Oh, yeah, no pre-orders. Even if buying game on launch, it's better to see the reviews before pulling the plug. Unless it's a studio with a great track record, like Zelda, or even Insomniac. Even then, you don't lose much by waiting 24-48 hours to get a good amount of critic and user reviews to get the gist of the game.

Unfortunately, I think $70 trend is going to stay. With inflation and the way economy is, everything is getting expensive, not to mention AAA games are costing a lot more these days, so it makes sense from that point of view. Now whether these multi-million / billion dollar companies can afford to keep making games at $60 (while still earning a profit), is a separate discussion...