[General Discussion] Packaging-Palooza

A lot of useless junk comes packaged in with games. Subscriptions to Playstation Underground, instructions on how to avoid killing yourself while using your DS, company surveys, and on rare occassions an instruction manual. So, how much of that stuff do you usually keep? Hell, do you just toss the whole case out and lay the disc in a pile beside your TV? I know far too many people who actually do that to their games.

With DVD cases it usually varies. Sometimes I toss out everything but the manual, while other times I'll just leave it all in there. The advertisements and such are useless, but I like leaving it complete. Games that come in boxes (NES, GBA, etc.) I leave everything. With GBA games I'll even fold that plastic wrapper the cartridge is inside of and stick it back in the box. I think the only games where I always toss the ads come in jewel cases like PSX and Dreamcast since they get in the way too much.

A few years ago there was a local store that gave $1 store credit per box, and I sold off enough NES/SNES boxes for games I no longer have to get several free games. The owner's reaction was priceless when he saw the original ads still inside.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm a big fan of all the crappy junk mail they toss in the boxes. I flick through it instead of the games manual. I was going through some of the earlier stuff I've still got around a few days ago actually.


YOU'VE GOTTA GET ONE

Why they felt the need to advertise the Mega Drive console in a Mega Drive game box I'll never know. The only stuff I chuck out are those stupid black book.. things.. in the DS cases. I think they're health and safety guides or how to make a sandwich, I dunno. They always put them in front of the game manual though, which is very nice of them because it makes flicking them into the bin so much easier!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I keep the instruction manuals because they make for cheap resources of artwork later on. I'll have to actually see if I've kept any of the other crap that usually comes in the boxes

*looks*

...

Well apparently either I throw away the extra stuff right away or something, because the only things in the cases are the game DVDs and the instruction manuals.

Although I do remember I have a Golden Sun world map & a few 'bonus' posters...somewhere >_>

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

For some reason, I keep everything. I know there's really no need to do so (except for the instruction manuals), but I just can't bring myself to throw the stuff away. Even with the recent DS games that come stuffed to the brim (with the instruction manual, wi-fi booklet, health and safety booklet, subscription advertisement, and those "If you like this game, check these out as well" little ads), I still keep everything in there. The main thing I always do though is keep the manual at the top, so it won't be a hassle to get out.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Complete means complete. I'll save the hilariously bad SUBSCRIBE TO NINTENDO POWER pamplets they stick into SNES game boxes.

It feels like it's missing something without it.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I usually don't see any reason to throw any of it out. It all came in the box so it must all fit in there. I take the game out to play it, then I put it up when I'm done with the game. That's two opens, I don't care what else is in there for two opens.

And then if/when I decide to sell it on eBay later, it's a slight asset as I can say "COMPLETE WITH EVERYTHING THAT CAME IN THE BOX".

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Colonel Skills

Complete means complete. I'll save the hilariously bad SUBSCRIBE TO NINTENDO POWER pamplets they stick into SNES game boxes.

It feels like it's missing something without it.

I remember them, I've also kept hold of the ones that I got with my NES games. I have never seen any reason to throw them away, so they have stayed in the boxes. It always brings a smile to my face when I dust of those old games and find these in the boxes.

FELIPE NO

Exactly 50% of the time I keep the extra useless papers, and exactly 50% of the time I throw them all out. I don't need to read Safety and Health precautions, or subscribe to Nintendo Power with every single DS game I buy (which is the worst for all that wasted paper ;_. Even when they are bulky and make it so that the instruction manual barely can squeeze under the hooks, I'll sometimes keep them. Lately I find that there are so much more than before that I won't bother to sort out what looks decent and what is junk.

French manuals in all Canadian games also fall under junk but I now keep them 100% of the time for the future, when I might want to cut the pictures out of them or scan them.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I throw out the crap advertising that comes with it, rip off all the horrible stickers and only keep the manual. It's pretty lousy in Europe, but it's not that bad in Japan to my surprise, you don't get any advertisements, and older games often have free crap attached to it, like a Wanzer model with the Front Mission remakes for PS1, look crappy, break immediately, but it's better than advertising.

How ya doing, buddy?

I'm a pragmatist with my packaging. I keep the case, the instruction manual, and the game disc. Anything advertising magazines, trying to get me to "register" my game (what kind of fucking tool do you corporate cocksuckers take me for anyway?), or otherwise wasting my time (Nintendo, I already know not to stab myself in the eye with a stylus, and by the way, Fair Use laws trump your unenforceable "LOLZ NO BACKUPZ" disclaimers, so ha-ha) go straight into the circular file.

The exception, of course, is bonuses. My copy of Disgaea came with some sweet Disgaea, Nocturne, and Digital Devil Saga postcards. Hung onto those. My copy of DDS came with a box-set box (redundancy FTW), more postcards, and I think a couple of other goodies. Kept that. Lunar and Lunar 2...holy mamma those were awesome bonuses. I actually opened up my Lunar 2 box for the first time in years the other night and took some time going through all the extras it came with...roq.

Anyway, anything unrelated to the game itself: registration cards, ads, disclaimers, other useless crap like that, goodbye, into the wastebasket you go.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

For DVD and jewel case games, I keep everything outside of loose advertisements. For GBA games and such with boxes, I generally just keep the manual and the game (obviously) but if I love the artwork on the box, then I'll keep it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

My game boxes seldom survive, hence I've lost/trashed pretty much every GBA game box I've had up until Yggdra Union, my most recent GBA Purchase. Even then it probably won't last long. I really wonder where my Summon Night 2 box went...

CD cases also didn't fare long at my house between myself and two brothers. We had a padded CD case for all of our Playstation/Dreamcast games.

Hence instructions and extra packaging for those systems didn't last long. DVD cases in the more recent things, however, lead me to keep pretty much all of the packaging. I seldom refer to an instruction manual past the first time through unless there's something witty thrown in (Phoenix Wright instructions) or I need to see if I somehow overlooked a certain ability (Zelda: Twilight Princess). Since I'm mainly just going for the game when I open the case, the stuff behind the instruction manual tends to stay there.

Maybe one of these days I'll lighten up all of my game cases and toss all of the non-instruction material out.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?