Bioshock Limited Edition

A collector's edition born from pure fan demand. The Bioshock Limited Edition on Xbox 360 exists because 5,000 fans signed a petition in under five hours, proving that Rapture's pull was stronger than any bathysphere cable. This retail exclusive, available only through EB Games and Gamestop in the US and Canada, delivered a package worthy of Andrew Ryan's personal collection.

The centerpiece is a 6-inch Big Daddy Bouncer figurine housed in a plastic clamshell, visible through a window on the back of the large cardboard outer box. It's the kind of shelf piece that makes visitors stop and ask questions. Inside the three-disc keep case you'll find the game disc, a soundtrack EP featuring music by Moby, a behind-the-scenes DVD, and the game manual. The cover artwork itself was chosen through a fan contest, with the winning design by Adam Meyer gracing the Limited Edition.

Here's where the history gets interesting for collectors. Many of those original Big Daddy figurines arrived with broken arms during the initial shipping wave. Take-Two set up a "busted" replacement page, and anyone who reported damage got to keep the broken figure AND received a replacement plus a physical copy of the art book that was originally cut from the package. That means some collectors out there have two Big Daddies and a physical art book that most Limited Edition owners never received. The art book was otherwise only available as a temporary PDF download through Take-Two's website until October 2007.

The community literally willed this edition into existence, voted on its contents, and then the shipping mishap accidentally created tiers of rarity within the same product. For Xbox 360 collectors who lived through the console wars era, this is one of those packages where the story behind it is almost as compelling as what's inside. Finding one with an intact Big Daddy is the real treasure hunt.