Those who are familiar with my writing will know that I don’t feel a game should have a special edition until it’s been earned. Brand new IPs rarely deserve them, in my opinion, and I put this to BioWare’s Mike Laidlaw in reference to the ludicrously opulent Dragon Age: Origins: Collector’s Edition.
“An extravagant collector’s edition is one of those fantasy RPG traditions, and frankly the world of Dragon Age is one we want to share with people,” he explains. “Cloth maps, additional in-game content and the soundtrack are all part of letting people dive into this brand new world, and BioWare’s always had a tradition of providing value for your money.
“… It all comes down to the definition of ‘Collector,’ really. From one angle, a person may be a collector of a specific property, insofar as they have every Elvis album, ticket stubs from every show and so on. On the other hand, there are people who collect video games as a media, building up as large a library as they can.
“Ultimately, though, let’s ignore the word ‘collector’ and look at the options: you can buy a fantastic game, or you can spend a bit more to get that game with additional thematic stuff. Nothing to justify there, it’s just two ways to purchase the game. I suppose we could call it the ‘Extra Stuff Edition’ but that really doesn’t have the same ring.”
Luckily, I have played enough of Dragon Age to know that spending more money for the “Extra Stuff Edition” wouldn’t be a wasted investment. However, those that haven’t played it have no way of knowing. That’s pretty much my problem, the fact that untested games are getting treatment usually reserved for revered IP. People buy Elvis ticket stubs because they know they love Elvis. Not many people know if they love Dragon Age yet.
Published: Sep 4, 2009 02:40 pm