Game Case World - product review

[wiggy]

So, I ordered a Game Case World item the other day to see if the quality is really what he says it is.


This is his "exclusive" Earthbound cover.  Here's a excerpt from the auction:

Having an Earthbound poster on my wall, I wondered if I couldn't recreate the feel of Mother and have more Starman power on the front. I also hated the back that was in use on the vertical template for Earthbound and knew it needed changed. I carefully traced out the Starman and worked for hours on the details of the cover. Along the way I found a couple of graphics to include of characters online so I didn't draw 100% of the case, but most of the work was hand drawn by myself. It's a fun similar design to the original box that prints really well having come from vector (scalable) graphics and being born in Photoshop. Although this is fandom and not a box scan, I hope you enjoy it anyway, it was inspired by Earthbound and the MOTHER case Cheers :-) -- Paula Graphic Designer for Game Case World

So, it seems like a lot of love went into this cover.  As she said, there is indeed some found art, Shenske's template (obviously), and a bit of fan art.

Premium Paper and Ink Used

It's printed on plain old bond paper.  You know, the same stuff that you'd print a grade school book report on.  It's cellophane thin.  Here you can see where the ink has saturated the paper and it's warped as a result.  The stuff that I use is .22mm thick, this stuff is .1, the exact same thickness as the stack of cheap-o copy paper that's sitting next to me.



Looks like dye-based ink.  That's not at all premium, for those not in the know.  Pigment-based inks are NOT water soluble as seen in an old print of mine (top).



Further evidence of cheap, dye-based ink.  You can see here what is supposed to be a neutral 50% gray is actually quite green.  This shouldn't be an issue if you were to use OEM dye-based inks, but generic China-made Amazon inks will cause serious color issues like this.  It could be poor printer calibration, but I doubt it.  Also, dye-based inks are NOT archival and neither is bond paper.  WAY to acidic.  This cover will be a faded mess in about 6 months regardless of exposure to sun.  In fact, I'll even perform a test.  I'll print one here on my paper and printer and store both with the rest of my games (where there is very little natural light) and we'll check back in a bit to see how both are doing.



The logo on the front is seriously low res.  It would probably take about 15 minutes to rebuild in Illustrator.  Seems like a strange oversight for something that's so very custom.




Conclusion: for the price, totally not worth it IMO.  I think I paid 10 bucks shipped.  Figure about .60-.70 for the UGC (must adjust for the shipping costs to him, which can be considerable), a very small amount for the paper (less than .05), nearly nothing for the cheap ink, and then .50 for the bubble mailer.  This isn't a service that I'd employ anyway, obviously.  But I figured it would be worthwhile to do a writeup considering he's using everything that we've created to make some extra cash for himself.  

Here's the high res for anyone that wants it.  Since it's a scan of a Shenske template cover, I went ahead and dumped it back into that template.  Seemed odd to have a scan of something that was available as infinite res vector art



Link removed by Snowcone - I received a legal copyright takedown notice for this cover.

The scanned version was bad, this is actually now completely redone version.
Pretty much identical but completely redone and upgraded.

[Maben]

Thanks for the info Wiggy!  I don't do nearly the type of quality control you do on covers, but even mine I get professionally printed and come out great.  I originally decided to do my own since it was a lot cheaper than going through game case world, but I always assumed that paying that premium came at least with a premium product.  

I have to say I'm a bit disappointed.  When marketing a product like this, with the description he gives it, the work he takes from others, and the price that is charged, the cases should have a top-of-the-line feel to them in my opinion.

Your time and money are appreciated Wiggy.

[wiggy]

No prob!  


I've definitely had my differences with the guy, and I do NOT like what he does, but I did my absolute best to compile an unbiased review of his product.

I will say this, he was quite prompt when it came to shipping.  The case arrived within a few days and he's quite literally as far away from me as he can be within the continental US (about 2,500 miles  ).  

[Beastman1975]

even if he closed up shop tomorrow someone would take his place best way to deal with these situations is spread the word about the cover project  as far as you can that way people will at least know they can get the covers themselves for free  .  wonder if snowcone ever thought of makeing a facebook page in order to spread the word ( or would that draw unwanted attention from the game companies )

[Arseen]

Well at least Game Case World nowadays mentions (even links to) us on their front page, but not on their Ebay auctions.

But lets stop this before this again gets dirty.

We can't stop them.

[Forte]

A well spent 10 dollars on the lulz 

[tbonesteak4dinner]

Well hey, look at it this way - this proves that anyone with any standard big name printer, OEM ink, and half decent paper can do a hell of a lot better than this guy! 

