The holiday season for gamers begins in September and runs right the way through to mid January with an A grade long awaited title debuting almost every week. Exciting times. The marquee games are often apt to have a range of delightful goodies for those gamers willing to hand over a few extra dollars. I love these things and I always choose to get the big shiny boxes over the standards. It felt good carrying my copy of GTA IV underarm in its big safe deposit box with prostitute adorned slip cover for the whole world to see. I even have the Viking: Battle for Asgard game soundtrack on my bookshelf.

But Recently those show bag styled extra goodies have evolved into fabulous, glittering prizes and those few dollars into a few too many dollars.

At great emotional hardship I have decided this year to put my foot down and say, “Just the standard version thanks”. The words echo in my ears like the impotent wails of an Edgar Allan Poe character trapped forever in a tomb.

But I have to admit, my shopping plans are looking healthier. Around tax time I usually throw together a shopping list of all the games I’m going to buy based on cost, due date and the like to identify where my hard earned dollars need to go.

By going through and stripping back my numerous Collector Editions for standards I’ve saved a jumble of money. In fact the money in the kitty is now enough for me to buy two whole other games that previously hadn’t made the cut. Do I want two new release games over all that collected edition junk I never even look at? I’m pretty sure (although I’ll admit not certain) that I do.

Let me be clear here. I'm not bagging out Collectors Editions or taking some moral high horse against them or anything so dull. I've never been shy about shilling out for my gaming passion. I've just been forced to draw the line between having more games, or less and in this scenario, under these circumstances, I'm choosing more.

So no batarang, nightvision goggles, Ezio action figure or Tekken limited edition arcade stick for me. I’m going cold turkey baby, just you watch.

…oh god, I’ve got cravings all ready. Can someone post me an art book to flick through, just to get me through the worst of it.