People at home can do a better job than huge companies sometimes.

I'm pretty sure I've talked about this before. One of the many factors killing this awesome hobby of collecting videogames is the fact that many great games are coming out as digital versions only. Even big games come to our markets unfinished and you have to pay for the missing pieces that most people call DLC. I'm also pretty sure I've stated the cons and pros of digital games in a previous text.

Companies, mostly the BIG ones, are not that interested in anything else but profit. There are several exceptions to this rule, but most just want to fill in more money. They don't really care about collectors who do not appreciate digital goods. They don't care if half the civilized world doesn't get their awesome exclusive editions due to country exclusivities. Not too long ago, even Square Enix and Ubisoft would release certain limited editions exclusive to EMEA territories in their websites but they wouldn't ship to Portugal and they still don't ship to a ton of areas located in EMEA territory, which is just ridiculous: "hey, we have this exclusive edition in our website available to your country, but you cannot buy it because we don't ship to you." Yes, it's just as dumb as it sounds, but they don't care. Business, business, business, that's all that matters. Let's not forget there are always exceptions to this rule, but I'm generalizing and I don't mind if it sounds bad.

Thankfully, there are some people out there who completely understand the perspective of those like me who still like to collect physical games. Not only they understand but they also have the balls to start their own project of actually releasing region free, limited retail copies of games that otherwise would just be available in digital format. This time, I'm particularly referring to Limited Run Games. Multimillionaire companies never have the same concerns as these guys who already started doing their awesome job. 

I was lucky enough to hear about them shortly before the first game was produced and released. I usually miss these things, but I was just lucky this time. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you the very first game called Breach & Clear, by Mighty Rabbit Studios, Inc, released in a limited number of region free physical copies by Limited Run Games. This first successful launch was obviously targeted by some scalpers but this is an indie team we're talking about and I know they'll take all necessary measures to prevent this cancerous behaviour from spreading across their games. I will get all their physical releases while I can. It's my duty as a collector to support a company that's doing something as awesome as these guys.

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Before the 3rd one comes out...

I spend a long time searching for deals and looking for information on upcoming editions just to make sure I do not miss any of the really special stuff. Suddenly, sh!t happens and, as a result, I only get there too late.

It's been a long time since I've heard of those exclusive HMV covers and slipcases. They had quite a few of these some years ago. And there I was, randomly searching the internet when I suddenly come across this limited, numbered cover for Dark Souls II. Sometimes I'm not in a rush to get one limited item and there are several reasons for that: price, quality of the game, unpopular series, whatsoever. But... damn, this was Dark Souls II. I hardly collect NTSC versions but I even bought the deluxe edition of the first title because I thought it would never be released in Europe. As soon as I learned that HMV released this limited edition cover, I had an urge to get it. At first, I thought that it was already too late and most were gone to collector's hands who would either not sell it at all or ask a ton of money for it. Thankfully, I was wrong.

It seems that not too many people know about the existence of this cover. This even includes those casual buyers who bought it back at release date, which means they appear for sale every now and then without ridiculous prices. After knowing this existed, it took me a few minutes to find one copy on auction and a couple of days to finally win the bid. Unfortunately, it's not factory sealed. Still, I'm more than glad to have it. I know I mentioned above how special and important the Demon's Souls or Dark Souls series is but, to be honest, I never really bothered playing it. I know how hard it is. Since this limited edition was not sealed, I decided to give it a try. After one hour I gave up. I gave up playing it even before knowing how hard it is. The first enemies were easy but I forgot how many times I died by falling off ledges because I couldn't figure out the way or the camera got messed up. What a noob! *spit*. 

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Some people have nothing better to do...

I'm feeling a little depressed right now. Last Thursday I was engaged in a street fight because one stupid guy decided to punch me instead of sorting the problem with dialogue. I thought I had a bad day, until I heard about the incidents in Paris (France), Baga (Nigeria) and Beirut (Lebanon). Just what the hell is going...

So in order to cheer things up here's a little something. Mario Maker amiibo bundle with the classic coloured, pixelated Mario. Great concept, nice amiibo. That's enough of amiibo, Nintendo. 

