Star Fox 3DS case is environmentally friendly in a neat way
by Griffin McElroy 
on Jul 15th 2011 1:00AM
68
Reader Comments (68)
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 1:04AM Yan said
I was ready to lash out at most of these environmentally-friendly, crummy quality disc containers but I'm pleasantly surprised to find this creative approach. I hope this becomes a trend if they plan on using these cases into the future.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 8:23AM gonintendo said
@Yan I actually think that nintendo did a MUCH better job than ms with this. The 3ds game cases feel very sturdy.
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Posted: Jul 15th 2011 10:38AM HoopyHobo said
@Yan
The environmentally-friendly disc cases are much more offensive to me because discs really need to be protected from incidental damage. (3)DS cartridges are much more durable, so I don't really see the downside.
But, on the topic of Nintendo doing a better job than Microsoft, that's sadly not the case concerning their new enviro-cases for Wii which, like the MS enviro-cases offer practically no protection to the disc.
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The environmentally-friendly disc cases are much more offensive to me because discs really need to be protected from incidental damage. (3)DS cartridges are much more durable, so I don't really see the downside.
But, on the topic of Nintendo doing a better job than Microsoft, that's sadly not the case concerning their new enviro-cases for Wii which, like the MS enviro-cases offer practically no protection to the disc.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 11:39AM Nintendo Tim said
@Yan - I remember hearing that Zelda's case was going to have Rupees in the holes in the packaging. Sadly, mine doesn't have Rupees. It just has emptiness.
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Posted: Jul 15th 2011 1:12AM bluefry said
Doesn't really seem environmentally friendly. Seems like a waste of ink. But it does look pretty damn nice.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 1:29AM Nintenuendo said
@Electrium When when you multiply the plastic saved across the millions of boxes made, it really adds up fast. Not saying it's the end-all-be-all solution to saving the environment, but it's a step in the right direction.
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Posted: Jul 15th 2011 9:58AM stevo13344 said
@Electrium .... you do realize that the vast majority of plastic is a petroleum product (except for some of those cups you can find made from corn).
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Posted: Jul 15th 2011 2:12PM brotherfranciz said
@Nintenuendo
That's what I don't get: a step in the right direction would not be putting holes in the plastic cases - compare the size of the plastic cases to the damn cartridges... The true step in the right direction would be having a tiny plastic case with a snug fit for the cartridge and then maybe having a larger cardboard paper packaging (using recycled paper of course) for the game artwork etc. with the user manual to be included as a digital format within the cartridge. You can save a lot more plastic and paper this way - smaller plastic case and less paper used in the packaging than the user manual, it'll also save Nintendo a lot of money not needing to print manuals and making oversized plastic cases.
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That's what I don't get: a step in the right direction would not be putting holes in the plastic cases - compare the size of the plastic cases to the damn cartridges... The true step in the right direction would be having a tiny plastic case with a snug fit for the cartridge and then maybe having a larger cardboard paper packaging (using recycled paper of course) for the game artwork etc. with the user manual to be included as a digital format within the cartridge. You can save a lot more plastic and paper this way - smaller plastic case and less paper used in the packaging than the user manual, it'll also save Nintendo a lot of money not needing to print manuals and making oversized plastic cases.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 6:25PM xxxsam said
@Destati
It's possible to get ink that is biodegradeable and non-toxic, but I don't think that's true of standard commercial ink. Regardless, I agree ink is not going to be an environmental concern with these cases.
I welcome the less-plastic cases, but agree with others that moving to a cardboard or mainly-cardboard case would probably be even better. There are some disadvantages in using cardboard for discs, but no problem for SD cards.
Incidentally I expect the biggest environmental damage is probably from the cartridge itself; not that I've done an impact assessment or anything but it contains metal which is resource-intensive and I didn't think semiconductor production was all that 'green' in general.
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It's possible to get ink that is biodegradeable and non-toxic, but I don't think that's true of standard commercial ink. Regardless, I agree ink is not going to be an environmental concern with these cases.
I welcome the less-plastic cases, but agree with others that moving to a cardboard or mainly-cardboard case would probably be even better. There are some disadvantages in using cardboard for discs, but no problem for SD cards.
Incidentally I expect the biggest environmental damage is probably from the cartridge itself; not that I've done an impact assessment or anything but it contains metal which is resource-intensive and I didn't think semiconductor production was all that 'green' in general.
Posted: Jul 16th 2011 12:08AM Kamalot said
@Electrium
Yes. People burn fuel in vehicles.
