Matt’s Somewhat Serious Bit
For many years, PC gamers and some lucky Japanese gamers have been treated to rather neat special editions of highly anticipated titles. Lately, this trend of releasing special and/or editions of games has been spreading to the consoles in PAL territories and North America, but there’s one distinct difference that separates these new special editions from the ones released in the past.
There’s absolutely nothing special about them and the only thing about them that’s limited is the bonus content.
Many gamers have been pushing the publishers to release more special editions in recent years, but the publishers seem to have had a different idea in mind; testing the market to see how they react to premium pricing. It’s no secret – anyone with a clue should have figured this out years ago, since the barrage of special editions started in mid to late 2004.
Limited to just 2 million copies
Just thinking back over the past 18 months, one can come up with a list of these “limited” editions – Halo 2, Half-Life 2, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Sid Meier’s Pirates, The Movies, Jade Empire, Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland, and Call of Duty 2: Big Red One just to name a few. Most of these limited editions had huge print runs, and the bonus content on them was totally anaemic – short “behind the scenes” documentaries that should be crammed onto the game disc, left over concept art that the marketing department discovers before it hits the industrial bin, meaningless in-game content that’s free to everyone in a matter of days, crappy oversized t-shirts or the game is on a DVD instead of 10 cds (when DVD should be the bloody standard!). In the case of Pirates and The Movies, the special editions didn’t even work due to printing mishaps! It’s reminiscent of the “special edition” trend that started with the uprising of DVD movies – no matter what the movie is, or how popular it is, it gets a limited or special edition release; in some cases, the special edition is the ONLY edition.
Have any of you attempted to watch the behind-the-scenes documentaries on these discs? Perfect cure for insomnia. Game developers have to be some of the most lifeless people around. Combine that with the fact that not a single one of these features contains information that you couldn't have already uncovered on the Internet months earlier. Makes the experience all the more worthless, doesn't it?
A few crappy behind the scenes documentaries and some leftover concept art are not what comes to mind when I think of the words “special edition” in regards to gaming. Blizzard has been leading the way for many years when it comes to real special editions of games. World of Warcraft’s limited collectors edition had the following content: the game on both DVD and CDs (four, in fact), a one month subscription card, a 10 day bonus card to get a friend hooked, a behind the scenes DVD, a collector’s edition soundtrack, a collector’s edition manual, The Art of World of Warcraft hard cover book, a cloth map of Azeroth and an exclusive pet for use in the game. Sure, it cost more, but the extra content in the box justifies the extra cash outlay, does it not? Compare that to Call of Duty 2: Big Red One’s extra content; four skins, two behind the scenes documentaries and concept art, or Jade Empire’s shiny little box, extra character and moveset (which were available on Xbox Live later). World of Warcraft isn't the only good example of this; look at the collector's editions that Square and Konami have been releasing for Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid games over the years - really shows how apathetic Western publishers are towards the collector's market. If I'm going to pay more for the special edition of a game, the end has to justify the means; I want unique, interesting content - not disposable shit that the publisher had left lying around before the deadline.
If you're not prepared to do equal or better to Blizzard with special editions, don't bother
There’s obviously a market for proper collector’s edition software – one only needs to look at Ebay to see the inflated prices that the special editions of older PC software can fetch. With the demographics of gaming audiences shifting to 18-34 year old males in the last few years, you’d think publishers would want to take a crack at that premium market – people will pay a ton for sports collectibles, so why not release higher quality gaming collectibles? (and actually release them in limited numbers!) Many of us are sitting here with loads of cash in our wallets, hungry for more Blizzard-style special editions – when are the publishers going to wake up and smell the money?
Give it a rest #2
The feedback to this one isn’t going to be pretty, especially from our American reader base, but I think it’s really one that needs to be considered. Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL series continues to be the #1 selling game franchise in the United States, and has something of a cult following in PAL regions. Unlike our previous “Give it a rest” contestant (Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater), the series continues to improve and introduce new and exciting features (well, except for the Xbox 360 version). However, since the late 90s, there has been one big black mark on the product.
John Madden.
While anyone with an ounce of knowledge about American Football can appreciate John Madden’s coaching and tactical abilities, his commentary is utterly benign. In a typical match, Madden will contribute the most simplistic comments, as though the player has absolutely no idea what is involved in football (just like his TV commentary), and deliver them like an overexcited toddler. Madden’s approach to commentary is not at all helped by the lack of variety in his lines, which we can continue to thank EA for. How many times do we need to hear “BOOM!” in a match?
"See, the difference between a bus and a car is that a bus is larger and carries more people"...uh, thanks John
Tampering with the Madden brand is a risky move for EA, but surely a balance could be found now that they’ve got control of the ESPN license. Retain the Madden name and strategies, but for the love of God, take him off the commentary team!
Easy Mail
In a shocking twist of events, I actually received three legitimate pieces of e-mail for this fortnight’s mail bag.
Q: If a crazy hobo promised you one million dollars if you guessed what next gen console would dominate the majority of the worldwide market, which one would it be and why?
A: Why would a crazy hobo want to give me a million dollars when he could be using it to buy crack and invest in Infinium Labs? Nevertheless, barring a miracle from Nintendo or a disaster from Sony, the PlayStation 3 will probably continue Sony’s dominance for an unprecedented (unless you count handhelds) third generation.
Q: Is the name PALGN a rip off of IGN?
A: PALGN and IGN are like Diff’rent Strokes and Webster; completely dif…ah, what the hell – yes. Well, to be correct, Gaming Network is a rather generic term, no? Phased Alternating Line Gaming Network is so much more complicated, and therefore better, and infinitely more creative.
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Is PALGN the biggest rip-off since Webster?
Q: Can two players play against the same AI side in Rugby League 2?
A: Mr Instruction Book says “Yes.”
Send your Easy Mail questions to matt@palgn.com.au
The views and opinions expressed in Easy Mode are solely those of Matt Keller, and do not reflect the opinions of PALGN, its sponsors, partners and Brendan's mum.
kthxbai.
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