Those guys from space...

I'm not really a fond of Warhammer games because the first titles are mainly strategy games for the PC and as you probably know already I don't really collect pc games. At all. Last year this Warhammer 10000 Space Marines came out and it seemed to be a 1st person shooter. It's not the first time the series takes one step sideways from the strategy style but... I'm not a fan of shooters as well. So you pick up one series that combines mostly PC games with strategy and shooting gameplay, and you probably have one series of games that I totally overlook most of the times. True story.

Even knowing there was a collector's edition for this game, I didn't really feel very interested in it. Maybe the reason why was because there were too many editions coming out at the same time and I'd prefer other games and stuff since I don't have money to buy all the stuff that's coming out. It's creepy.  Game Publishers, PLEASE STOP RELEASING SO MUCH STUFF. Videogaming markets are becoming more and more like DVDs and I do. not. like. that. AT. ALL. Thankfully - or not... - everything will change once we go digital all the way. No more physical games, no more raw materials being wasted in producing discs and cases and covers whatsoever.

Now the question is... How the hell did I start becoming ecofriendly in a message about Warhammer?

Okay, back to the subject. I was quite impressed to see the quality of this edition. The box itself is really tough! Quite durable, and great looking as well, since it has a foil effect. The contents are not the best in the world, but quality wise they come close to some of the best I've seen recently. This edition is quite an eye-candy even to me.

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Chrome Trouble

I was just told that Google Chrome wouldn't open my blog very well. So I decided to try it out. I just confirmed it. When I open it and try to scroll down, I feel the lag... I don't know why that happens if all other popular browsers I tried (IE, Opera, Firefox...) worked just fine. Image size? Number of images displayed? Overall loading times due to excessive amount of in formation in the first page? Who knows???

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Forza 1, 3, 4 and now 2

Finally managed to get a Limited Edition copy of the second game. Unfortunately it's the only Forza Collector's Edition that I don't have in a factory sealed condition but unfortunately I wasn't able to find this one sealed. The price was good, not perfect but good, but if the seller bothered protecting this properly it wouldn't arrive with a couple of scratches at the top of the outer sleeve and it would be in mint condition >:(

Content-wise, it only really brings an extra book and no other item of interest, so it's pretty weak.

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Waaaa??? It really came out!

One of the most impressive horror games released on DS was Dementium: the Ward. The game arrived in Europe a long time ago, then the second title was announced for Europe. For some particular reason, it should have been released a long time ago but it never came out and I had no idea about what happened. Every now and then I'd wander what happened to the game. For a brief moment I was thinking to import the game from the US and ironically the game finally appeared as available in Amazon's website, and with it a double pack was announced. Honestly, it certainly wasn't the best moment for me to buy such a game considering the insane amount of good stuff coming withing the next 3 months, but after all the wait for that game I though I should sacrifice some spare cash to order the double pack. It arrived the other day and in fact it's not impressive at all, only just the two factory sealed games with a paper surrounding them. I was expecting a harder box or something of that sort, but this is just a regular bundle sticked together with a paper stripe and shrinkwrap to keep all the stuff together. This is only worth if you're a serious collector or missed the first title but feel interested in buying both.

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Resident... Evvvvillllll

One beautiful sunny day, I was walking around trying to find promotions just before Xmas when I came across this thingy that I've never seen before for sale over here: a Wii Shot Blaster themed with Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles (a game I still need to get). It looked great and I had never seen one in real life before (only auction pics). The price was 16 euros : "why not?", me thinks. Decided to leave if for a few more days because I didn't have that much money at that moment, but early this month I went straight to the store and bought it. It does look great!

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PlayEnglish

This game certainly wasn't released in the UK. Why? Because it's a childish game that supposedly teaches you to write and speak English. I have no idea how the game works because I never tried to play it but the truth is it received a collector's edition (a crappy one, actually). I got it for collection purposes and obviously because it's a Portuguese CE., but it took me a fairly long time to find out one of these for a rather cheap price. I simply wasn't willing to pay the original price for this game.

