How do you prefer the game you purchase to come?

Definitely a box with a manual. I wouldn't get caught dead spending $50 and up on a game that'll only see light on my computer. Plus, if my computer has trouble connecting to the Internet, it'd be hard to try and figure out what I'm supposed to do without that manual nearby. Need the insurance of having the disks so I can reinstall it on another computer as well.

Anything else is just too risky for my tastes.

SHWAG, DUDE!

We would have to agree with ippo. NO game is worth our attention without the appropiate packaging materials, and tidbits.

ippo wrote: Definitely a box with a manual. I wouldn't get caught dead spending $50 and up on a game that'll only see light on my computer.

{LoTi}

Bah, I buy games to play them, not to look at some box. Jewel Case for me, though I don't say no to a box and manual when offered.

NO game is worth our attention without the appropiate packaging materials, and tidbits.

You are missing out on so much...

I'd go online too, if it was justified and I felt good about the price. I have brought Half-Life 2 online, because that version was tonnes better than the crappy retail version, and some publisher wasn't going to get most of the cash.

However, my download limit restricts most online purchases.

i have a good connection and a credit card, buying online would be the best alternative if:
1) the price is resonable lower than in a shop around the corner
2) the game manual is in PDF accessible
3) the game is NOT for windows <.=.<

The boxes are always good for decorating book shelves. Also its always fun to read a manual of brand new game while its being installed and loaded. I would have voted for downloads, but due to schedualed formatings of my h.d. it can get frustrating.

i like to have a case and manual but the urge to play the game the second its released is just too strong

I remeber the good old Sierra On-line games, those came in chuncky boxes filled with many goddies. The good old days, people dont know the meaning of collectors edition these days.

Download with a service like Steam, since then when I nuke my PC I only have to install one program to load up all my games.

online :D

You totally want the SHWAG that you used to get with games...

depends on the game.. if its just another game i just want the cd and jewle case but if its like half-life or one of my favorite games i want everything!!!!

Box and a manual + online download if wanted. Steam style is the best.

SHWAG all the way man.

i'd prefer box and manual
online if cheap
most of my games are box and manual

Box and manual all the way. Although the SHWAG sounds appealing, my room's already cluttered with game paraphenalia already.

I'd never do the online download thing. I like the idea that I have media I can have, hold and re-install later. (that's even if I had a credit card) I'm well aware what I'm missing out on (Rag Doll Kung Fu, Fate, Bone, possibly Sam & Max) but I'm willing to live with it.

Carn the box, its all about the box, especially with those all time great games

Just can't beat reading the manual on the way home and getting all excited about the game.

I'm probably just stuck in my ways as this was before you could read free (in exchange for having your irises bombarded with advertising) reviews of games on the internet, and when I used to save up months of pocket money for a game. It was an event, and many things went into the experience of buygin a game like:

- parting with a considerable amount of money and making a difficult decision between usually 2 different titles vying for my favour
- reading the manual before having the opportunity to play the game
- actually playing the game

I also like manuals because they give you a physical collection of the memories of a game like a photo of an important moment in your life. And sometimes they have concept art and fun things inside too :)

WE NEED DA BOX !
thats so goddamn beutifull to watch those Cd-packages on my desk ! =>

Homeworld had to be the best Box!

The manual was like reading a Warhammer 40k rule book, with all of the back storry, and lots of tid bits, its the first RTS I ever played, and the manual got me into some good taticts.

I have 2 book cases dedicated to game boxes, and i would have more, if i did not pawn some of the older games, when i was short on cash.

They gave you a free T shirt, that actualy fit!

What I like about online purchased games is that I don't have to put a DVD / CD into my drive every time I want to play the game and I also can loose / break the DVD / CD or my drive could be broken etc...

On the other hand, as already mentioned, good manuals (GTA:SA was very cool) and posters are nice.

i'll buy it online if it the reasons justify the means. However I do appreciate having a manual... So i voted manual and box

Mmm... Steam... Don't want all them boxes lying around :P

CD's in a Jew Case its cheaper and availble to more people.

Well, I would only say "Download online" if the game was $20-$30 cheaper than in stores.

When i buy a game i like to find it has nice packaging to proove it's quality. Games like Day of Defeat Source which can be ordered online i wouldn't like because i like to be able to have access to a game off digital media.

I'm on a 10 Gb/month adsl subscription, so every byte is precious to me. Even if a miracle happens and I can download a 5 Gb game without using any bandwidth, I'm definitely not looking forward to a computer that is unusable for two straight days while the download comes trickling in at ~0.5 Mb/s over mega-speed ADSL, not counting the occasional 15 minute lag spike every 15 minutes.

