Following close on the heals of last week’s Uncharted 3 unboxing starring Nolan North we receive yet another star powered and surprisingly entertaining unboxing video, this time staring Rapper and TV Star Ice-T.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you’ve pre-ordered the Love Is Over Deluxe Box for Catherine, here is what you have to look forward to, if you haven’t pre-ordered it well … here’s what you’re missing.

It wasn’t until some time later that I actually saw a picture of the Survival edition, and I decided that I needed to have it in my collection. It did indeed come in single box and the box was very much appropriate for the game, the plain cardboard with simple black print made it look like an artifact out of time and while I held the lunchbox Collector’s Edition to be one of my favorite CEs, the decoration of the Survival Edition box was much cooler in every way; even the console branding is somewhat “tarnished” in appearance.

Inside the box is what you’d expect, the Collector’s Edition alongside a smallish cardboard box with the pip-boy clock.

Again, we’re treated to a highly decorated box that looks like it’s been sitting on a dusty shelf since the 50s. Unlike the outer box, which is just plain cardboard with a decorated cardboard slip-cover, the pip-boy box is actually decorated on all sides. The design of the pip-boy’s box is what you’d imagine the product box for a real life pip-boy might look like. It shows off the “product” from multiple angles and has some schematic type images and other details such as a fake “inspected by” sticker.

I think what makes a CE release truly special as opposed to just a game with some trinkets is the attention to detail in the packaging. While games like Call of Duty might include some cool items like night vision goggles or a camera equipped r.c. car, the packaging for those CEs is severely lacking. The outer box has some thought but as soon as you open it up it’s as if you just bought a child’s toy; it cheapens the experience significantly. By comparison look how much effort went into the detail of Pip-boy box, they went out of their way to decorate it appropriately on all sides. I hope the team behind this CE knows their efforts didn’t go unnoticed; I hope other teams building CEs now take note and put as much effort into carrying their theme into the packaging and not just boxing it up like it’s some generic product.

Inside the box you’ll find some bubble wrap to protect the pip-boy clock (one of the very few in-authentic aspects of the packaging). Also, in addition to the clock there is a stand that consists of three simple pieces. The clock itself is cylindrical, it has a hinge and a clasp and if you have very slender arms you could probably wear it, though the packaging tells you explicitly not to. I’ve actually seen one where someone had modified their clock and fitted it with an iPod Touch complete with a theme to make it look like the actual pip-boy display. The collector in me cringes at the thought of hacking up the content of a CE, but the part of me who likes to tinker with things thinks it’s a really great idea.

The clock is extremely detailed I believe they used the actual in-game 3D model to create the mold used to produce these. Below the display there are three buttons that light up, these are labeled with pip-boy functions but they are actually used to set the time. To the left of the display there is wheel and a knob, both of which you can move but they are not attached to anything. In the upper left is the radiation meter, which looks to be an actual working compass.

Batteries are not included though they are inserted on the top behind a small door that is held in with a screw.  I believe it takes 3 AA sized batteries. Sadly my clock doesn’t function but those that I’ve seen that do work light up the numbering and buttons in an electric green similar to the old “green screen” displays used throughout computer equipment in the game.

Perhaps the most special thing about the Survival Edition is it’s rarity. Bethesda published a developer diary on the Survival Edition’s inception and they mention that it was produced in “very limited quantities”. Due to how infrequently these seem to pop up for sale and the price they fetch on the used market, I tend to believe it.

Of course we can’t forget that the Survival Edition isn’t just a nice box with a pip-boy clock it, includes the entirety of the Collector’rs Edition release as well. I’m writing this unboxing because I wanted to share with you the details of the Survivor Edition; one of the favorite CEs in my collection. The Collector’s Edition saw much much higher production and was available just about everywhere, so I wont go into the details, but it is an excellent edition in and of itself. If you haven’t seen it and would like to, you should visit it’s page in the database.

The Survival Edition of Fallout 3 was sold exclusively through Amazon.com. It was released on October 18th 2008 on Xbox 360 and PS3 at a price of $129.99 and on PC at a price of $119.99.

