StarCraft II Collector's Edition Revealed

[Greg Tito]

StarCraft II Collector's Edition Revealed

Blizzard outdoes itself with the StarCraft II Collector's Edition: how can $99 feel like it's too little to pay for this much awesome?

As someone who has bought all of the collector's editions for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty [http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Battle-Chest-Mac/dp/B000H96C9M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278690424&sr=8-2] collector's edition and I start to giggle shamefully like the fanboy I am. I don't even care that it costs a hundred bones. Do want.

There's no date set yet, but the beta has been out for a while so we may get a release date soon. Wings of Liberty is only the first of three StarCraft II titles and focuses on the Terran race, with a Zerg and Protoss campaign to follow.

Here's what you get for all of that love:

The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a 176-page book featuring artwork from the game
An exclusive 2GB USB flash drive replica of Jim Raynor's dog tag, which comes preloaded with the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War expansion set
A behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, cinematics with director's commentary, and more
The official StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty soundtrack CD, containing 14 epic tracks from the game along with exclusive bonus tracks
StarCraft comic book issue #0, a prequel to the comic series
A World of Warcraft mini Thor in-game pet that can be applied to all World of Warcraft characters on a single Battle.net account
Exclusive Battle.net downloadable content, including special portraits for your Battle.net profile, decals to customize your units in-game, and a visually unique version of the terran Thor unit

The Jim Raynor USB dogtags with the original games are just sweet, and the fact that you can customize your units in game, that's pure awesome-sauce. The rest is standard gravy, but knowing Blizz, its standard gravy tastes pretty damn good, especially when its poured over the chicken-fried steak of actually playing SC2. (I think I've exhausted this metaphor, don't you?)

Retailing for $100 is a bold move, considering other CEs top out around $80-90. But some inexplicable reason, I think this one might be worth it.

I'm just pissed that I'm going to have to buy a total three of these for StarCraft II, as I'm sure there will be special editions for Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void. Damn you Blizzard for being so awesome!

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[Not G. Ivingname]

...Wow, in an age of collector editions being cheap spray painted toys from China and maybe an art book or two, this seams like it really deserves the name Collector Edition.

 

[Sir Kemper]

My god...

That thing looks like it could be the holy fucking grail!

 

[John Funk]

Holy crap.

Do want.

 

[RanD00M]

So it contains everything but the game itself? Well that's kinda weird.

 

[MorteSphere]

Time to start saving.

 

[Korias]

Holy crap.

Do want.

Couldnt have said that better myself. That is one fine piece of gaming history, wrapped up in a freaking AWESOME battlechest.

 

[Warrior Irme]

So it contains everything but the game itself? Well that's kinda weird.

I think that part was implied. I am tempted to pick this up and then try to make some money back a couple months later on selling the WoW pet to some silly pet hoarder. (No offence to all the hunters out there, I mean the silly NCP collectors)

 

[oneplus999]

Now the question is, how much will the WoW pet sell for on ebay afterwards? If you want to play sc2, but don't happen to play wow, you could probably recoup a lot of the cost that way.

 

[Aptspire]

God, I can't wait
also, I get the appeal of the Thor pet

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

I don't even care about Starcraft II and I'm in awe.

So it contains everything but the game itself? Well that's kinda weird.

A true Collector would've used connections to make a Pre-Order on Starcraft II the moment the 1st Starcraft was announced, thus already having the game Pre-Ordered and making the Collectors Edition containing the game utterly pointless.

Or they found that saying the game came with it was pointless, like how 360 Games no longer say Achievement Enabled on the back of the cases anymore.

 

[Fayathon]

Holy crap.

Do want.

Seconded, that was the first thing that went through my head, and I hate special editions.

 

[Delusibeta]

Now that's what I call a collector's edition. Coffee table art book, The Complete Starcraft 1 on a USB, behind the scenes DVD, soundtrack CD and downloadable bonus swag. Gravy indeed.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

A collectors Edition that actually effects the game? HOLY ZERGLING DROPPINGS!

Calumon: Whoa... Want it soooooo much!

 

[Jared]

Thats a fairly good boxset for tghe price too. Thats certainly worthy of the title of collectors edition.

Only thing that could have beat it is Bioshock 2 did come with Big Daddy XD

 

[RanD00M]

A true Collector would've used connections to make a Pre-Order on Starcraft II the moment the 1st Starcraft was announced, thus already having the game Pre-Ordered and making the Collectors Edition containing the game utterly pointless.

Or they found that saying the game came with it was pointless, like how 360 Games no longer say Achievement Enabled on the back of the cases anymore.

I know that thinking that the game is included is self given.But think about it.Ever since Activision and Blizz merged,the quality of WoW has declined.And yet they make oodles of money.So they might sell the CE edition,and then you have to spend another $40 to get the actual game.

 

[dochmbi]

"decals to customize your units in-game" This worries me a bit, could hurt competitive gaming if it makes identifying units more difficult.

 

[GodKlown]

I must still be part of the minority who isn't excited about SC2. When they said there was no LAN play, they lost me. Blizz seems to be really into the whole CE version of games, but doesn't this seem like putting the cart a mile before the horse on this one since the game isn't even out yet, and they are already planning a CE version?

I am honestly not trying to be pessimistic about this game. It has been a long time since SC was new, and with a fresh generation getting exposure to this, it is something to be excited about. You can only hear Blizz talk about WoW so long before you tune out any news about Blizz at all if you aren't in to WoW. With the diminishing returns they are finally seeing on their prize cash cow project, and hopefully with Diablo 3 coming along in short order, I still have some faith in Blizz to create something that doesn't emulate WoW in a different dressing. SC is a universe unto itself, as is Diablo, but sadly games of those genres are falling in step with WoW because gamers are more familiar with the system in place.

Anyone think the replacement for WoW will eventually be World Of StarCraft?

 

[thenumberthirteen]

This fills me with an urge to buy this game, and hunger for Steaks and Gravy. Mmmmmm...