These cases also weigh less. That means less fuel to transport cases. When you are driving home with the game, you won't notice any fuel savings. When you are shipping tonnes of these via freight trucks, airplanes and cargo ships all over the world, every little bit helps.
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Yes. People burn fuel in vehicles.
These cases also weigh less. That means less fuel to transport cases. When you are driving home with the game, you won't notice any fuel savings. When you are shipping tonnes of these via freight trucks, airplanes and cargo ships all over the world, every little bit helps.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 1:18AM Urethra Alfredo said
Arrgh.
Just seeing that character art brings the old SF64 memories flooding back. My 3DS-less-ness is starting to gnaw at me...
Andross, I've failed you..
Just seeing that character art brings the old SF64 memories flooding back. My 3DS-less-ness is starting to gnaw at me...
Andross, I've failed you..
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 1:19AM TraV said
one of my to get games this year, hope they make more copies for this though, as I have not been able to find a new copy of Ocarina of time 3D here in Canada.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 12:54PM Uncle Jesse said
@TraV
I JUST got one at Best Buy yesterday after searching every day for it since it lauched.
PS - I'm in Edmonton.
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I JUST got one at Best Buy yesterday after searching every day for it since it lauched.
PS - I'm in Edmonton.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 1:19AM (Unverified) said
Very Cool. Hope they do that with Animal Crossing,
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 1:27AM The Only Girl said
Here's the story of a lovely lady
Who was bringing up three very lovely girls.
All of them had hair of gold, like their mother,
The youngest one in curls.
Who was bringing up three very lovely girls.
All of them had hair of gold, like their mother,
The youngest one in curls.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 3:11AM SuperWoody64 said
@The Only Girl
The youngest one was slipppyyyy.
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The youngest one was slipppyyyy.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 3:19AM Reaver Zero said
@The Only Girl
Oh hell, I'll do it.
It's the story of a Fox named Mcloud
who was leader of a group with tons of soul
all of them flew rocket ships, like their leader.
(He does a barrel roll.)
Here's the story, of a guy named Andross
who was busy with Lylat wars of his own.
He's a giant brain, with floating eyeballs,
out in space all-alone.
Till the one day when this Fox met up with Andross
And they knew an epic showdown was in store.
And this fight, would somehow be amazing.
That's the way we all got Starfox 64.
Fox 64, Fox 64,
That's the waaaay- we got Starfox 64.
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Oh hell, I'll do it.
It's the story of a Fox named Mcloud
who was leader of a group with tons of soul
all of them flew rocket ships, like their leader.
(He does a barrel roll.)
Here's the story, of a guy named Andross
who was busy with Lylat wars of his own.
He's a giant brain, with floating eyeballs,
out in space all-alone.
Till the one day when this Fox met up with Andross
And they knew an epic showdown was in store.
And this fight, would somehow be amazing.
That's the way we all got Starfox 64.
Fox 64, Fox 64,
That's the waaaay- we got Starfox 64.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 1:30AM KiDPANDA said
I remember when Legend of Zelda: OoT 3D was going to have a nifty little design insert as well but the NA market got shafted. i doubt NA will be seeing this as well.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 1:31AM KaBob799 said
I hope the ink is more environmentally friendly than the plastic was. But if they were planning on doing it double sided anyway, which most games don't, then yeah it makes sense =p
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 1:32AM Master Marik said
They did this with Zelda and Nintendogs. However, America never got the inverted art.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 1:47AM TX2 said
This is a stupid reason for me to buy starfox on day one which I am going to do.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 3:13AM SuperWoody64 said
@TX2
It's a surprisingly simple way to get people to buy it new since the lion's share of DS trade-ins come sans cases.
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It's a surprisingly simple way to get people to buy it new since the lion's share of DS trade-ins come sans cases.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 2:17AM SpideyBR said
They should just use TINY packages, but they want to charge 40 dollars, and for that they need to make the package big. No one would pay 40 dollars on a matchbox sized game package. Include manuals in the cartridge, just like many 3DS software already do, and then you save LOTS of paper, plastic and ink.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 3:14AM SuperWoody64 said
@SpideyBR
This reminds me of old pc boxes. They were huge like old vhs porn tapes. That way you can show it off better on a shelf. I'm so glad they stopped that, the eidos cases were huge trapezoids.
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This reminds me of old pc boxes. They were huge like old vhs porn tapes. That way you can show it off better on a shelf. I'm so glad they stopped that, the eidos cases were huge trapezoids.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 7:50AM Epoque said
Agreed!