So far it looks much better than the Fable II LCE. Also, is it just me, or are playing cards the new favorite pack-in for Collector’s Editions these days? Both Fallout New Vegas and Dead Rising 2 included decks as well.

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Those of you who collect sealed games should be aware that the entire outer case comes shrink-wrapped from the factory. Even the sleeve is contained within the shrink wrap.

The cover art is fantastic, and while I usually hate the hero + title = cover formula that you see on 99% of game covers it’s done here in a way that make it look like what you’d expect to find on the cover of a horror/thriller novel by the likes of Steven King. The hero is just a silhouette and the concentration is on the title and the over all mood.

Once the slip cover is off the main case is a very convincing book, it’s got the same heft as a book and the “cover” material feels exactly the same as the material used on a hard cover book. The lettering here is an embossed metallic similar to what you’d find on an actual hard cover. The silhouette detail on the back is a nice touch too.

The “pages” are just a thick chipboard box that has been striped to look like pages, it’s not very convincing once it’s in your hands but from a small distance it does actually look like a book. The cover is magnetically clasped to keep it closed.

The binding of the book separates to reveal what looks like 3 additional books. Only one of them is though. Inside you’ll find a standard plastic game case with the game disc, manual, and content code card. An actual hard cover novel written about the fictional story of Alan Wake including both color and black and white images, as well as a 2-disc digi-pak case with the soundtrack disc and a bonus content disc.

The game case is pretty standard, the artwork mimics the outer case but it s a bit more clean, the back of the case is plain black and rather than going with the standard Xbox 360 green case color they went with black. Normally I don’t like when the plastic cases break style with standard Xbox 360 cases but here it really works, a bright green border would likely be visually distracting.

Inside the case is pretty standard fare, there’s the game disc and manual, as well as a content code card for the LCE’s downloadable content. I found it interesting that they put a large warning on the content card instructing you to not throw it away.

The only item inside the case that breaks from the image on the main box is the hard cover book, the fictional “Alan Wake Files” compiled by the fictional “Clay Steward” is basically the fictional novel that the game is based on.

This book includes a hard cover made of the same material as the main case, very high quality and loaded with content.

The visual details of this book are fantastic, it has fake reviews on the back of the jacket as well as a forward and an about the author on the back flap. You could put this in a book store or library and it would be right at home.

The digi-pak case mimics the artwork found on the outside of the box, though a little cleaner, from an outside perspective it looks almost like a paperback book.

Inside the case you’ll find the soundtrack CD as well as a bonus disc that contains additional content for your Xbox 360 (themes, avatar items, etc). Both discs had a small cardboard ring around the center, presumably to prevent the discs from coming lose during shipping. It’s attention to details like this that make the Alan Wake LCE one of the best CE’s I have in my collection.

Final Thoughts:
I would consider the Alan Wake LCE  to be one of the best CE releases in my collection, it hits on all the marks, the visual style of the case is fantastic, it’s incredibly sturdy, and it’s one of the most unique case designs I’ve ever seen. Not only is the design unique but it’s incredibly appropriate for the game, the other bonuses and the way they were included in the package is also done incredibly well. Attention to quality such as the little cardboard donuts on the bonus discs to keep them from coming lose during shipping, and shrink wrap over the slip cover proves that they actually thought about the package and cared about it’s quality as opposed to just throwing a bunch of stuff in a box that looked good on a bullet list and made them a few extra bucks.

I’d say this ranks right up there with the CEs for Bioshock 2, Fallout 3,  and all the other extremely well executed special releases; 5 stars, 10 out of 10, A+, 100% or whatever other metric you’d want to apply to this release, it gets my highest score.

The cover art is apparently too hot for GameStop so if you want to skeeve out to the game box you’ll have to do it here as opposed to in the store. Just don’t get… ice cream… all over your keyboard.

…and yes the titted mouse pad is equal parts cool, creepy, and confusing, just as you’d imagine it would be.

The first thing I notice about the case is that it’s sealed in kind of a cheap plastic, nice that they actually sealed the whole case, but the quality of it might leave some sealed game collectors questioning if it’s a re-seal or not. It’s got a sticker on the front outside the seal advertising that it includes a Beta copy of the next Tom Clancy title “Ghost Recon: Future Soldier”.

