Forced Pre-Order Picks '07
 

These days it takes a (Christmas?) miracle to walk into an EB or Gamestop without being harassed about pre-ordering some big game that will never actually be in short supply. Their tactics may vary, but whether it's 10 seconds after you enter the store or halfway through a purchase they will demand your $5. It's as if the clerks will be taken to the back room and flogged by the manager unless they manage to get at least fifty people to reserve Kingdom Hearts III or Madden 2015 each day. This kind of irritating consistency cries out for a betting game!

With the new year fast approaching, which title do you think EB/Gamestop will attempt to force upon you first?


Ordinarily I would pick Sonic the Hedgehog for the PS3, but that one may be beyond even their lack of sense. The only people who will buy that are those who don't own a 360 and have somehow managed to avoid hearing about how awful it is. Lost Planet for the 360 is a bit more plausible, but it still doesn't have that big, established brand name. Thus, my pick for EB's first pre-order push game of 2007 is World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. It's an addition to a series that already has a wide fanbase, and many of their stores already have a fancy display to point to.

Luckily we don't have this so much over on England. Sure the sales people ask if we need help or if we are interested in anything, but they normally don't ask if I would like to place a pre-order. It's normally the other way around for pre-orders.
But, if the sales people at my local store were to get me to pre-order something then it would probably be, as much as I hate to say this, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Everyone knows how much these bloody games make, and if the shops can get you to pre-order and buy the game, then they are onto a winner. All they have to do is put a big sign outside the shop saying "New World Of Warcraft Game: Pre-order now" and everyone will go into the shop like bees to honey.

They will also be trying to get people to pre-order the PS3 as it has yet to come out here. They are going to need all the help they can get with this one.

Since the employees at my local gamestop know I have a wii they ask me to pre-order wii-play at least 3 times each visit. I do agree on them harassing people to pre-order Rogue Galaxy. Level 5 stuff is always good.

Desperation is going to set in for all those worthless Zunes they have in stock, but that doesn't count as a preorder. My vote goes for Mario Galaxy/Metroid Prime 3/SSBB. These games keep seeing delays, and it always possible (though I hope unlikely) they could be pushed back to 2008, but that won't stop EB from pressuring me for my money now.

The Halo 3 special edition with the helmet, the EB Games I frequent is already pushing it HARD :-/

I work at EB Games: we have to push them or our numbers look bad. If our numbers look bad, we could get canned. =( I haven't really thought of what the next big push is once Legendary Halo closes and Wii Play comes out.

"Thank you for calling EB Games where you can preorder Halo 3 or Wii Play for only $10 wait listen it's a really good deal please I'm begging you if you don't preorder Halo 3 I'll get canned and little Timmy needs that operation. How can I help you today?"

That about sums it up!

And I work at a GameStop -- after having worked at EB Games pre-merger. Anyway, it's not like we're (well, not all of us, anyway) trying to force it down your throats, but yeah we get in seriously deep shit if we don't sell.

It's not like it'd hurt you guys to put $5 on a game you're interested in, anyway.

Edit: Oh yeah, topic. If the following games make it on the pre-order list this year, it'll have to be a tie between the following:

Metroid Prime 3
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Metal Gear Solid 4
Final Fantasy ____ (we always push any FF regardless of what it is)
White Knight Story
Tekken 6
Resident Evil 5
Mario Galaxies

And currently on the list:

God of War II
Halo 3
Final Fantasy 6

Really, I'd expect any of them to take top crown, though maybe not so much Tekken 6. It does have a pretty big following though -- lots of people do pre-order the Tekken games.

It does when it comes to launch day and every shop has the game $10-$20 cheaper than EB. Then you ask them to price match and they laugh and pour acid on your face!

"HAW HAW HAW NAAWWWW YOU PRE-ORDERED MAN, CAN'T BACK OUT NOW, PAY $100 NOW! ALL TROOPS GO GO GO"
"Then I'd like to cancel thanks!"
"NO! MY BULLETPROOF PLAN IS RUINED! WOULD YOU LIKE TO PRE-ORDER MY NEXT PLAN?"
"I will seriously consider it!"

I've noticed they don't tend to do it much over here now. Probably not worth it considering the only games Australia buys are Sims, Eye-Toy, Nintendogs, Singstar and V8 Supercars.

"Wanna pre-order Final Fantasy XII?"
"Does it have fully sick V8 Supercars burnin' up the track?"
".. No? But it does have an epic storyline and all sorts of characters"
"Are any of them puppies?"
"I don't.. I don't think so"
"I'm going home then!"

Except that I've got like 2 dozen GS/EBs around here, and if I preorder a game at one, that means I'm tied to picking the game up at that specific location. I've got no idea where I'll be on March 22 (or whenever), so I'm going to buy the game wherever I happen to be. Plus, like Infernal said, popular games like FFXII tend to go on sale the week they're released.

It's been my experience that most GS/EB employees aren't pushy, they're just doing their job. However, there are a few, like the store down the street from my apartment, that bombard you as soon as you walk in the door and just won't leave you alone. Those stores I avoid.

