LGR - The 'Final' Big Box PC Games Released
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- Taking an unscripted look at some of the last big box PC games! Several of these ended up hitting Sam's Club shelves from 2003 to 2005 alongside their smaller counterparts. A fun oddity to collect!
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I like big boxes and I cannot lie
you other brothers can't deny! 😎
Fun fact: In Australia for a short period of time if you ordered a large pizza (i think it was pizza hut) you could get a free game with the pizza. I got Sims 2 University and Need for speed underground for free with pizza. (It's an awesome memory!)
LGR's voice and videos are so relaxing and thorough, it's just compelling. Like, I have absolutely no interest in the size of video game boxes, but dammit if I won't sit here eating a baked potato and watching LGR tell me all about the history of video game box sizes to his heart's content.
Haha, well I appreciate it.
lol That is why we are all here. Big boxes were amusing back in the day, but I loved when they turned into DVD boxes and take less space and I love even more now that I can have all my games digitally on Steam and no longer need to waste shelf space with useless boxes.. but I still love hearing about it while at work.
I miss big box games, they felt so satisfying to open and collect. Boxes nowadays are just depressing and are not as special :(
There's no manuals either :(
Not even in small boxes.
***** Yes, exactly :c
I worked at Best Buy on and off 2005-2009 and there was a ton of big box software on the shelves then but it was all "printmate" and "home design" and "cyber spread sheets 2002" style stuff. I think PC games switched to the smaller boxes for 2 reasons, 1) It looked like the xbox and playstation games so it was more immediately recognizable as a video game and something for kids to play with, while big boxes were for productivity. 2) Distribution Logistics! the smaller boxes could fit in the same size cardboard shipping box as the dvd sized xbox and PS games. If the factory popping out these games only had to deal with one size of box and those boxes could all fit in a shipping container more efficiently that might be reason enough to change the size of the boxes. especially considering this is the time when fuel costs went way up so shipping things suddonly became a corner to cut. Walmart is big enough to demand a certain size because their shelves were likely built for a certain size and it would have been more expensive to swap around their shelves. Anyway I like logistics....
That's a good part of the reason, plus I remember hearing a local news story here in S. Carolina around 2005 talking about games coming smaller boxes because of the environmental impact the bigger boxes where having when some people tossed them out, and so the ESRB made a push for normal PC games to be released in smaller boxes, and/or plastic cases, along with a few environmental groups making comments about the bigger boxes as well.
Hey someone read my big long comment! this is the best day ever!
It also lets them have more PC games on the same amount of shelf space.
People who do like boxes might consider checking out my channel... I feel dirty for this shameless self promotion but not too dirty to post it anyway.
If you wanna try a stabilized version of this video, here you go:
th-cam.com/video/dQXgFTSeDGk/w-d-xo.html
I think it looks weird and makes me sick, but I know some prefer this over shaky-cam!
It's kinda awesome; I've watched so many of your videos, I get that letter-read-in-the-voice-of-the-person-who-penned-it effect going on when I read your comments.
Lazy Game Reviews I know SimCity 4 Rush Hour had a big box, cause I had it as a kid, and I'm not talking about the widebox deluxe edition.
I think I prefer the shaky version :) Did you use google stabilizer on the other video or some magic in your own editing software ?
Thanks so much for giving us the option! i'd much rather watch shakycam than digital stabilization, which always makes me sick.
To me it looks like (almost) standard settings for the stabilizer in premiere
I love how you're being all 3 bears and such about the boxes...
LGR saw 3 pc game boxes, he inspected the first box, but it was too small, not even collectible!
Then he inspected the second box, but it was too big, how would've LGR even fit the boxes on his shelves!
But at last, the third box was just right for collecting, and he was joyed.
Haha. I am the Goldilocks of PC game collecting, it's true.
