It blows my mind how much bigger the special editions of video games are getting. I stopped in Best Buy today to grab a Prima Guide for Skyrim and instead had to climb and vault over a wall of Skyrim Special editions. The box was roughly the same size as the Halo 3, Reach and Gears of War specials editions; which is about the size of a ottoman footrest.
Now I’m pretty guilty of picking up special editions of games myself, but they really start to cut into your gaming storage space. The big three I mentioned above sit on my basement storage shelves because there is no way they’d fit in the game room. This year though, I’ve cut down on a good amount of special edition games, just because the extras find themselves back in the box rather then being displayed. So why do I pick them up in the first place? Is it the ow/ah factor? The fact that they might become quite collectable? I’m not even sure, but I do know the next Call of Duty game better come with a bunker, because I’m going to need a place to store all this stuff!
A couple reasons go into whether I get a special/collectors edition.:
The first is how big of a fan of the series I am. I usually don’t get a collector’s edition unless I really enjoy that series.
The second is value and quality for money. If I think they are charging way too much or the items aren’t of high quality I won’t get it. For example, I was initially thinking about picking both the Batman Arkham City and Uncharted 3 collectors editions, but I did some research and the faces on both statues looked nothing like the characters so I ended up just getting the regular games.
The third is size. You can only hold so much in a closet. I don’t want to get a giant statue that takes up a ridiculous amount of space. My Halo 3 Legendary Edition is in my closet in its box because I just don’t have any space for it and I don’t want my room to look overcrowded.