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 Video game packaging refers to the physical storage of the contents of a computer or video game, both for safekeeping and shop display. In the past, a number of materials and packaging designs were used, mostly paperboard or plastic. Nowadays, most console and computer games are shipped in (CD) jewel cases or (DVD) keep cases, with little differences between them. Aside from the actual game, many items may be included inside, such as an instruction booklet, teasers of upcoming games, subscription offers to magazines, other advertisements, or any hardware that may be needed for any extra features of the game.
[edit] Personal computer packagesEarly machines such as the Commodore 64 were tape-based, and hence had their games distributed on ordinary cassettes. When more advanced machines moved to floppy disks, the cassette boxes stayed in use for a while (e.g. Treasure Island Dizzy for the Amiga came on a floppy disk in a cassette box). In the late 80s and early 90s, computer games became significantly more complex, and the market for them expanded enormously. Possibly in an effort to occupy more shelf-space than their rivals, and attract attention with their cover art, games began to be sold in large cardboard boxes. There was no standard size, but most were around 20 cm x 15 cm x 5 cm (around 8in x 6in x 2in). The greatly increasing box sizes may have been justified in some cases. Games such as flight simulators came with extremely large, thick manuals. Others came with elaborate copy-protection systems such as Zool's circular code wheel, or even a hardware dongle (although these were generally more common on expensive non-game software). Variations on the "big box" format include a box within a sleeve, such as Unreal, and a box with a fold-out front cover, such as Black & White. Games re-released as budget games usually came in much smaller boxes—a common format for Amiga budget games was a thin square box roughly 13 cm x 13 cm x 2 cm (roughly 5in x 5in x 1in). 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. Despite the CD jewel case format having been around since the invention of the music CD, very few full-price PC games were released in a jewel case only. A thicker variation with space for a thick manual was, however, used for most PlayStation and Dreamcast games. Around 2000, PC game packaging in Europe began to converge with that of PS2 (and later, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube) console games, in the keep case format in which to this day the vast majority of games are sold. These boxes are sometimes known as Amaray cases, after a popular manufacturer of them. In the US, most PC games continue to ship in cardboard boxes, though the size of such boxes has been standardized to a small form factor. Special packages such as a "Collector's Edition" frequently still ship with oversized boxes. In the US, the IEMA played a major role in improving, from a retailer's perspective, the way most PC games are packaged. In 2000, many retailers were becoming disenchanted with the salability of PC games as compared with their more profitable console game counterparts as products. Oversized software boxes were blamed for a lack of productivity per square foot (the profitability of a particular item sold at retail based upon its foot print). The IEMA worked with leading game publishers in creating the now-standard IEMA-sized box, essentially a double-thick DVD-sized plastic or cardboard box, which effectively increased the profitability per square foot by over 33% and appeased merchants and developers alike. In creating the new box size the IEMA found itself in the unlikely position of platform guardian (where each console platform had a first-party publisher to oversee standardization matters, PC games by their very nature did not). As such, the industry pressured the organization to develop a platform identification mark which would unify the display and focus the customer's brand perception. Again the IEMA worked with publishers to create a new standard "PC" icon, and would provide its use on a royalty-free basis to the industry. In 2004, Half-Life 2 was made available for download over the Internet, via Steam. A physical boxed copy was also sold, though it also required activation over the Internet. Valve Software hopes this method of distribution will take off, as it delivers a greater percentage of the sale price to the game developer than boxed copies. Steam also allows consumers to back up their copy of Half-Life 2 as well as other games that are downloadable through Steam onto CDs or DVDs. To complement this feature many fans have created box coverings for jewel cases that can be downloaded and printed, giving birth to a wide variety of game packaging styles and designs. Java games for cellphones are distributed almost exclusively via the internet. It is possible that the proliferation of home broadband will lead to electronic distribution for all games in the future, leaving physical packaging a niche market, though game developers cite the unsolved problem of digital rights management as the main barrier to this. [edit] Console packagesThe earliest consoles had game cartridges; the Intellivision cartridge packaging featured a box color-coded to the "network" or category of the game (one of several themes, such as "action", "sports", etc.). The front cover opened up, book style; on the inner front cover, a slot retained the paper manual - a simple booklet, as well as the poly controller overlays. In the main confines of the box, a plastic tray was recessed into which the cartridge fit snugly. When other companies began to produce cartridges for Mattel's system, other types of boxes began to appear, such as Imagic's simple cardboard box, which opened from the top to reveal simple cardboard retainers for the cartridge and rules booklet.  Unlike PC games, console manufacturers charge a license fee to anyone developing for their machine, and exert a certain amount of influence in the style of packaging. Nintendo, for example, maintained almost completely standardized boxes for SNES games. PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Xbox game boxes also conform to the keep case form factor. Games for handheld systems are usually packaged in smaller boxes, to match the portable nature of the machine. The Game Boy Advance's cardboard boxes are a little smaller than SNES/N64 packaging, and games for the Nintendo DS and PSP both come in much smaller, DVD-like boxes. [edit] Box art The term box art (also called a game cover or cover art) can refer to the artwork on the front of computer or video game packaging. Box art is usually flashy and bombastic, in the vein of movie posters, and serves a similar purpose. Historically, art featured on the box has been in excess of what the computer or console was technically capable of displaying. Additionally, screenshots on the back of the box often mixed in-game sequences with pre-rendered sections, in the (mostly justified) belief that the appearance of good graphics would increase sales. On the cover, many things are listed, such as the name and logo of the game, what console the game is for, the ESRB rating (or PEGI for Europe and CERO for Japan), logo of the publisher and/or developer, and quotes from magazines or websites. Sometimes listed is "Only For" or "Only On", for the Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, GBA and Xbox consoles respectively (and PlayStation 3 games starting in 2008), which indicates an exclusive game not found on any other console, although sometimes an event occurs after the official art has been released and the game is no longer an exclusive. An example would be Resident Evil 4's box art. While originally exclusive to the Nintendo GameCube, it was later released for the PlayStation 2 (and later the Wii). As part of the marketing effort to build hype, box art is usually released a few months before the actual game. It is one of the last things made during development, but even so it is common for screenshots to be of parts of the game which did not make it into the final release. Many people find particular box art as being particularly strange, or poor, such as Phalanx and Mega Man. Often this is the result of art used for a localized version of an import title. [1] Many early releases, especially Nintendo, replaced Japanese art with original US artwork, such as the Dragon Warrior and the Final Fantasy series. The cover of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one example of US art that replaces an Ayami Kojima cover. Recent import titles have made it a habit to retain the original cover art. The boxes of Nintendo games (NES, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS and Wii) from PAL territories all have a little coloured triangle on their spines, but in each territory it's a different colour (to show the region that copy of the game came from), Some common ones are: Green = UK, Pink = Spain, Red = France, Light Blue = Italy, Dark Blue = Germany, Brown = Australia. There are 49 different colours. As well as geographic region it also has to do with the language of the box art and booklets; though PAL region Nintendo games are made in Germany, the triangles show the region that the game is shipped to.[1] [edit] Notable packaging
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