Lazy Game Reviews lol
As an insider working at a retail computer store during this transition period. I can safely say that the reason that big box computer games were still sold was because of vendor marketing space. A vendor would pay for X amount of space on a shelf to sell their product, larger boxes would take up more room to fill X amount of space on shelves that they paid for. Bigger boxes would also act as larger marketing as it is larger than smaller boxes so the consumer can find it easier. I remember this transition it was weird, small boxes next to larger boxes, setting up all the merchandise was exciting....
I love videos like this, it really shows how collectors can care about their games.
Thanks!
Glad to see your videos again LGR - I had subbed to you the other day. I couldn't for the life of me remember what the channel name was so I typed in to a search -
Duke Nukem PC builder guy" - and you were the first to pop up.
I don't have many physical PC games -
GW Nightfall
Everquest II
Warcraft 3
SW Empire at War
Civ 5
Hellgate London -along with the books
Starcraft II -thanks to my sister.
I don't go out much mainly since I know I won't find anything, but I was curious if I could have your mojo.
Maybe that would help.
I like big box and i can not lie
Small box's make me cry
All though they don't need the space
I prefer a big box in my face
Man, your collection is freaking extensive. So many good titles just at a glance.
I remember going to Gamestop with my parents back in 2003 to get a PC copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. The box was big, metallic, and shiny. I felt like Indiana Jones taking a lost treasure back home.
Thanks for the tip about looking for wider spread between the logos at the bottom. This is great and I never thought about that. It will definitely come in handy. Nice videos, thank you.
I think Sams Club and Costco do the bigger boxes as an anti theft mechanism. They do the same with USB pen-drives, they come in a tiny plastic case attached to a huge cardboard. That way they dont have to stick an electronic alarm to each item.
Perhaps. But if that was the case they didn't keep doing it for very long since they stopped making these big boxes by 2005!
Lazy Game Reviews yeah who knows. I miss those BB, I remember going to CompUSA and just look at boxes (circa 1999), BTW pls do more big box Art episodes! love those! =)
maybe anti theft devices got better since then? but yea i remember growing up and walking through the software section of Price Club/Costco and seeing all the huge boxes.. not so much any more
When I was a teenager in the 90's I had a pretty large collection of big box games including a lot of games that are nowadays rare to find even on ebay with the big boxes. In 1998 I went away for a week or so to a hockey tournament and when I came back I found out to my horror that my mom had just cleared them ALL out and taken the boxes to the dump, she had only kept the discs for the games and thought she was doing me a favour by "clearing space". I got really pissed off but there was nothing I could do.
I used to love going to the local pc store and browsing the wall of big box games and the awesome artwork! Those were the days! The Duke Nukem 3D box was one of my favorites.
Tron 2.0....freaking awesome game.
+Bigbacon I liked it very much (played through the SP at least 3 times). Shame it's rather underrated.
Please review it, Clint! D:
Yeah, GOD DAMN BIG BOXES! Thank you for giving these glorious things the praise they deserve, I miss the days of buying a PC game in a god damn BIG BOX. I wish those times will return some day. I need some big boxes in my life! I'm too old.
Last big boxy game I remember buying was original vanilla WOW box I got and damn I wish I still had it, it was gloroius! Gatefold and everything! I don't know why I dont still have it. :( Such a shame.
This really gets me, I remember seeing all kinds of big boxes in stores and wanting ALL OF THEM, I miss those days, PC gaming, man, that was my thing. :'( Those days will never return.
Your videos are great Clint. Keep up the quality work. I appreciate all the time you put into your content.
It’s a shame that games are just becoming bunch of codes and not delivering other cool extras, such as fully colored epic manuals and useless but cool pamphlets.
Over here in Finland most big boxes vanished when DVD became the storage standard for PC games, Far Cry was the first that I got on a DVD. Germany is still pushing these both semi-big and big boxes at their retailers for re-releases of old games like Star Wars: Battlefront II and Bet On Soldier.
I'll always adore the releases with proper big cover art, especially Blood's blank eyed winged demon and a black, lifeless background. Killing Time's cover was also pretty scary when I saw it in the local shop with the crazy chef waving his meat cleaver.
