Fan demand prompts BioShock collectors edition
by Justin McElroy 
{ Mar 31st 2007 at 7:00PM }
Mark your calendars and take a picture for the grandkids: A video game petition has actually done something. An outpouring of support from fans of BioShock in an online petition has netted a promise of a collectors edition of the game for both the Xbox 360 and PC from publisher 2K Games.The effort picked up steam earlier in the week, when a 2K staffer noticed the petition requesting a collectors edition of BioShock, based on the fan community's love of the unreleased title's "exceptional story, atmosphere, AI and gameplay."
Said staffer then wrote on the game's official site that higher-ups in the company told her that 5,000 signatures on the petition would convince them to release a (presumably pricier) collector's edition. A message appeared on the site the following day, saying that the goal had been reached in just 5.5 hours. Approximately 18,500 signatures appear on the petition currently. With the limited edition guaranteed, the fan community is now voting on exactly what they want that special package to contain. (As of now, "art print with team's signatures" is being beat out by "upgraded packaging," which has to be a blow to somebody's self esteem.)
So, does this represent a new emphasis on letting fans more directly impact releases? Or is it possible that a limited edition was already in the works and the signing effort was a way to drum up publicity, or deflect any negativity from fans who view collector's editions as nothing more than a cash grab? If 18,000 fans are truly demanding to buy a collector's edition, the move seems to have been a success, no matter what the motives were.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
severian00 @ Mar 31st 2007 7:14PM
I signed the petition and then voted. Looks like we may get our Big Daddy Figure. Sweeeeeet.
KC @ Mar 31st 2007 7:39PM
"based on the fan community's love of the unreleased title's "exceptional story, atmosphere, AI and gameplay."
made me laugh.
2ez @ Mar 31st 2007 7:50PM
What the fuck?
People petitioned to make a company charge them more money?
Seriously, these collector editions of games are fucking stupid.
Xenikos @ Mar 31st 2007 8:12PM
Who the hell wants upgraded packaging? Do most people even save packaging?!? Give me my figurine, or something useful.
Joshua @ Mar 31st 2007 8:24PM
Why get mad about this? If people want the Collector's Edition, let them have it. If you want just the game, then just buy that. You people have to learn to take it down a notch.
Shagittarius @ Mar 31st 2007 8:47PM
Some of us collect games beacuse we respect the medium. Some of you don't care about the medium and therefore will not have collectors items to give to you kids years from now. INstead you can download the ISO and tell them simply, I enjoyed this game.
This is the same reason why digital distribution will never succeed.
Imadogg99 @ Mar 31st 2007 9:21PM
"Or is it possible that a limited edition was already in the works and the signing effort was a way to drum up publicity, or deflect any negativity from fans who view collector's editions as nothing more than a cash grab?"
That's what I was gonna say. But yea if 18,000 people signed then it's ok.
sheppy @ Mar 31st 2007 9:29PM
For those bitching about collectors editions....
I have one of these headed my way via UPS.
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-bj-77-2-49-en-15-dj%2Bmax-70-1upl.html
Having said that, I'm trying rather hard to find something that interests me about this game and it's all summed up to AI. As it stands, I'm not really into Bioshock right now. Natch, I'll rent it when it drops but it just doesn't seem up my alley. Especially considering so many people are claiming it's an RPG and I know I sound old school, I prefer turn based.
One of my current greatest fears with Mass Effect (and they haven't unveiled the behind the stats aspect yet so I'm holding my breath) is that, since it's a shooter with RPG stats, let's say I pop off a headshot. But does the damage dealt receive penalties based upon my lack of experience with a style of gun/eyesight to range and even terrain stats?
Yes, it's that nerdy shit that I want to find out about Mass Effect, not the ability to use a dialogue menu in the middle of a conversation.
mccomber @ Mar 31st 2007 9:58PM
Are there any sales numbers comparing "limited edition" packages vs the regular release for previous games, at least in the first month or two of sales? I'm sure it's worth it financially, I just wonder how worth it it is...
gLitterbug @ Mar 31st 2007 10:12PM
It amuses me that people complain that Collector's Editions of game EXIST at all rather than the fact that lots of them just try to cash off with cheap extra stuff like a small dvd-sized art booklet and a crappy ten times folded poster.
