Damage Inc.: Pacific Squadron WWII Collector's Edition

They put a flight stick in the box. An actual flight stick. : Pacific Squadron WWII Collector's Edition for PlayStation 3 comes with a Saitek Pacific AV8R flight stick, a DLC code for the exclusive Reaper Corsair aircraft, and a custom decal kit.

Let's be honest, the flight stick is the entire conversation here. Saitek built serious peripherals, and getting one bundled with a WWII flight combat game is the kind of pairing that makes perfect functional sense. This isn't a decorative prop, it's a usable controller designed for the genre it shipped with.

The Reaper Corsair DLC adds an exclusive plane that you couldn't get any other way, and the decal kit lets you customize your stick with squadron markings. Peripheral-bundled collector's editions are their own category of rare, mostly because they're bulky, fragile in transit, and the kind of thing people either kept sealed or used until the stick wore out. Finding one complete and in good condition is a genuine hunt.

The PS3 era saw a handful of these hardware bundles, and they've aged into some of the most interesting shelf pieces from that generation. If you collect flight combat games or gaming peripherals, the Damage Inc. Collector's Edition is one of those oddball releases that deserves more attention than it gets.