Oh my gosh! I love big box software, it gives the product class and character and makes you feel like you're getting your money's worth.
Such a great chill video. Thanks man!
Glad you enjoyed!
I work at a company that manufactures and prints books mostly for Walmart, and I know they basically tell us what they want when it comes to size and content. They may have been requesting the larger box for one reason or another
I'm just happy if I even see physical PC release nowdays, that doesn't go to Steam.
I remember I once bought Fallout collection. It came in smaller cardboard box and it had 1, 2 , Tactics and it's extras in seperate CDs in some soft plastic casing.
I would bet that the big boxes for Sam's/Wal-Mart were meant to be some type of shoplifting deterrent.
MrDrokkul I was going to suggest that. I worked at Wal Mart from 2004-2007 and we had VERY large packaging for flash memory sticks to deter theft. This was when 128mb sd card was like $35, so anything to reduce shrink. These packages were like 12x16 inches.
You never ramble on to much, your video's are always interesting
2:41 CLINT WATCHES METAL JESUS CONFIRMED
Haha, very much so. We've hung out several times, he's a cool dude!
Lazy Game Reviews That's sooo cool to know since both of you are some of my favorite content creators on youtube.
PS: Thanks for responding mate, appreciate that!
Hey LGR, I used to work retail in the 2001-6 erra, I believe walmart was putting pressure on suppliers to give them big box releases to help with theft deterrent, you can put a small box in some larger coat pockets etc. I remember our security guys freaking out about the games as we started getting more small box releases... the other thing that probably helped this trend, when I started we had 1 gaming isle in our store, one side was nothing but PC games and the other was a combo of all the consoles, by time I left the pc games were down to 1/3 of one side and the console stuff had taken over the rest of the isle...
Considering the pressure that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc placed on game companies over the years, including changing titles of games and censoring content to meet their desires, this seems the most likely explanation. They were practically the be-all, end-all of retail at the time, and if they wanted something they pretty much got it.
Interesting fact about AUS version big boxes.
Back in the day I purchased Duke Nukem 3D when it was a new release. Took it home and installed it, only to realise it was the censored AUS version, which meant no blood, gibs or ladies!
Anyway, I managed to pull a few strings to buy the proper US version. Upon receiving it, I noticed the quality of the US version box was much higher. The Aus version has no embossing and a rather dull finish. They must have contracted a printer on short notive for the "special AUS version" lol
Australian versions are usually made in Australia, occasionally somewhere in Asia, and are legtimate but the quality of a pirated version. So you're right, they contract a printer.
Angel Best That is interesting, thanks. Explains a lot.
Yeah I think Duke 3D was one of the first that had a censorship in Aus. From memory, the strippers were the main issue. In the censored version, the strip club was just empty!
In my area they released a lot of old games for a lowered price (usualy 10€) in big boxes around 2010. But the Big Boxes vanished around 2014. Examples for games would be SW BF2, SW EaW or GTA 3/VC/SA
Now *THIS* brings up some memories! The first Big Box Game I've had was the one for the original 'Descent' Game back at January of 1996. I was 14 at the time but instead of throwing it away, I decided to keep it. I'm not sure why, since big boxed packages for other products I'd throw away, but I'm glad I did hang onto it. Ever since then, any PC Game I bought I'd keep. Descent 2, Hexen, Hexen 2, Quake, Quake 2, Half-Life, all sorts of PC Games. I think the main attraction was the box art, I believe that they got creative with the art to help attract customers and potential buyers. Even when the boxes shrank I'd still collect them. I had well over 50 large boxes when I ran out of room so I moved them all in an empty house next door. Then around January of 2014, the house caught on fire and all of those large boxes went up in flames.
All those precious memories. Gone........ :(
I had no idea Doom 3's big box was hard to find. I found my big box version at Goodwill.
