It was the collectors edition of Oblivion that came with the coin, and a bonus DVD. There was a vanilla edition as well which was cheaper and came with just the game.

I definitely think the path of least resistance is key. While I know you hate me mentioning it, iTunes has completely changed my approach to music. If I hear something I like in an advert or on the radio now, I know I can just quickly fire up the store, do a quick search, and then have a nice legal copy of a track.

I also wonder what kind of effect the iPlayer will have on people torrenting BBC shows. Granted, its not a format you can keep, but if people were downloading them just because they missed them, then I imagine the iPlayer will take a good chunk out of that.

The only other one that springs to mind is the Elder Scrolls series. Morrowind and Oblivion both shipped with level editors included.

Part of the problem these days is collector’s editions. By bundling in some extras, they started charging extra. Having a game that’s not afraid to bulk things up with some bonus stuff is always nice.

Sorry got carried away.

Do you rememebr how the makers of Duke Nukem 3D tried to geta round the Piracy issue, ok the Atomic Edition/Plutonium Pack had the CD check, but the other incentive to buy the game was how much they bundled with it. From my memory of the Atomic Edition you got:

Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition
Duke Nukem 1
Duke Nukem 2
Duke Nukem Desktop themes and wallpapers
Build Level editor
and a few demos.

Why not try rewarding those who buy rather than punishing them, it encouraged me to buy Duke 3d myself rather than use a copy of your legit one.

Agree though about their love of holiday rep shows. And the “uncovered” shows. Urgh.

In fact, one thing I’ve mentioned before that they’re spending money on is tie-in podcasts. I loved their Prison Break one, and the Lost one has proven invaluable with keeping up with the show, as there’s loads of stuff I’ve forgotten as, frankly, it happened two seasons ago.

Not to mention the clear investment in original drama. Granted, they aren’t doing it as often as the BBC, but stuff like the recent Pratchet TV-movies is very welcome.

Sky show US adverts, I actually am sure Channel 4 showed more, as I remember Lost taking longer than an hour to watch. I think they added at least 10mins of extra adverts (If you include the bookending) Sky’s Lost ads were just at US levels. What peopel percieved as bad was that the used teh US frequency of (IIRC) an ad break just after the titles, 2 breaks mid show and a break before the end of episode conclusion. Its the early and late ones that get people because the show will only be on for about 5 mins between the bookending break and the first ad one. However the advantage of using these break times is that the US shows are paced around stoppages at those times, so ad breaks will be mini-cliffhangers, scene changes etc and it works.

My objection to Sky showing ads comes from the fact that it is already a premium channel, so you have to pay to get Sky 1. After taking that lump of cash they then get more by showing adverts. I object to the UKTV channels for the same.

Basically my rule is, you can show adverts if I can get your channel on a freeview box or with no subscription on a sattelite box and your channel has no ties to the BBC short of buying its repeats. So virgin 1, can have adverts, Dave, can have adverts, Film 4, can have adverts. Sky 1 however get your money directly, so adverts are just greed.