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Ratcher & Clank All for (yet another) One

Yep, it's here, the newest title from the series. I always preferred Jak over Ratchet but game developers don't seem to think likewise so Jak never had the opportunity to have his own game published on PS3. Sucks. The Portuguese Edition is fully in Portuguese (obvious comment is obvious) but what I meant to say here is that even the title this time was translated unlike the previous game that retained the original English title. That sucks though, I would prefer to see the English title because that's the official thing. Does Sony think the Portuguese Market is just like the Spanish one or something? It ain't.

So here's this particular variant that you'll not get because you don't care: Ratchet & Clank: Um por Todos Edição de Coleccionador, which translates to "Ratchet & Clank One for All Collector's Edition" (Captain Obvious to the rescue). See, you now know how to write some stuff in Portuguese! Isn't that awesome? I waited a little bit to see if the price of this game would drop, and it happened last weekend.

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Zelda again for the life of me

Yep, the other side of the world received yet another exclusive edition for their exclusive pleasure, leaving the rest of the PAL territories forever alone. This time it was a Zelda game, more precisely the Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3DS. Those guys received the Ocarina Edition, which comes in a larger card box with enough space to include more stuff than it actually includes because it only comes with the Collector's Edition game and an Ocarina Replica. It's funny that this Collector's Edition game is actually just the preorder box we received in Europe, but in Europe you couldn't have a sealed copy with the game inside unless you bought the Limited Edition 3DS console with the game (which I gladly did!).

This boxset came from the UK, and I have to thank my friend Mosavon at Collectorsedition.org for forwarding the item for me and doing an amazing job with the package. All this because a certain seller clearly stated in his auction that he refused to ship outside the UK. I didn't bother asking permission or a reason for that, because I already know what the answer is like: "err I'm afraid to post to other countries because I don't know how to do it, how much it costs, the game will get lost or arrive badly damaged and I live in the 21st century where international trading is part of my daily life when I buy stuff from the supermarket". And I must say the original seller did a bad job packing the edition. No wander these sellers are afraid to send items overseas because they'll get damaged... If the same thing happens with they send stuff internally. Oh well, at least I got the game.

Thanks a lot Mosavon!

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New member: Xbox 360 Slim MW3 edition

As I said before, my Xbox 360 Elite just died on me while I was playing Mass Effect. This thing happened exactly after the new year celebrations, when I decided to play at 1 a.m. I didn't even have the chance to play for 5 minutes before those heartbreaking red lights started to flash. That was nasty. I mean, I've been hearing these stories and watching vids for a vrey long time, and when it finally happened to me it I nearly sh*t bricks.

Before I even decided to buy a slim console, I tried to fix my elite model by myself - I know this could happen again even if I fixed it but I still tried because I wanted to make sure I could save my files, remove my Mass Effect disc from the console and  at least make sure the console is working before putting it to rest inside its original box. I did fix the console and it's now working. Then I went out and bought an Xbox 360 Slim. The best ppackage was in fact the Modern Warfare 3 limited console, with two controllers, headset, 320 GB and the game. I picked it and I'm certainly not regretting. I how have an Xbox 360 Slim version in my collection =)

But then... I just found out something terrible... actually, two things. First, this console I just bought did not come with an HDMI cable. WHAT THE... And secondly, if I wanted to pass the data from my old disc into the Xbox slim, there were several ways and the easiest required me to buy a cable that costs 20 euros. TO HELL WITH YOU MICRO$H*T. I bought the cable for half the price from a local Gamestop. The cable was CLEARLY used but they were selling it as new. Why? Because the cable was either used by an employee or some butthole costumer bought it just to do his stuff and returned the cable. But I don't fall for that sh!t and noticed it had been opened. I am seriously offended by this kind of attitude from shop owners. Seriously.

