As a longtime collector of physical media – not just of the media itself, but of unique collector’s editions and exclusives – it’s almost sad to see what’s happening to the decline and future of “little shiny discs”. For CDs, it’s a freefall; for 4K and Blu-ray discs, there’s still plenty of life left there, but some products one wouldn’t think would be scarce have been running out-of-stock and out-of-print much quicker than anticipated. The market for video game limited editions seems to be caught in the middle: while there’s certainly a move to transition over to digital libraries, the collector culture tends to be a tad stronger in the gaming community and, therefore, still has a healthy audience for elaborate versions of otherwise mostly standard-edition releases of games.

There’s enough uncertainty there, though, that it’s worth the while for those interested in limited printings of video games to probably hunt them down sooner rather than later … and there are some really, really good ones coming later this year. Below, we’re going to talk about some of those potentially scarce – or, just particularly cool – limited edition packages for notable releases coming throughout the remainder of 2020.  It’s hard to predict what’s going to be in high demand or what’s going to be printed at high quantities, let alone whether these games will actually be good or not, but it’s better for these to be on the radar instead of waiting until they’re off the shelves. Let’s dive in.

Bayonetta / Vanquish: 10^th Anniversary Launch Edition

Release Date: February 18, 2020; Price: $39.99: Order @ Amazon

We’ll start the discussion off with something that’s already been released this year, and something that’s not out in the stratosphere in terms of pricing. Gamers who appreciate a challenge will likely have some familiarity with PlatinumGames, and while that might be because of the underrated Nier: Automata or their journey into the Metal Gear universe with Revengeance, it’s probably due to the iconic heroine that is Bayonetta and the challenging magic/gunplay environment that exists around her.  A remastered edition of Bayonetta has been holstered alongside the developer’s underrated, blitzed-paced sci-fi shooter Vanquish as a twofer collection for new consoles, and the Launch Edition comes with a sweet Steelbook casing featuring bold illustrations of the two games on either side. There are still some of these out in the wild, and $40 is well worth it for the pair of games and a limited collectible case prominently featuring one of last-gen’s most noteworthy new character creations.

Doom Eternal Collector’s Edition

Release Date: March 20, 2020; Price: $199.99: Order @ Best Buy

Ca we be real for a second? Yes, there’s a conversation to be had about how influential the exhilarating chaos of Doom has been on the FPS genre, as well as how splendid it is that the property has been revived again and popular enough to lead into this “sequel”, Doom Eternal. But, it’s tough to talk too much about all that when we’re leading into a discussion about a collector’s edition of a Doom game with … a wearable Doomguy Doom Slayer helmet. While no, it isn’t modeled after the helmets of nostalgia, there’s still something undeniably mesmerizing about the fact that this Doom Eternal: Collector’s Edition will come equipped with a wearable helmet that’ll be ready to wear between – or, hell, during – gaming sessions. A few extra goodies for the subtler fans are there as well: a really nice steelbook case, lossless digital soundtrack codes on a little cassette tape gadget, a lore book, lithograph, and DLC goodies. The value’s close to being justifiable, but frankly, the ability to just throw on the helmet and boot up Doom Eternal out of the box is close to priceless.

Resident Evil 3: Collector’s Edition — GameStop Exclusive

Release Date: April 3, 2020; Price: $179.99: Order @ GameStop

The remake of Resident Evil 2 took many people off-guard: while they may have expected a decent revisit to Leon and Claire’s charge through Raccoon City, most weren’t ready for it to be not-so-arguably the best horror game to come out of last year.  Resident Evil remains popular for a plethora of reasons, but that rejuvenated enthusiasm for the franchise has made it all feel fresh again, and it’s bound to do so again with this year’s Resident Evil 3 remake. Fan favorite Jill Valentine has been smartly remodeled for her standalone adventure, clearly evoking her classic look while exchanging the skirt for a few touches of tactical badassery that remind one a bit of Alice’s presence from the movie series.  This gives players a more reputable, grounded heroine to blaze through the zombie apocalypse in RE3, one who’s captured in statue form in the game’s collector edition alongside a neat double-sided poster, an art book, and a S.T.A.R.S. crate box presentation. This one’s only available at GameStop, so a pre-order might not be a bad idea.