During this time, I can't surf or do anything else for that matter, because I usually have to restart twice a day due to accumulating memory leaks. I could use a download manager to pause and resume the download, but we all know that download managers are 1/ usually hated by the server owners, and 2/ stuffed with spyware. Of course, the bad connection in my ADSL plug disconnects itself after a day and a half anyway.

Then I have the entire archive, and now have to find a way to cram it on a couple of cd-rs in case my hd crashes or Windows drops another lost cluster bomb. Murphy's law dictates that one of the files in the game archive is bound to be 10 Mb larger than the maximum size of a cd-r.

Hopefully, there is no fancy copy protection, so I don't have to spill my computer's guts over the internet to the multibillion dollar megacorporation that owns my favourite cosy little game company, and don't have to buy the game again when I finally decide to replace that ancient video card.

It gets even more stupid if the game is a single player game - case in point, Half-Life 2. I didn't have to play it yet, thank god, but I understand it requires an online registration in order to play the single player campaign. Some people don't have internet access, or have a game pc and a separate internet pc. I don't like the whole tendency towards 'you need an internet connection to use your computer' (see also Windows Vista). I guess this makes me a communist.

I did download ZSX2, but the controls are easy to grasp.

THose old school boxes were so big, they were schwag. And they are pretty nice for display purposes.(all the better if they made some goty award)

Digital distribution for the win. Knowing that a bigger percentage of my money is going to the developer of the game is the big thing for me. You guys do realise that traditional publishers take upwards of 85% of the retail price in exchange for that lovely box, manual and cd?

online download is not always reliable.

neither is purchasing, never gotten home and not had the cd in the box, that sucked so hard with starcraft.

that was ment to be a question...

''neither is purchasing, never gotten home and not had the cd in the box, that sucked so hard with starcraft.''

Didn't you ever check that the CDs were in the box, I always check things before I leave the store.

I still think every hard core gamer should want to have a large box release filled with goddies and stuff. Take a look at Zool 2 for exmaple, that box came with all kinds of stuff from a poster to stickers.

I think you want to remeber the actual product as well as the software on it. I was disapointed with the Half Life 2 collectors edition, I didnt pay 20 bucks more just for some crummy cookie tin & a rip off manual of the original.

See below to understand what I meant in the title. But first:

"Digital distribution for the win. Knowing that a bigger percentage of my money is going to the developer of the game is the big thing for me. You guys do realise that traditional publishers take upwards of 85% of the retail price in exchange for that lovely box, manual and cd?"

Yeah these are sad times. So much competition has meant that scumbags get almost all the money simply for whoring someone else's wares all over the media. The funny thing is when I see an advert for a game on TV it tend to go down in my estimation. I'm like "Why do they need to advertise? They don't have much confidence in their own brainchild if they think that wrapping it up in ribbon is going to make it sell better". The only one I listen to when buying a game is my preferred games magazine: PC Gamer (because they treat gamers like adults who can read and aren't obscenely biased or unprofessional, plus they do regular Mod features) and certain members of certain online gaming communities.

---

On a sidenote, did you ever ask yourselves about the other stuff you get with the game that you most definitely did not pay for? Games that blatantly advertise other products will never make it onto my "to buy:" list, and if they're really that good I'll obtain them -otherwise-, thus negating some of the advertising profit they thought they'd help themselves to while I'm trying to play a COMPLETELY UNRELATED GAME. I'm done.

Oh no, wait:

"Consumer being the manically operative word. I am currently chewing Airwaves gum, “The Kick That Helps You Breathe Free”. Advertising in Splinter Cell is shameless and plentiful. FMV sequences you should be enjoying the budget of linger on full-frame shots of the stuff. It appears on blimps in the sky. At first, I thought the packet of my new favourite gum was some essential element to the game’s convoluted plot tedium. Not so, although I thought I heard Lambert, the good ol’ boss/“wise black guy” character chewing as he explained how the world was about to explode if we didn’t get the right key code in some non-essential amount of time."

"Also, Chaos Theory is home to some shocking product placement throughout. The opening few cutscenes show Sam chewing on his 'favourite' AirWaves gum, then later has him climbing past a giant Ax/Lynx deodorant sign before interacting with his Nokia phone. The latter two aren't so bad, but the blatant AirWaves advertising is something we'd rather not see in games (Anyone who has seen I-Robot will know it's basically a ninety minute advert for Nike, Audi, Sony, etc)."

Yes there are some things I'd rather not accompany my product.

Gotta have the box, what if i have to wipe my comp? :) i already did 3 times hah.

I get a Hard on for anything made of Cardboard and yes that includes boxes
andwhats even more of a turn on is a Manual
nothing gets me off more than the combination of the two Box and Manual
Oh god so Orgasmic

I go for the manual. There are games that simply cannot be played without the manual, and .pdf manuals are impossible to read in some games (i.e. Falcon 4).