Crazy Bioshock Infinite Pre-Order Bonuses on Steam!

The Bioshock Infinite currently has some crazy pre-order bonus thing going on. There are three tiers based on the amount of pre-orders it gets. The last tier gets any per-order X:COM. THE NEW ONE. It seems like an awesome deal if it actually gets the amount needed!

Or you could just get it on Green Man Gaming, not deal with the peer-pressure tiered pre-order bullshit and get the same copy of Bioshock that Steam is offering, a 15 dollar credit, the Industrial Revolution pack, and either Civilization V or Spec Ops: The Line or Bioshock 2 or The Darkness 2 or Mafia 2. Don't encourage this type of business. It's fucking DIRTY.

Pre-order tiers suck and I feel we shouldn't encourage that.

How is encouraging people to buy your game by offering free ones if enough people buy it "dirty"?

Because it's peer pressure. It gets you to be an annoying cunt to your friends or anybody else that will listen by encouraging you to get them to buy something, sight unseen mind you, to increase a tier that nobody knows anything about in regards to the actual numbers for a few fucking Team Fortress 2 hats. Pre-orders are bad enough, especially with the Aliens: Colonial Marines debacle that happened a couple of weeks ago. I don't like pre-orders period, but a tiered reward system is somehow worse. Face it, it's fucking dirty.

If they just gave this shit as it is then I wouldn't have really any issue with it. Hey. You're taking a risk on Bioshock: Infinite, but you're getting a free copy of Bioshock, a few TF2 hats, and one of the best games last year. 3 for 1. Just buy it and shut up. But locking it behind an arbitrary setting that rewards you for gambling on something and getting multiple other people for gambling on that same thing is... urgh.

EDIT: Also as an aside I wouldn't even have a problem if they just sold the game as is without tiered rewards, or if they bundled in Bioshock 1, or bundled in just the TF2 hats. It's the gambling and pressure aspect I hate.

Feel like I can wait on this game, bonuses or not

So say I don't already own Bioshock 1 or X-Com, and enough people like me pre-order the game. Say the game turns out to be a turd. Instead of being saddled with a crappy shotgun and some stupid plasmid or whatever Infinite's equivalent will be, I've got two other proven games that, while not completely making up for the price tag, are pretty good values for free.

Nah, I don't really see giving out free games in exchange for popularity is "dirty", and if you have a bunch of friends who can be qualified as "cunts" just because they brought up the subject, you should probably rethink your friends. This is way better than most pre-order strategies, and it it's going to become a thing I would much rather this be the trend than giving you some fancy (or not) gear and a scrapped level.

Then why not just add those in, or make a bundle and slightly bump up the price a bit? Why add in an arbitrary amount to unlock that shit? Granted you can get it for free this way but it's pressuring you into buying it and getting others to buy it with a huge incentive. That's a cunty move. People don't even know what the fuck the amount is for each tier and what they're at right now.

Then add on the fact that there's competition out there that's giving some of that shit away as it is without the retarded reward tier. People should not be pressured into buying things with the hope of getting something more. Either just sell it as is or bundle in the other crap. Stop putting everything behind a fucking wall with an obstacle course in the way.

Offended by smart marketing? Or maybe you just like to complain. :) I don't know if feeling "pressured" and thinking "that's a pretty good deal!" are the same thing exactly. If I didn't already own Xcom, I would have gone the Steam route for sure, but instead I went Amazon so I could get a sweet deal on the 2K Mega Pack. I guess I'm not entirely sure why it's a bad thing, aren't free games good for everyone?

Have you wondered why they are offering such incentives?

Maybe they need to sell as many copies as they can before the reviews hit.....

@bonzopongo: Since XCOM did the same tier thing and many other pre-orders on Steam net you free games, I don't think there's any conspiracy behind this.

http://www.greenmangaming.com/bundles/

This doesn't seem to work for me, the picture is static and I can't seem to click on it nor find the game at all on the site...

@bonzopongo: Jesus Christ, duder. Talk about being a downer.

It's a business first dude. What you just said is exactly the reason why these things exist. And I seriously doubt getting a few of your friends to pre-order to boost the tier, has ANY significant impact what-so-ever. If anything, it encourages people to pre-order at the last minute.

Probably going to go the steam pre-order route. That's if I pre-order at all.

I want that x-com. But I'm also in no rush for pre-ordering games. The last game I pre-ordered was Borderlands, I think that speaks for itself depending on who you are.

@aiurflux: Eh, I don't like the business model either but Steam's offer is still better if all rewards are hit. Both come with Bioshock, the TF2 items could probably be sold on the market for ~$15 anyway which goes to your Steam wallet, pretty much the same exact thing as $15 credit, and XCOM Enemy Unknown is about twice as expensive as any option you'll get from GMG.

And I don't see it as Steam forcing anything on you. I have Bioshock Infinite pre-ordered on Steam but aside from just talking about the pre-order bonus, I haven't tried to persuade a single person into pre-ordering it on Steam. I have a pre-order of Bioshock Infinite because I really want to play Bioshock Infinite, the rest is just nice to have whether I get it or not.

@forderz: I got my tin foil hat on

XCOM is a great game. If you're a fan and you haven't bought it, even on the 75% sales this past holiday, you should be ashamed! :)

You are paying full price for a game on Steam; a store that isn't exactly well-known for good prices outside their crazy sales; getting XCOM (a new and proven game) covers your asses in my opinion. I still don't want to encourage or advice people to pre-order anything anymore.

I only preordered for the TF2 items, but I preordered the minute I heard they were announced. I may have a problem.

meh- this sort of thing doesn't bother me so much. steam's been doing it for awhile now.

The GreenmanGaming deal is better for me because I never played Darkness 2 and I already own XCOM - also I gotta agree that those sort of "tiered pre-order" incentives kinda irk me the wrong way.

Yeah that offer is pretty damn sweet man... I wish I had not already bought BioShock... Well damn..

I would pre-order it for XCOM, but since that is not guaranteed yet I will wait. Their plan has failed.

I think I'd rather just a wait a month and get it for $25-$30. Though getting a free copy of X-com would probably get me to pre-order if I didn't already own X-com.

These three tiered pre order bonuses are shady as fuck and shouldn't be supported by anyone.

If they get to that third tier I will do it for sure, since that's a $110 value for $60, and I never picked up XCOM