Oh, those country exclusives...

This time, good ol' France received this particular boxset for the PSP: Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker with the accessories made by HORI if I am correct. These accessories were available as a separate bundle, but GAME in France received it as an exclusive special edition pack that comes with the game, which makes this an exclusive collectible.

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'This is the last game I will make', said no Kojima ever.

Okay, this one wasn't exactly made by Kojima, but still, it's another Metal Gear (in title, at least). I was a little envious that the Japanese goto a pretty awesome Play Arts Kai figure of Raiden. I don't really need to have a figure or statue in every edition that I buy but I really expected to see a Limited Edition in Europe with that figure. And that's exactly what they did! The bad news is that the editions come with nothing else but the game and the figure. That's a little poor, but still nice anyway.

This is yet another game I still didn't have the time to play. "So what the hell do you play if you buy so many games?", you ask. Well, I played Tomb Raider recently as well as Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations. I've also been playing some older Mega Drive games.  I want to play this game, God of War Ascension and Bioshock Infinite but first I might pick one of those HD collections recently released (probably Zone of the Enders) and give it a try.

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Mother of Castlevania!

It took me over 5 years to buy this game. It's not the only one that I'm missing but it certainly is, by far, one of the hardest to get. Castlevania Vampire's Kiss for the Super Nintendo, complete. Outer box is not mint (I wish it was) but it's still in a very good condition and it's the real deal, not a repro. Now I'm only missing an original copy of Belmont's Revenge for the original GB, the first two NES games and Order of Ecclesia for NDS.

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What? An NTSC game? No way!

Again, it's not every day that I buy NTSC games. It's a shame I know, but since I don't have money for everything (really, I am far from being rich. I'm not kidding!) I usually just focus on PAL versions. If someone out there actually pays attention to all the crap I write in my blog, I might get shot for saying I only collect PAL games again. But when a Special Edition like this appears for a little over 10 euros, it's pretty tough to let it go. This was one of Play-Asia's promotions. ThE game, Otomedius Excellent is not going to be released over here. It's an average shooter according to the media, but for a little over 10 euros plus shipping it was totally worth. I decided to skip the NTSC Deathsmile CE though.

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PS3 and Xbox 360 again, for both systems. Someone make me stop.

Ok, I'm not that hyped, considering I only played 1/5 or so of the first game before my Xbox 360 became ill with the usual Ring of Red (ill? more like died and resurrected), and after purchasing a Slim model I still didn't play it.

Anyway, I just couldn't miss the N7 edition of this game so I bought it. Well... actually, I bought two. The Xbox version and the PS3 version. I usually don't buy the same edition for the two different systems unless there's a good reason to do so.  My preferences would be just the 360 version, because it all started there and because it's the only console with the limited editions of the previous games. But then, the PS3 had a different box. Yeah, I prefer the PS3 box. So I bought it. How lame is that? Silly excuse to be paying double just because the box is different in a time I really really need money to buy other things and had to be selling some doubles. There are obviously other reasons behind, but you don't really need to know those. 

The first time I did that was probably with the FFXIII Collector's Edition but being such a huge FF fan I really wanted to get both. The same thing is true for the Crystal Edition. I originally missed the PS3 version because scumbag HMV decided to cancel my preorder one week before the release date, by the time it was nearly sold out everywhere else, so I bought the only version I found: the 360. I usually have some sort of preferences when I buy a particular game for a particular system of more than a system get the game. In FF's case, it's quite esay to find out why I would prefer the PS3 version...

Then the same thing happened with Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. Preordered the PS3 version, then found out they weren't numbered and they would get an Australian release. Suddenly, a wild 360 version appears. Just to make sure I wasn't going to regret, I prerodered it. Yeah, you all know what happened to the PS3 version when the first 4000 were announced. BOOM, 200 to 500 pounds on ebay. Scumbag sellers...

I also have another copy of Dead Space 2 Collector's Edition waiting for me. I preferred the 360 version because it included the chinese-made plasma cutter replica... I mean, that thing is indeed crappy as it DOESN'T EVEN ROTATE. There are many things that upset me a lot, like poverty, wars, bad behaviour and stuff like that, but something as silly as the fact that this replica doesn't even rotate really tingles my nerves. Anyway I knew the PS3 version included the full edition of Dead Space Extraction and the differences between the two would justify owning both. Finally my dear good friends (not...) Johnny and Dark-Vash found a few copies lying on a stote still sealed for a little less than 12 euros and they decided to call me. I'm thrilled (almost... not quite actually). They told me it sounds gay when I thank them, but I must, so - thanks guys :P

...

And more recently... There ya go! Dead Island GOTY Limited Edition for both Xbox 360 and PS3. I actually intend to play this one online with a couple of mates :P

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Some weird acessory from the 80s

I heard it's pretty uncommon... Not the sort of thing you can find lying around, especially in brand new condition. But for some weird reason quite a few of these popped up in recent times and I bought one for me. The NES Laser Scope with that kid on the cover... this looks really weird. I'm sure I'd freak out if I was given this when I was a kid. This is as ugly as it works (if that even makes any sense).

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Castlevania meets Vanquish in a senseless post I made.

