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The games or the in-box documentation ? Whenever I had some money I would spend it on games. Preferrably Sierra Games. I played every game with a lot of fun but I was also very happy (sometimes even more happy =) ) with the in-box documentation. So many cool folders to read. Too many games in the cataloges you didn’t have… Man all those big boxes on my shelf! The packaging of games in “the good old days ” was a form of art itself!
I hate the gameboxes of the new games. Man who came up with the idea to put games in DVD sleeves? -
(re: So what did you like more?)
i like my PC game boxes the size of houses, with lots of unique, game-related material. Though I don’t mind the CD itself in a nice CD or DVD case, like Diablo II or Lunar Silver Star came in, I just don’t dig a DVD/CD case and only the game disc. Especially if I just paid $50!
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(re: So what did you like more?)
It’s sad how small PC game boxes are these days. And the contents are usually just a CD, a manual, and a registration card.
This is why I love old Sierra games. You always got something more. Take for example, the Space Quest games. The space tabloid papers, and the Space Piston magazine are not only useful to get you through the game, but really enhance the whole gaming experience. You get to hold something in your hands while you’re futzing around as Roger Wilco, and you can also have something to read while you’re not at your computer.
Recently, I’ve decided to build up a collection of old PC games. Whenever I look at the old games on ebay, or anywhere else for that matter, I try and find the games that come with the box, manuals, and all other trinkets. It’s tough, but it makes collecting a lot more fun for me.
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(re: So what did you like more?)
I have to say that with present-day games which include just a jewel case and maybe a registration card I prefer the smaller boxes. For instance, you can get Half-Life in a big box with jewel case/product card or you can get the same stuff in a scaled down version of the same box. Much better use of space and a much lower waste of cardboard. Most games that come out today are in these smaller boxes. In the store that I work at, it means we can get more product out in the same shelf space.
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(re: re: So what did you like more?)
Danny, I agree with you there. If there’s not much in the box, might as well shrink it down in order to fit more product on the shelves. Isn’t that what progress and technology is all about? Shrink it down, put more out, make more money… haha.
In all honesty though, I’d prefer it if games still came out in big boxes with tons of bonus in-box contents. Remember the Ultima VII games anyone? You got a nice cloth map, an install guide, registration card, game-specific manual, and in the “The Black Gate” box, you got a nice Fellowship Medallion. Heck, with Ultima Underworld I, you got a little cloth bag with runes in it! I miss stuff like this.
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(re: re: re: So what did you like more?)
Ultima 7 (all 5 games and Underworld series) brought the house down at CompUSA when I was a teen. I have the original Ultima 7, and it came with lots of goodies, and, since I had a 486 (besides the Tandy) it had Windows compatibility, which allowed me to sneak games in while working on Word for homework.
I remember the Ultima 9 box was huge. I didn’t get one, because EB Games recalled them back to EA for some reason, and refunded my money. Strange.
The one company today that believes what we believe in gaming is Working Designs. They packed Lunar with a cloth map, and a nice little book. Arc the Lad came with analog covers and other nice stuff (misplaced most of it).
I remember buying SQ1 VGA for my Tandy, and for some reason it was a rare 360 KB floppy version, which was spread over what seemed like 10,000 floppies! (More like 10, but when I was a kid . . . )
Today I cruise thrift stores and buy the “big, huge” older games. Okay, so most don’t run well under XP, but who cares! It’s all the groovy stuff that’s inside. And that’s so strange is all of these old PC games have everything is good condition. I wonder where Savers and Goodwill are getting these.
I’ve found, in perfect order: Laura Bow 2, King’s Quest 4, 5, 6 (all in different boxes no the ones with gold letters), Leisure Suit Larry 2, Space Quest 3, Command & Conquer (and it had a strange Windows NT/Mac OS sticker on it, and works on both perfectly), The 7th Guest, Half-Life Plantinum (still in its plastic wrap), and Dragon’s Lair 1, 2, 3, 4, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM (which doesn’t work in a DVD-ROM). I know I’ve found more, like many PC versions of NES Konami games and Capcom games, but they’re too many too much.
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(re: re: re: So what did you like more?)
I’m with you guys – I far preferred the “good ole days” of game packaging. Anyone remember the box for CD version of Gabriel Knight? Everything about that game popped out at you and the box designers came up with a unique box that “popped” when looked at. To this day on my shelf, it is the one game that people notice when they look at it. It demands attention.
Anyway, as for the smaller boxes, we can thank Walmart for that. When I was working at Westwood, I had a conversation with one of the guys about box art for a game (I think it was Yuri’s Revenge, but I’m not sure now). Anyway, he said that smaller boxes were a requirement if we (the game developer) wanted Walmart to sell the game. Apparently the higher-ups at Walmart got fed up with the fact that they only had so much shelf-space for computer games and they couldn’t carry a big enough selection to compete with video-game retailers because the boxes for the games took up too much space.
