So far we’ve seen “Super Elite” Xbox 360 bundles for Modern Warfare 2 in North America, For Forza Motorsports 2, and Resident Evil 5 in Europe and Australia. Now Microsoft will be releasing a Final Fantasy XIII Super Elite bundle for the US.
For those of you who don’t know the only real difference between a normal Elite and a Super Elite is the inclusion of a 250GB Hard Drive as well as a second wireless controller (why you would need a second controller for Final Fantasy is beyond me).
Europe will receive a similar bundle available as either a regular elite with a 120GB hard drive or a super elite with a 250GB hard drive and extra controller.
In the Past Super Elites have also come with a special case decoration of some sort, the Modern Warfare bundle had some fancy case decoration, and the Resident Evil bundle came in a fire-engine red case. the Final Fantasy XIII SE will sadly only come in the plane vanilla white and a faceplate (which will be for sale separately anyway)
At least the PS3 FFXIII bundle in Japan came with fancy FFXIII themed graphics. The Xbox 360 bundle will only be available in the US and Europe, it will release alongside the game on March 9th at a price of $399.
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:
The Boogie Man – Todd Rollins & his Orchestra
How Much Is That Doggie In The Window? – Patti Page
20th Century Blues – Noel Coward
Nightmare – Artie Shaw & His New Music
Daddy, Won’t You Please Come Home? – Annette Hanshaw
Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition – Kay Kyser & His Orchestra
Dawn of a New Day – Horace Heidt & His Music Knights
Night and Day – Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
My Heart Belongs To Daddy – Eddie Duchin & His Orchestra
Chasing Shadows – Quintette of the Hot Club of France
Jitterbug Waltz – Fats Waller & His Rhythm
I Cover The Waterfront – Connie Boswell
DELUXE EDITION:
The Boogie Man – Todd Rollins & his Orchestra
How Much Is That Doggie In The Window? – Patti Page
20th Century Blues – Noel Coward
Nightmare – Artie Shaw & His New Music
Daddy, Won’t You Please Come Home? – Annette Hanshaw
Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition – Kay Kyser & His Orchestra
Dawn of a New Day – Horace Heidt & His Music Knights
Night and Day – Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
My Heart Belongs To Daddy – Eddie Duchin & His Orchestra
Chasing Shadows – Quintette of the Hot Club of France
Jitterbug Waltz – Fats Waller & His Rhythm
I Cover The Waterfront – Connie Boswell
Mental Strain At Dawn – Jack Purvis, trumpet solo, with rhythm accompaniment
Bei Mir Bist Du Schon – Benny Goodman & His Orchestra, with vocal by Martha Tilton
The Trouble With Me is You – Red McKenzie
The Skeleton In The Closet – Putney Dandridge
We Saw The Sea – Fred Astaire
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.
Just yesterday Remedy Games released details of an upcoming Limited Collector’s Edition for the Xbox 360 exclusive Alan Wake.
Hardbound in quality linen, the Limited Collector’s edition is designed to resemble a hardcover book. The pack will include:
Game Disc in box with unique art
Exclusive In-Game Audio Commentary and Hints by Remedy
“The Alan Wake Files” – a 144pg book that includes a short story written by Alan Wake and compiles the FBI dossiers investigating the events in Bright Falls, WA
Exclusive Audio Disc with Soundtrack and Score
Game Add-on token redeemable on Xbox LIVE for the first Alan Wake add-on content pack
Exclusive Xbox disc with special content: Alan Wake Xbox Live Theme and Alan Wake Avatar for Xbox LIVE
Just a special note if you preorder you will receive the Bright Falls Bonus Pack, which includes exclusive content like Avatar gear, an Xbox LIVE theme, and a “making of” video.
No price officially announced yet but some retail listings have placed it at $80 for the US and £65 for Europe. The game is scheduled for release in North America and Europe on May 18th and May 21st respectively.
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.
The UK Playstation Blog has details posted about the upcoming God of War III Ultimate Trilogy Edition.
The Ultimate Trilogy Edition can be pre-ordered in selected retailers across Europe, Australia and New Zealand. It’s a limited run so make sure you pre-order it before it’s sold out! This very special edition comes in a high-end, sculpted replica of Pandora’s Box with an epic outer box which features an acetate window: you can actually see Pandora’s box before you even open it!
