OK, maybe slightly misleading title, but bear with me..

I'm not a hardcoe gamer, so I've never pre-ordered a game before. What are people's experiences with pre-ordering? Do you generally receive it on release day, or the day after, or long after? Or even the day before?

Reason I ask is: release date in the US is the 19th, release date in the UK is the 22nd. If it doesn't arrive on release day, there is a weekend, so the earliest it would arrive would be the monday, a whole 6 days after the US release. I would feel a bit narked if that was the case, after going out of my way to support the game and pre-order it (I couldn't care less about the bonus items, honestly, I just want the game).

Reassurances, or horror stories welcome.

(If it doesn't arrive until 6 days after release date, it's going to be VERY hard to avoid forums, blogs, Twitter, Facebook etc etc etc. Potential spoiler overdose)

Thanks everyone

The few times I've pre-ordered games online I was happy to take basic shipping and wait the few extra days. I've had friends pre-order with next day shipping and actually get it the day before it was supposed to be released - although generally they've gotten it the day of or the day after.

If you pre-order from a store you can usually get a guarantee that they'll have a copy for you to pick up on the release date.

My experience is that it is a little bit hit and miss if pre-ordering to recieve the boxed game via mail.

I've had a game arrive before it's in the shops, i've had them arrive on the day, i've had them arrive a couple of days later and i've had them not arrive at all.

I can appreciate that it's nice to have a boxed game with a manual etc but you won't be able to resell the game so i am more than happy to buy it from steam - i've never had an issue with them and it's a great convenience for me.

If you insist you want it on the day, i'd be tempted to pre-order for collection on release day.

That said - it is a single player game so where your game arriving late might be the end of the world if it's a multiplayer game, it isn't in this instance. How far other people have progressed doesn't matter.

Usually it ships before release day so it arrives on release day. You could also have it sent to gamestop/EB/Bestbuy and pick it up from there on release day. At least, that's been my experience.

You can also preorder it from steam and (probably) download it a day or two beforehand, then it'll unlock when the timer ticks over.

Since this game is a steam game, it probably won't be usable until the timer ticks over anyway, even if you somehow get ahold of the game a day or two early.



Well, my best preorder experience has been with steam. I buy it a week beforehand, download it a few days beforehand as a preload to avoid the rush, and then it unlocks in short order when the "release day" starts. Also pretty convenient because steam keeps all your CD keys stored, so there's no little slips of paper/emails to lose, at least going by my experience with DAO.

Thanks.

I'm not panicing that "I won't be the first to get it!!!" or such. I'm more concerned about how long I'm going to have to avoid the internet for lol :brokencomputer:

--

edit: I preordered a while back from Game.com, so I can't order it off Steam now (or I could, but I'm not that rich :violin: )

I live in the middle of nowhere, but the post service is very good and i live in the UK, so often a game is sent to me within the time it would be expected to take to get to me, but frequently it arrives the day before, and i dont recall ever having a late game.

Hope this helps ease your mind.

If you preorder by mail (from a store) it will either be shipped to your house the day of release (like when I got BFBC2 from walmart) or it can be up to a few days later (like my friend did with BDBC2, took 4 days) But if you preorder it for download (steam) you can pre-download it, and literally play at 12am on oct. 19th.

I live in the UK so idk if its different in the US but I usually get 1 day before release day or on release day. (Pre-ordered from Play.com)

The stores here usually order as many copies of the game as there are pre-orders. So here at least on the day of release, mostly only customers who have pre-ordered are going to get their copy.

Honestly it wouldn't be much of a pre-order if they didn't have a copy waiting for everyone who pre-ordered on the release day.

You tell me, I'll have to wait a week for my CE to be delivered from the UK. But it's worth it nonetheless. I have so much else to play and otherwise do.

Thanks everyone! Looking forward to it now :celebration:

Ah since you pre-ordered it with GAME you are pretty much guaranteed to get it before the release day, I've ordered lots of games in the past with GAME.co.uk and every time they have arrived atleast 1 or 2 days (even 3 on one occasion) before the release date of a game. I preordered my CE for PS3 off there a month or so back (which was as soon as the UK CE was announced) so basically the earlier preorders (CE and normal) will be dispatched first...since they were ordered first.

Yeah I'm probably going to have to wait a week until I get it.
How the hell am I going to be able to stay away from the forums and wikia just so that I don't get über-spoiled? :cryvaultboy:

If you get it over Steam it will unlock the moment it releases. Most places will ship hardcopies so they arrive the day before release.

Usually when I pre-order (well, pre-purchase) a game from an online store, they usually send it the day before the release day, so I get it on the release day (which is pretty much always a friday here in Europe). I can't really think of any time when I didn't get a game on release day, although it's not that often I pre-order either, about once a year or so.

I'm probably gonna have a crapload of people here when I get it because I'm the only one with the money to actually buy it

My problem with Steam and new releases is that price wise they're just not that competitive.

With no physical copy or mailing costs it should be, at the most, the same price as Amazon, Game etc.

Instead it's ￡5 more, which doesn't make sense. That's quite a premium to only guarantee being able to play on the release day.

I love Steam for the sales and indie titles but for new releases I find their pricing very disappointing.

Here in the UK I almost always get it through my door on release day and somtimes it even arives 1 day before release day, I even remember way back when I pre-ordered GTA Vice City and it arived at my door 4 days before release day, I hope this happens with NV :wink_smile:

I pre-ordered Red Dead Redemption via the internet, and it came pretty much right away, or at least within a day or two of release.

I pre-ordered New Vegas (and WoW Cataclysm ) in a shop, and I'll be getting those the second the store opens on release day.

I wanna pre-order so I can get the collecter's edition...

Never heard of Game.com though so not sure when it will arrive.

Well with my experiences of pre-ordering from Gamestop and doing street date delivery it get to my house between 11-2.

Well I always pre-order for in-store pick up, just for a guaranteed copy and for the pre-order bonus. So, I wouldn't know about delivery.