We couldn't help but feel a little guilty as we read about
a recent "green gaming summit" held by Wal-Mart's gaming blog, Check Out. Perhaps it was the revelation that our consoles, which we constantly leave running in case of emergencies,
waste as much energy in a year as six refrigerators. Perhaps it was the knowledge that our towering stack of plastic game cases released more greenhouse emissions during their creation than the average mid-sized car. Perhaps it was the fact that we read the article by light provided by
a stack of burning tires and cans of hairspray that we keep in our foyer.
The meeting of minds, which in addition to the
retail behemoth's ludological division had representatives from Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Activision and Electronic Arts in attendance, resulted in the discussion of new industry practices that would focus on environmental sustainability, such as
cardboard game cases and reduced-power standby modes for consoles. We suggest reading
Check Out's write-up of the summit for a highly interesting (if not slightly
inconvenient) read.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Miguel @ Aug 30th 2008 11:44PM
Really? Green video games? This green movement is getting ridiculous. Soon our crap will have to be green too?
Max Headroom @ Aug 30th 2008 11:59PM
Miquel, I don't understand what kind of person complains about companies who are trying to do the right thing for once. You do know the whole green movement is a good thing in general, right?
mezzanine @ Aug 31st 2008 12:09AM
They should have been doing it in the first place, anyway.
The Green movement has only picked up speed because for some reason, it's cool to care now. Captain Planet had something to do with this.
Ridgecity @ Aug 31st 2008 12:59AM
get with the times grampa!!! my turds are already green!
Thatoneguy64 @ Aug 31st 2008 12:59AM
Wait, why was Max Headroom downvoted?
What did he say wrong?
Seanross @ Aug 31st 2008 1:49AM
Oh he knows what he did!
mezzanine @ Aug 31st 2008 1:56AM
M-m-m-m-mAX HEADROO OO OO OOM
Max Headroom @ Aug 31st 2008 3:29PM
@Thatoneguy64: I'm a bit confused too. I thought the Internet generation was more into being friendly to the planet. Reading through many of the posts on this thread has only decreased my faith in humanity, which was already pretty low.
Drago Dracini @ Aug 31st 2008 4:33PM
Welcome to humanity Max. We have cookies made of oil and burning trees.
BigD145 @ Aug 30th 2008 11:53PM
How much energy is burned by the servers hosting Microsoft's LIVE? Sony's servers? We already know the 360 and PS3 are big energy consumers. It's too bad Check Out didn't specify that and has ended up lumping Nintendo in by default.
Cardboard. I guess they are talking about that material that came before the all plastic game case. The material that did fairly well for some number of DECADES. Single use plastics have been a step backwards since Dupont made the stuff and covered up the health risks of it.
Tiptup300 @ Aug 31st 2008 12:54AM
Actually, I read an article a while ago in an IT magazine where MS just pretty much bragged about how green all their servers are and how they are rebuilding all the servers into a more green-oriented facility, this was years ago though.
BigD145 @ Aug 31st 2008 1:19AM
Now they swap out huge shipping crates, which means lots of gas usage to haul them out of the facility and move a new one in.
Max Headroom @ Aug 30th 2008 11:53PM
I'm happy to see this. Retail packaging causes a tremendous amount of waste. I'll be happy to see the video game industry stand up and make some moves that helps to eliminate some of the problems. On top of that, more efficient consoles should lead to lower electricity bills for most of us.
It's a win-win situation for them to go green.
Obie @ Aug 30th 2008 11:54PM
Psh, the only green Wallmart cares about is moneyz!
Max Headroom @ Aug 30th 2008 11:57PM
I don't understand what kind of person complains about companies who are trying to do the right thing for once. You do know the whole green movement is a good thing in general, right?
Darkbhudda @ Aug 31st 2008 12:53AM
There are 2 types of people complaining.
1) The ones who have bothered following up the hype of all these "Green" initiatives and discovered the unintended side-effects are far worse eg Bio-fuels which generate far more greenhouse gases than fossil fuels.
2) Those sick of hypocrisy eg anyone who has worked at an office where the Environmental department puts up posters everywhere about not wasting paper.
Ben Hobbs @ Aug 31st 2008 11:19PM
I'd question your line about Biofuels releasing more greenhouse gasses than regular oil.
