The Modern Warfare 2 Ultro-Nerd Edition famously comes with a pair of functioning night-vision goggles, and now it seems the Uber-Geek Edition of Codemaster’s not-actually-Operation-Flashpoint-2-is-it Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising will come similarly laden with head-mounted silliness. Specifically, a full-size army helmet that’s roughly 48 million times larger than the game CD itself. What next – Mafia 2 Special Edition, complete with freshly-severed real horse’s head?
I quite enjoy the trinkets to be found in special editions of games – my Big Daddy statuette still stands proudly on my desk for instance, even if the odds of my playing Bioshock through again are somewhere up there with my learning to type with my nipples. There’s a level of practicality, though – I don’t want enormous items I’ll never, ever find a use for taking up space in my home. That said, the night vision goggles I can understand, even if they’re openly ridiculous – there’s a use to them. There isn’t a definable use to an army helmet. Sorry, Codies.
What I do wonder, though, is the purpose of this enormo-tchotchke trend. Is it simply to inflate the price of special editions? Is it to increase hype by making easily-amazed bloggers (hello!) publicly point and laugh at them? Or is it something to do with trying to refinforce the idea of boxed videogames as something with physical value that the unstoppable tide of download services could never match?
I really do miss physical game maps. Can’t we just have those back, and hang all the soundtrack CDs and dogtags? That said, do let’s hear your suggestions for other crazy special edition items…
(Helmetorama via Kotaku).
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I wouldn’t be surprised if people start to get more excited about the ‘free’ SE content than the game. Didn’t EA give out knuckle dusters to the press for some game a while back? Crazy.
http://www.dipswitchcomics.com/117
I wonder what Leisure Suit Larry could have included….
Faux chest hair anyone?
…. plums armed Only with gaming merchandise attempted to incapacitate the assailant. Whilst laying in wait on top of his fridge, ready with the cat like skillz he picked up
in Assassins Creed. But the intruder was canny. Due to the sudden shock of blinding kitchen light he jolted backward off his ivory tower… plums was subject to further misfortune first realized on his way down, seeing that in fact it was not snowing but that the sugar puffs he was eating out of his helmet whilst perched in wait rained upon him. plums head hit the kitchen floor undefended.
plums came to in the hospital only to discover he was short two nipples and was covered in scabs. Doctors frightened by the artificial lifeform, later named the sugar puff glades, saught to surgicaly remove it. Later realising the error it was cleaned and returned. Two nipples included.
The following day plums was finally able to subdue the invader after the sly swine came to remove his only witness. plums heroicly used the last of his props and suffocated the man with the faux chest hair. The autopsy revealed the primary cause of death was horror.
plums was sentenced for manslaughter. His mother being the cornerstone witness.
..tragicaly plums never had the chance to get to know his uncle.
plums was an optimist and was happy in the knowledge that half nipple thing to the left of his war torn chest survived.
Later plums and his mother reconciled. Alas this would only usher further tragedy. It had been 10 years since Portals release and Portal 2 had finally come albeit with a 4 year exclusive on Googledroid 5. Unfortunately game sales were damp at best due to the invention of a real Portal gun taking away the allure. Valve desperate to keep steam alive for fear of torture by its loyal customers losing the 250 odd games they had acquired over the last 10 years sought to include a “low cost” version of the device….
For Portal you could have one of the spheres that says various phrases, like snarling or cake recipes. You could collect them or something.
I quite liked the authentic piece of Berlin Wall that came with World in Conflict.
Going back further though I remember they made a game for the Amiga based on Plan 9 From Outer Space that came with a VHS copy of the film. Not that anyone would watch it, not twice anyway
The next King’s Bounty should come with a live pangolin.
Real brain in a jar with L4DeadX
The latest special edition I bought was the Bioshock one with the action figure two years ago, and the figure stood proudly in my bookcase for months before I upgraded my computer enough to play the game. I had a special edition of Guild Wars with a nice art book, and an even nicer dragon that I could show off in game. When the last Wing Comander game came out, it had this really neat star chart of the game’s universe, one that I happily displayed on my wall for years, even though it had no use in game whatsoever.