[Arseen]

I just checked the cover and it's unusable as is.

- Gray bars in back cover's background will dissapear when printed, they are too dark.
- White back texts is choppy.
- Only for Nintendo triangle is fuzzy and too bright.
- Blue monster is dotty.

I know this was just quick demonstration on how to better it, but would you mind re-doing this well, as I'd like to have this as a alternate in the collection.

Thank you.

[wiggy]

Yup, not hard for most anyone to make at least the same quality as this is, and making something better would only take a short trip to Staples or Office Max.

I was always suspicious of the claims regarding paper quality and whatnot, and this really showed that I was right to think that the quality is pretty far from what's advertised.

[wiggy]

I just checked the cover and it's unusable as is.

- Gray bars in back cover's background will dissapear when printed, they are too dark.
- White back texts is choppy.
- Only for Nintendo triangle is fuzzy and too bright.
- Blue monster is dotty.

I know this was just quick demonstration on how to better it, but would you mind re-doing this well, as I'd like to have this as a alternate in the collection.

Thank you.

The gray bars that make up the SNES logo?  If so, they're just as light as they are in The template. I already printed a copy off and it looks fine to me.

Choppy? That text is actually cleaner than the printout that I got. I'm not gonna interested in hunting down that font and re-type it all.  I sharpened up quite a bit.

I could add the vector "only for N" that I made I suppose. The seal of quality and Super Nintendo type on the front and spine are the worst offenders IMO. I know they were added a long time ago before vectors were either available or built.

Dotty?  Like a mezzo effect?  I honestly didn't take a very hard look at the artwork. It was sort of the least of my concerns.

I'll try and clean it up tonight.  Shenske's template occasionally makes my computer go freakin' nuts, and today was one of those times, so I stopped tinkering with it before I threw the stupid thing out the window (the computer that is).  It's prolly because I'm stuck using CS2 on my box since windows 7 decided that it won't let me install CS4 or 5 for whatever reason. Stupid 64-bit OS grumble grumble.

[Forte]

I was going to share some of my many new scans of posters form Nintendo Power because I do posters now.  I was ABOUT TO POST ALL MY SCANS, God, I'm so glad I didn't.  SO SO SO glad I didn't.  I also just made a cover this morning from a box, I was going to post the raw scan and the remastered new cover on here.  You can look at my blog, tells my intentions from a week ago. 

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas.

Someone calls you out, and your reply is "well I was gonna do X but I got called out so I'm glad I didn't!". Hardly believable. Enjoy the gains you get from your blood diamonds, you'll have to answer for your crimes one way or another.

[tbonesteak4dinner]

Wow, you're really rude and I'm sorry you feel that way about my original fan art cover.  No one forced you to order it and I do use four star Epson paper, look it up on Amazon if you want to.  I have 18 years as a graphic designer but I'm still just a fan making a cover.  If someone doesn't like it, don't buy it.  All you've done is discourage anyone who wants to strike out and make their own fan art covers from EVER posting here.

I was going to share some of my many new scans of posters form Nintendo Power because I do posters now.  I was ABOUT TO POST ALL MY SCANS, God, I'm so glad I didn't.  SO SO SO glad I didn't.  I also just made a cover this morning from a box, I was going to post the raw scan and the remastered new cover on here.  You can look at my blog, tells my intentions from a week ago. 

I will happily give you a full refund Wiggy.  In fact just send me your username or whatever and I'll refund you. I can't help if you don't understand my business, but criticizing me over and over for stealing scans and then criticizing when I sit down and draw something I don't understand.

We have a policy and I'll restate it for the record:  ANYONE who does not want us to use their scan can e-mail us to take it down. 

We have talked to a ton of people on here and I know you don't want to hear this but they don't hate us.  You just want to stir the pot.  We're not even the biggest seller of game cases anymore.  We have a ton of competition.  The only difference possibly being is we've supported the community, we link back to the cover project and we give the cover project credit.  We SEND people here all the time! We send them to Media Shelving.  GODS Wiggy, you're just picking on the wrong sets of people and you don't get it.

-Paula

I sense a closed topic coming up soon. You can't get mad at Wiggy just for reviewing your product. Sometimes you get a bad review - if you're a professional you should take it in stride. Your posts here are doing a lot towards turning people off towards your product. No one's trying to stir the pot, just using their own freedom of speech and opinion....