Then those people at Gamestop thought this cable was for the older Xbox models only and wouldn't work with the slim consoles - or at least the guy who sold me the cable said that, even when its package already had the slim design. I still bothered trying to buy a brand new cable but it was nearly sold out and the only one I found was still selling for 20. No way.

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Happy birthday Halo. How long has it been already?

Hallo anniversary is the HD version of one of the greatest shooters released on the Xbox. I never really followed the series but I still spent a couple of days playing the original game on multi-player and I must say the experience was quite enjoyable. Fortunately, they decided to release this anniversary edition for a much lower price compared to a new game, and the price already dropped to half over here. There was a Portuguese edition released and I have my copy guaranteed form a friend (unfortunately the price dropped just before Xmas so all copies vanished from stores at that price) but before I was able to find the regular copy I managed to get this promotional pack that comes with the promotional copy of the game (duh...) which also includes a slipcase (not as beautiful as the original one), a t-shirt and a poster, all inside a black UNSC plastic bag. It's no big deal, but when stuff like this is cheaper than the regular game when it comes out, who am I to let it go??

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Now it's Dragons. What next?

Dragon Age Origins was released some time ago around the world and several editions were scattered through different countries. Some time ago now I was able to buy the collector's edition with the slipcase. ASlthough this edition was not officially released in Europe, it seems that two countries, Singapore and India, received a wooden box. I was very please d to figure out the Indian version is the closest thing to a PAL release (well, it is a PAL release) and even has the PEGI age rating on the box, so I did my best to get this because I was unable to find any other version.

Now that more people know about it's existence, it's becoming more and more sought after. I believe these can still be found in their countries of origin but since the internet sources for it are scarce it's not an easy task to find one. I actually got it off ebay before even knowing what it was. I thought it was some sort of shop exclusive but when I realized there were no more editions for this on sale on ebay for quite a long time (well at least with the PEGI logo) I started to wander where it came from.

Finally, as I was walking around with a friend we visited a flea market and he was lucky enough to buy another collector's edition, but this one was different from my first. His came with two discs, a large metallic box, a cloth map and several leaflets with doenloads as well as a small artbook. This edition was released in other countries like Italy or Spain, but not in the UK, although some time later I was able to buy a fully english copy for PS3. version.

Well, I believe I have all the variants of this CE... except that I think I've seen a smaller CE like the UK one but with a steelbook instead. Since I always try to avoid buying steelbooks and I already have the UK edition, I'll no longer search for more editions. This wooden box is IMO by far the best of them all.

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Happy New Year 2012

Ahh... it's that time of the year again... Winter comes, with it comes the really cold days, and the rain, and 8 months till summer holidays again... To celebrate the new year 2012, my xbox just died. One of those Elite models that supposedly never have these kind of problems ya know. Ya right... After the celebrations I decided to play Mass Effect. I only played like 3 minutes and it died. The horrible scenario where you see the three red lights flashing before your eyes. So it might really be the end of the world after all!

Nah... I opened the console, trying to fix it. Took every piece apart and found out the problem for this. I can't believe how bad the interior design is. I'm buying a Slim soon, I don't care. I wasn't really expecting to spend my extra money on a new console, but I guess there's no way around... Oh well.

Happy New Year 2012, and get ready for all the insane amount of good stuff that will come out within the next few months!

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Mirror's Edge Steelbook. Another good example...

... of an item that is ending for ABSURD prices and was even given as an offer if you bought the original game from a particular retailer in Spain... Mirror's Edge Steelkbook. This thing was found for very cheap prices until the international videogame community figured it was available only in Spain. So, when a few finally appeared, those international buyers decided to pay 100s of euros for it. And I'm not exaggerating. This thing sold for 500 euros... And thanks to that, some sellers decided they should list their own copies with buy it now prices raging from 250 to 450. The price is slowly dropping because not everyone is willing to pay so much for a single steelbook except for the rich hardcore collectors, but this certainly is not worth that much... I paid a very reasonable amount for this even being an unsealed steelbook simply because I know how much is worth. But, unlike many other buyers, I didn't get this to resell...

