Call of a great game and a poor art book. WTF!


Feeling the stress from my work, I popped into a local game shop, to pick up something to keep me going, until that pile of xmas gaming presents arrives. I opted for Call of Duty 4 and a damn fine game it is too.

The copy I purchased was a limited edition one, something I was looking forward to then. Everyone loves free stuff with their game, to give you that fuzzy warm feeling inside, that you have purchased something special.



Another fine effort from Capcom.

Now of late, kind of since Lost Planet and Gears of War hit 360, there's been an increase in the limited edition cuts of games, adding in extras to entice the crowd, indeed a good idea. However, it's easy for crap to get packaged with your game, leaving you scratching your head as to why you bothered spending extra money.

Once I busted open my Call of Duty 4, inside was an extras 'making of' dvd, the game dvd and something that was supposed to actually be an art book. Now I love art, being an artist myself, I can appreciate the design concepts that go into making any game. However, since getting my halo 3 limited edtion and being underwhelmed by that, and now getting this same sinking feeling with Call of Duty 4, that the western definition of an art book and the japanese one (as well as a sense of treasured value) are worlds apart.




Even from Atlus, this Persona 3 pack is clearly better value.

The japanese have been doing this similar kind of thing for years, problem is they are much better at it. Case to point a recent example. Atlus recently released Persona 3 stateside PS2 (a game I'm gonna have to import, as the on PS2 dies slowly in the U.K and we may never see it released here), with which they gave away the game, plus a Persona 3 soundtrack and a beautiful, reasonable size 52 page artbook. Now how is it even Atlus can get this right, but many of the mainly western big boys like Bungie, Activision etc, (exceptions for Capcom, Atlus and Konami here) can't get it right?





Konami always deliver this kind of deal well.



The best limited edition games I've had in all my years of gaming were my PS1 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (which came with a lovely little art book and soundtrack cd) and again Konami with my Metal Gear Solid Limted Edition (which came with a Snake t-shirt, soundtrack cd and game, all in a cool silver box). Something similar was also done with a recent DS Castlevania game.




Now this is how things should be done.


After being disappointed by such extras like western artbooks that are poor, I might refrain from buying these editions again, until they package something worth my time, that I can be proud of. Problem is, how can I ever know what's inside without buying and getting stung? Many games are sealed in cellophane too.

So, come on western publishers/developers, raise your game and get better at this.




More of this, yes please.

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So next time you buy a limited edition cut of a game, if the contents don't meet your standards or could be better, feel free to give the developer/publisher some feedback. Or just come here to winge like me. Lol.