1. Collector's Edition of the Year
There were some really stand-out CE's in 2011 which were packed full of neat stuff, and some lovely looking ones too, but the one which stood out the most for me was
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus!
Almost everything about this CE was just beautiful! Pqube really put in a lot of effort with this one, and even involved the CE.O community in its creation, so for me that's why it deserves to be nominated for CE of the year!
2. Most likely to appreciate in value
I would definitely be inclined to say anything that was limited and numbered, rather than the usual retail copies. Game4game.at commissioned some lovely editions, some of which were nicer than others, and Pqube also gave us several limited CE's too.
I think the ones which will become most sought after and raise in value in the near future will be either the
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus CE from Pqube, or the
Dead Island Treasure Edition from Game4game.at
3. Best CE for a New Franchise
Always a tricky category to nominate for, as there are rarely many new franchises which get CE's. Emily The Strange: Strangerous certainly qualifies, and I would like to nominate it for the same reasns as I nominated Guilty Gear for the CE of the year award
4. Best Box Art
I'm tempted to say Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus again, but there was another CE whose art style seemed to draw me in. I'm going to cheat a little here and nominate multiple CE's with a similar theme. Those CE's would be the
Batman: Arkham City SteelBooks. Rocksteady really hit the nail on the head with the artwork for Arkham City, and releasing four separate SteelBooks featuring different artwork was something which stands out from 2011
5. Best Bonus Item
Let's face it, a lot of the stuff they include inside CE's is tat. You know it, I know it, and they know it. Every once in a while a CE includes something so outstandingly beautiful, that it makes you take a step back to admire it.
Now I'm not a huge fan of statues, nor do I condone unnecessarily large CE's, but Skyrim's dragon statue really stands out amongst a sea of generic T-shirts, bags, busts, SteelBooks, artwork books, and soundtrack CD's. However, I'm not nominating that...
But I will nominate
Arcana Heart 3 Sugoi Oppai Fan Edition's boobie mouse pad
6. Best Unboxing Experience
As a sealed collector I feel somewhat awkward nominating anything for this award, but from what I have seen on YouTube, I feel that
Skyrim deserves to be nominated.
I watch a lot of unboxing videos, and the ones which brought the most excitement for the person doing the unboxing was Skyrim. The statue looks amazing, and attention to detail runs throughout the unboxing process from one layer to the next.
7. Most Unique Package Design
Uncharted 3: Explorer Edition. Fearing I wouldn't find a category for this, I feel this one fits it nicely. I really wanted to nominate this for CE of the year, but the Guilty Gear CE was too overwhelming for me not to nominate it
Everything about the design of this CE is well designed. The packaging itself, whilst nothing too special, is textured. The treasure chest inside is both beautiful as well as functional, so a lot of thought has gone into every aspect of the product
My other nominations would be Lord Of The Rings: War In The North CE (NTSC) with the quiver, and the Sniper: Ghost Warrior Survivor Edition from Game4game.at
8. Most Unique Bonus Item
Arcana Heart 3 Sugoi Oppai Fan Edition's boobie mouse pad would've been nominated here, but we've all seen boobie mouse pads before. The same for the bags, busts, tins, plushies etc... Same old, same old.
I was considering including the control pads from Zelda: Skyward Sword, or Xenoblade Chronicles, but we've also seen bundles like that before
I think the most unique bonus item has got to be the headphones found inside the
Saints Row: The Third Platinum Edition. How often do you get a set of cans inside a CE (even if they are bad)?
This is perhaps fresh in my mind as I only just received my Platinum Edition yesterday, but looking through the list I couldn't find many other CE's which had anything this unusual - At least, none that I hadn't already nominated for other awards
9. Best CE guide
The
Zelda: Skyward Sword LE strategy guide:
http://www.game.co.uk/en/legend-of-z...y-guide-155204
Zelda strategy guides are always a pleasure to hold and read, and this one is no exception!
10. Best CE system
Gears Of War 3 X360 console. By far one of the nicest looking LE X360 consoles there has been to date (that is, until the R2-D2 one comes out!)
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Addendum:
There were many CE's to choose from, and I felt that some of the better ones deserved a worthy mention, so here I would like to list a few CE's which I feel show the best that 2011 had to offer...
ArcaniA Gothic 4 Collector's Edition
Assassin's Creed: Revelations Animus Edition
Batman: Arkham City Collector's Edition
Call of Juarez: The Cartel (Outlaw Edition)
Catherine "Love is Over" Deluxe Edition
Crysis 2 Nano Edition
Driver San Francisco Collector's Edition
Duke Nukem Forever Balls of Steel Edition
Gears of War 3 Epic Edition
inFAMOUS 2 Hero Edition
Killzone 3 Helghast Edition
Sniper Ghost Warrior (Survivor Edition)
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Collector's Edition
I would also like to shame the ones which ruined it for us collectors. The ones which had poor quality, or the ones which were badly marketed
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Hardened Edition - This one winds me up the most. Why was it so large for what was actually inside? Nobody seems to know the answer to that. Probably the biggest disappointmnt of 2011!
F.3.A.R. Collector's Edition - Nobody seemed to know where this was getting released, and we have no idea why it was never released here in the UK. Too much chasing around after this one trying to salvage every scrap of information
Rage Collector's Edition - Another disappointing CE that ended up just being a bunch of tat thrown into a box alongside the game. Dropped the ball with this one.
Sonic Generations Collector's Edition - Like with the F.3.A.R. CE, there was far too much chasing around searching for info about this "exclusive". Badly advertised by SEGA, and they could've done better to promote this CE
Two Worlds II Royal Edition - Where do I start? Delayed by four months, only for the final product to suffer a mysterious accident during transit to the UK and to be subsequently cancelled. Hmm...
Both Pqube and Game4game.at were hit and miss throughout 2011. There were some highs and some lows, but when they hit their highs they really hit them hard! The low points weren't bad efforts, but more effort could have been put into some of the CE's
Kudos to Ross (Ghostlight) and Andy (Pqube) for coming here and involving the community, and if there were an award to give for services to collectors, then you would both be nominated!