Final Fantasy VII: Deluxe Edition

Release Date: April 10, 2020; Price: $79.99: Order @ Amazon

Perhaps it isn’t quite up there with jokes about Half-Life 3, but fans of the Final Fantasy franchise have been clamoring for a spruced-up reconstruction of FFVII for a very, very long time. After the idea of a remake was introduced in the PS2 era, many haven’t been able to stop thinking about it and discussing it, even as the developers kept a healthy distance from wanting to do so.  Finally, after much rumoring, development time, distribution paradigm changes and exclusive window decisions, a new version of Final Fantasy VII – the first part of it, at least — will be here in less than a month. To commemorate, Square Enix will be releasing a deluxe presentation of this “part” of the remake, including: a steelbook case featuring the game’s antagonist, Sephiroth; a hardback artbook; a soundtrack CD; and two pieces of “summon materia” DLC, one exclusive and the other tied to a pre-order. The book, music, and exclusive case artwork all add real fan-centric substance for a $20 premium, so this one’s worth consideration as an early buy.

Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor Expansion Collector’s Edition

Release Date: May 18, 2020; Price: $129.99: Order @ Amazon

Even after an incredibly shaky initial release, Elder Scrolls Online is still going very strong and continues to maintain a robust player base.  Like most other developers in the MMO space, Bethesda has learned from missteps and dished out extensive updates, all the while releasing new expansions that offer fresh, exciting looks at what’s possible within their fantasy landscape and game design. They’re now on the fourth of these official substantive expansions, Greymoor, in which they’re journeying back to Skyrim – the western side – for a new chilly adventure connected to vampires. “Chapter” addons like this are a strange beast when it comes to physical collectibles due to their restricted appeal, but this edition of Greymoor offers an interesting package that comes at players from two general angles: there’s a sweet vampire (lord) statue, and there are Skyrim-themed coins also included. Roll those together with the addon itself, extra DLC, a steelbook, and a map, and it’s pretty sweet.

The Last of Us: Part II – Special, Collector’s and Ellie Editions

Release Date: May 29, 2020; Price: $229.99: Order @ PS Direct

While Naughty Dog’s exhilarating action game design impressed throughout the Uncharted series, it was with the tension and emotions of The Last of Us that they likely created their very best work to date. The gaming community has obviously gone through apocalyptic zombie experiences before, yet the relationship between Joel and Ellie elevates it from being merely a strong horror game to one that strikes a deeper chord. A sequel to such an experience is dangerous territory, but it’s territory that Naughty Dog will brave with Ellie at the helm of this sequel.  Due to the return of past characters that players genuinely care about, this game will have a strong following, so making plans to pick up either the Special, Collector, or elusive Ellie Editions of The Last of Us: Part II would probably be wise. The Ellie Edition has proven to be tricky to acquire already, so if the idea of an exclusive replica of Ellie’s backpack sounds appealing, grab it when and while you can. Luckily, the other two premium versions come with the steel case, and the one-tier-down Collector’s Edition still gives fans the opportunity to get a replica of Ellie’s bracelet and a statue of the character.

Marvel’s Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Edition

Release Date: September 4, 2020; Price: $199.99: Order @ Amazon

Believe it or not, it won’t be long before Joss Whedon’s original Avengers movie will be a decade old. It’s the blockbuster that transformed a neat intersection of cinematic superhero stories into perhaps the most popular big-screen comic franchise in history, one that ensures that a healthy chunk of people will be standing in-line on day one for anything new and exciting involving the team. Square Enix and the Crystal-Eidos development team are banking on that, as they’re going all-out with a massive limited edition of Marvel’s Avengers, a new action-based adaptation – with some uniquely different-looking versions of the characters – coming in September.  Along with a pretty standard steelbook, the Earth’s Mightiest Edition comes with a whole bunch of goodies: a statue of Captain America; a Hulk bobblehead; a keychain of Thor’s hammer; a Black Widow belt buckle; blueprints of Iron Man’s suit.  Each item has been carefully and familiarly designed so they’ll still appeal to general fans of the Avengers comics and movies, not just to those who might like the game, so this could naturally be a very hot item.