If it is reasonably priced and contains at least a Soundtrack and a large format artbook it's already enough to justify its existence in my opinion. Since I like both of those things and getting them on their own if available at all usually costs more than if they produce a CE, which more people will buy than if they had to buy stuff separately.
horngreen @ Mar 31st 2007 10:40PM
I don't care if they release "collectors" versions or not. As a 40 year old with my original Atari 2600 and an Atari 800 shoved in a closet I have to wonder about the term "collectible or Legendary edition". Video games have THE WORST resale value of anything out there. You will NOT put a kid through college with your old games especially if it was originally marketed as a collectors item. That crappy plastic Master Chief helmet? It will still be a crappy plastic helmet in 30 years only nobody will know or care who Master Chief was. The DVD with artwork and the making of stuff on it? Does artwork that is distributed on a DVD to the masses EVER go up in value? Your kid will enjoy the Solid Snake figure about as much as you enjoyed your fathers Johnny Quest and Haji action figures. I'm surprised people are shocked that a game company would agree to make a collectors edition when you cram 5000+ signitures down their throat all but screaming "I'll pay $150 for two DVDs and a keychain!"
Negativecool @ Apr 1st 2007 2:22AM
My thoughts exactly horngreen. I find Shagittarius's comments pretty funny by comparison---"and therefore will not have collectors items to give to you kids years from now" - I hope my kids are smart enough to collect assets and not blow their money on stupid liabilities.
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Apr 1st 2007 3:28AM
Upgraded packaging?! Are you people RETARDED?
I don't want a poster with nasty permanent folds in it. I don't want a DVD with "behind-the-scenes" making-of footage, and I don't need a stupid emobssed box.
Give me artwork, or a laser cel reproduction of some artwork. Signatures are better.
The thing that makes me think this whole thing is a fraud is the part where they talk about how people started the petition in response to how awesome the story is...for a game that isn't released.
This seems like an April Fools Joke some people actually fell for.
ppk514 @ Apr 1st 2007 10:00AM
"...But does the damage dealt receive penalties based upon my lack of experience with a style of gun/eyesight to range and even terrain stats?..."
~Sheppy
Ever play Deus Ex or System Shock 2? Both games have rpg elements and they work great while staying a shooter. Irrational did a really good job implementing rpg elements into System Shock 2 and so far from everything I can tell it looks like bioshock will be doing something very similar.
Trust me the game will be great if it's anything like system shock 2 it will be a thinking man's shooter/ rpg with a horror twist and very hard!!! They make it hard so you have to resort to other things then just "popping off a head shot".
Great game, better make that damn Figure with the ce.
sheppy @ Apr 1st 2007 12:36PM
@Negative Cool and Hormgreen
You are likely someone who does not care about how things are made. You would likely hate pooring over tons of pages of conceptual artwork or even interviews on how they achieved the AI they were aiming for. You are very likely the kind of people who limit their experience to simply what they are enjoying at that moment. Which is good for you, congrats. You know what you want and you obtain it.
Meanwhile, I enjoy snagging artbooks all the time. I love the interviews with designers and unlike so very very many on this website, I even read post mortems all the time (articles the developers put up about the paths they took while creating a game, things that were achieved and things that they failed on). So for me, if they load a CE up with that kind of stuff, I'm all about it. If I'm interested in the core game.
Let's just put it this way. A game is a cake. Cake is delicious. But how much better will it be with ice cream?
Mr Khan @ Apr 1st 2007 3:04PM
You know it would be funny if this game wound up sucking, i don't think it will (all signs point to GOOD)
I just think it would be funny if people had begged for a collecter's edition for a game that stank
Defenestrator2.0 @ Apr 1st 2007 8:43PM
@ #11, horngreen
It's not about the longevity. It's about the cool swag that comes with it. You know, the stuff that you will unearth years from now, then have a wave of nostalgia hammer you.
Best collectors edition ever in my opinion is the Oblivion one for the PC. That Septim is just so goddamned cool.
Steve @ Apr 1st 2007 8:41PM
"Some of us collect games beacuse we respect the medium. Some of you don't care about the medium and therefore will not have collectors items to give to you kids years from now."
Give to your kids; are you freaking serious? Yeah I bet in a 15 years or so someone's kids are really going cherish the crappy plastic replica master chief helmet and a metal box for some old game they could care less about. If my father waere to give me, upon coming of age, say a Mario keychain, I would have disowned him. That's one of the most fantastically ridiculous statements I've ever read.
Respect for the medium has nothing to do with buying useless tchotchkies made in a factory in China.
Defenestrator2.0 @ Apr 1st 2007 8:44PM
Oh, and THANK YOU SO MUCH SHEPPY. Now I am hungry for some cake and ice cream, but I don't have any. FARK.