Do you miss games coming in Boxes?

B

baardhimself

First time out of the vault
I was clearing up my loft the other day and I came across my huge collection of PC games, sadly I had to throw away most of the boxes but I kept Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Planescape, BG1, Monkey Island.. I looked at the brilliance of the boxes, the design, the manuals.. and compared it to my Oblivion Box.. it just wasnt the same..sure the DVD cases are smaller and alot easier to store, but they lack personalty. Anyone else miss the big old boxes?
 
I miss them, yes. I also miss the big manuals that came with some games. Now it's just small books with micro-printing. Or just a folded piece of paper. Sad shit that. They do everything to make more profit... :cry:
 
Same here. I'm still worshipping my Mechwarrior 2 box inclusive its manual and cockpit controls. Good times were these.
 
Boxes not so much, but I miss the beautiful manuals or the great old CRPGs that came with complete wall-maps of the CRPG's setting.
 
i miss both the boxes and oldskool manuals.

i have a wall with a bunch stacked boxes. Dark Reign, FO1, FO2, HL1, HL:opfor, HL:BS (didnt say they were all good games did i? ;) ), HL2 Collectors Ed (to remind me of my foolish mistake...), Diablo 2, Diablo 2: LoD, Tachyon, Starship Troopers (the old squadbased one, not the FPS), Interstate, Deus Ex 1, Carmageddon, Unreal, Delta Force, TOEE, Arcanum and so on & so forth.

i like it a lot, but what am i gonna do now? stack dvd boxes? no thanks...
 
One thing I don't miss are the trapezoid boxes (I remember both of the original Thief games being packaged this way, as well as Omikron: The Nomad Soul). It was rather a rather awkward arrangement, something Eidos was being strange about I suppose.

But of course I miss manuals, maps, and even CD cases (it seems more and more, publishers opt to use paper folders to store CDs in).

I still have the boxes for pretty much any game I've ever bought. I break them down and store them (in a bigger box, of course). God knows why, but I still have all those boxes on hand.
 
They feel bad to throw away...I mean the size make it seem that they should hold some higher meaning and I guess when you consider them it does form nostalgia doesnt it?

I threw mine away, but I regret it and for the past year I've kept the boxes of the few games I buy.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
 
It comes down to consumer support, and if you know the industry, the consumer matters little unless it's to pander some cheap shit to them at a full price tag. The industry has really gone to shit, particularly the publishers, with the cessation of any notable "extra" materials, which includes good box design. Hell, the box could be missing as long as there's a good manual.

Well, that is unless they can charge you $15 more for the "Collector's Edition", which has a different box and maybe even, *gasp*, a map and a cheapass printed token. CRPGs used to have FAR better print, supplemental books to give further background, extra materials, and a map was usually standard.

You want to know where customer support and appreciation like that went to? To the publishers to pay for ads, ergo, to pay for favorable reviews. Then they cut corners in development to make the hype machine profitable.
 
I really do miss the giant game boxes. I remember I bought a pack with 3 games in it, Civ2, Settlers 2 and Simcity 2000. It came in a box that was around 50cm long (correct me if I'm wrong) and came with manuals....

Just thinking of that makes me sad, as now all we get are DVD cases with a few CDs in them with online manuals.

What a fucking waste.

And we even still pay the same price (comparatively) as we did for giant manuals, maps and boxes.

Buying those boxes made me proud to actually own a game.

But I am still glad that Civilization 4, despite the small box, came with an extensive manual that I didn't mind reading.

I think the last game I bought that was in a bo was Fallout Tactics. But even then the manual was basically Multiplayer shit......
 
The amazing thing is that I really miss games coming in boxes and with manuals, even though I've never even owned one...
 
I have made a habit of saving my boxes for games that I think might be valuable in the future. And I save my manuals for everything. I really really hate this new philosophy of putting games in DVD style containers.
 
Heh, after reading this thread, I went back through my room to see if I had any boxed games lying around and to my surprise I have lots. It's a damn shame that this doesn't happen anymore, as it felt awesome to have a giant box and manual to boot, sitting there ready for installation.
 
