I want?" And then I say "No thanks". It's not as if these things sell out and you have to run all over town looking for them.

I still remember when Halo 2 came out and there were morons lined up all night outside EBGames, waiting for the midnight release date. I drove by them and smirked. The next day, I sauntered into a local Wal-Mart and picked up a copy. Oooh, those other guys got their copies 17 hours before I did! That totally makes it worthwhile to stand in a parking lot for 6 hours in subzero temperatures!

CaptHawkeye wrote:
Whoa whoa whoa, has it been confirmed that you NEED an 8000 series card in order to even run Crysis? I was under the impression that you can get the game going reliably on a 6000 series card even if it looks like ass. And frankly, with all the things Crysis is going to offer, it seems a little foolish to turn it down based on graphics alone.

On Thread: As long as you've got a reasonably powerful machine and, as the devs said, can play Far Cry at max settings, you can play Crysis. And if you can play Crysis, their is no good excuse not to pre order that game. It looks amazing.

I have a top of the line system Hawkeye, a 2.6ghtz AMD dual core, two gigs of ram and a 7800GTX Ultra. I also a Crysis Beta tester. NDA I can't talk about any gameplay specifics or the like, but preformance wise I can tell you that my system has to run the game on low to get an average of 22-30 fps. Medium brings my system TO IT'S KNEES SCREAMING FOR DEATH!

So if with a 7800GTX I can't even get out of "Low" your sure as heck not even going to cut it with a 6000. You might be able to see the main menu... but I'd hazard a guess that's all you'll be able to see.

Darth Wong wrote:Why do people pre-order games? Is there some major perceived benefit? Whenever a clerk asks me if I want to pre-order something, I ask myself "Why would I want to put a deposit on something that's cheaper than a gas tank fillup, thus forcing me to come back to this particular store to pick it up instead of having the flexibility to buy it wherever I want?" And then I say "No thanks". It's not as if these things sell out and you have to run all over town looking for them.

I still remember when Halo 2 came out and there were morons lined up all night outside EBGames, waiting for the midnight release date. I drove by them and smirked. The next day, I sauntered into a local Wal-Mart and picked up a copy. Oooh, those other guys got their copies 17 hours before I did! That totally makes it worthwhile to stand in a parking lot for 6 hours in subzero temperatures!

It probably makes more sense for Obscure Japanese RPG #821 where a store may only get in a few copies or for new console releases. Pre-ordering big titles is the ultimate waste of time.

Why do people pre-order games? Is there some major perceived benefit? Whenever a clerk asks me if I want to pre-order something, I ask myself "Why would I want to put a deposit on something that's cheaper than a gas tank fillup, thus forcing me to come back to this particular store to pick it up instead of having the flexibility to buy it wherever I want?" And then I say "No thanks". It's not as if these things sell out and you have to run all over town looking for them.

I still remember when Halo 2 came out and there were morons lined up all night outside EBGames, waiting for the midnight release date. I drove by them and smirked. The next day, I sauntered into a local Wal-Mart and picked up a copy. Oooh, those other guys got their copies 17 hours before I did! That totally makes it worthwhile to stand in a parking lot for 6 hours in subzero temperatures!

Well I do remember when GTA III was released there were major shortages of the game in my area. This was mainly because GTA III came in fairly low on the radar and turned out to be a smash hit causing there to be shortage of copies for a time being. Otherwise preordering is purely for hype purposes, and midnight releases are fun in a geeky kind of way.

Darth Wong wrote:Why would I want to put a deposit on something that's cheaper than a gas tank fillup

When I read that, I thought that you either use a lot of petrol, or Australia is getting shafted when it comes to pricing. And I know it's the pricing, which is probably what influences people to pre-order it here, because it ends up being cheaper.


Now for you 2000AD, I'm going to suggest Crysis if your computer can handle it, and if not, then Assassin's Creed. Crysis doesn't just look really good, but it seems though it will play in an interesting way; and I don't just mean as a lumberjacking simulator, there are other positive things, like tossing people through the walls of huts and stuff. I suggest Assassin's Creed based on the presence of horse chases and sudden merciless murder out of a crowd of Christian monks.

Darth Wong wrote:Why do people pre-order games?

Certain games do sell out fast; Twilight Princess was gone for a week. But realistically, games rarely sell out- they're easy to mass produce.

