I got hooked again.

After Don't Starve, Runner 2 and Sim City here's my fourth preorder in two months, Bioshock Infinite. I already wanted to buy it but I was still on the fence since my PC isn't the best around. Was planning to buy it later, with a reduced price and a better rig.

Then Steam Sale came. As I read it I was like "Hm, Bioshock free, I can give it to a friend", "Oh well, more TF2 stuff, haven't played in a while but ok", "Ah, free XC... FREE XCOM?!?!?!?! AMAGAWD GOTTA GET IT NAO!". So I preordered the game AND the Season Pass. After this compulsive preorder disorder, I'm heading to my parents' place, give them my credit cards and ask them to smash me into the head repeatedly so that I forget numbers and security codes.

I've read an article (on Kotaku I guess) about how Irrational and Valve have achieved a new level of evilness with this new preorder strategy, so it's not my intention to advertise it (although you all should get the game at some point, we're talking about Ken Levine's work). Just out of curiosity, how many of you guys have been baited like me?

This is being employed with other upcoming games on Steam such as Tomb Raider and Resident Evil 6. Some of these deals do sound appealing, however, I'm not going to go all in unless I know for sure that enough people have pre-ordered a game to ensure all bonuses are unlocked. In some cases this tiered system might work against companies in regards to people who are on the fence about pre-ordering a game.

Yeah I was very close to being sucked in with the x-com offering but my slightly pessimistic side saved me with the whole 'x-com isn't unlocked yet ... it might not make it' (it'll completely make it, i assume). It's made a bit easy for me to slink away because the price is $79.99 for me.

If I accidentally wander back to that page when(?) x-com has unlocked, and it's just sitting there, waiting to be owned, who knows, maybe they'll win. But I'll try to keep away from it.

@dizzymedal: You'll know when all the rewards are unlocked because Steam will say it in the main page, as it's happening now for Tomb Raider.

Has any of those preorder rewards ever not gotten all the way to the end? I have a feeling that it's just on a timer, and it's set up that way to stoke excitement over the game several times and give Joystiq another article to put up.

Remember kids ... Jeff "the rapman" sez no preorders .... :( so shinny free games D: must resist!!!!!

The best thing is that Steam will remember all that stuff for you!

I'm not really sure I'd classify this particular preorder strategy as "evil" though. I see it as the natural progression of Steam trying to one-up places like greenmangaming.com and Amazon in preorder bonuses.

I wasn't baited, a friend of mine was actually so kind as to gift me the game before the pre-order bonuses were even announced.

However, I don't understand the hatred and blame people give Valve for having these pre-order bonuses. It's not pressuring anybody to do anything about them. I'm not going to run around advertising the game for them, even if I did pay for it myself. People just like to point the blame at somebody other than themselves. Just STFU about the deal or take the blame if you run around being annoying as fuck trying to convince everybody to buy it. It's not on the developers for incentivizing people to buy their products. Hell, looking at a pure dollar value, it's potentially $130+ value for $60, be happy and stop blaming the developers...

Edit - @Pudge - Yes, Tomb Raider just hit all tiers for pre-orders.

So here's what I did yesterday and today.

I bought Runner 2 since I must buy every Bit.Trip game in existence, but I didn't stop there. I finally pre-ordered SimCity which was an inevitability. And just a few minutes ago after seeing the pre-purchase rewards that may or may not happen, I pre-ordered Bioshock Infinite.

I was going to own all these games eventually at or before launch, but holy shit my wallet wants it all to end. But hey, maybe we all get free hats and X-Com!

I am disappointed that Bioshock 2 isn't the second reward. That would be all I need, especially since I don't care about the TF2 shit they are giving away.

If you want to get Infinite + Bioshock + Bioshock 2 you can Buy them all on Green man Gaming for 45$.

you can see it here: http://www.greenmangaming.com/bundles/

You can also choose Civ 5, Spec ops or The darkness 2 instead of Bioshock 2.

I'm not interested in the TF2 items either but to my understanding, you can sell them on the marketplace or at least trade them for TF2 keys. I know nothing about the TF2 economy but a friend of mine traded the Brutal Legend TF2 items for me and got me 6 keys, which is almost what the game itself was being traded for at the time. I'm sure you'll get at least $5 worth in keys and then you can trade for Bioshock 2 when it's on sale for $5 again.

What's then point of getting it off Steam? Reward 2 isn't even unlocked yet, and you're leaving it to chance. Why not just buy it off Greenman, and get the bonuses straight away?

??? aren't they all unlocked thats what my steam shows.

@dauthi693: 57% towards XCOM is what I see right now.

@owack6: I assume you don't get steam keys amiright?

@dauthi693: No, it is currently at level 1, heading to level 2 (TF2 hats) right now. Xcom is at level 3. I hope it gets there, but that is mainly so that i can try to bum/beg a copy from someone who already has it.

I'm pretty sure it's a Steamworks game so every version has to be validated through the steam client.

It even says on the page that this game requires a Steam account to play.

http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/il/en/pc/games/shooter/bioshock-infinite/

I already got X-com through a previous pre-order offer, with exactly said goal in mind. That is, I intend to play X-com at least as much as my pre-order...whatever that was.

Infinite is different. I cannot decide whether I want the disk media or pure digital dl. It's a Shock game presented by Irrational...right now I am progressing through the early part of SS2, and yes, I also have the disk. When the Bioshocks happened, I adapted myself to them quite easily despite some missed-fired hype; I loved Rapture and if I want to shoot poorly I could always play a Halo game, don't know why beyond my own failure..

So Infinite is a touchstone w/me, I do not need the goodies, though Amazon might do something worth it.

@bybeach: I have System Shock 2 physical media, but i'm lazy and got it on GOG again XD

Holy fucking shit I cannot believe you get XCOM for free. That is just nuts.