The whole point of biofuels is that as the said fuel grows, they suck crap out of the air and turn it into oxygen.
Badger_badger_badger @ Aug 30th 2008 11:58PM
Buy games in cardboard boxes = save the world.
TheOverlord#2 (is playing MM1 and Okami) @ Aug 31st 2008 12:06AM
Save the cheerleader = save the world.
tuaamin13 @ Aug 31st 2008 12:04AM
I like plastic DVD/game cases. They make sense. I mean, I still have a N64 box or two floating around here, and believe me it's not as in as good shape as the plastic cases. I ended up buying some Nintendo (plastic) game cases to keep all my games.
Maybe they should do something about that impossible shrink wrap on CDs, DVDs, and games, along with minimizing blister packing.
Ken Seang @ Aug 31st 2008 4:31PM
Or maybe if everything was digital distribution we would not have to worry about that now would we...
Flecke @ Aug 31st 2008 12:05AM
I just love it when cardboard boxes get wet, don't you?
AduroX @ Aug 31st 2008 12:05AM
What about digital distribution? The only waste comes from the power consumption used by downloading but why not have some sort of station that just copies the game onto some type of flash driver for you to take home? I know, I know, to easy for piracy but I can dream.
Gehodra @ Aug 31st 2008 12:27AM
Yeah, but I don't shower with my video games, so it's all good.
Gehodra @ Aug 31st 2008 12:29AM
Hey, that's the first time Joystiq's comment system has screwed up my post. I'm in with the cool kids now.
juju187 @ Aug 31st 2008 12:19AM
FUCK WALMART!!!
tooPrime @ Aug 31st 2008 12:21AM
The "Green" movement has been a easy excuse for corporations to save money on expendable resources. Like plastic bags at a grocery store cost the store half a cent a bag, OR you could pay them 5 bucks for cloth bags that you care to and fro the grocery store in order to "save the planet" while China is dumping pure poison into the air and Brazil cuts down the rainforest. Okay, I'm super negative and if I ran a corporation I'd do the same thing, I just don't like the holierthanthou attitude associated with the Green movement. Even if you did everything you can to be Green, it would be like popping a zit to lose weight.
Sora @ Aug 31st 2008 12:30AM
But if you have enough zits to pop, then you WILL eventually lose weight. And have an immunity to pain. Oh, and you'll probably get laid for the first time assuming the zits don't reappear....Anyways, you get where I'm going with this lol.
tooPrime @ Aug 31st 2008 12:45AM
The beautiful thing about the Zit analogy is zits aren't the cause of you being fat. Really though, excuse my rant, I just had to set that one free. More on zits, from a "Green" perspective the fact that most people live in a house puts people in more "Green debt" than they could ever pay off in their entire lives hence I think it is sort of pointless. Where I used to live we had really crappy air, and then it got better, not because a bunch of people can together a contributed bit by bit, but because a law was passed.
BigD145 @ Aug 31st 2008 1:21AM
Who, exactly, got together to contribute bit by bit and get that law to even be considered by government legislature?
tooPrime @ Aug 31st 2008 1:59AM
Yo BidD, when I was bagging on bit by bit contributions, it wasn't bagging on grassroots law starting, but rather the idea that recycling a can is going to save the planet when much larger things are negatively effecting the planet.
BigD145 @ Aug 31st 2008 3:55AM
One can? No. A billion cans? Yeah, that's a good step. Now try to get a billion people to do that all at the same time. The fact is, you have to start somewhere and leading by example is one of the best ways to spread something around. Except for brainwashing. Laws are too easily ignored when they become "inconvenient" or "not profitable."
rainking187 @ Aug 31st 2008 12:31AM
I'm not a fan of "green" packaging. It looks cheap and I'd prefer to not have my discs in cardboard sleeves that are going to scratch them all up. It's bad enough when a $10 CD is packaged that way, but a $60 video game? Fuck that. Someone colonize Mars already.
xLV426x @ Aug 31st 2008 12:56AM
I don't really give a shit as long as I get to play the game.
Ridgecity @ Aug 31st 2008 1:01AM
hopefully they don't start asking their employees for their green card...
mr bean @ Aug 31st 2008 1:09AM
Well I can't figure out these big retail places with their "going green" thing. Look at the packaging-you buy say for example, a Mcfarlane 6" figure, and what does it come in? An 18x20" barn size box you could stuff the entire Star Wars fleet in! Then after ya buy the damn thing you almost have to wrestle a bag out of the buggers in order to get it out of the store. I mean, instead of putting the owness on the retailer, should not the manufacturer take up the mantle?
