Similar to their earlier Game of the Year edition of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Bethesda have announced that a version of Fallout 3 that includes all of the DLC released so far in the price of admission. Undoubtedly this will be the definitive version, just as it was with the Oblivion GotY version.

The game will release on October 13 and will cost $60 for the console versions and $50 for the PC version. Bethesda have also announced that the DLC for PS3 is coming very soon. Broken Steel is coming on the 24th of September, followed by Operation: Anchorage and The Pitt on 1st October, and then Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta on the 8th. Good news all round, then.

Shacknews reports that with the release of Modern Warfare 2, a 250Gb Xobox 360 bundle will become available. The hard drive is the biggest available on the 360, and the box itself will feature a “limited edition” paint job.

This news comes straight from an Activision event that I bet you wish you were at. The multiplayer portion of the game was shown and played by attendees, who now must be quite smug. I hate to make predictions, but I reckon this game will sell more than 8 copies in its first day. In fact, I’m willing to put money on it. You can even quote me on it. As for the bundle, well, at $400, it’s pretty steep. I think most Call of Duty fans already own a 360, or at least another platform to play it on.

Joystiq reports that the acclaimed downloadable game Wipeout HD will be heading to Blu-Ray for European gamers. The bundle will cost £20 and, for now at least, is showing no signs of coming to the US.

Unfortunately, this bundle means that I no longer have an excuse to buy this game, as it will undoubtedly become a lot cheaper than £20 if you shop around. If you’ve been around these parts for a while you might remember our glowing review of the game, so this can really only be good news for everyone.

Everyone with a PS3, anyway. Everyone with a PS3 who lives in Europe, anyway. Everyone with a PS3 who lives in Europe and doesn’t already have the game, anyway. Everyone with a PS3 who lives in Europe and doesn’t already have the game and wants to buy the game, anyway. Alright, fine. Not everyone, then. Don’t be such a pedant!

Yesterday, we brought you an unboxing video of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition, courtesy of Infinity Ward community manager fourzerotwo. The Prestige Edition was fully packed, with an art book, a copy of the game, a download code for COD Classic on XBLA and/or PSN, and a pair of night vision goggles. Ridiculous, right? Of course, with the inclusion of night vision goggles, everyone assumed this bundle would skyrocket into the $300 range easily, but fourzerotwo & Infinity Ward announced today on Twitter the actual price at $149.99 for both PS3 & Xbox 360 versions.

While I’m glad it’s not two kajillion dollars like our in-house analyst had predicted, $149 is still a lot to pay for a game bundle. I’ll probably be picking it up, provided I have the cash in November when it’s released, but that’s because I can think of 149 different uses for the goggles. What about you guys? Is anyone willing to plunk down a Benjamin and a Grant* on the full Prestige Edition, or will you just go for the $60 regular edition/$80 Hardened Edition?

*I promise, I’ll stop talking in dead presidents… eventually.

A week after releasing an 80 GB PS3 bundle with LittlelBigPlanet and Wall-E, Best Buy will soon be offering an 80GB PS3 bundle packaged with both Killzone 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 for $399.99, according to rumors and the above pic that has been spreading around the web. It’s said that Best Buy is trying to clear out their shelves of the 80Gb PS3 to replace it with the 160Gb and then eventually for the rumored PS3 Slim.

Again, this is all speculation for now, but I’m pretty sure that picture is legit and we’ll be seeing those bundles on Best Buy shelves soon enough. It’s a great deal for anyone thinking about getting a PS3 as you get two of the best games on the console for free!

(Update) No longer a rumor as the bundle has now been posted on Best Buy’s website. Yay!

Source: Joystiq

In perhaps one of the strangest videogame bundles since Beyond Good and Evil was packed in with some cheese, 2K and Behtesda have joined force to create the BioShock & The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Bundle. the deal will be released July 7 in the US, at $39.99 on Xbox 360 and $29.99 on PC. Considering that I got Bioshock on Steam for $5 and Oblivion is currently around $18 on Steam right now, this isn’t the best deal I’ve ever seen. My advice: buy the Orange Box instead.

Still, if you don’t already own these two games, I can’t recommend them enough. Oblivion holds my attention years after its release (in fact, I played it just yesterday for hours on end) and Bioshock’s heavy narrative was an industry wake up call (since they seemed to ignore that of Half-Life 2). Both are must-buys, but with a little sleuth you can get them for much better prices individually.

ThreeSpeech reports that Sony are releasing a Killzone 2 PS3 bundle in the UK, priced at £299.99. That’s about $418 at the time of writing. The bundle includes the game and an 80GB PS3 console, as well as the fancy box. The release date is TBC currently, but expect it to be very near to the Killzone 2 release date. If you are in England, don’t yet have a PS3, have £300 to spare, and want Killzone 2, this is the perfect bundle for you! Hey, maybe they’ll widen the target audience by releasing it in the US, too.

