I couldn't agree with you more!!! I like having a physical product in my hands. One that I OWN, not "renting with the publishers permission" . Now I know technically I'm not "renting" but it sure feels like that is the way things are going. Their giving us the privilege to use their software and can yank that privilege any time they see fit... or you installed it too many times for their taste... or their servers go down... or their whole darn company folds and you can never connect to play their game again!!!!!!!

Anybody here remember when you brought home that game you've been waiting for and open it up to find all kinds of goodies inside. This was ULTIMA VI for me. It had game manuals that gave me more insight into the game I was about to play. It gave me a gorgeous CLOTH map that was huge (not a postage sized folded piece of flimsy paper). It even had this curious black "rock" (ok it was plastic but sooooo cool) that did nothing but connected closely to what I was about to experience after installing my game! Today's game just lack that "FUN FACTOR". You're lucky to get a two page install guide anymore and nothing if you go digital. (one caveat: Fallout New Vagas' collector's edition looks pretty cool and I did order it )

I feel like that cranky lawyer character on the original Star Trek episode that had all those real books stacked all over his office! I guess it's why I don't go for e-books either, I need to feel it in my hands to make it real.

Today's games just feel like empty shells that look real pretty but lack that inner soul that used to go into games. I collect old in their original boxes cRPGs and love just reading through all their manuals and whatnot and get much more imaginative and alive worlds than I do from today.

Heck, just look at today's strategy guides and you can see this loss of imagination. The old clue books were usually written from the perspective of the game world and would give subtle hints. They usually wouldn't give the actual answers until the end of the chapters or end of the book. But they wrote it in a narrative style. Nowadays, they are paper thin and tell you just go here for all the "phat loot" and stupid "achievements".

Wow! I didn't intend to go on such a rant . I just sometimes feel like one of my favorite hobbies has morphed into something I have a hard time enjoying. I still go back and replay MANY of the old games and find them just as enjoyable now. In fact, I've found many I never got to play that I find hold my fascination and attention much longer than triple A titles from today. I guess I am one of those who firmly believes many of today's games are "dumbed down, graphics only" hollow shells.

Glad I got that off my chest !

Dammit, the stupidly expensive Play.com exclusive Lawful Good Collector’s Edition of Neverwinter Nights 2 comes with a cloth map. Or an “A3 Clothe Map”, rather. I assume they’re the same thing.

I’m such a sucker for a cloth map. I still have my original Ultima Online runic cloth map of Britannia even though it was made of a rather nasty synthetic material. Hey, at least it will last. I’m already concerned for my Oblivion Cyrodiil paper map. I may have to get it framed because that’s how much of a geek I am.

Neverwinter Nights 2 on Play.com, due out on 20th October 2006. I’m not sure about this Lawful Good business. I’m Chaotic Good all the way!

I do hope they’ve put a bit more thought into the main quest than the repeated “Hearken to mine call young avatar! Four [insert item here] have been lost and there are coincidentally four areas in thys chapter! Go forth and visit each area!” of the original game. That got old by chapter 2 and totally put me off buying the expansion packs. Just as well because this spangly edition comes with the original and both expansion packs. Also a figurine, pewter ring, art book and music DVD.

Hmm… maybe £34.99 isn’t such a stupid price. I draw the line at listing Special Edition packaging under “additional content” though.