Talk:Video game packaging

Start
I went ahead and started this article as I won't be around for any collaboration next week if it gets nominated. It's best to have a skeleton to work from than have 15 people all start editing their own structures in on Monday morning. Things needed: more examples of novelty boxes (there must be more out there...), pictures of those, more information about packaging (my knowledge is weak in this area), and, of course, more proper sources to cite. Good luck! --Jmstylr 13:08, 15 May 2005 (UTC)
 * All right, but I would appreciate it if people didn't start editing the page until tomorrow. I would hate it if 90% of the stuff was added today and no one else got a chance to add input. Thunderbrand 16:07, May 15, 2005 (UTC)

Copy Protection
I question the validity of including the following in the article:

As PC games migrated to CDs in jewel cases, the large format box remained, though to reduce printing costs, manuals came on the CD, as did many of the copy-protection techniques in the form of SafeDisc and SecuROM.

As it has very little, if anything, to do with the actual packaging of the games. I'm going to go ahead and change it to:

''As PC games migrated to CDs in jewel cases, the large format box remained. However, manuals soon moved out of the package and into the disc itself.'' SargeZT 07:54, 23 May 2005 (UTC)


 * I originally put that clause in as a followup to the mention of large physical copy protection systems being something found in large boxes. I think it's necessary to explain where all the box contents 'went' when games transitioned to smaller boxes. --Jmstylr 10:05, 23 May 2005 (UTC)


 * I will restore the previous text if there are no further comments. --Jmstylr 12:13, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

photos
Just wondering, how you'd rather have a photo (not owing much to quality, but it's better than nothing, I suppose) of several packages? I can get some different PC cardboxes from between 1996 and 2000, dvd and jewel cases, one of those 15-game packs with huge boxes, a two game bundle with sleeve and regular sized boxes, mega drive (and two genesis) boxes, plus two versions of Mega CD, PAL Saturn, and Playstation. ~I just don't know how to fit that much into a regular photo. wS 17:51, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

Sources of box screenshots
I know of at least two websites with photos of box art for many console games, however, I am unsure what the copyright policy would be on using them in Wikipedia. Should I link to them since I have no idea how I would add them to the article and cannot download them since I am using a public computer? You 17:56, May 16, 2005 (UTC)
 * Yeah, you could make a "External links" section and put it in there. Thunderbrand 17:59, May 16, 2005 (UTC)
 * The websites do not focus primarily on box art, however, I know that they have hundreds of pictures of box art for different games and what I had in mind was a source for examples. Should they still go under "External links"? You 22:18, May 18, 2005 (UTC)

PC boxes
"Nowdays, most consoles and computer games are shipped in DVD cases, with little differences between." is this true? I thought most computer games still came in boxes, but I havn't bought a game in a while. Didn't edit because I wasn't sure. --24.222.9.242 00:25, 18 May 2005 (UTC)
 * As far as my experience go, the article is correct, since I haven't seen new games with cardboxes since 2000 (which is a shame, personally). Some online shops have renders of boxes like they were still cardboxes (some of those pics are used in wikipedia, see one here or this one, although I've seen a Max Payne 2 box that looks just like that), but unless they are only marketed in some places, they vanished completely. wS 00:43, 18 May 2005 (UTC)
 * The majority are still in cardboard. 90% of the ones I see are cardboard. Thunderbrand 00:48, May 18, 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, sad, that. I preferred it when the manuals were printed, too, instead of .pdf files on the disc. Vanderdecken 09:31, May 19, 2005 (UTC)


 * Unreal Tournament 2004 came in a cardboard box, and its manual was written, but thats the only game that came out in a box as far as I can remember. Fragrag 19:43, May 22, 2005 (GMT +1)

As another data point, I have not seen "big box" games for many years in Brazil, but this is admittedly anecdotal evidence. There must be a link we can dig up which at least mentions the existence of the transition. --Jmstylr 21:58, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

The DVD-case packaging is only popular in Europe (maybe Australia?). In US/CAN, PC games are still sold in cardboard boxes. Updated the article to reflect that. VanishingUser 11:49, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I was wondering if anyone knows exactly what material the cardboard boxes are made of? I originally thought it was card stock, but this seems too thin.  Anyone know the official material used? --66.192.186.99 15:55, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
 * It's probably paperboard, varieties of which are used in making common cartons. Ham Pastrami (talk) 11:30, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

