Gaming Lobby, whynow’s very own podcast, has a new episode to listen to, all about physical versus digital releases and collector’s editions.
Presented by Hannah Rutherford, Steve Kelly and Matt Taylor, Gaming Lobby is whynow’s very own video game-themed podcast.
Having made its debut in September 2022, the podcast has provided a lively insight into our favourite hobby, with previous topics including difficulty levels, horror, the follies of preordering, remakes, soundtracks, and lots more besides.
Gaming Lobby’s latest instalment, episode nine, is all about physical versus digital releases – plus the first ever collector’s editions the presenters ever bought. Oh, and as always, the episode ends with a nifty sound-based quiz.
This left me wondering: what was the first ever collectors’ edition video game? They’re largely regarded as a 21st century phenomenon, though Sega was putting out things like a limited edition boxed set of The Lucky Dime Caper Starring Donald Duck – complete with T-shirt and audio cassette with random Disney songs on it – as early as 1991.
An even earlier (possible) example was Ultimate Play The Game: The Collected Works – a compilation, essentially, of the British studio’s previously-released games, this time housed in a chunky box containing a map and a sealed envelope containing a 'hints sheet’. Being a gamer of considerable vintage, I actually had a copy of this at one time, but I sold it with the rest of my ZX Spectrum collection to fund a shiny new Commodore Amiga. Said collection now appears to sell for around £400-£500 on eBay – probably more than I paid for the actual Amiga. Ah well.
The Gaming Lobby podcast is published every month by whynow. You can listen to episode nine right here.
