It used to be that only a select few games would also have a limited edition, these, unlike their modern counter-parts were actually limited editions, there would be a relatively low amount of these games circulated and more often than not they'd be almost impossible to find after the day one release. In a stark contrast, these days almost every game that makes enough noise to attract even the smallest amount of attention is released with a not-so-limited "limited" edition, even the triple AAA titles follow along the same lines. The effect of this is that it takes away from the personal satisfaction gained from having a limited edition of a particular game and more importantly it makes you look like a complete idiot when you pull out Halo 3 LE to show off to friends or the internet at large, since everyone has it and it's not particularly difficult to track one down it's hardly noteworthy.
Looking through my stack of games I can only find 5 special editions; God of War 2, Shadow of The Colossus, Bioshock, Devil May Cry 4 and Resident Evil 4, most of these were purchased a little while after their initial release when the price had dropped, although I picked up Bioshock and DMC4 on day one this was mainly because the price difference between the standard and LE was insignificant, I just wasn't interested in buying a limited edition of a game when nearly every other person on the planet had it, it makes me sound a bit pretentious and snobbish but if you think about it having so many that even months after the release of a game there's a sizeable amount of them floating about defeats the purpose of having a limited edition. As I mentioned earlier most of the limited editions these days don't have the "wow" factor they once had, and most people who buy these games either intend on keeping them for the memories (which will always be a little tarnished unless they bring it upon themselves to embark on a crusade to wipe out every other copy in an attempt to make their copy more valuable), or they get them to sell later, and considering the value is linked to the rarity of the item, they probably won't get much for it.
The thing that makes limited editions impressive these days are the ridiculous prices, and it's not usually the actual product that impresses, it's normally the fact that you were dedicate enough (or stupid enough depending on how you see it) to pay the ridiculous price to get it, not everyone is that crazy, therefore you are one of few people insane enough to have the limited edition, props to you.
Even though I knew that companies put out Limited Editions because there are always people crazy enough to buy them even if they're marginally different from the standard edition it still doesn't explain why smaller companies with games that don't exactly warrant a special edition do it, you can usually tell whether your product is going to sell well or not which logically should dictate whether or not to release a limited edition but that isn't usually what happens, games that aren't exactly poised for success still have limited editions. After thinking about it for a while I've come up with a theory, like all of my theories it's farfetched and bordering on unbelievable, but that won't stop me from talking about it.
It's a well known fact that most retailers these days make their money from the used games market, whereas ordinarily a portion of the sales of new games revert back to the developers and publishers selling returned items as used game allows retailers to make money for themselves, this is one of the reasons that retailers aren't too happy about the internet as a content delivery method.
This used games market is something that developers and publishers are also aware of, which is why I think they're all too willing to release limited edition versions of games. I think that these limited editions are used as a form of guaranteed revenue, since most people who intend on buying a limited edition wouldn't settle for a used limited edition it's pretty rare to find limited editions in the used section or the bargain bin, for developers and publishers it's ideal, keeping the limited editions around the same price as the standard edition is usually a compelling enough reason to pick it up, if these limited editions do sell it pretty much guarantees the money from it will come back to them, and also limits the money retailers earn from selling games used.
At this point I only buy the limited edition versions of games to support the developers, provided that they're at a reasonable price that is. It's too late to pick up the GTA IV Limited Edition but maybe I'll get the Metal Gear Solid 4 version – let Kojima know that if he told me to jump off a building, by god I'd do it and do it well.
Upon hearing about Play.Com Live the gamer and budding video game journalist inside me worked itself up into crazed frenzy, after all, an open to the public event featuring playable versions of upcoming unreleased video games is something that every European gamer yearns for every time E3, TGS, Leipzig or any other acronymically named video gaming event kicks off. Play.com Live was 'An Entertainment Extravaganza For The Whole Family!' featuring high profile video games such as Lego Indiana Jones, Star Wars: Force Unleashed, Resident Evil 5, Rockband, Ninja Gaiden 2, Bourne Conspiracy, GhostBusters, Prototype and many more. I travelled down to the newly rebuilt Wembley Arena with hopes of checking out some upcoming games, possibly getting some hands on time with a few triple A titles and writing about them for you, the dedicated readers. Disappointingly the event turned out to be a gathering of trailers and gameplay footage all of which are readily accessible on the all-powerful internet. While the aforementioned list of games is impressive the playable titles at the event were largely comprised of games that have been available for purchase for a while now, games such as Unreal 3, Gears of War, Guitar Hero 3, Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 were featured prominently at the event, they're all great games but at this point - not exactly worthy of coverage. There were a few exceptions though; I did get some hands on time with Rock Band, The Bourne Conspiracy and Soul Calibur IV.
Although Rock Band has been out for a while now the game still hasn't been given an official release date for Europe, I can't figure out why it's taking so long but If I had to hazard a guess I'd say either downloadable content issues or retail distribution procedures are holding it back.
When the original Guitar Hero game came out I was new to the rhythm game genre, I didn't play Guitar Freaks, Amplitude or Frequency despite being recommended them by a number of friends, what can I say – my tastes were restrictively simple back then.
So when Guitar Hero came out the appeal of being able to play a Guitar without actually learning to play hooked me in and I made the leap into rhythmic waters. I loved Guitar Hero, it defeated my pessimism and did exactly what it claimed to do, made me feel like a rock star in the comfort of my own living room, but when Guitar Hero 2 came out I decided to give it a miss, the main change to the game was a new song list and since I wasn't particularly enamored with the set-list It just didn't appeal to me, the same goes for every other marginally different Guitar Hero release since the first one.
