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Who the heck buys all these “Collector’s Edition”s?


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2 hours ago, Keatah said:

The most "collectorish" stuff I might chase after would be a book or strategy guide or a poster. That's it. The game itself is the essence of the experience. The rest is clutter that needs storage space or constant cleaning.

 

Like for example when Sigil came out - I was debating whether to buy it. Some time later, like today, I don't give a rat's ass. The downloadable level pack is sufficient - and time will be spent playing the levels. Not staring at the box.

Being a Doom fan I really need to check out Sigil... but I prefer playing DOS Doom over a modern port so if there is a way I can play these new levels on my DOS PC that would be great.

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The Collector stuff I liked was from Working Designs on the PlayStation or PSP (i.e. LUNAR series, Arc the Lad collection etc.)  Without paying that much more you'd get stuff like a gatefold art box, leatherbound manual, cloth maps, necklaces, cutouts etc. plus "Making Of" CDs and Soundtracks...Limited Editions, sometimes multiple games, and it's all cool stuff without breaking the bank.

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1 hour ago, DragonGrafx-16 said:

sweet

Ooopss I forgot. There's a couple of extra easy steps. It's been a while.

 

1- Get the official Sigil levels https://romero.com/

 

2- Get the temporary DOS patcher, Sigexe.zip - it works with Doom v1.9 and removes some engine limitations I believe. And it sets it up as a real Episode 5. Sigil was originally designed with modern renderers in mind, like ZDoom, LZDoom, GZDoom, and others.

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/103430-sigil-v121-new-romero-megawad-released/?page=88

 

3- Rename SIGIL_v1_2.wad to Sigil.wad

 

4- Type Sigil.exe to play.

 

If you do use a ZDoom port for modern rendering you can also get the extended MIDI music by using the sigil_shreds.wad. Or sigil_shreds_compat.wad.

 

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  • 1 month later...

I’ve had this same thought a few times. Who buys all this shit? And where do they put it all? Especially in todays world when square footage is at a premium.

 

Also, how do they manage to get them? Unless you have a bot or you purchase them on ebay I’m pretty sure your not getting the highly sought after ones these days.

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29 minutes ago, adamchevy said:

I’ve had this same thought a few times. Who buys all this shit? And where do they put it all? Especially in todays world when square footage is at a premium.

I'm in a pairing down mindset, so things like figurines and cards have very little appeal to me.  Sometimes, I marvel at all of the labor and materials that go into producing some of this stuff.

 

They weren't collector's editions but I did enjoy the in-universe guides that Sierra used to have for games like Quest for Glory. They would have something like a handbook from the Adventurer's correspondence school or a field-guide to the game's fictional country.  Things like that were fun and might have even been recyclable. 

 

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The collector videos I've seen show either creative uses of small spaces or just simply larger houses of more well-to-do folks where space is not a limitation. The cheaper ones look like hoarder piles. The richer ones look like magic fantasyland.

 

Unfortunately I don't see many small collections as I do large megastuff. I guess the large megastuff folks have the $$$ to afford a nice camera and time off to make youtube videos more frequently than the ordinary folks.

 

Either way, these mega-collections are full of fluff. At the same time I believe a couple of special sentimental expanded edition box-sets (for your favorite franchise) are nice to have. It only gets out of control when everything ever released is purchased. That's when the fluff starts accumulating. And then the pile becomes a burden.

 

Maybe not a physical space type of burden where you're tripping over everything. But a psychological hold back. Looking at it can be nice for a while. But its overwhelming, your brain pulled in 20 different directions by 20 different pieces - say action figures or other trinkets. You can't focus on one aspect of the franchise and then freely drift off to your imagination's whim. Instead you're always yanked in one specific direction or another. Out of your control. The drifting-off action is what pulls you into the atmosphere, the ecosphere. It's just enough to fire off the engine, not flood it.

