XCOM: Enemy Unknown Xbox 360 Not For Resale Version

[nusilver]

Hey guys, I bought a factory sealed NFR Xbox 360 copy of XCOM: Enemy Unknown because I'd never seen one before (reviews copies I receive from 2K have always been retail copies, including XCOM EU), and I couldn't find any info online about it. Here's a pic:

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I'll be hanging on to this for the foreseeable future, but does anyone have any info on where it might have come from?

[Bojay1997]

I don't know anything specifically about this copy, but Microsoft does offer publishers the option of doing a run of games with that yellow banner on the front for promo and internal distribution purposes. I know I have seen it used on other US release games that I have received from the publishers as courtesy copies. In any event, it looks like one just sold on Ebay last week...not sure if this is the same copy you bought. I personally don't think it's worth much more than a regular copy as it's just a cover variant, but variant collectors may have a different take on it.

[nusilver]

I don't know anything specifically about this copy, but Microsoft does offer publishers the option of doing a run of games with that yellow banner on the front for promo and internal distribution purposes. I know I have seen it used on other US release games that I have received from the publishers as courtesy copies. In any event, it looks like one just sold on Ebay last week...not sure if this is the same copy you bought. I personally don't think it's worth much more than a regular copy as it's just a cover variant, but variant collectors may have a different take on it.

Yeah, that was the one I bought. The seller accepted an offer that was much lower than what the asking price was, and only slightly more than a retail copy.

It's not actually just a cover variant - the disc art is different as well. The retail release has the XCOM soldier patch on it; this one just has the word "XCOM" plus the yellow banner on the disc (check the auction here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/XCOM-Enemy-Unknown-Xbox-360-Game-Complete-Rare-Promo-Not-For-Resale-Edition-/200954856469?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item2ec9d7c415).

Anyway. Thanks for the info at the beginning of your post. It's a tiny bit closer to finding out why exactly this was distributed. Of course, I guess I could ask the PR people at Access, who handles 2K's games, but I don't want them to demand I surrender my promo copy. :)

[Jet1337]

I saw a copy of Doom 3 on ebay with the same yellow strip on the cover. I guess it's a preview copy for reviewers. As far as I know, it's the same as the final game.

[nusilver]

I saw a copy of Doom 3 on ebay with the same yellow strip on the cover. I guess it's a preview copy for reviewers. As far as I know, it's the same as the final game.

Yeah - I'm really trying to sort out exactly who got this version, though. As I said for XCOM specifically, the review copies they sent out were standard retail releases with the pre-order DLC inside (that's the one they sent me, anyway, a week or two before it came out.) None of the other games media people I know got this yellow strip version, either. Having said that, the two that are currently available on eBay were located in Canada, so I'm wondering if 2K has a Canadian branch that opted to print these yellow ones. I'll keep digging as I find the time.