Halo 3 has been pushed for a few months at our local store, but afterwards, I'll assume it to be Metal Gear Solid, then Final Fantasy ### afterwards. Ever notice they don't push Nintendo products? "Blah blah PS sales are higher" but there are clearly more Wiis available and I'm sure people are more eager to get SSB:B right now.

You say that Lukage, but there clearly aren't more Wii's around. There are more PS3s however, since those are the systems people aren't willing to pay for outside of the holidays.

Right now, there's nothing really worth pushing for Nintendo save for Zelda on the DS. I mean really, that's it. Now, when the other major franchises become available...

I hate going to stores where I basically know the biggest pricks around are going to be aggressively pushing high-profile shit I'm not interested in to begin with. I mean, I've had instances where it's done right (I go to buy what I want, then the guy asks nicely, then drops it after I tell him no), but then there's stores where it's obvious whoever's there is just there to boost their sales numbers and go about it in the most obnoxious way possible (5 minute speeches on why the new Zelda/Final Fantasy is the greatest game evar, quote-for-quote descriptions of stuff directly from Game Informer). I have about 5 Gamestops around me and 2 of which I don't even bother with anymore.

But yeah...It's always the high-profile picks (Zelda, Halo, Final Fantasy) they ask about. I've had instances where I literally tell the guy I'm not interested in any Final Fantasy games and they can't name another RPG to recommend me when I play dumb and ask what else is out (well, some say Kingdom Hearts...but still). Anyone wants to know why high-profile titles sell so many copies...There's at least one answer.

I actually haven't been asked for a preorder in about two years. I think it's because every time I go into an EB Games or the like, I ask about games like Ikaruga and various obscure games that none of the employees know of.

I rarely do pre-orders since most of the games coming out need a few patches to be worth a damn these days. That said, the only one I might pre-order is Halo 3, that said what's up with the $100 price on the one version? The helmet? Doesn't seem worth it. Maybe, if it came along with the entire armor, but damn! :D

The only three things I have pre-ordered for 2007 are..

- Ar tonelico, for the nice bonus pre-order stuff.
- Phoenix Wright 2 - for the nice stylus and to support the US release.
- Wii Play - To guarantee I actually get a copy of it.

Everything else is on a "however the hell I feel about it and if I have time for it" basis.

I personally, am a sucker for pre-ordering. I don't like wasting my time, gas, and effort of going to a gamestore and finding out that the game I want is out of stock.

Previously in the past, Final Fantasy VIII~X and Dragon Quest VIII were all games I've purchased through reserving a copy at the game store. One reason being that my family has owned nothing but Japanese consols, so making sure that stock wasn't going to be an issue was the biggest factor in deciding to pre-order it.

My family isn't all that into gaming, so if there's a game we see that we're intrigued upon, we like making sure that it'll be available for us.

On that note going back to the subject, I agree with the majority that World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has probably generated the most amount of sales/interest in pre-ordering a copy. Most likely a difference to TBC vs. a console game is that it's an expansion that allows for further content. For most people who've been playing WoW for some amount of months and are at max level, it's kind of pointless to continue playing if they don't buy the expansion, so we pretty much don't have a choice.

Other than that, I can probably put my money down on pre-ordering Final Fantasy XIII in the future for some umpteen-rediculous amount of dollars, but I don't quite know for sure. I haven't had much of any time to widely invest any of it to gaming, so it's quite a possibility that my life would allow to wait until the games go for clearance price.

That's because they're all sold out as soon as the stores open. But since they're selling like this, more are being made. The PS3's just too expensive for anyone to give two shits over.

Yeah, nobody even cares about Metroid, Brawl or any of those other titles coming in 07.

I may pre-order God of War 2. Before, I was thinking of adding UT2007, Crysis and Supreme Commander to the list but my computer isn't top-notch even.

Notice that I said "Right now." When those titles become available for pre-order, I'd be out of my mind to say they won't get dozens of pre-orders. :tpg: But games like Cooking Mama, Blazing Angels, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the like that are currently available for pre-order aren't really drawing in the big crowds. At my location, not even the Wario game is doing anything. Although quite a few people pre-ordered Wii Play, if only to guarantee themselves a Wiimote.

On the subject of pre-orders though, the Grand Theft Auto IV slots opened up a couple days ago for the PS3 and 360.

Nobody's mentioned Bioshock yet?

Honestly, that game looks hotter than nearly every other release this year! Only thing that compares is Mass Effect, which you guys are also failing to mention.

And SouthJag, I spotted Cooking Mama in a CC a few days ago. You sure that's still a pre-order?

I'm referring to the Cooking Mama port for the Wii. I don't think it's come out yet, but if it has I can't recall seeing it.

I actually gave into this when exchanging my Genji and Untold Legends for Resistance. Preordered Heavenly Sword for PS3. Its not like its going to sell out or anything but whatever.

Heh, I preordered God of War 2 back in October or some such thing...mainly because I wanted to make sure I got it right away in my smaller city. I generally avoid preorders unless it is something obscenely good that I have to have though. The good news is that at my preferred EB, there is a cute chick that works there that actually knows what she is talking about with games, unlike most knobs at other places that spout off Gamespot news without doing any background searches. I actually listen if she recommends a game as she has good taste.