 

I hear all too often that emulation collections encourage fast 1-minute sessions of a game with no involvement whatsoever. No nostalgia. No sentimentality. That's inaccurate. When I look at my emulation collection it's beyond extreme overwhelmation. Yes! Billions and billions of bytes. My god! Where to start?!?!? That's easy. Pick a system to play for the evening or the weekend. Say the 2600. Then pick a manufacturer or two of carts, say Atari or Imagic, then play only those games. By weekend's end I may have briefly looked through 50 games and played maybe 10 in-depth. If interest turns to PC gaming, it could be several weekends spent on one game.

 

Or it may be curation time. It's always fun to get new material and delete old stuff. Except you don't really dispose of the old stuff. It's put off in sub-folder that can be poked through a decade from now, like a rotting dumpster. Without the smell!

 

A huge advantage of a digital collection is it can evolve over time and yet stay perfectly permanent. Long enough to develop nostalgia and sentimentality. And a mind-map of where things are. Without the entanglement of any moves or relocations fucking up how stuff is displayed. All that need be worried about is the host hardware - and that can fit on a shelf or two at most. All of it.

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6 minutes ago, Tommy2D said:

They weren't collector's editions but I did enjoy the in-universe guides that Sierra used to have for games like Quest for Glory. They would have something like a handbook from the Adventurer's correspondence school or a field-guide to the game's fictional country.  Things like that were fun and might have even been recyclable.

Yes. That. And documentation for games. Original instructions (real paper, or scanned) and strategy guides are important. Moreso the original instructions, because strategy guides can give away too much and flatten the experience and tone-down the aura of exploration and discovery. Think maps and patterns to a platform shooter. I like to read the strategy guide's intros and descriptions of weapons and limitations, after I've gotten into a game for a bit.

 

 

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I've bought a few collectors editions over the years, one of the Dark Souls titles for the figurine and art book, a Fallout game for the pip boy bobble head, think one of the Halo games had an art book with it. 

 

 

But I soon realized the folly of pumping money into them. 

 

 

The art books and CD soundtracks soon went into storage, the DLC codes used and the exclusive armour/weapons sets they unlocked, became useless as you progressed further into the game. 

 

 

Mate gave me one of the Batman Arkham games on 360 years ago, collectors edition, huge box, complete with some plastic batarang thing on a stand, ended up charity shopping it once I was done with the game as it looked tacky. 

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Well, there's collector editions, and "collector" editions. Someone mentioned halo 4? This is the common type, nothing particularly special about it, just a later more "complete" release. I absolutely get those, as well as goty types, same general idea in fact.

 

The uber leet super collectable with a fourty gallon trashcan full of shit that comes with it though? Uh, hell no. If it was an absolute favorite game, and I loved some of the included stuff I might think about it, but that's super rare extreme circumstances.

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The collector videos I've seen show either creative uses of small spaces or just simply larger houses of more well-to-do folks where space is not a limitation. The cheaper ones look like hoarder piles. The richer ones look like magic fantasyland.

 

Unfortunately I don't see many small collections as I do large megastuff. I guess the large megastuff folks have the $$$ to afford a nice camera and time off to make youtube videos more frequently than the ordinary folks.

 

Either way, these mega-collections are full of fluff. At the same time I believe a couple of special sentimental expanded edition box-sets (for your favorite franchise) are nice to have. It only gets out of control when everything ever released is purchased. That's when the fluff starts accumulating. And then the pile becomes a burden.

 

Maybe not a physical space type of burden where you're tripping over everything. But a psychological hold back. Looking at it can be nice for a while. But its overwhelming, your brain pulled in 20 different directions by 20 different pieces - say action figures or other trinkets. You can't focus on one aspect of the franchise and then freely drift off to your imagination's whim. Instead you're always yanked in one specific direction or another. Out of your control. The drifting-off action is what pulls you into the atmosphere, the ecosphere. It's just enough to fire off the engine, not flood it.

 

I hear all too often that emulation collections encourage fast 1-minute sessions of a game with no involvement whatsoever. No nostalgia. No sentimentality. That's inaccurate. When I look at my emulation collection it's beyond extreme overwhelmation. Yes! Billions and billions of bytes. My god! Where to start?!?!? That's easy. Pick a system to play for the evening or the weekend. Say the 2600. Then pick a manufacturer or two of carts, say Atari or Imagic, then play only those games. By weekend's end I may have briefly looked through 50 games and played maybe 10 in-depth. If interest turns to PC gaming, it could be several weekends spent on one game.