Cyberpunk 2077: Collector’s Edition

Release Date: September 17, 2020; Price: $249.99: Order @ Best Buy

As the giants of role-playing video games have hit rough patches over the past couple of years, other labels have moved into the spotlight, chief among them being CD Projekt Red. While their Witcher series had already made waves with the RPG crowd, it was with The Witcher 3 that the company offered an experience that both triumphed over competitors and gave mainstream players something they’ve been yearning for on current consoles: a rich, choice-based, story-driven sandbox game in a fantasy world. Therefore, CDPR’s announcement that they’d be taking on science-fiction RPGs with Cyberpunk 2077 – a space even less crowded without Mass Effect – received big excitement. And CDPR is all about packing value into their presentations: while the standard edition comes with a world compendium, postcards, stickers and such, there’s a mega Collector’s Edition awaiting preorder status that’ll arrive with a statue, a very nice steelbook, game prop replicas, patches, etc. $250 is steep, but it’s bound to be an elusive set since CDPR’s fans are a dedicated bunch.

Video Game Limited Editions of 2020 Worth Seeking Out

The film itself might not hit theaters until May 1, 2015, but that doesn’t mean the Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron merchandising train can’t fill in its coal and get those pistons pumping. Indeed, we featured the LEGO Avenger’s Helicarrier not too long ago, which, while based on the first Avengers film, will no doubt see interest due to the upcoming reunion of Marvel’s favorite heroes. To follow suit are those deliciously detailed figures and figurines that accompany any major fantasy release.

The first, and most impressive, is a duet of battling frenemies, Iron Man in his Hulkbuster suit and, of course, the Hulk raging out on each other, from the sculptors at Kotobukiya. Marvel revealed these guys through its website.

As separate purchases they’ll be impressive enough, but together it’s quite the striking image, the details and proportions drawn directly out of the first trailers for Age of Ultron.

For comparison, here’s that original trailer again, ominous James Spader and all.

Kotobukiya’s figures are among the most intricately designed, especially with an aim to recreate with exact detail the events of the trailer, but Hot Toys is taking a bit of a different, more stylized route. Dubbed the Artist Mix Collection series, Hot Toys is collaborating with different design companies to combine the style of an originating inspiration and that of its designer’s particular take. For Avengers: Age of Ultron, Hot Toys is collaborating with Touma, out of Japan, for a series of pretty cool bobbleheads. Most notably, this line is getting ahead of the Ultron game with three representations of that character.

Hot Toys also has its own hyper-realistic line-up for Avengers: Age of Ultron, actually detailing the faces of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers within their respective suits.

Sadly, not a single one of these items is up for sale just yet, but you can pre-order most of the Hot Toys figures. Head over to their respective links, or the Hot Toys website, for more info.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron Figures are Beginning to Roll In

The Wall Street Journal, of all places, has the exclusive on Lego’s latest Marvel-themed set, and it is quite ludicrous. At just under 3,000 pieces, including five minifigs and 12 microfigs, the Avengers Helicarrier is in its own class of gargantuan. Though the Wall Street Journal got too see it first, Lego is officially unveiling the thing at February’s New York Toy Fair. Luckily for us, the internet doesn’t have an embargo on pictures.

It’s big, standing 11 inches off the ground and 31 inches from end to end.

You’ll notice all the goodies in the feature image. In addition to the behemoth itself, two Quinjets, three normal jets, a bunch of on-board accessories and a stand for the five minifig S.H.I.E.L.D. members round out the package.

How to look heroic.

From left to right we have Hawkeye, Maria Hill, Captain America with a Steve Rogers face, Nick Fury and Black Widow. Maria Hill is the only brand new minifig introduced alongside the Helicarrier. Here’s a close-up of her.

Robin from How I Met Your Mother has come a very long way.

