This Christmas the fastest selling limited edition of any game franchise will be Assassins Creed Brotherhood Limited Codex Edition
I expect every one of the Limited Editions of Assassin`s Creed Brotherhood to sell out , and for collectors rise in price towards 2011 , this will not be the case with other Limited Editions .
Every single Assassin`s Creed 2 Black Edition I have come across has sold out , and in my experience has more game collectors across more country borders seeking it any given time than any of the so called AAA franchises from the big guys .
Why is this? First lets look at the failings of its rivals publishers [ note this not commenting on quality of the games which will all be excellent I am sure!]
Call of Duty Blackops will sell in droves to the masses in the UK
and USA
but the Limited Editions and Prestige Editions [USA XBOX 360 and PS3 versions] AND [ XBOX 360 UK ,PS3 UK ]will not sell out , you can still find Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Editions new and sealed . Call of Duty and collectors don`t seem to mix , and there will always be a local supermarket chain willing to undercut the price of the vanilla game and that`s where little Abner`s mom is likely to be pestered [ by l`ll Abner ] to pick it up [totally illegally!] . There is also nothing collectible about a FPS game , there never has been , the demographic pays , plays and forgets. My Modern Warfare 2 night vision goggles collect dust as I type and, no , chicks don`t dig fake Spartan Helmets , although they may try to use them as ashtrays from time to time... speaking of which ........
Halo Reach Legendary Edition - the Halo franchise will be bought up by casual newcore gamers , these are not the old school game cognoscenti chasing an original of Radiant Silvergun for £300 , and just like the so called "rare " Modern Warfare 2 Prestige edition Halo 3 Helmet editions are still common . Again who ever markets these either makes too much , or miss reads their target . The Newcore , prefer to download games , via Steam , iTunes , they put the green in Xbox Live and take to Playstation Plus like its essential for their continued existence on this planet.There is no need for plastic statues or non functional helmets in their lives .
Take heed of the depreciation in prices of previous iterations of gamings so called greatest franchises , these are the games where you could save a lot of money going for the tinned can limited editions if you must have dlc bonuses , for collectors these are ones to avoid , just look at the Halo 3 legendary and COD 2 prestige price !
Gran Tursimo 5 , has the most pointless of all prestige editions , £150 for 6 cars , a book , a leather purse and fake car keyfob, you could buy Pater a Kindle
for this , and consider the depreciation of Gran Tursimo games , the last one was going for less than half the rrp in a couple of months or so after release. The vanilla version of Gran Turismo will sell out , but the Prestige edition and Limited Editions will continue to be available this time next year , as per Halo 3 Helmet and Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Prestige. Also Gran Turismo 5 will be bundled with every new PS3 and every retailer is likely to offer some kind of bundle to include it , so stay your temptation and resist the overpriced limited editions , you could spend the extra on a nice forcefeedback wheel , or buy every PC game going in the impending Steam Christmas sale ,with the money you saved. There is zero value for collectors in this franchise.
The other great surprise in limited editions not selling out are the ActiBlizzard monsters that are World of warcraft and Starcraft 2 Limited Editions . You would think that with a gaming base larger than many a small European Principality`s tax exile population , and in the case of Starcraft allegedly nearly the entire population of South Korea , the Limited editions would sell out , but wrong , even Mr T couldn't WOW the fans into clearing the shelves of so called limited editions . Because they are never that limited ! They also have no value for collectors , well may be if you got Mr T to sign one ...Cataclysm may be commanding high prices at the moment but check out the current price of the Burning Crusade and Lich King Collectors Editions and you will realise there is no reason to rush to order , Blizzard always manage to produce enough of their collectors editions for fans , not too good for collectors though!
So what is it about Assassins Creed that attracts games collectors ? Well the goodies that come with , include both tangible and DLC exclusives that combined drive collectors nuts! People love the franchise , which is one of the first stand up grown up franchises to emerge in this generation of new core , casual and mmo slave game development.
The statues you got with Creed , Creed 2 Black addition, and the wealth of goodies you can chose from with the Codex editions in the UK and USA are all designed for and more relevant to enhancing your ability to get lost and involved in the game worlds their virtual counterparts inhabit. My Spartan Helmet is an ashtray , and the COD2 night vision thing well probably would have held more importance in my life if the single player campaign had lasted longer than 6 hours on the hardest setting . They still have no ability to connect me to the actual game they are bundled with. I am soooo looking forward to spending hours recording Reach movies !
As a collector I know they. COD and Halo are worthless , as a collector I know the Creed goodies make the limited edition versions the most highly sought after games franchise this year.
As a games player I know the bonuses I got with the console version of Creed 2 , and later all the DLC with PC edition of Creed 2 Black Edition added significantly to the idea that it was worth paying extra for these versions .
And you only have to look at the sales of limited editions , to see that all Ezzios fans also agreed, if you can find a sealed Black Addition of Creed 2 it will cost significantly more than , Master Chiefs and Soaps Limited editions and their fans chose not to clear the shelves of Limited Editions of those beloved newcore franchises.
This following has something to do with class,and I don't just refer to having Jade Raymond on your dev team , Assassin`s Creed games are drenched in period history style and references , their heroes and villains carry their swagger in open worlds with facsimiles of real events and cities plagued with seemingly plausible conspiracies , painfully detailed architecture , and gameplay that lasts significantly longer and feels far deeper ,even though it is not that deep at all ! than the other great franchises . And they made the full body hoody cool...may be not in France !
The development of the Creed games is also not locked to consoles , and that means they can be designed to appeal to a far wider demographic . Ubisoft made important online only additions , with Uplay , so the more you got involved the more you opened the game worlds secrets , and unlocks . Without paying for them!
Assassin`s Creed is just one example of a Limited Editon of a new game franchise unexpectedly selling out , so far this year we have already had collectors go crazy for Demon Souls,Bayonetta [ with the gun and the Climax Edition] and most surprisingly Read Dead Redemption Limited Editions , and they said the Western died with the Duke.
So why do the bigger game franchises not attract this level of devotion ? Halo and COD are cartoon versions of the cartoon and pulp novel worlds they represent. They are also limited Cartoon games at that .Whats up doc ? Be vevvy quiet !I am hunting Spartan said Elmer Flood. [the actual quote from an Xbox live devotee would be too rude to repeat here but I am sure you will be familiar with the foul mouthed underaged flood of gamers on Xbox Live come 14/09/10] .. These games are not hardcore,they are newcore targeted at the pop corn munching gamerfuel drinking masses , they in their latest iterations are not the epitomy of cool that their developers initially hoped them to be in day 1 dev meetings . They have become soulless BUSINESS . And that is why their devs inevitably move on as Infinity Ward members have done , Bungie are about to and Treyarch may eventually do also....
Halo and COD are great in the way an action movie is great but you know that really the present game is only designed to make you want to buy the next update ? Don`t you? And really , with their focus on newcore and casuals , for any serious games player it gets really annoying trying to make the game last longer , I may take to playing COD with one hand tied behind my back to make it last longer than the usual 5 hours .Or they could actually add some content to the original release that I do not have to pay for later to justify my initial purchase of the overpriced original!
The FPS has not evolved past and by that I mean bettered the story telling and constant near death thrills of the Half Life Franchise , multiplayer has never gotten better than that in Goldenye on the 64 . Ask your grandad or grandma.
But games like Creed are something new , something else to do , other than listen to newcore coming up with new and wonderful flowery language while they get fleeced for another year of Xbox live , who knows may be I`ll just go around recording it all and make a movie ..
So get in line for your Assassins Creed Brotherhood Limited Codex Editions , and see you on the rooftops of the Eternal city....
