Cold Coffee:Bundle Packs

Video game bundles come in all shapes and sizes.  There are console bundles, series bundles and what I like to call the ‘reject bundles'. Regardless of the type, bundles are always a cheap means to sell something that wasn't doing so otherwise. While I understand these moves from a business perspective, I still hate the very essence of them. Why? Because they are always missing some important element that really just ruins the whole thing. Before I get into that, let's break these bundles down…

Console bundles are used to help sell consoles by including a AAA title or popular accessory. Sounds good enough, except for the fact that you'll often find these ‘great deals' that will include some extras you could care less about sitting around your house collecting dust. The deals make sense if you actually use everything in the bundle but the other 90% of us are losing out by paying for shit we'll never use.

Series bundles are where developers take multiple instalments of a series and stick them together. This sounds like a great idea; you get to take a trip back in time and enjoy your favorite series. Backwards compatibility being a thing of the past, this is often the only way to play some of these titles from older generations on your new consoles. These are also often updated with HD graphics, really made to look like a service to the fans but it's just a cheap ploy to sell an old product for more than it's worth. What's worse about these is the fact that crunching and tweaking multiple old titles into a single disk often results in some major issues in the overall gameplay experience. Take the Silent Hill Collection's audio issues that drove players mad for example; these issues also will never be fixed because there's no way a game developer is going to spend valuable time and money working out a patch for something as small as a bundle.

Reject bundles are my personal favorite; I'm not even being sarcastic. Reject bundles are usually found in the lowest corners of the video game world: grocery store discount bins. They'll consist of two or more games that have nothing to do with each other. There's a good chance that neither are titles anyone's heard of and you can bet your ass they didn't sell for shit whenever they did come out. At least the retailers are honest with these ones. ‘Hey guys, these games really suck but here are two for $10'.

Bundles are a great idea on paper and they could be great products if developers actually took the time and money to make them well. Unfortunately, I don't see any changes in the way bundles are put together coming anytime soon so it looks like this will stay the norm, which is pretty much bullshit.