Is Microsoft getting REALLY cheap on us now? Or is it just me?

[SkiDragon]

I hope those holes are the perfect size for cute little baby birds to suffocate in.

[BHvrd]

I hope those holes are the perfect size for cute little baby birds to suffocate in.

You could always go choke some inside of some cases yourself in a landfill and then report it or find some PETA member/building to throw it at. Take some initiative man!

[MarioMania]

So the cases are thinner??

[Ed Oscuro]

Yeah, those discs can really take a beating from within a plastic case as they're transported from a box to a shelf to a bag and back to another shelf.

If these were the original shatter-prone clear jewel cases for music CDs (and most PC games of old), I'd be saying something here.

But the plastic they use for Xbox games (and new PC titles, and, well, pretty much everything) is pretty good, so yep - not an issue for the most part, unless somehow the disc gets rattled out of its hole (eh).

I think inserts will be getting nastier, but people who care about quality of games usually insist on the outer box being in good shape. I'm sure some inserts will have strange mark patterns on them even before they see street wear, but it shouldn't be that big a deal. In the meantime it's saving plastic and a bit of gas somewhere.

I hope those holes are the perfect size for cute little baby birds to suffocate in.

That's actually a great point. I don't know anybody who actually throws out game boxes, though. Maybe crappy movies. I already pull the handles of plastic bags so they don't get tied up around some marine critter, I can just imagine people trying to tear apart game boxes now. Sheesh.

[Oobgarm]

This makes me happy I have a huge stash of 360 and Wii cases without that stupid cutout.

Honestly. I'm surprised they've not gone to cardboard sleeves. Generally speaking, the manuals are pretty much non-existent now (5-6 pages on the big titles since everything you need to know is explained in-game), so I don't see what's stopping them. The freebie version of Guitar Hero Van Halen came in a sleeve...

[s1lence]

I guess it really doesn't bother me. I care for my games and cases so what do I care if they change the case design. Its not like I'm running around my house with a punch tool or scissors hoping I fall into my videogame shelves.

[carlcarlson]

I'll just be switching out these cases for originals as I get them in. Having the holes in both sides make the cases feel extremely cheap.

I'm pretty sure the inserts are being printed on a lighter stock paper too. My Modern Warfare 2 insert was much lighter and flimsier than my older games'.

[joshnickerson]

It'd actually be pretty hilarious if the industry went back to using flimsy cardboard boxes.

[Leo_A]

We'll never return to cardboard boxes. Cardboard sleeves like Link's Crossbow Training and Wii Sports, maybe.

Cardboard boxes were never meant to be reuseable game cases, which always makes me puzzled why some people keep their games in them.

[diskoboy]

Back to my eco-fascism statement...

Form Joystiq:
"According to the Viva Group, the company that designed the packaging, the new "Eco-Box" is not only better for the environment (using 20 percent less plastic and creating 31 percent less CO2 emissions) "

Considering manmade global warming has now been debunked - I stick by my ECO-fascism statement. It has little to do with being cheaper. If it was, they'd pass the 'savings' on to the consumer. When new games go back to $50, then I'd take their claim a bit more seriously.

It's all about the "I'd rather live with sub-par products" envirofascist movement. And they could care less about saving the enviornment - to these morons, green means GREEN ($$$$) - nothing more. Nothing less.

[dodgeme]

This just gives me an excuse to buy empty 360 cases on ebay and the proceed to sell off my crappy 360 cases. The funny thing is, is my Assassins Creed 2 was in a regular case. Although I suppose that may be a benefit of buying the Master Assassins Edition lol.

[ScourDX]

It'd actually be pretty hilarious if the industry went back to using flimsy cardboard boxes.

Going back to cardboard box don't work. GBA was the last gen that uses cardboard box and look at how many seller selling them without them. Fortunately GBA was durable. If all disc uses cardboard box, I guarantee there will be scratches like hell.

[The 1 2 P]

I just noticed this abomination with my Modern Warfare 2 case. It's a $60 game with $200 million in marketing and advertising and yet we get a case taken straight from a third grade art project. I'll agree that it's not the end of the world and won't make me enjoy my game any less but will unfortunately mean I have to start buying really cheap 360 games($3 or less) just to swap out cases. Unless of course I find a good deal on ebay or amazon.

[Lerxstnj]

Going back to cardboard box don't work. GBA was the last gen that uses cardboard box and look at how many seller selling them without them. Fortunately GBA was durable. If all disc uses cardboard box, I guarantee there will be scratches like hell.

Strange though that the music CD cases are going the opposite route, switching from plastic to cardboard.

[ianoid]

Yeah I got my first game in these crap cases a few weeks back, DJ Hero, and I immediately thought that it was just Activision being cheap, trying to earn 1 cent more per share this quarter.

These cases suck. I think they should move to paper sleeves that have an album like slightly thicker edge that has the title on it so that you can see what is what when the discs are on their sides, if you can read microscopic writing. We don't need these phat plastic cases for Best Buy or anyone else.

Plus if they just used little sleeves, my collection would take up much less space. Boxes larger than the product are so 1980s.

[GarrettCRW]

The intelligent solution would be to move to CD-sized cases, and use mostly cardboard packaging material (as trees are still cheaper and better for the environment than dino juice).

[GarrettCRW]

I just noticed this abomination with my Modern Warfare 2 case. It's a $60 game with $200 million in marketing and advertising and yet we get a case taken straight from a third grade art project.

Well, aren't we just so clever?

[The Shawn]

What really sucks is Most on-line retailers (Amazon ect.) still ship Games in a bubble envelope. Now, what is curious to me is it's not unheard of to get a DVD/Game with a hole smashed through the middle like someone sat a table on it or something during shipping it's happened to me three times.

By taking the back of where the game actually is out minus the 'rings' the only thing protecting it is the artwork and outside plastic, Hello scratched to shit games... I noticed this with my Preorder of L4D2.

[stonecutter]

Of course they are cheap, they are sending as many jobs as they can out of North America, Argentina being the latest. Anyone see the survey card that comes with your replacement 360 after a RROD, it has a bad spelling mistake. They must have sent that elsewhere too.

I am sure many can find errors in my spelling or grammer, but if I were Microsoft I would find that unacceptable.

[kingpong]

What really sucks is Most on-line retailers (Amazon ect.) still ship Games in a bubble envelope.

When was the last time you got a game from Amazon that came in a bubble envelope? For single games they use a cardboard mailer that fits a single game or DVD case. For multiple games they stack them on a cardboard backer board, partially shrinkwrap it together, and put that in a small box.

Honestly, the fuss that people in this thread are making about the change in the cases is just absurd. Seriously, how can this possibly be a problem? If you're so concerned about damage to the contents of the case, just make sure you buy one that isn't damaged. If you buy something online and it is damaged, send it back. If you're worried about damaging it once you have it then you've got bigger problems - it isn't going to be damaged unless you do something stupid.

To anyone who feels they need to swap cases due to the fear of damage - please post the story of how you did something so careless that there would have been damage if the game was in the new style of case.