Need for Speed: Payback pre-orders get "exclusive tire smoke"

[HEXUS]

EA's marketing department pushes the envelope for pre-order bonus content.

Read more.

[shaithis]

and probably re-introduces the old "petrol" micro-transactions they have used in the past...

[Bagpuss]

Whichever trendy little bearded hipster moron at EA's marketing department came up with this sort of nonsense deserves a public flogging and be made to drink instant coffee for the rest of their miserable lives.

It's the thin end of the wedge and needs to be stopped now.

[Dashers]

Not only have EA made me change my behaviour to never pre-order, they've even pushed me as far as not even buying games on day one but waiting for the real-player reviews to surface.

I now sink less money into gaming as I'm not paying day one prices, and I'm not buying games that are so bad I have to go out and buy something else a week later.

I must admit though, I did spend £1 on a green laser for my ship in Elite. But as I've probably got 700 hours in the game, I felt that a pound for old rope being chucked the way of the developer wasn't to be missed.

[Jonj1611]

Must admit "tyre smoke" sounds a bit naff.

[cheesemp]

Who preorders? Its a mugs game. At least wait for reviews or even better wait a year for the game of the year edition with all the DLC. Buying this stuff only encourages the publishers...

[Saracen]

Whichever trendy little bearded hipster moron at EA's marketing department came up with this sort of nonsense deserves a public flogging and be made to drink instant coffee for the rest of their miserable lives.

It's the thin end of the wedge and needs to be stopped now.

Come on, Bagpuss, get off the fence and tell us what you really think.


Note: Caveat: no, the swearing rule has not been waived.

[Dashers]

Pre-ordering is for people of my generation, where you'd essentially put some cash down to ensure you got a copy of the game from HMV on day one and didn't have to wait for restocking a week later.

With digital downloads and next-day delivery for physical copies, there is no reason to preorder games.

From a publisher point of view, the more people you can dupe into preordering is more guaranteed sales before the bad reviews come out (and there will always be some). There is so little point of preordering that any publisher that is actively pushing it for a game with extras like this leads me to think that they know the game is terrible and they need to get some sales under the belt before people find out.

[peterb]

Must admit "tyre smoke" sounds a bit naff.

Does anyone really pay extra for trivia like this when they have already shelled out for the game itself?

[Corky34]

Sellers need buyers so there must be a market for this sort of thing, personally I'd never buy a game from EA, never mind the blue smoke.

[Tunnah]

Not only have EA made me change my behaviour to never pre-order, they've even pushed me as far as not even buying games on day one but waiting for the real-player reviews to surface.

I now sink less money into gaming as I'm not paying day one prices, and I'm not buying games that are so bad I have to go out and buy something else a week later.

I must admit though, I did spend £1 on a green laser for my ship in Elite. But as I've probably got 700 hours in the game, I felt that a pound for old rope being chucked the way of the developer wasn't to be missed.

3 months minimum I wait before buying PC games nowadays, unless they're PC-centric titles. Otherwise they're gonna be half-assed ports (which are only going to get worse now that Denuvo has been shown to be non-viable)

[OilSheikh]

Perhaps EA should also charge for a Start menu!

[Xlucine]

Going with the interpretation that it's just blue *coloured* smoke, it's probably the most innocent example of monetizing possible. I don't really mind if they want to offer trinkets like that, it'll make no difference to the gameplay

[aniilv]

This is one of the least worrying kind of bonuses out there at the moment. Slow news day, I guess?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Good, so if I don't pre-order the game I get a nice smoke free environment! Awesome!

[QuorTek]

It is EA... when they start to focus on their playerbase I would be back in the fold but that is unlikely to happen anytime soon if ever... ill play other games..