Not So Special Edition: God of War III

Once again we see special edition content being sold separately, this week it’s the God of War III soundtrack. One of the biggest features of the Ultimate edition in North America as well as the Trilogy Edition in Europe is the fact that the game includes a heavy metal soundtrack by well known bands inspired by and specifically for God of War III.

Not content with having these be exclusive to the buyers paying a premium for the CE releases the Soundtrack is available for purchase right now for about $6. Of course right now you can only buy the 6-track EP which is significantly shorter than the full length album that comes with the CE, but content is content. At least European collectors get their money’s worth with the inclusion of the first two God of War games. Then again the “God of War Collection” hasn’t been released in Europe and I’ve been enjoying my copy here in the US for some time now.

Here’s hoping Pandoras Box is as pretty in person as it looks in the pictures.

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More Heavy Rain Delays

Those who pre-ordered their Heavy Rain CE though HMV might want to hold off on redeaming their bonus content codes though the Playstation Store. Maven on our forums reported receiving this email:

Thanks for pre-ordering Heavy Rain Special Edition.

Sony have reported to us that there has unfortunately been a last-minute technical delay to the Heavy Rain official soundtrack, meaning that customers who have purchased the Heavy Rain Special Edition will not be able to download the Soundtrack until 4th March 2010. Sony recommend that you wait until this date to redeem your Special Edition voucher code which is in the game box – you’ll then receive all the Special Edition content in one batch.

However, if you choose to redeem your voucher code immediately for the other downloadable content, you won’t be able to receive the official soundtrack nor will you be able to use the same code to redeem the soundtrack on 4th March 2010. Therefore, you’ll need the following code to enable you to download the soundtrack from 4th March 2010.

So there you have it, if you use the code before March 4th you’ll miss out on some of the content, they’re not really clear on what method of recourse you have if you’ve already used your code. If you’re one of the people who already used the code and missed out let us know.

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Not So Special Edition: Bioshock 2

Those of you who recently picked up BioShock 2 Special Edition probably realize how important the Soundtrack is in making that particular CE what it is. I mean it’s the only CE I know of that includes an actual Vinyl LP, a piece of bonus content that defined the shape of the box. It also came with a copy on CD, and beyond that the only thing that made the Special Edition Special was the inclusion of a hard bound art-book.

Not content with making the soundtrack Exclusive to SE owners 2K games has made the Bioshock Soundtrack available for download in iTunes.

the Soundtrack can be purchased in 2 flavors:

STANDARD EDITION:

1. The Boogie Man – Todd Rollins & his Orchestra
2. How Much Is That Doggie In The Window? – Patti Page
3. 20th Century Blues – Noel Coward
4. Nightmare – Artie Shaw & His New Music
5. Daddy, Won’t You Please Come Home? – Annette Hanshaw
6. Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition – Kay Kyser & His Orchestra
7. Dawn of a New Day – Horace Heidt & His Music Knights
8. Night and Day – Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
9. My Heart Belongs To Daddy – Eddie Duchin & His Orchestra
10. Chasing Shadows – Quintette of the Hot Club of France
11. Jitterbug Waltz – Fats Waller & His Rhythm
12. I Cover The Waterfront – Connie Boswell

DELUXE EDITION:

1. The Boogie Man – Todd Rollins & his Orchestra
2. How Much Is That Doggie In The Window? – Patti Page
3. 20th Century Blues – Noel Coward
4. Nightmare – Artie Shaw & His New Music
5. Daddy, Won’t You Please Come Home? – Annette Hanshaw
6. Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition – Kay Kyser & His Orchestra
7. Dawn of a New Day – Horace Heidt & His Music Knights
8. Night and Day – Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
9. My Heart Belongs To Daddy – Eddie Duchin & His Orchestra
10. Chasing Shadows – Quintette of the Hot Club of France
11. Jitterbug Waltz – Fats Waller & His Rhythm
12. I Cover The Waterfront – Connie Boswell
13. Mental Strain At Dawn – Jack Purvis, trumpet solo, with rhythm accompaniment
14. Bei Mir Bist Du Schon – Benny Goodman & His Orchestra, with vocal by Martha Tilton
15. The Trouble With Me is You – Red McKenzie
16. The Skeleton In The Closet – Putney Dandridge
17. We Saw The Sea – Fred Astaire
18. La Mer – Django Reinhardt

Release of the above soundtracks coincided with the release of the Special Edition (really? not even a delayed release?) And for those who pay attention you could have been streaming it live though Rapture Radio since before release. Obviously a digital copy doesn’t hold the same Collector’s Pride that owning the sound track on vinyl does, but seriously, how many of you actually own a turn-table? …and no having one in some dusty storage box somewhere doesn’t count.

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Yakuza 3 is like a CE

Sega Recently Announced that the European and Australian PS3 releases of Yakuza 3 will come with some nice pack-ins, the kind of stuff you normally find as part of CE but instead will be included as part of the regular edition.

Included in the case will be

• a 31-song soundtrack
• an interactive “beginner’s guide” to the series

As well as codes for the following DLC:

• Battle for Survival – Take on all the bosses of Yakuza 3 as Kazuma
• All-Star Tournament (7 character tournament)
• All-Star Tag Tournament (8 team tournament)
• Challenge Pack

Yakuza 3 will be released in Europe and Australia on March 12th.

US Gamers will not get the special pack-ins however the content packs will be made available as a bonus for those who pre-order though GameStop.

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Surprise Release: Alone in the Dark Soundtrack Edition

Imagine my surprise when my Gamestop pre-order of Alone in the Dark didn’t just arrive with a sountrack disc but instead was a unique “Soundtrack Edition” of the game with alternative cover art and the disc contained within the case.

I’m sure this will be a rare item since not even Gamestop/EB themselves recognized that the pre-order bonus would be a unique edition and not just a separate item. There is additional Pre-order content that is still coming but apparently there was a delay in production so it wasn’t ready to ship with the game.

Also I would be remis if I didn’t mention the fact that Europe got two different editions of this game. A really nice big box package exclusive to GAME in the UK (pictures are availble thanks to grim_d) the rest of Europe didn’t get any bonus content but they were treated to a SteelBook version of the game… the lucky bastards.

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