Hmm, probably a matter of taste this one. I always liked how the older simulators like European Air War and Red Baron 2 had decent manuals in a hard copy format and a big box. Even so, i still want to have a physical disc and even today i have never bought a single game in digital download format, everything i own is in a physical format even if it's the usual nowadays slim DVD case.
I guess this is similar to music, some people buy music CDs and rip them to MP3 right away onto their iPods and such, others play the actual CD on their stereo set while flipping through the booklet, or even go for a vynil version. It's just a matter of taste and i'm in the "gimme shiny stuff to look at" camp
The way i see it, it's not that the collector's edition is cheap. In fact, most collector's editions regardless of genre today contain stuff that was more or less standard back in the day (ironic how as our PCs and games get better the packaging and bonus materials get more slim).
What's making me lean towards the collector's edition is that the basic version is expensive enough that if i skimp on a mere 20 euros and miss the extra goodies i will probably regret it big time.
If it was a situation of 35-40 Euros versus 75-80 then yes, i'd probably get the regular one, but whatever listings i could find had the digital download version (aka the "no box at all, no packaging cost" version) priced at 50 Euros and the collector's at 70. Essentially, it's the high cost of the basic version that's pushing me to think "sod it, i'll pay a little more and actually get a display package worthy of the game's potential".
I think i'm going to go for it, just waiting to find out a few more things about it so i don't jump the gun
