Collector’s editions usually include some serious bonuses, but Ubisoft certainly raised the bar when it added a remote-controlled Paladin bomber to the special version of Splinter Cell Blacklist.
Ubisoft, the publisher of Splinter Cell Blacklist, named this special release the Paladin Multi-Mission Aircraft Edition. It will only be available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, so PC owners need to turn their attention to other games. Or maybe the developers will consider this platform, as well, if the game is successful on the consoles. Even though Xbox 720 and PS4 are just around the corner, the new consoles will presumably be backwards compatible with games developed for the older versions.
According to Ubisoft, the collector’s edition will carry a price tag of $169.99, and will only be available on August 20 in North and Latin America. In other words, this special edition is only meant for gamers with very deep pockets. I could say that few collector’s editions have ever been so expensive, but on the other hand, none of them packed a remote-controlled bomber. The RC bomber is not the collector’s edition only surprise, though.
Besides a copy of the game and the RC Paladin aircraft, the bundle also includes:
- A copy of the 88-page Splinter Cell Echoes graphic novel
- A poster
- “Billionaire’s Yacht” co-op map
- Upper Echelon Pack containing the “Dead Coast” co-op map
- Gold Sonar Goggles and Upper Echelon Suit in-game items
Check out the following video, to learn more details about the Paladin RC aircraft and the special edition of Splinter Cell Blacklist. Ubisoft even gave away an autographed (I would assume by Tom Clancy) copy of this collector’s edition to one of IGN‘s readers. That surely is a great way of promoting a bundle that the others won’t be able to touch for yet another 7 months.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jif_3jsMvnY&w=600&h=338]
Adding a bomber to an action-adventure stealth game’s collector’s edition is obviously much better than packing a statue of a severed woman’s body with a zombie game’s special release. Deep Silver, the publisher of Dead Island: Riptide, considered that half-a-corpse dressed in a Union Jack bikini would make a nice addition to its version of zombie apocalypse, but the gaming community thought otherwise. Deep Silver apologized deeply and withdrew all of the zombie statues from the market. Hopefully, this will not be the case with Ubisoft’s Paladin Multi-Mission Aircraft Edition, especially since there’s nothing offensive about it.
If you liked this post, please check Journey’s Collector Edition and GI Joe’s Collector’s set.