A bit dead...
Hm, so many votes, not that much edits. Perhaps we should split it between brands like Game controller or eras to spur some smaller edits, and then merge the article together? I have some information of Sega and PC boxes, but can't see where to put that info. Right now, IMHO it needs a bit reorganization wS 00:43, 18 May 2005 (UTC)
 * It's doing okay, i think. Doing better than last weeks, Jak and Daxter, which failed miserably. Thunderbrand 00:48, May 18, 2005 (UTC)
 * Yeah, it's not done too badly at all. Wish I could find a picture of the Marathon boxes though... --Jmstylr 21:58, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

I found the box for Marathon Infinity. It's not the best, but I guess it could be put in the article. Thunderbrand 22:31, May 22, 2005 (UTC)

Game box size standarization
I remember listening on the new a few years ago that PC companies adapted a standard for the size that game boxes will be. Maybe we can include something on that standard. --ZeWrestler 16:23, 18 May 2005 (UTC)


 * I have added an external link to the IEMA, the group responsible for that standardization. Actual information about the change is difficult to find, however. If anyone can find a discussion about the box standardization and its history, that would be a solid addition to this article. It's worth noting that the IEMA is a Merchant's Association, not a publishing group. The box standards were basically demanded by retail operators (not powers within the game industry) who were tired of oversize boxes clogging up their shelf space. VanishingUser 01:18, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Phalanx
Is it really fair to label the Phalanx box art as 'poor'? I've never seen it been called anything negative, and while it displays nothing to do with the genre, I know I'm not the only person who wants to own this game simply because of the amazing cover. The marketing of the box art certainly worked, in that sense.
 * Yeah, now that I think about it, it certainly is weird but not "poor". When it was first added, I wasn't sure, so I left it alone. Thunderbrand 23:55, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)

Online distribution
"Games distributed online like Stoked Rider have no box art at all"

Given that the article already mentions HL2 and Steam (which is a far better example of how online distribution is changing the traditional model of selling games), and the fact that it's self-evident that online games have no box art, this seems a little like a shameless plug for Stoked Rider to me. Why choose Stoked Rider as an example? What's so important about that over any other game distributed online? Sum0 21:23, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

PlayStation
FYI, America used normal CD jewel cases for PS1 games and Europe used the thicker ones, so that should be changed just so people from europe/america don't get confused with not knowing that the other region had a different style. But what did Japan have? Dav 11:14, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Punks
Okay, kiddies, videogames weren't invented in 1999. :-) JK. Added a bit on Intellivision - lots to do in this article but it is off to a good start. Feel free to revise as necessary.139.48.25.61 (talk) 20:26, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Assaultbox.jpg
The image Image:Assaultbox.jpg is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check


 * That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
 * That this article is linked to from the image description page.

The following images also have this problem:


 * Image:Phalanx Coverart.png

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --23:14, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

About Box Art
First of all, sorry for not having a username, I'm kinda new to this thing.

Anyway, I disagree on the last paragraph of "Box Art". My PAL games all have different colours of triangles on the spines, yet I bought all of them in my own country (The Netherlands). Green and blue are the most common, but there are also some orange, pink and purple ones. I did a quick count of my Gamecube games, and I came up with this:

Green triangles: 23

Blue triangles: 14

Orange triangles: 9

Pink triangles: 4

Purple triangles: 2 (a shade darker than the pink ones).

Name of game, language of instruction booklet, colour triangle

Smash Bros. Melee: Dutch, blue.

Legend of Zelda: Collector's Disk: Dutch, blue.

Battalion Wars: Dutch, blue.

Skies of Arcadia Legends: English, green.

Eternal Darkness: Dutch, green.

Second Sight: French/Dutch, green.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time: French/Dutch/English/Spanish, purple.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones: French/Dutch, orange.

Beyond Good & Evil: Dutch/French, orange.

Fire Emblem: blue (forgot to check manual, I'm sure it's Dutch, might be another language)

Dragon's Lair 3D: German/French (no Dutch), purple

Ultimate Spider-Man: English, pink.

(Whoa, sorry for the big spaces between sentences. The layout's messed up somehow)

Does anyone know another source, because either my games are shipped to other places they're supposed to, or this source isn't reliable. 213.51.103.167 (talk) 22:15, 23 May 2009 (UTC)