There's another ton of them coming soon though...

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Time flies...

Several years ago, when I originally started to become a fan of Japanese games, anime and all that stuff that produces weebos all over the world, I had all sorts of reasons to complain about the treatment Europe and specially this country received with most releases. Europe was and still is a complicated place for international companies to deal with. Unlike the US, Europe is divided in many different countries that greatly vary in sizes, cultures, languages, rules and markets. This obviously makes it harder to localize media in general. To make things worse, some of those countries don't really accept foreign languages very well in their products and almost require them to be translated. As a result, the hassle of localizing videogames in so many languages was a big enough problem that pushed them away from being released here. At that time, even some of the most popular and successful titles from big companies never saw a PAL release in their original format. Other titles that eventually made it here would arrive several months (sometimes years...) later. I believe I have been complaining about these things since I was about 13 or 14 years old.

Nowadays, things are completely different. So different that it's hard to think they were so bad in the past. In just a few years, the videogaming market in Europe suffered some drastic changes. At the moment there is an insane number of  Japanese titles being released for several platforms to the point that it's almost impossible to keep up with them all. The number of limited editions for both western and Japanese games is also insanely high, with certain countries receiving their own exclusive PAL versions. Even small, independent companies are opening stores and releasing limited editions and other exclusive Japanese stuff in their PAL format.

Senran Kagura Burst 2 Shinobi Edition is one of the greatest examples of Europe's current status when it comes to limited editions and exclusive items. 15 years ago, it was absolutely unthinkable to see such an "odd" title being released in PAL format, let alone a limited edition of this caliber. It's quite amazing and it makes me happy to see that the gap between Europe and Japan/US is much, much shorter.

I really don't have anything against NTSC versions. I prefer PAL versons simply because I grew up with them and became attached to them. I didn't have access to NTSC exclusive titles and my tiny childhood collection was made of PAL games only. At a certain point, when buying things online started to become a trend and I finally had access to an enormous amount of items that were previously near impossible to get, I would still be focused on just getting PAL stuff. My monetary limitations wouldn't allow me to collect everything from every region as you can imagine, so focusing on PAL games was a way to narrow down my already extensive whishlists. Sadly, this basically meant that I was leaving many masterpieces out of my collection. I just couldn't buy everything from every region as you can imagine. 

As my collection started to grow over the years, I slowly started to buy a few NTSC exclusive titles and there are still many others I expect to buy in the future. However, with so much stuff being released in Europe like I never imagined before, I have some very strong, brand new reasons to continue to focus my attention on PAL releases. 

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Jones must be jealous

Now that this series needs to be coming to its end with the release of the 4th title next year, Sony brought us back yet another HD compilation. I obviously had to buy it...

For those who already played the games on the PS3, this really isn't anything new. It might be the HD version but I'm sure the gaming experience with those gorgeous PS3 graphics can't be improved by much. However, if you have not played the games before, this is a complete MUST. Seriously, go buy it. I really want to play the 4th title and that will be a nuisance because I don't want to open my CE box. Thankfully I might have some friends who wont mind to lend me their used copies shortly after the game is released :P

In case you're wandering what the box on the right is, it's just a preorder box for the regular game. Yep. Still a good collectible though. Even  though I preordered the game, nobody gave me this box so I had to buy it separately.

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Drop the Bomb!

Now that the hype is at its maximum level just a few days before Fallout 4 finally gets released, I thought it would be a cool idea to pick up this edition even knowing it's only for the PC. It's big, looks pretty damn good and comes with lots of goodies inside. For about 50 euros, nothing could go wrong.

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Krillin dies

I don't know how many times I tried to buy this game in the past. I always considered these DBZ games on the SNES to be a little overpriced. Now that the newest Butoden game came out for the 3DS (and I still don't have that one yet...) and the new series started not too long ago, I had this urge to get the SNES games I was still missing. Hyper Dimension was my priority and I'm glad it was the first I scored. Getting the other 3 however till be a different story. I can't keep up with everything coming out recently so retro games also need to wait. 

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