Where do you buy your games from?

When you preorder a Game, what makes you decide where to buy from? Do you go for the shiny that the reseller offers you or do you look for the places that have great customer service?  Resellers each try to entice you in their own way, making deals with publishers that provide specific DLC to entice you to their shelves. As an example, lets have a closer look at some of the offers for the new Batman Arkahm City, which is due for release on the 21st October in the UK.

When you buy Batman Arkham City from Game/GameStation in the UK, you get the “Robin Edition” which contains extra levels and Robin as a playable Character. Game & GameStation are the ONLY places in the UK you can buy this edition, so if you want the Robin Levels you have to buy from Game or GameStation.

Now Tesco has a different Edition, this is the “Joker Edition”. Once again the only place in the UK you can buy this is Tesco, so if you want the Joker Extra Levels you have to buy your game from them.

And lastly Shopto.net, a smaller independent retailer, has it’s own preorder DLC for Batman. It has a 1970’s Batman skin, no extra levels, no extra characters, just a new skin for Batman.

So which one of these should you buy from?  Do you choose based on the preorder shiny DLC they offer you?  Or is there something more important than that?

For me, it’s something more important. I now ONLY preorder my games from www.shopto.net, as they offer something none of the other companies do: Release Date or Compensate. They will give £3 credit to your account if your game does not turn up on the day of release. They also have excellent customer support. They might not always have the DLC that other companies do, but when I preorder a game for day of release, I want it that day (or before). Shopto.net are the only company I’ve seen that has enough confidence in their service to offer me a guarantee that I’ll get my game on the day of release.

Come on retailers, stop trying to convince us that we should buy from you because of the extra free DLC, and work a LOT harder to compete on better service and delivery guarantees, and more competitive pricing. New levels and characters don’t do me any good if I’m not getting my game on time.