Halo 5 Gets Mysterious $250 Special Edition

[Sarah LeBoeuf]

Halo 5 Gets Mysterious $250 Special Edition

To celebrate the official start of the Halo 5: Guardians beta today, Microsoft announced three versions of the Q4 2015 game at $60, $100, and $250.

We're only about a year away from 343 Industries' next chapter in Microsoft's flagship series, with the beta for Halo 5: Guardians [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/halo%205?from_search=1&&os=halo+5] officially getting underway this week. To commemorate the beta's kick-off, Microsoft has announced three versions of Halo 5 that will be available at launch: the $59.99 Standard Edition, $99.99 Limited Edition, and a Limited Collector's Edition, which rings in at a whopping $249.99. So just what do you get for that much money? Well, that's to be determined later--but rest assured you can pre-order now.

Fans who pre-order the Standard Edition will receive a poster in addition to the base game, while the $100 Limited Edition includes "digital content to enhance Spartan combat and exclusive items wrapped in a uniquely designed steel book," according to Xbox Wire [http://news.xbox.com/2014/12/games-halo-5-preorder-and-beta]. The Limited Collector's Edition has all that and more, but the "more" is pretty vague: "additional content such as a commemorative numbered statue designed by 343 Industries," with details coming later.

This is, of course, disastrous launch of Halo: The Master Chief Collection [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93690-Collectors-Edition-I-Spent-130-For-This] to boot.

Unless you're the world's biggest Master Chief fan, it's probably not unreasonable to hold off on reserving anything until you've at least rumors about a shake-up [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/conferences/e32014/11583-Halo-Master-Chief-Collection-Tides-Fans-Over-for-Halo-5-With-Mul] in Microsoft's Q4 2015 schedule don't come to pass.

Source: Xbox Wire [http://news.xbox.com/2014/12/games-halo-5-preorder-and-beta]

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[laggyteabag]

Why on earth would anybody pre-order something that costs $250 when the don't even know what is in it other than the game and "a statue" (and probably a bunch of exclusive tat that you will never look at/ use/ read.[footnote]As someone who bought the £120 Legendary Edition of Halo: Reach, I sure as hell didn't.[/footnote])?

Pre-ordering one of 343s games as it stands is a pretty silly move as it stands, especially after the (as far as I am aware) still mostly broken Master Chief Collection.

EDIT: Even seeing that the limited edition version of the game is $99.99 is a pretty eye-watering amount of money, especially considering that all you are getting is a metal box and probably an exclusive piece of armour in game or something.

 

[XenoScifi]

Why on earth would anybody pre-order something that costs $250 when the don't even know what is in it other than the game and "a statue" (and probably a bunch of exclusive tat that you will never look at/ use/ read.[footnote]As someone who bought the £120 Legendary Edition of Halo: Reach, I sure as hell didn't.[/footnote])?

Pre-ordering one of 343s games as it stands is a pretty silly move as it stands, especially after the (as far as I am aware) still mostly broken Master Chief Collection.

To be honest even if 1 person orders this I am pretty sure whoever came up with this idea will literally shrug and say "I cannot believe that worked".

To be serious this is and has been a problem for some time now. Preorders alone are a huge problem. Prepaying for a game with little to no info is just insane. I just cannot seem to wrap my head around the fact that people just keep fueling this trend.

 

[Eri]

If people haven't learned after the shitshow that was the MCC, then they never will.

 

[Paragon Fury]

From what I've heard from people playing the H5:G Beta today, its basically Call of Duty wearing a Halo skin. And that 343 Industries straight up lied about ADS and hipfire.

I'll test it myself when it finishes downloading.

 

[Shinkicker444]

Lied about it? How so? In that the game would/n't have it?

 

[Objectable]

Wait:
Halo 5 has a subtitle?
That is so damn weird.
Like, the Halo games with subtitles have always been spinoffs like ODST and Reach and God-Awful RTS.
But this is a mainline game.
Holy damn shit

 

[Product Placement]

Oh boy, oh boy. So, for $250 we'll not only get the game but also... the box?

 

[EHKOS]

Oh boy, oh boy. So, for $250 we'll not only get the game but also... the box?

I mean a boat's a boat, but the box could be anything. It could even be a boat! You know how much we've always wanted one of those.

OT: So, we've had some bloody awful pre-order fiascos in gaming history. And they haven't even revealed what it will be yet. And people are still going to buy it. Let's just take a calm, deep breath, forget how realist and cynical we can be, gloss over this, and go play a video game. Because I don't think I can take this stuff anymore. I mean, Borderlands 2 is the only other game that hit that price that I know of, and that had tons of cool stuff in it. I don't think a normal statue is going to justify the price.

 

[Rozalia1]

To be serious this is and has been a problem for some time now. Preorders alone are a huge problem. Prepaying for a game with little to no info is just insane. I just cannot seem to wrap my head around the fact that people just keep fueling this trend.

