[UPDATED] Halo: Reach Themed Xbox 360 Slim Coming Your Way

[UPDATED] Major Nelson just confirmed on his blog that the bundle is real, and everything from the product description page is real. Also unveiled is that the controller will be available separately, plus a wireless headset featuring similar, silvery-styled art and coloring. The controller and headset are both going to sell for $60 and $50 respectively ($60 for the controller?), plus be available near the back end of next month (read: before Halo: Reach's launch). Everything is available for pre-ordering starting today, plus Bungie has posted an unboxing of the unit that's available to download at halo.xbox.com and viewable on Halo Waypoint.

Image has been updated. Check after the break for more images.

[ORIGINAL STORY] So, this guy, the Ars Mole, has told Ars Technica (whom the mole does his...mole-ing for) has come out and said a Halo: Reach-themed Xbox 360 Slim (plus controller) is going to launch alongside it's respective game day-and-date with it, September 14.

Ars Mole has a hell of a knack for getting things right (or just getting word and reporting them), as he's foretold the PS3 Slim, the FFXIII and Splinter Cell 360 bundles, plus various other spot-on things.

The controller, which you see above, is silver and sports various lines of lineitude, with the a "Property of the UNSC" and other Halo-related insignias. You can tell that this is a mock-up, as the Ring of Light around the Guide button is peculiarly small, while the face buttons seem...flat.

This goes hand-in-hand with a screenshot that's been going around of a leaked product page on Xbox.com that shows the "Xbox 360 Halo: Reach Limited Edition Bundle," which shows a 360 Slim, inspired with the same paint job as the controller, goes for $400 and is expected to be a 250GB model (considering, well, all "limited edition" hardware bundles have always utilized the largest capacity hard drive at the time). It comes with 2 controllers (like the above) and a copy of Halo: Reach. Thank god it's not Baby-Shit Green like Halo 3's 360 was.

We've got the Slim Arcade coming out in just under two weeks with 4GB of storage, then we've got this doozy of a bundle, then finally, we get the Slim Arcade w/ Kinect bundle later this year. Not sure about you, but my wallet is fucking hating me right now.

Filter on through the Ars Technica link at the bottom to get a look - albeit a small one - at the Reach-inspired 360 Slim.

[Via Joystiq via Ars Technica]

Dead Rising 2 Gets US-Exclusive "Zombrex Edition", Motion Picture Release Details

We may all know how much I despise country-exclusive limited editions, but hey, this one is US only! Despite the irony in this, Dead Rising 2 is Canadian made, Japanese published, yet US gets the collector's edition. Strange how this works, right?

This special edition, dubbed as the Zombrex Edition, runs you $80, and both the PS3 and 360 gets you this:

• Two-Disc Steelbook case   
• Dead Rising 2 game disc 
• Zombrex “Syringe” pen
• Zombrex “Prescription” notepad (25 pages)
• Zombrex “Safety” card 
• Zombrex “Prospectus” Sales Brochure (16 pages)
• Dead Rising 2 Hardback Artbook (48 pages)

The PS3 version scores you a voucher for an XMB Dynamic Theme and a "Blu-Ray Disc featuring a High-Definition 24 minute “Making of” featurette".

The 360 version gets a "high-def version" of the above 24-minute "Making of" featurette plus the 83-minute “Zombrex Dead Rising Sun” motion picture, made by Keiji Inafune himself.

[JAPAN ONLY] No More Heroes 2 Gets Collector's Edition

Fuck you, Japan.

I'm sorry, I can't stay mad at you. I love you, Japan. I love sushi. I love your women (I've been suffering from Yellow Fever for many years now). I love your games. Sadly, they get to taunt us with things like this: the No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle Hopper's Edition. You get:

• A movie made by Suda51 called No More Heroes 1.5 
• The soundtrack on CD
• A "fan book"

Not sure what the fan book would be, but if you pre-order, you also get an erotica comic book. It goes for ¥8,980 ($101). It's out on October 21, same day as the "Black Box" edition, which is just the game for $81.

This isn't the first time an entry in the NMH franchise that got something awesome.

