[Solemn_In_Berlin]

Well with every flock there is a black sheep. And in ours, I'm the black sheep, and no, when I say black sheep, I am not giving it a negative connotation.

At the very core, I am a fan. So in that sense, I don't consider myself a collector but rather, a fan who collects. You won't see me buying the Call of Duty Prestige Editions even for half the price because I don't like that franchise. In the same manner, the War in the North CE seems to be the hot potato of the week because the quiver's apparently of high quality. Though I'm a Lord of the Rings fan myself, I don't see myself buying the CE for the sole reason that the game sucks. Another collector's item that I didn't buy because I felt that the game's not worth it was the Need for Speed Undercover Steelbook. A few of them made it here and they were selling for $60. I was well aware of how valuable it was to real collectors but still I didn't bother. I don't buy CEs for business. that's the retailer's job. And no, I don't regret not buying the Steelbook. Need for Speed has been dead to me ever since they pretended that the Underground and Most Wanted titles never existed.

On the other hand, I'm willing to pay lots of money for CEs that I like. For instance, I'm a huge fan of NIS and it pains me to say that I don't have the Ar Tonelico Qoga calendar and the Neptunia playing cards, both of which were NISA-exclusive bonuses limited to the first thousand pre-orders. Now, I'm doing my best to hunt them on Ebay and I'm willing to pay a lot of money for the items. $50? A hundred or two, maybe? To further expand on this, let's give an example of a CE I can already buy. The Skyrim CE's already available on our shores for $230. Yes, from $150, the price has ballooned to $230, most likely because of shipping. Still, as an Elder Scrolls fan who rocked Morrowind for an infinite number of hours and as a kid who has always been fascinated by adventure and dragons and the medieval era, I'm going to buy it.

Long story short, I only buy CEs I want because as a fan, they are special to me. If the game doesn't catch my eye, then forget about it, no matter how extravagant the CE may seem. Besides, in my opinion, CEs are made by fans, for fans. At least that's what they were back then. Now, they just exist as a way for greedy publishers who don't give a damn about their fans to make more money. Still, there are some guys out there like NIS, Bethesda and Naughty Dog who love their fans and want them to be a part of each and every step along the way. These people would love to write the next chapters in their books with their fans. So God bless them.