I think it's kinda fun to see this, because I live in Europe (Denmark specifically), and I've NEVER seen a big box! To me, PC games always came in either jewel cases or regular DVD cases. Even the big DVD cases were kinda rare unless it came with a lot of discs or were a collector's edition. I started playing and collecting The Sims 2 just before Nightlife came out, and all my games are just in regular DVD cases. My only Sims game that is in a wide box, is The Sims Double Deluxe, and that was 4 discs, so it was in a wide box.
They did something similar when CDs first came out and all of the retailers had shelves and bins designed for records so they released CDs in large cases that fit the displays. My guess is retailers must of had a similar need to stock their shelves with Big Box PC games to fit their display cases.
Omg, that Comandos: Behind the enemy lines box, so many memories. When it was released in Spain was such a blast, I don´t remember another great game after that one made in Spain, and it´s almost 20 years now.
Nice video bud
Ha, I'm an Aussie and I *was* thinking "yeah, so?" when you showed the big box version of Uni. That was the only one I could get! I remember being jealous that the American simmers were getting the slim DVD style cases. I was (and still am) working with very limited shelf space!
Regardless, I enjoyed this video. I always like sneaking a peek at your collection and hearing you talk a bit about it. ☺️
I worked at Future Shop here in Canada from 2001-2002, and the smaller boxes started coming out right around the last quarter of 2001. By the time I left there near the end of summer 2002, roughly half to a third of new PC game releases came in the smaller boxes. I actually liked the smaller boxes -- not having a lot of space to store stuff at the time, it made it easier to store them. (Except for collectors editions, anyway.) Mind you, the larger boxes did remind me more of the way things always were even back in the early 80s, when games for the 8-bit computers of the day were in similarily sized boxes, or sometimes even larger. Some of Atari's own 8-bit releases were in boxes that were wider than most game boxes, though sometimes that was because it was an educational title that came with an insert that stored multiple cassettes and actually needed the room.
I loved the old album covers games came in like bards tale and wasteland originally came in, always hopes companies would go back to them, at least for collectors editions.
I could definitely listen to you rambling about game boxes for hours and hours.
Still kicking my ass for throwing away a DISKETTE BIG BOX VERSION of X-Com 1 and X-Com 2: Terror From The Deep (with the claw artwork) way back in the day.
Bought a big box version of X-Com Apocalypse very recently in mint condition, something I never had. Pretty friggin happy about it :D
And I have to say, it's thanks to you that you got me into appreciating the value and art of big box games. I wish I could find some over here in Europe but it's really friggin hard nowadays.
So we're talking about of overly glorified square centimeters of cardboard space? Neat!
Man I Really love This Big Ass Box PC Games there is something Charmin about seeing all This Games pack together in The Rooftop
I remember being around 5, approximately the year 2000, and my parents got me the Fisher Price Castle game in a big box from Costco. I thought it was a physical toy or puzzle or something at first and was honestly surprised to see that it only contained a normal sized CD inside. That was a fun game.
Costco definitely used to do almost only Big Box PC games from what I remember. That's where I got The Sims 2 when it first came out and I remember just this huge stack of them similar to how they stack their books. Also, Fred Meyer (a company local to the Pacific Northwest) used to carry a lot of Big Boxes as well but only up to 2002 and I remember getting Pharaoh, Cleopatra, Caesar III, and Call to Power from there right when they started transitioning to the smaller boxes. And I remember thinking, "Well crap, these smaller boxes suck, I can hardly see any of the cool features and artwork now!" Of course little did I know that even a small box (especially with a folding cover) would soon become a thing to be coveted...
Somewhere in my memory I have a deep recollection for the Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 big-box. Thing was gigantic and I got it for Christmas one year. Likely came from Costco, as that's where my folks shopped but MAN did it have this giant, wide layout with like, raised logos and everything. To be fair, that came out in 2004, right at the tail end of big-box releases.
The last big box edition I got was Sims4 collectors edition... It came with the mouse & headset which typically you had to buy separately but I wasn't passing up in such a nice bundle. The headphones still work as well as the mouse, they're really good quality too.
It's nice to see big box games still get a lot of love from the community, even though the format isn't widely used anymore. They may not be very practical for average gamers in the age of digital downloading, but they are still cool to look at as pieces of PC gaming history.