Of course, there’s an inside to the Helicarrier, underneath the runway. The minifigs depicted in this picture aren’t included, but they sure do look like they belong.

But where is the Galaga?

The whole thing will cost $350 when it comes out in March.

Lego Absurdities: The Avengers Carrier is the New Dollhouse for Men

Developed by graphic artist Kevin Lam, this set of illustrations combines the cute minions of the Despicable Me movies with comic book characters in the DC and Marvel universe. Specifically highlighting members of the Avengers in the collection, superhero adaptations include Iron Man, Superman, Thor, Batman, Black Widow, Green Lantern, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Spider-Man, the Hulk and Captain America.

With a release date set for July 3, 2013, Despicable Me 2 details the return of the Gru, a super-villain that ditched his evil life to become a father. Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to help take down a new new super-villain that threatens the world. Gru and the minions set out on another adventure to save the world. At the moment, the movie is receiving fairly positive reviews from critics averaging around 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The original Despicable Me was a huge success for Dreamworks taking in approximately $500 million at box offices all over the world.

Check out Lam’s adorable set of Despicable Me 2 minions as superheroes below:

Batman

Black Widow

Captain America

Green Lantern

Hawkeye

The Hulk

Iron Man

Nick Fury

Spider-Man

Superman

Thor

Despicable Me 2 Minions as Adorable Superheroes

Developed by artist nottonyharrison, this collection of art assumes that the members of the Avengers are real and news magazines around the world are doing stories on them. Utilizing the full set of Avengers superheroes, magazines depicted in the series include Time, Newsweek, US Weekly, New York Magazine, Scientific American, Life&Style, In Touch and OK! Magazine.

In addition to the covers, the artist also dives deeper into a couple of the magazines and provide full page stories about each of the Avengers. Beyond the magazine art, nottonyharrison DeviantArt profile also includes a variety of Marvel related illustrations. You can take a look at those here.

Check out our favorite picks from the magazine covers and stories below:

If the Avengers Were Real, This is What Magazines Would Look Like

Developed by photographer Santlov, this series of photos takes traditional Marvel superheroes and combines them with zombies from universes like The Walking Dead. Characters that have been converted into terrifying zombies include Iron Man, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America and Wolverine.

In addition to the Marvel zombie series, Santlov also does a ton of work with other pop culture figures. For instance, one photo combines characters from the Toy Story universe (Woody and Buzz) with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson’s characters in Pulp Fiction. Other television and movie characters included within his work include the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Captain Jack Sparrow, the Joker, Bane, Daffy Duck, Wall-E, Mickey Mouse, Gollum, Bender and various stormtroopers.

Check out some of our favorite shots from the Marvel Zombie series below. You can also check out Santlov’s entire portfolio on Instagram here.

Zombie Avengers

Hulk

Iron Man

Spider-man

Thor

Wolverine

Which photo is the most terrifying?

Marvel Superheroes as Terrifying Zombies

Developed by artists Jon Bolerjack and JJ Kirby, the duo created a series of illustrations that places five characters from Marvel’s Avengers in the Star Wars universe. Working with the Empire to battle Republic scum, the characters have been placed in armor designs styled after the classic Stormtrooper. Avengers featured in the redesigns include the Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hawkeye.

In addition to The Avengers series, you should also check out Bolerjack’s DeviantArt page to view head-shot illustrations of other Marvel and DC characters in Stormtrooper garb. Some of his other illustrations include Batman Beyond, Apocalypse, Archangel, Spider-Man, Deadpool, Punisher, Wolverine, Venom and Green Goblin. Bolerjack’s gallery also includes some illustrations related to video game series such as Metroid and Halo.

Check out the Star Wars versions of The Avengers below:

Captain America

Hawkeye

Hulk

Iron Man

Thor

What if The Avengers were Star Wars Stormtroopers?

Iron Man 3 just arrived in cinemas worldwide, busting box office records and earning legions of new fans. Many have been captivated by Tony Stark’s extravagant lifestyle and outerwear since the metallic super hero ignited silver screens in 2008. Fact is, even fans from all the way back to 1963 have to admit the current Iron Man armor is drop dead sexy. Now that sexiness has been immortalized into armor you can touch. Armor you can own. Armor you can plug into your USB ports to save your life back up your files.