So, that said, they (Walmart) issued a statement to the publishers saying they would only sell games that were more compact in shape and size. From what I understand, Walmart is one of EA’s bigger distributer/retailer so they obliged and started shipping games in smaller boxes/cases. And as we all know, when EA does something, odds are VERY good everyone else will follow (whether because they want to sell games through Walmart or because they want to follow the pack.) Since games were being packed in smaller boxes, there was no need to mass produce the “big boxes”.
And the rest is history….
-David Reese
lordcorenair@netscape.net -
(re: re: re: re: So what did you like more?)
It’s like all industries:
Movies used to be in the theaters only, then came video, and event diminished. Theaters have fought back with better sound and picture quality, but it’ll never be like in the ’50s and ’60s.
Music was fun to collect on LPs and such. When you heard a song on the radio, it was something spectacular. Today, it’s passe, and music piracy is rampant everywhere. Can’t do much about this, it’s just the way it has gone. I still look for stuff from modern musicians on LPs, usually at the Virgin Megastore inside Caesar’s Palace.
Books are same. There’s the large magazines, now all are about the size of comic book, and then there’s hardcover to paperback. However, I prefer paperback in this case. Easier to carry around. Comics are way better today, so this rule doesn’t apply to comics at all.
Lastly are video/PC games. The big boxes of the late ’80s and early ’90s made the game seem like an event. Indeed, some games were, like Ultima 7 and KQ5. The big boxes added to the mystique of the event. Seeing these “new” games playing on the hardware was amazing. Then going on a journey and seeing all the events in the game, and getting to the end and such. Amazing. Video games, under Nintendo, had a mystique because of the oversized carts, but that’s about it. CD games looked high-tech, but early systems like LaserActive, CD-i, and Sega CD sure didn’t add to any mystique. Nothing on these systems were an event, either. Working Designs/Game Arts tried, but the games are passe.
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(re: So what did you like more?)
Interesting history on where those little boxes came from!
I have made the mistake (twice) of throwing out my old gameboxes in a fit of spring cleaning. Both times it was because I needed the space, but I wish now I hadn’t done that. I’ve been slowly collecting some of the big boxes when I can find them (have been visiting Goodwill an awful lot this past year!) It’s like a treasure hunt… and I’m SO excited when I find a box with the game and documentation in tact.
As for fun documentation, Runaway had a neat manual. It was nice to see something like that in a recent game, but then again, Runaway is a tribute to classic adventures in a lot of ways.
-emily
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(re: re: So what did you like more?) Yeah Runaway had ok packaging. The packaging of newer adventure games like Syberia and even The Longest Journey were just sad… The only company that I know of that still makes the packaging a n artwork is Blizzard. Not only are their games amazing they still take the time to make the contents as amazing as the games itself… The reason I wasn’t a big Lucas Arts fan; their packaging sucked. I remember saving almost all cash I had so I could buy Fate of Atlantis. The game rocked but the box only contained a manual. Did I just pay 70 Dollars for only the game and the manual ? 🙂
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(re: So what did you like more?)
I like my old Sierra games, but I have to admit that I just LOVE to look at the old slip boxes (how cool and pretty they made them, back then!), open them, and just look at everything in them.
I feel a sort of bittersweet nostalgia whenever I open my KQ4 box, for example, and re-read all the funny bits about how great sound cards were gonna become (having an Ad Lib was cool back then!), or that damn trip to England that I didn’t win. :p
Same with my old ULTIMA game boxes – all the trinkets, cloth maps, and booklets…
It all made the old days of computer games all the more pleasant.
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(re: re: So what did you like more?)
While you just covered PC games of Legend, I remember how the old Atari/Mattel/Coleco/Nintendo/Sega games also had posters, slip covers, little magazines/comics and all these deluxe extras. Today, but a game, there’s your disc and manual, if you’re lucky! This goes for PC, too!
I like to open Microsoft products, they still back in the extras, as does Apple and Adobe, but those aren’t games, and I have to do either work or college work on these products.
Excitement was opening a new Sierra game and ignoring the advice to make a back-up set of disks, installing the game and going through everything, only to either realize I need an upgrade or something.
To keep the cost of games same for the consumer today, companies have taken out all of the extras (not all games, not all companies) and have given us the “bare bones” of a product. I paid $59.99 (and tax) for Enter the Matrix on DVD-ROM, only to have it comes with a cheapo manual, and the disc in a paper sleeve that sratches the disc when I get the game out! Yeah, I bought a console version, but still, I’m out $110!
I never paid more than $39.99 for a PC game, except Diablo II (the big, huge box edition with the Diablo movie inside) and was always enjoying the games until about gour years ago.
If I ever start a game company, I’d do the big box, fun game, goodies and such to give my gamers every dollar worth!
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