Pre ordering is not a problem, calm down. Secondly people will buy what they want and you should respect that, an attitude that amounts to "everyone else is an idiot, but I'm ever so smart" isn't very beautiful.

 

[NPC009]

I've got nothing against a nice collector's edition and I guess I can understand people pre-ordering a game they're really looking forward to (even if it's as big as Halo and there will be a bazillion copies available anyway), but paying $250 for a mystery box is just really, really silly.

 

[Evonisia]

I've never really understood the appeal of getting the ultra mega awesome edition of these games. Unless it's illegal to sell the extra stuff I don't anyway.

But I do wonder what this special edition will turn out to be (and whether it will include an apology letter so we don't go through Star Wars Episode II in video game form).

 

[FirstNameLastName]

I hope the $250 version is just the base game with a post-it note saying "Ha ha sucker, thanks for the money you chump!"

Yes I can be vindictive and petty!

 

[Ihateregistering1]

For $250, it should come with an actual guy in a Master Chief suit, who does my laundry and mows the lawn while I play the game.

 

[XenoScifi]

To be serious this is and has been a problem for some time now. Preorders alone are a huge problem. Prepaying for a game with little to no info is just insane. I just cannot seem to wrap my head around the fact that people just keep fueling this trend.

Pre ordering is not a problem, calm down. Secondly people will buy what they want and you should respect that, an attitude that amounts to "everyone else is an idiot, but I'm ever so smart" isn't very beautiful.

Better yet you could also respect my opinion as that is what it was, and not turn my opinion into a fact for it was not a fact and just my honest opinion.

An in my opinion yes this HAS been an ongoing issue in gaming. Look at some of the dredge garbage that has come out that also included a preorder option. Unproven, buggy AAA titles are being presold as finished products.

And in my opinion you are right on one thing. People will buy what they want. Publishers prey on them. This is why we continue to have preorders and founders packs and all the other prebuy options still seen today.

 

[Xman490]

$250 is so high that I thought it was the price of an Xbox One bundle. Admittedly, the price is too low for the console, but it is within the range of me considering the XbOne.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Lied about it? How so? In that the game would/n't have it?

They said in the "Making of Beta" video that they were going to be keeping in the spirit of the lore and old Halo games and that it wasn't going to be "ADS" but instead like the Smart Scope from older Halos (where you're zoomed in, but not actually looking down the sights. Think Halo 1 Magnum or the Battle Rifle). And that you wouldn't move any slower or be any more accurate.

Well, you don't move any slower. That much is true.

But it is straight up, 100% ADS otherwise.

You aim down the sights like its straight up CoD or Battlefield; the BR and SMG now have a Red Dot Sight and the DMR has an ACOG (3.4x) scope. You aim down the barrel of the AR and Magnum (and it projects a Dot Sight for both).

Aiming down sights also makes a couple of weapons - namely the AR and SMG - far more accurate; and ADS makes using the DMR and BR far easier.

So yeah. Halo now has straight up ADS.

 

[Ylla]

Yeah i recall the 100USD edition of Halo 4, that was worth 150USD in my country, had only access to 9 maps that nobody ever played because of matchmaking and gamelist issues, and a bunch of meaningless plastic bags of nothing.
No thank you.

 

[Ruagh]

$250

For $250 the game would need to be the greatest piece of entertainment I had ever experienced, which would put to shame all other games, of all genres, the that came before and this game. I would need to weep tears of pure joy and ecstasy upon beholding even a single moment of this game.

Now I like the Halo games, but I find myself somehow dubious that the game will be of this quality.

 

[laggyteabag]

To be serious this is and has been a problem for some time now. Preorders alone are a huge problem. Prepaying for a game with little to no info is just insane. I just cannot seem to wrap my head around the fact that people just keep fueling this trend.

Pre ordering is not a problem, calm down. Secondly people will buy what they want and you should respect that, an attitude that amounts to "everyone else is an idiot, but I'm ever so smart" isn't very beautiful.

Pre-ordering is a pretty big problem. Let me clarify: If someone trusts a developer to not fuck up and they want to ensure that they want to get it on day one, then sure, be my guest, and I am happy that you trust this developer so much that you would pay for a product that does not yet exist. Cool. You can do what you want.

What I, and many other people take issue with, however, is this whole "Pre-order now for the exclusive ________________ pack!" trend that started a couple of years ago. This punishes those that cannot get the game on launch day for whatever reason, or those that simply want to wait for reviews to see if the game is a buggy mess or just not up to the standard that they were previously shown to be (god knows that we had enough of those this year). So if someone does then decide to pick the game up at a later date, even if they still buy it for full price, they are getting an objectively worse package because of it. Isn't that just silly?