Always loved looking at these boxes when I was a kid deciding on which game to buy.
They got replaced by the PS2 styled jewel case in early 2001 over here in Norway. Never saw them again in retail stores after that. :(
The last "big box" I bought was a Doom collection.
Three CDs, a sliver of leaflets and padding so they would fill something the size of a small/US breakfast cereal carton.
I appreciated when someone put effort into a manual that really filled that space. I'm thinking of the Overlord flight sim that had a wire bound manual with WWII stories inside, or Homeworld and the splendid art and stories in the manual.
Since Europe switched to smaller and thinner boxes in the mid-90s, the only proper big-box game I ever got was SimCity 2000 (in that glorious thick 2-part cardboard box with the shiny gold print), which I bought in 1994 when it was released here. So if it wasn't for Clint talking about them, I had no idea they still came in big boxes in the US long after the departure from 5.25" floppies.
In 2009 I bought the "Shivering Ilses Expansion Pack" for Oblivion in a Big Box. And as I started to think about it, I have to say that I saw Big Boxes very often until 2011. Especially Budget-Versions from the "Software-Pyramide" in Germany.
My (recently reorganized) classic games shelf:
Morrowind, X-Wing, Ultima 8, Ultima 7, Ultima Underworld 1/2, Ultima 7 Forge of Virtue, The Complete Ultima 7, Ultima 9, Simcity 2000, Simcity, Civilization, Mines of Titan, City of Heroes, Half-Life 2, Lands of Lore Throne of Chaos, Space Quest 4, Space Quest 5, Planescape Torment, Mechwarrior 2.
Dat big-box Freedom Planet over at 5:41 though...oh baby. Didn't know oldschool indie game packaging was a thing up until now.
As a kid I remember seeing the PC games having their own box size that was bigger than console games, and thinking they were somehow more robust, powerful, and adult (which perhaps was the case to some degree). There was a certain magic to seeing them that I don't think I can accurately describe to anyone who hasn't experienced that feeling, but those of us who did will never forget.
Last propper Big Box PC Games I've seen in retail were Tony Hawk's American Wasteland and TOCA Race Driver (I think RD2, though I'm not sure). It was around 2008, in Poland. I remember thinking how strange, for polsih market started transition into DVD cases around 2002/2003. I think most of my collection around 2006 was already DVD cased. And yet, there they were.
Here in Germany, the release of games in big box stopped around 2001. Most of the publishers started to release their games in those normal DVD cases.
For example, The Sims and The Sims: Livin' Large were sold in big boxes before they went over to DVD cases.
Addtionally, we are not used to these double-width dvd cases, which were barely used. I only remember The Sims Super Deluxe, The Sims 2 and later World of Warcraft being released in them.
I'm a bit sad, we don't have any big box released of games like Half-Life 2 oder NFS: Underground.
Yes! I think I've asked you this question a few times about the last era of big box games and you replied but I'm still glad you did a video on it. I'd love to see a video on PC game controllers (like Microsoft Sidewinder series) as there's barely any information covering them. I was trying to find out if the team had any input on the OG Xbox because the early controllers share many similarities such as the d-pad and A,B,X,Y layout but information and even videos on the controllers are scarce.
I was young and dumb so I use to just throw away my boxes. The only one I have is the one I bought in the past 5 or so years. I am so very happy I have an Arcanum box.
Weird coincidence, my big box of Arcanum is one of the few I didn't throw away, that artstyle. Kicking myself to this day I've lost most of the other ones though.
My dad's ex-girlfriend threw all of mine out when I was in high school because they were 'cluttering my cupboard'. I've had to rebuild my collection.
I absolutely LOVED these big boxes when I was younger!
Always went to our local supermarket with my mom and then I saw Doom 3, Quake 4, Rainbow Six 3 Raven Shield, Far Cry etc. in big boxes in the games section on the highest shelf.
It was so satisfying looking at, holding and opening them when bought.
