RSS Feeds
toys
Why I Will Never Sell My Gaming Swag (Again)
Posted by Mike Fahey at 2:00 AM on September 23, 2008
Isn't that beautiful, ladies and gentlemen? That is a relic from E3 1998, given away to members of the online and offline press who participated in a tournament of Working Design's RPG light gun shooter Elemental Gearbolt for the PlayStation. A brushed metal assassin's case embossed with the game's logo, opening the case reveals a shiny gold-painted Guncon, a memory card, and of course the game itself, nestled snugly in molded foam. Less than 50 of these babies were ever made, and those that were took a full year to get to the recipients. Why is this important? If you look at the list of participants on the Game Rave web page detailing this rarity, you'll see. Yep, I had one of these in my hands. And I sold it.
Granted I sold it for over $500 to help finance a move across the country, but it seems that every time I marvel at some of the cool swag game companies create, someone points me to this page to remind me exactly how young and stupid I once was.
Elemental Gearbolt: Assassin's Case [Game Rave]
It's nearly here! LittleBigPlanet has gone gold, and will be hitting stores in North and Latin America on October 21st. Of course certain safety precautions have to be taken whenever you launch a new title into an unfamiliar atmosphere, so Sony is serving up these limited edition spacesuits as free DLC. They're only going to be available for the first week, however, so those of you buying the title online might want to upgrade your shipping, just in case.
From the Good Ideas Division at Rockstar Games comes new Grand Theft Auto IV branded swag that's sure to get the game violence wonks in a lather. Popular Mechanics bloggers were on the optimal end of an aluminium baseball bat recently, something they wanted to show off. No word if that's fake blood or just sloppy calzone eating. Now, the mailman has already come to my house, but perhaps Rockstar has dispatched these via UPS or DHL. They always run a bit late.
R-Type Command, Irem's tactical hybrid shooter for the PSP, is due in stores next week, and in case tactical space shooter action doesn't quite grab you, publisher Atlus has sweetened the pot with this kick arse model of the R-Type R-9A Arrowhead in tasteful black and red. GameStop, Amazon.com, GameCrazy, EB Canada will all be offering the model, which originally saw life as a gashapon toy in Japan, and then offered in different colours as part of Yujin's Shooting Game Historica collection (
I received my copy of Grand Theft Auto IV today from Rockstar and tucked inside the box along with the game was this pretty damn cool replica of Liberty City's Statue of Happiness. Note how well it blends in with my other bobbles?
The Weighted Companion Cube is not supposed to make people cry, but it most certainly did back in late December, when Valve's official plushies 
It was only Thursday before last that I found out I was heading to Austin for the Austin Game Developers Conference and some Tabula Rasa themed events. Since then I've taken a tonne of pictures, hung out with some industry legends, had a childhood dream come true, inadvertantly LARPed with Richard Garriott, and taken a metric asstonne of pictures. Here's a rundown of what I did on my trip to the Texas state capitol. 
While I am still busy processing everything that went on at last night's Tabula Rasa Logos Academy event held at Richard Garriott's sprawling estates, I thought I could share with you all the contents of the swag bag that was dropped into our weary laps as we shuffled onto the tour bus at the event's end. The bag itself has a very military feel to it, definitely a step above your standard swag holder. Inside I found a Tabula Rasa t-shirt, coin, dog tags, knit hat, and a tin that when opened revealed a shiny silver compass, flashlight, and pocket knife set. Classy and shiny at the same time. This should take up more space in my luggage quite nicely indeed! 
The folks at SCEA sent me this spiffy Lair-themed lighter along with my copy of the Playstation 3 game. Expect to see it hit a contest on the site in the near future.
