Yeah, but you're talking about a limited number of games that will sell that well in pre-order. AC is a top tier series, how many really pre-ordered Lollipop Chainsaw? I got burned enough times pre-ordering games I thought would be great and got less than what I expected. I learned my lesson, I wait till release and check the feedback - then wait for a sale.
The anti-gay venom is just silly - if you don't want to see it in the game than don't make the choices that lead down that road. Why tee off on something that you'll never see? I think it's admirable that Bioware is catering to their all of their audience, it's a game using choices as a mechanic after all. Day one DLC that's already on the disc though has bugged me from the beginning. Don't like it one bit. What it's done it made me want to wait till all the DLC is out and then buy the GOTY edition with all DLC on it at a price under $40... which means I won't play the game for a couple of years. So be it... I'm not paying $100 for a game again (like I did with Fallout 3 or Oblivion + Shivering Isles for $90).
I don't see it as "gamer entitlement" because we've all seen trolls and idiots saying the stupidest stuff imaginable - it's just too easy to say anything, however reprehensible, with no consequences at all. Until there is some way to hold people accountable for what they write I don't know that anything can be done. I've seen gamer entitlement in action before, we all have, but personally I don't suffer from it. I have no more say in how a developer makes a game than an author writes a book, or a director makes a movie. Should I be free to criticize what I don't like about it? Sure... but that's as far as it goes. Very sorry to hear how Jennifer has been treated, there is no excuse...
I'm thankful for coffee, football, Gamespot and all my friends here on the site, my new PS3, my 4th 360 and of course my little DS... thankful for the patience to wait for bargain prices on games, sunshine and homemade meatloaf. Not thankful for politicians, corporate greed and left/right misleading rhetoric.
@Spartan-1657 I'll put myself out there as an example... I play through most games as good, and I played through Fallout 3 as good, but I'm a cheevo whore and spent an hour just before I hit certain levels slaughtering everyone in Megaton. I was good for hours and then completely changed for the achievement. Is that what Bethesda had in mind when creating the achievement points? Have us be good, only to turn into mass murderers for 20 points? I have to say, even though it was a game, I felt a bit guilty. Sure I reloaded and, wallah, everyone was alive again, but still... the cheevo (or my addiction to) steered me towards immorality. Just not sure we need to have those kind of achievements in there. I'm not saying change the game and have no evil/good choices... what I am saying is that there shouldn't be a point reward system steering you towards playing a particular way.
I agree that having morality in the game's story increases it depth in most cases. In the case of Mass Effect it didn't make much of an impact on me, but in Fallout 3 it did. I do have some reservations however, about having achievements based around morality... in effect it rewards questionable behavior, even if it is only a game.
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