Taiwanese infoThink Technology has been making dependable flash drives and memory card readers for years. Specializing in striking designs, infoThink’s flash drives come in perfectly usable 8GB and 16GB sizes. Their turn towards licensed pieces seems to get better every year…

Like this wicked cute miniaturized hard drive.

The Autobot and Decepticon Transformers emblems are pretty frackin’ sweet. That Dark Knight Rises drive is a stunner (seriously — click the image below to see more pics).

 The Avengers drives are damn fine and geek chic.

  But those Iron Man 3 drives… they’d make Tony Stark jealous.

Is Your USB Port Worthy of Iron Man 3 Armor?

Easily one of the most impressive single takes in Parks & Recreation history, Patton Oswalt made a guest appearance recently and absolutely stole the show with an eight-minute speech on his idea for a Star Wars movie that also combines two other major movie franchises. I won’t spoil anything, just watch! (And check out the ridiculously awesome movie poster at the bottom of this post. It was created by Entertainment Weekly in honor of Patton’s performance.)

A full recap of the entire transcript can be found below (credit for to the kickass transcription goes to Reddit user Il_Nessuno).

Patton Oswalt: Article 7, Section 3 allows for a citizen filibuster. If I stand here and refuse to yield my time, you are prohibited from voting on the bill. Let the filibustering begin! As many of you have noted, that use the internet, it has been announced that Disney has acquired the rights to the Star Wars franchise and in the summer of 2015 we will see the release of Star Wars Episode 7. Herewith is my proposal for the plot of that movie.

Begin with standard title sequence and John Williams fanfare followed by a scroll to be written. I would like to mention that Brian de Palma wrote the original opening scroll for Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope. I think it would be a nice nod, uh, to the franchise if were to write this opening scroll. Then pan down from the twin suns of Tattoine, uh, we are now close on the mouth of the Sarlacc pit. After a beat, the gloved, Mandalorian armor gauntlet of Boba Fett grabs onto the sand outside the Sarlacc pit and the feared bounty hunter pulls himself from the maw of the sand beast.

Amy Poehler: (interrupting) Okay this is exactly…

Patton: And we, and we realize that he survived his fall during the battle at Jabba’s, uh, palace ship. Then do a hard cut to a repurposed Imperial Destroyer which has now been taken over by the rebels. Commander Luke Skywalker, now a full Jedi knight, training new padawans is using, ironically, uh, his father Anakin’s red lightsaber which will be a symbolic visual for his battle with how to both bring the new Jedi order while still acknowledging his father’s fall from grace.

Amy: (interrupting) This is a…

Patton: (getting louder) As he is training the padawans, we pan outside of the control window to a nearby asteroid where we see, and please allow me to finish this because this is going to seem like a bit of a jump, we see Thanos who was the villain tease at the end of the first Avengers movie. Now Thanos, as you know owns the Infinity Gauntlet which has the Time Gem, the Mind Gem, the Power Gem, the Space Gem, and the Reality Gem. If he holds the Reality Gem, that means he can jump from different realities. This will be our link to the Marvel Universe from the Star Wars Universe. Uh, we then cut to Earth. Uh, Tony Stark, uh realizes…

Amy: Okay okay…

Patton: (getting louder) Tony Stark realizes…

Amy: This is someone that I know. I know who that is. I know who that is. This is the first person I’ve known.

Patton: Tony Stark realizes, I do not recognize the chair, Tony stark realizes that there has been a disturbance in what he will call a “time ribbon”, for the time being I will allow J.J. Abrams to think of a better term for this. Uh, and, and he then starts to assemble the cream of the Marvel universe, not the second tier superheroes that we saw in the first Avengers movie-I’m sorry but Hawkeye and Black Widow are not first tier, he would go find, uh hello, Spider-Man; Spider-Man exists in that universe. He would go find Moon Knight, he would go find Daredevil, he would go, uh, find Hercules and then that can bring in the entire, uh, pantheon of Greek gods that we saw in Clash and Wrath of the Titans.

