Do you miss those days?

JSHAW · Post by **JSHAW** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 4:12 pm

The days when pc games came in a box. At times they were very big boxes, then they downsized the boxes to book size boxes.

But still, the days of going to your local pc game seller, Electronic Boutique, CompUSA, Circuit City, EB Games, Gamestop and picking up the latest releases.

It seems those good ol' days are long gone. Some of those companies are gone as well.

Today most games have gone to digital downloads, which can keep landfills from having empty game boxes ending up in them.

I was always a fan of the pc game box. Still have every one I ever bought.

I think I'm just a nostalgic old fool.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 4:56 pm

Yes. I could write this huge reply but Im sad now. I still have shelves full of them. I look like the pc games stores used to look. So a huge YES.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 5:04 pm

Mixed feelings. I loved the big boxes and going into game stores. In hindsight, I even loved not really knowing how good a game would be when I bought it. These days it's really easy to just give up on a game and move on. In those days I usually played it for months - even if it sucked - because I spent $50 on it and it was all I was going to get!

On the flip side, I'm old and impatient now. I love being able to buy a game without getting dressed, driving to a store, then hoping they aren't sold out. I love never having to store the damn thing, and never losing a CD key. And I REALLY love the fact that if I wait a few months, I can get a $60 game for 10 or 15 bucks.

While I definitely understand the nostalgia, I think objectively the modern system outweighs the old way of doing things.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 5:27 pm

Just threw the last of my boxes out as I needed to clean up clutter. Don't miss the boxes at all nor searching high and low for the cd for a game I am pretty sure I owned but starting to doubt.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 6:07 pm

I find it a little strange that my room looks more like a pc gaming store than the pc gaming stores. The old days were really the golden times.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 6:10 pm

The post-box era is also the post-manual era.

I miss paper manuals.

I really miss getting paid to write said manuals.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 6:22 pm

Almost all my old boxes are stuffed in boxes in the garage. Probably not much chance of pulling them out.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 8:30 pm

Nope, I love being able to play what I want to play when i want to play it. I love not having to ask my kid for the nth time if he took away my CD's needed to start games. I love not having the clutter of boxes. I love the sales that we get now on digital delivery that we never got with boxes. I'm so happy those boxed days are done. I also love all the indie stuff that could not make it to boxes.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 8:42 pm

Lorini wrote:Nope, I love being able to play what I want to play when i want to play it. I love not having to ask my kid for the nth time if he took away my CD's needed to start games. I love not having the clutter of boxes. I love the sales that we get now on digital delivery that we never got with boxes. I'm so happy those boxed days are done. I also love all the indie stuff that could not make it to boxes.

Amen to that.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 9:59 pm

Nope. Don't miss them at all.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:05 am

Back in 94 when I first started i ALWAYS read the manual. Especially those with some type of story to them. It's the first thing I did...well after sniffing the box contents

....I would read them from front to back before even installing them. I don't think I've bothered for at least 8 years though. When they went to the smaller form boxes I was worried about manuals going digital and pretty much I was correct to worry. But now Im not bothered by no manuals. I do HATE how they short you on stuff just to charge you for a strat guide with info that SHOULD have been in a manual though.

Blackhawk wrote:The post-box era is also the post-manual era.

I miss paper manuals.

I really miss getting paid to write said manuals.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:43 am

Jaymann wrote:Almost all my old boxes are stuffed in boxes in the garage. Probably not much chance of pulling them out.

Mine too. I have this idea of doing a collage of the covers someday - a big huge ode to PC gaming in the twilight of the 20th Century.

I really miss the manuals though. I like to read them - I'm old fashioned.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:12 am

That's one thing that's nice about gog.com. You get the older games and their 80 page manuals.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 7:08 am

And artwork and wallpaper and music

I LOVE GoG!

KiloOhm · Post by **KiloOhm** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:29 am

Do I miss when I was 20? Yes.

