Game packaging

[Ando85]

How anal are you about game packaging? I have a number of things that irritate the hell out of me and for the most part won't even buy the game in certain conditions. Here is a few pet peeves.

Stickers - Buying used games from Gamestop that are plastered with stickers annoys me. If you peel them off they usually leave a nasty residue that looks even worse than the eyesore of the sticker. Thanks though to someone pointing out how you can blow dry a sticker off cleanly. Still a pain in the ass.

Display copies - I hate paying full price for a game that isn't even sealed because it was the last copy they used for display. Usually also has a sticker like above. The last time this happened to me was when I purchased the collectors edition of Ys The Oath in Felghana. It came in a cardboard box that of course was a little beat up from shelf ware.

Generic box - I will never buy a game if it is packaged in a generic box. Many times I'd see games that are hard to find, but still wouldn't buy if it didn't come in the original packaging.

No instruction book - This annoys me a lot too. When I open a game and there is no instruction book the blank space is just an eyesore. Funny thing is I care about this so much, yet it is unlikely I will ever even remove the book and look at it. I just have to know it is there.

Greatest Hits - Last but not least I hate "Greatest Hits" or whatever they are called for each platform. They always use an unappealing color for the box and just another eyesore. I hate this almost as much as generic cases.

That is all I can think of for now. Didn't expect this to turn into an essay but oh well

 

[pspman45]

I hate uninteresting cover art
broken cases (its happened)
missing instruction manuals
when there is a sticker for a preowned game, then the price changes and they put ANOTHER sticker on it, without removing the previous one. then there is an ugly looking stack of worn out stickers

 

[busterkeatonrules]

To address your points in some kind of order:

Stickers these days are usually easy to remove, so that doesn't really bother me.

I have never paid money for a game that didn't have its manual, though. I like to read the manual. It IS a part of the gaming experience.

I also don't like those generic "replacement" covers you get with some used games. I've never bought one of those either. (They do tend to be missing the manual as well.)

I generally don't mind shelf wear. Basically, the game box itself can look as if King Kong has wiped his ass with it for all I care, but if any original material is missing, I'm out.

I'm not thrilled about those "Platinum" - editions, and am proud that I have never owned a single Platinum edition PS2 game. However, if I want a game and no other edition is available, I might be persuaded.

 

[Zhukov]

Well, uh... if I were to start caring about packaging, the following things would annoy me:

- Bad box art. 99.9% of video game box art is artless crap that seems designed to catch the attention of 13-year-old boys.

- Box art that is covered by logos. Then again, maybe they're just ashamed of the lousy art. I could understand that.

- The horribly written blurbs on the back. If I didn't know anything about games, and I were to pick up a game box, any game at all, and read the back, I would promptly put it back down in disgust.

 

[Episode42]

Really? Wow... I've never been concerned about what the packaging for a game looks like, beyond finding out if the game itself is contained within. Stickers are occasionally mildly irritating, but once the disc is in my folder, the packaging goes away and i don't think about it anymore.
In fact, a lot of my PS3 games get their packaging reinstated aa wall art (have you seen the picture inside Bioshock, it's beautiful!)

 

[EHKOS]

I'm not thrilled about those "Platinum" - editions, and am proud that I have never owned a single Platinum edition PS2 game. However, if I want a game and no other edition is available, I might be persuaded.

Nobody has ever owned a Platinum PS2 edition game lol.

OT: Stickers, Copied cover art slipped into the box, and all those leaflets inside behind the game manual.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I hate those stupid "environmentally friendly" cases that publishers sometimes use for xbox 360 games. The game case has 30% less plastic, but the plastic is all removed AROUND THE FUCKING GAME DISK. This means that all the useless areas are completely covered, but the stops around the game disk, where you actually NEED the plastic to protect it, that's gone.

Oh hey microsoft, I have a great idea for you. If you want your cases to use 30% less plastic, MAKE THEM 30% SMALLER. The disk is not big enough for you to need a box that size!

Spoiler: For those who do not know what I'm talking about

The white spots are where there's no plastic, the white is just paper.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I dotn like to buy those generic story box arts if I can help, but they're better then the walmart/target generic boxes that just havea peice of white paper on the inside with the name of the game (and sometimes the platform its on) in sharpie. thats just lazy.

Really the only stuff that bothers me is if the game is used (and this happens are more places then gamestop too), where the plastic seal is damaged, or if theres crap on the inside of it. mostly cause it looks bad, but more so because it feels so weird running your hand over it.

 

[HooterNanny]

I know what you mean about the Greatest Hits, Platinum, etc. broders. It's just like a sticker that you can never peel off

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I hate those stupid "environmentally friendly" cases that publishers sometimes use for xbox 360 games. The game case has 30% less plastic, but the plastic is all removed AROUND THE FUCKING GAME DISK. This means that all the useless areas are completely covered, but the stops around the game disk, where you actually NEED the plastic to protect it, that's gone.

Unless you are throwing the case around and stomping on it with the disk in it that is not an issue.

It is totally an issue. If you use that game box a lot, always taking the games out and putting them back in those thin little plastic supports in the wheel of removed plastic begin to break. Then if one of those breaks, it starts scratching the disk. You don't have to throw the game box or stomp on this for it to happen, just switch games a lot.

 

[shadyh8er]

Tekken 6's box annoys me to no end. The actual game box comes inside of some fancy-schmancy sleeve that's just....there. I really don't know its purpose. What's even more annoying is that my bro won't let me throw it away despite the fact that he doesn't use it (it's his game).