[Via Siliconera]

Alan Wake Limited Collector's Edition unveiled by Walmart, Best Buy

In the ongoing effort to completely destroy your wallets and shelf space, Alan Wake is getting the special edition treatment, in the image of a "Limited Collector's Edition," complete with the tag line "A Psychological Action Thriller." Honestly, I hate when a game that shows this much promise and awesome needs to have lines like this to entice otherwise uninterested buyers to even glance upon the game on a shelf when it's poised next to other, fantastically awesome games, and in Alan Wake's case, it's going to be right next to Assassin's Creed II.

On the Walmart listing for the game, you've got this sporty box shot for the game, as well as a list of your clichéd (L)CE contents (taken straight from the listing):

Hardbound in quality linen, the Limited Collector’s edition is designed to resemble a hardcover book. The Limited Collector's Edition will include:

• Game Disc in box with unique art
• Exclusive In-Game Audio Commentary and Hints by Remedy
• “The Alan Wake Files” – a 144pg book that includes a short story written by Alan Wake and compiles the FBI dossiers investigating the events in Bright Falls, WA
• Exclusive Audio Disc with Soundtrack and Score
• Game Add-on token redeemable on Xbox LIVE for the first Alan Wake add-on content pack
• Exclusive Xbox disc with special content: Alan Wake Xbox Live Theme and Alan Wake Avatar for Xbox LIVE

"Designed to resemble a hardcover book," huh? Sounds interesting.

Unique artwork for the box? Go on.

144-page short story as penned by a fictitious character with fake files from a real beauro? Color me intrigued.

Code redeeming the first DLC pack? Get the fuck over yourselves. You can't simply put that in the game? Why are you doing this? If you're releasing a DLC pack the day of release, then it should have been just included on the disc. That is, unless, you meet one of the two following criteria:

1. You've run out of space on the disc
2. Microsoft told you to

BioShock 2 Special Edition Announced, 100th Blog Post

Image via Joystiq

In what is to believed by myself to be one of the best special editions to be made, BioShock 2's special edition has shat all over everything else. Even the Big Daddy figurine.

• 164-page hardcover art book
• Three posters (what I believe are the same ones included in those plastic wine bottles that were scattered alongside beaches...you do remember that, right?) 
• BioShock 2's orchestral score on a CD 
• The orchestral score on a vinyl 180g LP

Yea, that's right. You get the orchestral score on a fucking vinyl. That, my friends, is service.

Like said above, the three posters in this SE looks like the ones that were rolled up into the wine bottles that they scattered amongst 10 beaches around the world. If so, my $150 purchase on eBay was all for naught.

And this post marks #100 for Destroyed Controller. Whoop whoop!

[Via Joystiq]

More UK-Exclusive Limited Editions

Ready for a trifecta that will blow you mind? So, we all know of my bitching and ranting when it comes to the UK getting exclusive limited editions of games, right? Sit down tight, because shit is about to get real.

Another UK-Exclusive PS3 Special Edition: Ratchet & Clank [UPDATE]

Image via PlayStation.blog UK

OK, this is getting goddamned annoying. First Infamous, then Uncharted 2, now Ratchet & Clank. Seriously Sony: What the crap?

I got on the European PlayStation.blog, where this was announced, and unleashed my anger:

Got this story from Kotaku, and I'm from the US, FYI.

Does Sony not like American gamers? I mean, it started with Infamous, then Uncharted 2, now ACIT. Paying £55 (that's $90 for me, which is $20 too much for an SE of this caliber) for a game, plus shipping to import, is absolutely ridiculous.

Naughty Dog (Uncharted), Insomniac (R&C) and Sucker Punch (Infamous) are all US-based studios, with ND being the only Sony-owned studio. All their recent outings on the PS3 are getting UK-exclusive Special Editions for their latest games. Conspiracy?

I would have loved to buy the Infamous SE, especially for the GTA-style box art and the comic. I'm a huge fan of SteelBook cases (love 'em). The Uncharted 2 SE is really cool (especially the case), and all the extra goodies for ACIT are good as well.

What the crap, Sony? Where's the love for America?

I hate this. I absolutely hate this. Why are US-based studios releasing Special Edition only in the UK? That's a huge "what the fuck" from gamers - especially me - and a huge middle finger from Sony to US gamers.

[UPDATE] I'm already getting flak for my post on the UK PlayStation.blog. One user in particular (name withheld) calling me out - or simply saying the "Americans" - on my "whining," and claims that this is retribution for us getting Formula 1: Championship Edition and LittleBigPlanet before them, despite them being from UK-based studios. Hey, at least you got them.

Source - UK PlayStation.blog