The biggest qualm I currently have with special editions is that some of them offer an outrageous bunch of garbage that no one would ever really need. I’m not saying night vision goggles aren’t cool, so everyone who purchased the Prestige Edition of Modern Warfare 2 just sit right back down. But, really, when are you going to use them? I picked up the Hardened Edition because the case is extremely sexy and I got the original Call of Duty, downloadable off Xbox Live, tossed in for good measure. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a pretty solid deal if you ask me and on top of it, the art book didn’t hurt either. But, let’s face it; night vision goggles just aren’t a worthwhile purchase as they do nothing to advance the gameplay in my opinion and are thusly superfluous. But then again, is the Renegade Edition of DJ Hero, Tony Hawk’s Ride or yet another set of plastic instruments any different? It seems to me that when a special edition offers such a superfluous amount of stuff, it starts to not only eclipse the game in the box, but ruins it a little. Take for instance the collector’s edition of Brother’s in Arms: Hell’s Highway. Inside the box, besides the game was a Sergeant Baker action figure along with a comic book. Realistically, I don’t need either of those and paying for it was a kick in my wallets proverbial junk causing me to become somewhat weary of ‘special editions’ in the overall regard of video game purchases.
What you get in a special edition is supposedly designed to set it apart from the regular versions, but without an objective means of valuing the various editions, we’re presented with arbitrary means of paying $20 or $90 more, just because the publisher or designer tells us that is what the extras are worth. Breaking it down, the Hardened edition of Modern Warfare 2 cost me $80 on Amazon, which isn’t a bad price for a game that costs $60, the download code for the original Call of Duty now available on Xbox Live for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), leaving the art book sitting at about $5 in value. That seems accurate and fair to me, which is the true underlying reason behind my purchase of that edition as opposed to the regular or prestige editions. So in terms of value, it seems that a ‘collector’s edition’ is only a meaningful item to someone willing to collect it. At the end of the day, value in the eye of the gamer, it seems, is what most strongly dictates the existence of a limited edition or not. Virtually unheard of prior to this generation of games, they’ve since grown by leaps and bounds. It’s become difficult to walk into a store or cruise the internet without having to acknowledge that most titles will, one way or another, receive a limited edition incarnation in this day and age.
As a gamer first and foremost, I feel the need to point out that it should be about the overall game experience first and what is in the box second. If Bioshock hadn’t been a promising title, I never would’ve invested in a box containing a statuette of a Big Daddy and to this day, it is still one of my all time favorite games. On the flipside, not every single gamer will necessarily want a Master Chief helmet staring at them or a set of night vision goggles. Worth, even in the game industry, will always be a relative term and it is up to the community to manage how best those collector’s editions are valued. If a limited edition isn’t all that limited or merely contains an amalgamation of rubbish, then it is best to sit on the shelf next to special editions of Clive Barker’s Jericho. But, when we as gamers purchase outlandish editions of games that end up as squandered money, it tells the industry that they can sell us that and we’ll eat it up. I’m not saying don’t take a chance on something new and I’m not saying that special editions aren’t the worst thing to happen in the game industry. Ultimately, it boils down to having the ability to make a tempered, responsible decision. But, the next time you pre-order or outright purchase one on a whim, just ask yourself if what you’re purchasing is garbage or not because simply said, not all special editions are created equal.