I preorder big-title games just so I can casually walk in to the store halfway through the day without having to worry about them selling out so I have to go to another store. I'd rather pick up my pre-order than camp.

I prefer pre-ordering consoles of course; I had my Wii sitting reserved with my name on it on launch day while people were camping in the freezing cold in front of Wal-Mart.

Or you could save ten bucks and the trouble of going to the same place by waiting another 12 hours. I think it says something that you actually bought a launch console. Instead of waiting a few months for actual software choices to come out.

Nintendo seriously has issues providing demand. There's no reason why mass-stamped DVDs can't be just stockpiled. Especially since lots of other publishers do it just fine with similar sales amounts.

Darth Wong wrote:Why do people pre-order games? Is there some major perceived benefit?

I pre-order off Play.Com. Most of the time I get it cheaper (If I'd have ordered UT3 a few months ago it would only have been £19.99, as opposed to £25.99) and since Play gives you free P&P all I do once I order it is sit back till release day when it will come in the morning post. As someone who's lazy, the free P&P is a big bonus.

As for worrying about computer specs for Crysis, don't worry, I recently upgraded my whole system, I should be able to ahndle anything fo the next couple of years at least.

Crysis if your computer can play it is very much the way to go then.

Mr Bean wrote:I have a top of the line system Hawkeye, a 2.6ghtz AMD dual core, two gigs of ram and a 7800GTX Ultra.

I was going to buy some more RAM anyway for it. But i'm just short of that GPU. I've got a 7800GS, 1 Gig of RAM, and a 3.0 Ghz duo core.

I also a Crysis Beta tester. NDA I can't talk about any gameplay specifics or the like, but preformance wise I can tell you that my system has to run the game on low to get an average of 22-30 fps. Medium brings my system TO IT'S KNEES SCREAMING FOR DEATH!

That's not good. If the 7000 series can only run the game on minimum settings, that leaves us with just the WAY too expensive 8000 series. Those cards are the price of a whole computer in and of themselves. If I need to buy that card just to play the game, then fuck it. Crysis can wait another year.

CaptHawkeye wrote:

I also a Crysis Beta tester. NDA I can't talk about any gameplay specifics or the like, but preformance wise I can tell you that my system has to run the game on low to get an average of 22-30 fps. Medium brings my system TO IT'S KNEES SCREAMING FOR DEATH!

That's not good. If the 7000 series can only run the game on minimum settings, that leaves us with just the WAY too expensive 8000 series. Those cards are the price of a whole computer in and of themselves. If I need to buy that card just to play the game, then fuck it. Crysis can wait another year.

Seconded, i've been looking at some more preformance stories like this, and from what I see, a 6800GT may be min spec, but it's also the fucking wrong spec.
Crysis graphics are not that much better then everyone else that they get to be a class of their own in system requirments.

Crysis graphics are not that much better then everyone else that they get to be a class of their own in system requirments.

Oh they have one friend, quake wars doesn't look all that impressive but kills my (not crap) system. Frankly I don't know what the hell some of the devs for some of these games are doing with all the grunt available to them, WiC screams along at 60fps everything maxed out, but a fps that looks identical to quake 4 cant get over 25fps.

= 25fps in quake wars. What a joke.

2 days till the poll ends and I have to make my descision

2000AD wrote:2 days till the poll ends and I have to make my descision

Crysis, the only game I see there that stands a chance of not being uber-generic. Lumberjack Sim HO!

Some games give benefits to those that preorder. Ex: Guild Wars gave out special weapons to those that did so. Result is me buying a preorder box just to be able to get the extras.

Also, if you know your going to get it, pre-ordering from Amazon is useful. You order it then, then when it gets released, it shows up at your doorstep.

I see no Army of Two.

Beowulf wrote:Some games give benefits to those that preorder. Ex: Guild Wars gave out special weapons to those that did so. Result is me buying a preorder box just to be able to get the extras.

More recently, both World in Conflict and Sins of a Solar Empire let pre-order players download betas earlier than their non-preorder counterparts. The company really benefits - guaranteed early orders and beta testers, but such is some peoples' desires to check out what a game is actually like.

There's some games that run out of stock without pre-orders and it takes a while to re-stock. Sometimes, at college, I know I'm going to be busy a week or two after a game I want comes out, so I really want to play this week when the parties/projects/presentations aren't going on.