Collector’s Editions of games are becoming more and more popular as video games slowly gain ground in today’s pop culture. Some embrace the higher prices and extra swag, while others are not so happy with some of the ridiculous price hikes. For example: the original Gears of War Collector’s Edition only jacked the price up $10, GTA IV’s crazy bundle cost $30 more, and Halo 3’s Legendary Edition was a staggering $70 over the regular edition.

So, how do we judge whether a special edition of a game is worth the dough? The items themselves really only have value to the die-hard fans and collectors, so only time and possibly online auction prices will tell how valuable these items will become. The only other measure is how well the special edition versions of the game retain their value compared to the regular versions. Some helpful charts from VGPC.com after the jump might surprise you.

Video Games Price Chart’s recent blog did some research comparing the launch prices of regular and limited/collector’s edition games to the current (as of Oct. 18, 2008) prices. They included mostly games launched within the last three years, which makes sense since the “collector’s edition” phenomenon is one that has very recently exploded in popularity among game companies.

As you can see, regular editions of games had an average of a $40 price drop. Compared to the drop of $37 for limited/collectors editions, it doesn’t seem like a huge difference. But we are talking about new games here; stores buy collector’s editions of games at a higher price than the regular editions. In turn, they can’t sustain as much of a price drop on these special editions — if they don’t drop the price enough, however, these games will only gather dust over time since most of the hardcore fans of a particular game will make sure to order and buy the special edition of the game as soon as possible after its launch. Look at Halo 3’s Legendary Edition for a good example of this: at launch it was priced at $130, and stores are now forced to slash the price down to $80 due to the slowing of sales.

However, the actual resale value of the products have more dramatic differences. This means that if you ever plan on selling your copy of a game (either to a store for credit or on eBay) then the collector’s edition of the game will retain its value much better.

In fact, collector’s editions actually have a chance of rising in value (which is the hope one always has when buying such things). VGPC reported that while all of the regular editions of games decreased in price, 3.4% of collector’s editions actually increased in value.

So, are collector’s editions worth the extra cash? The numbers here say yes. However, one last factor to consider is the individual. How much do you love a certain game or series? I am personally in love with the Persona series, so I made sure to pre-order the game for the limited edition art book and soundtrack CD, as well as the $30 Social Links Expansion pack for the game. However, I’ve never played any of the previous Fallout games (a crime, I’ve been told) so I didn’t run out and pre-order the super-extra-toys-and-stuff edition of the game.

So numbers aside, what do you readers think about this recent trend? Are you happy for the chance to get some extra swag, or do you think collector’s editions are merely a ploy for companies to get better unit sales?

Source (for information and charts): VGPC.com

Upon a recent journey to my local Wal-Mart, I found myself in the electronics section like I mysteriously always do. What I found, however, was a slight surprise – a Rock Band Special Edition bundle with an included wireless guitar.

While I’ve read several times that the Rock Band wireless guitar would become available separately come April, I don’t remember hearing anything about the guitars being included in the bundle. Perhaps it just wasn’t advertised or maybe I just don’t pay attention since I already own the game, but it came as a surprise to me.

The bundle I saw was for the Xbox 360. I looked in the PS3 section also, but they didn’t have one. That’s not to say they don’t exist, but I can’t confirm it because there weren’t any there. If you didn’t know about this new bundle, then guess what? You heard it here first!

Riptenites assemble! Form of — Blaznats!

It appears public outcry over the ridiculous Wii bundle offered by Toys ‘R Us has led the company to discontinue offering it. Hooray! But wait, it’s not over yet.

Toys ‘R Us has instead given us two new bundle options, both of which, although less expensive, are just as bad as the original “Bend Over” Bundle.

The first bundle (we’ll call it the “Assume the Position” Pack) is a Wii console plus six games: Transformers: The Game, Bee Movie Game, Dewey’s Adventure, Zak & Wiki: Quest for Barbaro’s Treasure, Geometry Wars: Galaxies, and Petz Dogz 2. All this could be yours for a mere $500.

The second bundle contains a Wii and five games, again for the low bargain price of just $500. These games include Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, Crash of the Titans, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, Soulcalibur Legends, and The Golden Compass.

Considering it’s the same price, there isn’t even one excellent game in this bundle, and you get one less game packed in, I’m going to go ahead and call this one the “Stupidest Piece of Crap Ever” Pack, a deal so bad it’s not even worth a creative name.

Now some of you may do the math and assume that if these games cost 50 bucks a pop, this is actually not that bad of a deal. As our reader (and tipster for this story) TC pointed out, the contents of the first bundle can be purchased on sites like Amazon.com for $30 cheaper, but the overall bundle price doesn’t save you any money.

The second bundle fairs much worse, however. Every single one of those games sucks, you get fewer of them, and it still costs the same as the other bundle. I’m not sure who Toys ‘R Us is planning on suckering with that “deal”, but hopefully after reading this, it won’t be you.

Thanks to TC for the tip.

We recently reported a Wii bundle that Toys”R”Us is selling to consumers via their website, which consists of ten games that you must purchase at a cost of $700 in order to get the Nintendo Wii.

