Slip It In

How much money do we spend on the average game?  Forty pounds is the usual price for a new game, some places will still charge you that for an older game, shame on them.  What do we get for our forty pounds?  Well, of course, it varies from game to game, some will give us endless hours of play and beyond, some will be done in less than a weekend.  That’s not really the question I was looking to answer though, what I really wanted to know was, what does your money get you, in a physical sense? The norm, of course, is a box, game disc and manual.  Sometimes you might get a map or small piece of art thrown in.  On occasion you might be lucky enough to get a steel-book (although I’m pretty sure it’s aluminium) edition for the same price as a normal game, good value if you like that.  It’s here where I’m going to let rip today, I’m quite happy to pay for my boxed game, but what do you get in your super special limited edition games?  Sometimes, a cardboard sleeve!

When I’m paying even more money to get a limited edition of a game, I expect one thing, and one thing only on top of all the bonus content.  I expect my game to come in a proper retail game box or even the steel-book.  What I don’t want is to have my game encased in a cheapo cardboard wallet or cheap and flimsy plastic casing, much like a box of chocolates.  I want to be able to trade in the game in the future as needed but retain the cool collectibles that I’ve paid extra for.  Of course not every special edition suffers from this curse, a few notable exceptions that have done it right are; the Halo series, always really cool packaging for the special editions, but a proper game box inside.  Aliens vs Predator, nice facehugger model and steel-book edition of the game.  Fallout 3, awesome lunchbox and bobble head, once again proper game box and more recently Driver SF which came with a car model and proper game box.  All have had decent collectibles and the ability to trade in without losing the cool stuff.  There is a middle ground, where games come in limited edition boxes with all the good stuff and have the game in a proper DVD box.  However it’s not the proper game box so you would have to trade the whole thing in if you wanted rid of it.Games that have sat in the middle ground have included; Gears of War series, especially Gears 3, which came in a cool box but the game disc box was meant to be a memento holder. Alan Wake came in a book effect box, whichI love, once again though, it has a non-game, DVD box which only works as part of the collectors edition.

At the bottom of the scale are the games that don’t even have the courtesy to come in a DVD box of any variety.  Sadly, two of the greatest games of recent times are the biggest offenders here.  The games have been hidden away in molded plastic holders, the most recent is hidden at the back of an art book.  Sadly, these games are the two stunning Batman games, Arkham Asylum and Arkham City.  Paying £55 for a game, I would expect the game to come in a proper box, after all I have paid top dollar for it.  Where is the thought process where it seemed like a good idea to do away with a proper game box and instead use the cheapest option available?  This could be a very crude way for the publishers to save money and it sucks.  Buy the normal game and you get a decent box for it that can be stored on your DVD case sized shelves.  Buy the limited edition and you will have to go through three layers of packaging before you can get the game out to play it, damned if you do…  This could also be a way of combating the preowned market, by not giving you a box for the game you have two choices; keep the game or trade the whole package in.

Luckily I have found a solution to the whole problem, a solution that keeps the aesthetics of my bookcases in order and a solution to making it easier to get the game out to play.  If you talk nicely to the staff in your local games shop, you might be lucky enough to get the empty shell cases that are used for display only.  These boxes usually carry the artwork on the box and keep things looking as they should.  I really should thank my friends at my local Games Centre for keeping my collection looking like it should.  They recently supplied me with Gears 3 and Arkham City cases to store the discs in and sit proudly beside all my other games.  So, publishers take heed, top dollar for games should include a proper game box.  Simple.