 

Or it may be curation time. It's always fun to get new material and delete old stuff. Except you don't really dispose of the old stuff. It's put off in sub-folder that can be poked through a decade from now, like a rotting dumpster. Without the smell!

 

A huge advantage of a digital collection is it can evolve over time and yet stay perfectly permanent. Long enough to develop nostalgia and sentimentality. And a mind-map of where things are. Without the entanglement of any moves or relocations fucking up how stuff is displayed. All that need be worried about is the host hardware - and that can fit on a shelf or two at most. All of it.

This is how I feel about my NT Mini Noir rom collection these days. I have added a “Brew” sub-folder to each major folder and I try and keep it up to date for each core that I’m currently focusing on. I’m actually pretty excited to start playing more Colecovision,Intellivision,7800, and Odyssey 2 games. I haven’t focused on them in a few years because I haven’t owned the hardware. I haven’t owned the hardware mainly because I’m really particular about sound and graphical quality having grown up mainly a PC gamer. Now that they all look and sound excellent, and they are easily playable by just loading up their core, it’s much more of a joy to sit down and play these wonderful consoles(well cores).

 

Getting lost in the physicality of it all the last few years was not fun, atleast for me. I was constantly trying to find places to put my stuff, usually robbing space from my wife’s bookshelves. The cost is also a factor unless your retired, rich, single, or/and don’t have kids.

 

Side note: I really enjoy not having to load into windows and configure emulators. Mainly it’s conducive to having everything hooked up to my CRT via component. I don’t dislike emulation, it’s just a lot easier for my kids.

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5 hours ago, adamchevy said:

I haven’t owned the hardware mainly because I’m really particular about sound and graphical quality having grown up mainly a PC gamer. Now that they all look and sound excellent, and they are easily playable by just loading up their core, it’s much more of a joy to sit down and play these wonderful consoles(well cores).

Sure Mm-hmm.. I got rolling with dedicated Pong consoles, and then moved up to the 2600 on release day.

 

I did not get into PC gaming in earnest till just before the Doom days. When Windows 3.1 had gaming. When CD-ROMS were 1x caddy jobbers. When 2x tray load was a luxury. When SoundBlaster was getting going. When a 486 cost $2500.

 

I'll take some extra time and use filters and shaders in emulators to de-tune the final output to be somewhat CRT-like. Doesn't have to be exact - because as a kid I always wished for something better than the displays of the time. And now I think I've reached that look. Perfect geometry, mild NTSC smear and artifacting, vibrant colors, softened edges. All far away from the harsh software-only look of sharp pixelation in early emulation, but not full on CH. 3 RF either. In between.

 

It was sometime between 1980 - 1985 that I really wanted an All-in-One console. I discovered UltraVision, but that never made it to market. Tried making my own, but it overheated and failed every other hour because of lousy ratbag workmanship. No. Consumer-level tech wouldn't let me have an AIO (the way I envisioned it back then) till the mid-2010's.

 

5 hours ago, adamchevy said:

Getting lost in the physicality of it all the last few years was not fun, atleast for me. I was constantly trying to find places to put my stuff, usually robbing space from my wife’s bookshelves. The cost is also a factor unless your retired, rich, single, or/and don’t have kids.

At the height of it all. Somewhere around the 1990's and 2000's I had heaps and oodles a'shit. Anything and everything. So much I had to store like 90% of it off-site in storage. What's the fun in that? Surfing over packed boxes to get to the back only to find you mis-remembered it was in the front? Spending time and gas to get there? Paying a recurring $100 monthly payment to someone to hold material I'd never use? Forget it!

 

5 hours ago, adamchevy said:

Side note: I really enjoy not having to load into windows and configure emulators. Mainly it’s conducive to having everything hooked up to my CRT via component. I don’t dislike emulation, it’s just a lot easier for my kids.

Well sure it is. Cart-in-slot.. Press a few buttons.. FPGA and Multicarts are perfectly good alternatives to real hardware. With advantages uniquely their own. I've been meaning to dive into MiSTer but always get sidetracked with something else. Maybe this winter.

