Treasure Hunter – A Refreshingly Light December
September, October, and November were epic months for game releases. There were lots of high profile games, pre-order bonuses, swag, and other physical goodies to collect for just about every type of gamer. In comparison December is surprisingly light on both releases and swag. Undoubtedly, game publishers wanted to avoid releasing too close to the newest World of Warcraft expansion pack. Additionally, lots of gamers are still probably playing through their October and November games. Nevertheless, it might have made more sense for publishers to avoid a crowded October and November by releasing a few more of their games in December. The move might have worked for the gamers completely uninterested in WoW. Fortunately, there’s hope in form of a few notable releases outside of Warcraft to look forward to.
First up is the beast of an MMO, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. As expected the release of a highly anticipated expansion pack that changes much of Warcraft’s world wouldn’t be without a collector’s edition. In this collectible edition of Cataclysm WoW gamers will receive a 176-page art book, a behind-the-scenes DVD, a soundtrack CD, a mouse pad, a 60-trading card starter deck, and four special cards. Cataclysm releases on December 7th and the collector’s edition of this game will cost you $79.99, or $40 more than just the expansion alone. If you were planning to order from Amazon.com you’re out of luck, as the collector’s edition is completely sold out. There are Marketplace copies available but those will run you at least $140 dollars. Fortunately, there seems to be some of copies available at GameStop.
If you’re not one of the millions of gamers planning to purchase Cataclysm on December 7th TRON: Evolution might be a good alternative. The movie itself looks promising and Disney is trying something on a grand scale with the various game releases. Instead of having the game rehashed and scaled back on the handhelds and the Wii all of the games will tie into the overall story in their own unique way, via a timeline. It all begins with the original 1982 movie release of TRON, the DS game covers 1985, the Wii game covers 1988, the PSP game deals with 1989, the PS3, 360, and PC games expand the story during the decade of 1990 to 2000, and the new movie itself is set in 2010. While many gamers own both handhelds, a Wii, and one of the HD consoles, I’m not sure if anyone outside of a hardcore fan would really buy TRON for all of those systems just to fill in the storyline gaps. If you just had you’re eye set on one TRON game it’s probably the PS3/360 game. The collector’s edition of this game releases with a special light cycle, a case to contain it, and a $10 dollar movie ticket voucher. The price of the cycle, the case, and the ticket will set you back by $129 dollars. Hopefully the quality of the light cycle will justify the high price point. If the collector’s edition of the game doesn’t do for it for you there’s always the various Tron themed controllers to collect.
Rounding out the last of this month’s video game swag releases is the Super Mario All-Stars: Limited Edition game for the Wii. If you’re a regular reader of this blog you probably already know that Geoff has written extensively about the 25th Anniversary of Super Mario. If you have a Wii you probably already have this game pre-ordered. If you haven’t pre-ordered yet you probably should as the collection really will be released in limited quantities. For a mere $30 dollars you’ll receive the four classic Mario games, the Super Mario history soundtrack CD, and a history booklet featuring interviews and artwork. Once again Amazon.com continues to disappoint as the game is only available for pre-order and purchase on the Marketplace. The prices start out at a ridiculous high of $79 dollars instead of the standard $30. There’s no indication on if Amazon will receive copies by the release date of December 12th, but the game is readily available everywhere else for a reasonable price.
While December is proving to be a fairly light month for video game releases, anime release are a little more substantial. If you’re the type to collect special editions of DVD sets with swag December is painfully light. The only special edition to release this month is the final part of Gundam 00‘s second season. Part four of this DVD set is packaged with the forth volume of the 00 second season manga. If you’re a big fan of Gundam 00 and not bogged down with other releases December 7th would be a good time to finish your collection– especially at Rightstuf’s current price of $26.99.
If nothing catches your eye this month January’s releases might be more substantial. If not, you can always catch up on your entertainment backlog before the deluge of February’s high profile releases arrive.
About The Author
Angela
Executive Editor | Angela has had an addiction to video games and cartoons since she was young and impressionable. She enjoys writing long articles about these subjects and whatever else catches her eye. Mastodon