I love the NDS cases, but they could easily go smaller, cutting that 33% from the overall size of the case. If manuals have to be sacrificed (and I'm a gal that loves manuals), so be it ... this is a DS/3DS! The devices are perfectly suited for digital manuals.
I know it's too late for a change, but I'd still have loved to see it. Nintendo GameCube cases were grossly oversized too, at least outside of Japan. Their Japanese cases were so adorable, and perfectly sized. If you've never seen one, that's what the Game Boy Player Star-Up disc was housed in.
For that matter, PSP cases could stand to be a lot shorter too.
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I love the NDS cases, but they could easily go smaller, cutting that 33% from the overall size of the case. If manuals have to be sacrificed (and I'm a gal that loves manuals), so be it ... this is a DS/3DS! The devices are perfectly suited for digital manuals.
I know it's too late for a change, but I'd still have loved to see it. Nintendo GameCube cases were grossly oversized too, at least outside of Japan. Their Japanese cases were so adorable, and perfectly sized. If you've never seen one, that's what the Game Boy Player Star-Up disc was housed in.
For that matter, PSP cases could stand to be a lot shorter too.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 9:35AM mrantimatter said
@SuperWoody64
they stopped, iirc, because wallmart and company told them it was wasting their space, and threatened to not carry them.
So they first switched to small cardboard cases, then finally to DVD/Jewell cases.
Honestly I'm thankful for the switch, the old boxes really didn't have any purpose but to look pretty and waste material, seeing as the games often came in jewel cases inside anyways.
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they stopped, iirc, because wallmart and company told them it was wasting their space, and threatened to not carry them.
So they first switched to small cardboard cases, then finally to DVD/Jewell cases.
Honestly I'm thankful for the switch, the old boxes really didn't have any purpose but to look pretty and waste material, seeing as the games often came in jewel cases inside anyways.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 2:38AM Raffi256 said
What is environmentally friendly about this exactly, it's just reducing the cost of the packaging.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 12:36PM (Unverified) said
@Raffi256 you see the holes in the plastic? that means LESSSS plastic. Less plastic means LESSS plastic. not that hard.
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Posted: Jul 15th 2011 2:40AM dckfc said
While this is a cool/smart idea, I don't get why the boxes, in general, are so big in the first place. PSOne game cases were appropriate because they weren't too large for the actual disk, but PS2/PS3 (not to mention pretty much every other disk-based console I can think of) cases are large for no reason. Yeah, PS2/GCN/(maybe Xbox, I wouldn't know?) had little holders for memory cards, but like many other gamers, I bought third-party memory cards. And now with the PS3/360/Wii we don't even use memory cards, and yet the boxes are still so large! I'm a fan of nice, big, full-color, many-paged, art-covered (I could go all day) instruction manuals, but I'd rather them put it in the game, to save both paper and plastic.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 3:16AM SuperWoody64 said
@dckfc
Are you kidding me? That's the one 3rd party accessory I won't consider no matter the price: memory cards. (I had a bad experience with a ps1 madcatz card)
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Are you kidding me? That's the one 3rd party accessory I won't consider no matter the price: memory cards. (I had a bad experience with a ps1 madcatz card)
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 7:08AM Urethra Alfredo said
@dckfc
This will be a non-issue once digital distribution is the de facto means of selling games...
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This will be a non-issue once digital distribution is the de facto means of selling games...
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 2:41AM RupeeClock said
The EU collector's edition box for Ocarina of Time 3D is exactly the same!
The holes in the case are filled with rupees of all colours, and when you remove the sleeve, there's a little extra bit of artwork.
And you know what? That actually makes it a somewhat effective way to identify bootlegs, it's a detail I'm sure they'll miss.
The holes in the case are filled with rupees of all colours, and when you remove the sleeve, there's a little extra bit of artwork.
And you know what? That actually makes it a somewhat effective way to identify bootlegs, it's a detail I'm sure they'll miss.
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 4:14AM Fuzunga said
Why not just go back to easily recyclable cardboard boxes?
Posted: Jul 15th 2011 5:33AM sparkster said
@Fuzunga
My thoughts exactly. What was wrong with the packaging of Gameboy and N64 games? I mean, I can see how cardboard is no option for disc based games, but for these tiny DS things it would be really cool. Also you could add small protective cases (like with original Gameboy games) in the cardboard at a fraction of plastic used.
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My thoughts exactly. What was wrong with the packaging of Gameboy and N64 games? I mean, I can see how cardboard is no option for disc based games, but for these tiny DS things it would be really cool. Also you could add small protective cases (like with original Gameboy games) in the cardboard at a fraction of plastic used.
