The Limited Edition of Bioshock comes enclosed in a large box made of thin cardboard.
Inside the box is a 6″ figurine of a “Big Daddy” (Bouncer type) enclosed in a plastic and cardboard clam-shell, as well as a three-disc keep case with artwork that matches the large outer box. The outer box is designed such that the big daddy can bee seen through a window on the back of the box.
Inside the keep case is the game manual, the game disc, the Bioshock EP (a soundtrack CD with music by Moby), and a DVD with a behind the scenes feature.
History:
The Bioshock Limited Edition was born out of a fan petition. Take-Two stated that they would publish a special edition of BioShock only if the petition received 5,000 signatures, this number of signatures was reached after just five hours. Subsequently, a poll was posted on the Cult of Rapture community website (operated by 2K Games) in which visitors could vote on what features they would most like to see in a special edition; the company stated that developers would take this poll into serious consideration. To determine what artwork would be used for the Limited Edition cover, 2K games ran a contest, with the winning entry provided by Adam Meyer.
Art Book:
One popular feature that was ultimately left out of the Limited Edition in lieu of other features was an art book. To make up for the lack of an art book included within the Limited Edition, Take-Two offered the art book through their website in the form of a downloadable PDF until October of 2007.
Broken Big Daddy:
Many of the Big Daddy figurines were damaged during the initial shipping process, most frequently one of the arms would fall off. Take-Two quickly created a web page titled “busted” where those who had received broken figurines could fill out information to receive a new one. To compensate for the trouble those customers were able to keep their broken figurine in addition to the new one and they also received a physical copy of the art book originally left out of the Limited Edition package.
Availability:
The Limited Edition was sold exclusively through EB Games and Gamestop locations within the USA and Canada.
Pre-Order Bonus:
No pre-order bonus was offered specifically, however an exclusive Xbox 360 faceplace done in the Bioshock theme was sent to each EB Games and Gamestop location selling the game. Pre-order customers had their name placed in a raffle for the faceplate sent to the store in which their pre-order was placed. These faceplates were not made availble for sale and only enough were manufactured to cover pre-order raffles.