Not So Special Editions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’d like to start off by saying that I, and most of us here at GhostStorm, consider Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to be a bona fide classic, and one of the best games ever. I’d like to quickly follow that by saying that the ‘Prestige Edition’ of Modern Warfare 2 is something only idiots will buy. That should not be taken as a criticism of the game itself, which has yet to be released at time of writing. This edition astounds and disgusts me just as much as Activision publicly rubbing their hands and dribbling with glee while discussing paid – for DLC for a game still months away from release (though that is a subject to be discussed at length another time).

If you click here you should be able to see it for yourself. If the page has changed or disappeared by the time you read this, what you would have seen is a special edition that includes the game in a lovely shiny case, an art book, a code to download the original Call Of Duty, a pair of fully functional night vision goggles (modelled on the in game ones for nerds), and a bust of one of the NPC’s heads to hang them on.

At a price of £119.99 (orders restricted to three per customer, sorry).

If the price were half that or less, I would most likely currently be directing my vitriol elsewhere. However, it is priced at precisely twice half that amount, so here I go. Let’s look at what you get in the order I’ve written it. Game in a shiny case? Okay, fine; I like video games, and I like shiny things. An art book? What, for a Call Of Duty game? I see more than my fair share of war torn environs, weapons, and identikit soldiers on the news, thank you very much. A code to download the first game in the series? It won’t stand up too well to the latest title, but okay; another game, and entirely relevant. Night vision goggles? What!??!

They’re including real night vision goggles with a video game?

Only military personnel and/or raging perverts need night vision goggles, and such people will in all likelihood already have access to them. Okay, it might sound cool to be able to say you’ve got a pair of night vision goggles, but would you really want them if they weren’t bundled in this package? And a bust of ‘Soap’’s head to hang them on? Oh, grow up.

Call me a hypocrite if you like (go ahead, I can’t hear you anyway), but I’ll happily admit to being a sucker for special, limited, and in any other way different editions of games. The Big Daddy figure I got with my special edition of Bioshock keeps guard over my game collection, while the CD and DVD sit happily ignored in a forgotten nook (or possibly cranny) never to be used. I carefully hunted down the US only special edition of Stranglehold last year so I could watch the John Woo classic Hard Boiled which is included on the disc, and have yet to do so. I was pleased as punch with my GTAIV special edition, and sulked back in the day when I was unable to get my hands on a gold coloured Ocarina Of Time cartridge.

Those of us in the UK and EU have been forced to admit, with much grumbling, that we are treated as second class citizens in the world of video games. Often games were released with big black borders, running 17% slower than intended; and still good games are sometimes released for us much later than the rest of the world, and sometimes not at all. But did you know that publishers are oddly reluctant to squeeze more money out of us sometimes? You see, some special editions are watered down, or held back altogether, from our territories.

For example, click here to see the US’s collector’s edition of Soul Calibur 4 with art book, card, and t shirt (all in the obligatory metal tin). Or perhaps you’d like to click here to see what we’re missing in the Resistance 2 collector’s edition? Did you know that across the pond, the collector’s edition of Resident Evil 5 is the same as ours – except that it also includes a Chris Redfield figurine, a sew on BSAA patch, a necklace, and a Tricell branded bag? If Demon’s Souls ever gets an EU release, will we see this US deluxe edition?

Why have special editions of games at all? Well, it seems fair to link this increasingly popular trend with the game industry’s perennial obsession with the movie industry, and the monkey see monkey do attitude this entails. All of you, I’m sure, own at least a few special/collector’s editions of DVDs or Blu Rays. The quality of extras varies wildly, but they are by and large (in theory, at least) extras that fans of the film/TV series will actually find relevant and interesting. Deleted scenes, alternate endings, commentaries, and sometimes even a second copy of the feature with several changes. Unfortunately for us, publishers and developers almost always ignore the parallel extras gamers would love, and instead put the game in a bigger box with merchandising.

We are not aware of a single special edition of a game that includes alternate or previously cut levels, extra endings, the pre – release beta of the game, or early preview code (though if you are, please let us know in a comment at the bottom of this article). Wouldn’t you happily pay an extra, say, ten pounds for access to such features in a hotly anticipated game? What we get in special editions instead are toys, figurines, t shirts, art books (more often art pamphlets) and other physical knick nacks that increase the “perceived value”. What this basically means is that as you get a bigger box and several tangible rewards for your money, you can immediately see a big difference between the standard and special editions, and are more likely to fork out more money (sometimes twice the price or more) for the version with the extras.

Incidentally, video games aren’t the only entertainment medium to copy the idea of DVD special editions. Several Neil Gaiman books have had ‘author’s preferred text’ editions published, including ‘American Gods’ in 2005. These ape DVDs with unintentionally hilarious results. The covers feature new (and shiny, of course) artwork, but more importantly, a (very) slightly different version of the original book. Fair enough. At the back of American Gods, you find a short section entitled ‘Exclusive Material’ featuring an interview with the author and reading group discussion questions. Yes, really. You then have ‘Bonus Material’, which is a short essay by the author on the novel. Nothing wrong at all with the material in and of itself, but the way it is presented is painfully reminiscent of extras listed on the back of a movie’s case.

It’s almost strange to find a CD without a deluxe edition nowadays, but the latest album from Billy Talent takes the idea a step further, and caters for music fans in a way we can only hope publishers will one day cater for video game fans. The deluxe version of Billy Talent III features the album, a second CD with four demo tracks and a guitarless mix of the album, a booklet, two posters, and – a first for a CD release, or so I believe – guitar tabs for each track.

Even though I’ve already said I’m something of a special edition magpie, it’s easy even for me to see that most gamers prefer the cheaper, standard versions. The thinking behind the current composition and pricing of the majority of special edition video games means that they only appeal to a minority of the target audience; which is why many – if not most – of them are reduced in price by certain retailers a few months or even weeks after release. All it would take for profits and customer satisfaction to shoot up is one brave publisher. If just one big name game were released minus promotional guff but plus significant exclusive playable content, that game would almost certainly meet with huge sales. And if that happened, an avalanche of similar releases would follow.

Just one game. Just one publisher.

Come on; who’s it going to be?

 

Luke Kemp