Kotaku 
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Denver, 10:51 AM
Fri Dec 4
51 posts in the last 24 hours
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12/02/09
Oh yeah, except it doesn't help in situations where I'd need a case with the clips to hold an inner flap, and it kinda sucks when you're forced to switch to generic black cases when they went to the trouble of giving the original case a special color.
12/02/09
12/02/09
No, I seriously hate these cases and feel that they are going to be much more likely to end up in a landfill than full-sided cases. They clearly aren't as protective, which reduces the likelihood that many owners will want to keep their movies or games in them, and I seriously doubt they're going to just put them all in a box to keep for all eternity.
The point of these was supposed to reduce the amount of plastic ending up in landfills, but that only works if it doesn't increase the chances that people will toss them. It's a horrible idea backed by just enough good intent and Walmart-compliance that it's catching on with manufacturers, but it's pissing off the customers.
12/01/09
I saw it in my Assassin's Creed II case. Figured they were trying to save some money. I'm okay with that. It's a recession. Cutting costs is okay. If it just happens make sense ecologically as well as economically, that's fine, too.
12/02/09
Yeah...not it doesn't. What you're now going to be seeing is that the eco-junk cases are going to end up in the trash more often as people will be less inclined to hang onto them. They _might_ be recycled more often, but likely not enough to offset the increased amount of material that's going to end up in landfills.
12/02/09
Sega changing from the plastic clamshell cases to the cheaper cardboard boxes in the Genesis days, however, that was crap.
12/02/09
12/02/09
If they don't do an adequate job of protecting the contents, people will be less likely to want to keep the DVDs/games in the original cases. And they won't be very likely to want to store the empty original cases afterwards. _That's_ why they will end up being thrown out.
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12/02/09
All you youngin's complain' about these new fangled eco-boxes...BAH...back in OUR day, we had to either buy a SEPERATE cartridge carrier for our games...or just be careful with em'!
You youngin's now a days....so spoiled.
12/01/09
All I know is I hate them because they seem a lot harder to get the disc to pop out and they looked stupid
12/01/09
12/01/09
it looks like youre punching it out the wrong side, or the case is upside down
thanks anyways, and I felt like doing that anyways because it seemed like it would be fun to break it like that
12/01/09
*shrugs*
If you look after your games and are fortunate to get them brand new, then this new case design shouldn't matter. Because unless your using electric power drills to get a hold of your disc whilst the case is closed, or having sex with your cases - your discs should be fine and stay hole free.
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12/01/09
However, we are going to hit a point in this world where it will no longer be an option, but rather the only choice left to make, if we are to continue existing on this planet.
Although, that will probably not be reached within our lifetime.
12/01/09
...and I'm not even a conspiracy theorist!
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12/02/09
Cases will just break more often and people will buy replacements.
What would be a better solution would be to switch from a petrochemical derived plastic case to a biodegradable (in landfill) bioplastic
12/02/09
I don't suppose I meant to say that these new cases alone will solve our environmental problems, but people seem to take any attempts towards a greener solution with a drop of lemon. Going all digital, and reducing the carbon footprint of CDs, manuals, cases, etc? NO I WANT MY PHYSICAL COPY (although I understand some of the counter arguments presented with this, such as losing a digital copy due to hardware failure). Hybrid vehicles? NO I WANT MY POWER. (or 'lulz look at al gorez').
Maybe its just me though.
12/01/09
I'm not really sure what all the complaining related to these cases is about. The chance that something is going to not only poke through the backside of the case, but poke through far enough to touch the disc is tiny. Seeing as how games are usually bundled in packs of about ten in a small cardboard box I'd say the chances of this happening during shipping are nil.
Current DVD cases aren't all that wonderful anyway. I've picked up a game many times and heard the disc rattling around in the case. Needless to say that game was quickly put down and another picked up. I've also had problems with getting games/movies out of DVD cases, and there have been times when I felt as though I would break the disc trying to get it out of the case.
And if the quality of game cases is such an issue I would expect a lot more PC gamers to be complaining. Although I'm sure many PC gamers have moved onto a digital distribution service, those who still buy a boxed copy of game often find their disc is protected by nothing more than a paper sleeve.
All in all I don't see any issues with this, if this helps to cut down on the amount of materials then I'm all for it. This is right in line with the "shrinkage" of the boxes PC games come in that happened a number of years ago.
12/01/09
Personally, I doesn't bother me much, but it seems to me that if they wanted to reduce packaging costs they'd simply make a smaller box. DVD cases are stupidly oversized as it is, so why not just reduce the height by 30% instead of putting holes in the box that expose the very thing it was designed to protect...
They do it this way, I would guess, because they don't have to invest in all new manufacturing equipment for making the boxes themselves. To me it's a half measure done half-assed.
It's not the end of the world, it's just stupid design.
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12/01/09
I could honestly care less too... as long as it holds my damned disc in place you could send it to me wrapped in a piece of dog shit...
and shut up I know everyone here would take your game wrapped in dog shit if you wanted it bad enough... I would take red dead redemption wrapped in dog shit 24/7
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12/01/09
So I guess we can expect these savings to be passed onto the consumer?
*laugh track*
12/01/09
12/01/09
That said, when they're not on sale they really shouldn't be anywhere near full retail price.
12/01/09
[Sheppard also admitted that publishers are seeing "marginal savings" in overall production, such as lighter shipping costs, but that the CO2e savings is the main benefit in using Viva's new style of casing.
"We have had to make a significant investment in new production molds and the modification of existing ones in order to ramp-up capacity to support the various demand; it's not as simple as providing our customers with a 20 percent reduction in price since we are using 20 percent less plastic," Sheppard explained.
"We still have the same expenses relating to labor, electricity, sales and administration, so the material cost is a large part of the unit price but not the only consideration," he added. "With the rise in material prices over the past few of months, if anything, the Eco-Box has allowed publishers to maintain the price they were paying for boxes during the first half of this year."
"This really isn't a cost cutting move, at least not at this point."]
12/01/09
there's a (great) 500-word segment about this in my next column :(
i felt like i was being observant :(
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...Though I didn't really sit on it, just sort of... with it.
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12/01/09
Even less plastic and provide the same protection as DVD cases.
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