Kotaku: classy

X-Blades Collector's Edition Goes Topless

Mike Fahey — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:20:00 MST

She's young and needs the money. X-Blades heroine Ayumi has no shame whatsoever, very nearly baring it all for a special statue included with the expansive collector's edition of the game.

Along with the barely dressed statue, the "Royal Bundle" for TopWare's action adventure title includes a soundtrack CD, a double-theme poster, and a strategy guide, along with a mousepad for the PC version and what they are calling a "top-class" artbook. As we can see, X-Blades is all about staying classy.

Sad to say, the bundle has actually piqued my interest. It's not so much the topless statue as it is simple the sheer amount of included stuff. I like stuff. I'd like stuff better if I had a price for said stuff, but I suppose we'll find out soon enough, as the game is due in Europe on January 14th.

Ayumi dresses in style!

Valuable "X-Blades" Collector's Bundle with Statue and Artbook

Karlsruhe, 17th December 2008 – TopWare Entertainment continues its tradition of high-class collector editions with its current title, “X-Blades”. The “Collector's Bundles” for all platforms will be on the market at the same time as the standard versions - on the 14th of January 2009. Highlights in the boxes are a 22 cm. hand-painted statue of the heroine Ayumi and a top-class artbook depicting the game.

There's also a soundtrack CD, a double-theme poster and a strategy guide. If you purchase the PC version, you'll even get an extra bonus - a mousepad. Language-wise, TopWare has also done the game proud - it's been fully localized in English, French, Italian, German and Russian - and there are sub-titles in Hungarian, Polish, Czech and Spanish which can be combined in any way with the speech recordings.

ZUXXEZ CEO Alexandra Constandache: “We've already had excellent fan reaction to our high-quality collector's editions for games like “Earth 2160” and “Two Worlds” - and the most important thing for us is to ensure that our customers continue to get real value for their money. Giving away a cheap map with a game and then calling it a “Special Edition” is not the way we do things here at Zuxxez. That's why we're relying on really special extras once again - with “X-Blades”.

Preorder Mass Effect PC, Get Dead Space Stuff

Mike Fahey — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:20:00 MDT

While the practice of offering preorder incentives for video games is ages old bow, generally you want to give things out that pertain to the game the customer is buying. Leave it to those innovators at the EA Online Store to blaze new marketing trails by sweetening the Mass Effect preorder pot with official Dead Space merchandise. While folks preorder the game through traditional PC outlets get a nice $10 off retail price, preordering at the EA Store snags you a copy of the first issue of the Dead Space comic book and a Dead Space poster. Great! If you preorder now, we'll include you in our special marketing program for a completely unrelated game. It makes sense, doesn't it? People who preorder are already buying Mass Effect. Why promote a game they're already sold on when you can open them up to a whole new experience they might otherwise not give a damn about? Of course it switches the vibe from "Thanks for buying our game" to "Here, buy this other game", but why worry about semantics?

BioWare Announces Special Pre-Order Offer for Mass Effect on PC
EDMONTON, Alberta—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), is proud to announce that key retailers across North America will be offering $10 off for all pre-orders of Mass Effect™ for the PC1, shipping to retailers May 27, 2008 in North America and June 6, 2008 in Europe. Gamers will receive the $10 discount by pre-ordering Mass Effect at both specialty and online retailers including GameStop, Amazon.com and GoGamer.com.

Gamers who pre-order Mass Effect through the Electronic Arts online store will receive bonus items2 from the game Dead Space™, the highly anticipated sci-fi survival horror game by EA, including the first issue of the Dead Space comic book and a Dead Space poster while supplies last.

Published by EA and re-designed for the PC by Demiurge Studios and BioWare, Mass Effect invites players to take the role of Commander Shepard as they set out on an adventure to save the galaxy from imminent destruction. Wrought with treachery, heroism, difficult decisions and a universe filled with unique and colorful species, Mass Effect delivers a truly compelling storyline.

Fully optimized for the PC, Mass Effect includes a new Tactical Heads-Up Display, higher resolution visuals, an enhanced inventory system, fully optimized controls designed specifically for the PC, individual squad control and a new decryption mini-game. The "Bring Down the Sky" downloadable content for Mass Effect on PC, featuring 90 minutes of new gameplay, will also be available free for registered BioWare Community members at the launch of Mass Effect PC.

Originally released for the Xbox 360™ videogame and entertainment system, Mass Effect has received critical acclaim throughout the world with more than 80 awards including 2007 Console Game of the Year and Role-Playing Game of the Year (http://masseffect.bioware.com/previewsawards/).

The $10-Off pre-order offer is available now at all participating retail and online retail outlets. The Dead Space pre-order offer is available now at the Electronic Arts online store at www.eastore.ea.com. Mass Effect is rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB. For more information about Mass Effect, please visit www.masseffect.com.

Mario Hand Fart Medley

Brian Crecente — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 08:03:02 MDT

Is there anyway that this can be for real? I can't even make a squeak with my hands. Classy huh? Brian Crecente