When Harmonix revealed that their latest rhythm game would let players play drums my ears perked up and I started to pay more attention, the most appealing aspects of Rock Band are the drums and the delivery method of songs. The gameplay of Guitar Hero is great but the novelty of guitar playing element wore of pretty quickly for me, but applying the gameplay ****to the drums is something I'm definitely interested in.
I got the chance to play the drums at the event and it is pure unadulterated fun, it is extremely hard however, playing on medium right off the bat it not something I'd recommend. From what I've seen so far the content delivery method that has been implemented in the US release is also something to look forwards to, It's good to see that Harmonix is taking the consumer friendly approach by treating Rock Band as a platform which they can update through downloadable content instead of the money hungry Guitar Hero approach.
I'm a big fan of the fighting game genre and have been disappointed by the consistent decline in fighting games over the last few years. Thankfully 2008 looks to be a good year for the genre, titles such as Street Fighter IV, Blaze Blue, King of Fighters XII and Soul Calibur VI are leading the charge in the fighting game renaissance. Everyone has 'a game', a fighting game which they claim to be a master of, mine happen to be Street Fighter and to some extent Soul Calibur, while I probably won't be much competition in a professional capacity I can still hold my own in both of these games, so when I got the chance to play Soul Calibur IV I was more than excited – I was ecstatic.
Although the demo was clearly an early build it was still developed enough to be evident of how the final product will turn out.
The Soul Calibur games are known for being on the upper tier in terms of visuals and this game is no different, the character models are extremely detailed and features such as clothing and hair all animate realistically, a disturbing amount of attention has also been paid to the animation of what can only be described as the encumbering aspects of the female anatomy, seriously it's a bit redundant at this point.
The gameplay of Soul Calibur is completely intact but it felt a little slower than the previous games, the movements felt sluggish which meant that battles didn't flow as well as they did in the previous games and it was difficult to get combos going, this was also in large part due to the significant lag between the game and the Xbox 360 controller, the response times between a button press and the character execution were far too long, this is something which I have no doubt will be addressed before the release. The demo was restricted to Taki, Sophitia and Mitsurugi, although I don't have much experience with Taki she did feel a bit overpowered, but again this is probably something they'll fix during the balancing portion of the development. I'm still just as excited to play Soul Calibur 4 but it's a shame they still haven't fixed the series' biggest flaw – there's still no way to counter ringouts.
Lastly is The Bourne Conspiracy, I didn't get the chance to play this for too long but the little I did play was pretty decent, I'm a little reluctant to give any sort of definitive opinion because this is a book/movie based game and we all know how those turn out (yes I know Riddick was awesome). The combat although not very deep was oddly satisfying; the little 'Bourne' moments appear in the form of God of War ****quick time events and pack the same punch, watching Bourne beat someone over the head with a fire extinguisher in the game was just as entertaining as watching him lay the smackdown with a phone book in the movie.
Anyway, overall the event was a giant disappointment and I feel like a complete chump for buying VIP tickets, honestly, the only thing I got was the option to get in a different line.
How hard would it have been to get demos for Smash Bros, Little Big Planet or Metal Gear, they've all been playable at various events throughout last year so it's just a matter of getting permission to use them. I guess the show just isn't important enough – why does the industry hate us so....
Newsflash! Online gaming is no longer confined to the PC, if you own an Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or Wii there's a high probability that you are or have in the past played over either Live, PSN or the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for those dedicated enough to endure the ridiculous friend code system, although they all essentially take place in the same domain the experiences on each service is undoubtedly different. When I say experience I don't mean the experience we have in terms of the performance of the services, or the usability, what I'm referring to is the social interaction that players have with each other, the experience of playing with complete strangers from around the world over the service. I have a number of friends with Xbox 360's but the majority of them turn down my invitations to play over Live in favor of the PC or PS3 – why? No, it's not because I like to break into verses of 'I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves' while talking to them in private chat, it's the experience they've had in the past with the Live service.
In addition to being the online gamers service of choice Xbox Live is also the most hostile and unfriendly social gaming environments in the history of online gaming, it's pretty obvious that in any situation where a person interacts with others with complete anonymity there will be an abundance of… 'douchebags', for lack of a better term, but Live seems to have become the epicenter of internet douchbaggery, which got me thinking about PSN -- although there's no comparison in the hours of time I've racked up in PSN to Xbox Live the experience I've had has been drastically different, my play sessions on PSN have been quite pleasant in comparison, the lack of profanity, name calling and general unpleasant behaviour has made for a good change of pace. But why is it that the usual breed of internet hoodlums don't seem to be as regular of a feature in Warhawk, Burnout or Resistance, the fanboy will say "coz PS3 is lame tbh, nobody plays the games and noone has headsets", but being the drugged up optimist that I am I prefer to think of it as a reflection of the type of people playing on the PS3, that's not to say that everyone playing on Xbox Live is a douchebag, saying that would be a false generalization and would amount to effectively painting a large target in permanent ink on my forehead but from my experiences with both the services I've found the random gamers I encounter on PSN seem less inclined to tell me I suck then spend the time to accurately position their crotches over my lifeless head and sit on it over and over again.
The fact that online games aren't as widely played over PSN is a contributory factor which cannot be denied, which is why I am looking forward to seeing what happens when we finally get Playstation Home, the service encourages meeting up and interacting with other players and facilitates the social interaction through allowing users to communicate via the virtual on screen keyboard, Bluetooth or USB keyboards, e-motes and the good old headset -- the possibilities for mischief are endless. Home will be where the PSN users reveal their true colors and the Playstation Network solidifies its position as either yet another unfriendly network filled with wayward gamers or something a little more family friendly.
I encourage you guys to share your experiences with PSN and Wii Wi-Fi Network, especially if they're bad ones, I'm interested in hearing whether other gamers have had similar experiences or if it's just me getting lucky.
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