As I've mentioned before, if you pre-order Warhammer Online from one of the retailers listed on this page, you'll get into the open beta on September 7th. Shortly thereafter, all your hard-/played hours will be erased when the beta ends. But then shortly before the game's September 18th launch, you'll get into the Live Game Head Start program.

As if that's not enough, scroll halfway down that preorder page to admire the pre-order loot on offer. No matter where you pre-order, you get a post-battle healing tent, which seems pretty useless considering how quickly your health is restored after a battle even without a tent. It seems hardly worth the effort to set the thing up, especially if it's anywhere nearly as complicated as every tent I've ever tried to set up. Then there are the Amber, Sapphire, Iolite, and Ruby Bands unique to each retailer. These little doo-dads randomly add elemental damage to your attacks, but not in player vs. player situations. Apparently, player characters are immune to pre-order bonuses! Fair enough. The last thing I need is some dork's dark elf killing me because he's got extra Circuit City power buffing his attacks.

Finally, some pre-orders get a card game. It looks to me like a scaled down version of Warcry, a Warhammer collectible card game by Sabertooth that appears to have been swallowed without a trace by Fantasy Flight Games. The excellent Warhammer CCG has come to this, a pre-order bauble? At least it still works on a PSP.