Not really relevant to the thread but something I felt like sharing anyway:-

What happened to games shipping in interesting-looking boxes with thick manuals, instead of boring DVD cases with a 3-page "manuals" inside? And Saturn Doom's box art is hardly the greatest artefact of 90's game box art, but as a product it looks so much more appealing than a generic case that all other games on all platforms are sold in. And don't get me started on the loss of the encyclopaedia-thick boxes that PC games once came in.

I mean, I think I know why DVD cases are used; they're durable and presumably cheaper to manufacture. But still. Both box art and game packaging used to be so much cooler.

scalliano said:I see the US version also has the PC Final Doom shots on the back.

DoomUK said:but as a product it looks so much more appealing than a generic case that all other games on all platforms are sold in.

Oh god. The Saturn (and early Playstation "Longbox") game packaging is horrendous. They needed foam inserts to keep the disc from popping out and they are too tall to fit on most shelves. Even as a fan of physical products I much prefer the standard CD jewel case, DVD keep case, or Blu-ray keep case. Having things standard like that makes it MUCH easier to store.

I'm kind of with you on the disappearing manuals, but honestly I would prefer it to just be replaced with an art book, poster, or something. Most people just ignored the manuals. Somehow even though we keep game boxes now, people still seem to discard manuals since it's not unusual for them to be missing in second hand copies.

Use3D said:Yeah, don't get me started. I could write a book on everything wrong with that port. How do you fuck up Doom? A total let-down.

And to top it off, from what I hear the Saturn port of Hexen was quite good.

DoomUK said:Not really relevant to the thread but something I felt like sharing anyway:-

What happened to games shipping in interesting-looking boxes with thick manuals, instead of boring DVD cases with a 3-page "manuals" inside? And Saturn Doom's box art is hardly the greatest artefact of 90's game box art, but as a product it looks so much more appealing than a generic case that all other games on all platforms are sold in. And don't get me started on the loss of the encyclopaedia-thick boxes that PC games once came in.

No one read the manuals and there was nothing special about cases back then either. Saturn Doom came in the same exact case that every other Saturn game came in. Most things that would've been in the manual are told to the player in-game now, which is a much better way of doing things.

DoomUK said:I dunno, buying a physical copy of a game doesn't have the same appeal for me as it did in the old days.

Thanks Kaiser, You sir are legend! I actually like TC because it has a different look. If I want to play old school Doom64 I just fire up the N64. I really started out just wanting to download the TC because of the extra levels I never got to play. But when playing the TC it made Doom64 feel new again!

Really wish DOOM 64 II got to be made. I grew up on Doom64 and Hexen on N64. Classic days.

__________________
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DoomUK said:
If I may ask, such as what? No two (factory) plastic seals are identical, surely.

Each console and region typically have their own way way of sealing games. Horizontal/Vertical seams, Y-folds, etc. Also, there are also can be signs of obvious tampering and resealing if it is not legitimate.

Also, if you send a sealed game to the grading authority (VGA) and it is inspected and graded, then that is further confirmation that you have a legitimate factory-sealed game.

DoomUK said:What happened to games shipping in interesting-looking boxes with thick manuals, instead of boring DVD cases with a 3-page "manuals" inside? And Saturn Doom's box art is hardly the greatest artefact of 90's game box art, but as a product it looks so much more appealing than a generic case that all other games on all platforms are sold in. And don't get me started on the loss of the encyclopaedia-thick boxes that PC games once came in.

To be honest I think it's an improvement that we now have DVD cases rather than big unnecessary bulky cardboard boxes. I remember back in the '90s when every single game came in one of those boxes - they took up so much space and of course nobody wants to just throw something like that away. You can probably fit at least three DVD cases in the same space. The fact that DVD cases are a standard size helps as well - you can pack more boxes tightly together, and use standard shelving designed for holding DVDs.

Other than convenience for the gamer it's also a matter of price points - a big box costs more to ship, is more expensive for games stores (who can fit fewer games on their shelves), etc. Being made of plastic I expect they're more durable as well.

So in pretty much every respect, DVD cases are superior. That said, I can understand the feeling of nostalgia about the old big boxes - there's something that feels more special about it, just like a vinyl LP feels a bit more special than a CD, and a CD feels a bit more special than a collection of MP3s. But just like in the music world, we're seeing special edition packs for people who really appreciate that kind of thing (eg. the Duke Nukem "Balls of Steel" pack or the Doom 3 Collector's Edition). The bonus is that special editions like that are specifically designed to be special, so can be much more interesting to collectors than just a big cardboard box.

fraggle said:Being made of plastic I expect they're more durable as well.

Forgot about this. One reason I would never want to see game packages revert. It's bad enough that "collector's editions" in the music industry are now the cheap digipacks. (I know I'm not alone on this one either.) Of course it's probably the misguided vinyl nostalgia that is driving the industry in that direction. Yay for unreadable spines!

Doom's artwork is identical between PAL and NTSC releases actually,its more the style of the case itself. But aside from that, many NTSC games had really horrific artwork changes compared to PAL/Japan. But thats not the point I was making, more the design of the case itself. PAL cases were much sturdier and very uniform in design, and instead of "Greatest Hits" we had "Platinum", where the black was replaced with silver. The one downside to Platinum was the disc itself lost the artwork and was all silver with text :/

zombi said:Depends really. Maybe not for PS1 games, but for almost any other console, PAL art is dreadful.

What I don't understand is why US boxart is almost compelled to make characters look more miserable and angsty, regardless of how light and/or cartoony the game is. This has infected some PAL releases, but not all.

I have a reasonable whack of JP/US imports for the PS1, and don't mind the fact that they come in the standard CD jewel cases, it's the likes of US Saturn games whose cases are just too big and unnecessary (PAL Saturn boxes are also oversized, but not as much).