Lost? Lol.....more likely some manager/employees pocketed them for quick resale.

I gotta say, my pre-orders work a lot differently, since they're on console, I'm free to pick up or not. There's literally no punishment for not doing so and it's not "hard" (if Amazon shipped it to me I have to process a return, but that's easy). Even "the evil" Gamestop will happily apply my 5 dollar pre-order money to my next purchase.

So, I pre-order, check the reviews on pick up day (embargo will be up), and decide if I want the game or not, if yes, go pick it up (or open the package on my doorstep).

There's little downside to pre-ordering on a console. It's only the digital releases (mostly confined to PC, and especially because it's the way Steam does it, everyone else has copied) where you get fucked. Steam, could add a confirmation before putting it in your inventory and charging you, but they don't give a fuck.

So yeah, I've watched most of those videos and the problems apply almost 100% to PC, and more specifically to Steam.

It's been a LOT cheaper than that. Just wait it out.

You can purchase pre-orders off of Steam as a gift copy and it will just be placed unused in your inventory but you still won't be able to get a refund most likely. Steam has a one time only refund policy I believe.

Because Bioshock Infinite looks boring as fuck? Seriously, the story looks like standard crap, Bioshock itself was kinda boring, okay really boring, but at least it was slightly quirky and new. The girl upon which Infinite's story is based doesn't seem to be written as a real human being. The shooting looks worse than Lost Planet 3.

I predict the reviews show that Bioshock Infinite is a solid 6 or 7/10 and once people realize that they won't be paying top dollar for it (or buying DLC).

I could be wrong, but I've seen this thing at PAX and watched most of the promotional material, this game seems to check all the necessary boxes for a train wreck.

The difference between a gift copy and a copy in your account is nearly negligible, you're out the full purchase price for a stinker, regardless. No one is going to trade you a 50-60 dollar good game for your stinker.

The fun things about those embargoes is they don't do jack squat to prevent "scallywags of ill repute" from dropping reviews several days before the official release date. ;D

Sort of, it prevents people getting the game through official channels from dropping a review early, because you will be blacklisted the first time you do it, so will any sites that consent to syndicate said scallywags' reviews.

It's pretty effective, and I'll be the first to admit it's a pretty bullshit practice by the industry.

Good reviews take time to write and typically even more time for playing the game, if you want to get a review up in time to get your share of ad revenue from web traffic you'll need a pre-release copy. There's a few reviewers that have managed to not need this (they buy their own copies and do whatever the hell they want - though short of bribing for a pre-release copy they'll be waiting for street date release), but they are the exception rather than the rule.

Yes, but most such sites hosting said reviews usually could care less if they get "blacklisted". :D
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Agreed.....that and many game devs not making demos anymore are just two crap practices followed by many in the gaming industry.
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Oh well, any review is better than nothing(or the fluff filled PR spin played by many game devs these days before releasing a game).

Ohhh, opinions.

everyones got one :P

I hope it was clear that something like that is an opinion...

I boggle to think anyone would not think it was.

Of course, I was more remarking on how different they can be.

Fair enough!

I picked up Syndicate from Gamefly yesterday, activated it through Origin.

I don't know if I should pick up Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City from Gamefly since it's the non-steam version. Although the Steam version also uses GFWL DRM it appears to be easier to use. Plus the DLC usually goes on sale or is easily available. I don't see the same thing with the GFW based store variant...

Hmm . Do i activate the key that i received from AMD or not ?