Why do they make game boxes so small now?

[Sarxis]

Originally posted by Victor Galis


-Of course it can. Companies could post all software online for download, and ask people to kindly send them $50 or £35 or €50 after successfully downloading.

There's no way that I will do that.

What if I need to transfer or reinstall the software on a different/reformatted machine? And I don't have a CD-W.

Besides, I like the smell of freshly opened games; and the manuals have the most unique scents...

And of course, there is the bandwidth problem for a lot of gamers. For someone who is on 56k, it would probably take less time to just run up to the store and buy the game instead of d/ling it.

But I know you were just being facetious.

[Adagio]

I'm perfectly happy with the DVD boxes for games, since I like to keep my game boxes, but the old standard just used too much space (So I had to get rid of them )...The DVD boxes also looks cooler than the old boxes...And the problem with the manual, that's no problem at all, I hate reading, so I wont read any manuals anyway

[Standup]

I prefer the new boxes as well. My girlfriend never understood why it was important to keep the orginal cardboard boxes. She was forever trying to recycle them.

Not to keen on online games/downloading but thats because i only have a 64Kmodem and i'd imagine i'm not alone in that in the UK at least.

[Victor Galis]

There's no way that I will do that.

What if I need to transfer or reinstall the software on a different/reformatted machine? And I don't have a CD-W.

Besides, I like the smell of freshly opened games; and the manuals have the most unique scents...

And of course, there is the bandwidth problem for a lot of gamers. For someone who is on 56k, it would probably take less time to just run up to the store and buy the game instead of d/ling it.

As for manuals, generally, I don't need them, but I have been getting games for Christmas, while or right before a ski vacation, so you can imagine the feeling of having a brand new game, and not being able to play if for some time. This means, all I can do is read the manual to get a taste for the sheer bliss that a week will bring

But I know you were just being facetious.

-The point was, that if they really wanted to they could make Piracy a lot simpler. Heck, they could make the game boxes, give them out at random locations, and ask anyone who took one to please send them money.

[Freeze]

Isn't piracy really a misnomer? We're talking about copyright violation, software piracy, not "robbery on the high seas."

typos

[Victor Galis]

Probably, but piracy makes it sound so much more exiting.

[Freeze]

Hahaha! Can't argue with that. Craig

[tniem]

Originally posted by Freeze
Isn't piracy really a misnomer? We're talking about copyright violation, software piracy, not "robbery on the high seas."

Piracy is not the legal term. It is simply software copyright infringement I believe. And the law is still very unclear as to whether file swapping is fair use or not.

[Grumbold]

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
Didn't HOMM4 come in a nifty NWN-shaped box?
No quality documentation there.

Or shouldn't I get you started again on HOMM4's pdf manual Grumbold?

Some publishers just can't be bothered. More shame them.

Hehe

The US version was the same size and contained all the manuals, charts and stuff. When they want to make the effort they've shown its possible. The text is perhaps a little smaller than I could want but that I can live with if it keeps games retailing at the same price or less than a decade ago.

[Cookie Monster]

I like the DVD boxes but hope that the paper manual doesn't become extinct. I hate PDF. Sux


Now about dl'ing software from vendors. I think that's another capitalist pig's plot to extract as much money from us as possible. Now you have to buy a cable internet setup, prices I think are extortion here, and you don't even have any hard copies from the vendor. You basically are buying a series of 1's and 0's and burning them onto your own cd. The vendor saves a ton of $$ while extracting a lot from you. And there's idiot out there that would argue that dl'ing software from vendors is awesome. BS. It's awesome for them because they get to keep more of your hard earned money while you are not even left with a paper box to show for it.

[dunk]

I prefer the smaller boxes. All the games I've bought in one of those boxes has had a manual (except a pack of ten games, PDF there).

As far as downloading software. Bad idea. Even with a cable or DSL connection, 2 CDs worth of data would still take a LONG time to get. Plus, you would have no hard copy of the software.

[JohnIII]

I want to get a nice big box and manuals, maps, etc. Morrowind packed a decent-sized manual, a map, and two CDs into a case smaller than the one for Fragile Allegiance (now, who remembers that?).