LGR Tech Tales - The Demise of Big Box PC Game Packaging

I always love stumbling upon a big box in a second-hand retailer. Feels like a blast from the past, unnecessary today but still endearing.

SammyToesis

This video is great. I had some awesome big boxes as a kid (mostly 80s and 90s Sierra games) and then threw them all out after college bc they were "probably worthless and just taking up space." But somehow I still have those old Marvel trading cards that I thought would be hugely valuable. Ah the follies of youth.

Joon Choi

well i know why Lego Racers 2 box is small today

Great video !!!! :D

Good idea, I'll do that!

LGR

I really enjoyed it! One thing that might be good to add in. You specifically mentioned that you weren't calling them 'big boxes' when you discussed the early boxed releases because retailers didn't distinguish between them. Then you discussed the IEMA mini-box that resulted from the summit. But you never actually addressed when the term 'big box' came into use. For example, did it emerge to contrast with the then new mini box? I think it would be nice to close that loop out.

Elizabeth Sullivan-Burton

Tech tales AND game bAWxes? is it christmas already?

iCach0

Thank you! That is a royalty-free track called Twin Shine <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uiYNDZBmVU" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uiYNDZBmVU</a>

LGR

Thank you, I hope you enjoyed!

LGR

Anything shown as a video clip and not just a photo is mine, yep! I love collecting those AH bookcase games. Glad you enjoyed it!

LGR

Yep, boxed copies of any kind at retail are disappearing. But thankfully there are the niche box options I mentioned at the end of the episode, and I'll support those as long as I can! Indie Box does some great stuff these days.

LGR

I feel ya there. I still buy new PC games on-disc when I can because of my internet being so slow. It took DAYS to download Doom 2016!

LGR

Nah, nothing on the disk other than my fading hopes of becoming a '90s shareware developer, haha

LGR

Thanks, me too :D

LGR

Haha, not intentionally so but it does have a similar sound now that you mention it

LGR

Thank you!

LGR

Me too, it's become my main collecting kick in recent years. So many obscure big box releases from the mid-2000s.

LGR

Awesome then! Yeah I was hoping this video would end up being informative to even the most active of retro computing folks :)

LGR

Can't say I noticed. And I just compared to my previous ones and the pacing is almost identical. It's a 2.5 page script, and my Mad Catz one was 3 pages. This video was almost 10 minutes and Mad Catz was 10.5 minutes, which seems pretty normal for me. Could be the music? I used more upbeat tunes this time, where in the past I've used slower background tracks which genuinely does lead to a video feeling slower.

LGR

Is it just me, or am I listening to a fakey, off-brand version of 'Living in a Box' in the background througout this video? :D

Really loved this!

Gary DiFiore-Ridolph

Loved it!

evistre

Another great video !!!!!

QUiKSR20

I love finding games I didn't know were released in big boxes.

Fantastic video and the research on it!! Please more LGR Tech in the future.

Good video. I actually didn't know most of this. I guess I stopped buying games for the most part in the late 1990s.

The 8-Bit Guy

Fantastic video as always. I'd like to offer some feedback, and if I'm the odd one out, that's totally fine. It feels like your narrations for this Tech Tales was super fast - like you're trying to beat a clock. Your previous narrations seemed more calm and collected. The content and flow was definitely there, but the pace felt rushed in my opinion.

Super nice :D Tech Tales are my fav!

JennaKay

I love that cute, functional computer station &lt;3

avfusion

Nice I only have 3 Big Box PC Games ahaha SIMS and SIMS Hot Date expansion pack as well as the first Harry Potter pc game

floverSaeu09

I was just thinking I missed Tech Tales, and look what got posted today, haha. :) Love the "Nuke Dukem" game you made. Was there anything actually on the floppy disk or no? The Panzer Leader box was quite interesting to see because as of late I've been watching Panzermadels LPs... pretty sure that is not the same kind of game as Panzer Leader. lol

Lindsay Michelle

Thanks man! And no not that I can tell. Do you mean the outro?

LGR

Another great episode! Love Tech Tales. I live in a rural area with crappy slow internet access and really wish I could still get modern games on some type of media. Even if I wanted to play a game like Doom 2016 I could not really. I already have to use my laptop to go to a nearby small town and use a connection there to grab any files of a larger size, unless I want to wait a week for a download to finish.

That was great! I loved it, very LGR

John Diniz

I would imagine we are close to a time when there will be no physical media of any kind in stores. Digital seems to be cheaper and what so many people want since it's instant and you can get rid of it when you want but also have it again easily.

Matt Cain

Or a whooping 150€, like i paid for my copy of Guild Wars 2 just because i wanted my personal Rytlock Brimstone. &lt;3

BastetFurry

Is that YOUR copy of Panzer Leader? :) As boxed games are my passion, I could go on and on about the "bookcase game" line which goes all the way back to the 1960s... But it was interesting to see Avalon Hill actually published a computer game that was packaged in that enormous box. I'd never seen a PC game in that large, sturdy "bookcase" box before. Thanks for making this! Very thorough.

Sanguine Games

ahh i have been waiting for a video about big box games...you're awesome!

Great stuff mate! what's the jingle from playing through the outro?

Awesome to hear, thanks!

LGR

Nah, if anyone wants it they can claim it!

LGR

Do you need to blur out the activation code on that one game near the end or does it matter?

Kris Asick

I liked it! Especially with all of the various examples being shown in the video - in particular the very early ones.

Love it. I never knew that PC big boxes derived from strategy board games.

Great work as always! Bought lots of ziploc computer games, mostly from liquidation outlets in the middish 80s. These videos always remind me that I continue to complain like the old man I am to my younger cohorts about how things we used to get as standard issue back in the day (especially with Infocom and Origin games) are now things you need to pay an additional $20 or more for a Collector's, Special, or Limited Edition. Games are still great, but it stinks that nice packaging and inserts are the exception rather than the rule today.

Gray-Haired Gamer

Thanks a lot :)

LGR

I love this series and the amount of research that you put into it...keep these videos up!

Antonio M Buonomo

Somewhere between $180-$190 USD :o

I really liked the $79.99 price tag on the zip lock bag. That's how much games were generally back then. (Circa early to late 80s) Wonder how much that translates into today's money.

Gary Leigh