[wiggy]

Wow, you're really rude and I'm sorry you feel that way about my original fan art cover.  No one forced you to order it and I do use four star Epson paper, look it up on Amazon if you want to.  I have 18 years as a graphic designer but I'm still just a fan making a cover.  If someone doesn't like it, don't buy it.  All you've done is discourage anyone who wants to strike out and make their own fan art covers from EVER posting here.

I was going to share some of my many new scans of posters form Nintendo Power because I do posters now.  I was ABOUT TO POST ALL MY SCANS, God, I'm so glad I didn't.  SO SO SO glad I didn't.  I also just made a cover this morning from a box, I was going to post the raw scan and the remastered new cover on here.  You can look at my blog, tells my intentions from a week ago.  

I will happily give you a full refund Wiggy.  In fact just send me your username or whatever and I'll refund you. I can't help if you don't understand my business, but criticizing me over and over for stealing scans and then criticizing when I sit down and draw something I don't understand.

We have a policy and I'll restate it for the record:  ANYONE who does not want us to use their scan can e-mail us to take it down.  

We have talked to a ton of people on here and I know you don't want to hear this but they don't hate us.  You just want to stir the pot.  We're not even the biggest seller of game cases anymore.  We have a ton of competition.  The only difference possibly being is we've supported the community, we link back to the cover project and we give the cover project credit.  We SEND people here all the time! We send them to Media Shelving.  GODS Wiggy, you're just picking on the wrong sets of people and you don't get it.

-Paula

My review is just about as matter-of-fact as it gets.  You've never read a poor review before?  Like for a crummy movie or a bad restaurant?  If you don't want a poor review, then don't create a poorly crafted product.  It's that simple.


I have a printout right here.  I don't care what paper you say that you're using because the quality is all that matters in the end, and quality is what's lacking.  Plus, how on Earth(bound) would that even prove to us that you're using the paper that you say you are?  Look up gold bars on the webernets.  That's what I print on


I NEVER said that I don't like it and I'm sure as hell not discouraging anyone from making their own covers.  In fact, quite the opposite.  If you weren't so busy stealing everyone else's hard work, and spent a few minutes on the forum, then you'd see that I encourage ANYONE and EVERYONE to make their own covers and very often offer as much help as humanly possible.  Hell, I even encourage you to stop making money on other people's work and make more of your own.  I've made over 400 of my own as of this past weekend and I haven't sold a single one because that's not what this community is all about.


Give me a break.  You guys almost NEVER share anything, and when you do, the links die about 2 weeks later.  I love that you're seriously trying to use that in order to turn the community against me because 'it's all my fault' that you're not gonna post 'em.  That's pretty weak.  I think we'll be OK without your "cover that you made from a box this morning"


I don't want a refund.  I got what I was expecting; a low-quality printout inside of a UGC.  It served its purpose just fine.  I'm quite happy with it and as I said before, it'll continue to be of use as it sits in my man cave.  I feel that understand your business perfectly.  If there's something that I'm missing, then feel free to let me know.

"So, it seems like a lot of love went into this cover.  As she said, there is indeed some found art, Shenske's template (obviously), and a bit of fan art."

I'm sorry that you took this as criticism.  I don't really understand how you could take it as such, but it does seem that I often misunderstand you and your business.


I've already mentioned to your husband that there is at least one cover on your site that employ scans of mine and that I don't appreciate it (Biometal).  He obviously didn't care because it's still up.  I don't really care to go through everything on the site to see what else you've taken, but obviously your system of "just let us know and we'll take it down" is a little broken.  Might want to have a look into that.


Everyone loves you and all of your 3 or 4 contributions that are no longer available for download!  Thank you so much! Five stars for your effort! ☆☆☆☆☆

It's great that you tout not being hated as a great achievement LOL!  

Please explain to me what I "don't get".  This just doesn't seem all that complicated to me, and it's hard for me to imagine that I've somehow missed some key element to understanding you or how you operate your business.  Enlighten me.


One last thing, and this is indeed criticism, since you were so anxious to announce your many, many years of design experience.  Here is your business card alongside a few of mine.  I won't say a damned thing because design can speak for itself.



And as an FYI, I have 1/3 of that 18 years under my belt doing graphic design professionally.

[wiggy]

http://www.gamecaseworld.com/gcwdesigns
Here's my portfolio.  

(And this guy is actually a girl for the record, I'm the designer, I just use the act to post sometimes because I don't have my own login.)