Do I miss having to drive to 3 stores on release day to see if they have a copy of that obscure game I want? NOOOOOOOO

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:32 am

Yes, I do miss those days. While I miss getting paper manuals and maps, it isn't the boxes I miss most, though. It is the experience of actually going shopping for games, of going into CompUSA a browsing hundreds of titles, trying out all the 'innovative' new peripherals and so on. I enjoyed that, should I be shopping at almost any department/general goods store/mall, I could take five minutes and go indulge my hobby by browsing all the cool stuff - some of which I had not heard about in advance. It was great having shops catering specifically to your hobby, something that doesn't happen anymore. Those were also the days of used PC games at Electronics Boutique and Gamestop. That was always a blast, as you never know what you'd find. It was that era's equivalent of the Steam sale.

The internet was less exhaustive, so I'd keep up with the reviews, previews and demos through PC Gamer, Computer Games, or Computer Gaming World. There was no Metacritic to try and define my tastes with a single number (worst thing to happen to PC gaming in years, in my opinion.) When that game you had been following for months came out, there often were no 0-day reviews available. You took a chance.

Yes, Steam is more convenient. That doesn't mean I don't miss having my wife drive home so I could open the box and see what kind of goodies they'd tossed in, browse through the manual, even stick the game disk in the CD player to see if it would play (probably half did.)

Now it is just 'Add to Cart', 'Purchase for Myself.' Done.

Of course, there is a lot of nostalgia involved in those memories, too. Gaming was new to me, then. The tropes and cliches weren't old yet. PC gaming wasn't as mainstream as it is today, and was almost completely separate from console gaming, which led to all sorts of fresh ideas. Steam didn't give me umpteen games at $2.99, giving endless gaming ADD - you picked a game and really had to put the time into it.

Teggy · Post by **Teggy** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:37 am

I think it was fun to have big boxes and cloth maps and invisiclues, but other than that, it's much better now.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:40 am

Blackhawk wrote:The post-box era is also the post-manual era.

I miss paper manuals.

This. I miss presentation that comes with thorough documentation and usually some sort of production value. Something to help justify a $50 purchase. I remember when the big boxes started skimping on manuals. It was not long after that the mentality of value in a game started reappearing. Paying $20 and not getting much, I was OK with but even $35 for a game that felt hollow was too much for me. It's been nearly 15 years since that awakening and it took a late entry into Steam waters and Steam pricing to really get in to computer gaming again.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:41 am

coopasonic wrote:Nope. Don't miss them at all.

What he said.

Hipolito · Post by **Hipolito** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 1:52 pm

I thought I'd miss boxes, but I don't. Not only is digital distribution better, but PC game boxes have become less interesting anyway. They're uniform in size and shape, contain only rudimentary documentation if any, and have no cool supplemental feelies. This happened even before the advent of digital distribution.

That said, I still have most of my old PC game boxes.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 3:12 pm

I miss opening the big boxes and finding lots of stuff inside. Once they switched to the small boxes I didn’t care anymore. Now that my entire game library is on Steam I could never go back. The only time I will buy a game retail is if it also activates on Steam.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 6:18 pm

Looked at my Wing Commander box just for a reminder.....stuff like a story book to set you in the mood, blue prints of fighters, catalogs and such. U8 had a coin...all the stuff we used to get is gone forever more.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 11:50 pm

..all the stuff we used to get is gone forever more.

Not if you spend $100 on the Collector's Edition!

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 1:11 am

So true. The again Wing Commander cost about $75 at the time.

Lassr · Post by **Lassr** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:27 am

I also miss the manuals; having them in front of me as I learned a game. Now I tend to avoid complicated games because I hate reading pdf manuals. Exit the game, open the pdf, find the answer then back to the game. You hope the tutorial for the game would cover it but they usually just cover basics.

I do miss going into a store and looking at the new release section and not knowing what was there. There really were no pre-release info like today back then. After my very first computer was purchased I went to EB and look at the games. I grabbed Hardball 5 because I liked baseball, then I saw this game called Civilization. It looked interesting so I took a chance. I was so hooked on computer gaming after that. Not long after I saw this new game on the shelf and it had Microprose across the front. It had to be good although I had never heard of it, so I grabbed the game and my love for XCOM was born.

I do miss that.

These days the closest I get to those feelings is seeing game announcements a year or two in advance. Just not the same. At least Firaxis holds their game announcements until the game is almost finished. I like that.

Sectoid · Post by **Sectoid** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:16 pm

I just picked this up on eBay for $10.

Do I have a C64 to play it on? No.
I do miss those days when games came in "Album" covers.

JonathanStrange · Post by **JonathanStrange** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:01 pm

I miss arguing in person with my buds about a PC game while traveling on the BART to buy said game. Somehow the jibes and insults just faded away with no rancor whereas now I have six mortal enemies on OO alone (and half of them I can't remember why they're on my Enemies list any more - but rules are rules).

I miss the boxes and the manuals - I'm not saying the old days were better, mind you but buying the game felt more significant, more of a "big deal."

There was a lot more real life social activity to my gaming ten years ago but I think the transition wasn't just because of PC retail distribution changing but because my college years were almost ending at the same time.

In other words, I miss those big-boxed PC games, their art work and manuals, and all that was associated with it - but even if we still bought games in the same way, I think I'd not be riding the BART and arguing about Civ 6 or X-Com anymore any way. So I can't ask the industry not to change when I have.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:09 pm

i do _not_ miss having to have the disk/disc in the drive when playing. for every game i bought in later years, i downloaded the NoCD crack as a matter of principle.

i remember now the the last time i paid full MSRP for a game was Black & White, and the last new PC game for myself from a brick'n'mortar store was S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

i only joined Steam because Rag-Doll Kung Fu was not going to be released in stores...

Giles Habibula · Post by **Giles Habibula** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:01 pm

I miss those days terribly.
GOG is awesome indeed, IF all I want to do is play the game.
But part of the awesome experience for me was trekking to my local Software Etc., not knowing exactly what I'd find there. I was making a physical effort and a time commitment toward a sort of treasure hunt, and that commitment and effort was part of the joy. Coming away from the store with nothing in hand was disappointing, sure, but I still looked forward to going again the following week.

And on those trips when I found treasure (i.e. any game that piqued my interest and got me excited and curious, especially when I knew nothing about it, my anticipation went through the roof. I couldn't wait to get it home and install the thing. Yep, some of them would be utter dogs, but an equal amount turned into some of my greatest gaming experiences of all time. And even those utter dogs are experiences I look back on with fondness.

And now, scanning my shelves and seeing all those boxes and manuals and artwork on the covers, brings back all of those old emotions in full force.

Knowing I own a game purchased from GOG, along with all of its bonus files, just doesn't come anywhere near as close as owning all the physical items. I still get the same enjoyment from playing the games of course, but there was a substantial amount of additional enjoyment I got from the physical stuff that leaves a huge void in my heart when I don't have it.

Thus, when I purchase a game (I hadn't previously owned) from GOG, I immediately hit eBay, and find a good used boxed copy, complete with all docs and box. Those things are getting more expensive though, as apparently there is quite a collector's market growing for those items.

Typically, I'll purchase a GOG game that'll run on my new rig for $5.99 or $9.99, and then spend another $20 to $50 purchasing a pristine boxed copy of the same game, so I can savor the full experience. And yes, it's worth that much to me to have that stuff. It doesn't need to be shrinkwrapped (though that's a plus), but it does need to be in excellent condition and complete with all docs (including advertising flyers and registration card).

What I'm trying to say is that shopping for games used to be akin to going on a great hunting expedition (sometimes to faraway places), in search of rare and elusive quarry.

