SWAG from video games

One of the coolest things that has come along in recent years is the cool stuff that comes with video game orders or special editions of games such as the Halo 3: Legendary edition. I'm not sure when this trend really started picking up steam but the last year or two has been really awesome for pre orders or just special editon goodness.

One of the best examples was Halo 3, and it's infamous cat helmet. The chief's helmet was a very cool piece of video game memorabilia that can be had but sadly you can't wear this bad boy because it's only big enough for your cat's hat and its meant to hold your game discs. Bungie did go the extra mile and made sure if you got the special edition that you got something really special and that include a documentary and alot of cool stuff packed on the bonus DVD. However one thing that did take away from the coolness of the Halo 3 helmet was the price and it was well over 100$ when the game was first released but now can be had for a much more reasonable 40 bucks or so if you look around.

That is the thing with some of the cool special editons is that they cost...and they cost alot. Let's look another example of a great game packed with some cool extras... Batman:Arkham Aslyum

As you can see, you get a freakin' Bat-a-rang and that was the main hook for me, however also was the 100$ price tag was also looming over my head. Looking at the picture its pretty cool till you find out, it's not removable from the stand and nor is it made of metal which is a great disappointment. The PS3 version did have the Joker challenge maps and the pre order bonus of the Scarecrow challenge maps but still was this enough to justify the price tag even with the included documentary and leather bound character journal and a sticker and that seems not as cool as to what was in the Halo 3 set. You do get a collectable packaging but good luck finding a place for your Bat carry case which is huge and awkward to put on a shelf. Batman was an example of a great game but with a little underwhelming in terms of a special edition. However its a matter of opinion depending when you compare Halo 3 and Batman, it's apples and oranges.

The next game that I think is closer to getting things right in terms of pricing and what is included is Ubisoft's Splinter Cell:Conviction and it's 80$ price point.

This package includes some pretty cool stuff like decals and some cool in game items but also a USB drive which has also the making of videos and artwork and such and thats a step in the right direction and the usual artbook package in and comic book tie in. This is where I think this is the right direction for pre order and special edition stuff should be going on....go digital and keep the price down, while some of this stuff is cool I believe keeping the price down is the right call and not outpricing it out of the hands of collectors.

This year has seen some really good LE items like alot of stuff from Atlus software like Hammerin' hero and more recently Demon Souls. One of the great things that a company can do is send out things like extras just as a thank you which Atlus does usually with CD soundtracks and the like which is pretty awesome and I really hope more companies follow suit and do the same,. I would have bought HALO:ODST's LE if it had included the soundtrack and not just the controller. The thing that surprised me is that some games didn't get an LE such as Terminal Reality's Ghostbusters or Double Fine's Brutal Legend, I mean this were big name releases or maybe even something for THQ's Red Faction 2. Weird to the least

However, I'll close this article out and say that I'm sucker for action figures and anything like that so you can bet I've already got some bucks down for the LE of Assassin's creed 2 and I totally plan on getting Sony's God of War 3 set when it drops in March and the big deciding factor is the Pandora's box replica and the Documentary narrated by Peter Weller aka ROBOCOP!
Seriously, its been a rough year on the wallet but totally worth it from cat helmets to batarangs and lastly Pandora's box.All things considered, it's been an awesome time to be a gamer and have these items around your game room.