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Games Entertainment

The Rise Of Limited Edition Games 37

Posted by Zonk from the when-everyone-is-special-no-one-is dept.
John Callaham wrote to mention a piece on Gamecloud discussing the emphasis on 'special' editions of new game titles. From the article: "Games that have some extras in limited releases have been a part of the industry for a few years now. Just last year limited collector's versions of the MMORPGs Everquest 2 and World of Warcraft were released that were packed with extra stuff, from art books to extra DVDs and more. Electronic Arts released a special edition of Medal of Honor Pacific Assault last fall with lots of behind-the-scenes material and an extra weapon not in the regular edition. Midway released a special edition of Mortal Kombat: Deception last fall with extra content as well as the full version of the first Mortal Kombat game. This fall, however, game publishers are releasing more special editions of games than ever before alongside the 'regular' versions of games and they typically cost at least $10 more and in a couple of cases even more than that."
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The Rise Of Limited Edition Games More

The Rise Of Limited Edition Games

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  • What's wrong? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Walker_Boh_Druid ( 864617 ) on Friday September 09, 2005 @06:35PM (#13522902)
    I see nothing wrong with this. Is someone wants to pay extra so that they can have some artwork, demos, developers notes, previews or "The making of:" videos, let them. If someone wants to leave all that stuff out, and just enjoy a game, that's fine.

    • Re:What's wrong? (Score:3, Informative)

      by cgenman ( 325138 )
      Can they leave out the manual, put it in a small cardboard sleeve, and shave off 10 dollars from the price? It seems like packaging should be either original and very, very cool, or dirt cheap. Where are the games that come wrapped in a bloody cloth from the game, or that are trapped in a chinese puzzlebox? Or at least have some cool pack-in... even stickers these days would be a rare treat. I never understood why publishers decided to stop with the cool free advertising of sticker pack-ins, but keep ma
    • See, I remember the halcyon days when games were expected to come with extra material like this. Even the grail diary that came with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which was part of a primitive form of copy protection, added to the game. You got to literally pore through the grail diary looking for clues, and taking in all sorts of gorgeous artwork and background info. (LucasArts was particularly good at designing these props - probably since they had some movie art designers in the house.)

      Extra

  • Not surprising at all. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Xizer ( 794030 ) on Friday September 09, 2005 @06:36PM (#13522918)
    DVD "special editions" have always raked in the cash, so it's not surprising the game industry is copying this formula. Every industry copies things from another. I'm just worried that special editions may start containing too much extra stuff and the regular editions of games may end up being half-assed.
    • I can't remember a game where the limited edition is truely a different game binary than the original.

      What if there were more guns in half-life2 or special playmodes online for quake. Or a special class in WoW. People will flock to the limited edition then. Wouldn't even think twice.

      • What if there were more guns in half-life2 or special playmodes online for quake. Or a special class in WoW. People will flock to the limited edition then. Wouldn't even think twice.

        Would WoW really be more fun if the first thousand people to preorder the game got a special class to use? Nope, it would just mean that anyone using the special class got special attention from griefers.

        Adding fundamental gameplay advantages to a limited edition will only alienate customers who missed out on it.

        Besides, I wasn
      • "What if there were more guns in half-life2"

        If singleplayer, then people would complain even more about the lack of guns and valve expecting us to pay extra to counteract this defficiency.
        If multiplayer, then you'd pretty much lose your entire fanbase giving people an unfair advantage for paying more.

        "special playmodes online for quake."
        Lets see, I can DM/TDM with everyone, or play Hunt The Golden Goose Egg of Stupid Hypotheticly Named Game Modes That Would Be Restricted To Special Edition Owners (Or, HTGG

  • Episode 2 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by AcheronHades ( 837485 )
    I would be more willing to pay extra for additional game content. For example the extra multi-player maps for Halo 2. That was nice.

    And then big wigs in the game industry are talking about serializing games. Think of Eternal Darkness where a new scenario comes out every month, each one costs $10.
  • Why not? I've bought a few of these "limited" type games in the last few years, the first being the "Collector's Edition" of Diablo 2. The most recent was the afformentioned Mortal Kombat Deceptions. The Diablo box set was well worth the extra $12. It contained enough junk that I later sold and recouped 80% of the original purchase price via eBay and kept the actual game cds/keys.

    I think the extra stuff is a nice premium IF its not just cheesy extras and cut-scenes on the same media as the game install. P

  • Limited Ed = OK, Exclusive pre-order content = NO! (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I don't mind seeing special limited edition games in stores these days as long as they provide something worth the extra money you pay.