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Darkstone

The game was originaly released for PC and PS1. This press kit is specifficaly for PC since includes the CDROM and not the PS1 promo, but I loved it and decided to get it. I didn't regret! It's one of the older generation press kits but looks great!

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3rd game, 3rd press kit. The weakest of'em all...

Another example of stupidly high prices for an item that's not THAT special is this Resistance 3 Press Kit. Just a folded cardboard sleeve holding two separate discs that resemble downscaled vinyls. Look at the number on it... this basically means over 7000 have been made, yet people still pay over 70 for this thing. Ah well... It cost me half that price with shipping included and that's the only reason why I got it in the first place. No matter how much I love these editions, the fact is that I don't have that much money to pay for them. Always digging the best deal out there. It's getting harder and harder to collect these things nowadays... This was supposed to come with toy soldiers on a separate package, but I consider that more like a bonus item since the press kit itself is only the 2 disc case. Besides, I didn't really confirmed this but I believe these toy soldiers are exactly the same that come with the Survivor Edition... if so, then I really don't mind.

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That's fast!

One of the best racers on PSP and one of the reasons why owning the console really is worth it. I don't know why but I really like to see wipeout games on the PSP, they seem to fit the console pretty well. I don't think the same about many other ports or spinoffs that seem more suitable to be played at home with a big screen. This is the Wipeout Puls Press Kit, still factory sealed.

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Persona 2

Persona is one popular RPG series released in  japan for... a long time. The series only arrived in Europe way too late and as usual it didn't get the same treatment in Europe. We get some of the games once in a while, when certain independent publishers randomly decide to bring these titles to Europe. This one was borught by Ghostlight. I am very happy to know that these companies exist in Europe, otherwise we wouldn't be receiving such games... Persona 2 Collector's Edition for PSP, directly from Ghostlight's website.

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Game and Watch Reborn

Managed to grab this Nintendo DS console press kit. Looks pretty good, the only problem is that it doesn't come with games. It's basically a dossier with pages that contain information about some of the exclusive titles, such as Trauma Center, Braintraining, Tetris and a few others. Some of the games have their own press disc included in the dossier, which is great! Loved it

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Dreamcast portuguese bundles: controller + game!

Just like Master System received the Purple Editions and Mega Drive received certain variants with Mega Drive covers but Genesis carts and manuals (no comments...) and the warranty sticker directly printed in the official cover, Dreamcast also received these little bundles. I believe these weren't available in other countries or if they were then they're extremely scarce and I have not been able to target but a few of them.

The one I recently bought is Crazy Taxi + Controller bundle with themed sleeve. The only thing that provides some exclusivity to these bundles is actually the sleeve. So far I got Crazy Taxi, Virtua Tennis and Another one with just a sticker and the game Rainbow Six included. I know there are others such as the Sega Rally and Space Channel 5 bundles but I am yet to find out more. These were available very cheap when stores decided to get rid of the DC stuff after it died but unfortunately I totally ignored them and now they're much harder to find.

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Saint's Row again... The Third Platinum Pack arrived

I never really paid much attention to Saint's Row, but I have bought the 2nd game's CE and now this particular Platinum edition that dropped to 50% during Amazon's Black Friday's lightning deals. I must say that... The edition is quite weak... The headphones can't be directly connected to the console to be used on live and their quality is... well they say it's good but I'm not quite sure how good it is. The package on PS3 is pretty bad because there's no window showing the headphones and the box is far more simplistic -I'm talking about the PAL UK version. I'm glad I have the 360 version. The contents are nothing more that the OST and a few DLCs also available on other editions. I really didn't like this edition that much, so I rate it 6.5/10 considering its expensive price. Play.com said this was exclusive to them, but Amazon also has it. However, when I heard there was actually a PAL version of this particular edition it was already sold out on Play.com and amazon was selling it for *only* 99.99 pounds. Considering the contents, this is trully only for serious fans in my opinion cause that things' damn expensive!

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