Now that you mention it, I totally remember seeing an even bigger big box release for The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff. It included the game and the expansion if I remember correctly and it was kind of set up like what you would call the "Wide Box" I guess. That's what caught my attention to the game all that time ago, though.
I remember seeing big boxed copies of Sim City 4 at Future Shop (Canada) in 2003/4. The expansion pack as well as the deluxe edition, however, were released in small boxes.
Saw that box for Iron storm. Never heard of the game, but the cover caught my eye. $9 and shipping on ebay. Definitely buying. As a kid I always loved big box games. The flap ones especially, as it meant more to read while I ride home. Starting to collect console games and decided to have a small collection of big box games too, though not focusing as much on them. I just love the art on these too. Something like the Iron storm game. Yeah, it isn't always indicative of the game's graphics, certainly the further back, but it never failed to get you hooked into what the game might hold. I do miss when cover artists would stretch their legs like this.
Someone might have said it already, but the text on the back of the Warcraft 3 box is in Japanese, so it's almost certainly from Japan (unless Japanese boxes are sold elsewhere, but I don't think so).
I briefly touched upon this when I reviewed Breakout and Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge. I called it "Cereal-Box-Sized Packaging". You've got to be the only other person I've ever seen to ever acknowledge this!
There’s a Dorling Kindersley BigBox that is more like a “tall book” - shaped like a book - taller and not as wide as a traditional big box, with a white tray and two CD-ROMS stacked on top of each other.
I believe the reason for the Sam's Club / Walmart big box was because they didn't want to change up their display shelving. They had tall, deep shelves, and these little boxes (there were some) were swallowed up in there. Although I'm guessing because I remember my local Walmart changing the shelving out at some point, and the big boxes were kind of on their for a while.
Nice collection. Entire vid kept an eye trying to spot the Daikatana big box but couldn't spot it., hopefully you have it there. The game is ridiciolously underrated and never really was given proper scoring. Props for that Shadow Warrior Wanton Destruction poster though.
There's a lot more to my collection than was shown here. Take a closer look!
th-cam.com/video/a8WVldc4U_8/w-d-xo.html
now days just getting a boxed pc game is not very common.
I still have a big box version of Daggerfall. I just packed it away in a box after I installed it and forgot about it. found it later after a move and realized it would be worth money if I actually took care of it.
I miss the days when Walmart had a whole row of games to browse over. as convenient as steam is, you just to get the same feel of actually owning a game for your money.
I asked a guy once why they even had the big boxes when the game is so small. he said it was to deter shoplifting. it's harder to hide a huge big box in your jacket and walk out. then they got those electronic theft stickers and it was no longer an issue. I guess it makes sense. but if they ever invent time travel, I'm going back to the early 2000s just to browse the glorious pc gaming section of Walmart once more.
I miss those old style PC game boxes. I lost most of mine in a weird accident while moving.
Still have most of the game disks and floppies, and even the manuals, but the boxes themselves are no more, and that makes me sad.
Also, talking about wasted space, have you ever noticed that even standard sized DVD box cases are quite a bit larger than they need to be?
I guess they deicided to cut down on wasted space, but got to a certain size and just said 'eh, that's good enough'.
Although... Bluray film cases are a tiny bit smaller again.
And for TV series boxsets it's a whole other story, best illustrated by star trek. A VHS collection of star trek the next generation, in it's earliest releases (a later VHS release doubled the episodes per tape) consisted of 89 tapes.
The DVD release which I had (and later lost. Again, in a moving related incident. My main way of losing things) was 49 DVD's. However, the DVD's were in slimline boxes, with 2 disks to a box, and 6 boxes to a season. By some weird coincidence, each season box set is the size of a VHS tape in a hard case. So those 49 DVD's fit in the space of 7 VHS casettes.