 

I got spoiled by all the extras of Software Emulation. ScreenShots, SaveStates, portability to any Win10 rig, highly accessible developers, and more.

 

Either way, the bandwagon of reliability, convenience, versatility, and elegance is loading up. With SE and FPGA pulling the whole thing. So hop aboard!

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6 hours ago, adamchevy said:

Getting lost in the physicality of it all the last few years was not fun, atleast for me. I was constantly trying to find places to put my stuff, usually robbing space from my wife’s bookshelves. The cost is also a factor unless your retired, rich, single, or/and don’t have kids.

Additionally I've been trying to figure out when a collection becomes too fluffy with extraneous stuff. When that extraneous material becomes annoying bloat. Is it when you divide the entire collection into two piles, and the no-play pile is bigger than the play pile? And by what margin/ratio? Do we measure by weight? Size? Quantity? Space consumed? Likely it's a mix of all that that just creeps up on ya' and then BAM! Time to do something about it.

 

A digital collection alleviates all that. In fact a digital collection can be physically shrunk over time. Instead of having a row of 120GB drives at the turn of the century, it's more like 20GB in a fraction of the size. Just follow the ever increasing density of storage.

 

Cost these past 2 years is absurd for many things. I don't care how rich I am or anyone else is. These prices are high because "old", because "Apple", because other like items are going up - for no reason other than monkey-see monkey-do.

 

So digital it is. I'd much MUCH rather purchase new hardware at standard MSRP than buy from scalpers or some fat ass sitting in an antique shop, phone in hand, scanning ebay. Especially since they likely have no idea what they got in the first place.

 

Another excuse I'm beginning to hear is that this vintage computing stuff is nowhere near what it sold for as new back in the 70's or 80's. Well it better not be! It isn't new like it was then!

 

Another thing that pisses me off is a book with a tag saying it cost $0.99 at a resale shop. Then the ISBN/barcode says its original price was $19.95. And the listed price is 49.95 on ebay. Sorry. But I will pass.

 

In this present economy of inflation we all need to be thoughtful of what we spend. And it especially applies to frivolous game purchases especially on ebay. Like with a DE10 nano. They're up to around $170 these days if you buy from a non-ebay source. Not too bad. And much better than the $300+ when the pop up on ebay.

 

Anyways, back on topic.. Collector's editions..

I just make my own personalized packs. For example with Doom, I got the versions I know about, shareware and registered. GZDoom too. A few strategy guides, a mirror of id FTP, original manuals, some stickers, the DVD.. A few JumpDrives packed with my favs for travel and portability to friend's places. That's about it. This is more than enough to recreate the essence of when I first enjoyed it all back in the day. Similar for Space Simulator and Orbiter, Stellarium, and X-Plane.

 

These last four titles never really had any collector's editions associated with them - but they have their core following and are more than 20 years old. So I make my own. Some printouts like reference cards and printed labels for hot-swap 2.5" SSDs - a cartridge for the PC! A poster or two. This suffices here.

 

And most of all it's fun and personal.

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I base getting a collector's edition on whether or not I feel like I'm getting more content for the extra money/space. 

 

For example- I do not care about posters, full stop. I have much better wall art than some creased copy of the bogart or whatever promo piece they put on it. Usually feel the same about art cards, mini posters, postcards, etc. Artbooks can be ok- assuming the game is pretty enough, and/or production materials are included. 

 

I tend to gravitate towards good artbooks, CD soundtracks & bonus discs, & alternate art covers. I don't like extra empty cases (steelbook or otherwise) or the plethora of shelf clutter. Sometimes jewelry is nice- but that's rare enough even without worrying if its quality. And bonus points for keeping it all in a box that will fit on the same shelf as a standard game- I don't have room for giant boxes.

 

LRG's whole shtick is FOMO, which is how they get away with it- "we'll never make it again!! You don't want to miss out!" Ironically, the one game I skipped & regretted (Curses & Chaos) ended up dropping below their selling price several months later, so I got it then. I suppose I might regret skipping Dust: An Elysian Tail too... but considering I forgot about it until right now, probably not that much!

