For a long time any time I’d hear of some great new game that I just had to play I would prepurchase it at whichever local store was first willing to take my dollars early. I did this for two reasons: 1. so I could get the Flavor of the Month on release day, and 2. I’d get some kind of little junket to play around with until the actual game came out.
But, times change.
I figured out that there isn’t really a shortage of games on release day. Unless I think the game’s going to be particularly popular, I can go to pretty much any store, walk in, grab it, and be on my way in less than half an hour. Or I could stand in line for hours to grab my game at midnight, take it home, then go straight to bed because I’ve got to be to work in the morning (and, honestly, what sense does it make to release a game on a Tuesday anyway?).
And those ‘premiums’? Yeah, they’re mostly pretty worthless. You can only use so many rooster hats, comic books, stickers, and other crap that ceases to be useful the minute you get it home. Which might be the reason that I see more games going to in-game stuff instead.