Of course it is. You're not getting ANYTHING until the game comes out and you are in no control of the project. Zilch. Nada. None. You don't know or will know a thing about this project beyond what gaf-news. You are getting what they make in return for your money.
Motivation to impress you? None. You are already paid. You pre-ordered to the nth degree and pre-orders aren't helping this industry in the least.
The concept of kickstarters was made to get people out of the mind-set of doing the same shit over and over and over again, it was to get people with good ideas a chance to approach and experiment with said idea in a world where nobody is willing to fund new ideas...not a major franchise...or any franchise in general. The point was to counter-act franchises. Of course, gamers don't understand how a game could exist without it being a franchise...or something.
If you're stuck in nostalgia mode, fine, we have a giant multi-billion dollar industry tailored specifically to your man-child sequelitis needs. Next up is to kickstart the next halo.
Never let someone else gamble with your money. This isn't some guy in a basement with a big heart, this is for-profit, this is not charity. This is business in which case you are not a share holder. You are nothing but easy money. And even if you were a share-holder, then look forward to hell when share-holder interests battle with dev interests/opinion. Good lord, you think the petitions are bad...just you wait when money is on the line.
The backlash is going to be legendary though, when these poor folks realize why publishers exist and why, many a time, they need to play the bad guy. I guess we are getting that.
The funny thing is that people have already figured out how to bypass the concept of a publisher (for whatever reason). We call it indy development. Yes, you have to put your own money on the line in the long run, but that would be best. That would motivate he who puts everything on the line to make a game that would interest gamers. Then, people get to buy the product AFTER knowing if it's any good AFTER it's made and AFTER reception and AFTER a demo best case scenario.
This kickstarter junk is not confronting the issues with game development of the 21st century, they're amplifying...both for fanboyism and fanboy exploitation, risk/reward and the nonstop sequelitis and for development/publisher/customer relationships (it's just lopsiding it in a different way). And worst will be when publishers start to pay attention and find a way to exploit it. Then we're right back where we were anyway.