If you check out the aggregated review scores for the games in this bundle, you can see that most of the games rank in the fair-to-good range, with the lowest scoring a 5.4 (Soulcaliber Legends) and the highest ranking in at 8.6 (Zack and Wiki).

They’re not the triple-A Wii titles that would sell very well on their own, like Resident Evil 4, Trauma Center 2, Zelda, Metriod, or any Mario game, however as you can see below, there are a few standouts on this list that any Wii owner would be happy to have, if they don’t mind dishing out $700 all at once.

Gamestats

Spiderman: Friend or Foe – 6.0

Transformers: The Game – 6.0

Bee Movie Game – 6.8

Crash of the Titans 07 – 6.7

Dewey’s Adventure – 6.7

Zak and Wiki – 8.6

Raving Rabbids 2 – 6.9

Geometry Wars: Galaxies – 8.1

Petz Dogz 2 – NA

Soulcaliber Legends – 5.4

AVERAGE: 6.8

GameRankings

Spiderman: Friend or Foe – 62%

Transformers: The Game – 56%

Bee Movie Game – 70%

Crash of the Titans 07 – 70%

Dewey’s Adventure – 68%

Zak and Wiki – 86%

Raving Rabbids 2 – 68%

Geometry Wars: Galaxies – 80%

Petz Dogz 2 – NA

Soulcaliber Legends – 59%

AVERAGE: 68.8%

Toys”R”Us has just gone above and beyond the call of corporate greed, in an effort to take advantage of every consumer interested in purchasing the popular Nintendo Wii console.

The retailer is offering what is perhaps the worst next-gen console “bundle” in the history of gaming: a Nintendo Wii and 10 games (no first party titles and all but one or two are total crap), all for the low, low bargain price of $700 (exactly what you would pay if you purchased everything individually).

“This Bundle includes: Wii Console, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, Transformers: The Game, Bee Movie Game, Crash of the Titans 07, Dewey’s Adventure, Zak & Wiki: Quest for Barbaro’s Treasure, Raving Rabbids 2, Geometry Wars: Galaxies, Petz Dogz 2, and Soulcaliber Legends”

People buy the Value Meal at McDonald’s because they are essentially getting the fries for free. You sign up for the bundle from your local internet, phone, and cable providers, because it ultimately saves you money.

In general, consumers think they are saving money when they purchase a bundle, because that’s the way it usually works. Toys”R”Us is utilizing that mindset in an effort to trick consumers into helping them clear merchandise at a feverish pace.

Toys”R”Us is not bundling, they are banking — banking on the fact that consumers want the Wii console, and will be willing to buy all the crap sitting in their warehouse as well just to get it. No Mario, no Zelda, no Metriod — just pure greed from a retailer who is clearly banking on your dedication and devotion.

They firmly believe that you will do everything humanly possible to find a Wii for your child or loved one, and see no harm in screwing you in the process. As a parent and a consumer, you need to stand your ground and say no, or retailers like Toys”R”Us will continue to stockpile highly demanded merchandise and force consumers to buy items they normally would not.

This blatant act of pure evil preys on both unsuspecting and desperate consumers alike. The sad part is that this bundle is actually (according to the site) one of their best-sellers, and also (according to the comments left by consumers who purchased it via their site) nothing short of a ripoff.

Good system, bad bundle.
“Okay the Wii itself is fun, for a while at least. It has a few notable titles, although the games included in this bundle are rather low quality…your much better off buying the system by itself.”
- h4rdc0r3 from MI

Horrible Value
“All the games that come with it except for Zack and Wiki and and Geometry Wars are a bunch of horrible games no one wants. And this bundle is just a way to try to get rid of stuff that isn’t selling.

If you don’t like mediocre games, don’t buy this bundle, just buy a regular Wii.”
- blargh from New York, NY

Console fun; games – not so much
“I purchased this product because I couldn’t find another Wii available anywhere. The biggest downside is the games that come with it. I know other stores with online sites allow buyers to select from a list of games to include with the bundle. If that were the case, I would be more apt to recommend it. As it is, though, I wouldn’t suggest it…”
- Game Lovin’ Grad from Pittsburgh, PA

Note the next quote from user “Disappointed“, as he believes that the overpriced and poorly packaged bundles are being forced on consumers by Nintendo.

Tacky
“I have only played on the wii at a friends house. I would like to buy a system. I am disappointed with nintendo’s decision to limit the amount of systems in the stores, and force people to buy an overpriced bundle package. I will be patient, but the longer I wait the more I am considering the XBOX 360…”
- Disappointed from USA

Update: I have seen comments floating around about certain games in the bundle being unfairly called “crap”, and I apologize if I offended fans of one or all of the games being offered in this bundle.

That said, I am still disappointed in the retailers decision to force consumers to pony up $700 all at once to purchase the console plus ten games (regardless of the titles), with no discount, and no choice being given to the consumer regarding the games they will be forced to purchase.

If you are interested in knowing the scores for the games included in this bundle, check out Andrew’s breakdown here.

Source: toysrus.com