Now I was going to spend my blogging time today talking about something a bit more serious, but something else caught my attention leaving me able to a bit more fact checking and do something a bit more proper (hopefully) with the subject.
Anyhoo today was spent tidying, going to the store whose website i'd bought the game from as it was faulty and finding I can only go through the website - but they responded to my email within a half hour with instructions and a FREEpost address which a lot of returns procedures don't so top marks there. And I did some more house stuff and shopping, bought myself Donkey Konga 1 and 2, both with bongo's, Canis Canem Edit or whatever Bully was renamed as over here, and Amped 3 along with Enter the Dragon and Batman Begins on hd-dvd bringing my collection there to a shocking 35.
Anyhow it was while I was paying for these items when I came across this - http://www.gamestation.co.uk/product.asp?id=man0304 . Gears of War 2 'hardcore' edition. Now here I'll have to make a confession and my username will give you a clue. I'm a dork, a geek and I do get excited sometimes by limited edition things. When Lord of the Rings came out on dvd I bought 2 of the 3 special editions with the gifts so I have the Minas Tirith ( I think) jewelry box and Gollum Statue along with seperately bought action figures etc. But there is a difference between that and the point I'm going on to make here, these special editions only set me back in the region of £15, which is only a few quid more than the absolute maximum I'd normally pay for a dvd.
First I suppose I should give you a quick rundown of what it comes with. There are 3 versions of this game coming, the standard edition which will be coming in at around £45, the limited edition at £50 (this kind of price difference I find reasonable) and the limited edition comes with pretty standard fair "The edition will feature alternate cover art, a SteelBook case with a bonus content DVD, a book entitled "Beneath the Surface: An Inside Look at Gears of War 2" which includes concept art and story-related information, a keepsake photo of Dom and Maria, and an exclusive Xbox Live code to unlock a gold-plated Lancer rifle for online play." - according to the GoW2 wiki page. Not bad for a fiver extra, an extra 10% well, just over that on the price for some decent stuff. We then step over to the HARDCORE version priced at a whopping £129.99. I saw this and thought theres not a chance anyone would go for that, but I was quickly corrected by the sales assistant and a couple of people had placed a preorder. Now for this extra £70 you get a gold painted replica lancer , which rather than being a completely cheap plastic rip off, as it actually weighs in at 5kg seems to have a little substance, and it is said that there will only be 500 of the gold painted ones, but thats all you get extra for the £70, other than that its exactly the same as the limited edition.
Almost a year ago when Halo 3 shipped it also had 3 'sku's or different version, where the legendary edition came in at £40 more than the limited edition and came with something i'd rank only slightly below the gun sorry rifle. At the time news sites and podcasts I follow were prophising a worrying trend that I quickly dismissed, but they now seem to be being vindicated. The legendary edition is the version of Halo 3 that I own, but this quickly came down in price and I dipped my feet in at £50, still overpaying more than I'd want but the standard edition was still tough to find sub £30 so it was in my self justifying range. But now £130 for what is still just a game is kind of worrying, we've seen it coming for a little while I suppose in some ways, Guitar Hero coming in at £60-£70, then Rock Band £100 nowadays but originally £130 and sold in massive quantites. The difference being that these expensive sku's came with an actually useful extra - the guitar or general instrument set that can actually double as a normal controller..though I must say I don't recommend the combination of drums and halo...it does not end well.
Its annoying I suppose but the phrase " A fool and his money are soon parted" and working in a cinema you realise people complaining about prices doesn't stop them paying the stupid prices. But I have to say I won't be buying it, well unless it falls to about £15...I'm out
