It's becoming increasingly more difficult to be a gamer - especially one that loves to splash the cash on collectible memorabilia to commemorate those games that deserve to be remembered. Perhaps a greater percentage of titles these days are of a high enough quality to be worth buying rather than just being more expensive than in years past, but either way, my wallet feels far lighter than usual regardless. Developers and publishers aren't exactly making things easy, either, and they're no doubt aware that fans are more than willing to forego allocating disposable income to more 'useful' things in life than blowing it all on exclusive loot like night vision goggles and figurines. Sure, paying the recommended retail price is bad enough, but if you really want that 'extremely-limited-and-never-replicated' version of your next favourite game, it's more economic to front the cash on release day, rather than tracking down a copy once the price has skyrocketed. Not all of these collector's editions are impossible to find in such a state (and some are remarkably cheap in a used condition), but you can bet your life that, in a few years time, their asking prices will all be far higher than they are today. If you want to add one of these to your display room, you better act fast...
15. Fallout 3 Survival Edition
How much it costs: £160+ (used) Bethesda has a knack for cooking up desirable collector's editions for fans of their open-world RPGs. Last year's Fallout 4 had its own tantalising Pip-Boy Edition that sold out faster than you could whimper the word Deathclaw, but that one just missed out on securing a place here (give it time). Fallout 3's Survival Edition isn't exactly much to look at when compared to some of the other crazy offerings to come, but it's valuable and popular, so much so that I couldn't find a single sealed copy of the thing for sale anywhere. Expect that £160 price tag to be considerably higher for a brand new, untouched version, but good luck finding one. The primary reason for its rarity is thanks to it being a lucrative Amazon exclusive. If you're in the market for a used copy, they appear on eBay regularly, just make sure the lunchbox case hasn't actually been used to store food before you start bidding.
Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.