BigD145 @ Aug 31st 2008 1:22AM
The retailer doesn't have to sell. They make the decision to do so. Have you ever read a planogram? The retailer knows exactly what they are getting.
Debikul @ Aug 31st 2008 1:35AM
I don't care much for Wal-Mart anymore since I found out just tonight, that once all stock is sold of Too Human they aren't going to stock it anymore except on Wal-Mart.com.
WTF?
This is in the Western Kentucky area, so it might be different for bigger cities, but my investigation into several large cities in KY reveal the same information. Why? DAMN YOU WAL-MART!
MikeO. @ Aug 31st 2008 1:55AM
Several large cities in Kentucky, hahaha. =]
Sorry, I live in Frankfort, so I was curious how many large cities you know of. =D
That sucks though. We have a Gamestop here and as evil as they are, I picked it up there.
I'll ship you a copy for $4.50 if you wanna buy one. =P
Debikul @ Aug 31st 2008 2:23AM
Well, we are talking about KY so a large city would be about 25,000 or more I assume. That is about the size of the city that Murray State resides so I'll use that as an example I guess.
kevin @ Aug 31st 2008 1:57AM
LET SEE 4.5 BILLION YEARS , AGE OF THE PLANET
LET SEE MAN HAS BEEN AROUND 2,000
INDUSTRY HAS BEEN AROUND 100 YEARS
FAMOUS WORDS BY GEORGE CARLIN , YOU FUCKING KIDDING LIKE WHAT YOU DO MATTERS TO THE PLANET .IT WILL SHAKE US OFF LIKE A SMALL BUG ,WHEN IT WANTS TO .FUCKING JERK-OFFS .
juju187 @ Aug 31st 2008 7:21AM
right on let the bugs deal with it after we are ass slammed by a meteor like the dinosaurs...
turkeybaster @ Aug 31st 2008 12:01PM
Sorry dude. Scientific data says modern man has been around for 200,000 years. The first person on the planet wasn't Jesus.
WRE @ Aug 31st 2008 1:57AM
You know why the whole "Green Movement" is completely idiotic? Because nobody has a goal. Going green is as inherently moronic as a War on Terror or a War on Drugs. There's not an environmentalist alive that can give a semi-coherent answer as to when we will be "green enough". Sorry, but what status quo are we trying to return to here? Oh wait, that was my whole point, they don't have a clue.
Whoppy @ Aug 31st 2008 6:57AM
You could say that about any movement or development process. When will our medical technology be sufficiently advanced? No one knows, so it's idiotic to try and push it further?
WRE @ Sep 1st 2008 1:51AM
Really? The medical field doesn't have specific goals? So curing Parkinson's isn't zeroed in enough for you? Hell, if the medical community announced that they had a timetable for curing ALL diseases, that would still be more specific than the environmentalist agenda.
Psaakyrn @ Aug 31st 2008 2:40AM
DL games = save the world.
CyberKnight @ Aug 31st 2008 4:15AM
I'll keep my shiny discs safe in their plastic cases, thanks.
However, if they want to take all the *accessories* out of those horrible "clamshell" plastic hermetically sealed packages of DEATH that defy attempts to open without pain or injury, and replace that with plain old cardboard boxes, that would be just fine by me.
Bass Masterson @ Aug 31st 2008 6:35AM
The 'green' hysteria is really tiresome. We've been responsibly following reduce/reuse/recycle for DECADES now, and instead of continuing a rational course we have people trying to freak each other out with their tiresome activism.
Reality check: we don't know for sure the world is warming; we don't know for sure CO2 causes it; and even if both of those were known for sure, MANKIND CREATES LESS THAN 3% OF THE CO2 IN THE ATMOSPHERE. The most rational position, based on available data, is that the world is NATURALLY warming, there is dick-all we can do about it, and we need to stop freaking out over it and 'feeling guilty', and focus on problems we CAN fix.
Saeth @ Aug 31st 2008 7:41AM
Cardboard games? Fuck that. I like my plastic.
Instead of cardboard how about pushing digital distribution? I guess Walmart doesn't care about the environment THAT much