I miss boxes and manuals too.

I remember that when DVD boxes appeared, retarded press praised them because they were "practical".
I fail to understand how a box that doesn't have enough place for a 200 page manual and a decent map is "practical".
 
Exactly! The moronic DVD cases aren'tthat special, either.

What would work and save a lot of waste is if they were put into a cardboard box containing a thin hard CD sleeve, the manual, and the rest of the peripherals of the game. The manual goes with the rest of the manuals on your nearby shelf, the CD goes into either the ammo box you use as a CD case, or you can put it in a conventional case, I guess. The box, if unwanted, goes into the recycled paper/box bin. No waste, no fuss, and is in reality a lot cheaper.

No plastic to lie around for the aliens thousands of years from now to believe the height of our civilization was comprised entirely of Girls Gone Wild and crappy shitcoms.
 
Roshambo said:
What would work and save a lot of waste is if they were put into a cardboard box containing a thin hard CD sleeve, the manual, and the rest of the peripherals of the game. The manual goes with the rest of the manuals on your nearby shelf, the CD goes into either the ammo box you use as a CD case, or you can put it in a conventional case, I guess. The box, if unwanted, goes into the recycled paper/box bin. No waste, no fuss, and is in reality a lot cheaper.
Click to expand...

Thats quite innovative...like a disposable package so to speak.
Roshambo said:
No plastic to lie around for the aliens thousands of years from now to believe the height of our civilization was comprised entirely of Girls Gone Wild and crappy shitcoms.
Click to expand...

...and that's just plain funny!

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
 
I think that boxes are so much better is for the fact that you had something, a big cardboard case and manual that you had to lug around.

It seems very materialistic to want/have a large game box, but that reason alone makes me want to go and buy the next game I see in such a box.

What would work and save a lot of waste is if they were put into a cardboard box containing a thin hard CD sleeve, the manual, and the rest of the peripherals of the game. The manual goes with the rest of the manuals on your nearby shelf, the CD goes into either the ammo box you use as a CD case, or you can put it in a conventional case, I guess. The box, if unwanted, goes into the recycled paper/box bin. No waste, no fuss, and is in reality a lot cheaper.
Click to expand...

Mate this is a fantastic idea. Too bad no one will embrace it as all that companies have to do now with the DVD style packs is put a cheap piece of shit sleeve in a generic DVD case and send it away (much like EA games, fucking EA DVD box things)
 
The best box-and-manual design I have seen is GTA: San Andreas PC edition. The manual is thick but what makes it special is it has a space to let you store the game DVD inside the manual. Pretty handy without worrying 'where's the disk'?
 
zioburosky13 said:
The best box-and-manual design I have seen was GTA: San Andreas PC edition. The manual is thick but what's make it special is it has a space to let you store the game DVD inside the manual. Pretty handy without worrying 'where's the disk'?
Click to expand...
Heh, that is a cool idea.

I also like those fold out cases (like GTA:Vice City, where the 2 CDs, map and manual were all in the one case. This is similar to many DVD slipcases and the like, however, but I still like the idea.
 
The_Vault_Dweller said:
Thats quite innovative...like a disposable package so to speak.
Click to expand...

The truly sad thing is, it really isn't that innovative an idea. It's a return to when things worked and when designers made the publication decisions, rather than some business failure taking and raping inspiration for a few bucks of profit after the promotional hype and paid for reviews are covered.

By far, the best CDs and manuals I have seen are for real software publications, one of the last memorable was 3d Webmaster. It had a thick hardback manual cover, with a sleeve on the inside cover for disks and other notes. Not only was it space-saving, but it was logical to take the product from the shelf, open up the manual, and insert the disk while having the manual already in your lap. You didn't have to mess with anything else at all.

For style points, I believe a CRPG should do the same, and have the game fit into the front hardcover, a map fit into the back sleeve. The manual should be in the style of the universe from both the art and style of publication. Neat, tidy, and immersive in a fasion.
 
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