Downloading games these days is easy. Too easy. It is akin to a big game hunter who used to go to Africa on a big expedition, who now just has the trophy head delivered straight to his door. No effort. The thrill of the hunt is gone, and I miss that.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:42 am

Sectoid wrote:I just picked this up on eBay for $10.

Do I have a C64 to play it on? No.
I do miss those days when games came in "Album" covers.

The EA album cover games like those were a lot of fun and they were budget for the time. You didn't get the bells and whistles of a $30 or $40 game but you were getting a solid $20 game for your computer.

What I don't miss about 5 1/4 days was that those disks were copy protected and would go bad after a year or two and you were fucked.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 11:11 am

Man at the pics I could post.

D.A.Lewis · Post by **D.A.Lewis** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 11:54 pm

I too miss those days. I had a number of Game stores I frequented, to buy and talk games and I knew just about all the folks. One store I had such a good relations, they hired me part time for a few years. But as mentioned a couple times in this thread, I really, really, really miss the paper manuals. I just got Anno 2070 from Steam and had to print the manual. Great looking manual on line - my printed copy, not so much. I'm thinking about going to Kinkos (Staples, Office Depot . . .) and paying them to print me a colored manual and if it works out I might start doing that on a regular basis for those games that need a physical manual.

ChuckB · Post by **ChuckB** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:03 pm

I also miss the old box/manual days and I think this is why I sometimes fall into the "collector edition" trap - I love nice packaging and content.

First thing I thought of when reading this thread was the box for "Falcon 3.0 Gold" (I was a huge flightsim fan in the old days, now I don't have the time and patience anymore), full of discs, manuals, maps etc. and found the following thread in a forum that I never heard of where they are showing nice pics of some of the packages - the "boxheads" in this forum might enjoy this http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=235763" target="_blank

I had to throw away a lot of my boxes (trans-atlantic move) but I still have a lot of the very old Amiga and Atari 8-bit game boxes in the attic of my parents

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 4:10 pm

I was going to ask about starting a thread like that here to post old boxes and their contents.

Giles Habibula · Post by **Giles Habibula** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:57 pm

Daehawk wrote:I was going to ask about starting a thread like that here to post old boxes and their contents.

I would be interested, as I just purchased my first digital camera a couple weeks ago, but I wouldn't have the first idea of how to upload shots to here. (Yep. Big photography novice right here. Havent taken an actaul photo in over 20 years.)

So yeah, you or whoever can go ahead and start the thread, and I'll try to work out the mechanics of 1)taking a good shot and 2) posting it up.

killbot737 · Post by **killbot737** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 11:14 am

I never saved boxes but I always saved almost everything inside the box. I mostly threw away ads, and sometimes the installation instructions that were the same for every publisher (insert floppy a into your floppy disk drive...). I did keep the eccentric ones like the BS Voodoo memory manager crap from Origin.

I still have all my Ultima cloth maps, my U9 tarot cards, Septim coin, all that crap. Can I find it quickly? Hell no. I did notice the deterioration in the quality/thickness of cloth used to make those Ultima maps. Maybe I should frame them or something, just so they don't get all edge-destroyed being folded up in my storage boxes.

I also still have the triangular keymap foldy-deal from Freespace 2. I had to save that from being destroyed by the cats the other day.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 4:04 pm

I have stuff going back to 1993 and some older than that all mint in box., Ill start a thread soon so everyone can use it to post their relics...err...collection

My biggest choice is what to post first....an Origin game?..perhaps a Interplay one.....or maybe even a Dynamix one.

Giles Habibula · Post by **Giles Habibula** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 4:13 pm

Dumb newbie question: What is a good free site I can upload photos to from which I can then post them here?

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 4:15 pm

I'm fond of photobucket.com - I've been using it here for years without a problem.

Moat_Man · Post by **Moat_Man** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 4:16 pm

I use Photobucket for pics for the movie thread.

I think Flickr is another popular one.