So now we have a giant three franchise tie-in. Now cut back to the Imperial Star Destroyer. Uh, Luke gets a visit from, and we only show this from the boots up first, so we show these like black boots with the- and then we pan up and, oh my god it’s Han Solo. But he’s old, older and grizzled and really, like focused and cool like he’s seen some really bad stuff and he actually seems shaken. And, and Luke is like what’s wrong old buddy? And that’s when Han drops Chewbacca’s severed head onto the floor, yes in front of all the padawans…

Amy: No way! Kids aren’t going to like this…kids are not going to like this!

Patton: Please let me finish, thank you! The padawans are all horrified and Han says that the planet Kashyyyk has been destroyed by this very mysterious force. Now we know, oh this was Thanos. Thanos is beginning to uh, you know gather power in this new universe. So, uh, while they take Chewy’s head down to-cause we’ve seen that you know they can build new bodies, they’ve gonna build Chewy this really cool robot, I’m thinking spider body, you know like a cool spider body with Chewy’s head and ion cannons on it. But that will be in the- he’ll come back- that’ll be the post-credits tease of this film so keep that in mind. So I don’t want you guys bummed out cause Chewbacca’s not dead he will come back. Uh, then, uh, and then Han al- Luke looks down and Han’s wedding ring is gone, hey what happened with you and Leia? And Han’s like, don’t even get me started on that. So now, where did Leia go? Where did Leia go? She’s not gone but we will find out…

Amy: (interrupting) But the female part’s a little underwritten so far, sir. I’d like to point that out.

Patton: I am, I- citizen filibuster, thank you. And really thank you for respecting our town laws by interrupting me during this. Uh, where was I? Yes.

Amy: (interrupting) This is exactly why we need to…

Patton: (getting louder) Then at the, then at the edge of the Star Destroyers orbit suddenly the time ribbon begins wavering and what comes through, the X-Mens’ Quinjet, that’s right. What we did was back on Earth, we showed him gathering up all the heroes but we didn’t see him gathering up the X-Men so oh my goodness. Now Wolverine’s going to be there, now Cyclops is going to be there. So the Quinjet comes through, Luke gets in his X-Wing to go out and met them. And they engage in this awesome star battle. And it looks like the Quinjet actually is going to shoot Luke down and suddenly this volley of lasers comes in and what comes flying in, is- we think it’s going to be the Millennium Falcon just like in Episode 4 when he comes in and saves him during the Battle of Yavin, but no. It is Slave I.

That’s right Boba Fett’s ship, Slave I, has to save Luke because of course he’s trying to track Han, he can’t have Luke die. So then now, it’s a battle between the Quinjet, between the X-Wing, between Slave I and then we see the Millenium Falcon (At this point you hear whispering and people getting up from their chairs) is flying away, so uh, now Slave I goes off to do that.

But then we cut down to Corsucan (Patton misspoke and probably meant Coruscant) where, uh, Princess Leia is now consulting with Lando Calrissian. Now it looks like they’re just having a very intense meeting about trade regulations and about- I will not, I will not finish my speaking- about trade regulations but then suddenly when the rest of the council meeting leaves, they fall into each other’s arms oh my god. Lando Calrissian and Princess Leia are having an affair and that is why Han Solo, because look, Lando Calrissian was like hey if I’m going to lose the Millenium Falcon to you, I’ll just take your woman. And he has. So now we set that triangle up.

Now, cut back to the Quinjet, and Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four is piloting it. Oh it was a fake-out! He, it’s him and we have select members of the X-Men that I thought in my opinion were not, uh, focused on properly in the earlier films. We have Colossus in there, we have X-23, which is Wolverine’s daughter, and then we have a now have a mind-controlled Sabertooth and of course, Wolverine. Imagine those two going up against Robot Chewbacca ‘cause that’s going to happen. That is what we’re teasing right now. I have literally no fluid in my mouth; I have to do a Marco Rubio, can we please cut?

The most amazing Star Wars movie pitch ever created!