What is your opinion on pre-order bonus in-game items?

in case you didnt realize, lately, the developers have been offering in-game exclusive bonus to people who pre order their game.

for exmaple, Mass Effect 2, if you pre order now, you get this in-game item called Inferno Armor which is basically much overpowered item compared to regular item you find in game.

if you pre order Napoleon Total War, you get extra available units that you can hire.

if you pre order Star Trek Online, you get exclusive armor that has better stats than any other regular armors.

the point that i wanted to make was that, all these "exclusive item" should have been in the original game in the first place. I mean, it really looks cheap marketing tatics to me. Anyone in the modding community can tell that adding "exclusive item" into the inventory of player in the start of the game takes the least developing time.

even 2 or 3 years ago, having 10-20% discount was given to most of pre ordered game and I thought that was fair. (for making a purchase as you take risk of buying an unreviewed game.)

I like the older PS2's JRPG's method more... the objects were actually physical....

As for my games... I rather them be harder, than easier. So, such bonus content generally has the opposite effect for me. Now if the game has a revealing bikini or something.... I'd probably pre-order for something like that. :twisted:

On one hand it's marvelous to obtain bonuses from buying a game, especially if you're a fan of the series. However, with in game items, it comes off as a bummer, due to that specific content is only relevant if you make a pre-order; the marketing strategy at that point is way too aggressive for me.

As for Star Trek, I think I have something far better, lol...

Not currently selling this, but it will rock if retail games came pack with something much worthy then the use of utilizing in-game items to sell a game.

I think the pre-order stuff is getting out of hand now, I don't have a problem with them offering inducements such as discounts and "free posters". However now they are with holding game content from people unless they pre-order the game. No I don't think those that pre-order the game should get extra game content (which is what the armour in Mass Effect 2 amounts too). But then there is sod all I can do about it, we live in a capitalist world and the consumer has the last say. If you want to stop this "pre-order content" then you know what to do, don't pre-order your games and the idea will soon die a death.