And how do they decide which characters go on the cover of Tekken games anyway? Seriously, Tekken 6 had King on the cover. He doesn't do anything that affects Tekken's story. What's he doing on the cover?

 

[shadyh8er]

Stickers - Buying used games from Gamestop that are plastered with stickers annoys me. If you peel them off they usually leave a nasty residue that looks even worse than the eyesore of the sticker. Thanks though to someone pointing out how you can blow dry a sticker off cleanly. Still a pain in the ass.

Oh God, this happened when I told my parents that I wanted Uncharted 2 for my birthday. Luckily some of the residue blends in with the snowy mountains on the cover. So I'm good right?

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

I can agree with the stickers. When i see pre-played games and stickers are on it i think to myself "Who was the idiot who thought that this was a good idea?"

Not much else bothers me, really. Mario Kart Double Dash!! had a red box and i still managed to enjoy the game. Maybe i'm just crazy.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

It is totally an issue. If you use that game box a lot, always taking the games out and putting them back in those thin little plastic supports in the wheel of removed plastic begin to break. Then if one of those breaks, it starts scratching the disk. You don't have to throw the game box or stomp on this for it to happen, just switch games a lot.

Again they only break if you are extremely rough with them. I have tons of blue-rays with those and they are thinner then the 360 cases and I have never once had one break. If you use the slightest bit of care when taking the game out they will not break.

But how often do you watch each blue ray movie? Once every 3 months or so, if that? I change game disks almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day. Do it enough times and the cheap plastic spokes break. It's not a matter of being too rough, I'm very careful with all my games (hell, I even keep my GBA games in their boxes), it's just a matter of cheap and poorly thought out construction.

 

[Ando85]

I hate those stupid "environmentally friendly" cases that publishers sometimes use for xbox 360 games. The game case has 30% less plastic, but the plastic is all removed AROUND THE FUCKING GAME DISK. This means that all the useless areas are completely covered, but the stops around the game disk, where you actually NEED the plastic to protect it, that's gone.

Oh hey microsoft, I have a great idea for you. If you want your cases to use 30% less plastic, MAKE THEM 30% SMALLER. The disk is not big enough for you to need a box that size!

Spoiler: For those who do not know what I'm talking about

The white spots are where there's no plastic, the white is just paper.

Oh yes I agree with you there. "Environmentally friendly" is also an excuse to be cheap bastards without looking bad. I pay 60 bucks for a game they could at least package it in a sturdy case. Being careful I have still managed to break a few notches on the disc holder and ended up damaging the center part of the disc (luckily the game still worked).

I really like DS cases. Thick and sturdy plastic is the way to go. Add the fact that the games are cartridges which are a lot harder to damage than a disc.

 

[Ando85]

I hate uninteresting cover art
broken cases (its happened)
missing instruction manuals
when there is a sticker for a preowned game, then the price changes and they put ANOTHER sticker on it, without removing the previous one. then there is an ugly looking stack of worn out stickers

I do know what you mean. It also seems the longer a sticker is on the harder it is to get off without residue. It seems over time the sticker sort of melds with the plastic case making it impossible to remove without residue. I really wish they could find a better way to display the price.

 

[TehCookie]

The only thing that annoys me is missing manuals. I can print out a new cover, I can get rid of stickers, but I can't materialize a new manual. Not that it matters much in newer games since they don't have anything in them but I loved reading the old thick ones.

 

[Baralak]

I hate uninteresting cover art
broken cases (its happened)
missing instruction manuals
when there is a sticker for a preowned game, then the price changes and they put ANOTHER sticker on it, without removing the previous one. then there is an ugly looking stack of worn out stickers

I do know what you mean. It also seems the longer a sticker is on the harder it is to get off without residue. It seems over time the sticker sort of melds with the plastic case making it impossible to remove without residue. I really wish they could find a better way to display the price.

Get some Goo Gone or something. Just spray it onto a paper towel, wipe on the sticker for a bit, let it sit, and the stickers peel right off. No residue at all. You can get a nice sized bottle at Walmart for like, $5

 

[eggy32]

I don't care about the box, I care about the game.
The only time a box has any effect on whether or not I buy the game is if I know nothing about it and I'm reading the back of the box to find out what kind of game it is.

I have a pre-owned copy of Saints Row 2 that's falling apart. I'm quite sure that if I were to blow on it it would snap. I have various boxes with stickers on them too. I try to take them off sometimes but other times I just don't bother. It's not like I'm going to spend much time looking at the box anyway.

I even bought a game without a box recently on Amazon.

 

[Ando85]

I hate uninteresting cover art
broken cases (its happened)
missing instruction manuals
when there is a sticker for a preowned game, then the price changes and they put ANOTHER sticker on it, without removing the previous one. then there is an ugly looking stack of worn out stickers

I do know what you mean. It also seems the longer a sticker is on the harder it is to get off without residue. It seems over time the sticker sort of melds with the plastic case making it impossible to remove without residue. I really wish they could find a better way to display the price.

Get some Goo Gone or something. Just spray it onto a paper towel, wipe on the sticker for a bit, let it sit, and the stickers peel right off. No residue at all. You can get a nice sized bottle at Walmart for like, $5

I have tried Goo Gone but still left a sticky residue. The best way I discovered is using a blow dryer on the sticker. If you blow dry the sticker for a bit then carefully and gradually peel the sticker you can get it off clean.