So now TNG has a blu-ray release, which I got since I'd lost the DVD's anyway, and when purchased as a complete 7 season set, it comes in a box that contains two plastic hard cases which are about 1.5 times the size of the DVD season boxes. When you investigate, you see they did manage a reduction from 49 DVD's, to 42 blu-ray disks, but even so the overall size of the entire collection in it's boxes is less than half of the DVD release. Since blu-rays and DVD's are physically the same size this isn't because of taking up less disks/storage, like it was with the VHS versions, it's clearly due to more efficient packing.
Getting back to games, modern DVD cases clearly still aren't that efficient as a packing medium, so games haven't reached peak storage efficiency just yet (in terms of physical space taken up by the game disk and packaging).
Yet compared to even early to mid 90's releases you can see that the large PC game boxes lost their purpose quite a while ago. Back then, many games still had huge manuals, and several other kinds of content that required all that space. By the late 90's, they rarely had much of anything in them that took up any real space...
KuraIthys i think dvd cases are that size because they fit snugly into a videotape cabinet and that might have eased the transition from tapes to disks, if you had them around the size of a ps1 game case it wouldn't look nice on the shelf next to all your videotapes because it would be much shorter. Idk, just a theory :b
I remember going to Costco and getting The Sims 2 University and it surprised me that it was in a big box, since I bought The Sims 2 launch day and it was in a smaller cardboard box. After that all my Sims 2 expansions were in the DVD cases. I love my big boxed copy of The Sims 2 University (I still have the box even though I keep the case outside of it) I just need to get the smaller version so my Sims collection doesn't look to weird with that one lonely jewel case sitting next to all the boxes and DVD cases. Lol.
Never would have thought it was a Walmart thing since that's the store that I first noticed the transitional phase in. Was purchasing an expansion pack for the Sims and noticed that they had Hot Date in both big box and small box side by side. Picked up the small box version from Walmart since I think it came with a bonus disc and I just generally like denser form factors. I love physical releases and don't generally buy digital, I just find the smaller form factor more practical to display. (In my opinion, the standard DVD and CD case sizes were perfect for me as long as they're not slim line (unreadable spine) or digipack (inevitable shredding).)
I don't miss my days trying to collect games. The never ending backlog. Trying to catch up to other user's collections online. It turns into a job pretty quickly. Glad that life is behind me and I can just watch someone else do it.
I always figured that big boxes was just another way of advertising and marketing, because the bigger boxes would grab your attention more. Like how supermarkets specifically arrange cereal on the shelves. Problem is, smaller shops like ones in the mall have limited shelf space and have space restrictions that Walmart/Sam's Club did not face. I don't know if there was a push for smaller boxes by the vendors, customers, or game companies, but I figured everyone was ok with that decision in the end.
Something I miss that's box-related: actual manuals for console games.
Back in the day, the manual with a PS2 game was always a great thing to have a look through or to have nearby during gameplay.
I have a decent amount of physical game copies including big boxes, and because of all your videos... I'm tempted to start a collection.
I see your SSI Gold Box section there. Pool, Hillsfar, Heroes of the Lance, Dragon Strike, Shadow Sorcerer...... :o
Very cool. Thumbs up.
I like to see another sophisticated man with an appreciation for the finer things in life, like big computer game boxes.
This "big box" issue exists with classic home micro games as well. Some ZX Spectrum games came out packaged in Amiga-style "large" boxes, while other releases of the same game are in these tiny cardboard boxes about the size of a Gameboy.
The Temple of Elemental Evil is one I didn't know had a US big box release for the longest time, until I saw a picture online. I started watching ebay and it took years before I found one, but it was well worth it.
I have never seen those small boxes. I am from the UK though and we either got big boxes or special edition big box releases until the DVD style became the norm. Sadly I have very few big box games left in my collection, I only kept some of my favourites. System Shock 2, BG II, Planescape Torment (and the pretty damn rare huge box release combining Fallout 2 and BG 1), Gabriel Knight 2, Alpha Centauri Planetary pack, Battlezone, Giants (which I have STILL not played despite being 16 years old lol), Thief 1 and 2 and a few others. All of which will be coated in dust right now...
In Europe the switch happened around 2001, before the US. The last new game I bought that came in a big box was Tribes 2, while Serious Sam was the first game I got that came in a disappointing DVD case. I miss big boxes.
Very cool video! At least here in Germany older games (usually 2 years old) were re released as big box games until the early 2010s (i suppose to make them look more valuable) Cheers! :)
Hey LGR! Another great nostalgic video. I have to mention I typically don't get motion sickness from shaky cams but this one was a bit much, I think it would have been preferable to have image stabilization but no big deal, still love all your content!
Great video as allways :) oh nice Doom advert or poster at 11:57 :D
I am not sure if that is still a thing here in Germany but until two years ago you could get big box versions of all kinds of games once the were old enough to be sold as budget titles. So for usually 20 to 10€ you could get something like TES: Oblivion, GTA4 or Fallout 3 in a Big Box. These came from an additional publisher who specialized in re-releasing old games as Big Box budget versions.
From what I recall, Europe switched straight to DVD boxes instead of using those medium-sized cardboard ones.
I actually liked DVD cases and such more because they were sturdier (since they were meant to be kept along with the game, as opposed to the cardboard boxes which were meant to be thrown out). I think I know why these were made though. Since Sam's Club and Costco are both designed like warehouses and they focus on people buying stuff in bulk for business use (with a bit of personal use thrown in,) a lot of their product is merchandised on pallets so whenever the pallet empties out they can just wheel it away and put something else there. Because of this, you will actually see stuff meant to be sold there in absolutely MASSIVE packaging; sometimes to the point where you'll have a small blister pack inside a bigger blister pack. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why they got bigger boxes, and whatever surplus or leftover they had got shipped over to wal-marts (because they share distribution centers so that makes a lot of sense,) and big lots type stores if it doesn't sell there. With that in mind, I kinda wonder if you might see even more modern games getting big boxes that we wouldn't normally think of, or if they just kind of stopped selling games after a while.
I love that calm music near the start, I've heard it before, I'm pretty sure it's park lane, or something along those lines.
I just saw that the name is listed in the description xD
I'm sure the big boxes were a spill over of more practical pieces of software needing such large packaging, since they came with extensive instruction manuals and multiple floppy disks. A large box with big beautiful artwork allowed the games to also stand out on a shelf crowded with other games trying to grab your attention.
Wow, boxed indie games, indie box. Very much looking forward to those. Please do a video on this topic, the stranger boxing, the better.
Personally, I think I prefer the DVD-sized cases... they take up less space, and the uniformity makes them far easier to store and organize. With the big boxes, you always get those goofy shaped ones like Starcross or Day of the Tentacle that screw up everything... although maybe the variety is part of the appeal...
The variety is a big part of the appeal. Each package could be as unique as the game it contained!
Iron Storm! A fantastic (if flawed) game, indeed. Never knew there was a big-box version of it.
No matter if big box, large box, special case or whatever, all of these gave the games inside more soul than those boring DVD cases from today.
Gotta admit tho, I like those ultra small BD cases.
AND STILL I'M JEALOUS AT THIS _Freedom Planet_ PACKAGE!
Just noticed that vanilla World of Warcraft collectors edition lol that’s awesome
Ahh I miss huge PC game boxes. Nowadays its a treat when you get one and its only with them collectors editions that have huge artbooks, soundtracks and all that in them. Nice to have the boxes around.
Gone are the days of big boxes for standard versions of games though.
I also have a problem with those. I own 3-4 versions of some games just for the boxes and the other content in the boxes.
As I've gotten older I've really come to appreciate well-designed packaging. Although I don't do it with games, I will definitely shell out a couple of extra dollars to get a nicer looking release of an anime.
Can you do more videos of your boxed collection? These are great and the nostalgia looking at these old boxes makes me feel good.
I'm always trying to find ways of showing my collection in some way, so stay tuned :)
Awesome! I look forward to it. Keep up the great work.
I bought a big boxed copy of Lights, Camera, Pants! at a nearby Costco back in the day.