Crysis 2 Maximum Graphics Edition

This is not a collector's edition. This is an arms race. The Crysis 2 Maximum Graphics Edition on PC didn't just ship with posters and t-shirts, it shipped with an actual EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphics card inside the box. Let that sink in for a moment. A video game bundle that included dedicated GPU hardware so you could actually run the thing the way it was meant to be seen.

Released in Europe in March 2011, this edition came in an oversized cardboard box containing the Limited Edition of the game, a poster, a branded t-shirt, and that glorious piece of Nvidia silicon. At the time, Crysis was synonymous with melting PCs, and Crytek leaned into that reputation by essentially saying, "Fine, we'll give you the hardware too."

For collectors, this is a fascinating time capsule. The GPU is long obsolete, the t-shirt probably doesn't fit anymore, but the sheer audacity of the packaging concept makes this one of the most unusual PC collector's editions ever produced. It sits in that rare category where the physical contents tell a story about a specific moment in gaming history, when graphical fidelity was the battlefield and PC gamers wore their specs like badges of honor. Finding one of these sealed is like finding a fossil from the golden age of the GPU wars. The box alone has serious shelf presence, and the conversation it starts is worth every inch of display space it demands.