Once open, you will find the following items:
God of War III (of course!)
God of War Collection (gentle reminder, this is God of War and God of War II, remastered in HD, running at 60 fps, with Trophy support, all on one Blu-ray Disc)
2K games released this unboxing video for the Special Edition of Bioshock 2 (out next week) I don’t know about you but I’m quite surprised with the size of the box. I was skeptical that it wouldn’t live up to CE for the first game but this smashes any doubts I had (literally and figuratively) .
Capcom recently posted details (translated) on their blog for the upcoming Super Street Fighter IV Collector’s Package.
The Collector’s Package will be released alongside the regular edition for PS3 and Xbox 360 in Japan on April 28th for a price of 5990 yen (~$66USD) and is slated to include a disc with the various character’s background music, all promotional videos and trailers for the game, character art, and a mini story for SSFIV.
Buyers of the Xbox 360 release will also receive an exclusive SSFIV Anime by director Kizaki (of Afro Samurai fame) animated by GONZO.
There is one more bonus “to be announced”.
As a thank you to early adopters, a classic costume pack will be made available free for download from the release date until July 1st. After that you will have to pay (price yet to be determined) to download the pack.
Maven posted up a new image of the upcoming, exclusive to Europe, Heavy Rain Collector’s Edition.
It would seem that the previous information about this being nothing more than a nice slip cover and code for some downloads were incorrect. It’s turning out to be quite a nice little CE. Its actually refreshing to see a CE release that offers simple, classy, appropriate embellishments as opposed to the over the top for twice the price CEs we’ve been getting as of late.
Another interesting note is that up to this point the edition has been titled inconsistently with some referring to it as a “Collector’s Edition” and some referring to it as a “Limited Edition” this image actually shows “Special Edition” on the bonus content card. Up to this point that’s the most official title for the package.
Game.co.uk has listed a Collector’s Edition release of Final Fantasy XIII for both PS3 and Xbox 360.
Released along side the regular edition on March 9th, the collector’s edition will fetch £60 (~$100USD) and is slated to include the following:
FINAL FANTASY XIII Original Sound Selection: Soundtrack CD including a selection of music tracks from the game that are especially chosen for this Limited Collector’s Edition by composer Masashi Hamauzu. The CD is presented inside a slipcase featuring artwork from FINAL FANTASY XIII, and also liner notes that are written by the composer.
The World of FINAL FANTASY XIII: Hardback book featuring character artwork, CG rendered artwork and environments from across the game production.
Exclusive Art Prints: 3 highly collectable art prints showing artwork of the Eidolons, powerful summoned allies of the lead playable characters in FINAL FANTASY XIII
Unique ‘Brand of the l’Cie’ decal: Collectible decal featuring this most iconic symbol from the game storyline
No word yet on whether or not North America will see a Collector’s Edition as well, here’s hoping they will.
GameSetWatch has an interview with Justin Carroll (who worked on Modern Warfare 2’s box) about what goes into designing box art. Interesting stuff for those of us who love the Collector’s Edition packaging and the extras they entail.
As elaborate packaging becomes more prevalent, does it still stand out?
JC: … More elaborate packaging communicates a deeper story about the game, and also connects to the passion the gamers and developers share about the game. To me it’s about authenticity. We created the collectors edition packaging for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. The Mythic/EA teams sweated over every tiny detail of that package with us, and that really shows in the final results. You can’t bullshit a core audience.
Also, the majority of packaging on the shelf is still in the 1st party templates, so the elaborate Collectors packs grab your attention. If you had a hundred Collectors Editions sitting on the same shelf it would be a different story.
Does that create an arms race, in effect, where packaging becomes more elaborate? Some things we’ve seen in limited editions are a bit ridiculous.
JC: I guess it does start an arms race but still, if it’s an authentic experience it adds value. There comes a point though where the economics will stop supporting it.
… with the killer AAA titles it will always make sense. Look at Infinity Ward’s “unboxing” video for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: Prestige Edition on YouTube (we did the packaging). Over three million views to date. Obviously someone thinks that over-the-top package offers something valuable.
