There’s a change a goin’ on with PC Game Packaging. Essentially, most of the game publishers of the world are putting them out in smaller boxes. I forget the dimensions, but it’s roughly the size of a DVD, and about an inch and a half thick. The first stores to get these were Wal-Mart stores and originally I was against them – I liked the big PC game boxes and I figured the change was aimed at the “redneck idiot” mentality that tends to populate Wally World and was designed to confuse them into thinking it was basically a video they were buying. These were literally smaller versions of the boxes in other stores.
But then Electronic Arts came out and said that they would start supporting the format universally, initially in the game Medal of Honor. I was against the idea, but I realize it makes more sense – the boxes don’t need to be that big and it makes for more shelf space. However, I do feel sorry for any game that comes out until all new games are like this, or until most of the old games on the shelves are the same size. Until they do, the games in these boxes are going to look cheap and rinky-dink in comparison. Medal of Honor ships in a tiny little box sitting next to its full-size direct competitor, Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Serious Sam: Second Encounter makes sense at $20 in a small box, Jedi Knight II in a tiny box seems like a ripoff almost.