Max Payne 3 Special Edition Offers Ten Inches For $100

Max Payne 3 will be the first entry in to the neo-noir FPS franchise in eight years, and Rockstar appears to bring the gritty shooter back with a bang. They announced details today regarding the special edition of Max Payne 3, which will feature a number of nifty bonuses:

• 10” tall Collectible Max Payne Statue created in a collaboration between TriForce and Rockstar Games.
• Series of game-inspired Original Still Life Art Prints that depict some of Max Payne’s inner demons and vices.
• Copper and brass-plated iron, bullet-shaped Bullet Keychain featuring a screw-off back.
• Classic Multiplayer Character Pack of eight playable multiplayer characters for Max Payne 3 Multiplayer, including fan favorites from the original Max Payne and Max Payne 2 like Max Payne from Max Payne 2, Mona Sax and Vladimir Lem.
• Disorderly Conduct Multiplayer Weapons Pack for Max Payne 3 Multiplayer that includes the Hammerhead Auto Shotgun, G9 Grenade Launcher and Molotov cocktail.
• Max Payne 3 Official Soundtrack featuring the game’s instrumental score.

A $40 increase in price for a quality figurine, some cool bits of swag, a full soundtrack and some multiplayer content isn't shabby, and it's certainly refreshing to see some nostalgia fuel included in the mix. Hopefully the weapons pack will not be an unbalancing factor in multiplayer situations.

Reasonably priced special editions are a good alternative to season passes and online passes in terms of encouraging new sales and generating extra income. Art books and soundtracks are always cool swag, and $40 is a completely reasonable increase in price compared to the $20 Saints Row: The Third season pass that unlocks on-release DLC, for example. The eight years since Max Payne 2 have given Rockstar plenty of time to produce an excellent title, and the quality of this special edition shows some confidence in the game's sales; in offering legitimate benefits for a relatively small price increase, we can observe the confidence that Rockstar has in its product this time around. Max Payne 3 is slated for a March 2012 release on PlayStation 3, XBox 360, and PC.