Collector's Editions

You probably know by now that I like to buy the collector's editions of games. I do pick up a lot of Steam special offers but for a major release or a favourite franchise I'll nearly always go for the special edition. It seems like there are a lot more of them being released in the last couple of years than before that. I suspect it's a reaction to increased digital sales as you can't download a statue or a book over the Internet (yet). I already know what the next two I buy will be and I have my pre-orders in, even though one is not out until November and the other doesn't have a date yet.

The first one is of course Star Wars: The Old Republic. The set was announced a couple of weeks ago and look really nice and comes with lots of extras for both in game and real life.


The second one was announced today at Quakecon and that is for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This one looks good too and I'm really looking forward to the game, but there is a catch.


The problem is with the price. Normally I'd expect to pay around twice the price of the standard version, £60-£70 rather than £30. However for these two the price has jumped to £120 each! I'm not even sure why.

You do get a lot of things with The Old Republic set including:

• Exclusive Gentle Giant Darth Malgus statue
• Star Wars: The Old Republic game disks in collectible metal case
• The Journal of Master Ghost-Dural annotated by Satele Shan
• Old Republic galaxy map
• Custom Security Authentication Key
• Exclusive Music of Star Wars: The Old Republic CD
• High-quality Collector's Edition box
• In-game Flare Gun: Fire flares into the air.
• In-game Training Droid: Hovers at your side for combat assistance.
• In-game HoloDancer: Project your own holographic dancer.
• In-game HoloCam: Keep visual records of in-game adventures.
• In-game STAP: Sleek and unique in-game vehicle.
• Exclusive In-game Mouse Droid: Spunky droid to join your adventures.
• Exclusive In-game Collector's Edition Store: Unique in-game vendor with a dynamic assortment of items.

Yet for Skyrim the bonuses are:

• Alduin Statue
• The Art of Skyrim' Official Art Book
• The Making of The Elder Scrolls v: Skyrim' DVD

That seems a bit unbalanced to me considering they are both going for the same high price. Although that Dragon does look nice. Still like I said, I've already pre-ordered both. I'll just have to be careful with my savings when they get closer to release. I do find myself wondering about the future though. It this trend continues then collecting these will start to get very expensive. Also there is only so much shelf space I can devote to gaming statues.