Why gamers are fed up with retail-specific pre-order content.

I have been a "hardcore" gamer since the age of five. I've played everything from the Atari 2600 to the Super Nintendo and most recently the Xbox 360. Now I know gaming can and always will be an expensive hobby but now with the "main-streamness" of gaming the costs are just getting out of hand. Now we see companies like EA and Activision turning into money-hungry monopolies trying to nickel and dime their customers any chance possible. One big issue myself and other gamers have taken issue with recently is this new found obsession with retail-specific pre-order bonuses.

Now I'm not here to whine and complain. I'm just hoping to get the word out that gamers like myself are fed up with this bull crap. We feel that forcing gamers to pre-order at certain retailers then robs us of content on the disc the WE PAY FOR. Content like costumes and maps. It's become bad enough that we pay $60 per game as well as all the money we throw at downloadable content and online fees now we have to worry about getting the content we pay that hard-earned money for. Yes developers have to keep making content after a game goes "gold" but this pre-order content is all shown off before hand and that's what pisses us all off. We are forced to believe that the developer spent time creating this content for us then the publisher turns around and lifts out content so they can earn a few extra bucks. Pre-order content is just the tip of the iceberg. Now we have online passes and season passes. A lot of gamers that I know are college students whom have hard enough time affording the original price tag and now feel that a game now averages over $100 just to get all of the content intended for the original $60. I urge these companies to re-think their strategies because not only are they hurting their fan base but also their image.