GameStop Red Dead Redemption Pre-Order Costume Winner Announced

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The winner of the Red Dead Referendum program to determine which of three costumes would be offered along with a GameStop pre-order of Rockstar Games' open-world, western game Red Dead Redemption has been announced.

Your pre-order will net you a code for the chance to earn the "Deadly Assassin" costume for protagonist John Marston. That's right: earn. A pre-order alone isn't enough to unlock the outfit, which also allows John to regenerate "Dead-Eye" targeting much faster. Once the code is redeemed, the following challenges must be completed:

  • Win a Duel in Armadillo - Travel to the town of Armadillo, and accept the challenge to fight a duel. Just make sure to win.
  • Capture or Kill Mo Van Barr - While in Armadillo, find the wanted poster for Mo Van Barr, accept the Bounty Hunting mission and bring this notorious member of the Walton Gang to justice, dead or alive.
  • Solve the Mystery of the Missing Townsfolk - People have been disappearing for weeks from the outskirts of Armadillo. Track down the clues, solve the mystery and live to tell the tale.
  • Search Coot's Chapel - Find the ruins of Coot's chapel in the wilds of Cholla Springs, and search it for treasure.
  • Complete the Twin Rocks Hideout - Find the legendary criminal hideout of Twin Rocks, located North of the town of Armadillo, to complete this final challenge.

Now, I'm no lawyer, but this sounds like a pre-order assignment, not a bonus. Red Dead Redemption was recently delayed and will be released on May 18th in the US and May 21st elsewhere on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Different pre-order bonuses are available at other fine retailers.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 5, 2010 1:15 PM

    I've got no problem with how this is done. In fact, I approve of it. I never liked the idea of just because I preordered a game I get access to a supersuit right off the bat or whatever.

    • reply
      March 5, 2010 1:54 PM

      Exactly. T-Rex doesn't want to be fed, he wants to hunt.

      • reply
        March 5, 2010 2:05 PM

        T-Rex was a scavenger, not a predator

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          March 5, 2010 3:57 PM

          I think the going consensus is that he was an opportunist. Many agree that he would have been an effective endurance hunter. While he didn't have speed going for him, a bipedal creature is much more efficient than a quadruped. Using less energy than his prey, and importantly, generating less heat, he could easily hunt his prey to the point of exhaustion using his large olfactory senses to track his prey.

          However, if there is a nice meaty carcass in the area, why bother hunting?

        • reply
          March 5, 2010 4:08 PM

          pretty sure he was quoting Jurassic park...

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      March 5, 2010 2:05 PM

      I'd be more happy with just getting rid of the pre-order exclusive deals. Especially when every retailer has a different pre-order bonus. Seems like it would be a tough marketing scheme to quantify, but they must believe it nets them more business.
      For me it actually leaves me on a sour note after I buy a new game with pre-order bonuses. The fact that I purchased the retail game and paid full price and immediately there is something I don't have and never will. To this day there has never been a bonus that really mattered, but it's the stupid mental principle that drives me nuts.

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        March 5, 2010 2:11 PM

        Yeah seriously, I fucking hate that.

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        March 5, 2010 6:21 PM

        This is pretty much where I am with it.

        It's irritating enough that they want me to buy a game before it's out, before any reviews are available. Most of these companies have certainly not earned that level of trust.

        But to then have 6 different PO perks across every different retailer is just stupid.

        Mass Effect 2 got it right: buy a new copy, get existing and forthcoming DLC for free (so far; I hope they stick with this model). Or buy it used and get all the DLC for one payment, if you even care about it that much.

        Bioware has done a decent job of experimenting with a couple of different models and the ME2 one seems the best to me. I buy the game, I get stuff with it instead of being nickel and dimed for weeks afterward to get the "complete" experience.

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