I'm beyond excited for this new installment to the series...I actually went ahead and ordered the Special Edition pack as shown in the latest Nintendo Direct (11/12/15) from my local GameStop after seeing how it included the same art book and 3DS holder that was released in the Japanese bundle. If you are interested in attempting to order the bundle, it's sadly $80.00 (or $25.00 at the least to hold a reservation for you). However, it's more of an amazing deal than you may realize. You receive both versions of the game and the third path which alone would be about $90-$100 total. Whether you're a massive Fire Emblem fan or one that enjoyed Awakening back in 2012 I would recommend the bundle. ; v ;

Fire Emblem Fates is to be released in North America on February 19, 2016.
GameStop and Best Buy seem to have the bundle currently sold-out/unavailable online as of right now...

I'm sort of tempted to get the special edition but will depend on the price they give it in the UK. We don't have a release date either which is pretty annoying.

I loved Awakening though so looking forward to Fates.

I highly recommend buying it although I suppose the price will be the deal breaker. I was looking around on various Fire Emblem sites as well and all I could find was 2016 without a month or day. ^^;

Awakening was amazing for various reasons although the biggest was due to it initially being the last in the series unless it sold a specific number of copies and exceeded Nintendo's expectations.

Most likely I'll just buy one version and then if I really want the other one I'll get it at the discounted price. While it'd be nice to have them both on one cart like in the special edition, the price really comes from the art book and I don't need that or the pouch.

I wish the standard cart just had both stories on it though. I really don't wanna have to buy two to experience it fully.

I'm the time of person who wants to experience both sides of the story whether they know they would rather play for one side over the other. However, I didn't initially realize that one was a physical copy and the other was a digital download code so that's kind of a disappointment on my end as I prefer physical copies because I always worry about my 3DS ever dying on me before I can transfer data over to a new system, but I may just pick up a physical copy of the digital version when, and if, it goes somewhat cheaper.

It would make everyone's lives much easier to have two (or three if you could the third path) stories on one cartridge, but it seems as if Nintendo knows they can make money on it so they'll do what they need to do. Of course, if I'm wrong with my assumptions, then I apologize.

No, I'm sure that's exactly the reason.

^Wow, okay...Please ignore the many mistakes in my previous statement. *time = type *could = count

Ah, I'm surprised I was correct in my assumption although I figure Nintendo has been in a rough situation since the release of the Wii U even with the sales of SSB4 for both Wii U and 3DS and Mario Kart 8.

I figure it's the same model that they use for Pokemon, except with that series it's still the same story. Whichever version you get just comes down to preference. So I think it's pretty stupid that they're essentially only giving you half the story for Fire Emblem.

Clever, I never thought to think about it like that...The only times I ever held both versions of a Pokémon game was Black and White 2 (Sold Black 2 knowing I wouldn't play it) and X and Y (I received X as a gift but it wasn't terrible). Normally, I leave my preference up to fate as I know I can just trade for the other version's legendary.
Yes, that much about Fire Emblem is true. If it wasn't for the money that Nintendo knows they can make on both versions, and the third path, it would be like Awakening.