Anyway, it wasn’t that long ago that I read an article, probably on this very site, complaining about the lack of interesting things in today’s game boxes as opposed to 20 years ago or so. I for one like stuff like Fallout 3’s lunch box, or GTA4’s tee shirt, even crazy stuff like this helmet. Many gamers like to have physical objects they can display that remind them of games, which is why third party companies do a good business selling stuff like game shirts, halo action figures, or full size replica machine-guns from gears of war. Game companies themselves have seen this need and are catering to it directly with elaborate special editions. It’s good business for them, and it’s good for the fans, so why not?
Theif 4: Nothing. Just an empty box.
My only real gripe with some of these collectors editions is that they’re hugely expensive. I mentioned Anno 1404 as being particularly good value – brand new, the fancy collectors edition (which, again, comes in a shoebox-sized wooden treasure chest which looks cool as hell on a shelf) cost £30 total, about standard retail price for any game.
If Ubisoft can afford to offer stuff like that for standard prices, other publishers can, and if it’s only a couple of quid more than the jewelcase version, I’m much more likely to bite.
How about including a great game on the DVD inside the plastic box, or is that just being silly?
Chaz wins.
I laughed so hard at the thought of Ergates empty Thief 4 box. A note inside where the disk should be saying “Couldn’t reisist it mate. – G” would be fantastic. If that happened to me I might actually hesitate complain.
Pfff, already got one.
I’m not looking forward to the Codies F1 game being any good though, because I’m not sure how one would procure a full F1 style racing suit to play it in.
The only problem I have with it, is that the helmet looks more like a WW2 helmet than a modern warfare helmet.
Give me a helmet like the one the soldiers in the game use, and im sold.
Zorn: Yeah, it does look a bit old. Try one of these guys.
The helmet looks to be a Russian SSH68, first made in 1968, with a bunch of stupid logos planted on it
You can get a real one for about $40… I have one for airsofting.
I thought everyone at RPS loved hats. Hats!!! Or is that just Jim?
Men of War 2 would be better off with this in its collector’s edition.
L4D2 CE editions should come with plushie Boomers that make the vomit sound when squeezed. Or a Zoey plushie…..don’t look at me like that!
I hate collector’s crap. Just give me the fucking game and a manual. The last thing I need is more shit in my home that I have to throw away in a few weeks or months.
You know what’d be cool? Half Life 3 Special Edition coming with a solid-gold crowbar or a functioning HEV suit.
I won’t be satisfied with a collector’s edition until one turns up at my doorstep in a completely black unmarked lorry to a chorus of terrified neighbourhood dogs and cats, and then ten wailing, gibbering monks in sack cloth chant hymns as three stunted goblinoid creatures luch out to drag a frost-speckled iron casket from the back of the lorry using chains etched with eldritch runes. I want the game box to be bound in human skin and warded with dire threats in a tongue long dead, and I want there to be a sigh like the unsealing of a tomb when I open the case. I want the CD to be hand-carved from the ivory of a dead god and I want the manual to be hand-illuminated by elderly men who have lost most of their vision through squinting and copying manuals.
Bonus points if the game is actually any good.
Considering that Valve’s episodes take 3x more time to make than a full game, by the time HL3 is released, making things out of solid gold would be pretty cheap.
Excuse me now Mr Meer but I really like game soundtracks, I just wish they came with the normal edition.
The two special editions that I really liked where:
World in Conflict (Soundtrack, Discovery DVD on the cold war, piece of the Berlin wall!, poster, really nice box.)
Guild Wars pack (Really nice Soundtrack, Maps/posters, Artwork book, some other crap…)
Drewski: fulfill your Stig-fantasies here, then.
Hmm I do say, maybe Dawn Of War 2 with Heavy Bolter?
Or maybe Half Life Ep 3 to come with a Head Humper?
For DOW2 they just need to add guard in an xp then they couold give you a lasgun [read flashlight]