I only come here to complain about Kickstarter and MuvLuv

Yeah, I'm still around but I stalled my collection and I don't think I'll ever go back to the craze of buying so much stuff like before. Every new release has at least a super expensive edition. Plenty of small companies started to release limited prints of indie games that are impossible to keep up since there are so many nowadays. Companies like Square Enix are releasing super expensive editions that are hardly worth getting for the abnormally inflated prices. We're talking about poor content or small and incomplete items in an ultra big box that make it look like an awesome edition and then sell it for 150, 200... even more than that. And a big chunk of those still sell out real fast. Yet, they are easily rivaled in quality and contents by other editions previously released over the years that would cost less than 100. The only thing going for them is the low numbers, but low numbers are not big reason enough for me to drop big bucks on something I don't feel it's worth it.

I know that things have been like this for quite a while, even when I was still a sucker for these editions and bought many of them, but now it's already over the edge.. I've bought stuff before that I didn't think it was worth it... just not for triple digits. In fact, I do have a few things I regret buying in my collection but most of them came cheap. And I've reached my point of rupture, which I've been dragging along for a few years  due to my obsession with collecting all the missable stuff.

So I got tired of all that sh!t and finally got over it. Once I got freed from the streak of buying so much stuff and learned how to miss rare items, it became much, much easier to skip almost any game or edition unless I truly wanted it. I felt relieved in a way. I went back to the good old days before I became such a hardcore collector, when I would just buy the things I truly liked the most in order to fully enjoy them instead of just getting them to satisfy my fetish. I probably should have started doing this a long time ago. When I look back, I can clearly see I took things way too far but hey, I had fun doing it so it's not like I regret or consider it a mistake.

However, there's this one thing I still couldn't get over with, the thing that I truly regret. Something that I did during my crazy moments as a collector: Kickstarter. Oh boy, do I regret ever supporting a Kickstarter project?

I was blinded by the goodies and exclusive offers that only backers had access to if they supported a project. I was so obsessed with my videogame collection that I was afraid to miss on the only chance I had to get some exclusive items, even if they came from crowdfunds. Now I see this was nothing but pure ignorance and lack of self control. If only I had placed reason above my  passion... people make mistakes, they learn, they move on. Even in less important things like buying videogames.

Out of all the kickstarter projects I've backed, only one was materialized. The others resulted in nothing even thought they were all successfully funded.

I hesitated a lot when financing MuvLuv Collector's Edition, but at the very last moment I've decided to back for the Vita Physical Collector's Edition. After waiting for an eternity for the game to get a release date and constantly dealing with recent rumors of cancellation, I now learn that an edition for this game is on preorder for a much, much lower price than the original backer kit I've selected. Not only that, but the game gets a PAL version rated by PEGI, shipped from within Europe. This means there's an official PAL rating version of this game now, and the best I can expect is a delayed ESRB rated version subject to crazy custom taxes that will arrive much later than the one non-backers will buy.

This means people who didn't back up sh!t will get a physical edition much, much cheaper, and also much faster. So where does that leave me at? As a backer, someone who helped making the game possible outside of Japan, it certainly doesn't leave me happy. I might sound selfish, but I just can't ignore the fact that this is truly unfair. I'm fine with other people getting the game, but I'm not fine with knowing I was one of the backers who helped this project but end up burned. If I just had enough patience, I would have ended up buying the edition now and get it faster without going through a lot of sh!t for a few years, but who would have guessed?

Moral of the story: no more kickstarter or crowdfunds for me. There's no benefit.

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Always hard to let things like this to pass by...

I'm at that point again when it's impossible to keep up with so much stuff being released at the same time, so I have to make decisions and just get what's really important.

Sometimes, however, some unexpected things pop up and it just isn't possible to let those things pass by. Some time ago, I've heard about an extremely limited edition of the videogame Superbeat Xonic in the United States. Sadly, costumers from around the world were not allowed to buy that. The good thing about something you definitely shouldn't be able to get is... you save the money to spend on something else. But then, limited editions and some underground games are always popping up to make you waste your money unexpectedly. That's true for those who have a weak spirit, like me...

And this suddenly appeared in Europe. Superbeat Xonic Limited Edition, individually numbered and limited to 500 pieces only. How could I let this one pass by? I couldn't. Just not possible.

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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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Do you have an invitation, sir?

There are some really weird games out there, and this one I'm now posting is probably one of them. I'm not sure what type of game this is... a hentai-ish JRPG with turn-based system and very limited animations that don't really make justice to Vita's capabilities is probably just one attempt at describing what this game is like. Again, this wasn't something I planned to buy on day one, but I had two good reasons to preorder it. First, it was nearly sold out. Second, it comes from an awesome company called NISA Europe that recently opened an European website and is finally selling limited editions and bonuses from all sorts of Japanese games that otherwise would never see a release date. And these are the companies I like to support. These are the companies that break the rules for the European videogaming market and they have my full support. Yes, I am still traumatized with the fact that I couldn't play so many JRPGs because the big companies didn't even bother releasing them in Europe. That fact will never go away. Some of those games were meant to be played at the time they were released, when they had that really amazing impact on players. Those who missed that right moment to play might still enjoy them a lot but it's never the same thing. Yeah, I'm pointing the finger at you, Squaresoft. 

These are the games that you need to watch out for if you're trully a collector because these things will become nasty to find in the future. The only bad part about the website is how much they actually charge for these editions and especially for shipping. However, considering how outrageously expensive Royal Mail international deliveries became in the last few years, it's only natural smaller companies can't do much but charge some impressive shipping costs. That's a shame though.

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And since we're talking about PSVita...

I finally managed to get a PSVita Press Kit. It's a book with a plastic slipcase and some sort of effect with the Playstation icons. It's actually well thought, this press kit, but unfortunately it looks plain, with few pictures or illustrations. It can actually hold the console inside, and each page presents one of the console features. It's well though it you ask me. Seems there are two versions of this press kit: the one that comes with the console and the other one that doesn't. Instead of the console, the last page has an illustration that can be removed from the page. If you remove it, you open up space to place the console.

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Now here's a GOOD reason to own a PSVita...

The original game was good and this seems to be something quite better and not just a single port. Persona 4  the Golden received special attention in the US but it will thankfully receive a PAL version as well, so maybe they will also release some sort of CE here? I don't know, but I'd love that. Since these games are region free and this one was a limited US exclusive, I thought it would be a good idea to buy it. It was sold out pretty early and I am glad I got it. It's one of the few US editions I really felt like buying. Persona games are not exactly the most popular ones, so they will eventually become sought after in the future, specially one edition such as this one in factory sealed condition.

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My first PSVita game

And what a game! One of the latest press kits to start with. Hope this means good things for the future. The press kit is still unopened and untouched and I plan on leaving it this way. I'm very glad that I actually got this :) It's not just a LBP PSVita Press kit. It also comes with a LBP Karting press disc inside. My particular press kit also came with a promo copy of LBP Karting (separately) :) This press kit looks very nice! The box has a nice touch to it!

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