OMG, let me get this straight, you site your portfolio as a collection of almost entirely scanned images (someone else's work), using templates from this site (again, someone else's work), and the few that you did create are simply collages of, you guessed it, someone else's work?!

That's rich!

[Forte]

Wow, you're really rude and I'm sorry you feel that way about my original fan art cover.  No one forced you to order it and I do use four star Epson paper, look it up on Amazon if you want to.  I have 18 years as a graphic designer but I'm still just a fan making a cover.  If someone doesn't like it, don't buy it.  All you've done is discourage anyone who wants to strike out and make their own fan art covers from EVER posting here.

I was going to share some of my many new scans of posters form Nintendo Power because I do posters now.  I was ABOUT TO POST ALL MY SCANS, God, I'm so glad I didn't.  SO SO SO glad I didn't.  I also just made a cover this morning from a box, I was going to post the raw scan and the remastered new cover on here.  You can look at my blog, tells my intentions from a week ago. 

I will happily give you a full refund Wiggy.  In fact just send me your username or whatever and I'll refund you. I can't help if you don't understand my business, but criticizing me over and over for stealing scans and then criticizing when I sit down and draw something I don't understand.

We have a policy and I'll restate it for the record:  ANYONE who does not want us to use their scan can e-mail us to take it down. 

We have talked to a ton of people on here and I know you don't want to hear this but they don't hate us.  You just want to stir the pot.  We're not even the biggest seller of game cases anymore.  We have a ton of competition.  The only difference possibly being is we've supported the community, we link back to the cover project and we give the cover project credit.  We SEND people here all the time! We send them to Media Shelving.  GODS Wiggy, you're just picking on the wrong sets of people and you don't get it.

-Paula

My review is just about as matter-of-fact as it gets.  You've never read a poor review before?  Like for a crummy movie or a bad restaurant?  If you don't want a poor review, then don't create a poorly crafted product.  It's that simple.


I have a printout right here.  I don't care what paper you say that you're using because the quality is all that matters in the end, and quality is what's lacking.  Plus, how on Earth(bound) would that even prove to us that you're using the paper that you say you are?  Look up gold bars on the webernets.  That's what I print on


I NEVER said that I don't like it and I'm sure as hell not discouraging anyone from making their own covers.  In fact, quite the opposite.  If you weren't so busy stealing everyone else's hard work, and spent a few minutes on the forum, then you'd see that I encourage ANYONE and EVERYONE to make their own covers and very often offer as much help as humanly possible.  Hell, I even encourage you to stop making money on other people's work and make more of your own.  I've made over 400 of my own as of this past weekend and I haven't sold a single one because that's not what this community is all about.


Give me a break.  You guys almost NEVER share anything, and when you do, the links die about 2 weeks later.  I love that you're seriously trying to use that in order to turn the community against me because 'it's all my fault' that you're not gonna post 'em.  That's pretty weak.  I think we'll be OK without your "cover that you made from a box". the cover that you made this morning from a box


I don't want a refund.  I got what I was expecting; a low-quality printout inside of a UGC.  It served its purpose just fine.  I'm quite happy with it and as I said before, it'll continue to be of use as it sits in my man cave.  I feel that understand your business perfectly.  If there's something that I'm missing, then feel free to let me know.

"So, it seems like a lot of love went into this cover.  As she said, there is indeed some found art, Shenske's template (obviously), and a bit of fan art."

I'm sorry that you took this as criticism.  I don't really understand how you could take it as such, but it does seem that I often misunderstand you and your business.


I've already mentioned to your husband that there is at least one cover on your site that employ scans of mine and that I don't appreciate it (Biometal).  He obviously didn't care because it's still up.  I don't really care to go through everything on the site to see what else you've taken, but obviously your system of "just let us know and we'll take it down" is a little broken.  Might want to have a look into that.


Everyone loves you and all of your 3 or 4 contributions that are no longer available for download!  Thank you so much! Five stars for your effort! ☆☆☆☆☆

It's great that you tout not being hated as a great achievement LOL!    

Please explain to me what I "don't get".  This just doesn't seem all that complicated to me, and it's hard for me to imagine that I've somehow missed some key element to understanding you or how you operate your business.  Enlighten me.


One last thing, and this is indeed criticism, since you were so anxious to announce your many, many years of design experience.  Here's is your business card alongside a few of mine.  I won't say a damned thing because design can speak for itself.



And as an FYI, I have 1/3 of that 18 years under my belt doing graphic design professionally.

Pretty much this. Oh, and I can has design too: