Boxes, prices and related enigmas ...
It is a fact, those boxes games ship in take up a whole lot of space witout really justifying their own existence. The protection idea fails because most boxes are pretty empty inside, so a tighter box should be better from that point, preventing CDs and manuals from getting bounced around. My theory is that sizable boxes is something picked up from board games, that somehow the basic thought was that box sizes should make customers notice and buy computer games instead of boardgames. The idea can't really come from somewhere else, when you think about it most other prducts (CD, DVD, video, name it!) have packaging only as large as required. Personally, I could definitely live with CD case sized game boxes, as long as there was a good manual on the CD in HTML format or something. It would definitley save everyone a lot of storage space ...
Another age-old question pops up here: how would smaller boxes affect game prices? Well, who knows? I seem to recall hearing something about that subject sometime, but I can't remember just what. Anyway, game prices could do with a cut or two. yes, I am fully aware of the costs of game development and marketing as well as the losses to piracy, but that's not the point here. The point is I buy a lot more budget games, and in a more impulsive way, than I buy full price ones. So, if I'm anything to go by, low prices definitely promotes increased buying (wow, that's really something new, right?). Maybe this will improve as soon as you can start byuing and downloading full games online. That would mean no box or transportation costs, and those ought to make a difference ...
Speaking of prices, I wonder if some shops set out to intentionally fool their customers into buying games for higher-than-necessary prices. It's not too seldom I see a game on one shelf at full price, and then at one fourth of that price on the budget shelf two metres away. Come on, do you think people want to pay that much for the original box? I sure don't ...
