Pre-Ordering is for Suckers

I almost fell for it.

Joe and I were talking about it yesterday and I almost (almost) fell into the trap. I want a Wii. There’s no sense denying it. I want one more than I’ve wanted a new console in quite a while. Like Joe, they nailed the demographic into which I fit with this machine, and I’m quite literally drooling in anticipation over it.

So much so that I was almost willing to get up early just to drive to EB, stand in line, loan them $50 for a month and hope that they actually honored my slip of paper on November 19th.

Almost.

Then I woke up this morning and came to my senses. I’ve never bought into the pre-order hype. It’s basically just a way to generate artificial sales numbers on a product that has yet to ship. For console launches, it also serves to generate hype and create “false sell-outs.” Homie don’t play that.

If a manufacturer wants me to buy their product, I insist that they do their job and make enough of it so that I can find it in the store, spend money and take it home. Will I be disappointed if on November 19th I can’t have a Wii? Yes. Of course I will. But not so disappointed that I’m willing to run through the retail/marketing maze. Sorry guys. This is rapidly becoming an adult-oriented industry. If you want people to take it seriously, you’ve got to start taking yourselves seriously and stop playing these games.

Anyway, when I text messaged Joe this morning to let him know I’d decided not to go through with it (and give him one more chance to persuade me to drive to EB) he said they’d already sold out, effectively solving that problem for good.

So, seeing as it’s payday once again, what CAN you spend money on? Not much. A lot of games are coming out next week, leaving this weekend a little sparse. Scarface and Warhammer are out, but that’s about it.

As much as I hate to say it, if you really want to spend money on games this week, you’re stuck with pre-ording. Which, I think, is not news to Gamestop/EB.