LE's and CE's.

As someone who collects video games, there's nothing I like more than a good old Limited Edition or Collector´s Edition. With that said though, there's the good CE/LE and the bad LE/CE, you need look no further than the Assassin´s Creed Limited Edition for an example of a bad LE. For an example of a good LE, take a look at The Witcher Limited Edition.

The first mentioned Assassin´s Creed LE contains a figurine of our protagonist, Altaír and... Oh wait, there is no more, aside from the actual game of course. What really annoyed me about this LE though, was that the game you got with it, at least here in Europe, had a bigass "Not for resale" sign printed on one of it's corners. Since it was actually printed there's no way to get it off. This I payed about 250 SEK extra for.

Now the second mentioned The Witcher LE contains the soundtrack for the game, an impressive artbook, a making of DVD, a map of the world of the game and the actual game. That, to me, is something worth shelling out a little extra for, especially since I payed about the same amount of extra cash that I did with Assassin´s Creed. A Limited Edition like this makes you feel good about your purchase, rather than walking around thinking "was it worth it?.


The reason for all of this collector´s and limited edition talk is that thanks to my good friend Kotaku, I got to see some limited editions of upcoming games. One of them I already knew about, but it's still nice to see some actual real-life pictures of it. The game I'm talking about is, to no one´s shock, GTA IV, which I've had on pre-order for about a month now and it's coming out real soon too! *giddy*.

In any case, most of the people even remotely interested in games knows what the limited edition of this game includes, but in case you don't, I'll go through it for you. It contains a Rockstar labeled duffle bag, the game's soundtrack, a safety deposit box, an art book and the actual game with embossed lettering on the box. In all honesty though, while it contains the right stuff, it costs too much for me to count it among the good LE's out there. In case you're wondering, we have to spend 1500 SEK for this LE here in Europe, which is really too much. Being the idiot that I am, though, I still bought it. Now then, the pictures I was talking about? Given that the space I have on this blog is rather limited, you'll have to do with a link to the good folks over at GTAGaming. Enjoy!

Another game I saw was Soul Calibur IV: The Quest for More Money Limited Edition. Ok so that's not it's real name, but I couldn't resist. Anyway, the limited edition of Soul Calibur IV includes what looks like a tin box for the game, an art book, a "tournament kit" whatever that is and a XL-sized T-shirt. Seems ok in my eyes, at least if you're a fan of the series, but it's going to cost you $80 to get your mits on it, and I'm not knowledgable enough about Soul Calibur to say anything about whether or not that is a justifiable price. In case you're wondering about why there's two boxes in that picture, it's because one of them is for the Xbox 360 and the other for Playstation 3, which is just stupid in my eyes, but what can you do? It looks like the Playstation 3 is getting all the good the stuff when it comes to this game. I mean first they get Darth Vader instead of Yoda and now they get the black shirt with the Vader print. Where's the love for Xbox 360 owners?! Now don't get me wrong, I like both characters but come on, it's V to the A to the D.E.R, VADER. You can't beat that.

Last, but definately not least, there's the Alone in the Dark Limited Edition, which could very well be the closest to a perfect LE I've ever seen. This baby includes the official soundtrack, a making of DVD, an art book, a figurine of Edward Carnby, the game's protagonist and of course the game. As if that wasn't enough, the box you get everything in gets a nice treatment as well, assuring that everything in this package is of some value. I know that I'll be buying this limited edition if the game turns out to be as good at it looks to be. At least if it's priced correctly, as in not more than what I payed for GTA IV. What's interesting about it, though, is that this box is only for Europe, so I don't really know about what people in the states will get, but I'm guessing it's something similar. I mean they can't screw them totally, can they? Either way, I'm really looking forward to seeing some reviews of this game when it store later this summer.


So that's that, my ramblings about LE's and CE's. I don't know if any of it makes much sense, but nor do I care all that much. Oh and you know GTA IV? Yeah, the hypemachine is beyond active, and in some places it's beyond insanity.