Does anyone else see the concept of the pre-order as a bit of a folly at this point? The general idea is that you are so excited about an upcoming game that you will not only buy it, but you’ll buy it ahead of time so that you can still purchase it in the same exact way. For some reason, it took a good deal of years for gamers to figure out that game companies began releasing enough copies of games at launch to meet the demand, and pre-ordering to ensure that you get a game on launch day is no longer necessary. This meant that the concept of the pre-order either had to change or it had to go. Surprisingly enough, the industry decided to start offering “bonuses” for pre-ordering games, with different retail outlets offering different perks to pre-order from them. This created a system where publishers would look for the best deal from retailers, and offer them the more desirable content so that gamers would pre-order from them.

I’m still not sure that I’m sold on the concept of pre-ordering, but I have found myself pre-ordering games on Amazon over the past few years, as they usually offer some form of Amazon gift card on top of exclusive content, and the idea of free money is a lot more enticing than some throwaway character or weapon for a game. If you operate under the same pretense that any way to make a game cheaper is worth it, then Microsoft actually has a pretty awesome deal for you. Let’s say you own an Xbox 360 and are looking to pick up a copy of Resident Evil 6 when it is released, give me one good reason why you shouldn’t pre-order it from Microsoft? That might sound like insanity, because there aren’t usually a ton of reasons to purchase a game from the Microsoft Store. Well, not in this case, as a pre-order of Resident Evil 6 from Microsoft will ensure you a $10 gift card on top of 1600 additional Microsoft Points (worth $20 USD).

It is, in a way, a brilliant ploy, as the gift card ensures that you’ll purchase from the Microsoft Store again, and the Microsoft Points ensures that you’ll make some more purchases on Xbox Live. You can purchase Resident Evil 6 and get away with this sweet deal here.

Resident Evil 6 launches on October 6th for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlaySation 3 and PC.