I remember when Final Fantasy 3 (6?) came out. There was a huge hype surrounding that game and I drug my dad to 4 different stores looking for it. I knew game retailers were allowing you to pre-order the game, but I didn’t. I guess I’ve never dug the idea of pre-ordering. I’m not really sure why. Perhaps it has something to do with the whole hype machine?
That said, I now realize that there is a level of convience in pre orders. You set down a few bucks, and the game store will call you the day before they get it in. You then come in, pay the remainder (if any) and walk out with your game. No guessing when they’ll have it in!
FunEBstopLand (Ebgames, FuncoLand, and Gamestop are now owned by the same parent company) has a pretty lenient pre-ordering system. You have to put down a minimum of $5 toward the game. And if you change your mind you can just apply that $5 toward any other purchase.
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I didn’t pre order Daxter because I thought it would be a hard title to find. The whole reason I pre-ordered Daxter was a demo disk. I’m now on this crazy hunt to find all the demo UMD’s that have been made. So far there’s only a handful, but I think it would be neat to keep collecting them.
Some developers are releasing demo UMD’s for their new PSP games. Which I think is a great idea. Let the users taste the game before they slap down $40 to $50 for a game.
In Japan, Sony has set up Playstation Spots. These are kiosks you can bring your PSP to and wirelessly download demos. The demo’s only last until you turn off the PSP, but it’s a great way to get people in the stores, and trying the new games. I would totally spend waaaaayyyy too much time at FunEBstopLand if we had these in the US.
*I’ve played the demo and I must say. OMFG! This truly is a console caliber game on a handheld. Georgous and fun. I can’t wait until the full version is released.
UPDATE: The release date has been pushed UP! Daxter is coming out Tuesday! Woot!