    What is really starting to annoy me though is the "Pre-order this otherwise normal version of the game for the same price as someone who doesn't pre-order, but get this exclusive (insert something interesting) that people who don't pre-order the game will NEVER be able to access."

    Sure, a reward for pre-ordering makes sense... but people who didn't pre-order it payed for the
    • Order Black & White 2 and receive an Exclusive Creature, The Tiger! You will receive a code with instructions in your shipment confirmation emails. If you choose In-Store Pickup for this game, please contact the store for bonus item availability.

      I don't believe the versions are ever physically different; these are just codes, which are always available online. The only game I can think of that's close to your scenario is the GBA remake of Super Mario Bros 3 - the wal*mart version (I think) had two e-rea

  • Catching up to Japan (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Looks like gaming companies here are finally realizing that giving away limited edition swag in games will boost sales.

    It's been working in japan for years.

    Look at Skies of Arcadia for the dreamcast when it released in Japan.

    You got a Leather strap with a logo from the game, a bandana that is an acctual item in the game, a cell phone strap, an art book, and some limited edition artwork as well.

    Or look at Gran Turismo 4. You could buy a limited edition that came with a pair of Nike Sneakers! http://www.jp.pl [playstation.com]
  • http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=&product s_id=7103 [lik-sang.com] Tho, being an absolute FF freak, I'm still very much tempted. In fact I would trade my soul if it came in English.

  • You mean the American industry right? (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Because they have been a standard of Japanese games since the SNES. We've been missing out!
  • Pirates was a game that I bought the limited edition version of. I mainly wanted the game on a DVD, but the DVD version also had some making of videos and interviews. But the real beauty of the package was that it was the same price as the regular version.

    I also bought the special edition Half Life 2 release. Again, because I wanted the game on a DVD. But I later regretted the decision a little, as the Gold steam package is just a little bit pricier, but includes a lot more goodies.

  • GTA hot coffee edition ;) (Score:4, Funny)

    by TheLink ( 130905 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @10:13AM (#13525966) Journal
    Thing is, which one is the limited edition? The new one or the old one? :)
  • Publishers want people to buy a game before any reviews can negatively affect sales and also to show retailers that this is a quick moving item that needs to be restocked. They push for pre-orders and limited editions to make that first week's sales as high as possible because that is what is most important.

    I've seen it backfire though. If it's a game that I'm really interested in, I'll likely shell out the extra bucks for the LE version but if it's a game that's not on my must-have list, then I won't buy
    • How does the existence of a LE make you not want to buy the regular, cheaper edition of a game that isn't on your "must-have" list? No one is forcing you to pay for a limited edition. If a game isn't on your "must-have" list, why would you care about a few extra, meaningless goodies?

  • "Limited" can mean more than one thing. (Score:4, Funny)

    by H0NGK0NGPH00EY ( 210370 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @05:44PM (#13527982) Homepage
    One time I was browsing through the bargain bin at the local electronics store and I saw a copy of Deus Ex. This was a few years after it had come out, and I hadn't played it still, but I had heard it was pretty good so I figured I could spring $10 for it. Better still, it was a "Limited edition."

    So I bring it home and fire it up, only to discover that what is "limited" about it isn't the number of copies they published, but the amount of the actual game that was on the CDs. It was essentially a 1-level demo version. I was pretty pissed that they would use the phrase "limited edition" like that.

    At least the story has a happy ending, because I just threw away the CD and downloaded the full version over p2p.

  • Hardly a new thing... (Score:3, Informative)

    by bluemeep ( 669505 ) <bluemeep@@@gmail...com> on Sunday September 11, 2005 @03:30AM (#13530252) Homepage
    It's not like this is a phenomena that sprung up overnight...

    Four years ago, I bought the special edition of Morrowind, which netted me a soundtrack, pewter figurine and art book. Back in high school, I bought the limited Might and Magic 6 box. Came with the entire series up until that point, maps and an entry form for an enormous lithograph of the cover art (which I won :D). And back in elementary school, my grandpa bought me the special trilogy pack of Hugo's House of Horrors, which came with hand-printed hint books.

    Basiclly, if I really like the game/series, I'm probably going to shell out a little more for little goodies like that.

  • Call me stupid, but I never played half-life until about 2 months after HL2 came out. When I finished playing HL 1 I ran out that same day and bought HL2 at my local Best Buy. I had no idea that there were different versions of the game. I hadn't even heard of steam until I installed HL2. I would have gone for the Silver or Gold package if I had known about it, and now there is no way to upgrade to Silver or Gold. I think that if a company is going to make different versions of the game they should get

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