The two editions above are from two very recent games. I loved Vanquish, seriously. It's probably the most overrated game in the market right now, but I loved it seriously. It's too short, but good. Really good. I am not a big fan of shooters but this one... oh boy! However... this special editions s not that great, unless you like an action figure. This is not even a special edition, but rather a figure and the game with the lenticular cover sticked together with shrinkwrap around both. Some crappy editions have been released in recent days but if you want to call something a special edition of a game at the very least you must make sure that there's a place where the game must fit...

The other one is Castlevania Lord of Shadow. I did not enjoy the demo that much, it's too much God of War-ish in my opinion, but without the same feeling. That was my first impression of the game when pictures opped up. Some people wanted to believe the game had it's own magic, the magic that only exists in Castlevania games. But still, even after playing the demo I did not feel that magic. I'm still open minded and expect to change my opinion about the game as soon as I get the chance to play it. This Limited Collector's Edition kicks ass though, it's pretty good, not the best but good.

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Metal Gear Solid 4 big tin

Finally, I managed to grab one of the most important items that I did not expect to win any time soon. It's not the french version that comes with all the leaflets (I was told the leaflets don't come with the tin itself though) but at least I got that huge box that was released in VERY small quantities. This one's the Metal Gear Solid 4 kit given to the media. The press kit I got came from Spain and comes with a factory sealed copy of the game, a giant poster, a t-shirt and the most important thing... the big box. No leaflets like the french version. Hope to get those press leaflets some day or so but right now I'm pretty happy that I got this. I really did not expected to find this any time in the future considering that very very few tins surfaced so far.

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The gift I bougth myself for birthday

Sometimes I'm lucky. And find some great bargains when I decide to search for them. It happened with some games that I focused on getting, and really managed to get a few time later. Other times, I simply am not lucky. And this game bellow is the greatest example of something I did not buy for ages simply because I trusted my luck and expected to find it for a cheap price. Unfortunately, the opposite happened. Not only I was unable to find it, but the fact that I was giving priority to the special editions and promo packs (whose price has been rising stupidly enough) made me dellay its purchase for a long time. Long enough to its price increase significantly.

I usually don't take a picture of a single game if it's something common. But tis one deserves attention though. Not for being rare, not for being special or limited, not for being something I was dying for. But for being a particular game that I decided to buy a long time ago but never managed to do that until now. After such a long time, and thanks to a great, friendly person from the other side of the world who did not mind to send this to me, I finally got it. Not for the price I'd expect to pay some years ago, but deffinitely worth every cent I paid for it. It's just a shame that I barely have time to play it... I don't even own a Mega CD, never managed to get one in the condition I'd like, but that's far from being my greatest sin as a collector. I can still play the game thanks to the only unboxed console I have in my collection (and the fact that it's unboxed is starting to bother me quite a lot - so I guess I already know what's gonna follow next...).

From the genious creator of Metal Gear Solid (or that's what I hear at least), the one and only: Snatcher :). Now that I have the Pal one, gotta find the original japanese version (which is quite easier to get as well as cheaper) thanks to the censorship crap that I really hate. For god's sake, these are fictional games with cartoonish scenes, who the hell would be affected by this?

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Pro Evolution Soccer in my collection? NO WAY!

Well, the title says it all... I hate football (or is it soccer?) the way it is now. I only enjoy playing with friends in real life, but I really don't like watching games on TV and I don't care about who wins/loses. One reason why I hate it is because of its popularity (compared to other sports, specially over here, where only football seems to matter...) and the way a lot of people react when their team wins or loses. Football has too much importance over here and it's considered a priority over interesting tv shows or important news.

Anyway, I am a collector and I still enjoy playing football videogames every now and then (though not for too long). I'd probably skip this game if it wasn't for this particular edition, which I'm pretty happy to own now: the promotional copy of PES 2009 Liverpool Edition. Quite rare, unavailable for sale. It's something really worth collecting for sure!

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Even great heroes get old...

Solid Snake is a well known character from the videogaming history. Ever since the NES version of the genius creator Hideo Kojima was released, the fame of this series increased drastically, specially after the release of Metal Gear Solid for Playstation 1. I was amazed when I bought the game and thought it was the best game I had played in a long time. Solid Snake is back, this time older than before. This will be the final game according to Mr. Kojima (well, the first Final Fantasy game was supposed to be the only one anyway so we will see what happens in the future). This is the European Limited Edition. Looking at Ebay prices and not being able to find any available for sale a few hours after the game was available over here, I knew I was in trouble to get it.

However, Luck was on my side. Because of the major strike among European truck drivers due to the increasing price in fuels and oil, the release date of this game over here was delayed for one day. I was unable to get the special edition in the release day. However, since the release day was also a holiday in Lisbon, I knew that my only chance to get this edition for the right price was to go to the most important store in Lisbon the next day (Saturday) and get it as soon as it opened. Luckily, there was a single edition left, in perfect condition, when I got there. It is now mine ^_^!

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Picture Rampage

I promised a lot of pictures, but since my camera's battery is done for, I could not take them. So I'll just add some more that I have in my laptop at this moment. Here it goes...

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Favourite editions #4

This Metal Gear Solid 3 book is a very interesting one. It comes with a paper model of Metal Gear to build and several leaflets about the game. Also includes information about the Twin Snakes on GC. This is one of the official leaflets released in Europe to promote the game and is very hard to find. I will post the other edition when I have te chance.

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