So far I’m fairly pleased I’m really happy that they went back to a steel case, very reminiscent of the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory CE case that got me hooked on collecting CEs in the first place. If nothing else it’s already better than the Double Agent CE.

Rather than trying to skimp on the Art Book and shove it inside the SteelBook case they instead used a plastic sleeve that is open on the top and holds the SteelBook and the hardcover Art Book together. The nice this about it is being closed on the bottom the case doesn’t slide out the bottom when you pull it off the shelf.

The included Art Book isn’t specific to Conviction rather it dedicates a few pages to each of the splinter cell games, unfortunately though its fairly lacking overall. It’s nice to see progression though the series but those who are more interested in concept art 3D breakdowns, or highly detailed versions of the in-game assets will be disappointed. It also suffers in the same way other DVD-case sized Art Books do and that is the small pages make it difficult to really showcase the art. I do appreciate it when they fit everything into a package that easily fits on your DVD shelf, however the size problem is compounded here where they attempted to fit 3-4 images per page, making it harder to really see the details in the images.

The SteelBook case is rather minimalist, it has no artwork on the inside, and the outside has no text to speak of, just a faux-tarnished-metal look with 3 bullet holes entering the back an exiting the front in the stereotypical “splinter cell” pattern. I did get a chuckle out of the “shot in the back” concept here, though I don’t think the cover would have looked as nice had it showed the entry holes. I also like the fact that they were able to work in the 3 dot logo in a way that was appropriate for the title. I should also mention that the holes are actually embossed into the metal, which gives it a nice 3 dimensional look.

The rest of the goodies are inside the case, sadly this is also where this particular CE starts to fall apart. The first thing you’ll notice is that the stickers and USB Card are just floating loose inside the case. Thankfully my DVD didn’t get scratched from it. The next thing you’ll notice is that, as I mentioned before there is no artwork decorating the inside of the Steel Book, and there is only one disc.

I can’t imagine anyone would really get excited over the stickers, I mean it’s an adult rated game. While I wasn’t really that interested about the USB stick before, I was actually excited for it once I actually saw it. The thing is only slightly thicker than a credit card, and you really wouldn’t even know it was a USB stick just looking at it, with that in mind it would be really handy to keep in your wallet. Sadly I tested mine, and it didn’t work. Reading through the back of the box it would seem that the stick is also what they used to store the making-of documentary and lots of other goodies that I will sadly miss out out. I realize that Ubisoft dropped the price by $10 to compensate for the faulty cards but to be honest this was the bulk of the CE’s value right here, I would have much preferred they did a recall like we’ve seen in the past with the Big Daddy figures and the Face Huggers. Heck I’d be willing to send them $10 if they’re willing to ship me a working card.

Also inside the case are two fliers, one is a content card with two codes for some in-game content, the other explains how to access the Ghost Recon beta, in English on one side and French on the other (I’m assuming they did this so they could dual-purpose the card in Canada).

I was sadly disappointed that there was no Comic Book to be found either. Apparently this was also included on the ill-fated USB stick. I can understand putting the making-of documentary on the stick, I actually think it makes more sense than on a DVD but there’s really no reason to not print out the comic.

Rumor has it that Ubisoft will be making the content from the USB drive available on their website tomorrow, but really that just further serves to devalue the Collector’s Edition. Looks like I’ll be writing another “Not-So-Special-Edition” article.

Final Impression:
From a case design standpoint this CE hits all the right notes, it looks fantastic, it has a SteelBook and fits on the DVD shelf. From a content standpoint it was pretty weak, the art-book was so-so and the rest of the good content was tied up in a USB stick that wont work for most people. A further slap in the face is that the missing content will be made available for everyone.

Beyond just the content on the USB drive not being available the USB drive is probably the first one to be included with a game that would actually be handy to keep on you and use. Not to mention it’s discrete form factor made it an actual piece of useful spy-gear, unlike some bulky night vision goggles.

If you’re a SteelBook fan you might consider buying this game, but beyond that, I don’t really think it’s worth the price tag considering the dead USB drives.