Assassin's Creed Limited Edition

The North American Assassin's Creed Limited Edition on Xbox 360 is the version that tried to give you everything, and honestly, it pulled it off. Packed inside a large tin with a plastic slip cover, this edition is loaded with enough content to justify its own museum exhibit.

You get a 3-inch Altair figurine, a Penny Arcade comic book (yes, that Penny Arcade), a mini strategy guide, and the game itself in a sealed keep case that cleverly hides a second disc. That bonus DVD is packed with short film contest winners, behind-the-scenes footage, developer diaries, trailers, producer interviews, and artwork. For a 2007 release, that's an absurd amount of supplementary material.

The Penny Arcade comic is the wildcard here. Mike and Jerry lending their style to Assassin's Creed creates a genuine crossover artifact from the peak of webcomic influence on gaming culture. It's the kind of inclusion that could only happen during the mid-2000s, when Penny Arcade was arguably the most powerful voice in gaming media.

Pre-order buyers who went through EB Games or GameStop also scored a hard cover art book, which makes a complete set with the pre-order bonus one of the more elusive configurations to track down.

This was the console wars era in full swing, when Xbox 360 was leading the charge and publishers were pouring resources into physical editions that gave disc-based gaming real tangible value. The tin, the figurine, the comic, the strategy guide, the bonus DVD. Every piece serves a purpose. For collectors who want the definitive physical version of where the Assassin's Creed franchise began, this is the one.