Well, with the slew of Collector's Editions being released, I thought it would be interested to find out what people have to say about them. Personally, I think Collector's Editions are for the most part not worth the extra cost, although sometimes they're impressive especially when they come with the complete soundtrack... That begin said, some Collector's Editions are much better done than others, and at least one company (ATLUS!) releases "regular" games with soundtracks (yup, Atlus totally rocks

In my opinion, the pinnacle of Collector's Editions has been done by Blizzard. With Blizzard, besides getting the game and in-game bonus items, you also get the full soundtrack, making-of DVD with full cinematics, hard-cover art book, and various other goodies!  Not to mention a huge and colorful box as well! I wish companies would release DVDs of their cinematics. As an example, who here would not purchase a Silent Hill Collector's Edition if it came with the full cinematics from the games? (and I mean the past games too... that would be awesome)

That being said, in general I do NOT buy collector's editions, because often they charge much more and only give an extra DVD and case, or maybe a doll (call it action figure if you want). Here's my view of a rather lame Collector's Edition:

http://www.ebgames.com/Catalog/ProductD … t_id=72589
(plus I don't like ebgames, but that's a whole different story)

anyway, other highly-anticipated collector's editions include:

Resident Evil 5 Collector's Edition
Street Fighter IV Collector's Edition

So, think you'll fork over the extra dollars? What would it take you to purchase those, and have you purchased any CE before?

cheers,

-avatar!

My main problem is when they are the only way to get the soundtrack (I'm looking at YOU, NIS). There's nothing inherently wrong with them, but the person should also get a choice (I'm looking at YOU, WD...out of business or not).

I tend to get them if the contents interest me such as art of the game, music,free bonus like the recent banjo arcade game.etc.

What confuses me sometimes is why there is the need to have different names for these editions and when various stores hold one different exclusive for a game. In this case it feels like I am buying some sort of unfinished product because one store may have an edition with a figure and another with art book.

I got quite a few that came with different effects such as slipcases and such but among my favorites one of them is the Bioshock collector's edition. Although my figure came with the helmet broken I was given a replacement and was even allowed to keep the faulty one.

I hope Capcom manages to get that special edition that Japan is getting for Resident Evil 5, to the rest of the world.

From a collector's point of view, I like them very much.  From my wallet's view, ME NO LIKEY.  If it's a game that I'm going to buy anyway, I might as well cough up the extra $10 or so to make the experience that much more "magical".  They do look pretty impressive (especially the grandiose Soul Calibur IV LE) sitting next to the other games. 

The last CE/LE (whichever you prefer) I picked up was the Luminous Arc 2 bundle that came with a CD of music and the art book.  Hot anime witches FTW  

You could extend this subject into pre-order bonuses which essentially push a game into CE territory.

I'm pretty impartial toward LE/CE games - the only ones I own right now are MGS 3 Subsistence and Final Fantasy XII. The extra disc in the MGS3 collection isn't anything crazy, since the movies are viewable through the Cutscene Viewer in the normal game, but I haven't checked out the FFXII stuff yet (waiting until I finish the game).

I wish I had gotten that BioShock Limited Edition. :'(

When taking all the preorder swag into account, Metal Gear Solid 4's Limited Edition was pretty impressive.  The fantastic Shinkawa-rendered boxart is excellent, though I wished it extended to the actual keepsake jewel case as well.  But the soundtrack CD, Making of Blu-ray disc, high-gloss promotional art book, and the Metal Gear Saga Vol 2 DVD all made for a nice supplemental package.

I was also quite pleased with the 20th Anniversary preorder bonus that came with Portrait of Ruin:

http://www.digitalsomething.com/img/upl … PoRbox.jpg

I usually regret buying Collector/Special edition of anything after the fact because sometimes they're hard to protect of the packaging is extravagant and over time those extras don't seem so great.

For example, I got the limited edition box set of Rhapsody's "Tales of the Emerald Sword Saga" compilation album which came with all this extra stuff: poster, cards of the band members (who I think are very self important) but I honestly don't care for all that crap and wish I just had the normal version. Seemed much cooler at the time.

Same goes with the Special Edition I have of Stratovarius' 2001 Intermission album. I wish I had the normal version because the two tracks on the bonus CD aren't worth keeping although the one demo is pretty hilarious.

I'm just glad I didn't buy the FFXII SE or FFXII SE strategy guide when that came out. Lost enough money trying to ditch the normal stuff.

Honestly, I rather have things with normal cases and such so they match the rest of my things... this means I'm not a fan of things like the FFIX OST LE.

i never buy generic collectors editions, they arent worth the money they go for.

however, sometimes i do buy real limited editions, if they look special or offer nice collectibles. soundtracks, making of, artbooks and the like.

Only if they have insanely cool stuff with it. Shit like collectable cards and a t-shirt don't appeal to me. Soundtracks, figurines, alternate covers, maybe a dvd full of extra shit, then yeah.

Working Designs had the best stuff. Watches, jewelry, those awesome instruction manuals, the Galleon puppet . . . truly awesome.

With soundtracks, I'll always go for the LE 'cause I'm a sucker for them.  However for games, I only buy the LE/CE if it's easy to obtain and doesn't cost too much more than the regular release.  And they have to come with something useful, like a soundtrack CD or "making of" DVD, or in the case of MGS4, both.  In fact, MGS4 had the ideal LE.  Sexy case, check.  Soundtrack CD, check.  "Making of" DVD with staff interviews and other goodies, check.  That's really all it takes for me.  I'm easy to please.

-Mike

I generally skip the CE versions of stuff since the extras rarely justify the extra price.  Most of the stuff they put in these version seems more like pre-order bonus material than something I'm going to pay extra for (making of DVDS?  Like I'm ever going to watch those).  They're already asking $60 for games these days, which is already way too much.  I'll probably only buy LE versions of games if they come with a soundtrack CD I can't get any other way.

Yes, although I think you're off by a factor of 2-3. Collector's editions seem to be running between $80-90 these days. So, you're going to pay on average $20-$30 more for a collector's edition. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing, especially if you were going to purchase the soundtrack, but that means if you purchase 3 such games you've already spent nearly $250! ouch...

cheers,

-avatar!

I dunno, the last "collector's edition" I bought brand new was Ar Tonelico 2, and that was for $40 from Rosenqueen (preorder).  Soul Calibur IV: LE was $70 at Best Buy, and Growlanser: Heritage of War was $50 brand new at Gamestop.  So I guess it depends on where you get them, but unless it's a game I really want, I think the most I'm shelling out is $60.  That being said, you know Final Fantasy XIII is going to have some "Collector's edition" or "Premium Edition" or something like that which I WILL pay full asking price for.  I only pray that there's some sort of soundtrack CD involved (I <3 Masashi Hamauzu )

Funny story: I was at GS the other day and I saw some used FFXII:LE's for $11.99.  0_o

The only video game CEs I've ever gotten were both Playstation Lunars and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. THAW's CE was particularly annoying in that most of the bonuses (extra skaters and levels, as well as a making-of doc) easily could've been included on the standard edition. Thankfully, by the time I got the CE it was already the same price as the regular version.

The Lunars were a little more interesting. The soundtrack CDs and maps were nice, but I still have no idea what to do with that pendant.

This. It was neat seeing that miniature Minis Tirith for exactly 5 minutes before I realized I had absolutely no use for it.