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6 hours ago, HoshiChiri said:

I don't like extra empty cases (steelbook or otherwise)

THIS. When I have the choice between a standard case and a steelbook, I usually pick the steelbook but I find terribly annoying to get an extra regular case anyway, because I don't like to put this kind of things in the trash and it takes extra shelf space for nothing. And it's really a video game thing; movies in steelbooks never come with an extra case.

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3 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

THIS. When I have the choice between a standard case and a steelbook, I usually pick the steelbook but I find terribly annoying to get an extra regular case anyway, because I don't like to put this kind of things in the trash and it takes extra shelf space for nothing. And it's really a video game thing; movies in steelbooks never come with an extra case.

Ha! If you don't want to consume extra shelf space, and don't want to trash anything, the answer is simple. Don't buy it in the first place. Right?

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10 hours ago, HoshiChiri said:

I base getting a collector's edition on whether or not I feel like I'm getting more content for the extra money/space.

That's a good metric.

 

10 hours ago, HoshiChiri said:

LRG's whole shtick is FOMO, which is how they get away with it- "we'll never make it again!! You don't want to miss out!" Ironically, the one game I skipped & regretted (Curses & Chaos) ended up dropping below their selling price several months later, so I got it then.

I don't believe I'd ever buy anything because FOMO. If they want to sell me a product they will make it available to me. Elsewise I just move right along to something else that's interesting. And available.

 

For a while LRG had me believing I missed out on Sigil box edition. Well whaddaya know? It's available from the Romero Shop! Fuck them. I hate them! Hate hate and more hate!

 

10 hours ago, HoshiChiri said:

I suppose I might regret skipping Dust: An Elysian Tail too... but considering I forgot about it until right now, probably not that much!

It's not a big deal. So don't worry about it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've bought a few but they were smaller ones with the exception of one. I do own the Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove collectors present box edition. Although I didn't order it through LRG and was able to buy it locally. But most of the time I just get standard editions. I did that with the Axiom Verge 2 set in fact. I do wish OSTs and steelbooks were offered separately though because when it comes to extras, that is really the only other things I'm interested in. Steelbooks to me just look cool in general and there are a lot of games where I enjoy the OSTs nearly as much or perhaps even more than the game itself.

 

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I don't really care if they blend, even though I don't like when steelbooks (or other kind of boxes) are taller than the rest because you need a bigger shelf just for a few items. ? I mostly like steelbooks (and digipacks) for films (or PS4 games) because I find DVD boxes boring and the standard Blu-ray boxes awful - I just can't stand that transparent blue plastic that looks like a beach toy.

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Hmmn. 

 

A clear out shows i had purchased more of these than i initially remembered. 

 

 

Biohazard Revival Selection PS3 (Japanese) 

 

Dark Souls PS3 limited edition 

 

Demon's Souls Black Phantom edition 

 

 

I do remember. 

 

Third Birthday Twisted edition and  Lord Of Arcana PSP, Ace Combat A. H  Limited edition 360

 

?

 

CD soundtrack and notebook on Ace Combat, just tat, don't remember any of it. 

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On 11/26/2021 at 2:57 PM, Lostdragon said:

 

Third Birthday Twisted edition and  Lord Of Arcana PSP, Ace Combat A. H  Limited edition 360

 

?

 

CD soundtrack and notebook on Ace Combat, just tat, don't remember any of it. 

Ah yeah the PSP collector editions were actually quite nice :D nothing too big, still getting the OST and art book in small format that would fit with the rest of the collection.

Pretty much the same price as the regular edition when it was released. I got the 3rd birthday, Lord of Arcana, Dissidia, Ogre Tactics, Gran Turismo to name a few..

 

Weirdly enough, I made the "mistake" of getting the 3DS special editions of Fire Embem: Echoes. This thing is too big for its own good. Got it mainly because Fire Emblem Fates special edition was the only one to combine all 3 games on 1 cart and its size was acceptable. The Echoes SE on the other hand came in a box almost as big as the PS4.

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