Hat-Off: Lunatic Flashpoint 2 Special Edition

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).