MikeMcD

<span class="articleText">
Update: Listings for the Hardened Edition have gone live at both Amazon and GameStop. It will cost $99.99, so essentially you get the game and Elite (with special "Founder" status) for $10 less than they would cost separately, plus the other stuff for free: a SteelBook case, a "field journal" recapping the series, and a free Avatar costume or PSN theme (depending upon your platform).
Original Story: Unlike the last several Call of Duty games, you'll only have two versions of Modern Warfare 3 to choose from: the Hardened Edition and the plain game. Activision really wants you to spend your money on Elite, which may explain the absence of a super-expensive Prestige Edition, although it's giving you plenty of other ways to spend your money on something special.
The contents of the Hardened Edition were leaked this week and then confirmed during today's Call of Duty XP keynote. Most notably, it comes with a year's subscription to Call of Duty Elite, a $49.99 value. We still haven't gotten an official price on the Hardened Edition; listings for it should be going up soon on retailers' websites.

More...